You Will Regret This Ichinose! [127]

Tap, tap... tap, tap...

Unhurried footsteps echoed through the hallway. The afternoon sunlight cast its glow on an indescribable figure, projecting its massive shadow onto the wall...

"Little students, be good~ Come out quickly. If you don’t... I’ll have to come find you~"

A hollow yet clear hum drifted through the second floor.

In the corner of the second floor, several figures were huddled, barely daring to breathe.

That guy... is way too terrifying...

The ominous figure merely wandered the corridor, seemingly restricted in some way, as it made no effort to search each hiding spot thoroughly.

Step...

Step...

As the footsteps faded into the distance, the students on the second floor collectively let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, a voice rang out behind them.

"Aha, caught one! Playing hide-and-seek but forgot to turn off your location tracking?"

Uesugi Gen yanked someone out of their hiding place. Upon seeing who it was, his face twisted in fury.

"Moriyama! You dare betray me?!"

...

Twenty minutes later.

"You already fell for this once, and you still got baited again? Huh? Nanpou, you betrayed me too?!"

...

Another fifteen minutes passed.

"I just made a little noise, and you assumed I went up to the third floor? You’re way too easy to fool! Hama—Hamaguchi, even you...?"

...

...

...

"You... you guys..."

Uesugi’s voice of disbelief echoed through the school building.

As time passed, one by one, the members of the Uesugi Group were captured.

Yet, this was not something to celebrate.

In just one short hour, Uesugi had experienced the brutal fall from heaven to hell.

His expression shifted from a smug, wicked grin to a gradually fading smile, then to a blank stare, and finally, to an uncontrollable twitching at the corner of his mouth...

As for the others, their expressions transitioned from initial terror to relief, then to a vague unease, and finally, an unmistakable awkwardness...

And now...

Everyone silently turned to look at a slumped, grayish-white figure crouching in the corner, muttering to himself.

"I was so foolish. Really. I knew there might be traitors in the Uesugi Group, but I never imagined they'd all be hopelessly ensnared by Ichinose’s charisma. Every single one of them leaked information to her..."

You're one to talk! You were just as bad as us!

Everyone collectively roasted him in their minds.

Yes. He had completely shut down.

After just an hour, he had mentally collapsed, squatting in the corner in complete defeat.

"Ahem."

Nearby, Kanzaki Ryūji could barely hold back his amusement, awkwardly attempting to explain.

"Actually, not everyone leaked information on purpose. Some of them never even planned to. But then you used Ichinose’s phone as bait, and well... one by one, they all..."

He himself hadn’t been caught. He knew Uesugi’s personality—there was no way he’d search every single corner. So from the beginning, he had found a secure hiding spot, planning to emerge after two hours.

But what he hadn’t expected was that Uesugi's tactic had backfired spectacularly. In trying to catch others, he had effectively sabotaged himself. Now, covered in dust and completely demoralized, he had given up on the game entirely.

"Shut up! You traitors—backstabbing snakes, every last one of you!"

Uesugi shouted from his corner.

"You're the one who brought Ichinose’s phone over to interrogate us! How the hell were we supposed to refuse something like that?"

Himeno Yuki muttered under her breath.

Nods all around.

Yeah, exactly. How were we supposed to refuse?

But the utterly devastated Uesugi was in no state to hear their explanations. He wobbled to his feet, gathering what was left of his spirit, and staggered toward the exit.

Seeing this, someone couldn't help but ask, "Hey, Uesugi, where are you going?"

By now, Uesugi was nothing more than a soulless, defeated husk.

"Back to my dorm. To play games. I need to save ten worlds to heal my wounded soul."

Everyone's expressions changed instantly.

Is he serious?

A single playthrough of one game took at least ten hours. If he planned to save ten worlds...

They wouldn’t see Uesugi outside his dorm for at least a week.

If Ichinose finds out we broke Uesugi this badly...

A collective shudder ran through the group.

Exchanging glances, everyone instantly sprang into action—they couldn’t let him leave.

Shibata Sō: "Ahaha, Uesugi, this is all a big misunderstanding! We’d never betray you!"

Andō: "Yeah, Uesugi-kun, Shibata-kun and I just happened to be here for other reasons. We weren’t scheming against you or anything!"

Hamaguchi: "That’s right! I only came to school to study today. It was just pure coincidence that we ran into you."

...

Uesugi stared at them blankly.

"Do you all take me for an idiot? You’re never here on weekends, but today, ten of you show up at the same time? And every single one of you just so happens to be someone I messaged earlier?"

With that, he sidestepped them.

Behind him, the group exchanged frantic glances at lightning speed.

"Kanzaki, do something! If Ichinose finds out, we’re screwed!"

Do something? Why are you putting this on me?!

What was he supposed to do? He wasn’t Ichinose. He couldn’t magically make Uesugi forget everything.

Wait...

A sudden idea lit up Kanzaki Ryūji’s eyes. Forcing a composed expression, he spoke up.

"Uesugi, we were in the wrong. We failed to remain loyal to the Uesugi Group."

"Oh."

Uesugi responded flatly, continuing to walk.

"Give us another chance! We promise not to betray you again."

"You all promised that last time too, when you swore not to leak information to Ichinose."

Uesugi’s voice was indifferent.

As he walked farther away, Kanzaki went all-in with his last resort.

"We’ll support you for class president!"

Uesugi halted.

Huh?

All eyes instantly snapped to Kanzaki Ryūji.

Holy crap, he actually went there?!

"Yeah," Kanzaki continued smoothly. "You want to be class president, right? Pick a time, gather everyone, and hold another vote. We’ll all vote for you—to prove our loyalty."

He delivered the line with an unreadable expression.

It’s not like he’ll actually win against Ichinose. And does it really matter who’s president? If Uesugi tries to act recklessly again, Ichinose will shut him down anyway.

Uesugi responded coolly, "A traitor’s promise isn’t worth much."

"We’ll make a written agreement!"

Kanzaki Ryūji’s voice was firm, unwavering.

Finally, Uesugi turned around to look at him.

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely."

Thirty minutes later, the group exited the school building, heaving sighs of relief.

Finally, they had handled it.

Only Himeno Yuki narrowed her eyes and muttered in frustration.

"Wait a second... weren’t we the ones who got tricked? He’s the one who called us here, but somehow, we ended up signing a written agreement."

The group collectively fell into deep thought.

Yeah... how did that happen?

---

This is a fan translation of 人在实教，一之濑你会后悔的 by 作者：白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!