Soon, it was Karuizawa's turn to speak again.
Question Five:
Karuizawa: "You don't agree... bullying... dangerous... afraid."
57, Karuizawa: Hirata, you don't want to... (Coming out Friday!)
"You don't agree... bullying... dangerous... afraid."
That was what Bai Lan heard. That was how Karuizawa spoke.
Bai Lan noticed that Karuizawa's statement seemed to contain many dangerous words.
Bullying?
Dangerous?
Afraid?
The signature of these dangerous words was "you don't agree."
Bai Lan instantly filled in the blanks. He felt that Karuizawa's meaning was probably something like this:
If Hirata "didn't agree" to become Karuizawa's boyfriend,
Karuizawa would "bully" Hirata. Of course, she might also bully the other students in Class D whom Hirata cared about.
In addition, Karuizawa had reminded Hirata that the methods she would use to bully him or the others would be "dangerous"—the kind that would make people extremely "afraid."
To sum it up in one sentence—
Blondie—Karuizawa: Hirata, you don't want your classmates to be bullied at school, do you?
Bai Lan immediately became excited!
Coercion!
This was coercion!
Bai Lan felt that his previous guess had been right.
There really was something juicy going on here!
However, contrary to what Bai Lan had expected, Karuizawa was not coercing Hirata through the matter of "clearing her name by force," but through "bullying his classmates."
After learning this, Bai Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
Since Karuizawa did not know the truth, things would be much easier to handle.
Bai Lan glanced at the phone in his hand.
It was recording video.
Of course, unless it was a specially modified phone, an ordinary phone's ability to pick up sound was far worse than a person's ears.
Even Bai Lan could not hear Karuizawa and Hirata's conversation clearly. With the phone's recording ability, there was even less chance of capturing what they had said.
Bai Lan had already prepared himself for the possibility that, when he went back to watch the recording, there would not be a single sound on it.
But that did not matter. He could always dub it in later.
He did not need to convince the police. He only needed Karuizawa to believe that Bai Lan possessed evidence of her threatening Hirata.
If Karuizawa asked, "How could your phone hear such quiet voices from so far away?" Bai Lan could easily give her an explanation.
For example, he could say that he had used special audio-recording equipment while filming.
If she went on to ask why her and Hirata's voices sounded a little strange,
Bai Lan would simply say that it was because of the environment and the recording equipment.
As long as he successfully fooled Karuizawa,
Bai Lan could use "using the enemy's own methods against them" and threaten Karuizawa—the girl who wanted to threaten Hirata into becoming her boyfriend—into becoming Bai Lan's girlfriend instead, while also making her stop bothering Hirata.
Perfect!
At that moment, Hirata spoke as well.
This was an optional question.
It did not matter whether he answered correctly or not.
Because regardless of whether Hirata accepted the threat or agreed to Karuizawa's request, Bai Lan would help Hirata deal with Karuizawa.
Even so, Bai Lan listened carefully.
If Hirata agreed, Bai Lan would tell him in advance that he would take care of the problem with Karuizawa, reducing Hirata's mental burden and treating it as repayment for the favor he owed him.
Although Bai Lan felt that Hirata was very unlikely to accept, he was still somewhat worried.
After all, Hirata hated "bullying" more than anything. When he learned that Karuizawa intended to threaten him by bullying his classmates, Hirata might well go berserk and lose control.
Bai Lan was worried that Hirata might suddenly lose control and punch Karuizawa.
Though Bai Lan had easily defused Hirata's punch back then, Hirata's fists were actually quite powerful.
After all, Hirata had never trained in martial arts, yet he had single-handedly "dominated" the entire grade, even the entire school.
This showed that Hirata's base stats were extremely high, and that his punches packed quite a wallop.
One punch like that could easily send Karuizawa to the hospital, while Hirata himself would probably be expelled, or even arrested.
Thinking of this, Bai Lan felt that he could not simply stand by. He watched Hirata's movements intently and listened carefully to his words, ready to rush out at any moment. The instant Hirata showed any sign of aggression, Bai Lan would immediately charge out and restrain him before he made a mistake.
Question Six:
Hirata: "I want—to do it properly—all right—when necessary—I won't deny it."
That was how Hirata responded to Karuizawa.
Hirata showed no sign of losing his temper from beginning to end.
In fact, judging from what Hirata meant...
"I want to," "do it properly."
Did that mean Hirata did not want anything to happen to his classmates?
"All right."
Had Hirata actually agreed to Karuizawa's request?
"When necessary," "I won't deny it."
Did that mean Hirata permitted Karuizawa to borrow his name to throw her weight around, while still maintaining his own principles? Hirata would not proactively do anything couple-like with Karuizawa. He simply "wouldn't deny it" if Karuizawa told others that Hirata was her boyfriend.
Bai Lan could not help shaking his head and thinking, Hirata is really enduring humiliation and bearing a heavy burden for the harmony of the class! He sacrificed so much just to maintain a false harmony. Does this really have any meaning?
Soon, their conversation ended, and they left.
However, they went their separate ways, each leaving in the opposite direction.
Bai Lan guessed that this was probably because one of them did not intend to start showing off their newly confirmed relationship to everyone that very night.
Bai Lan thought about it and decided not to continue following Karuizawa.
After all, Bai Lan already knew the "benefit" Karuizawa desired and possessed the "leverage" he could use against her.
The only problem was that the leverage in Bai Lan's hands was not yet complete. Once he went back and finished dubbing the recording, Karuizawa would no longer be able to make waves. She would be entirely at Bai Lan's mercy.
His loyal fake girlfriend had already half fallen into Bai Lan's hands!
After the two of them had gone, Bai Lan stepped out of the darkness.
He glanced toward the spot on the road where Hirata had disappeared.
Then he took out his phone and found Hirata's contact information.
He opened the text-message screen.
"I can help you deal with Karuizawa threatening you. Consider it another favor you owe me."
After typing the message, Bai Lan placed his finger over "Send," but did not press it for a long time.
After thinking it over, Bai Lan closed the messaging screen.
Bai Lan gave up on sending Hirata this "reassurance" and letting him sleep peacefully.
"Forget it. I'll tell him after I've dealt with the problem.
I might as well teach him a lesson and let him understand the consequences of lacking the ability yet insisting on playing the good guy.
After he spends some time stewing in his own mental anguish, I'll tell him that the problem has already been solved.
That way, he'll be even more grateful to me, and he'll work even harder to help me drop out."
Yes, he was only doing this to repay a favor and drop out more smoothly.
Not long after, Bai Lan returned to his room and took out the laptop he had bought a few days ago for more than a hundred thousand points.
He downloaded video-editing software.
Connected the phone's data cable.
Time to start dubbing!
58, Bai Lan: Karuizawa, you don't want to... (Coming out Friday!)
Bai Lan did not look for a voice actor. He did not even need to go online and find sound clips to edit.
He intended to do it himself!
As an outdoor survival enthusiast, it was perfectly reasonable for Bai Lan to know a little ventriloquism.
In the wilderness, he sometimes needed ventriloquism to imitate various sounds and lure or drive away animals.
He could imitate the sounds of all kinds of animals with uncanny accuracy. As for imitating other people's voices, he could not claim to be completely identical, but achieving roughly ninety-eight percent similarity was no problem.
To avoid arousing Karuizawa's unnecessary suspicion,
Bai Lan only dubbed the parts he had actually heard. He did not randomly add or alter anything. For the parts that had been unclear, he covered them with muffled sounds, breathing, and wind.
But that was enough. Based solely on what Bai Lan had heard at the time, anyone who knew even a little about Hirata and Karuizawa's personalities would probably, after hearing the recording, conclude just as Bai Lan had: Karuizawa was threatening Hirata.
Before you continue