People at the practical education center only want to drop out.

A deserted corner.

A handsome, honest guy who's easy to bully.

Blonde hottie.

If the two people were to switch genders slightly...

A deserted corner.

An honest and beautiful woman who is easy to bully.

Yellow hair.

It's completely based on a doujinshi plot.

A possibility instantly popped into Bai Lan's mind.

Sure enough, Karuizawa, that "blonde guy," was planning to force that "beauty" to date him?

good chance!

If Karuizawa dares to threaten that boy into dating her.

Bai Lan could then use this as leverage to threaten Karuizawa into dating him.

Bai Lan thought excitedly.

Soon, as they drew closer, Bai Lan gradually saw the boy's true colors.

It turns out it really was someone I knew.

"It's Hirata?!"

Upon seeing that Karuizawa's target was Hirata, Shirai was immediately surprised and began to doubt herself.

"Did I misunderstand? Karuizawa wasn't trying to do anything bad. She just wanted to find Hirata somewhere where no one would see her so she could confess her feelings or something?"

otherwise.

After all, Hirata is a key figure in Class D and holds a high position in the class. Let alone anyone trying to bully him, simply showing dissatisfaction with him would be criticized by many female fans in the class.

Besides, although Hirata did not show any violent tendencies, he demonstrated physical abilities far exceeding those of most of his peers in physical education class a few days ago.

This is not something that can be threatened lightly.

"Unless... Karuizawa has some kind of leverage over Hirata?"

Soon, Bai Lan thought of a possibility.

"Could it be that Karuizawa saw through Hirata's distorted facts in an attempt to clear my name?"

56. Listening Test

"Could it be that Karuizawa saw through Hirata's distorted facts in an attempt to clear my name?"

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

"The reason Karuizawa dislikes me every day is because she sees through the truth and knows that Hirata is lying, and that I am no 'hero'. Therefore, she won't develop any false affection for me, which is why she reacts so strongly to every time we make eye contact!"

"Is that really the case? Karuizawa doesn't seem that smart. Am I overthinking it?"

As the saying goes: Make bold conjectures, but verify them carefully.

Bai Lan boldly speculated that whether or not to verify the information depended on whether the question requiring verification was valuable enough to her.

If it has no value, a conjecture is just a conjecture.

But clearly, this conjecture is very valuable to Bai Lan at the moment.

After all, Bai Lan was planning to help Hirata resolve the aftermath of his forced whitewashing in order to repay a favor.

If Karuizawa really knows that Hirata lied and intends to do something about it, he must find a way to deal with it.

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

Bai Lan quickly went over.

Bai Lan was quite far away from Karuizawa and the others at this moment.

This is because Bai Lan considered that this place was deserted and too quiet, and the lighting was poor, which would make people subconsciously focus more on their ears. Under such circumstances, even the slightest movement would be very noticeable and easily detected by the person being followed.

Therefore, despite the cover of night, Bai Lan was even more cautious than during the day, and hadn't dared to get too close before. (Intentionally, "jin" and "ping" appear in the same chapter at the same time, oops.)

In addition, Karuizawa deliberately lowered his voice, making it quieter than normal conversation, so at this distance, Bai Lan couldn't hear what they were saying at all.

Hirata, being understanding, probably lowered his voice to please Karuizawa.

Even though Bai Lan was quite confident in her hearing, she couldn't hear it clearly because it was so soft.

"Fine, I'll just go over and listen, and film the whole thing. If Karuizawa tries to use threats like Kushida, then she'll lose everything, hmph~"

Immediately afterwards, Bai Lan quietly moved closer.

Soon, Bai Lan found their location and hid behind a flower bush, where she began to eavesdrop.

In this place, Bai Lan could barely hear what Karuizawa and the others were saying.

If Karuizawa and the others spoke at their current volume, or if they spoke even slightly less clearly, or if they lowered their volume even further, Bai Lan wouldn't be able to hear them.

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

The main reason is that this flower patch is already the best hiding spot that Bai Lan can reach.

Apart from this flowerbed, there were no other obstacles around Karuizawa and his companions that allowed him to hide.

⒊yi ② ba 伊嘶医san 疚

By the time Bai Lan stopped, Karuizawa had already completed several rounds of dialogue.

Bai Lan had no way of knowing what Karuizawa and Hirata had said at the beginning.

He could only begin to understand Hirata Karuizawa's purpose by looking at the middle part.

At that moment, Karuizawa spoke.

Japanese listening test, now begins!

Question 1:

Karuizawa: "Hirata...I...will be your boyfriend."

The "..." indicates that although the two spoke, Bai Lan was unable to hear the specific content.

My English teacher taught me that in listening tests, if you can't understand or hear something clearly, you should fill in the gaps by referring to the context.

Based on what she could hear, Bai Lan logically pieced together Karuizawa's entire message: "Hirata-kun, I like you. Please be my boyfriend!"

"Is Karuizawa confessing his feelings to Hirata?"

"As expected, Hirata is very popular. Even this hot girl who is always fierce to everyone has fallen for his school uniform pants."

Bad news: Karuizawa wants Hirata to be his boyfriend. If Hirata agrees, all of Bai Lan's efforts in stalking him these past few days will have been in vain. Besides, it will be difficult for him to find another suitable target like Karuizawa.

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

After all, Hirata wants to be "everyone's Hirata," and probably doesn't want to "favor only one person."

"Hirata, don't agree to her!" Bai Lan cried out in her heart.

Hirata replied quickly.

Question 2:

Hirata: "Why... do you disagree?"

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

This relieved Bai Lan.

However, Karuizawa did not give up, and she spoke again.

The third question:

Karuizawa: "You...have a popular...boyfriend...are impressive...looking at me...I'm scared."

From Karuizawa's words, Bai Lan could deduce that Karuizawa probably didn't genuinely like Hirata when she chose him as her boyfriend, but rather because of his "popularity."

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

So, is "prestige" Karuizawa's "ambition"?

Upon hearing this, Bai Lan became quite excited.

Good news: Bai Lan has finally found out what "benefits" Karuizawa wants! What she wants is "prestige". As long as she can make Karuizawa feel "prestige", Karuizawa will probably agree to be Bai Lan's shield.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Hirata will still not agree.

Soon, Hirata spoke again.

Question 4:

Hirata: "No... Shiro... is a good person."

After listening to Hirata's words, Bai Lan felt a little strange at first, as he felt that Hirata seemed to have mentioned him.

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

what's the situation?

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

Then, Bai Lan was mentioned again, and finally, she was described as a "good person".

Soon, Bai Lan thought of a possibility.

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

Sure, Hirata.

Consider it a favor I owe you!

"That's right! Because of Hirata's forced whitewashing, my status in the class is no worse than Hirata's, and even slightly higher. If Karuizawa were my girlfriend, she would be just as 'powerful'."

It's even more 'prestigious' than being Hirata's girlfriend, after all, Hirata is a nice guy, while I...

No, that's not right! It seems that in other people's eyes, I'm an even more outrageous, self-sacrificing, good-natured person than Hirata!

"I see. It's probably because I 'like self-sacrifice,' which makes Karuizawa worry that one day she'll get into trouble and be 'dragged down' by me. That's why Karuizawa chose Hirata as her boyfriend instead of coming to me."