Falling in Love with an Inferior Student

Her voice was high-pitched, and she seemed a bit angry.

Despite being angry, Nino had no intention of venting her anger on others, so her voice sounded polite.

Fumino stared straight ahead, as if Nino was standing in front of her, and spoke while smiling.

"It's me."

"Is Shi-kun with you? I—"

"Nino, I know what you want to say." Her meaningful tone cut off Nino's words.

"But sorry, I won't help you."

"What?"

Nino was surprised, but before she could react, Fumino continued.

"Asada-san is here. I asked him to end the call. Ricchan and I are on a date with him. If you're okay, please don't call again. If you have a problem, please go to Sensei."

"Wait, you—"

"No!"

Fumino raised her voice, and her forceful tone hit Nino on the other end of the phone.

In her gentle and beautiful face, there was an expression of rarely seen seriousness, dignity, and firmness.

"The five of you and the three of us will go shopping separately. If there's anything to be done, we can wait until the gathering time!"

"Don't worry, Ricchan and I will treat Asada-san well. Even if we haven't kissed yet, the time we spend with him and the feelings we have for him won't be inferior to yours. So don't think the quintuplets will win if they unite!"

"Lastly, there's one more thing I want to tell you, especially to Nino."

Fumino took a deep breath, squeezed the phone with a little force, and spoke with a clear, heavy voice.

"Asada-san is a scoundrel. No matter how much you like him, you can't change this fact. So in the same way, I also feel that Nino, who asked Asada-san to kiss you in front of us, I also feel... you're just as much of a scoundrel as him!"

It seemed like the curse made her nervous. Unconsciously, her free hand clenched into a small fist, then released it slowly, wiping sweat from her palm onto Shinichi's body.

Fumino wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but it turned out she couldn't be happy at all.

The other side of the microphone fell silent, allowing Fumino's voice to continue.

"You have your desires, and I have mine. I don't want to just admit defeat and make you think it's the right thing to do, and as long as you win, any means are right..."

"Of course, I can't do something like kissing in front of everyone; it would only make it easier for Asada-san and could even escalate the competition. I don't want to be too impulsive about my relationship with him."

"After much consideration, this is the only way I can repay you for hurting Ricchan and my feelings without hesitation."

"Do you know? In novels and stories, friends become enemies because of love. It's the thing I least like to see."

"So, forgive me, from now on... Nino is not my friend, but a love rival."

Fumino said this to herself, pressing her pounding heart and suppressing the discomfort of almost suffocating.

Speaking harshly to others is like walking on a tightrope barefoot.

Nevertheless, the firm and cruel voice couldn't collapse, and it had to make them feel its determination.

"Nino and everyone."

She raised her voice and uttered every word from her throat.

"Asada-san... I won't give him back to you anymore."

"From now until the gathering time in a few hours, Ricchan and I will use various methods to pressure him, threaten him, and coax him."

"Even if we have to pay more for this, even if we fear we will regret it in the future, as long as we can make him leave the five of you, we are willing to do it."

"At 5 o'clock, I will ask him to say to you, 'I've been dating those two. I sincerely apologize for everything in the past. I hope we can still be good friends in the future.'"

"I hope you're prepared."

"Don't come to us, just wait for our 'good news.' That's it, goodbye."

The end of her words turned into a mocking tone. After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone firmly.

Then she took a deep breath, swayed, and leaned gently on Shinichi's shoulder, showing a bitter smile.

"Sorry, let me calm down... Ahaha, the feeling of being the bad guy, I didn't expect it to be so uncomfortable..."

"...Is this okay?"

Shinichi was silent for a moment, then raised his hand, circled it around her shoulders, and gently stroked her soft hair with his fingertips.

After a short pause, Fumino glanced at him, her white cheeks tinged with a hint of red, but she didn't resist his touch on her head, letting the warmth of his fingers slowly relax her tense nerves.

When she was almost done, she stood up straight and gently pushed Shinichi away, pretending not to be happy.

"Anything good? Are you worried that Nino and the others will be mad at you?"

Shinichi pinched her soft cheek.

"I'm worried about you! Do you think I can't see that you deliberately said those words just to target them? You're still as foolish as ever."

"Who's foolish? I'm in the top 20 in the school..." Fumino muttered a few words, turned her face away, and snorted, "That's not your concern. Didn't I just make it clear? I'm just saying this to get back at Nino, no other intention... Ah, right!"

She suddenly remembered something and made another call.

"Kashima-san? Yes, it's me. I have something to ask you..."

"Do you, the Thorn Club, have any connection to being in this park? The quintuplets might come to us later. Can you help me drive them away?"

"I know you know our location, and I also know that what just happened was secretly manipulated by you... So, please~"

With a slightly dark smile, Fumino hung up the phone satisfied and easily added the contact information of the quintuplets to the blacklist.

"Let's make them scared for a few hours~"

"Also, if I'm really unlucky and meet them on the street, Asada-san, I hope you can make a decision and ignore them and leave everything to me, if not..."

She turned to Shinichi, and the light in her eyes that smiled slowly disappeared.

"Do you understand?"

"...Yeah, I know."

Shinichi nodded without panic.

He could only roughly guess what Fumino wanted to do; the "revenge" she mentioned did exist, but it was more for her sake.

Sooner or later, the conflict between Fumino and Rizu with the quintuplets would intensify. If the climax was him, it wouldn't be easy to end it. Once they conflict with each other, he would be the one to bear the burden and be the most disadvantaged.

Fumino is equivalent to taking action to draw the quintuplets' attention, deepen the conflict first, sideline Shinichi, and let them focus on her.

As for how she will resolve the conflict afterward and what decisions she will make, Shinichi doesn't know. There are too many possibilities, and he cannot guess or doesn't want to guess.

But he can't just watch and surrender everything to her. Once the crucial moment arrives, even if he fails in Fumino's good intentions, he must stand up and bear everything.

The worst-case scenario is him openly declaring his love to everyone.

Suppressing self-destructive thoughts deep in his heart, Shinichi glanced at the food in his hand and walked back with the girl beside him.

"By the way, Fumino." He suddenly asked.

"What's the matter?"

"I haven't clearly given my answer, why are you doing this?"

"Haha, I thought you would ask right away. You really think about a lot of messy things."

Shinichi waited for her answer.

Fumino smiled faintly. Although her face blushed a bit, her expression when saying this was filled with relief.

"The reason is simple."

"Until today, I still like you."

"Women, as creatures, turn into idiots when they fall in love."

The cold wind of November blew, and the warmth was felt on her cheeks, ears, and heart, but it was always warm.

Her voice was gentle, accompanied by helpless and free laughter.

"So in this case... It seems like I am the inferior student, hahaha~"

Shinichi was slightly surprised, then he laughed too.

"Ah, me too."

It felt like going back to the time when he first spoke to her.

Shinichi said with a smile to the girl sitting beside him, "Now, the two of us are idiots."