Heart-piercing as it was, life still had to go on.
Before the issue was completely resolved, normal life clearly couldn't continue—so Hermione, in surprisingly high spirits, began analyzing the entire situation from start to finish.
By the end, the young girl pressed a hand to her forehead and looked at the group.
"Heavens, I thought this was something serious. You all looked like you were worrying yourselves sick—turns out it's just something this small!"
Her expression, as if the problem were no more than child's play, left everyone feeling extremely frustrated. How was this small? Hadn't so many people been agonizing over it for ages?
Fortunately, Hermione had no intention of keeping them in suspense. She shook her head slightly at the hopeless-looking boys.
"After all that talking, there actually isn't any big problem here. First of all, Marshall—you don't want to have anything to do with Miss Kaoru anymore, right?"
Marshall nodded. After earning another eye-roll, Hermione continued.
"Then it's obvious this has nothing to do with you anymore. You don't need to be involved at all."
She then turned her head toward Allen.
"Allen, you haven't really interacted with Miss Kaoru either, right?"
"Mm. Almost no interaction. After the duel, I said a few words to calm things down, and then we went our separate ways."
"And those earlier rumors had no basis whatsoever, correct? You also have no contact with Miss Kaoru at all, right?"
"No. I didn't even know her last time, and this time we didn't exchange anything either."
Hermione lightly clapped her hands.
"Then the problem is very simple. Since those are just rumors, let the rumors collapse on their own."
She fixed her gaze firmly on Allen.
"So, the solution is actually quite straightforward—Allen, get into a relationship. Once you show up with a girlfriend, the rumors will naturally die out."
"Mm, that sounds pretty reasona—wait! What did you just say?"
Hermione's chain of reasoning had Allen nodding along unconsciously. As expected of someone who nearly played Harry to death just by advising Ginny—this emotional expert is terrifying…
Hold on. Something's wrong.
Why did this suddenly end up on my head?!
Everyone else was stunned as well. How did she arrive at that conclusion?
Yet after the initial shock, they thought it over carefully—and couldn't help but realize something.
Hermione's method… actually seemed pretty feasible.
So-called ambiguity between two people usually can't survive once one side openly introduces their girlfriend. If that happened, the rumors would naturally self-destruct.
Unfortunately, Allen froze and immediately rejected the idea.
"No—what kind of awful solution is that supposed to be?"
Hermione spread her hands helplessly.
"If you're unwilling, then we can only go find Miss Kaoru and have her get a boyfriend. Otherwise, this whole thing won't end anytime soon."
...
As the main culprit who had made the girl cry that afternoon, Allen might have wanted to shift the blame, but his conscience wouldn't allow it. Besides, the girl had just gone through a breakup—saying something like that would be like rubbing salt into her wound.
And just like that, the pressure landed squarely on him.
The solution was painfully simple: Allen had to find a girlfriend.
After thinking it over, Allen still felt something was deeply wrong.
"No—this absolutely won't work!"
"What? Come on, Allen, what's wrong with you?" someone said. "Don't worry, we'll help you. Everyone will introduce girls to you—it'll be fine."
Allen shook his head firmly.
"No, I really can't do this. My conscience won't let me. Why should some innocent girl get dragged into this mess? Am I supposed to let a girl be my girlfriend just to clean up this situation? Wouldn't that just be ruining another person?"
His reasoning was flawless. Using another girl's reputation to fix someone else's reputation problem wasn't solving anything. Why should she have to pay that price?
The tent fell silent.
A seemingly perfect solution had revealed a gaping flaw.
Then, in the silence, Shane spoke up.
"Actually… it's not unsolvable. We just need to tell the girl the truth and have her pretend to date you. After the exchange period ends, you break up. It only needs to last that long."
"That's impossible," someone immediately objected. "Shane, stop joking. Among the girls we know, who would casually agree to help with something like that?"
"There is one," Shane replied calmly. "And she's right in front of us."
His finger pointed toward someone in the tent, and everyone's gaze followed.
That's right—the girl who had proposed the solution in the first place.
Hermione Granger.
"Eh? Eh—eh?!"
She was momentarily stunned. When realization finally hit her, her cheeks instantly flushed bright red.
Indeed, if there was any girl who might accept a fake relationship like this, then who better than the one who proposed the solution herself? Whoever caused the pollution should be the one to fix it—and Hermione was practically the perfect candidate.
Most other girls wouldn't even listen to the full story, let alone agree. Only Hermione could fully understand the urgency of the situation and might actually accept it.
Besides, everyone was fairly familiar with each other already. Acting would be easier that way—after all, this had to be convincing in front of the entire school. If it fell apart, things would get ugly.
After Shane's careful explanation, everyone suddenly felt that—aside from Hermione—there truly was no more suitable candidate.
Yes. The pot calling the kettle black
Hermione was clearly still in shock. Evidently, she didn't know that there was a phrase called "inviting someone into the trap.
Under the group's expectant gazes, Hermione blushed for a long time. In the end, she still agreed. However, after hurriedly telling Allen that they would "start acting at dinner," she fled straight out of the tent from sheer embarrassment—leaving Allen standing there, utterly awkward.
What had he even done wrong?
Why was everyone else's first love full of sweetness and beauty—while his had to be fake?
Was there no law anymore? No justice left in this world?!
Under everyone's strange looks, Allen felt an overwhelming urge to step outside and hide for a while—but he was immediately stopped.
"Wait—bro, where do you think you're going?"
"Out to take a breather. My brain hasn't caught up yet."
"Don't mess around—there's no time for that. Speaking of which, you're not planning to go to dinner dressed like that, are you?"
What was wrong with his clothes? Allen glanced down at himself. There didn't seem to be any problem—standard wizard robes, a bit of dust left over from modifications but nothing a simple cleaning spell couldn't fix. He'd only worn them for two days anyway. No need to change, right?
He didn't even get a chance to answer. The others read the answer straight from his eyes.
The rest merely sighed, but Shane wore an expression that clearly said, You're beyond saving.
He stood up, grabbed Marshall, and together they dragged Allen back to his tent. They made him open his trunk and started preparing a complete outfit overhaul. During this process, Marshall and Shane repeatedly ran back to their own tents to rummage through their belongings.
As for Allen—
With resistance being utterly futile, he could only sigh and let them have their way.