They are still close to me today despite their negative feelings

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, which almost triggered my body's radar to instinctively launch a defensive attack.

"Holy crap, you, are you some kind of ninja descendant?"

"That's an exaggeration. I also guessed that the other person should have realized the problem with the bushes here, so while you were chatting and getting distracted, I kept moving around."

"I must say this again from the bottom of my heart—you were born to do this."

The gold-toothed uncle's boomerang hit me on the head. I never thought I'd have a day when I'd be wondering, "What other amazing skills do these invincible high school students have these days?"

"Although I didn't understand a lot of what was said just now, I can understand it this way: are we safe now?"

Senior Wu Yuehua asked hesitantly.

"Most of the time, these kinds of words turn into terrible flags... but in today's case, they are."

As a third party who is both a party involved and a witness to the execution, even if there are related problems and troubles later, that uncle will most likely come to me rather than these people.

"Are there...no...problems...already?"

"Yes, although it was a very irrational thing to come along, I still have to thank the two senior students for helping me contact this gold-toothed uncle."

"Huh? Ning Ruoyu, did you ask the seniors to contact them? Why?!" Xu Xingxin exclaimed in surprise. Not only him, but even the two seniors who were in charge, Wu Yuehua and Chu Guyin, looked at me curiously.

"Well, how should I put it, it's a matter of shifting blame. The other party most likely wants to pretend to stay out of it, and then show up at the crucial moment to stop us, to do us a favor and force us to do something—or at least prevent us from interfering with some things they plan to do here in the future."

"Similar to what I encountered?" Ge Lanlan asked bluntly.

“Lanlan…” An Yu looked at her worriedly. Ge Lanlan smiled and patted the back of her hand as if she didn’t care.

"Yes. I think so. And if we take the initiative to protest to him, it will become that his lax management has caused serious problems—with chat logs, it will be much easier to either call the police or seek adjudication from his peers."

"...It sounds like some respectable profession. But it's clearly this kind of disgusting deal." Wu Yuehua frowned, and when she saw Chu Guyin turn to look at her, she quickly added, "I was talking about that uncle, not criticizing my junior."

I shook my head, not minding.

“I think that guy did try to struggle. If you, Granlan, still seemed to have some compassion or were hesitant, you would probably have treated this as a ‘children’s private emotional dispute’ and continued to ignore it. But who would have thought that your kick would destroy his last excuse?”

"But you really shouldn't have come, seniors. After all, these are just theoretical solutions; neither I nor that uncle can guarantee what will actually happen."

"I'm...I'm sorry...we...we just felt...as a senior...that..."

"It's okay, anyway, the result was good. We can talk about any problems later. I'm exhausted, doesn't anyone want to go home and rest?"

Seeing Senior Chu Guyin like this, I couldn't bring myself to blame her any further. But I'm absolutely exhausted, okay? All I want to do right now is go back to my bed and heal.

"……that."

With red-rimmed eyes, An Yu hadn't dared to speak much from the beginning. She pouted in distress and shook her head.

"Hmm?" I answered almost subconsciously, then immediately regretted it. With all this mess going on, I'd forgotten that An Yu and I were still in a state of cold war.

"..." Ge Lanlan glanced at her friend, blinked, cleared her throat, and then patted Xu Xingxin on the shoulder.

"Lanlan? What's wrong!" Xu Xingxin noticed Ge Lanlan's actions and turned around, saying excitedly, "Since something like this happened, I'll take you home on the way back, okay?"

"Oh, no need, I'm fine," Ge Lanlan refused.

"I have something to say—Xu Xingxin, I'm sorry, I don't have any romantic feelings for you. From a friend's perspective, you're a very good person. But from a romantic standpoint, I'm sorry, I can't see you that way!"

...I was dumbfounded.

Not only me, but Chen Di, An Yu, the senior, and the president were all stunned by the shocking speech... Luckily, Uncle Gold Tooth and those two idiots left early, otherwise they would probably have joined the dumbfounded deluxe package.

Seriously? Why did they pull this stunt?! Looking at the girls who had gathered together again (including Senior Chu Guyin, who clearly didn't know what was going on but was looking around anxiously), I really wanted to cover my head and squat down.

I'm still going home late tonight.

[Next chapter preview: "The cute girl you mentioned does indeed have a resounding slap when she slaps someone."]

The class monitor's eyes were definitely dead.

"If you come with me, I think you'd find it rather troublesome, right?"

"Are you really determined to get me arrested today?"

Chapter 18: My classmate is always looking for an opportunity to kowtow to me.

"Actually, I know everything, I understand everything! But it's like glass jewelry in a box. If I don't open it, I can still fool myself into thinking it's not broken, that I still have hope. But now that it's open, looking at these scattered shards of glass, I can't fool myself anymore, sob sob sob. Do you know how painful this is? I need another sparkling water!!"

"That sounds pretty dangerous, hahaha." Chen Di gave me a pleading look.

"Is that so, haha? So when can we pay the bill and leave? I feel the landlady's eyes are getting a little cold."

I'm so worried that I'll end up like the glass jewelry that Xu Xingxin mentioned.

"If I go out now, the girls will see me, it'll be too embarrassing, I don't want to! I've lost my love and all I see is desolation, I'll wait until they leave before I go!"

...Isn't it awkward to complain while drinking non-alcoholic beverages in a family restaurant? Even though we were occupying opposite corners of the restaurant, it was impossible for us not to notice each other!

"Guest, guest, please try to keep your voice down if possible!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, we'll be more careful..."

After being reminded a second time by the restaurant waitress, I finally couldn't bear the torment any longer and slipped away to the west table of the restaurant under the pretext of going to the restroom.

Here, surrounded by ladies, Ge Lanlan seemed to be in a completely different mood than Xu Xingxin. She even waved to me when she noticed me coming over.

"Want some fries?"

"Is this the time for fries?" I complained as I popped a fry into my mouth. "No work is fine, but don't give me any, sis. I need to go home and hang up the laundry."

"Well, it's because I listened to your advice and changed my ways, deciding not to use procrastination to cover up my indecisiveness anymore." Grand Lanlan smiled. "Besides, the two senior sisters have already gone back, so now we're just having a girls' tea party, right, An'an?"

An Yu, who was squeezing ketchup, glanced at me and nodded.

"Don't you usually dislike eating fries with ketchup? And I remember you and the class monitor should have already eaten dinner..."

"It's none of your business!"

An Yu angrily poked the fries into the ketchup, then shoved them into her mouth and turned her face away.

"In short, this is my second time at this restaurant today, and each time I've just been here to eat some snacks and chat—I'm sorry, but I still have to leave."

"Just to add, this is my third time back at the restaurant."

Chen Di, who appeared behind me, sighed resentfully.

"...Wait, if you're here, then who's at that table over there?"

"I asked the waitress to get him a plush toy." The class monitor's eyes were practically dead.

"He's pouring his heart out to that pink pig right now."

"At this point, I really have no choice but to leave." I grabbed another fry. "I've had a great time. See you again sometime!"

“…I feel like I really should talk things out with Xu Xingxin. But it would be awkward if we were alone together,” Ge Lanlan suddenly said.

So, just as I was about to walk towards the door, Chen Di pulled me back.

"You must have been holding back this for a long time, right?" I glared at this guy who was reading in a dull, unnatural voice.

"Hehe, who knows?" Ge Lanlan chuckled. "If the class monitor is willing to ease the tension, I shouldn't be afraid of feeling awkward."

"Then I can too..."

"Oh, Ning Ruoyu, you and An Yu are no good. In terms of public attention, you two are two completely opposite extremes, and you also have big problems with your personalities. So please leave when I'm talking about serious matters."

"Huh? What do you mean?!"

After trying fries with dipping sauce for half a day, An Yu secretly went back to eating plain fries. It was clear that An Yu had not kept up with Ge Lanlan's conversation.

"I feel like it'll be easier for me to go back earlier... Besides, it's already this late, apart from those hot-blooded idiots from the sports club who are going back late, are there usually any people still loitering near the school gate?"

"And then there are my hot-blooded, silly girlfriends, right? Don't underestimate the power of girls' gossip!" Grandma said with a smile.

"So, what does it mean?" An Yu tried to understand the direction of the conversation.

"Well, to put it simply, if the class monitor agrees to walk back the way Xu Xingxin and I do, I'm willing to go back. Otherwise, it would be very awkward to walk the same way as someone who was just rejected and be seen by others, right?"

Ge Lanlan said to An Yu with a smile.

“Ah, that’s true.” An Yu expressed his understanding.

"What a load of rubbish! Are you an idiot? If she was really afraid of embarrassment, she would have gone back long ago. Why did she have to play this game in the air?"... I swallowed those words back in the end.

I just witnessed the power of an invincible girls' high school today, and I don't want to deliberately step on a landmine.

"Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?" An Yu asked again.

"It's okay. If there are too many people, we won't be able to have a proper conversation. Besides, An'an, it's not on your way back, so how about Ning Ruoyu helps you take us?"

"I apologize for interrupting you while you're in such a good mood, but it's not on my way to her either."

“Especially on such a dangerous day like today! I’m always worried about not being able to get her home!” Ge Lanlan winked at me. “No one would be indifferent to the safety of such a lovely girl like An’an, would they?”

"The cute girl you described certainly has a powerful slap when she slaps someone."... I don't dare say things like that too often.

"Actually, I myself..."

"Then it's settled." Before An Yu could offer his opinion, Chen Di forcefully nailed the wooden board shut with a concluding attitude.

Brutus, is that you too? I looked at the guy who was knocking the nails off my coffin at the last moment, hurt, and saw that he had the same harmless expression as usual.

“I’ll go call Xu Xingxin over. Even though it’s the weekend, we should still go home early.”

Isn't it a bit too late to say this now?

After faintly hearing screams of agony from the other dining table, such as "What's going on?!" "No way!!!" and "Ahhh, stop it!!!", about five or six minutes later, Xu Xingxin, completely broken in body and mind, appeared numbly in front of us.

...I do seem to have forgotten his opinion during the discussion just now.

"Then we'll be going now! ... Ning Ruoyu, please make sure An Yu gets on the bus properly. Her home is quite far away, and she can only take a taxi back now. Remember to call a taxi at the park entrance; it'll be easier that way."

After walking along the restaurant for a while, at the street corner, Ge Lanlan smiled at me.

"I can call a taxi myself, Lanlan, please be careful!" Although she was unhappy that she was being treated like a child again, An Yu still waved her hand vigorously.

Chen Di, pulling the slightly unsteady Xu Xingxin along, exchanged a few words with Ge Lanlan. Ge Lanlan showed a somewhat surprised expression, but quickly relaxed, smiling and patting Chen Di's shoulder.

The three of them walked away like that.

"What did the class monitor say at the end? Lanlan's expression seemed a bit strange."

"I don't know either."

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be good at everything? Can't you read someone's lips and guess what they're saying? I've seen those secret agents on TV who can do that."

"...Don't you want to listen to what you're saying?"

Actually, I do know a little bit. But it was almost completely dark, and I couldn't see the specific lip movements clearly.

An Yu gave a vague "oh" and pointed in the direction of the park.

“I can get there by myself. Now that they’ve left, you don’t need to see them off.”

"If you come with me, I think you'd find it rather troublesome, right?"

"That's true, then I'll go first..."

"Wait, wait, wait, a normal person wouldn't react like this, would they?!"

"?"

"Although I feel a little strange saying this, this is definitely not the kind of reaction that girls usually want when they say something like this, right?" An Yu said, feeling awkward.

"Am I really that annoying to you? Is it because of the slap, or because I made you take responsibility for the notebook, or because I was the first person to tell you to stay away from me in public..."

From the moment he began to analyze the reasons behind his self-disclosure, An Yu's momentum weakened, and his voice grew softer until he completely fell silent.

She seemed to realize that she had gone too far.

"...I think I'll just go back by myself."

An Yu bowed to me with tears in her eyes, then ran towards the park like a frightened rabbit.

...Alright, I'm exhausted even though I haven't done anything. I can go back now.

Just as I was about to turn around, my eyes met those of Xiao Lai, who was straddling a motorcycle.

"Was that An Yu who just ran away?" she asked me, wearing a rather comical cartoon helmet. "What did you do this time?"

"What An Yu?"

"Are you pretending to be stupid?" Xiao Lai looked at me suspiciously.

"what?"