I Just Want to Drop Out in the Real School

A secluded corner.

An easily bullied honest handsome guy.

A hot blonde.

If the genders of the two were swapped.

A secluded corner.

An easily bullied honest beautiful woman.

A guy with yellow hair.

It's like a plot straight out of a hentai manga.

Bai Lan's mind instantly conjured a possibility.

As expected, Karuizawa, the "guy with yellow hair," intends to force the "beauty" to date her?

What a great opportunity!

If Karuizawa dares to threaten that guy into dating her.

Bai Lan could use it as leverage to force Karuizawa to date him instead.

Bai Lan thought excitedly.

Soon, as he got closer, Bai Lan could clearly see the guy's face.

It was actually someone he knew.

"It's Hirata?!"

Seeing that Karuizawa's target was Hirata, Bai Lan was immediately surprised and started to doubt himself.

"Did I misunderstand? Karuizawa isn't trying to do anything bad, she actually just wants to ask Hirata to a secluded place to confess her feelings?"

Otherwise.

After all, Hirata was a core member of Class D, holding a high position in the class. It wasn't just that no one would dare to bully him, but even showing dissatisfaction towards him would draw criticism from many fangirls in the class.

Furthermore, although Hirata didn't exhibit any violent tendencies, he had displayed physical abilities far exceeding those of most his age during gym class a few days prior.

He wasn't someone who could be easily threatened.

"Unless... Karuizawa has some dirt on Hirata?"

Bai Lan quickly thought of a possibility.

"Could it be that Karuizawa saw through Hirata's distortion of facts when he tried to whitewash me?"

Chapter 56: Listening Comprehension Test

"Could it be that Karuizawa saw through Hirata's distortion of facts when he tried to whitewash me?"

Bai Lan immediately thought of this possibility, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

"The reason Karuizawa dislikes me every day and reacts negatively to my every glance is because she saw through the truth, knows Hirata was lying, and that I'm not some 'hero.' Therefore, she wouldn't develop any mistaken good feelings towards me, which is why she reacts so strongly to my every gaze!"

"Is that really true? Karuizawa doesn't seem that smart? Am I overthinking it?"

As the saying goes: bold conjecture, careful verification.

Bai Lan conjectured boldly. As for whether to verify it, that would depend on whether the problem requiring verification held enough value for him.

If it held no value, conjecture would remain just conjecture.

But clearly, this conjecture held significant value for Bai Lan.

After all, Bai Lan intended to help Hirata resolve the follow-up issues of being forcibly whitewashed, as he owed him a favor.

If Karuizawa truly knew about Hirata's lie and intended to do something with it, he would have to find a way to deal with it.

At this moment, Bai Lan noticed that Karuizawa and Hirata had started talking.

Bai Lan quickly moved closer.

Bai Lan was currently a bit far from Karuizawa and Hirata.

This was because Bai Lan considered that this place was deserted and too quiet, coupled with poor lighting. In such conditions, people would subconsciously focus more attention on their hearing, and any slight noise would be very noticeable, easily alerting the person being followed.

Therefore, despite the cover of night, Bai Lan was more cautious than during the day and hadn't dared to get too close before. (Intentional, "jin" and "ping" appearing in the same chapter, what a joke.)

Moreover, Karuizawa had deliberately lowered her voice below normal conversation levels. At this distance, Bai Lan couldn't hear what they were saying.

And the considerate Hirata, probably to match Karuizawa, also lowered his voice.

Speaking so quietly, even with Bai Lan's confidence in his hearing, he couldn't make out their words.

"Forget it, I'll go closer to listen, and I'll record the process too. If Karuizawa wants to play the threat game like Kushida, I'll make her lose both the wife and the army, hmph~"

Following that, Bai Lan quietly crept closer.

Soon, Bai Lan reached a clump of bushes near where the two were and stopped, beginning to eavesdrop.

From this spot, Bai Lan could barely make out what Karuizawa and Hirata were saying.

At their current volume, if their voices were slightly muffled or lowered any further, Bai Lan wouldn't be able to hear them.

No, Bai Lan didn't want to get any closer.

The main reason was that this flower bush was already the best hiding spot Bai Lan could reach.

Aside from this flower bush, there were no other obstacles around Karuizawa and the others that he could use to hide.

When Bai Lan stopped, Karuizawa had already completed several rounds of conversation.

Bai Lan had no way of knowing what Karuizawa and Hirata had talked about initially.

He could only understand the purpose of Karuizawa and Hirata's conversation from the middle part onwards.

At this moment, Karuizawa spoke.

"Japanese listening comprehension test, starting now!"

"Question 1:"

Karuizawa: "Hirata... I... be my boyfriend."

The "..." part represented moments where the two were speaking, but Bai Lan couldn't clearly hear the specific content.

The English teacher had taught them that in listening comprehension tests, one should use context to fill in the gaps of what they couldn't hear.

Based on the parts he could hear and logical inference, Bai Lan mentally completed Karuizawa's full sentence: "Classmate Hirata, I like you, please be my boyfriend!"

"Is Karuizawa confessing to Hirata?"

"As expected, Hirata is really popular. Even this gyaru who's always fierce to everyone has fallen for him."

Bad news: Karuizawa wants Hirata to be her boyfriend. If Hirata agrees, Bai Lan's tracking for the past few days will be in vain. Furthermore, it would be difficult for him to find another target as suitable as Karuizawa.

However, he guessed that Hirata probably wouldn't agree.

After all, Hirata wanted to be "everyone's Hirata" and likely didn't want to "spoil one person exclusively."

"Hirata, don't agree to her!" Bai Lan yelled in his heart.

Soon, Hirata replied.

"Question 2:"

Hirata: "Why... refuse."

Hearing this, Bai Lan understood. Hirata had probably asked something like "Why do you like me?" and then rejected her.

This made Bai Lan breathe a sigh of relief.

However, Karuizawa didn't give up and spoke again.

"Question 3:"

Karuizawa: "You... popular... boyfriend... imposing... look at me... fear."

From Karuizawa's words, Bai Lan could infer that Karuizawa's reason for asking Hirata to be her boyfriend wasn't genuine affection, but rather because he was "popular."

Karuizawa probably felt that Hirata was popular among girls, and if Hirata were her boyfriend, she would feel "imposing" and that people would be wary of offending her.

So, was "imposing" Karuizawa's "ambition"?

Hearing this, Bai Lan suddenly became excited.

Good news: Bai Lan finally found out what Karuizawa wanted! She wanted to be "imposing." As long as Bai Lan could make Karuizawa feel "imposing," she would likely be willing to agree to be Bai Lan's shield.

If nothing unexpected happened, Hirata still wouldn't agree.

Soon, Hirata spoke again.

"Question 4:"

Hirata: "No... Classmate Bai... good person."

After hearing Hirata's words, Bai Lan first felt a bit strange. He felt like Hirata had mentioned him.

After all, in their class, Bai Lan was the only one with the surname Bai.

What was going on?

First, Hirata said "No," clearly rejecting Karuizawa again.

Then, he mentioned Bai Lan, and finally said "good person."

Soon, Bai Lan thought of a possibility.

"Could it be... that while refusing Karuizawa, Hirata is also using me as a shield and introducing me to Karuizawa?"

That's great, Hirata.

Consider it a favor I owe you!

"That's right! Because Hirata's forced whitewashing has made my status in the class no worse than Hirata's, and even surpassed it. If Karuizawa were my girlfriend, she could also be 'imposing.'

Even more 'imposing' than being Hirata's girlfriend, because Hirata is a nice guy, and I...

No! It seems that in other people's eyes, I appear to be an even more outrageous, 'self-sacrificing' nice guy than Hirata!

I get it. It's probably because I 'like to sacrifice myself' that Karuizawa is worried about getting into trouble one day and being 'implicated' by me. That's why Karuizawa chose to find Hirata as a boyfriend instead of coming to me."