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

"You said last night that if I don't take your things seriously enough, you won't take mine seriously either. Only if I take my things seriously enough will you take mine seriously in return."

Therefore, I can understand it as: you're not taking my affairs seriously because I'm not taking them seriously enough, so in order to get you to take them seriously, I must take them even more seriously!

Bai Lan fell silent after Horikita's words.

Bai Lan sorted out her thoughts.

He quickly understood what was going on.

Bai Lan remembered that what she said to Horikita last night was: if Horikita doesn't take being a "shield" seriously, Bai Lan won't help Horikita gain his brother's approval properly.

Bai Lan only mentioned the "punishment plan" in her words, and the logic was similar to "deducting money if you are late".

However, Horikita added her own interpretation to Shirai's logic, deriving "early arrival bonus" from the concept of "deducting money for being late".

Horikita's words meant that she wanted to "pay more," and therefore she planned to "arrive early"!

Bai Lan just didn't want Horikita to slack off, but she didn't intend to ask Horikita to do anything unnecessary!

After all, since Horikita did more work, in order to "fair trade," Bai Lan naturally had to do more work in return to pay Horikita a higher price!

As a result, Bai Lan had no choice but to get involved with Horikita.

Horikita is a paper-reading king who can work for more than ten hours a day!

Bai Lan had no intention of getting involved with her!

Furthermore, the solution Bai Lan intends to provide is only inefficient, not inefficient.

Low efficiency means that to achieve satisfactory results, one must put in several times the effort required under normal circumstances.

In other words, as long as you work hard enough, you can still achieve your goal!

And "hard work" is precisely what Horikita excels at.

In this way, however much effort Horikita puts into Bai Lan's affairs, Bai Lan will also put in a corresponding amount of effort.

Horikita needs to work twice as hard, and Shirai needs to work twice as hard too.

If she perseveres to the end, Bai Lanzhen might actually achieve her goal through Horikita's competitive "driving" tactics!

By the time.

Horikita successfully gained the approval of her older brother, the student council president.

Bai Lan will gain the student council president's favor as a result.

Ultimately, this led to a surge in the likelihood of Bai Lan being expelled from school for violating school rules!

Thinking of this, Bai Lan quickly replied, "In short, you just need to fulfill my requirements to the 'minimum' extent! Don't do anything extra! This is all the 'reward' I'm willing to offer; doing more won't help!"

Horikita: "You get what you pay for. According to the principle of 'equivalent exchange' in transactions, if you only accept me completing the 'minimum' work, can I also interpret that you only intended to provide the minimum help for my matter from the beginning?"

Bai Lan remained silent for a moment.

In the end, Bai Lan chose to give up.

Bai Lan gave up thinking and replied in a self-deprecating manner: "I'm not pretending anymore, I'm laying my cards on the table. You're right, I only intend to provide you with the minimum amount of help, because the minimum amount of shield service I got in exchange for 'helping you gain your brother's approval' is enough for me! Any extra 'help' from you will only be trouble for me."

It's like this: my appetite is at most two bowls of rice; two bowls are just right. Any more would be sinful and wasteful.

Horikita remained silent for a long time before replying, "I already know what you're really thinking..."

Seeing this, Bai Lan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

However, Bai Lan's joy was premature...

Horikita's email wasn't finished yet. When Bai Lan finished reading it and saw the rest, she was instantly dumbfounded.

“I already know what you really think, so I’ve decided that until you come up with a way to help me gain my brother’s approval, I will keep increasing the frequency of our interactions.”

"I told you, I don't like this. You're bothering me!"

"Are you troubled? Well, that's to be expected. When you had Kushida harassing me all day, I was troubled too. So, we're in the same boat. If you don't want to continue to be troubled by me, or even worse, things to happen, then hurry up and help me figure something out! You scumbag!"

Upon seeing this, Bai Lan instantly realized what was happening.

It seems I've inadvertently revealed a weakness to Horikita!

Then, Horikita actually tried to use this weakness to control Shirai!

After figuring out the situation, Bai Lan suddenly realized something terrifying: Horikita had actually started to play mind games!

Bai Lan was immediately shocked: Good heavens! Horikita has gone astray! That blockhead of hers has actually grown a mind!

"The question is, who exactly did Horikita learn bad habits from?" Bai Lan was completely baffled.

97. Horikita's Challenge and Gift, An Encounter with Ichinose

Horikita has actually started playing mind games.

That's really amazing.

However, that's all...

"You think you can control me with something like this? If you continue like this, refusing to do what I ask and doing unnecessary things, then let's end this deal. I don't need your help anymore!" Bai Lan replied.

Horikita: "It's okay. Even if you stop the deal, I can still continue doing it."

Bai Lan: "No, we've already ended things. Are you still planning to continue?"

Horikita: "It's okay. There are many things that can be done without being a 'couple.' I can continue to do some things as a 'pursuer.'"

Bai Lan: "What are you after?"

Horikita: "I am no match for you in terms of force, and I cannot persuade you to help me by force. However, I have found that I seem to be able to achieve a similar effect to 'forceful persuasion' through this kind of thing."

In this way, it doesn't matter whether you or I continue the transaction.

As long as I continue like this, when you find the torment unbearable, in order to stop me from continuing like this and to regain your peace, you will eventually have to help me anyway; the outcome will be the same.

Bai Lan: "Believe it or not, I'll beat you up!!"

Horikita: "You had no reason to lay a hand on me. I was just doing what a 'pursuer' would do."

According to you, you would choose to refuse me through 'non-violent means' and in a relatively 'gentle' way, without resorting to violence. My brother said you are a principled person, and I trust his judgment. So, you wouldn't be thinking of breaking your principles 'for me,' would you?"

Bai Lan: "Horikita, don't you feel any remorse for using such methods to coerce others into helping you?"

Horikita: "Only when you harm innocent people do you feel guilty. In your words, we have a 'mutual bullying' relationship, and in the past, I was always at a disadvantage, and you bullied me more."

I'm just retaliating, seizing an opportunity to get back at them. It's perfectly justified, and my conscience doesn't bother me at all.

Bai Lan: "Who did you learn all this from? Horikita, you've gone astray, do you know that?"

Horikita: "I learned all of this from you. Since my brother has approved of you, it means there are things about you that I can learn from. So, I decided to learn your way of doing things, and it seems... the results are pretty good."

Bai Lan was speechless for a moment.

Bai Lan: "Fine, fine, so you're planning to torment me now that you've lost your 'shield' status, you'll use your 'pursuer' status to torment me, right?"

Okay, you forced me to do this!

Wait, I'll go find a girlfriend right away, once I'm a guy with a girlfriend.

If you continue to pursue me like this, your behavior is considered "stealing someone else's partner," which is "improper conduct."

In this way, even if you 'like' me a lot, you can't 'reasonably pursue' me. Let's see how you can still use your status as a 'pursuer' to torment me!

In this situation, if you dare to continue, you'll be a 'tauren trying to steal someone's partner,' and I won't show any mercy to anyone who wants to be a tauren!

Then I can beat you up without any guilt!

Horikita: "You'll have a girlfriend? I don't believe it. Probably just another 'shield' you're using?"

Bai Lan: "So what if I'm a 'shield'? As long as it makes you lose the legitimacy of tormenting me as a 'pursuer'!"

Horikita: "You won't succeed, at least not in the short term. You'll have a hard time finding a suitable scapegoat."

After all, almost a month has passed since you first found someone to use as a shield.

You couldn't find a suitable scapegoat for the past month, but in the end you still came to me.

This shows that you have very strict conditions for finding a scapegoat; you can't just find anyone.

If you haven't found a suitable target in a month, you might not be able to find one even if you have another month.

Until you find a new shield.

I have plenty of time to attack you.

Rather than struggling and then having to accept it, it's better to accept the result of failure directly.

You avoid the troubles you hate, and I save energy.

In addition, I guess your requirements for a shield must be related to its ability to 'defeat a love rival'.

To meet this requirement, one must either be extremely intimidating, making others afraid to challenge them, or possess exceptionally outstanding abilities such as academic ability, physical strength, and appearance, making others hesitant to compare themselves to them.

Whether it's intimidation, academic ability, physical strength, or appearance, I think I'm almost unbeatable among girls. Moreover, to defeat me, you'd have to beat me in most of these areas.

In short, you would have a hard time finding someone more suitable as a shield than me.

If you find someone whose 'fighting power' is inferior to mine to act as a shield.

Yes, now that you have a girlfriend, it's obviously not appropriate for me to make a move on you anymore, because I need to deal with my scapegoat first.

If you manage to find a 'substitute' for me, then she won't be able to stop my attacks for you.

Once I've dealt with your shield, you'll soon be facing my offensive again!

After reading Horikita's email, Bai Lan pondered how to retaliate.

However, at that moment, the school bell rang.

Because she had to attend class, Bai Lan didn't have time to think carefully about her response, and in the end, she just hurriedly sent a harsh message:

"Just you wait! I can find a better scapegoat than you in a heartbeat!"

“I will definitely break through your shield,” Horikita replied quickly.

At this moment, the teacher had already arrived at the classroom door.

Bai Lan stopped sending emails and instead put away her phone with one hand and took out her textbook with the other.

More than half an hour later.

The fourth period has ended.