A deserted corner.
A handsome, honest guy who looked easy to bully.
A blonde delinquent.
If their genders were switched around a little.
A deserted corner.
A beautiful, honest girl who looked easy to bully.
A yellow-haired delinquent.
This was straight out of an adult comic.
Bai Lan instantly thought of a possibility.
Sure enough, was this "yellow-haired delinquent," Karuizawa, planning to force that "beauty" to date her?
What a great opportunity!
As long as Karuizawa dared to threaten that boy into dating her,
Bai Lan could turn around and use it as leverage, threatening Karuizawa into dating him instead.
Bai Lan thought excitedly.
Soon, as the distance closed, Bai Lan gradually got a clear look at the boy's true identity.
He was actually someone Bai Lan knew.
"It's Hirata?!"
When Bai Lan saw that Karuizawa's target was Hirata, he was astonished, then began to doubt himself.
"Did I get it wrong? Is Karuizawa not planning to do anything bad? Is she actually just trying to bring Hirata somewhere private so she can confess or something?"
Otherwise,
Hirata was a core member of Class D and held a very high standing in the class. Let alone someone trying to bully him—even merely showing dissatisfaction with him would earn the scolding of many of his female admirers.
Besides that, although Hirata had never displayed any violent tendencies, he had demonstrated physical abilities far beyond those of most people his age during physical education class a few days ago.
He was not someone who could be threatened casually.
"Unless... Karuizawa has some kind of leverage over Hirata?"
Bai Lan soon thought of one possibility.
"Could Karuizawa have seen through the fact that Hirata distorted the truth to help clear my name?"
56. Listening Exam
"Could Karuizawa have seen through the fact that Hirata distorted the truth to help clear my name?"
Bai Lan immediately thought of this possibility, and the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
"The reason Karuizawa looks annoyed whenever she sees me might be that she has seen through the truth and knows Hirata was lying. She also knows that I'm not some 'hero,' so she won't develop any mistaken favorable impression of me. That's why she reacts so aggressively whenever our eyes meet!"
"Is that really the case? Karuizawa doesn't look that smart, though. Am I overthinking this?"
As the saying went: make bold guesses, then verify them carefully.
Bai Lan made a bold guess. As for whether he should verify it, that depended on whether the matter was valuable enough to him to investigate.
If it had no value, then a guess was merely a guess.
But clearly, this particular guess was extremely valuable to Bai Lan.
After all, Bai Lan intended to repay his debt by helping Hirata deal with the consequences of forcibly clearing his name.
If Karuizawa really knew that Hirata had lied and intended to do something with that information, he had to find a way to respond.
At that moment, Bai Lan noticed that Karuizawa and Hirata had begun talking.
Bai Lan hurriedly moved closer.
Bai Lan was somewhat far away from Karuizawa and the others at that moment.
That was because he had considered that this place was deserted and excessively quiet. Combined with the poor lighting, it would make people instinctively focus more of their attention on their ears. In such circumstances, even the slightest sound would be extremely obvious, making it easy for the person being followed to notice.
Therefore, although the night provided cover, Bai Lan was even more careful than he would have been during the day. He had not dared to get too close earlier. (Deliberately so—"jin" and "Ping" appearing in the same chapter. I'm dying.)
Moreover, Karuizawa had deliberately lowered her voice below the level of normal conversation. At his current distance, Bai Lan could not hear what they were saying at all.
And the considerate Hirata had probably lowered his voice as well to match Karuizawa.
They were speaking so quietly that even though Bai Lan was fairly confident in his hearing, he could not make out their words.
"Forget it. I'll move closer and listen. I'll record the whole thing while I'm at it. If Karuizawa is trying to imitate Kushida and use threats, I'll make sure she loses both her advantage and her dignity. Heh-heh~"
Immediately afterward, Bai Lan quietly moved closer.
Soon, Bai Lan reached a spot behind a flower bed near where the two were standing and stopped there, beginning to eavesdrop.
From this location, Bai Lan could only barely make out what Karuizawa and Hirata were saying.
At their current volume, if their voices became even slightly more indistinct or they lowered them a little further, Bai Lan would be unable to hear them.
It was not that Bai Lan did not want to move closer.
The main issue was that this flower bed was the best hiding place he could reach.
Apart from it, there were no other obstacles around Karuizawa and Hirata that could provide him with cover.
Three, one, two, eight. I, two, three, nine.
By the time Bai Lan stopped, Karuizawa had already completed several rounds of conversation.
There was no way for Bai Lan to know what Karuizawa and Hirata had said at the beginning.
He could only use this portion of the conversation to figure out why Karuizawa had brought Hirata out.
At that moment, Karuizawa spoke.
The Japanese listening exam is now beginning!
Question One:
Karuizawa: "Hirata... be my boyfriend."
The ellipsis represented the parts where the two had spoken but Bai Lan had not been able to hear the exact words.
His English teacher had taught him that during a listening exam, when there were parts one could not understand or hear clearly, one had to use the surrounding context to fill in the blanks.
Based on the parts he could hear, Bai Lan reconstructed Karuizawa's full sentence through logical inference—Hirata, I like you. Please be my boyfriend!
"Is Karuizawa confessing to Hirata?"
"As expected, Hirata is really popular. Even this delinquent who acts fierce toward everyone all day has fallen at his feet."
Bad news: Karuizawa wanted Hirata to be her boyfriend. If Hirata agreed, all of Bai Lan's tracking these past few days would have been for nothing. Besides, it would be hard for him to find another target as suitable as Karuizawa.
Still, he guessed that Hirata probably would not agree.
After all, Hirata wanted to be "everyone's Hirata." He probably did not want to "favor only one person."
"Hirata, don't agree to her!" Bai Lan shouted inwardly.
Soon, Hirata replied.
Question Two:
Hirata: "Why... not agree."
Hearing this, Bai Lan understood that Hirata had probably asked something like, "Why do you like me?" before rejecting her.
That made Bai Lan breathe a sigh of relief.
However, Karuizawa did not give up. She spoke again.
Question Three:
Karuizawa: "You... popular... boyfriend... impressive... look at me... afraid."
From Karuizawa's words, Bai Lan could infer that she probably did not genuinely like Hirata or anything. Rather, she was after his popularity.
Karuizawa likely felt that Hirata was very popular among the girls. If he became her boyfriend, she would feel very "impressive," making people wary of her and afraid of offending her.
So, was being "impressive" Karuizawa's "ambition"?
When he heard this, Bai Lan immediately became excited.
Good news: Bai Lan had finally figured out what benefit Karuizawa wanted! She wanted to feel "impressive." As long as he could make Karuizawa feel "impressive," she would probably agree to use Bai Lan as her shield.
If nothing unexpected happened, Hirata still would not agree.
Soon, Hirata spoke again.
Question Four:
Hirata: "No... Bai... good person."
After hearing Hirata's words, Bai Lan first felt a little puzzled. He thought Hirata seemed to have mentioned him.
After all, he was the only person in their class with the surname Bai.
What was going on?
First, Hirata had said "no," clearly rejecting Karuizawa once again.
Then he had mentioned Bai Lan, followed by "good person."
Bai Lan soon thought of one possibility.
"Could Hirata be rejecting Karuizawa while also using me as a shield and introducing me to her?"
Not bad, Hirata.
I'll count this as owing you a favor!
That's right! Because Hirata had forcibly cleared my name, my standing in the class was no lower than Hirata's. It might even be higher. If Karuizawa became my girlfriend, she could be "impressive" as well.
She might even be more "impressive" than if she became Hirata's girlfriend. After all, Hirata was a good-natured saint, while I...
No, wait! In other people's eyes, I seem to be an even more ridiculous good-natured saint than Hirata, one who loves "self-sacrifice"!
I get it. It's probably because I "love self-sacrifice," which makes Karuizawa worry that she might get burned one day and be "dragged down" by me. That's why she chose to ask Hirata to be her boyfriend instead of coming to me.
Before you continue