Chapter 153 – Break up

In the first-year Class D, Karuizawa, back in the classroom, called out Hirata saying she wanted to talk privately. Hirata had a troubled expression, still bothered by Sudo's expulsion, but he didn't want to refuse Karuizawa's request, so he followed her outside.

The students in Class D were used to this. In the eyes of everyone, Karuizawa and Hirata were the first couple in the class. What's the big deal about them having a private chat? What's so unusual about that?

Although this couple always seemed a bit unnatural, for example, they rarely ate together.

Karuizawa usually ate with her small group of girlfriends, the three close friends.

Hirata, on the other hand, could sit with anyone. If he saw someone eating alone in the cafeteria, he would go over with his tray and chat while eating, even with the inaccessible Koenji, whom he'd dined with twice.

But despite these quirks, if the couple themselves said they were dating, the class members had no reason to doubt them.

Only Karuizawa's close friends, Sato and Shinohara, quietly glanced at the two outside, then exchanged looks, both with the same thought in their eyes: "Poor Hirata-kun."

"Is there something you need, Karuizawa-san?" Hirata looked quite unstable, full of regret and self-blame. If he had been more capable, wouldn't Sudo still be in school? Wouldn't he have been able to keep the class in line?

Hirata, still consumed with thoughts about Sudo's expulsion, didn't notice Karuizawa's cheerful expression.

Even if he had, Karuizawa had a perfectly valid excuse: Sudo, who had assaulted her, was gone, so wasn't she allowed to be happy about it?

Each with their own thoughts, Karuizawa wasted no time and straightforwardly bowed to Hirata, leaving him confused, unsure what game this girl was playing now.

Karuizawa, however, was sincerely grateful: "Thank you, Hirata-kun. If it weren't for you, I really don't know if I could have had this kind of position in the class."

"No need to thank me, helping classmates is what I should do," Hirata brushed off the thanks, seeing it as just part of maintaining the class's harmony.

Karuizawa took a deep breath: "It might sound like I'm burning bridges, but I've made up my mind. Even if you blame me, I'm ready to accept it."

"I'm going to tell the girls in our class that you dumped me because of the Sudo incident. We don't have to pretend to be a couple anymore."

This was the explanation Karuizawa came up with after some consideration. It couldn't be helped—in this school, there was a unique campus culture, and relationships were a significant part of it.

Unlike the students in Yukio's class, who could handle breakups without much fuss, boys and girls going their separate ways and moving on with their friends, the students were quite concerned about who dumped whom. If a boy dumped a girl, he would gain approval and praise from those around him.

However, if a girl was dumped, she would be shunned, with people saying there must be something wrong with her, leading to a decline in her campus status and others treating her with contempt.

Similarly, if a girl dumped a boy, the boy would be ridiculed and disliked by other girls, with his status similarly dropping, as people assumed there was something wrong with him. This was a sort of campus tradition.

But Karuizawa felt that she no longer had to worry about her status dropping. Having been reborn with a firm mindset, she was confident she could handle most problems.

Moreover, she wanted to thank Hirata for his initial willingness to pretend to be her boyfriend, so she came up with this explanation that Hirata dumped her, partly as a way to repay the favor.

"Huh?" Hirata was taken aback. He initially thought Karuizawa had come to chat about some trivial gossip or something.

He didn't expect that they would stop pretending to be a couple.

That was actually great. Hirata quickly nodded while shaking his head: "No problem, it was originally to help Karuizawa-san, so if you don't want to continue, we don't have to maintain this fake relationship."

"But let's change the final explanation. It would be better if you said that you dumped me."

Happy as he was, Hirata, being the nice guy, couldn't let Karuizawa lower herself like that, so he wanted to change it to make it sound like she dumped him.

"Sigh, forget it." Karuizawa held her forehead, almost forgetting about Hirata's good-guy personality: "Then I'll just use Sudo as an excuse. Because of him, we fought and broke up; nobody's at fault."

"That's how it's settled." With that, Karuizawa walked away with a light step, as if another shackle had been unlocked, almost with a skipping grace, and returned to the classroom.

Hirata was left bewildered and a bit confused. Since when did Karuizawa have this kind of determination? Wasn't the old Karuizawa never this resolute?

Returning to the classroom, Karuizawa found her close girlfriends, Sato and Shinohara, who exchanged a knowing glance and surrounded Karuizawa from both sides: "Hey, Karuizawa, what did you talk about with Hirata-kun? You seem really happy."

"Yeah, tell us, so we can get a taste of what it's like to be in love," said Karuizawa's other close friend, Matsushita Chiaki.

The four of them were at the top tier of the small group of girls in the class, having significant influence among the girls.

Hearing them, Karuizawa felt a bit anxious, trying to control her overly joyful expression, pretending to be a little annoyed: "What love? I just went out and had an argument with Hirata-kun. We broke up on good terms."

"Huh?!" Matsushita's eyes went wide with shock, unable to believe they broke up just like that.

Meanwhile, Sato and Shinohara merely looked serious, as if they weren't too surprised. Sato, always eager for gossip, asked, "What did you argue about?"

"What else? That jerk Sudo." Karuizawa raised her voice a bit, unsure if she was trying to act "angry" or deliberately broadcasting the news: "Hirata is regretting not keeping Sudo, he's beating himself up over it!"

"Seriously, why keep someone like that around? Sudo tried to punch me, how can you keep him?"

"Hirata is so concerned about everyone, about all his classmates, but I'm sorry, I just can't stay with him if he's like that."

"…" The classroom fell into a subtle silence.

Because of Karuizawa's loud voice, many people heard this news. Some girls who liked Hirata had their eyes light up—Hirata and Karuizawa broke up? Does this mean they now had a chance?

Other girls took Karuizawa's side, praising her for breaking up with Hirata—Sudo should never have been kept in the first place. They couldn't understand why Hirata cared so much about everyone, even someone like Sudo who wasn't fit to be a classmate.

The boys, on the other hand, didn't join in. Some were even a bit pleased—after all, they were all single, and seeing a popular and well-liked guy like Hirata getting dumped brought a small amount of joy to a few of them.

Only Sato and Shinohara sensed something was off. They recalled the end of September, when they caught Karuizawa secretly meeting an unknown boy in the small forest near the dormitories.

Sato leaned in closer to Shinohara, lowering her voice: "Looks like Hirata-kun really got cheated on! Look at Karuizawa, she's so happy; she clearly had this planned all along. I wonder who Karuizawa's new crush is!"

"Shut up! Stop talking about this!" Shinohara glared at her, but it's hard for girls not to discuss gossip. They too started whispering, chatting in low voices about who could be Karuizawa's new crush, having a lively discussion.

***

Enjoyed the chapters? Read 20 chapters ahead on Patreon

PATREON.COM/METARLN

400 power stones = 1 extra chapter