My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 75

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

Chapter 75
It was a strange thing.
Nothing in particular happened on the bus ride back from the Equestrian Center, yet Ivy found herself thinking about that moment for days afterward.
Even knowing it meant nothing, she couldn’t help it.
As the moments kept returning to her, she’d developed an odd habit of lightly stroking her left arm, the one that had brushed against him, without quite realizing she was doing it.
As if she could measure the pressure of that contact by touch alone.
Surely not. She’d never do something so foolish.
Without thinking, Ivy wrapped her left arm loosely around herself and made her way to the Library.
She had plans with Fabian. Of course, it was for the Latin Translation assignment.
The Library was its usual chaos today.
The phrase “its usual” almost made her laugh—but it was true.
It was one of the school’s new problems, born the moment the End-of-Year Dance Party announcement went up on the wall.
“When are you going to get your dress?”
“You’re really not going to talk to them?”
“I saw them ask you to go together in the hallway. So public. They must be crazy.”
The same kinds of conversations repeated every day.
Ivy glanced back at Emily, who was working the book counter. When their eyes met, Emily pointed to the new “No Chatter” sign posted on the Library wall and shook her head ruefully.
Hopeless, apparently. Poor thing.
Ivy waved to Emily, then took a seat beside Fabian, who’d arrived first.
“Hey, Ivy.”
“Hey, Fabian.”
It was strange how natural simple greetings had become between them. Considering everything that had happened recently, it was remarkable.
Owen had jumped at the chance to say, “Who knew there was such a schemer hiding in there!”
He wasn’t wrong.
But everyone deserved a chance to prove themselves anew.
And Ivy had needed that too.
She’d wronged him, after all.
If you thought of it as them giving each other a trial period, maybe it wasn’t so strange.
“It seems like everyone who comes to work on assignments just ends up talking about other things.”
Fabian answered with his eyes narrowed slightly.
“Don’t say that. Don’t you remember? When you were little, you even made a list of who you’d dance with when you grew up and updated it regularly—”
Ivy’s eyes went wide, and she quickly clapped her hand over Fabian’s mouth.
Good grief, she’d had no idea he still remembered that from when she was ten.
Fabian quickly raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, his mouth blocked.
Only then did Ivy remove her hand.
“Why would you remember something like that?”
“That’s not fair to blame me for. You showed me that list several times, remember? Said repetition helped it stick. I actually remember the top three names.”
Good grief indeed.
Ivy pressed her palms against her forehead for a moment. So this was the danger of having a childhood friend—forgotten embarrassments surfacing out of nowhere.
A dark secret she’d never expected to see the light of day, appearing just like that.
“And my name never made the top ten, did it.”
There was a playful quality to his words, and Ivy found herself smiling a little.
“Fair enough. I’ll consider you next time I update it.”
“An honor.”
After that, they focused on the Latin assignment, with two drafts and the Original Text Manuscript spread between them.
It went smoothly.
Fabian had strengths in different areas than Ivy. While she obsessed over the nuance of a single word, he had an eye for the flow of entire sentences.
Perhaps the ideal study partnership.
‘When I worked with Cyrus, we fought almost every day.’
She lifted her head.
His usual corner seat.
Cyrus was there today as well.
Bowed head. Pen in hand. Eyes following the page.
Looking at him, Ivy found herself stroking her left arm again without thinking.
Why did she keep doing that lately?
The seat beside him—the one Ivy used to occupy—remained empty.
“The thing about modern reinterpretation, from what angle should we—Ivy?”
“Oh, sorry.”
At his voice, Ivy quickly pulled her gaze away from Cyrus.
“What did you say?”
“The essay. The modern reinterpretation.”
“Oh, right…”
Ivy couldn’t answer immediately. Her eyes wandered back to the corner seat on their own, then returned.
“Maybe we could write about leaden arrows created by modern society.”
“That… is good.”
Fabian smiled.
Just as Ivy’s gaze drifted back toward the corner seat, Fabian stood up and blocked her line of sight.
“Ivy.”
“…Yes?”
Had he noticed she wasn’t concentrating?
Ivy studied his expression carefully. Fortunately, he didn’t look angry.
Just a little shadowed.
“Don’t you think it’s gotten too loud here?”
“Oh.”
So her concentration wasn’t the problem after all.
Everyone was just pouring out their party talk.
The whole Library felt restless and giddy.
“There should be an empty Seminar Room. Let’s go there. It’s too chaotic in here.”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
It was a thoughtful suggestion.
It meant she could get away from that seat where her eyes kept drifting.
“Let’s go.”
Fabian led the way, carrying both the Original Text Manuscript and the Dictionary, and Ivy quickly fell into step beside him.
“Give me one of those.”
“Do I look like the type of person who’d let you carry things for me?”
“Yeah, you do. You used to carry the heavier stuff when we were kids.”
Ivy pulled the Original Text Manuscript right out of his arms and grinned.
It was right as they were passing near Cyrus’s seat.
And at that moment.
Their eyes met with Cyrus.
His gaze, which had been fixed on his book and notebook, was on her.
Ivy hugged the book to herself and gripped her left arm tight.
“Excuse me, move aside.”
Thump.
Someone bumped Ivy’s shoulder with their bag as they passed.
It was Mia.
Without apologizing, Mia strode past and dropped her bag with a heavy thud into the seat next to Cyrus, then sat down.
Cyrus’s attention had already shifted to her.
“I’ve been waiting.”
An irritated tone.
“I told you I can’t spend all day in the Library. Don’t assume everyone’s like you.”
Fabian gave a gentle “Let’s go” in the same moment.
Ivy quickly followed him out of the Library, but the sound of Mia and Cyrus bickering trailed stubbornly behind her.
* * *
Ivy finished the study session smoothly and attended a class representative meeting in preparation for Sports Day.
Afterward, she set the dryer running in the Laundry Room and returned to her room, collapsing face-down on her bed immediately.
Her mood was terrible. For absolutely no reason at all.
When her eyes had met Cyrus’s in the Library.
No—it wasn’t really their eyes meeting. It had to be a complete misunderstanding.
He must have been looking at Mia approaching.
Hadn’t he even said, “I’ve been waiting”? Everything about it made perfect sense.
That was just how Cyrus was. He was conscientious with group projects, careful with his partners.
He’d been that way when she was his partner, and now he was the same with Mia.
Fairly. Impartially.
‘Of course it was.’
But then why…
Why did it hurt so much?
She lay face-down on her bed, letting time slip away until her phone timer went off. The dryer would be done by now.
No matter how wretched she felt, the laundry wouldn’t wait.
She had to move.
She grabbed an empty laundry basket. Her mind, still tangled and confused, showed no signs of untangling.
‘That’s enough. Just enough.’
She opened the Laundry Room door.
The heat from the dryer washed over her intensely. The narrow space was thick with the smell of detergent and the vibration of washing machines.
A few students sat on the benches, each killing time in their own way.
One with earbuds in, one with homework spread out, one staring blankly at the spin cycle.
And at the far end.
Cyrus was reading a book.
Ivy took a seat at the opposite end, her expression carefully neutral.
The sound of the dryer’s rotation filled the Laundry Room. Ivy set down her basket and checked the dryer’s timer.
12 minutes. She just had to wait.
A moment later, the student doing homework pulled their clothes from the dryer and left.
The student with earbuds, as if waiting for this, quickly moved their laundry into the empty machine.
Soon another dryer finished its cycle too.
But the owner hadn’t come yet, and the student who’d been staring blankly got annoyed, calling the office, “Who is this?”
There was a brief phone conversation, loud in the small space, before another student came rushing in and retrieved their clothes from the dryer.
With a space now free, the blank-staring student quickly loaded their own laundry in and left the Laundry Room.
Ivy stared down at her phone screen.
Nothing registered. She saw nothing.
Two.
There were only two people in this Laundry Room now.
Before, she hadn’t noticed, but the dryer’s heat filled the narrow space completely. The humming seemed so much louder than it had moments ago.
Ivy checked the dryer’s timer.
5 minutes left.

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