My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 49

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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 49
Cyrus was watching Ibby, whose eyes kept rolling around in circles.
What on earth was going on inside that small head of hers.
“Underwood.”
At the sound of her name, her wandering eyes turned toward him.
…….
Why was she so confused?
It was Cyrus who couldn’t quite grasp the situation.
The Ibby he knew wouldn’t be grateful just for getting a little attention in class.
She’d be furious, demanding to know why he hadn’t woken her.
Yet she’d simply apologized, then suddenly apologized for what happened last time too.
Calling it an “unpleasant incident” as she explained it.
At that moment, annoyance had begun to creep up on him, but he’d barely managed to suppress it. After all, he could understand what Ibby meant by choosing the word “unpleasant.”
Just as he’d barely regained his composure, then came what happened next.
She held out Chocolate to him.
He knew perfectly well that the Chocolate held no particular meaning.
And yet the way she offered it—that crumpled wrapper—while watching his reaction, it was somehow…
……oddly irritating to look at.
If he didn’t take it, this meddlesome class president would surely scurry off to another student and ask, “Want some?”
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he snatched the Chocolate away from her.
With the small wrapper rustling in his hand, he felt an odd sense of relief.
On the other hand, it was a bit absurd.
Valentine’s Day. Chocolate.
For him to be associated with something people crazed by hormones celebrated—it was ridiculous.
What on earth was Ibby Underwood doing to him?
“Why’d you call me if you weren’t going to say anything?”
When he remained silent for a long while, she seemed troubled. Ibby asked again, her expression prickly once more.
“Just because.”
He flipped the empty Chocolate wrapper back onto her hand.
“Throw this away for me.”
It was a petty act without much thought behind it.
Someone who confuses you deserves some punishment, Underwood.
……?
Ibby looked back and forth between the wrapper and him. Her small mouth hung open—how amusing.
“Did you just throw garbage at me?”
“I’m asking a favor.”
He answered curtly.
“Besides, purposeful movement helps organize one’s thoughts.”
“My thoughts are always organized!”
“Yet every time I see you, your eyes are rolling around.”
“That’s your fault!”
“Mine?”
She tried to speak several times before barely managing an answer.
“……You make me angry. Every single time.”
“I make you angry every time?”
He merely repeated her words. He hadn’t actually meant to press the issue.
Cyrus was well aware that his sharp tongue always irritated others.
Ibby would probably shoot him a pointed look, say “Yes!” and march off to the dormitory.
…….
But this time, Ibby’s eyes began rolling around again in response to his question.
What was she thinking about now?
“Well, I did receive your help during the Debate Competition.”
“What?”
Her mumbled response came as an unexpected defense of him.
“When I failed that experiment too, and when I got trapped in the Underground Storage, and during the New Year’s Resolution Event. God, why are there so many instances?!”
The way she pouted her lips in frustration was amusing.
Come to think of it, there was no need to call those things help.
They were more like meddling. Or nagging.
Of course, the fact that he’d done such things for another person at all was surprising.
“All right, let me correct myself. You don’t make me angry every time. Just often.”
Something felt off. “Often” meant that during the remaining times, she wasn’t angry.
“Your vocabulary has become more generous.”
At Cyrus’s precise observation, Ibby quickly raised her defenses again.
“This is the maximum generosity I can muster. So from now on, I absolutely won’t receive your help.”
As if making a grand resolution, Ibby was even nodding to herself.
Stubborn, that one.
“You won’t accept my help? Not at all?”
“Right!”
Ibby lifted her head sharply. Behind her thick Glasses frames, her eyes were full of determination.
“We’ll see.”
He lifted the Flower Basket he’d been holding slightly.
Having forgotten about it, Ibby’s face fell with dismay, and finding her sudden change of expression amusing, Cyrus couldn’t help but laugh.
“Seems you’ve already broken that promise.”
“Give it back.”
As Ibby reached out her arm, he quickly hid the basket behind his back.
“No.”
“Don’t mess around!”
Growing flustered, she moved closer, and he stepped back to avoid her.
“Come on, give it here.”
Ibby lunged for the basket hidden behind his back several times, but each attempt failed.
Success was essentially impossible. And forgive him for saying so, but Ibby Underwood was seriously uncoordinated.
When it came to moving her body, she was sluggish to a degree that made one sigh.
“Besides, this isn’t something I asked you to help me with in the first place……!”
He should have gone easier on her.
Her voice grew louder as if she were truly angry, and he saw her body tip forward as she overextended her arm.
The moment he realized what was happening, Cyrus dropped the Flower Basket.
The flowers fell to the ground, their red petals scattering around, and the cold late-winter breeze that had begun to blow carried them upward into the air.
As red specks drifted through the space, Ibby barely caught herself on his arm.
There was no time for thought between dropping the basket and catching her.
Her weight was barely perceptible. And yet the inside of his arm where she touched him suddenly tingled.
“Ah.”
Still caught in his grip at the waist, Ibby lifted her head.
The anger that had filled her face moments before had vanished, leaving only her blue eyes looking up at him.
Her Glasses had tilted again. Just like that time when they’d collided with his.
This time too, he straightened her Glasses for her.
His hand at her waist remained where it was. He felt her breath settling downward under his palm.
Throughout it all, Ibby didn’t move an inch.
And the fact that she didn’t…….
Relieved him.
At least it didn’t mean she was completely rejecting him.
Did the fact that such a thought crossed his mind mean that Ibby Underwood’s rejection frightened him?
Certainly.
If she had turned her head away, saying “Don’t touch me!”, his mood would have been far from pleasant.
Where did such a bizarre thought originate?
“……I don’t know.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, really.”
He watched the space between his arm and her for a moment, then picked up the scattered Flower Basket.
“The flowers got a bit damaged. What should we do?”
“Logan won’t mind.”
As he turned toward the dormitory, Ibby followed alongside him.
Perhaps embarrassed about nearly falling moments before, she kept touching her tangled hair nervously.
Watching her white hand appear and disappear among the blonde strands, Cyrus recalled the debate topic he’d been wrestling with for some time.
The topic he’d pondered, determined to refute with flawless reasoning no matter what.

Had Ibby found a way to counter that statement?
For the record, Cyrus had yet to find one.
But thinking about it now…….
Perhaps for the current version of himself, a refutation would have been impossible.
“Sigh.”
The fact that such a useless emotion was intruding into his life was not part of any calculation.
And worse, the person involved was…….
“Hey, Cyrus.”
Ibby, who had been absently touching her hair for a while, spoke to him carefully.
She seemed to be about to say something important.
“……What.”
He answered, his voice slightly hoarse.
Wondering if these terrible feelings he was experiencing now might, just slightly, exist within her as well.
Considering only what had happened moments before…….
“I’ve been thinking about it.”
Ibby, who had been hesitating, finally turned to face him again. The moment their eyes met, his heart gave a strong thud.
Though he didn’t want to show that unfamiliar shock, it was probably written plainly across his face in all its foolish clarity.
“I’ve decided I should deliver the flowers myself. I need to apologize properly to Logan. The flowers got damaged because of me.”
“That’s what you’ve been thinking about? Right now?”
Ibby slowly nodded.
Cyrus felt his mind go blank for a moment.
He’d known that Ibby Underwood was oblivious.
But even to this degree—he hadn’t expected it.
“……Do as you wish.”
Even if he told her not to, that upright class president would surely insist on doing it anyway.
And to be honest, Cyrus found that quality of hers genuinely irritating.
If he saw a few more instances of that behavior, these strange emotions would surely vanish without ever having existed.
It was natural law that all things that arose would eventually disappear.
It would disappear.
Disappear. Quickly.
And yet his gaze remained fixed on the blonde hair swaying beside him.
* * *
Third Dormitory Anonymous Bulletin Board
[Trivial]
Anyone take philosophy class just now? Did you see rank 1??
Author: Anonymous | 17:23
The class president was dozing in the back row when Cyrus supported her forehead with his palm;; is he actually kind?
[Anonymous 1]
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ do people actually buy this kind of story? Report
[Anonymous 2]
Better claim rank 1 drugged her. Report 222
└
[Anonymous 1]
This one might actually sell. But you’re reported too.
[Anonymous 3]
Is he actually kind ㅇㅈㄹㅋㅋㅋㅋ are you a pro Cyrus fan? Report 3333333
[Anonymous 4]
Now Cyrus-Ibby shippers are showing up?? Delete before the class president sees it. Report 44444444444444444
[Notification: The post has been deleted by the author.]

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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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