I’m the Slit-Eyed Character at the Academy, but I’m not the Mastermind

Chapter 322

After Caron left the classroom.

A few students rushed to the board to check the rankings.

The crowd wasn’t overwhelming since each faction had sent just one representative.

With the top two ranks already decided, all eyes were on the crucial third-place spot, which turned out to be…

“Third place! It’s Lady Victoria!”

“Oh~ hohoho! Naturally.”

Victoria opened her fan with a flourish, basking in her success.

Third place wasn’t much more than a face-saving rank, but what mattered was that she’d ranked above Teron.

As if to prove it, a commotion broke out in the classroom.

“Wait, then who’s in fourth place?”

“Hold on… Rezé? That name… isn’t that…?”

The students’ gazes turned toward us.

Rezé shrank back suddenly, hiding behind me as if I were some kind of shield.

“Keke, it seems you’ve become quite popular. Why don’t you give them a little wave?”

“P-Popular? No way! I don’t want that kind of attention! And fourth place? That’s impossible! Y-You did something, didn’t you?”

Rezé looked at me with suspicion.

She seemed entirely unable to believe she’d ranked fourth.

Well, to be fair, her reaction made sense.

Fourth place is one of those top-five ranks that people remember.

It’s the kind of rank that puts you among the best in the first-year class.

A rank that a timid rabbit like Rezé would find hard to handle.

I wonder if she realizes how much she’s underestimated.

Fourth place was certainly high, but it was still lower than she deserved. With a fair assessment, she might have even taken the top spot from Luna.

“Eep…”

But telling Rezé that would probably just overwhelm her even more.

So instead, I decided to ease her burden a bit.

I leaned in and whispered in her ear, the way one would with a skittish rabbit.

“Keke, yes, I may have played a little trick. Maybe you should listen to me better from now on. I can raise your rank even higher.”

“Eek! Okay, okay, I’ll listen! Just… please don’t do that!”

Most people would kill to be in first place, but here’s Rezé begging not to be. Truly, an amusing little rabbit.

Perhaps she’d imagined all the attention she’d attract if she were at the top.

She trembled in my shadow, her little body practically shaking.

Of course, the hostile looks from the other students didn’t help either.

Rezé ranked fourth… things have escalated more than I expected.

Honestly, even I hadn’t foreseen this.

Here’s a summary of the midterm rankings:

1st Place – Luna

2nd Place – Yuridian/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

3rd Place – Victoria

4th Place – Rezé

5th Place – Teron

…

18th Place – Yours truly, the dashing and handsome(?) me.

This is the first time Teron has ever been pushed out of the top three… to fifth, no less.

He even ranked lower than my little rabbit.

Even if Rezé’s abilities were hidden gems, this was extreme.

Maybe it was because of her timid appearance, or perhaps they thought they could always surpass someone like her.

Interest in Rezé quickly dissipated.

Now, with the rankings announced, the students’ attention shifted to someone else entirely.

“So the rumors were true, huh?”

“Yeah. Fifth place, of all things?”

“Honestly, serves him right. He strutted around like he was invincible.”

The leader of Teron’s faction, the strongest group among the first-years.

That person was Teron.

“Wait, now that I think about it… Zero’s faction took both first and fourth place, didn’t they?”

“Not just that. Zero himself was basically the top scorer. So you could say they took first, second, and fifth place.”

“Three people in the top ranks? Is Zero’s faction the new rising power…? Looks like the power structure’s shifting into a four-way dynamic.”

“What are you talking about? It’s a three-way dynamic.”

“Huh?”

“Forget Teron. He’s been proven to be just a big, hollow group.”

“Is that… true?”

In a single moment, the three-way rivalry between Teron, Yuridia, and Victoria transformed into a new three-way setup:

Zero, Yuridia, and Victoria.

The result was shocking enough for the students to immediately dismiss Teron’s faction from the discussion.

“…”

Teron’s face was contorted with rage, his pride visibly crushed.

What made it worse was that he couldn’t even lash out at the people whispering about him.

Yuridia and Victoria would intervene immediately.

This setback was sure to weaken Teron’s faction even further.

Knowing this all too well, Teron clenched his mouth shut and endured in silence.

Watching him, Luna tilted her head in confusion.

“What? He’s just holding back? I thought he’d come charging at us and demand a duel.”

“Keke, Lord Teron is an adult, after all. Unlike certain people.”

“Hmph~ That ‘certain person’ better not be me.”

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re completely clueless, Luna.”

“Oh, I have a sixth sense for when people talk about me. I heard that! You’re definitely talking about me, aren’t you?”

Luna leaned in, baring her teeth.

I held her forehead at arm’s length, resisting her advance with all my might.

That’s when a shadow fell over us.

“Zero, I’d like a word.”

The shadow was cast by Teron’s faction, surrounding us in a tight ring.

The look in their eyes made it clear—refusal was not an option.

But I wasn’t worried. After all, the first-year power structure had just been reshuffled.

“Is this a threat? Seems a bit uncivil for someone who’s supposed to be promoting peace.”

“How utterly crude. Just the kind of behavior you’d expect from someone ranked fifth. Oh~ hohoho!”

Yuridia and Victoria stepped forward.

Their followers pushed Teron’s faction aside and took their place beside us.

Teron’s faction could only glare, unable to resist. Or rather, they had no choice.

The agreement we made before the midterms had started taking effect.

The pact to follow the words of those with higher midterm rankings.

If a dispute arose, rankings could be challenged in duels, but…

A duel couldn’t be initiated on a whim. The challenger needed both the opponent’s consent and a valid reason.

As long as we avoided outright insults, we could easily keep Teron at bay.

The real problem was Yuridia and Victoria, who now held this newfound authority.

“…I merely wished to discuss the future of the Advanced Class. Kindly excuse yourselves.”

“Hmph~ The future of the Advanced Class? Why should Teron be the one to discuss that? Especially when he’s ranked below us!”

“Indeed. Such matters should be decided by those in the top three, shouldn’t they?”

Yuridia backed her words with logic.

And Victoria immediately followed up, pressing Teron further.

But Teron remained as calm as ever.

“I see. Perhaps such matters are a bit too grand for someone in fifth place.”

“Ah, humility. A lovely trait. Now, please leave. We’re about to hold a summit.”

Perhaps because it was her first time besting Teron, Yuridia looked positively elated.

This doesn’t feel right…

And my unease quickly became reality.

Teron gave a crooked smile and looked straight at me.

“Very well. I’ll leave. But…”

He suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“I’ll be taking the 18th place student with me.”

“…!!”

Right. The top scorer wasn’t me; it was Luna.

I was just 18th—solidly in the middle ranks.

“Z-Zero doesn’t have a low rank! He has every right to be here…!”

“Is that so? Then I suppose I have the same right to be here. I am, after all, fifth.”

“U-Ugh…!”

Checkmate.

With a victorious smirk, Teron dismantled Yuridia’s logic.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave. I have a deep conversation to hold with my fellow middle-rank.”

“But I…”

Snap!

Before I could even protest, Teron snapped his fingers, and his lackeys hoisted me up, carrying me out of the classroom.

“Zero!”

Luna’s desperate voice echoed from behind.

Right after Zero was hauled away, chaos erupted in the classroom.

“This is your fault! Fix this now, or I swear you’ll all regret it!”

Kyaaaah!

Luna’s rage was palpable.

Yuridia and Victoria quickly moved into action.

They couldn’t afford to be hated by Luna, but more importantly, if Zero ended up joining Teron, it was game over.

“What do we do? Teron’s backed into a corner. He’ll offer him ridiculous rewards to sway him. If Zero accepts…”

And it wouldn’t just be Zero.

There was a high chance Luna and Rezé would go with him as a package deal.

If that happened, Teron would effectively control the first-year hierarchy.

“Calm down. In situations like this, an information war is what we need.”

Victoria said confidently.

“An information war?”

“We just need to find out what Teron’s offering and then offer more. With the two of us working together, we should be able to come up with something better, don’t you think?”

Yuridia nodded.

It might be difficult alone, but if she and Victoria combined their resources, they could definitely counter Teron’s terms.

The problem was…

“But… who do we send?”

“It has to be someone from the middle ranks who isn’t affiliated with Teron’s faction. And it’d be best if they weren’t well-known.”

“That’ll be tough. Teron’s aware of everyone on our side.”

They’d tried planting spies since the start of the semester, but Teron always sniffed them out and threw them out.

No matter how they did it, Teron’s faction had an uncanny knack for spotting infiltrators.

“That’s troublesome. How about someone with exceptional stealth skills? Someone who could get close without being noticed.”

“Stealthy enough that even Teron and Daike wouldn’t detect them? No such person exi—”

No. There was someone. The perfect person for the job.

Glance—

Glance—

Yuridia and Victoria’s eyes met, then both turned to a single person.

The one with extraordinary stealth skills. That person was none other than…

“Eep?”

Rezé, the pufferfish rabbit.

Rezé, who’d been munching on a carrot to restore her energy, froze.

Yuridia and Victoria were looking at her with an ominous glint in their eyes.

“Oh my, there’s a cute friend here. Such impressive stealth skills, too—practically invisible.”

“Truly a gift from the goddess. Such talent exists to be used for times like these.”

“She’s not in the top three, so she’s technically in the middle ranks. She’d have every right to be there!”

“Indeed. Even if she’s caught, there’s no issue!”

Rezé watched, wide-eyed, as they approached her with strange smiles.

She quickly began backing away.

But there was nowhere to run. They had her surrounded.

“Miss Rezé~ Won’t you help us out a little? It’s a very easy job that anyone can do.”

“Oh~ hohoho! Of course, if you’re caught, you might end up as rabbit stew… but surely it won’t come to that? And if it does, don’t worry. We’ll give you a proper burial.”

Demons. Two demons were closing in on her.

Scratch, scratch—

Rezé frantically clawed at the classroom wall, searching for an escape route.

“Hey! Back off from my friend!”

Luna stepped in to block them.

Rezé quickly hid behind Luna, as if she were her last hope.

A hero! A savior! A goddess!

No words could adequately express what Luna meant to Rezé at that moment.

Luna bared her teeth, looking ready to bite.

Yuridia stepped forward and said,

“Miss Luna, think carefully. What if Zero decides to join Teron?”

“He won’t.”

“And how can you be so sure?”

“Because I’m here.”

Splat!

Cough!

Yuridia spat out a nosebleed, and Victoria coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“T-To have such unshakable confidence.”

“This is love! This is devotion! This is Miss Luna! Oh, such an admirable being!”

Zero’s abduction was unprecedented.

But even in this tense situation, Yuridia and Victoria’s fangirling did not cease.

–TL Notes–

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