I Just Wanted a Peaceful Life After Transferring, but I Fell into a Rom-Com Trap and a Hidden Battlefield No One Knows About

Chapter 10: Joining a Club to Stop the Rumors? Sasaki-Sensei— This Isn’t What We Agreed On!

“Hey, you lot! What are you doing here?”

That voice… It’s her!

“S-Sasaki-sensei…!”

Panicking, I turned to look at Sasaki-sensei.

She wore those glasses that had absolutely no prescription—purely for show—and walked toward the four of us.

Though her expression was unreadable, the sheer pressure of her overwhelming presence bore down on me, making it hard to breathe.

Crap! She’s like a Saiyan!

“You know, the whole school is talking about you guys right now. What’s going on?”

“Uh, um, uh…”

I was too scared to speak properly. No—maybe it was because she was so intimidating that I felt this crushing weight on me. Either way, I could barely breathe, let alone form words.

“Nothing really. More importantly, how did you even know we were here, Sensei?”

Damn! Tsunekawa, you’re amazing! To actually say that to Sensei… You’re really fearless, huh?

“Because I’m your homeroom teacher, obviously!”

No, no, no, just because you’re our homeroom teacher doesn’t mean you know our every move, right? …Wait, is Sensei some kind of superhuman?

“Besides, I’m also the homeroom teacher for Class E. Nakano and Satohama are pretty well-known in this school, and since you’re close with them, I can more or less figure out where you all are.”

Uh… Is this… chunibyo?

There’s no way that explanation holds up, right? She must’ve overheard the rumors at school and secretly followed us to check things out.

“I see… Sensei, you really know us well.”

“Putting that aside, what exactly happened here?”

“It’s all a misunderstanding! Just rumors!”

Satohama answered first.

“Rumors? And where did these rumors come from?”

Sasaki-sensei asked seriously, her sharp gaze fixed on us.

“Misaki-kun got injured at the time, and we just took him to the infirmary. But we never imagined things would blow up like this because of it.”

Nakano spread her hands helplessly, then pointed at the bandage wrapped around my forehead.

“Look, even under Misaki-kun’s bangs, he’s got a bandage.”

Sasaki-sensei listened to Nakano’s explanation, then closed her eyes slightly and touched her chin in thought.

“So basically, Misaki hit his head and got injured, and you guys kindly took him to the infirmary. But since you’re all pretty popular, the rumor mill went wild. That about sum it up?”

“Yes, that’s exactly right.”

Nakano nodded, and Sasaki-sensei continued questioning us.

“When you took Misaki to the infirmary, was anyone watching?”

“I don’t think so… There weren’t many people around on the way to the infirmary, and I don’t remember seeing anyone else.”

“Yet the rumors still spread…”

“Maybe we just didn’t notice someone watching.”

“That’s possible.”

As we debated, Sasaki-sensei suddenly raised a hand, signaling us to stop.

“Alright! I’ve got the gist of it.”

She adjusted her glasses again, her lips curling into a confident smirk.

…Should she really trust us just like that? Is she really not suspicious of us at all?

“This isn’t such a complicated issue. But since it’s already become a thing, as your teacher, it’s my job to step in and clear things up.”

She placed her hands on her hips and spoke with absolute certainty.

“Sensei, you weren’t there when it happened, and you’ve only heard our side of the story. How exactly do you plan to help us? Don’t you think we could be lying?”

I challenged her.

After all, you need evidence, right? Sasaki-sensei wasn’t there, and she’s only heard our version of events.

Of course, what we said was the truth, and my head injury was proof—but should she really believe us so easily?

“Nope. Ever heard the saying, ‘A wise person stops a rumor’?” Besides, I’m your homeroom teacher. If a teacher can’t trust their own students, then they have no right to be a teacher in the first place. And honestly, aren’t you guys overthinking this a little?”

Yes! I totally agree with that first part! Sasaki-sensei might be strict, but hearing her say that made me respect her a bit more.

Looks like she’s not as cold and ruthless as I thought—maybe she’s actually a hot-blooded teacher at heart?

…Or maybe she is a legendary chunibyo after all. Could it be that she and I share the same wavelength?

But what did she mean by that last part? Does she really think this whole thing isn’t a big deal?

“Why do you think that, Sensei?”

“Tsunekawa, you guys are all good-looking and stand out, sure. But at the end of the day, you’re just regular students. Having friends of the opposite sex isn’t strange at all.”

“But the problem isn’t that people think we’re just friends—it’s that the rumors have completely twisted the truth. In reality, the biggest victim of this whole thing isn’t me, Ouka, or Ayana—it’s Misaki-kun. Most of the nasty gossip is being aimed at him right now.”

Nice! Tsunekawa totally nailed it!

People say that a wise person stops a rumor, but honestly? There aren’t any wise people here.

Just a bunch of idiots who take whatever they hear at face value…

“I get it. So right now, everyone thinks your relationship is more than just friendship, huh?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s why I said you’re overthinking this. Remember—rumors stop with the wise. And trust me, I have plenty of ways to shut this one down. Now, follow me.”

Sasaki-sensei’s expression was full of confidence—whatever her plan was, she clearly believed in it.

It’s not that I don’t trust her… but this rumor has already spread so much. Can she really handle it all on her own?

With those doubts in mind, we followed her to her office.

“Alright, sign your names here.”

She opened a drawer, pulled out three sheets of paper, and placed them on the table.

Looking closely, they were… club application forms for the literature club!?

“W-wait, Sasaki-sensei, what is the meaning of this!?”

“Ah, I see! So this is Sensei’s plan!”

Nakano gave a small smile, her face brimming with confidence as she spoke.

“O-Oi… How the hell did you figure that out? I don’t get it at all.”

“Oh~ I see now!”
“That’s a great idea!”

Wait, you guys understood that? Am I the only one who doesn’t get it? …Could it be that I’m an idiot?

“Th-This… what exactly does it mean?”

“To put it simply, it means we all joined the same club. And the application dates for each of us are different.”

“In other words, if people find out that we were already members of the club before the rumors even started, then having a connection between us would seem perfectly natural.”

Hearing their explanation, I checked the application dates on the club forms.

Sure enough, just as Nakano had said, my application was dated half a month ago. But even so, something about this plan didn’t feel like enough to fully clear things up.

“But isn’t this still weird? Right now, those guys already think there’s something unusual about our relationship. Even if we tell them we’re just club members, won’t they just assume we’re making excuses?”

At that moment, Tsunekawa grinned and said,

“Misaki-san, you’re really smart… but sometimes, you’re an idiot.”

Huh? Is there something wrong with what I said?

“Hm?”

“That’s exactly why this works in our favor—because everyone already thinks that way. Given the situation back then, does it really look like we were holding hands?”

“Of course not! Whether you saw it from afar or up close, we were just supporting each other.”

“Exactly. But the fact that people believe the rumors means that the only one who truly knows the real story is the person who spread them in the first place, doesn’t it?”

What she was saying… actually made a lot of sense.

If everyone believed this ridiculous rumor, then it was possible to look at the situation from that perspective.

Because back then, what actually happened between us was completely different from what people were saying.

Thinking about it this way, there were two main reasons why someone might have spread such a rumor.

The first possibility: they had bad eyesight and simply misinterpreted what they saw.

The second possibility: they held a grudge against one of us!

The exact reason wasn’t clear, but maybe it was because those three girls were too popular and someone got jealous. Or maybe someone had a personal grudge against me.

After all, I was basically invisible at school. Hardly anyone even knew who I was. If someone did have a reason to hate me, it would probably be those delinquents I beat the crap out of.

Either way, regardless of who started it, one thing was certain—almost no one actually knew the real truth behind what happened.

“Now that you put it that way, I think I get it!”

“Right? That means there are only two possibilities. One, the person who spread the rumor simply wasn’t paying attention at the time. Or two, they deliberately wanted to stir up trouble between us. But either way, if this rumor has already spread from an unreliable source, all we need to do is have someone with authority and credibility explain the truth. And that person… would be the head of the literature club, right?”

After hearing Tsunekawa’s analysis, Sasaki-sensei smiled in admiration and clapped.

“Exactly. Well thought out.”

“I appreciate the compliment.”

“Anyway, you guys just need to sign this club application. After that, I’ll have the literature club president officially recognize you as members.”

The literature club president was a well-mannered, highly respected student—Sasaki-sensei’s trusted assistant and someone well-known throughout the school.

Considering that Sasaki-sensei planned to have the president vouch for us, the plan itself wasn’t bad.

But there was one big problem.

Why the hell did I have to join a club just because of all this nonsense?

I don’t wanna join a club!

After school, I just wanna go home, play games, and read manga!

“Now, hurry up and sign. Once you do, you can head back to class.”

Sasaki-sensei urged us. Honestly, I really didn’t want to do this, but if I refused or hesitated too long, he’d probably get mad.

And we all know how that would end.

Besides, if this rumor didn’t die down, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my time in peace, either.

In the end, I reluctantly signed the application form.

It seemed… I had gotten caught up with an absolutely ridiculous trio.