My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 52

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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 52
Eyes that seemed to say, “Just leave me alone.”
Yet the hand gripping Ivy’s arm didn’t release it immediately.
“… I’m sorry.”
Though his grip hadn’t been tight at all, he let go with the apology and left his seat.
Ivy held the spot where he’d gripped her arm.
“… This doesn’t make sense.”
Cyrus had done nothing wrong, yet he was the one being saddled with this shameful accusation over the “stolen test paper” incident.
All of it should have been directed at her.
Even if she hadn’t done anything herself, the actions had been carried out through her account.
How could everyone’s attention have shifted to Cyrus so quickly?
As if someone had deliberately fanned the flames.
* * *
An emergency meeting was called for the dormitory representatives from each building.
The main topic was implementing stricter controls than usual to prevent students from becoming unsettled over the postponed exam.
Additionally, a notice regarding student personal cloud security was distributed.
“So it really was hacking then. Rumors can be right sometimes.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
The representatives from other dormitories gauged Ivy’s reaction, then quickly gathered the notices and left the conference room.
She knew what that look meant.
Suspicion lingering.
Though public opinion had increasingly turned toward blaming Cyrus, it was Ivy who had been summoned first when the incident broke.
She hadn’t bothered to defend herself. In a way, she was almost relieved.
At least these representatives didn’t seem to suspect Cyrus.
“Aren’t you upset?”
After all the other representatives left, only Ivy and a freshman representative from the First Dormitory remained in the conference room.
A boy with plain brown hair and a slight build—she hadn’t spoken to him much since they didn’t share many classes.
But Ivy knew him well.
They met like this during meetings as representatives, though that wasn’t the primary reason.
His name appeared on the Top Student List right below Ivy’s.
Third place: Thomas Harris.
Naturally, she needed to view him as a potential threat to her position.
“Hey.”
Ivy answered with a light shrug.
“What can you do? Some people get blamed for nothing, so I’d say this is better than that.”
She took a step toward Harris.
“And stop posting on our dormitory’s anonymous bulletin board, Harris.”
While there were no explicit restrictions against accessing other dormitories’ boards, it was an unspoken rule.
“W-what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
His denial was so clumsy it was almost pitiful.
He seemed to notice the tremor in his own voice; his head drooped immediately.
“I… I was just trying to help you, no matter how you found out…”
“It wasn’t hard to figure out. You were practically scattering clues all over the place in your excitement.”
[Isn’t it suspicious that your dormitory rep might have done something? Whether he did or not?]
[The way he suddenly stepped in as a substitute during the debate competition was hilarious.]
[He already hacked the teachers’ drive once in middle school.]
Ivy addressed each piece he’d left behind, one by one.
“When you said ‘your dormitory rep,’ you were revealing that you’re not a student in our dorm, right?”
And only the debate participants and the student council staff helping with the event would know that Cyrus had volunteered first.
Other students wouldn’t even care about such a tedious event, let alone know about Cyrus stepping forward.
“I figured it was you from the last thing you said. The truth is, rumors have circulated countless times that Cyrus stole the test papers, but the method had never been discussed.”
So she’d assumed the other person was someone who’d graduated from middle school alongside Cyrus.
“By chance, you were the only one who fit those conditions.”
So she’d merely tested the waters, and he’d agreed perfectly.
“Damn it.”
Harris furrowed his brow and irritably brushed his brown hair aside.
“Don’t blame me. I just hoped you wouldn’t do something stupid like I did.”
Ivy tilted her head, arms crossed.
“Something stupid?”
“When others see Cyrus as obnoxious, but you actually think he’s… okay. Something like that.”
One corner of Thomas’s mouth twisted bitterly, then quickly returned to normal.
“Anyway, when I heard you’d been called to the Counseling Office, I knew right away. That you’d been wrongly accused. Am I wrong?”
“No, that’s right.”
Ivy nodded.
“I didn’t do anything. But that doesn’t mean Cyrus is the culprit.”
“No.”
He denied it firmly.
“He is. I know it.”
“I hope your evidence isn’t ‘because he did it before.'”
“He stole test papers through Hacking back then! And the method is practically the same!”
“The method?”
At the echo of her words, Thomas glanced around and stepped closer.
“Cyrus didn’t just steal the test papers because he wanted first place.”
He lowered his voice further.
“He sent the files to the second-place student. Disguised it like a normal email. Do you know why he did that?”
He didn’t wait for her answer and rushed on.
“He figured that if he could shame the second-place student—a kid from an influential family—they’d abandon the matter and simply leave school. Absolutely brilliant, right?”
To preserve honor, one chooses silence.
An attack exploiting that very behavior of prominent families.
Ivy tilted her head thoughtfully.
“And it worked perfectly. The case was buried. The second-place student couldn’t even offer a proper defense and left for abroad, while that bastard… never faced any punishment.”
His hands trembled with anger.
“And I believed all the way through that Cyrus couldn’t have done it. Exactly… like you’re doing now.”
That was somewhat surprising. Looking at Thomas now, it was impossible to imagine.
“Before the second-place student left, he told me everything and warned me. He said I might be next.”
“Did you ever ask Cyrus about those facts?”
“Don’t you think I would have?”
Harris’s voice rose.
“You know what that bastard said? ‘Think whatever you want. I don’t care.’ Can you believe it?”
It was an answer she’d expected.
He’d given the same response just moments ago when discussing the rumors.
“I did what I could. I believed in that asshole right to the end! But he didn’t even offer a single explanation!”
Harris bit his lip hard, his resentment from that time still fresh.
“… So?”
Ivy asked slowly as she processed his story.
“So? Did you not listen properly?”
“I did.”
Ivy fidgeted with the bridge of her glasses, her eyes moving for a moment before meeting his gaze again.
“I understand that you’ve found a connection to the previous incident, that you’re suspicious, that’s the situation.”
“Exactly, which is why I was trying to help you—”
“No.”
Ivy didn’t let him finish.
“That’s using me.”
“… What?”
“If you really wanted to help me expose the culprit in this case, you would have come to me directly. You could have gone to a teacher for counseling. Not just spread baseless rumors like this.”
“This isn’t baseless speculation!”
“Fine, being extremely generous and assuming you’re right—how does fueling suspicion on the bulletin board help solve the case at all?”
Thomas offered no answer.
He couldn’t have.
“Just admit you wanted to vent your frustration. Honestly, if that’s all it was, I might’ve tried to understand a little.”
“B-but thanks to me, you’ve at least been cleared of suspicion, haven’t you?”
So he expected thanks?
But Ivy would never do that.
“What you did was nothing but false incitement and misdirection. And…”
Ivy picked up the notice from the desk and delivered her conclusion calmly.
“It hasn’t helped solve the case one bit.”
As she passed him and left the conference room, she heard his voice from behind, thick with resentment.
That she’d regret this.
That without his help, soon bad rumors about her would spread throughout the entire school.
Just before leaving the conference room, Ivy turned back one last time.
“Say whatever you want. I don’t care.”

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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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