Chapter 188 – Big News

On Thursday, a major piece of news once again ignited the enthusiasm of all the students at Advanced Nurturing High School. Nagumo Miyabi of Class 2-A, the Vice President of the Student Council and the person who unified the entire second year, had voluntarily applied for withdrawal and left the school yesterday evening.

This piece of news was even more explosive than Ichinose's past. Within just an hour of being posted on the school forum, the thread had already garnered thousands of comments.

All the students were shocked and could not understand why Nagumo, who seemed to be doing well, would suddenly drop out.

The most likely guess in the comments was that it was because of Yukio. After the public humiliation Nagumo faced during the sports festival, he could no longer cope with the shame and the gossip around him, so he applied for withdrawal.

No one could think of any other reason. Dropping out of school? The once-promising Nagumo, giving up on a bright future and the chance to graduate from Class A just because of one embarrassment?

The comments flooded in, discussing various aspects: "If you ask me, Nagumo is just too fragile. Who hasn't been embarrassed? To give up just because of one incident, he's too useless."

"Exactly, someone like that won't achieve anything significant in society. We really overestimated him before."

"It's actually pretty normal. Nagumo is the type who's used to everything going smoothly. When faced with even a small setback, he can't handle it and falls apart. Not worth mentioning."

"Totally agree. I've seen Nagumo several times over the past few days since the sports festival, and he was always alone, very reclusive, not mingling like he used to."

"Is there anyone from Class 2-A who can explain what's going on? Ask your homeroom teacher! Was it really because of Yukio's schemes?"

The news spread rapidly. In the already enclosed campus with entertainment facilities almost exhausted, any major news would definitely stir up heated discussions among all the students.

The students at Advanced Nurturing High School felt like they were celebrating the New Year since the sports festival, with one piece of big news after another, so much so that they could hardly keep up with all the gossip.

First, there was the sports festival, then Ichinose's past, and finally Nagumo's withdrawal. The frequent big scandals had everyone eagerly following along.

In Class 3-A, Tachibana urgently approached Horikita Manabu, handing him her phone displaying the school forum: "Manabu-kun, look at this!"

"I've already seen it." Horikita Manabu didn't take the phone, merely gazing at the ceiling and murmuring to himself: "You've gone this far, haven't you, Yukio?"

To say that Nagumo couldn't handle the public humiliation and thus dropped out is a bit too far-fetched. Horikita Manabu didn't believe this superficial explanation at all.

Horikita Manabu knew Nagumo well; Nagumo wasn't the type to just go down easily. There were definitely schemes and intrigues hidden behind this, and the only person Manabu could think of who would have targeted Nagumo was Yukio.

At this moment, Horikita Manabu felt particularly confused. The initial reason for inviting Yukio in was to counter Nagumo and prevent him from turning their alma mater into a place of extreme cruelty.

But what happened? Yukio, a first-year student, without hesitation, directly caused Nagumo to drop out. What was there left to fight against? The school wouldn't change much, and all the problems seemed to have been resolved effortlessly?

"Forget it," Horikita Manabu sighed. He decided to continue supporting Yukio to become the student council president. After all, based on what Manabu knew, out of all the students he had encountered in five years, none could match Yukio.

Such an outstanding student should naturally become the student council president.

Class 2-A was simply dead silent: "What do we do? Nagumo, Nagumo has left! What are we supposed to do now?"

"Don't, don't panic, stay calm, stay calm! As long as we stay calm, we're still Class A, we can still graduate from Class A in the future!"

"How can we stay calm? Class 2-B is eyeing us covetously. Without Nagumo, how can we be a match for them?!"

Meanwhile, in Class 2-B, it was like a festival. The atmosphere was celebratory, and Kiriyama was elated beyond measure: "Everyone! Nagumo! The huge mountain that was pressing down on us has completely rolled away!"

"If everyone works hard, we can definitely return to Class A!"

Many people were motivated by Kiriyama's words, excitedly waving their arms and punching the air in excitement.

Fuka Kiryuin, with her legs crossed in a domineering way, casually remarked, "Interesting, really interesting. Junior-kun, you're the only one who could have done this, right? How exactly did you do it?"

She had no interest in the class returning to Class A. There were now more intriguing things for her to explore.

In Yukio's class, there was neither dead silence nor wild excitement. They simply took it as news, happily gossiping: "I knew it, that Nagumo, going against Yukio-san was bound to end up like this."

"Hahaha, serves him right! He bragged about making Yukio-san regret it. Now look, the only one who regrets anything is Nagumo!"

"It's hilarious! Just thinking about that guy being hung by bread during the sports festival makes my stomach hurt from laughing. Hey, does anyone still have the pictures?"

In Sakayanagi's class, Kamuro recounted the situation in detail before silently looking at Sakayanagi.

Sakayanagi toyed with her cane, seemingly lost in thought: "To go this far for Ichinose-san? Yukio-kun, you really are something."

Hashimoto, standing nearby, felt a cold sweat break out on his back: "Princess, are you saying that Nagumo-senpai's dropout was Yukio's doing?"

"It's just a guess," Sakayanagi's calm expression, however, didn't seem like a guess at all. It had an air of absolute certainty.

Sakayanagi's demeanor made Hashimoto shiver instinctively. What kind of monster had they been up against all this time?

In Ichinose's class, the members were discussing the big news. But when they noticed Ichinose's unusual expression, they all gathered around, abandoning their gossip to check on her well-being and ask if she was feeling unwell.

Surrounded by everyone, Ichinose was deeply moved. She quickly shook her head and smiled warmly: "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"It's just that Nagumo-senpai was the one who brought me into the student council, so hearing that he applied to drop out makes me feel a bit nostalgic."

The class members were reassured by this. After all, their class president, Ichinose, was always so kind-hearted. She would feel sentimental even if it was a stranger who dropped out, let alone someone she knew like Nagumo.

In reality, they had no idea about Ichinose's true thoughts. She slowly recalled Yukio's way of handling things.

Even without any evidence, purely relying on a girl's natural sixth sense, she could vaguely guess that this incident was Yukio's doing.

But Nagumo had been at odds with Yukio before, so why didn't Yukio make Nagumo drop out back then? Why choose this moment instead?

Could it be for her? To help her get even, to seek revenge? But…was she worth Yukio doing so much?

The mere thought of this possibility made Ichinose feel a strange emotion, pumping from her heart, circulating through her bloodstream. Her face blushed like a peach blossom, her skin turned a rosy red, and her eyes became dreamy and mesmerizing like autumn water. So troubling, was Yukio's action really for her?

***

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