IBDEML 16

Chapter 16

“Big sister!”

“Hey, hey!”

Klein, who was behind me, ran in a hurry and grabbed me after I fell to the floor and helped me stand up.

“Damn it! Who did this! Why trip someone who was walking normally!”

He got angry while showing off his rough habit of using bad words.

“Don’t swear……. Swearing is only allowed when rapping or when hitting your toe on the corner.”

My knees and palms only felt slightly sore, but thankfully there were no wounds.

Klein looked dumbfounded as I calmly dusted off my hands and clothes.

“What is rap?”

You were curious about that?

“Something like ‘check it out’ or something like that…….”

But does rap even exist in this world? I don’t know.

“Pff.”

“Pfft.”

I heard Bill and Klein trying to hold back their laughter.

Why are they laughing when they don’t even know the meaning?

“How are your injuries?”

“None.”

So can you let go of me now?

I pulled my hand away from Klein, who was still holding it.

The kid who tripped me had already run away, so I couldn’t even find who it was.

He was quite fast for a child. I wanted to teach him a lesson.

It seemed there were still quite a lot of children who disliked Lopez.

Medina, Klein, and Chester took seats at the table in front of Lopez.

Lopez was sitting facing Bill, but her mind was elsewhere.

“Castella……. There’s such a luxurious bread.”

Despite complaining, it seemed she liked the bread, as a faint blush rose on Lopez’s cheeks.

Lopez carefully lifted the castella with an expectant face.

Her sparkling eyes were about to put the bread into her mouth.

Splash!

Water was poured over her.

The soft and fluffy castella was soaked and became limp in the water.

Unable to eat the bread anymore, Lopez froze in shock.

Klein suddenly stood up, and the child who poured the water handed him an apology while crying.

“S-sorry, sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose! I’m sorry! M-my hand lost strength! Really!”

If someone saw it, they might think she was being bullied.

Lopez calmly waved her hand.

“No, it’s okay.”

As long as it wasn’t on purpose.

Thinking that mistakes could be forgiven, Lopez comforted the child.

Seeing the child turn away with a faint smile on his lips, Klein clenched his fist.

“That stupid kid…….”

How could she be fooled by just one apology?

He felt angry at Lopez’s foolish-looking behavior.

At the same time, he was also bothered by her looking sad after losing her bread.

Then he suddenly got shocked by his own thought.

“Why am I thinking it’s bothering me!”

“……Klein, what are you doing alone?”

Medina asked in confusion at Klein muttering to himself, but he did not answer and suddenly stood up.

Then he hurriedly brought water and splashed it at the same child.

“Ahh! W-what……!”

“Ah, mistake. My hand lost strength.”

Klein grinned and shook the empty cup, making the boy’s face turn bright red.

Realizing he was being teased, the child trembled with anger and pointed at him.

“You, you……!”

“Why? Did I do something wrong?”

Klein asked back in a slanted, arrogant tone, and the boy bit his lip while glaring at him.

“Or do you want to go to the teacher?”

At those words, the boy flinched.

It seemed he realized Klein had poured water on purpose.

Feeling guilty about what he did to Lopez earlier, the boy quickly left his seat trembling.

“Hmph, so annoying.”

Klein returned as if nothing had happened, and this time Medina stood up.

“Medina?”

“Wait a moment. I think Lopez looks upset…….”

She wanted to go comfort the upset Lopez, but Lopez had already stood up holding her tray.

Seeing that, Medina flinched and awkwardly sat back down.

“Big sister, where are you going?”

Bill tilted his head.

“I’m going to ask for the bread again.”

“I want to go too!”

Lopez grabbed Bill’s hand and walked toward the serving counter.

“Hello, ma’am. The bread got wet.”

Because of someone’s mistake, she couldn’t take even one bite.

Lopez boldly asked for the bread from the school meal again.

No, she tried to ask confidently.

“The meal p… today’s meal bread… no, the meal paaa….”

As her pronunciation became more and more strange, Lopez’s voice gradually lost strength.

The lady tried to hold back her laughter at her cute appearance.

“……Child, what did you say?”

“……My words got tangled.”

“Pfft!”

“Kyuk kyuk…….”

Everyone laughed at her fancy mistake in speaking.

“Other side dishes are fine, but the bread from today! Please give me that!”

This time Lopez managed to pronounce it correctly and looked proudly at the lady.

But the cafeteria lady answered with a troubled face.

“Ah, what should I do? Bread is usually bought in fixed quantities, so there’s none left.”

Lopez’s world collapsed.

Klein and Chester, who had come closer holding their trays and bread, frowned slightly as they saw Lopez standing like a stone.

Why does she look so pitiful?

Chester casually handed his bread to Lopez.

“There was leftover bread.”

Lopez opened her eyes slightly in surprise.

“There shouldn’t be anything left since it was fixed quantity. Did you get two?”

Just take it. Why talk so much?

Chester furrowed his brow.

“It’s for you to eat.”

After checking Chester’s tray, Lopez shook her head.

“It’s okay. I can’t eat someone else’s bread.”

She tried to refuse and leave, but Chester stubbornly blocked her and kept holding out the bread.

“Take it.”

Lopez, who had been sick and could only eat porridge, had become very thin.

‘This is repayment for being saved. I have no special meaning toward her.’

Chester kept repeating that sentence in his mind.

As if hypnotizing himself.

Facing his imposing attitude that seemed like he would not move until she accepted it, Lopez had no choice but to take the bread and split it in half.

Then she handed half to Chester.

“Here. Thank you, I’ll eat well.”

Watching the smiling Lopez, Chester somehow felt his face grow hot.

Before he could fully realize that feeling, the exam had already come closer.

Sunflower Orphanage held exams in the second and fourth quarters.

Like other schools, they took tests based on what they had learned and ranked students by score.

However, everyone received the same test paper regardless of age.

Because of this, each class had children of various ages, like Bill being in Class 1.

Depending on the exam results, children from Class 2 could advance to Class 1, or children from Class 1 could be demoted to Class 3.

Considering that the number of students in Class 3 was extremely small, it seemed most children in this orphanage were naturally intelligent.

And today was the fourth-quarter exam.

I looked at the test paper on the desk and picked up my pencil.

Thankfully, I could read the letters.

‘But what I want is a failing score.’

Honestly, the classes themselves were not difficult.

Learning about this romance novel world was somewhat interesting, so I listened quite diligently.

But I had no intention of standing out.

‘It’s not like I have a birth secret like the heroine.’

If I caught the teachers’ attention unnecessarily, it would only become troublesome.

‘I have to act like I don’t exist.’

I had already attracted a lot of attention, but from now on I had to reduce my presence.

That way, even if I secretly escaped, they wouldn’t notice.

When they finally realized I was gone, I should already be in another place.

‘I have no choice if I want to return to my original world.’

Thinking about it, I would need some funds if I wanted to gather information.

While thinking, I filled the answers with number 3.

After finishing and feeling satisfied, I looked up and met Bill’s eyes.

He was wrapping his test paper tightly while looking teary-eyed.

I’m not cheating.

After having a mysterious staring contest with Bill, a few days later, the results were announced.

With a nervous heart, I looked at the teacher.

“Lopez.”

“Yes.”

“0 points. Demoted to Class 3.”

Teacher, does that mean there was not even one answer marked as number 3?

Except for me, there were only three children in Class 3.

The gloomy atmosphere of Class 3 clearly showed that the teachers had neglected it, as the classroom itself was not clean.

More than anything, the expressions of the three children looking at me were not normal.

‘Those two boys look like twins. They look exactly the same.’

One of the twins, a sharp-looking red-haired boy, narrowed his eyes and examined me as if observing something.

Then, as if remembering something, he pointed at me and shouted.

“Ah! It’s the bad Lopez!”

So the rumors reached Class 3 too.

The child stuck his tongue out at me as if showing off.

“Meh, no one will want to sit next to Lopez!”

I gave a little dose of reality to the cute child.

“Even forcing a way to sit next to you is possible…….”

“Go away!”

Kids, let’s use good words.

Although they looked very wary, since we were in the same class now, it would be good to know their names.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

I asked the boy who spoke to me first.

He turned his head away and answered.

“Why do you need to know?”

The child had no intention of telling me his name obediently.

In that case, I had no choice but to make him spit it out.