"Isn't it just that her English grades are better than mine? What's so amazing about that?"
It wasn't that Eriri hadn't doubted whether her father was truly British when she was a child.
After all, whenever she faced the English language, she couldn't display even a shred of British heritage. She would run into his room with her small arms and legs flailing, holding her English book to ask questions.
Faced with his daughter's interrogation, her father would helplessly speak a paragraph of standard English with a thick London accent to prove to Eriri that he was indeed a genuine Brit and that she too possessed British blood. As for why her English grades were deadly poor, no one could explain the reason.
After entering high school, Eriri increasingly felt that English was a completely unnecessary addition to the required curriculum. It was hard to understand, hard to learn, and dragged down her overall score. Especially those voiceless and voiced consonants—they were enough to make one's head spin.
She was an artist; why did she need to learn so much English? Was she going to draw a foreign girl and then change the dialogue to English too?
Even if she did that, couldn't she just use translation software to translate the text into English and write it in?
Originally, after the results of the last Mihama Academy placement test were announced, the fact that she—someone with a foreign name—failed English and made a fool of herself in class was already unbearable enough. Yet, Kasumigaoka Utaha, the 'Honor Student' who ranked second overall and won the prize doll, was still rubbing salt in her wounds.
This was absolutely intolerable!
Incidentally, the first place went to Kazami Kazuki, who scored full marks in all subjects.
Eriri twitched the corners of her mouth, wanting to reveal a mocking smile. Unfortunately, suppressing the anger in her heart already took all her strength, so she could only abandon that idea and speak expressionlessly.
"It's still early for midterms; revision should be put aside for now. Jhin, let's fill out this questionnaire first."
Kasumigaoka Utaha was one hundred percent certain that Eriri hadn't understood her meaning. Seeing her try to drag Jhin into filling out the questionnaire again, with an attitude that completely disregarded the risk of exposing her identity as a doujin artist, Utaha worried it might arouse Jhin's suspicion and lead him to guess whether she was hiding an identity as well.
Sawamura-san had bad grades and a bad brain; she couldn't even understand such a simple hint.
Complaining in her heart, Kasumigaoka Utaha continued to persuade her verbally. "Jhin-san, don't listen to her. As a former alumnus of Toyogasaki Academy alongside Sawamura-san, I can guarantee you that she is just being stubborn. In reality, she wants you to help her revise English very much."
How am I being stubborn? A dispensable subject like English is definitely not as important as answering fans' questions! And specifically mentioning 'former Toyogasaki Academy alumnus' so hypocritically... I see you're just showing off that you used to be first in the grade too, right?
Eriri's current mindset was just like the African tyrant, the 'Honey Badger'—everything she saw was an eyesore, and she wouldn't feel comfortable until she attacked it.
"You speak as if you understand me so well. Kasumigaoka Utaha, today I just want Jhin to help me finish writing the questionnaire first!"
Sawamura-san, you really are impervious to reason!
Seeing Eriri declare war on her first, Kasumigaoka Utaha showed no weakness. "Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in you, Sawamura-san, nor would I actively inquire about your news. It's just that during breaks, I can always hear the boys nearby chatting about you, the 'Ace of the Art Club,' like annoying flies disturbing one's dreams."
Why is chatting about my affairs like flies? Then how much better could topics about you be?
Eriri raised her eyebrows and let out a cold snort. "The affairs of you, the 'Quiet~ Beautiful~ Girl,' are also mentioned quite often in the Art Club. Especially the boys—they wish they could draw you on paper and lick it."
Kasumigaoka Utaha did not take it as shame but rather as glory. She deliberately lifted her ample twin peaks just to make them more impactful and conspicuous. "My, my, it can't be helped. My figure is natural. Perhaps Sawamura-san will never grow to this level in this lifetime."
After she finished speaking, she even cast a deliberately mocking glance at Eriri's meager chest.
This woman... she said the one thing she absolutely shouldn't have said.
As a member of the flat-chested army, although Eriri wasn't so flat she resembled a rasp, being taunted to her face with an ultimate move—especially by her old rival who possessed enviable giant breasts—was devastating.
These reasons transformed into a barrel of gasoline, pouring into Eriri's anger-filled chest and successfully burning through the thread of sanity named 'reason'.
Eriri slammed the table, pointing at Kasumigaoka Utaha's chest in exasperation. "What is there to be proud of with that lewd body of yours? Does that lump of useless fat on your chest have any use other than seducing boys?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha was used to this sight. Every time Eriri was poked in her sore spot by a few casual words, it was this same reaction—without a shred of novelty.
"As a girl, if you don't even have the capital to attract the opposite sex, that's just too pitiful. Don't you agree, the flat~ and unexceptional Sawamura-san?"
"You, you, you, you~"
Eriri had never won a war of words against Kasumigaoka Utaha, and the outcome this time seemed to be no exception. She trembled with rage, unable to think of a single harsh retort to pay the other back. Just as she was racking her brains, her peripheral vision caught sight of Jhin, who was sitting aside enjoying the show and eating melon happily.
Right, I can use that title!
Eriri remembered back when she was burning the midnight oil to participate in an exhibition with her doujinshi. Jhin had asked why the heroines she drew were all tall, buxom, older-sister types, and if she wouldn't consider a loli character.
She had been drawing so much she was delirious. Hearing Jhin suggest a loli character, she had casually sketched a draft of a busty loli elf for him. As a result, she was roasted by him, saying her obsession with big breasts was too deep—just like how she was naturally at odds with 'Old Fat Kasumi'.
At the time, Eriri, whose stylus was almost smoking from speed, naturally didn't pay attention to his roast, ignoring the sentence like wind passing her ears.
Thinking about it now, those three words—'Old Fat Kasumi'—were completely referring to Kasumigaoka Utaha!
After all, in the entire Mihama Academy, the rest of the classmates had good relationships with her. There was only one person at odds with her—Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Eriri's azure eyes, previously filled with anger, regained their clarity. She put on a calm and unhurried smile, as if the person who had just slammed the table in exasperation wasn't her.
"Ahem... Old Fat Kasumi."
"What did you say?"
"I said: Old. Fat. Kasumi!"
A beautiful girl's defense breaking happened in an instant.
Kasumigaoka Utaha had never anticipated that the words coming out of Eriri's mouth could be so venomous. They were like a meteorite, smashing through the psychological defense line she thought was incomparably sturdy.
"E~ri~ri~"
Kasumigaoka Utaha's face turned dark. The long hair behind her moved without any wind, resembling the snake hair of Medusa from mythology. Her tone sounded even more like a life-claiming ghoul crawling out of the underworld.
"If you have the guts, say that again!"
____
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