My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 94

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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 94
After returning from the Equestrian Center and showering, I collapsed into bed, utterly spent.
I fell asleep almost instantly.
I don’t know how long I’d been lying there when something cool touched my forehead.
Ivy opened her eyes slowly.
Through blurred vision, she made out Joy’s figure.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed, pressing her hand to Ivy’s forehead—checking for fever, it seemed.
“Did I wake you? Sorry.”
Joy withdrew her hand.
Ivy turned her head toward the pillow without answering, almost without thinking.
She wasn’t wearing her Glasses.
A sudden panic seized her—the feeling of something about to be exposed.
“It’s fine, really. I’m just tired.”
The answer came muffled, her gaze averted as she lay pressed against the mattress. Even someone less perceptive than Joy would have noticed something was off.
“Where did you go? You weren’t here when I got back.”
Ivy quickly changed the subject.
“The Counseling Office. Someone broke the glass in the Chemistry Laboratory this afternoon.”
“…What?”
She hadn’t heard about this until now.
“So they’re interviewing all the students who had science building classes today, I guess.”
“I had no idea… Is anyone hurt?”
“Thankfully, no.”
“Do they know who did it?”
“Not yet. But they’re saying it might’ve just been an accident.”
“Well, that’s fortunate, but…”
Her grip on the blanket tightened.
The Chemistry Laboratory.
It was the place that had flashed through her mind on the bus ride home, when she’d closed her eyes.
The cold temperature, the smell of chemicals, curtains billowing softly. And Cyrus beside her.
That window had broken.
For reasons she couldn’t name, a chill ran down her spine.
“Ivy?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Are you sure you’re not hurt somewhere?”
Joy smoothed back the tangled strands of hair falling across Ivy’s face.
Such gentle concern was more than she deserved.
Especially given the reason Ivy was avoiding her gaze.
“I’m not, I promise.”
“Then let me rephrase: did something happen?”
Something… had happened.
Someone had brought a photograph and compared faces; she’d had to ignore the pitiful sound of Nyx’s hooves.
But they were all things she couldn’t fully explain.
“…Nothing.”
A lie.
Her hands began to tremble.
Only after saying that did she slowly turn back to face Joy.
“…”
That wounded expression.
Her chest constricted painfully. Ivy pushed herself up in bed.
“Oh, no, I mean—”
She had to say something. To prove, somehow, that she wasn’t pushing Joy away. Any words would do.
“There actually was something.”
“Hmm?”
Joy’s eyes widened slightly at the sudden shift in tone.
“Actually, listen…”
Ivy searched her mind for something—anything—that might brighten Joy’s mood, and miraculously found it.
She wasn’t sure if she should share this, but at least she didn’t want to see Joy hurt.
“C-Cyrus… he held my hand.”
“Oh my.”
Joy brought her hand to her mouth. She looked genuinely astonished.
“He made the first move?”
Ivy nodded.
“When?”
“Last time, when we were researching.”
“Wait.”
Joy cupped both of Ivy’s cheeks and tilted her head so their eyes met directly.
“…!”
Ivy froze for a moment—she still didn’t have her Glasses on—but…
“You’ve been agonizing over this the whole time and didn’t tell me?!”
“No, I wasn’t really agonizing, I just—”
“I knew something was off with you lately. If something like that happened, you should’ve told me right away!”
Joy pulled Ivy into a tight embrace. The weight of it overwhelmed her, and she tumbled backward onto the bed.
On the narrow bed, their faces came close together. Joy’s eyes sparkled with an excitement Ivy hadn’t seen in a while.
“Tell me everything.”
“It’s really nothing much. We were just getting up from a bench, and he took my hand.”
Ivy drew the blanket up to cover her face. This time it wasn’t about the Glasses.
“He asked if I’d let go…”
“And?”
Joy leaned in eagerly.
“He said he wouldn’t. We held hands all the way to the Bus Stop.”
“…Did Quinton kiss you at the Bus Stop?”
“My God, are you insane?!”
Ivy let out an incredulous squeak.
“Why would I k-kiss Cyrus?! W-we’re not even d-dating!”
“Good grief, Ivy—did you just step out of a feudal society or something?”
She had, actually.
But that wasn’t the point.
“Kissing someone you’re not dating is weird.”
Each time Ivy said “kiss,” her face grew redder, and Joy found it amusing enough to let out a soft laugh.
“It’s not weird at all. It’s a matter of Risk.”
“Risk?”
As if this were some stock investment.
“Think about it: say you and Cyrus have been dating for a good while, and then you kiss him.”
“…That hypothetical is horrible.”
Even as she protested, Ivy’s mind was already following Joy’s logic, imagining the scenario.
Lord, make it stop.
“But then you find out Cyrus is absolutely terrible at kissing. It feels like a massive cow licking you.”
“What?”
The imagining stopped dead.
“That’s a disaster. Isn’t it? Ivy, could you say to him, ‘Your kissing is awful. Let’s break up’?”
Could… she?
That would be trampling on someone’s dignity. Both the speaker’s and the listener’s.
When Ivy shook her head gently, Joy narrowed her eyes and delivered her conclusion.
“Exactly. You need to confirm everything before you commit to dating. Kissing, anything.”
Ivy held the blanket to her face as she protested.
“But it wasn’t really like that between us. There wasn’t any particular mood for dating.”
“Oh yes there was. You know why? Because I gave Cyrus a little push.”
“What?”
Joy answered with evident satisfaction.
“I told Quinton that you had someone you liked.”
That made no sense.
“Even the top student gets nervous when a rival shows up.”
Joy nodded, pleased with herself.
But Ivy saw it differently.
Cyrus’s logic was clear and beautiful. He pursued absolute answers, unswayed by any external condition.
That wasn’t limited to academics. So the probability that Joy’s words had actually influenced his actions was quite low.
But there was no point telling Joy that while she was happy.
“…Anyway, what if he finds out you lied?”
Not that Ivy had any right to call out anyone’s lies.
“It wasn’t a lie. I told you before—the way Cyrus looks at you isn’t ordinary.”
“Unbelievable.”
Ivy buried her face in the blanket again.
He was just a cousin running a Relationship Improvement Project, that’s all…
“I ran into him just outside the Counseling Office earlier, and he kept asking about you in that roundabout way. Definitely.”
Ivy’s expression crumpled.
“Fabian probably didn’t mean anything by his questions. And Cyrus definitely isn’t like that, I’m telling you.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”
Joy laughed lightly and leaned forward, bumping her forehead against Ivy’s.
“I can wait.”
Ivy laughed a little too, muffled under the blanket.
For a moment, neither spoke. The muted sound of other students talking in the dormitory hallway drifted through.
“At this rate, you and Quinton won’t start dating until the Graduation Ceremony.”
Joy murmured this to the ceiling.
“…Honestly, I don’t care.”
When her gaze shifted back to Ivy, it carried a smile.
“I’m going to meddle either way.”
Ivy’s laughter died. A reality she’d been forgetting suddenly returned.
Graduation meant the end of “Ivy Underwood.” She would cease to exist anywhere in this world.
And yet Joy…
“You know, Joy.”
“Yeah?”
Ivy started to say something, then closed her mouth.
Thank you. Or I’m sorry.
No—those vague words weren’t quite it. What Ivy wanted to convey was…
“…Can I hold your hand?”
“That’s so unsmooth. Why not just take it like Cyrus does?”
Joy teased her even as she gently took Ivy’s hand.
Warm and soft and tender.
“Ivy.”
Joy asked quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on the ceiling.
“You won’t let go, will you?”
Her gaze remained on the ceiling still.
Ivy couldn’t answer right away, her lips parted silently, until at last, barely—
“No.”
She could answer.
This time, it wasn’t a lie.
Never was.

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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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