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

I just hate getting involved in pointless and troublesome things.

While it's true that simply refusing can largely prevent subsequent trouble, the act of 'refusing' itself is a troublesome matter.

Because when you are presented with "yes" and "no" options, even if you already have the answer in your mind, even if you don't need to think at all and just need to "confirm your choice", the act of "confirming your choice" itself consumes your energy.

Just like pop-up ads on the internet, even if you click away immediately without thinking, you'll still find them annoying.

95

In my opinion, for people who have no expectations of being in a relationship, suitors are just like advertisements that have entered the real world.

Moreover, these small ads cannot be simply eliminated by clicking a mouse or clicking an "X".

In short, it's really annoying, you know?

It's not that I'm bad at saying no; I'm just annoyed by anything that I'm not interested in but insists on entering my world. Do you understand now?

After speaking, Bai Lan buried her face in the lunchbox and quickly devoured a third of the food in it.

Seeing Bai Lan's earnest explanation, Ichinose thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, Bai-kun, I think I understand completely!"

"Do you really understand?" Bai Lan asked Ichinose, who was nodding, with some uncertainty.

Ichinose nodded again.

However, Bai Lan still felt uneasy, worried that the other party's "understanding" might not be the same as the "understanding" he wanted.

"Is Ichinose just giving me the runaround? Does 'understand' here mean 'yes, yes, yes'? Or is he doing what Horikita did last night, exploiting loopholes in my wording and deliberately misinterpreting my meaning?" Bai Lan couldn't help but think.

However, after thinking about it, Bai Lan shook his head. He felt that Ichinose's personality wouldn't allow him to do such a thing.

and many more!

Did he also think of Horikita like that yesterday, thinking that "Given Horikita's personality, she wouldn't do such a thing"?

The results of it?

Are you embarrassed?

Thinking of this, Bai Lan couldn't help but want to confirm with Ichinose again whether Ichinose's "understanding" was the same as what he had explained.

But he quickly abandoned the idea.

He felt that doing so was unnecessary, since the request he was about to make to Ichinose had nothing to do with whether he was good at refusing kindness.

"In short, you know I hate all the trouble that comes with being in a relationship, and I'm too lazy to spend the time and energy to say no." Bai Lan summarized the previous points in one sentence, and then finished off another third of her meal.

"Hmm, so, what exactly does Shiro want me to do for you?" Ichinose asked.

Bai Lan stopped eating, swallowed the food in her mouth, and said, "I want you to help me get rid of the pursuers who are bothering me. I have an idea that can easily and once and for all solve the problem of being pursued by pursuers. Not only my pursuers, but also yours."

Ichinose asked curiously, "Oh? You can even take care of my share? How exactly do you do it?"

Finally, Bai Lan revealed her true colors: "Fake couple."

"Fake couple?"

"That's right! If you're thinking about dating, or need to rely on being 'single' to maintain something, then I won't say anything more."

When you are not, you don't plan to be in a relationship.

And your control over the class isn't based on the 'single' attribute, after all, those who are under your command aren't just boys in puberty.

They trust you because they believe in your character; whether you have a boyfriend or not won't diminish your influence on the class.

If you don't plan to date and don't need to maintain your influence by being 'single', leaving an empty 'couple' spot will do you no good!

In my case, it was pretty much the same.

As long as our 'couple' position remains vacant, other people will have a legitimate 'reason' to pursue us.

Those pursuits only waste our time, energy, and trouble, adding unnecessary problems for us.

In that case, why don't we just cooperate and ban the 'couple' slot?

In this way, others will have no legitimate reason to pursue us, and we can save a lot of time and energy spent on rejection.

It's a win-win!

How wonderful!

"Ah, well... but I'm not very good at lying, especially to my classmates who trust me. I don't want to let them down, and just thinking about it makes me feel terrible. I'm sure I'll slip up and get caught, right? I probably can't help you with this."

Ichinose refused.

“You’re wrong!” Bai Lan shook her head.

"Where did I go wrong?" Ichinose asked, puzzled.

Bai Lan: "Although we are a fake couple, we are not lying to each other."

Ichinose: "What do you mean? You're a 'fake' couple, so how can you still be lying?"

"Actually, in my opinion, the way 'real couples' and 'fake couples' act is the same, and there is no need to act at all."

"Ah? How could it be?"

Bai Lan: "The so-called 'couple' is actually based on feelings, because of a momentary liking, falling in love with each other, confessing, and the result of the other person accepting."

But love can be genuine or fake.

False love is actually just liking the other person's body, fame, fortune, or something else; it's about only thinking about getting what you want from the other person.

False love is merely an impulse driven by desire.

True love is restraint; it's the ability to remain steadfast even when driven by desire, so as not to do anything that would hurt the other person.

Therefore, if it is true love, one will respect the other person, take care of their thoughts, and not force them to do things they do not want to do.

Strictly speaking, only 'true love' qualifies as 'real couple'.

The rest are just "playing around" or "making do after seeing the truth."

So, to summarize:

The outward manifestation of a 'true couple' is that they are 'unwilling' to make their partner do things they 'don't want to do'.

To the general public, without knowing the inside story, it all looks fake.

"What about the 'fake couple'?" Ichinose asked.

"Actually, it's pretty much the same." Bai Lan continued, "Fake couples, because it's a contractual relationship, both parties' actions are based on the constraints of the contract, and the content of the contract can only be established after mutual negotiation and consent."

Because the relationship between the two parties is fake, neither party can take advantage of the fact that "we are a couple" to manipulate the other party's feelings, disregard the other person's feelings, and make the other person do things they don't want to do.

Therefore, the manifestation of a 'fake couple' is that they 'cannot' make the other person do things they 'don't want to'.

The former is due to the emotional constraints of true love, while the latter is due to the rational constraints of rules. But the ultimate result is the same: both parties in a romantic relationship can refrain from doing things they don't want to do!

Therefore, real couples are just like fake couples, and fake couples are just like real couples.

Real couples aren't really real, and fake couples aren't really fake!

So you don't need to play any role at all.

We don't even need to do anything intimate.

When others question you, simply respond with the core principles of "respect because of love," "maintaining distance because of respect," and "my partner doesn't want to do that." Just pin all the strange questions on me!

100. Plant a seed! Beware of Nan Yunya.

Shirai's series of theories successfully confuse Ichinose.

For a time, Ichinose felt that playing a fake couple was a cost-free and highly profitable thing, and that getting the part was a sure win.

But Ichinose's intuition told her that there was something wrong with what Shiran said.

Therefore, Ichinose still intends to refuse.

"To Bai, I feel that it is an honor to be liked by others, and I don't think being liked by others is a troublesome thing."

When someone confesses their feelings to me, I hope to respond with sincerity rather than deception.

So, I'm sorry, I can't help you with this.

Or should I help you figure out a suitable way to refuse?

Do you want to respond sincerely and earnestly?

After hearing Ichinose's explanation, Shirai shook her head and said.

Then, Bai Lan said, "Ichinose, what you said is very nice, but your idea simply won't work in this school."

"Ugh?"

"In my opinion, the premise for your statement to hold true is that the person you are sincere with must be a 'good person' whose moral standards are not too low and whose values ​​are relatively normal."

In this way, you can ensure that after making a sincere refusal, the other party will give up immediately and stop bothering you.

However, if you encounter a suitor with slightly lower standards and less shamelessness...

They don't care about any of that; they just want to win Ichinose over.

At that point, no amount of reasoning will work, and no amount of refusal will be effective. After being rejected, the other party will continue to pester you relentlessly, and if they get impatient, they may even resort to all sorts of underhanded tactics.

"If you encounter someone like this, Ichinose, will your sincerity really be of any use?"

"Are there really people like that around us? I think everyone here is a good person, so it shouldn't be..."

Before Ichinose could finish speaking, Shirai interrupted her: "When I warned you before, you thought so too, right? But look what happened, you were obviously wrong. You underestimated the wickedness of people's hearts."

If I'm not mistaken, your class must have been tricked into breaking rules several times by students from other classes, resulting in a lot of points being deducted, right?

In fact, Bai Lan didn't need to guess at all; Long Yuan, the "mastermind," had personally told him about it.

Hearing Bai Lan say this, Ichinose wavered instantly: "Indeed... that's true."

"In fact, there are quite a few people in reality who, after being rejected, continue to cause trouble for others."

Even out of ten cases, you'd probably encounter one or two, right?

But from what you said, it sounds like all the suitors you've had in the past stopped bothering you after being rejected once, which is really strange.

Ichinose, how could you say something like that?

I don't know how to do it, but I know it's a long time

Either you're just using nice words to brush me off, or it means that everyone you've encountered in your past life was truly a 'good person'.