"All right! The pool!"
After lunch had ended, it was finally time for swim class. Finally, the
moment Ike and the others had so desperately been waiting for. Without even
trying to hide his excitement, Ike leapt up and headed with the others toward
the indoor pool. I followed behind them in what I thought was a stealthy manner.
"Come on, let's go together, Ayanokouji!"
"Huh? O-okay."
I'd hesitated somewhat upon receiving Ike's invitation, but I hurried to
join and followed them to the locker room. Sudou promptly removed his
uniform and started to change, showing off his physique. He'd built up his
body through his years of basketball playing. Even in comparison with the
other students, he was clearly in incredible
shape. While the others wrapped themselves in bath towels, Sudou
unabashedly wore only his underwear. He stood there, semi-nude, and took
his swimsuit out of his bag. I couldn't keep myself from blurting something out.
"Sudou, you're pretty bold. Aren't you nervous being around other people?"
"In sports, you can't get flustered every time you have to change. If
you act all shifty, it'll have the opposite effect. You become the center of attention."
He could say that again. In these sorts of places, sneaky guys got mocked.
"All right, I'm going on ahead."
A moment later, Sudou left the locker room. I quickly finished changing as well.
Upon seeing the fifty-meter pool, Ike cried out, "Whoa, this school is
something else! It's even better than the city pool, don't you think?"
The water was clear and beautiful, and because it was indoors, we didn't have to
worry about the weather. The perfect environment.
"What about the girls? Aren't they here yet?"
Ike looked around, sniffing the air like a dog.
"They take a while to change, so they're probably not ready," I said.
"Hey, I wonder would what happen if I just suddenly jumped into the
girls' locker room?" Ike said.
"They'd gang up on you, beat the crap out of you, and then file charges, probably."
"Don't give me such a realistic, deadpan answer and ruin my fun!" Ike
began to tremble with fright as he played that scenario in his head.
"If the girls sense you staring at them in their swimsuits, they'll probably hate you."
"Come on, like there's a guy out there who wouldn't stare! Agh. What
am I gonna do if I get a boner?"
If that happened, they'd probably hate Ike from that moment all the
way until the day of our graduation. Wait a second, what was happening?
Had I started talking naturally to Ike and the others? Even though until this
morning I hadn't been able to join their group, I suddenly had my foot in the
door, so to speak. This was the moment for a new friendship to be born.
"Wow! It's so spacious! It's so much bigger than the pool at my junior high school."
A few minutes after the boys had arrived, a girl's voice could be heard.
"A-are they here?!"
Ike looked ready to strike. If you were that obvious about it, the girls
were bound to hate you. Even so, I was curious, too. I mostly wondered about
Hasebe and Kushida, but a little about Horikita as well. I was particularly
interested in Hasebe, the girl rumored to have the biggest tits in class. I didn't
think there'd be any harm in taking a little peek. However, it turned out that
all of the boys' wishes were dashed by an unexpected turn of events.
"Hasebe isn't here! Wh-what's going on, Professor?!" Ike cried.
The Professor, who had been watching the class, was now in a panic.
Standing on the second-floor observation deck, he scanned the room. Ike and
the others also looked around. At this height, the Professor's beady,
bespectacled eyes should have spotted his prey instantly. However...
He couldn't find the girls anywhere. He looked to his right and left, as
if in disbelief. Could they still be changing? Or could...
"B-behind you, Professor!"
"What?!"
Ike pointed and shouted. The situation had become clear. Hasebe stood
behind the Professor on the observation deck. One by one, the rest of the girls
appeared, until they'd all emerged onto the second floor. Sakura was among them.
"Wh-what's going on? How did this happen?"
Ike slumped to the ground and buried his face in his hands, shaken by
this unbelievable turn of events. Hasebe seemed to be self-conscious about
being considered a beautiful girl. Furthermore, she seemed to dislike getting
curious looks from the boys. She was not amused at their attempts to ogle.
"Aw, but I thought I'd get to see big tits! Big tits! I thought this was my chance!"
Ike appeared to be contemplating suicide. His wails of agony reached Hasebe.
"Gross," the girls muttered among themselves. Ike was being far too
obvious, so it wasn't surprising that the girls hated him...
"Ike, don't be sad! Come on, there are still tons of girls out there for
us!" Yamauchi said.
"Y-yeah, that's right. You got a point. I can't get down in the dumps
now!" Ike cried.
"Bro!" Yamauchi and Ike reaffirmed their manly bond of friendship,
clasping their hands together.
"What are you two doing? That looks like fun."
"K-K-Kushida-chan?!"
Kushida showed up between the two of them. She was clad in her
school-issued swimwear, which nicely showed off her voluptuous figure.
In an instant, nearly all of the boys' eyes were glued to Kushida's body. She
must have been a D or E cup. I didn't know for sure, but I estimated. She was
a lot bigger than I'd thought. Her butt and thighs were also more voluptuous
than I had pictured, which was strangely captivating. However, all of us boys
quickly averted our gaze.
Ah, the weather was so nice today... World peace truly was wonderful.
Once the inevitable physiological reaction kicked in, it was quite a terrible shock.
"Why the pained expression?" Horikita examined my face closely, with a suspicious look.
"I'm currently in the midst of an internal battle," I replied.
Horikita was in a school swimsuit. How to put it? Yeah. She looked
good. Not bad at all. But if I stared, it was likely that something bad would
result. I thought it best to grin and bear it until I calmed down.
"......"
For some reason, Horikita was checking me out all over.
"Ayanokouji-kun, do you exercise?" she asked.
"Huh? No, not really. I'm not particularly proud of this, but in middle
school I was the kid who never had any after-school plans."
"Well, you say that, but...judging from the development of your
forearms and your back muscles, you seem above average."
"I guess my parents blessed me with good genes?"
"I don't think that's the only reason."
"Jeez, what's with you? Do you have a muscle fetish or something? Is that it?"
"I suppose if you deny it that much, I have to believe you..."
She appeared somewhat dissatisfied. I guessed that Horikita had a
rather discerning eye and enjoyed using it.
"Are you a good swimmer, Horikita-san?"
Although Horikita gave a slightly puzzled look in response to
Kushida's question, she quietly answered. "I wouldn't say I'm particularly good or bad at it."
"I was really bad at swimming when I was in junior high. But I gave it
my all and practiced really hard, and now I think I've gotten better," Kushida said.
"I see." Horikita gave a disinterested response and backed away
slightly, clearly signaling that she didn't want to continue the conversation further.
"All right, everyone, line up!"
A macho-looking middle-aged man, the kind of guy who apparently
devoted himself to sports, gathered everyone together and started the class.
He looked like a PE teacher, but also seemed like the kind of guy who was
attractive to men and women alike.
"There are sixteen of you, huh? I thought there would've been more,
but this is all right."
Clearly, some of the students in that count had ditched class, but it
didn't appear to frustrate him.
"After you warm up, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for
me," the coach said.
"Excuse me, sir. I can't really swim, though..."
A lone boy sheepishly raised his hand and spoke up.
"Since you have me as your teacher, you'll be swimming by
summertime. Don't worry about a thing."
"Well, we don't really need to force ourselves to swim, do we? It's not
like we're going to the beach or anything."
"No way. I don't mind at all if you're bad at swimming now, but I'll
make sure you guys are winners in the end. Besides, being able to swim will
definitely come in handy later in life. Definitely."
Swimming would definitely come in handy? Well, I suppose knowing
how to swim would be convenient. However, hearing a teacher say
something like that made me feel uncomfortable. Though, he probably just
wanted to keep the students from sinking like rocks.
Everyone started their warm-up exercises. Ike kept peeking at the girls.
The teacher asked us to swim for about fifty meters. Students who could not
swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the pool with their feet. I hadn't been in a pool since last summer. The water must have been temperature- controlled, because I didn't feel chilled when I entered and adjusted right away. After getting in, I started to swim lightly.
After fifty meters, I waited for everyone else to finish.
"He he he, that was an easy win for me. Did you all see my super
swimming skills?" Ike crowed.
He'd swum expertly, and now got out of the pool with a smug, self-
satisfied grin. No, Ike, your performance wasn't really that different from anyone else's.
"Well, it looks like everyone can swim, for the most part."
"Of course, sir. Back in junior high, people called me 'the flying fish,'
you know."
"I see. In that case, I'll have you start competing against each other.
We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty-meter freestyle."
"C-compete?! Are you serious?" Ike cried.
"I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The
student who comes in last place, however, will have to take supplementary
lessons. Get ready."
The skilled swimmers cheered with joy, while the less confident students groaned.
"Because we don't have very many girls, I'll split you into two groups
of five people, and the student with the fastest overall time will be the winner.
As for the boys, I'll look at the top five finishing times and then move on to a final round."
I'd never imagined that the school would award points as a prize.
Perhaps this was a way to light a fire under the students. Rather well thought
out, I had to say. Excluding the observers and the one student who couldn't
swim, there were sixteen boys and ten girls competing. The girls started first,
while the boys sat on the sidelines, filled with excitement as they cheered...
no, as they assessed the girls.
"Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-
chan. Haaaaaaa..."
It looked like Kushida had completely entranced Ike.
"You're scaring everyone, Ike, settle down," I mumbled.
"B-but, Kushida-chan is so goddamn cute, isn't she? And her breasts
are pretty big, too!"
Kushida immediately dominated the boys' attention. Would any of the
other girls catch up to her? If you focused on her face alone, Horikita could
definitely have been in the top tier, but because she loathed social interaction
so much, her popularity had dipped. Despite that, many of the boys thought
she looked great, so she got plenty of cheers at the starting line.
"Everyone, burn these images into your mind! Remember the fap
material you see here today!" Ike cried.
"Yeah!" everyone shouted.
Somehow, swimming had strengthened the boys' bond. The only
exception was Hirata, who seemed to avoid looking at the girls. The whistle
blew, and five of the girls dove into the water. Horikita was in the second
lane. She took the lead at the beginning of the race and kept her distance from
the others, maintaining her position at the front of the pack. She swam
confidently, effortlessly covering the fifty meters.
"Wow! Awesome, Horikita!"
Her time was approximately twenty-eight seconds. She was pretty fast.
Horikita slowly got out of the pool and went to the side, not even appearing
out of breath. To the boys, results were of secondary importance. Their eyes
were glued to the girls' jiggling butts. I stared at Horikita, too. Was it because
we were getting along? Well, she was a girl. There was something there, I
thought. Yeah.
After that came the second race. Kushida, the most popular girl, was in
the fourth lane. The boys cheered for her, smiling and waving.
"Whoo!"
Wow, those guys were really riled up. Some even tried to sneakily
cover their crotches. During our introductions, Kushida had announced that
she wanted to make friends with everyone in class. It looked like her wish
had already pretty much come true. It wasn't just the boys, either; girls were
around her constantly, too, chatting away happily. Kushida had an air that
attracted other people.
The second race began. The contest ended up being rather one-sided. A
girl named Onodera, who had been on swim teams before, won by a mile.
She finished with a time of about twenty-six seconds, netting her the win.
Kushida finished at about thirty-one seconds, which was a fairly good time,
but only resulted in her getting fourth place. I went over to the side of the
pool to talk with Horikita.
"You were so close. Second place, I mean. I guess that those guys on
the swim team were really tough, huh?"
"I don't mind whether I win or lose. Enough about me. Are you feeling
confident in yourself?" she asked.
"Oh, definitely. I just can't come in last."
"That's not really something to take pride in. I thought boys were
supposed to be fixated on winning and losing."
"I don't like competing against people. I just like avoiding trouble, after all," I said.
I'd given up on trying to get first place from the very beginning. All I
wanted was to avoid taking those supplementary lessons. I was assigned my
spot and placed in the second lane, while Sudou was in the first, right next to
me. It was impossible to even hope to match Sudou's pace, so I didn't plan to
try. I aimed to come in somewhere in the middle, just not last. With that in
mind, the race started, and we dove in.
Sudou finished the fifty-meter race with incredible speed. The boys and
girls cheered in admiration.
"Wow, you're amazing, Sudou. You finished the race in twenty-five seconds!" they cried.
I, on the other hand, finished in thirty-six seconds. It looked like I got
tenth place. All right, no supplementary lessons for me.
"Sudou, won't you consider joining the swim team? If you practice,
you could probably win at competitions!"
"Basketball is my only sport. Swimming's just for fun." Sudou, who
hadn't even broken a sweat, calmly got out of the pool.
"Oh, wow, he has absolutely outstanding motor skills."
Ike, feeling envious, elbowed Sudou.
"Kya!"
A girl let out a joyful scream as Hirata took his starting position.
Whereas Sudou's body had attracted the boys' admiration, Hirata's body
attracted the girls. He was slender, but also well built. You could say he was
a macho pretty boy. After hearing the girls' delighted squeals for Hirata, Ike
spat in response. Sudou didn't seem very amused either, and shot Hirata a glare.
"I'm going to blow you out of the water. I'll use all of my power," he
growled.
Didn't he say that he swam just for fun?
After the teacher blew the whistle, Hirata dove into the pool with
beautiful form. Every time Hirata's arms cut through the water, the girls
cheered by the side of the pool. His form was effortlessly cool.
"He's surprisingly fast," Sudou commented. It was certainly true that
Hirata swam fast. There was no doubt that he'd shot ahead of the four other
boys who were competing with him. This, of course, prompted more shrieks
from the girls. Hirata didn't fail to live up to our expectations: He came in
first place. Deafening cheers reverberated throughout the room.
"Sensei, what was his time?" asked Ike, impatiently.
"Hirata's time was...26.13 seconds."
"All right. You can do it, Sudou. You can definitely win against him!
Bring down the hammer of justice!"
"Leave it to me. I'll demolish him and his popularity..."
Ike's encouragement had Sudou all fired up, but even if Hirata lost, it
wasn't likely that his popularity would drop.
"Hirata-kun, you were so cool! You're not just good at soccer, you're
really good at swimming!" one girl cried.
"You think so? Thank you!" he said.
"Hey, why are you ogling Hirata-kun like that?" another girl said.
"Huh? I'm 'ogling'?!"
There was an indignant squeal.
Hirata's immense popularity was unbelievably frustrating.
"Come on, girls, knock it off. Please don't fight over me. I belong to
everyone. I want to be everyone's friend. Besides, what if someone who's
better at swimming comes along?"
Kouenji mistakenly seemed to assume that the cheers were for him. He
put on a refreshing smile and then planted his feet by the starting line.
"Hey. Uh, why is Kouenji wearing a speedo?"
"Wh-what?"
Although the school allowed such tight swimwear, Kouenji was the
only one in our class wearing it. The briefs drew attention to his crotch,
and the girls all looked away. However, in the third race, all eyes were on
Kouenji. The stance he took at the starting line was just like an athlete's. His
posture wasn't the only impressive thing, either. He looked to be in even
better physical shape than Sudou. Sudou and all of the other boys in class
held their breath as they attentively focused on Kouenji.
"I'm not particularly interested in winning or losing...but I don't like
losing," said Sudou, to no one in particular.
As the whistle blew, Kouenji dove into the pool with textbook form.
"Whoa! Wow!"
Sudou gave a surprised shout in response to Kouenji's unexpectedly
aggressive swimming. Hirata also stared in apparent amazement. Kouenji
splashed fiercely as he swam, but it didn't slow his incredible speed. He was
unquestionably faster than Sudou. After checking the time, the teacher
reflexively looked at his stopwatch twice.
"23.22 seconds."
"My abdominal muscles, back muscles, and psoas major muscle seem
to be in good shape, as usual. Not a bad performance," Kouenji said.
After getting out of the pool, he smirked and swept his hair up. He
wasn't short of breath at all. It was as if he hadn't even swum in the first place.
"I'm fired up!" Sudou didn't want to lose, so his competitive spirit
flared. To be honest, Sudou was the only one who had any chance of winning
against Kouenji. The final round was more like a one-on-one match between
the two of them.
"I'm really looking forward to this. Both Kouejin-kun and Sudou-kun
are so fast," Kushida said.
"A-ah, yeah."
Standing beside a swimsuit-clad beauty, I'd entered a state of
emergency, my heart pounding in my chest.
"Hmm? What's the matter? Your face looks red for some reason. Are
you not feeling well, by chance?" she asked.
"Oh, no, no, that's not it at all..."
"Well, even so, something seems unusual. Why do we have swimming
classes in April, anyway?"
"Because we have such an incredible indoor pool. Oh, yeah, that
reminds me... You were pretty fast, Kushida. I can't believe that you weren't
very good at swimming in junior high."
"You're much faster than average, too, Ayanokouji-kun."
"Nah, I'm pretty average. I don't really like to exercise."
"Is that so? But you look like a really manly guy, Ayanokouji-kun.
Even though you're so slim, I could say that you're even better built than
Sudou, and he plays basketball."
Kushida examined my body in shock and awe, as if she were thinking
"Really? Really?" I was ten times more nervous now than when Horikita had stared at me.
"I was just born naturally muscular. There's no special reason behind
it. To tell you the truth, I'm not in any clubs."
The conversation revolved around good health. I felt somewhat
nervous, but strangely satisfied as well. We continued in this way for a while;
I'd wanted to talk with Kushida alone.
"Wow, Kouenji is amazing. I thought that Sudou would have won in a
landslide... What the heck is going on, Ayanokouji?" Ike asked.
It looked like Kouenji had beaten Sudou by about a five-meter lead in
the final round. After he'd finished observing the race, Ike zeroed in on me,
his face like a demon's.
"Uh, nothing really. I didn't do anything," I replied.
"That's not what I'm talking about!"
He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and whispered in my ear.
"I'm aiming for Kushida-chan. Don't get in the way!"
I didn't exactly plan to get in the way, but his goal was slightly
unrealistic. I didn't think Kushida was the type who'd stoop to being with
someone like Ike. Of course, I didn't think she'd get with me, either.