Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu - Chapter 173

Chapter 173

Ever since Oniisama told me not to worry about school fees I felt so relaxed~

I suppose that was why I was slacking off lately . Having to go to that party hadn’t helped .

I still like to think that I studied properly though .

Part of the reason I didn’t make it onto the ranking board was probably that some people were beginning to study properly now . It was coming to the point where we had to start thinking about our futures .

Internal students like me were at least guaranteed a university entrance, but that wasn’t to say that getting into the popular courses would be easy .

Aaah~ If I didn’t get my act together my grades were probably going to keep slipping…

Anyway, it was Kaburagi in 1st place and Enjou in 2nd this time .

They really were something else .

Even though they were both at the party, unlike a certain somebody their grades hadn’t dropped at all .

I liked to think it was because their mothers hadn’t dragged them around to beauty salons and hairdressers .

Yeah, that’s what I’m going with .

As for Wakaba-chan whose bullying had escalated to being framed as a cheater, she was at 4th place having been beaten out by Fellow Stalking Horse .

4th place after all that was amazing . I wished she could share some of those smarts with me .

Even though she was the smartest girl in the grade you’d never know from looking at her . As usual she was standing around with her mouth hanging open, and hair on the back of her head was sticking this way and that .

Please be a bit more careful, Wakaba-chan! There are so many things to tease you on!

“Studies are all that ugly bitch has, after all . ”

“She studies to the point that she doesn’t care about how she looks anymore . ”

“Can you even call that a girl~?”

Despite people badmouthing her from right behind, Wakaba-chan paid them no heed at all .

No doubt she was daydreaming about the lunch she’d be treating herself to .

“Takamichi . ”

“Ah, Mizusaki-kun . ”

The girls who had been badmouthing her scattered at Fellow Stalking Horse’s arrival .

“Geez, I lost to you this time . ”

“You’re still 4th . And I barely beat you this time . Not that I won’t be studying hard to do this again though . ”

“Yeah . Do your best . ”

“You still have room to say that?”

“Ahaha . ”

The two of them seemed to be getting along quite well . Was it because they were both in the Student Council?

And Wakaba-chan’s attitude was relaxed in a way that she wasn’t during interactions with Kaburagi .

Uwah, the faces of the Prime Arima fans were kinda terrifying right now .

The squeals of girls heralded Kaburagi and Enjou .

Perhaps because the rings of girls had already informed them but they simply glanced at the top of the board and that was it .

What the hell . Be a little more glad about this . I wasn’t even on the list .

The two of them were about to head back when Kaburagi caught sight of Wakaba-chan and stopped .

“…Sup . ”

“Ah, congratulations on 1st place . ”

“Isn’t it a given?”

“Aah . ”

His expression had softened a bit . I guess he was happy to see her in the morning .

Given the difference in treatment with other girls I could see why everyone was so jealous of her .

As Wakaba-chan stood with her back to the board, Fellow Stalking Horse stood to her side .

In front of her stood Kaburagi .

And a little distance behind him was Enjou .

One girl, surrounded by the three boys who were arguably the most popular in the entirety of the high school section . And that girl was Wakaba-chan .

Wasn’t this kind of bad…?

Look! See! People from the President’s group were glaring at them right now!

Wakaba-chaaan, there’s less than a month left until graduation . Pleaaase don’t get in trouble until then .

*

*

Of course she was immediately surrounded in the locker room after gym class .

“You’re really getting ahead of yourself!”

“You weren’t fine with just Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama but even had to force Mizusaki-kun to wait on you!?”

“You suuure are good at sucking up to boys~”

By the time I heard about this Wakaba-chan was already surrounded by a ring of girls . And since no boys were here to see, none of them were holding back .

“Is it true that you came here as a gold digger?”

“With that face? Are you joking?”

“But she’s not doing too bad at deceiving Kaburagi-sama, is she~ Just as planned, right?”

Wakaba-chan didn’t say anything in return . She should have .

Then again it would have just made things worse .

Wakaba-chan didn’t seem to mind, but it was hurting me to watch .

“Your family owns a cake shop, I hear . ”

That got a twitch out of her .

The girls seemed to notice because they smiled nastily and picked that to attack .

“Gosh . It must be a famous pâtisserie, I’m sure . ”

“Why, the pâtissier has probably competed in the La Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie . ”

“Right? There’s no way Suiran would let in a child from some tiny local bakery after all . ”

“I heard it was a pretty cheap place . I wonder what they use as ingredients . ”

That crossed the line . How could they talk about her parents like that!

Wakaba-chan’s expression had changed . She loved her family after all .

They were so cruel! I couldn’t watch any longer!

“I enjoyed it . Cake from Takamichi-san’s store . ”

“Reika-sama!”

I entered their little ring .

“Eh, umm, Reika-sama…”

“It was a soft and pleasant flavour . It only took one taste to make me a fan . Both the strawberry shortcake and cream puffs were delicious . When I bought some to bring home with me, Oniisama loved them too . Apparently he liked the Swiss rolls the most . But perhaps the two of us simply have no taste . According to you girls . ”

I leveled a harsh gaze over the girls who had been laughing at her .

Each of them hung their heads as I looked at them .

Some of them had a crush on Oniisama while he was enrolled here, and some others had cousins or older sisters aiming for him .

Protect me with your powers, Oniisama!

“Reika-sama and Takateru-sama…” muttered one .

“We didn’t mean…”

“Didn’t mean what?” I questioned .

The changing room was dead silent .

“I am not fond of that way of doing things . ”

The group of girls began to disperse .

As my heart went crazy in my chest I left as well, somehow managing to cover up the shaking in my legs .

Later on Serika-chan and the others asked why I had been to Wakaba-chan’s place, so I just said that I had entered the place on a whim only to find out it was Wakaba-chan’s .

Aahh, what was I going to do about this if the President heard…

*

*

That night Wakaba-chan messaged me for the first time .

‘I’m going to especially make you a Yule Log as thanks!’