My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29
“When did I ever?”
“Always. Every time. Who was the one hit in the head by a basketball?”
His sharp gaze shifted from Ibi’s forehead to her bandaged hand.
She felt indignation, but couldn’t argue back.
“Tonight I’m not trying to cause trouble—I’m just doing what I need to do as class representative.”
At this year’s New Year resolution event, she’d inherited wisdom from the senior class representatives, and one of those lessons was the art of reaching harmonious agreement between students’ desires and school rules.
For instance, hanging blackout curtains on the hallway windows.
And surprisingly, the materials needed for such tasks were neatly organized in the basement storage beneath the dormitory.
It was a legacy of wisdom left by past class representatives, and through that New Year’s event, Ibi had earned the trust of her seniors and received a key to the basement storage.
“It’s simple—just grab a few items from the basement storage and bring them to the room. Nothing difficult about it.”
“Do that after your hand heals.”
His quiet addition seemed tinged with concern.
“Or have the students who need them come pick them up themselves.”
Quinton’s suggestion was certainly reasonable. But Ibi really wanted to ask him for this favor.
She wanted to show everyone.
That Cyrus Quinton wasn’t the kind of person who went out of his way to bully the second-ranked student.
Rather, he could even show generosity by helping an injured girl.
Once Quinton helped the other students like that, everyone would realize that the flat rumors they’d seen on the anonymous bulletin board were nothing but lies.
Just as Ibi had come to understand when she’d received his bag.
‘It’s such a good idea, isn’t it?’
She felt proud of herself.
A class representative doing her best to clear away stigma. Pretty cool, right?
“You know, Cyrus.”
She stepped forward with a proud smile, but Cyrus flinched and backed away slightly. The ends of his eyebrows twitched a little.
Well, Quinton wasn’t particularly favorable toward Ibi anyway, so it was a natural reaction. Still, without dropping her smile, she made the request again.
“You’ve been grateful that I’ve been helping you grade this whole time, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then this time, you help me.”
Ibi rose up on her tiptoes to look straight up at him.
To appeal to his conscience—that she’d helped him, so now he should help her.
“Huh?”
Instead of answering, Quinton pressed down firmly on her forehead with his large hand.
Her raised toes came down with a soft thud. Only after confirming this did he withdraw his hand.
“No.”
And his firm response came back.
“If you want to do something, do it after your hand heals.”
“Please. If our dormitory racks up too many demerits, my life score will be in danger again.”
Truth be told, demerits weren’t at a dangerous level anymore. She’d received a major amnesty at the New Year.
Still, before those rumors spread any further, it felt like she had to do something.
“Yeah, and my experimental chemistry grade got put in danger because of it too.”
But Cyrus was unmovable.
“Stay in your room. Don’t cause any more trouble.”
Wow, seriously.
She hadn’t heard words like that since she was scolded harshly by her nanny when she was younger.
(Of course, the young Ibi had been quite the troublemaker, often sneaking around the royal palace late at night. But that was something any child should naturally do.)
He didn’t even give her time to argue—he just turned and left.
‘I was only trying to help in my own way.’
Though Quinton didn’t know anything about the situation.
And even if he did, he wouldn’t want her help.
Especially not from an experimental partner he barely knew.
‘…….’
Realizing that, she wondered if she’d been thinking needless thoughts.
After all, what he probably wanted was just to ‘conduct the chemistry experiment normally.’
* * *
Following Cyrus’s instructions, Ibi lay quietly on her dormitory bed checking the anonymous bulletin board, when she suddenly fell asleep.
Could it have been the pain reliever or antibiotics the teacher prescribed?
When she woke, darkness surrounded her.
But hearing students’ voices coming vibrantly from beyond the hallway, it seemed the lights-out time hadn’t arrived yet.
Warm bedding wrapped around her body. Joy must have covered her with the blanket.
She could easily picture her roommate struggling with her thin arms to spread the blanket over her.
She’d probably tease her—’Going to sleep without even pulling up the blanket?’—while carefully tucking her in from neck to toes.
Ibi entrusted her heart to this thoughtful warmth her roommate had created.
She used to not think much of such coziness. What meaning could relationships formed here have for someone who was ‘fake’?
But this tender warmth was ‘real.’ So she felt she couldn’t simply call these moments ‘fake.’
Of course, that didn’t mean the guilt and awkwardness of hiding her identity could disappear.
Ibi slowly pulled herself up. When she pushed off the bed, the inconvenience of not being able to use her left hand struck her anew.
Just as she sat up and turned on the desk lamp, she saw a sandwich placed on top.
[Ibi, you need to take medicine so eat something. I tried waking you at dinner time but you wouldn’t get up.
-Joy.]
How kind of her.
She read the note once more and put it away in a drawer.
Knock, knock.
A knock sounded at the door.
Who could it be?
Ibi turned on the room light and opened the door.
It was a girl from the Third Dormitory. She had brown hair in long braids on either side and wore her uniform neatly.
What was her name? Still half-asleep, Ibi searched her hazy mind.
Emily Gray.
She worked as a library helper, and Ibi had seen her organizing books several times.
Because of her tall frame and lean build, she was actually quite noticeable, though she seemed to dislike that fact and often hunched her shoulders.
“Hi, Emily.”
“I, I’m sorry.”
Emily offered an apology immediately.
Ibi knew what it was about from her gaze alone. She was looking at the bandaged hand.
“No, my hand is fine. What’s up?”
“Um…….”
Emily hesitated, then said “blackout curtain” in a small, meek voice. For some reason it seemed cute, so Ibi smiled a little.
She probably wanted to study after lights-out.
“I have so much homework this week.”
“That happens sometimes. Wait a moment.”
Ibi returned to her desk and pulled a key from the drawer.
“Since I’m hurt and can’t take it directly, I’ll show you to the storage. You can carry it yourself, right?”
“Oh? Yeah.”
Emily quickly nodded, fidgeting nervously with her long braided hair with trembling hands.
It was probably her first conversation with Ibi, so it felt awkward.
Even though Ibi wasn’t treating her in any scary way.
“Follow me.”
They passed through the dormitory hallway and descended the stairs. Emily followed about three or four steps behind.
“Emily.”
After turning on the lights in the stairwell leading down, Ibi glanced back to make sure Emily was following properly and explained the important details.
That she needed to keep the existing curtains in good condition and restore everything to its original state at the end of the semester.
“The blackout curtains will be collected all at once at the end of the year. Just wash them and return them. Got it?”
“Y, yes. I’ll do that.”
She unlocked the padlock and stepped inside, turning on the light. Orange light from a flickering bulb cast its glow over the neat interior, organized by metal shelving.
“I keep forgetting to replace the lightbulb. When my hand heals, that’s the first thing I need to fix.”
Ibi sighed and entered further. In the windowless storage, there was always that distinctive smell of dust and a heavy atmosphere.
The peculiarly cold air seemed to seep into the wound on her left hand, making Ibi frown slightly.
The medicine was probably wearing off. When she got back, she’d need to eat the sandwich Joy had left and take a pain reliever right away.
Ibi picked up the inventory checklist hanging by the entrance and headed deeper into the storage.
“Over here, Emily.”
Only then did she turn back to Emily, who had just finished descending the stairs.
“They’re all wrapped individually in plastic, so just grab the one on top and…….”
Her words trailed vaguely into the cold air. She hadn’t finished speaking because she sensed something odd.
Emily wasn’t moving. She stood near the entrance with her head hung low.
Only the flicker of the bulb was the sole movement. Even as darkness and light crossed back and forth again and again, Emily didn’t step any closer.
In a moment of flickering light, Emily lifted her head. Though the lingering afterimage made her expression unreadable, something like oppression seemed to flash across her face.
“……Emily?”
The moment Ibi turned her body toward the entrance.
Bang.
The door slammed shut.
Simultaneously, the bulb’s light—barely holding on—went out.
Perfect darkness.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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