Even Today, the Genius High School Programmer Cashes In on Day Trades, Completely Flustered by Beautiful Girls' Growing Affection. - Chapter 40: “This is where the rumor is coming from.”

“This is where the rumor is coming from.”

After lunch break, the first afternoon class had ended, leaving a ten-minute recess.

“Kousuke, got a minute?”

Shingo approached me.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“It’s about what Sakuraba said earlier.”

“That weird rumor?”

“Exactly. This is where the rumor is coming from.”

With that, Shingo held out his smartphone for me to see. The screen displayed a green Lime group chat. The group name was 『Gather, St. Clark’s Forest』.

What the hell kind of lame group name is that? Are they planning to get stranded on a deserted island or something?

“It’s a voluntary group made up of students from our school. It’s pretty casual. They mostly talk about how the ramen here is delicious, how the recent drama was interesting, and the occasional gossip.”

The number of participants showed 96 people.

Our school has roughly 750 students in total, so this was a little over ten percent. I couldn’t tell if that was a lot or not.

“Here it is,” Shingo said, swiping the screen slightly before showing me the chat log.

***

Nanase: Hey, I overheard something the other day.

Nanase: Apparently that Snow Princess is short on cash and selling herself.

Ako: For real?

Kenji: No way, seriously?

Takahisa: Gotta be fake, right?

Nanase: Nope, it’s pretty solid info. I heard it directly from a guy who did it with her.

Ako: Whoa, that sounds super realistic. It could actually be true.

Suzuki: The Snow Princess?

Yamakawa: I can’t believe it.

Maria: But I have heard rumors that she’s having money troubles.

Kenji: For real?

Suzuki: Our school’s tuition is pretty expensive, after all.

Yasuyuki: Is it even possible? Nah, no way, right?

Takeshi: By the way, how much?

Nanase: She said 5. All-inclusive for 10.

Takeshi: 5,000 yen?

Yoshida: Idiot, the digits are way off!

Naoki: That’s a pretty good price.

Maria: She’s that beautiful, after all. I bet there are plenty of adults willing to pay whatever she asks.

***

I ground my back teeth together so hard it hurt.

“This Nanase… that’s the Okazaki Nanase we know, right?”

“Yeah. She’s one of the central figures in this group. Ako is Mizushima Akiko, and Maria is Asou  Maria. Both are third-years and basically act like Okazaki Nanase’s underlings.”

Our intelligence officer continued.

“This whole exchange is a team play. Okazaki Nanase fabricates the story about Sakuraba, and Ako and Maria jump in to add credibility. It’s pretty nasty.”

“I see… But the fact that you can see this group means you’re a member too, right?”

“That’s right. I hardly ever post anything, though. Still, the wider the information network, the better.”

“Then why aren’t you denying the stuff about Yukina?” My voice dropped lower, heavy with anger.

“Why aren’t I denying it? I thought you’d understand, Kousuke.”

Shingo narrowed his eyes calmly.

His words hit me like cold water poured over my heated mind.

He was right.

If I tried to defend Yukina inside this group, Nanase would just push back harder. Ako and Maria would pile on. Since Nanase was one of the central figures, the rest of the crowd would naturally side with her. The false rumor would only gain more credibility. It would be completely counterproductive.

These people really knew how to torment someone.

“Sorry, Shingo. You were the calmer one here.”

“It’s fine. Even I’m not exactly calm about this.” Shingo’s expression remained dead serious.

“Rumors without any basis in reality eventually die out if you give them enough time. Seventy-five days might feel long, but in this case, I think it’s best to just leave it alone.”

Faced with a situation where we had no good moves, I could only grit my teeth in frustration and reluctantly agree with Shingo’s opinion.