In Real Education, I Just Want to Drop Out Section 50

The pressure to survive, combined with the person she was most familiar with to impersonate.

The two together ultimately forged her inscrutable acting skills!

To avoid being bullied, Karuizawa deliberately disguised herself as someone not to be bullied.

But Karuizawa soon discovered that this wasn't enough.

After all, she was only pretending; she only looked like she wasn't to be bullied, but she didn't actually possess the substance of not being bullied.

In fact, her disguise itself wasn't very likable and easily provoked hostility from others.

Once among those who harbored hostility towards her, even one slightly bolder person decided to try and oppose her.

Just a simple attempt would be enough to easily see through her disguise, transforming her from a domineering "hot girl" into a submissive punching bag.

Realizing this, Karuizawa was terrified and sought a stronger means of protection.

Soon, Karuizawa had an idea: since she wasn't strong enough herself, she just needed to find someone strong to rely on.

Following this, Karuizawa began searching for someone who had the ability to protect her and was willing to accept her reliance.

And Hirata was the one Karuizawa chose, the person she believed could protect her and was willing to accept her reliance.

Actually, Karuizawa hadn't originally intended to ask Hirata so soon.

As the saying goes, "Time reveals a person's heart."

It had only been a short while, and Karuizawa wasn't sure if Hirata's current demeanor was his true self.

What if, on the surface, he was a gentle and sunny young man, but in reality, he was someone who liked to toy with girls' feelings, then extract leverage from them to blackmail them?

Karuizawa had witnessed too many dark things; she was even a victim of some of those dark things.

Therefore, she had planned to observe him for a while longer before saying anything.

However, the events of the past few days forced Karuizawa to drastically shorten her observation period for Hirata.

These past few days, that guy named Bai Lan had been glaring at her with a terrifying look every time he entered the classroom.

On one occasion, Karuizawa felt she even saw something very familiar in Bai Lan's gaze...

She remembered!

Back then, when those girls held her down and, as if playing, plunged a utility knife into her abdomen, making her experience the brink of death for the first time.

At that moment, the look in those girls' eyes felt very similar to Bai Lan's current gaze!

Karuizawa felt that their eyes both held something incredibly terrifying.

Although Karuizawa successfully managed the situation with the acting skills she'd squeezed out under the threat of death, without revealing herself, she was actually terrified to death. In her fear and anxiety, she felt like she was about to break down.

Karuizawa felt she was about to break character and couldn't last until the end of the "observation period."

Once she couldn't act anymore, Karuizawa's true self would surely be exposed.

Rather than that, she might as well take a gamble, skip the "observation period" entirely, and directly ask for help from the only person she could think of to rely on—Hirata.

And so, today's secret meeting between Karuizawa and Hirata came to be.

Additionally, in reality, the complete version of the conversation between Karuizawa and Hirata during this secret meeting was actually like this:

Karuizawa: "Hirata, didn't you say you would help everyone?"

Hirata: "Yes, Karuizawa-san, is there something you need my help with?"

Karuizawa: "Someone is trying to bully me."

Hirata: "Who?"

Karuizawa: "I don't know, but I know that if you don't help me, I'll be bullied very soon. It's been like this from elementary school to middle school, always someone who comes to bully me.

They just see me as easy to bully, so ever since I enrolled, I've deliberately acted like I'm not easy to bully, precisely because I'm afraid someone will bully me.

But I know I'm a fake; I'm not as strong as I pretend to be.

My words and actions might make me appear strong, but they'll definitely displease some people. Once someone tries to target me, and I can't fight back, I'll be exposed very quickly, and they'll know I'm easy to bully... I don't want to be bullied!"

Hirata: "Then I'll tell everyone to get along with you, okay?"

Karuizawa: "No! Just saying it won't help! It's like those teachers in the past."

Hirata: "Then what do you want me to do to help?"

The above was the part Bai Lan couldn't hear at all due to the distance.

Below begins the full version of the content that Bai Lan did hear.

Karuizawa: "Hirata-kun, I need you to protect me. Could you be my boyfriend 'in name'?"

Hirata: "Why does it have to be in the name of my girlfriend? That would be deceiving everyone, right? I don't agree."

Karuizawa: "You're popular in class. If you were my boyfriend, they'd see us as a unit, and I could borrow your prestige. They wouldn't want to offend you, so naturally, they wouldn't dare bully me! Please agree, I think that Bai Lan has disliked me for a long time. These past few days, he always glares at me when he enters the classroom.

Especially the day before yesterday, his look that day was truly terrifying!

Do you know?

I was almost bullied to death in the past. They held down my limbs and then stabbed me here with a utility knife. I almost died. At that time, the people who were bullying me, their eyes were very similar to Bai Lan's eyes.

"He looked at me like that that day, I was so scared..."

Bai Lan had no idea that the way he looked at Karuizawa every day would actually scare her so much, even leading to this meeting between Karuizawa and Hirata tonight.

No, to be precise, even without Bai Lan's probing, Karuizawa would have eventually sought out Hirata, and perhaps even Bai Lan.

After all, if Bai Lan hadn't scared Karuizawa with his gaze, with Karuizawa's intelligence, she would have already been successfully fooled by Hirata into believing that "Bai Lan is a good person who helps others even at his own expense."

So, this meeting would have happened in the end.

After listening to Karuizawa's words, Hirata subconsciously wanted to say a few good words for Bai Lan: "No, I don't think classmate Bai is that kind of person. You shouldn't be afraid of him. On the contrary, classmate Bai is actually a good person."

However, Karuizawa preferred to believe what she saw. She directly ignored Hirata's praise for Bai Lan and said, "If you don't agree to be my boyfriend, someone will soon try to bully me in ways other than words.

My disguise is only strong with words. If you change the method, I will definitely be exposed. Once exposed, I will definitely be bullied.

When they bully me, they will find out that I'm easy to bully, and then they will escalate.

After that, I will definitely be in danger, even danger to my life!

Classmate Hirata, please help me, I'm so scared!"

60. I Want You to Be My Girlfriend

"I don't think everyone in Class D would do such a thing. You don't need to worry too much. You and everyone else will surely get along well."

Seeing Karuizawa acting like "everyone will bully me," Hirata felt that she thought too badly of everyone and that it wouldn't be conducive to unity. He subconsciously wanted to speak up for the others, while also trying to comfort her and hoping she wouldn't be too scared.

However, Karuizawa only saw Hirata, whom she considered her only hope, unwilling to help her.

Having lost the only support she could think of, Karuizawa's eyes dimmed, and she looked as if she had lost the will to live, ready to wait for death right there.

Seeing this, Hirata quickly said, "Alright, I can lend you the title of 'girlfriend.' I will cooperate with you when you need it. But I'm sorry, I have many people who need help and will be very busy, so I can't spend a lot of time playing the role of a couple with you. However, I won't deny our relationship when others ask me about it."

This was what Karuizawa and Hirata discussed during their meeting tonight.

During the conversation, Karuizawa was telling Hirata about her unbearable past, hoping to get his help.

But perhaps because she was too scared, Karuizawa increased her defenses even more. Therefore, while speaking, she subconsciously maintained her outwardly strong facade.

As a result, although she was "asking for help," her tone was as if she were demanding or ordering.

This was also a major reason why Bai Lan misunderstood Karuizawa.

If she had said these things while trembling or crying, there's no way Bai Lan would have misunderstood.

Karuizawa curled up in a defensive posture, imagining the tragic future awaiting her in prison if her hidden secrets were revealed.

After a while, Karuizawa suddenly felt something was wrong. She felt like she might have overlooked something very important that could threaten her safety.

Very quickly, Karuizawa realized and exclaimed:

"Wait!

I've already read his message.

Shouldn't I reply to him quickly?

If I don't reply quickly, and he sees that I've 'read but not replied,' will he think I'm disrespecting him, or that it's a provocation? Will he get angry and bully me?"

What often overcomes fear is a greater fear.

Under the pressure of fear, Karuizawa released her hands from covering her head and, holding her phone, began to reply to Bai Lan's message.

Karuizawa felt there was a possibility that "Bai Lan was actually bluffing her."

Or rather, Karuizawa held onto a sliver of hope.

Karuizawa didn't directly show that she believed Bai Lan's words. She decided to maintain her usual strong attitude and replied with:

"What do you mean? I don't understand? Don't bother me!"

Upon receiving Karuizawa's reply, Bai Lan didn't say much. He directly wrote on the phone interface:

"The phone provided by the school doesn't have very good reception. It didn't pick up as much as my ears did at the scene, but it still captured some interesting content."

Below this, he attached the video recording.

Sent.

This way, Karuizawa could no longer play dumb.

Upon seeing Bai Lan's latest message, Karuizawa indeed gave up her hope of a lucky break.

However, unlike Bai Lan.

What Karuizawa cared about wasn't the recording at all, but the person who recorded it!

Judging by the movement of the camera in the video, it was manually operated, which meant the person filming was present at the scene.

Since the phone recording could capture so much sound about the conversation, the human ear, with its stronger hearing ability, must have heard even more!

"It's over...

The fact that I'm weak and easy to bully has been discovered by the person I fear!

And he seems to want to use this to make me do something?"