My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 79

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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 79
Ivy found herself unable to answer.
She didn’t know.
Fabian wasn’t wrong. It was true that seeing one’s real name mentioned in an anonymous space looked bad.
“I’m sorry.”
Perhaps conscious of the distance between them, Fabian apologized and took a step back.
Only then did her breathing feel a little easier.
“It’s okay.”
Ivy answered carefully, forcing composure into her voice.
She and Fabian had made a promise.
To forget each other’s mistakes and try to return to how things used to be.
His willingness to extend his hand first held considerable meaning for her.
It was the only path to shedding years of guilt.
“I’ve been thinking.”
His voice was low and gentle.
“What if we just tell people you’re going with me?”
“…What?”
At her startled question, he gently gripped her arm.
His thumb brushed over her shirt sleeve—soothing, gentle.
“You don’t actually have to go with me. I just mean we should tell them that.”
That way, the commotion surrounding Ivy would die down, wouldn’t it?
But if it did…
“Besides, Carter might have someone he wants to go with too.”
Well, she wasn’t sure about that.
But it was true that Joy seemed burdened by guilt over the Anonymous Board incident.
She shouldn’t have to carry that weight.
“Just say you’re coming with me. That’s fine, right?”
It was a rational proposal.
It would quiet this annoying fuss.
But the problem was that it didn’t feel right—not truly.
Something small kept catching at her.
But was it even real?
Maybe it was just a phantom, conjured by her own small-minded hesitation—her inability to fully trust Fabian even now.
If she wounded his sincerity with her own invented worries…
Then truly, everything might become irreversible.
So she had to be careful now.
“…Let me think about it.”
It was the best she could do.
She could tell it wasn’t the answer he’d hoped for by the slight fall of his expression.
“Ah.”
As if something had occurred to her, Ivy pulled out her smartphone and checked the empty screen for no reason.
“I think I left something in the Dormitory, so I need to go back. Could you help me with the assignment later?”
Fabian smiled softly and nodded.
“Of course. That’s the least I can do.”
He stepped back once more and raised his arm lightly toward the direction she needed to go, as if urging her to leave.
Once she’d moved past him and walked several steps further, a sigh of relief escaped her.
There was nothing in particular to worry about.
Yet as she thought that, her pace quickened.
And then she encountered a familiar figure ahead of her.
Cyrus.
By the time Ivy noticed him, he was already turning to face her.
Another awkward silence.
It had become so routine that it felt almost natural.
How had things come to this?
“…You and Montrose.”
He opened his mouth slowly.
“Seemed like you were talking.”
“Oh.”
He must have seen them as he passed the Seminar Room.
Ivy hadn’t noticed him at all.
“It wasn’t anything important.”
Ivy gave a small shrug.
“You’re still terrible at lying, aren’t you?”
It’s not a lie!
Normally, she would have protested like this. Then he would have scratched at her with some grating remark that left her helpless.
She should have done that…
“…”
But Ivy couldn’t find words to answer.
“So.”
Cyrus shifted his gaze toward the window.
“Are you accepting?”
She startled and lifted her head.
But his face showed no emotion whatsoever.
“…What?”
When Ivy only stared at him without answering, he scraped the back of his neck with one thick finger and replied curtly.
“It doesn’t concern me.”
And then he turned back toward the Staircase.
Ivy watched him go, and without thinking, gripped her left arm—hard, with surprising force.
“…Not good at lying?”
She muttered softly to herself, then moved forward at a quicker pace.
But it was entirely different than before. This time, she wasn’t running away—she was chasing.
She caught up to him on the stairs and grabbed his arm. Her hand tightened around his sleeve.
He was two steps below her, and for once, their eyes met directly, face to face.
“You’re the same.”
“What?”
He frowned as if her words made no sense.
“What I mean is.”
To be honest, Ivy didn’t fully understand what she was doing right now.
Following Cyrus was a snap judgment.
Or perhaps—a choice born of desperation.
Every time she faced him, the suffocating barriers between them nearly choked her.
“You wouldn’t have asked either.”
Cyrus’s eyes narrowed.
“If you truly didn’t care.”
“…”
“Am I wrong?”
Ivy tightened her grip on his sleeve.
Cyrus could have easily slipped free.
But he didn’t move.
As if the option of escape never occurred to him.
For a long moment.
Period 10
“…No objections.”
His answer came a beat late.
Despite having challenged him so boldly, Ivy had nothing to say when he conceded.
“Do you have class?”
Mercifully, Cyrus steered the conversation first.
And with a question that was easy to answer.
“Nothing else today.”
“Then go.”
Was he throwing her out?
“I said go.”
He repeated it, looking down at the hand that gripped his arm—clearly telling her to let go and leave.
‘What is this, really.’
Ivy released him with a faint tightness at her lips and walked down the stairs.
Fine, I’ll do what you want.
But immediately, he fell into step beside her.
As they emerged outside, the afternoon sun slanted sideways across the grounds.
On the path toward the Dormitory, Cyrus remained at her side.
“Why?”
Unable to hold back, she asked in a petulant voice. He adjusted his bag and answered.
“Just because.”
What kind of unkind answer was that?
Even as she thought how much she disliked it, Ivy felt something that had been rigid in her chest for so long begin to soften.
But what was Cyrus thinking?
“Did you finish Bennett’s assignment?”
Before Ivy could finish her thought, Cyrus posed another question.
So naturally, as if the awkward silence between them had never existed.
“Just finished. Want to see?”
Ivy turned her large bag forward and pulled out the paper covered in neat solutions.
Cyrus took his assignment out of his file.
Walking side by side toward the Dormitory, they both held the other’s printout.
Cyrus’s solutions were, frankly, beautiful.
Ivy loved the way he approached problems—he always wrote out multiple paths to the final answer.
Though utterly inefficient, watching those long, winding solutions eventually reach their destination somehow soothed her.
“…Ah.”
Yet viewing this elegant solution wasn’t always a simple pleasure.
“Why is your answer different from mine?”
“You got it wrong.”
Cyrus answered immediately.
He probably hadn’t even looked at her solution properly.
“Did you ever consider that maybe you’re the one who’s wrong?”
“No.”
“I’m curious where this confidence comes from, honestly.”
Ivy spoke with mockery and verified his solution line by line, determined to prove him wrong.
“The absolute value handling didn’t split properly.”
But Cyrus was quicker.
Ivy quickly retrieved her printout from his hand and checked it.
“Am I wrong?”
Cyrus asked.
“…No objections.”
And regrettably, no flaw appeared in Cyrus’s solution.
By the time she sighed, tasting the bitterness of defeat, they had arrived at the Dormitory entrance.
In the loud common room, Mia—Cyrus’s assignment partner—was there too.
Passing by the students laughing and talking, Ivy asked a careful question.
“How is it?”
She worried the question was too vague, but fortunately he understood.
“If you mean the Latin Assignment, it’s a disaster.”
Ivy felt a pang of guilt.
“What about you?”
And this time, Cyrus turned the question back on her.
What should she say?
The assignment had gone smoothly. Fabian was a conscientious partner, after all.
But there was that strange discomfort that crept in occasionally.
“…Maybe.”
Ivy whispered softly.
“I should have done it with you instead.”
Had she been too honest? Regret flickered through her.
Or perhaps embarrassment was the better word.
It was fortunate that they’d arrived near her room. She could slip inside quickly…
‘Why did he follow me all the way to my door again?’
Now that she thought about it, something similar had happened before. Back then, Ivy genuinely believed he was walking her there and gave a most unladylike response: “Are you insane?!”
But she wasn’t fooled anymore.
Cyrus must have had some business following her here.
“Do you have a message for Joy?”
Ivy lifted her head at the door and finally looked up at him properly.
“No.”
“Then why did you follow me all the way here?”
“Because you were right.”
“What?”
“Come in carefully.”
He turned to leave, and Ivy closed the Dormitory room door.
She stood with her back against it for a long time.
<Because you were right.>
That was…
The feeling of the sleeve she’d grasped on that staircase lingered at her fingertips.

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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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