Even Today, the Genius High School Programmer Cashes In on Day Trades, Completely Flustered by Beautiful Girls' Growing Affection. - Chapter 39: “Something weird is going around as a rumor.”

“Something weird is going around as a rumor.”

The next day, Thursday.

Unfortunately, the bad news kept coming.

During lunch break, just like always, the three beautiful girls came to our classroom.

The moment I saw Yukina, I felt something was off. She didn’t seem energetic at all.

I quickly understood the source of that uncomfortable feeling.

It was her feet.

“Yukina, what happened to your indoor shoes?”

Our high school has designated indoor shoes that everyone is supposed to wear. However, what Yukina had on right now were the gym shoes normally used for physical education classes. The lines on the sides made it instantly obvious.

“Listen to this, Kousuke!”

Hina, in full serious mode today, spoke with a grave expression.

“This time, her indoor shoes got destroyed.”

“What?

“Her indoor shoes were slashed to shreds with something like a knife. They were left inside her shoe locker like that.”

Hina bit her lip in clear frustration.

According to her, Yukina’s indoor shoes had been viciously cut up with a blade-like object and then placed back into her shoe locker.

“Yukina, did you tell the teachers?”

“Y-Yeah… I took the shoes with me and went to speak with the teacher.”

Yukina’s reply was weak and lifeless.

The teacher had apparently been shocked as well. They asked if she had any idea who might be behind it, but at the time she said she didn’t. The teacher mentioned they would bring it up at the staff meeting and suggested having available teachers patrol the entrances early in the morning and in the evening, or possibly installing new surveillance cameras.

Still, none of that would bring immediate results…

On top of that, the method was downright malicious. Damaging something a person wears on their body strongly implied an intent to harm the person themselves. Compared to the previous letter, the psychological damage was even greater.

Whoever was doing this was clearly experienced with bullying.

This was getting troublesome…

“Yukina, what about your gym uniform?”

“…? I usually bring it on Mondays and take it home after using it on days we have PE class.”

“For now, it’s better not to leave your gym uniform at school. Until this settles down, you should bring it with you only on the days you actually have class.”

“…Okay, I understand.”

I couldn’t think of any other items she wore to school that could be targeted.

“Yukina, has anything else been bothering you lately?”

I asked just in case.

Yukina’s body suddenly jolted with a small shiver. It was clear something had come to mind.

“What is it?”

“U-Um… Actually, the other day when I was leaving school, an unfamiliar boy called out to me…”

This didn’t sound like a pleasant story.

“And then… he suddenly said this:

『I heard you’d do it for 5.』”

“!…”

Shock stole my voice, but for some reason, Shingo—who had been listening beside me—twitched in reaction.

Yukina continued.

“At first I thought he meant 5 as in the game of Go or something, but the conversation made no sense at all. While we were going back and forth, he clicked his tongue and said ‘Tch, false info, huh?’ before walking off…”

Yukina looked down, her voice drained of energy.

“Later, I realized… 5 probably meant 5,000 yen or 50,000 yen… that kind of meaning.”

Her voice grew smaller and smaller.

Why would something like that even come up?

What exactly was happening here?

“There’s definitely some kind of weird rumor going around,” Hina cut in, irritation clear in her tone.

“Lately, the way the boys look at Yukina has been really strange. Those are definitely sexual eyes. I can tell.”

If Hina—who was constantly exposed to such gazes—said so, then it was almost certainly true.

But… who would spread such a rumor?

In a somewhat heavy atmosphere, we ate our lunch together.

No one could come up with any good ideas.