My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 5

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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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Episode 5
“What on earth are you doing?”
“I have something I need to finish by tonight.”
Something? Was she talking about an assignment?
Ibi turned slightly, trying to peer at his desk through the gap in the door.
But he moved quickly, blocking her view.
“What kind of assignment are you guarding like it’s treasure?”
Ibi tilted her head the other way and asked, only for him to block her sightline again.
“I’m sorry to even say this, but—”
Looking at him like that, it was only natural that a certain suspicion crossed her mind.
The secret reason why an excellent student couldn’t turn off his light at night.
“You. Don’t tell me.”
“Don’t tell you what?”
That was when Chopin’s Nocturne played over the dormitory speakers.
That most famous part of it.
It was the signal for Lights-Out Time, and Cyrus looked down at Ibi with eyes that said there was nothing he could do now.
When that song played, everyone was supposed to switch their phones to silent and avoid visiting other students’ rooms. So by the rules, Ibi should return to her own room.
Cyrus’s triumphant gaze was because he knew those regulations.
How foolish.
Ibi was certain that this spectacled boy might be skilled in academics, but he had no eye for reading people.
If he’d paid even a little attention to Ibi Underwood, or at the very least understood what had happened at their points of contact, he would have known one simple fact.
That she was the type who couldn’t bear to lose.
“I’m telling you again, Cyrus.”
While he was off guard, Ibi used the wisdom she’d learned in basketball class and slipped swiftly under his arm, invading his room.
“It’s Lights-Out Time now. You need to turn off the light.”
And she scored a three-pointer.
Which meant she’d completely shut off his excessively bright desk lamp.
It was Ibi’s perfect victory.
His room fell into complete darkness. Cyrus, standing in the doorway, was barely visible as a silhouette.
Ibi wondered what expression he was wearing. She hoped he looked upset about this small defeat.
Intoxicated with her sense of victory, Ibi decided to press him a bit further.
“This.”
Ibi tapped her fingertips against his desk.
“If these assignments get discovered, you’ll be in trouble. You know that, right?”
“I suppose.”
Cyrus’s response was indifferent.
“Don’t pretend to be so composed. What will you do if I report you? Doesn’t that give you chills?”
“It’s not me who should be chilled, Underwood. It’s you.”
“Me? I—”
Ibi stopped mid-sentence.
No—her breath even caught. Because she could now see Cyrus’s expression very clearly.
That meant there was some kind of light in the hallway, and after Lights-Out Time, there was only one person who would confidently carry a light through the dormitory corridor.
The dormitory supervisor, Leonard Holden.
Ibi went pale and opened her mouth wordlessly at Cyrus.
Close the door! Hurry, please!
Of course, Cyrus probably couldn’t see Ibi clearly. The room was nothing but darkness.
But it wouldn’t be difficult for him to guess her intent with such urgency behind it.
Yet Cyrus didn’t close the door.
“Cyrus Quentin.”
Moreover, Leonard Holden’s voice came from beyond the hallway.
“Why is your door open? Didn’t you know Lights-Out Time has passed?”
Ibi clasped her hands together and began to plead silently. If she was discovered here, it would be the end.
The fact that she’d snuck into another student’s room after lights-out—and a boy’s room at that—wasn’t just a matter of honor.
Her Conduct Score would plummet to nearly negative one hundred. Not only would she lose her status as an Excellent Student, but she’d be called to the Principal’s Office for a warning.
And on top of that, she might have to write an essay ten pages long on the absurd topic of “Why Did I Sneak into Cyrus’s Room?”
Since not a single one of these consequences was anything short of dreadful, Ibi now wished she could just prostrate herself on the floor and beg.
Close the door! Please!
“I’m aware that Lights-Out Time has passed, sir.”
The sound of Holden’s footsteps grew steadily closer.
“My room just needed some ventilation, so I left the door open.”
“Ventilation?”
In that instant, Cyrus turned his gaze and pierced directly through the darkness to where Ibi was hiding.
“……!”
Ibi couldn’t even breathe now.
“Yes, it should be fine now. Good night, sir.”
Cyrus bowed and only then closed the door.
The dormitory supervisor’s footsteps faded away at a pace that was torturously slow, and in that time, Ibi barely managed to stifle a scream.
At last, perfect silence arrived.
Yet even though it was the moment she’d so desperately wished for, Ibi couldn’t feel any sense of relief.
In the darkness, his presence drew near, and Ibi squeezed her eyes shut.
“Underwood.”
At the softly spoken voice, Ibi opened her tightly closed eyes.
“Get out.”
Cyrus’s profile appeared right in front of her. Painfully clear.
That also meant his desk lamp was pushing back the darkness at maximum brightness again.
Ibi moved her still-cold hands and dimmed the lamp’s brightness.
“Are you planning to call Leonard Holden back?”
“Probably not for the next thirty minutes, I’d say.”
And Cyrus took out a disinfectant tissue and wiped down the lamp.
As if she were some kind of germ.
“Either way, what you’re doing breaks School Rules. You’re giving private tutoring, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I’m giving private tutoring.”
“Did you forget you signed a document saying you wouldn’t do Advance Studying when you enrolled?”
That was a condition that applied universally to all students and parents admitted to this school.
Of course, since there were few students ambitious enough to do advance studying, it was merely a formality.
“It’s not a violation.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
Ibi picked up a printout from the stack on his desk and showed it to him, speaking clearly.
“Here’s evidence of Advance Studying—linear equation graphs……”
Ibi sensed the error in her words and immediately checked the printout she was holding.
Beautifully solved linear equations.
This was a level that appeared on Royal High School’s entrance exam, so it was hardly “advance” material.
“Is that your secret—an exceptionally broad review scope? Or is it a hobby?”
“Don’t touch other people’s things. Hand it over.”
Cyrus snatched the printout from her hands.
There were quite a few printouts like this on his desk, with various levels of difficulty and subjects all mixed together.
The handwriting of the problem-solvers was all different as well.
“So when you say you’re giving private tutoring, that means it’s not you learning, but……”
“Right. I’m the one teaching.”
He pulled out a red pen and was adding corrections to one student’s work.
Now she understood why he’d insisted on keeping the light on. The children’s handwriting was often too small or faint, and some looked like earthworm trails.
He deciphered every letter as if it were second nature, noting what was right and wrong, what needed to be supplemented, and offering guidance from different angles—all with meticulous care.
“I don’t take money for it.”
He explained this preemptively, as if offering charity, sensing that Ibi was about to bring up the rule about students not working part-time outside school.
“So you kept the desk lamp on for this?”
“Yes.”
He set aside the graded printout and began checking another student’s work.
Ibi didn’t ask what his relationship was to these children or why he was taking the time to help them.
It wouldn’t be wise to pry into someone’s personal matters when she barely knew them.
And besides, he didn’t seem like the type who would answer even if asked.
“How much longer will this take? Will you be done before the supervisor comes by again?”
Right now, Ibi was more concerned about Cyrus facing penalties.
Because those penalties would inevitably circle back to her as well.
“Usually about an hour? Sometimes longer.”
“Give me half of them.”
He looked up from the grading he’d been absorbed in.
“This requires careful attention.”
“Are you saying I’m not careful?”
“Well, you’re careful enough to raise an issue about a typo in ‘composition.'”
“That typo was……! Anyway, let’s just try one first and then decide.”
When Ibi’s proposal went on too long, he handed her a printout without bothering to hide his reluctance.
“If I’m not satisfied, I’ll throw it straight out into the hallway.”
“Go ahead then. You’ll end up begging for help soon enough.”

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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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