I was slightly worried Hoshinomiya might start questioning me about the incident again because Sakagami didn't choose to lead me out, but she didn't even look my way, completely focused on her work as the student she was talking to had left as well.
Just as I stepped outside the main building I hear the bells ring three times, signaling the end of the lunch period. If I were an honor student, I might have taken his expectation to return quickly more seriously, jogging to my dorm and back in no time, like he wanted me to. But I don't feel like doing cardio right now, and it couldn't hurt to get sidetracked a little. I wonder if the convenience stores are still open. Classes are in session, but I doubt they'd be closed—students aren't the only ones shopping there.
Though... before I start wandering around aimlessly, I should really go change my uniform.
I didn't like the feeling or smell of the food stuck on my uniform, so I walked a little faster than usual to my dorm, threw everything in the washer, and quickly changed in my spare. After changing, I stepped onto my balcony. The girls' rooms were all several floors up in the dorm building, but luckily, my room was in the far-right dorm, giving me a clear view of the school buildings.
The library seemed like a decent time wasting option, but I knew there wouldn't be enough time to waste to actually read anything before I'd have to head back to class, so I crossed it off. Then there was the park. I'd glanced at it a few times while walking to my dorm since it's right next to it, but that made it feel less urgent to visit. The Keyaki Mall sounded much more interesting. Aside from when I needed to restock on supplies, I hadn't really been to the Mall. Even then, I'd only stepped into one of the outermost stores before leaving.
It's decided then.
Keyaki Mall it is.
Swiftly grabbing all my needed items, I departed.
The mall was only a couple minute walk away from the dorms, built right between the special building, the teacher/staff apartment buildings, and the library. Usually those would be the only interesting things you would see on the way there, unless you consider the back of the pool building interesting. However, on my trip there, I saw a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He had light facial hair, barely visible eyebrows, mustache, and side burns, along with very tiny eyes, even for an Asian, sleeping in the forest area next to the mall.
Why is he sleeping out here?
Pushing aside the bushes that blocked my path, I made sure to avoid letting any thorns or strange plants scratch my legs, then crouched in front of the sleeping middle-aged man.
I doubted he had wandered here drunk and fallen asleep. There was no smell of alcohol coming from him, and unless he was an incredibly light drinker, it was unlikely he'd pass out in a forest after a little bit of drinking.
I tilted my head, scanning the nearby area for anything he could've dropped or carried with him that would give me a clue to hypothesize on what happened. There wasn't a big chance of finding anything, but there was no harm in looking. He had fallen asleep on his side, with his face pressed into some poisonous mushrooms, so it was hard to figure out where he'd come from. I guessed he might've wandered in from the Keyaki Mall, and moved in that direction.
Predictably, after a few not-so thorough minutes of searching, I came up short and decided to drop it for now. I didn't know the guy, and I wasn't invested enough to keep at it. Even so, I thought I'd take one last look at him before going off to
He was still in the same position that I'd originally found him in, though that's not to say nothing had changed, his arms had started lightly shaking, and his breathing was uneasy. There could be any number of reason for why this was happening to him, the difference in environment, preexisting health conditions, nightmares—though I'm just going to take another wild guess and say substance usage.
If you threw a hundred random people in a room with this guy and asked them to guess who the drug addict was based on looks alone, 80% would pick him. He looks like the sort of person destined to stay a virgin forever, turning him into a wizard who could track his favorite idol's location just by analyzing the reflection in her eye from a selfie she posted on social media.
Almost as if he'd heard my insult, he turned onto his side, the morning sunlight highlighting his face. His eyes were partially open, paired with a creepy smile, though he was still asleep.
(edit)
Two terabytes minimum.
My suspicions had started with the burnt rolled paper I found on the first day, and this just makes them more certain. This school isn't as innocent as they want you to think.
Should I call campus security? I don't exactly like the idea of some weird old guy on school grounds high on drugs—he could end up causing serious trouble.
Though if I report it I might get dragged into testifying, assuming he is on drugs, even if it's something minor I'd rather avoid any legal issues entirely. It'd also mess up the excuse I planned to give Sakagami for my absence—not as big of a problem as the other one, but I can't really explain why I ended up behind the mall when I was supposed to head straight to school.
Deciding against reporting him, I left his lifeless body behind and went on my way. I spent most of the time browsing through various unique shops and only ended up buying an ice cream sandwich, a strawberry cheesecake, and some macarons. I might have overindulged in sweets.
My time spent wasting time passed in a blur, and before I knew it, I was going back to class. There were only a few minutes left until the next period started. I think I spent too long at the mall, though I never really planned on returning until math was over anyway. Under normal circumstances, I'd just show up at the indoor pool room instead of returning right before class ends, but I'm not sure if Sakagami expects me back after giving me permission to leave.
Slowly pushing open the back entry door to not draw any attention, I tip toed into class 1 - C, immediately catching the attention of our teacher, who was at the front writing down study page numbers.
"Oh? So nice of you to join us today, Ayanokouji-san. I had no idea changing into a spare uniform was such an intricate and lengthy process, that you'd need to whole class period to finish." Sakagami commented, indirectly asking why it took me so long, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
He actually called me out? Why did Ryuen get away with it?
Was it because he wasn't given permission to leave?
"sorry, sensei. my spare was already dirty, and i delayed cleaning it until i forgot about it entirely, i had to wash both before leaving. i didn't bring my phone with me either, thinking it would only take a short time, so i couldn't message you about that unfortunate coincidence."
Sakagami's face shifted to a deadpan, obviously not believing my decently thought up excuse for being late, though he choose not to pursue it any further.
"Is that so? Well, whatever. You can take a seat, even though there's nothing left for today."
I quickly moved my seat, ignoring the thirty stares focused on my head.
I figured they would have, but it appears like everyone already knows about the incident with Manabe. I could hear whispers between students, and Ibuki's apathetic stare told me everything I needed to know—she wouldn't care less about me being late.
Fortunately enough, no one chose to say anything to me. Maybe they asked Manabe about it and she explained everything for me, or perhaps they just didn't care enough to bring up the 'accident' to somebody they've never talked to before, and were completely uninvolved in.
Math ended a few minutes later, and we transitioned to the indoor pool.
A different teacher, the same one that taught P.E., had taken over for Sakagami, and right away, he told us to change and meet back here, which we did. To my surprise, Ibuki didn't sexually harass me with her eyes this time, ignoring me entirely before being the first girl to leave the changing rooms. I changed fast, but intended to wait until most other girls leave to avoid too much attention. Unlike in P.E., my body was much more visible, and it'd be obvious to anyone staring that I work out a little. If I were a guy, I could conceivably pass it off as just good genes. No one would believe that now though.
Even though I tried to avoid attention, a lot of the boys were not-so-secretly staring at me. I'd love to blame Manabe for stirring their curiosity, but the way their eyes kept drifting to my thighs and chest makes it clear they were interested for other reasons. Standing next to Ibuki, whose legs aren't exactly the smallest, only makes it more obvious how thick my legs are.
Thankfully, my genetics hide the bulk of the muscularity, and the training I did wasn't intended to make me look like a bodybuilder, so they're probably not thinking I'm a gym rat.
I've grown accustomed to being stared at, but the blatancy feels disgusting.
"Alright, looks like everybody's here." The teacher called out, gesturing for us to come closer. "33 people, huh? That's good, let's start immediately."
He seemed to calculate the total number of students by subtracting those seated in the upper section from the total students, ignoring the fact that they were technically skipping class.
"Just like you guys did in P.E. get warmed up by doing a few laps in the pool. Those who can swim well go to the deep end, those who can't in the main pool. By the end of month I'll make it so you all can swim in the deep end, I guarantee it."
Everyone headed to their assigned pool, and I followed Ibuki to the deep end. I hadn't been in a pool since last summer—or a few months ago—but I'm fairly confident I'm the fastest female swimmer in our class. While Ibuki or Kinoshita might narrowly beat me in running speed and distance, swimming isn't purely about physicality—it heavily depends on technique. That's not to say form doesn't matter in running, but it plays a much smaller role than it does in swimming.
"say ibuki, are you good at swimming?"
"Huh?" She replied, not expecting me to speak after staying quiet for so long. "Well, it's not like I'm bad at it. I'd say I'm above average, maybe? I haven't gone swimming in two years, though."
"me either, though closer to one year. i think i'm pretty good at it too."
"I didn't ask."
She's really prickly.
It's not that she incapable of talking to anyone; she just comes across as someone who dislikes everyone in class, probably including herself, and sadly me too.
"sorry, i'll be sure to run it by you next time before bringing up something like that."
"Better yet, just stop talking to me entirely."
"why? you don't seem to have any trouble talking to people. why don't you want to be friends with anyone?" I questioned, genuinely curious about her tendency to push others away.
"Talking to other people makes me anxious, and because I get anxious, I get nervous. I don't like being nervous. That's why I avoid talking to people."
I've heard Ibuki talk about her fighting background before, and combined with her obvious tomboyish demeanor, it makes sense that she doesn't have much experience with friendships.
Children tend to discriminate against one another. She was probably friends with mostly boys in elementary school as she fit in better, but when middle school came around and kids started separating by gender, she likely couldn't find anyone like her. Ending up isolated, with the only people she could talk to being the instructors she may have had, all of whom were much older than her.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's probably accurate enough.
"that's fair enough, i suppose." I said, my eyes drifting around the pool. "do you plan to stay alone forever? no boyfriend or husband? what do you intend to do for work?"
"What? I don't fucking know. We just started our first year of high school, and it's barely the second week. Isn't it too early for this? And what's with all the questions?"
"you don't need to know exactly, just a general idea. you clearly like fighting, so maybe a martial arts teacher? you said you trained capoeita, right? that could be something you'd want to teach. or maybe another mostly physical job, like a personal trainer."
"First of all it's Capoeira, idiot. Second, I never said I wanted to be a martial arts teacher or a personal trainer—"
"—i know you didn't, that's why i'm asking you what you want to do."
To become friends with one of my classmates, lazing around and acting passively like I've done the past week isn't going to work out well. I will just end up with next to no progress again.
I'll have to become a bit more aggressive to reach my goals.
"Don't cut me off, I wasn't finished. I'm not going to be a martial arts teacher or personal trainer. I've never thought about the rest, and I don't plan on thinking about it. I'll leave that for future me to figure out."
Fed up with the conversation with me, Ibuki dove into the pool and swam a few small laps in the deep end. I chose to submerge myself as well, simply dropping into the lukewarm water instead of diving, and swam a few laps at a moderate pace. It only took a few minutes before just about everyone had finished doing their warm up exercises, and the teacher gathered us together again to start the next part of the lesson.
"I see none of you need to be taught how to float, that's good. Let's try something a bit more advanced. You all can start competing against each other in a friendly 50m freestyle race, separated by gender. Are you all up for that?"
It wasn't surprising that the students quickly agreed to the competition, as most of those who had skipped were the unathletic people in our class, like Yamashita, Morofuji, and a few others. Even if there were some against it, they didn't speak up with the majority agreeing.
"Yeah, why not teach?" Ishizaki agreed getting out of the pool, and walked away from the girls group with his friends. "Hey Kondo, Komiya, want to make some bets on who'll take first place? I've got 3,000 points on Ibuki-san and myself, hahaha."
"Ha? There's no way you seriously think you'll win in the boys bracket. You've got to be kidding." Komiya replied, clearly not believing Ishizaki.
"Yeah, fuck it. Why not? I'm betting 3,000 on Ibuki too, but for the boys bracket, I'll bet the same amount on that Ryuen-guy. You should look at his physique, he's totally going to win."
"As if, idiot. Physique doesn't mean shit in swimming. Plus, he skipped doing warm-ups. The dumbass probably doesn't even know how to swim and thought he was too cool to ask the teacher for help." Ishizaki said.
He was wrong about that as the teacher had actually gone over to talk to Ryuen while we were doing laps, but quickly left after getting his reply. If you think about what he might have said, he was probably asking why Ryuen wasn't swimming, and Ryuen probably answered that he could but didn't feel like it. That sounds like something he'd say just to annoy him.
Only a week has passed, yet Ryuen is already notorious in our class for being a menace.
He really likes to test our teachers limits.
I couldn't list all the dumb things he's done this past week to piss them off—showing up 45 minutes late and causing a scene, placing his feet onto his desk and playing on his phone during lessons, playing with (abusing) other students in front of the staff—the list goes on. You also have to keep in mind that all the examples I listed happened over the course of a few days, and he getting more and more bold with his trolling. It's like he's trying to test the limits, but I don't understand why. It's obviously going to end badly for him.
I've only seen things like this through social media, typically in American schools that are far less strict and where social norms are much more chaotic. It feels like watching a delinquent movie play out in real life. Regardless, he'll probably get suspended soon enough; I don't think they'll tolerate his rudeness forever.
"Then he would've skipped class, retard. He probably skipped warm ups simply because he didn't feel like doing them. He's become too confident in skipping course work since the teachers don't care enough to confront him. Anyway, are you joining, Komiya?"
"Ah, might as well. You're both already in, no reason to be the only one not doing it. Lemme see... Ibuki was pretty fast in P.E., but so was Kinoshita, so I'll place 3,000 on her too. As for the men's race, uhh... I'll bet 3k on myself."
"C'mon, y'all can't be serious right now. Ishizaki's an idiot, so he can use that as an excuse, but you don't really think you'd win a swimming race either," Kondo said.
"You're just mad because I humiliated you in that 1v1. I'm way faster than you too, that's why you don't have the confidence to bet on yourself, hahaha."
"No, I'm just not an idiot. Anyone with a brain could see that Ryuen would smoke you both in a swimming race, what do you think Tokito?"
As far as I've seen, Tokito hadn't interacted much with Ishizaki's group, so it was strange that Kondo chose to ask him. I doubt it was just because he was panicking. Maybe they're planning to ask everyone in class if they want to join, which means I might have a chance to get involved too.
"Eh? Oh, um.. not sure. The bastard likely knows how to swim just fine, he's just been fucking with the school the whole time he's been here, probably has a death wish or something. I don't know why they haven't suspended him already."
"Yeah, man. This school is way too laid back. Like we're getting 100,000 points every month, and they don't even bat an eye when someone's blatantly skipping work or breaking the rules. Whoever's funding this has gotta be crazy. Not that I'm complaining, haha." Ishizaki said.
"This school's the best." Komiya added.
"Ey, Tokito? Do you have beef with Ryuen or something? You sound like you've got something against him." Kondo asked, picking up on the annoyance in his tone.
"Nah, I don't. I can just tell that fucker's bad news. You've all seen him violate his teammates during dodgeball, didn't you? Hell, he even tried pulling that shit with Ayanokouji-san. Though, she realized his plan and got eliminated beforehand, I was shocked he even fucking thought of that. It was already bad enough when he did it to Nagisa, doing it to a girl would be way worse."
"No beef, but he totally hates him." Kaneda interjected, joining the boy's discussion. "I've been talking to you basically everyday since school began, and the hostility in your voice makes it clear, Tokito."
"Yeah, it was pretty obvious dude." Kondo chimed in before Tokito had a chance to respond. "More importantly, isn't Ayanokouji-san bad as hell? I mean her face was already super pretty before, but have you guys looked at her legs? They're thick as fuck."
"Hah?" Tokito exclaimed nervously.
"Ehahaha, yeah..." Ishizaki said, awkwardly agreeing with their sexual harassment.
"I know, right? She's a solid 10 in both the looks and assets departments, but she's a loner and pretty intimidating. Don't girls like that tend to be the freakiest in bed?" Komiya stated jokingly.
"What the fuck are you talking about? You haven—"
Before Kondo and Komiya could escalate their inappropriate comments, Kaneda started coughing loudly, deliberately turning away from them.
"You good dude? Did you swallow some water?" Kondo attempted to pat Kaneda on the back while asking, but the goblin-looking boy chose to swim away instead of letting him do so.
Komiya, on the other hand, seemed to finally notice Tokito's nervous expression and Kaneda's odd behavior. Glancing around to check if anyone nearby might have overheard their conversation, his eyes immediately landed on me, sitting behind them with my legs crossed, silently observing. The instructions were to separate by gender, yet for reason unknown to him, I was sat behind the boys group. His jaw dropped open, and he began to shake nervously, inhaling as if to speak though he was unable to say anything. Ishizaki, also noticing his friends strange behavior, quickly turned around, instantly mirroring Komiya's reaction.
"Do you think she..." Ishizaki whispered in fear.
"How did she... I thought she was by Ibuki..." Komiya whispered back.
"That was weird. What are you two wh—" He paused.
Kondo was the last to notice me, and the way he stepped back in fear made it clear he knew I'd overheard their conversation about me. With my arms pressed onto the floor to prevent myself from slouching, I watched as he disappeared into the pool quicker than Kaneda's father when it came time to pay cub support.
(art)
Unable to meet my apathetic stare, Komiya fled the scene, swimming away from his consequences that were never going to come. While I'd love to see them face some sort of punishment for their perverted comments towards me, the school's leniency with Ryuen's behavior made me doubt they'd act even if I reported it.
Going against my expectations, Ishizaki didn't flee.
"S-Sorry, Ayanokouji-san!" He shouted, his voice trembling with nervousness. "We shouldn't have been talking like that about you. It's just... y'know... guy things..."
I could tell he was just as scared, if not more so, than the other two boys, but he didn't run from me. From what I'd seen over the past week, he came across as both stupid and prone to violence, yet here he was, bowing his head with his hands clasped together in apology.
"i'm surprised, ishizaki."
"Eh?"
"the other guys all ran away, yet you alone stayed and apologized. i didn't expect that from you."
I probably didn't notice before since I wasn't invested in becoming friends with him, but he does seem to have a subtle sense of honor that's unusual for delinquents.
"Oh, um... thank you?"
"that doesn't make it any better though, you still partially participated in it. even if it's just a simple agreement it's not helping the issue at hand." I added, causing his mood to fall again. "well, just don't do it again. i don't hold grudges, so there's no need to feel that bad. anyway you were making bets on who was going to win the race, right? i'd like to place one."
"Wait, really? You're not mad?"
"i'm certainly not happy about it."
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh... Right! Anyway, the bet! Who are you betting for, and how much?"
"5,000 points on myself. and for the boy's race, i'll bet another 5,000 on ryuen."
Ishizaki looked a little surprised that I was betting 10,000 points total, but even more so that I was betting half of it on myself. Though Ryuen seemed even more interested by that, ditching the group he had no friends in and coming over to where Ishizaki and I were betting.
"Confident in yourself, are we Kiyomi?" He said, once again addressing me by my first name without permission. Ryuen sat next to me, making no attempt to hide looking at my 'assets' up close, unlike the other boys. Then turned to the chunky, green-haired boy. "Ishizaki, I wanna join in on this bet too. 50,000 points on myself, and another 45,000 points on Kiyomi here." He added, attempting to put his arm around my shoulder, only for it to be slapped away.
"Huh? 95,000 points?! Are you insane?" Ishizaki said, not believing him fully.
"I'd love to do all 100,000 but I've already used 5k." He added with a smirk, shrugging.
Tokito hadn't run off like the other two perverts had, instead he sort of floated away since he hadn't really joined the conversation and didn't have to worry about my scorn. He came back over after hearing Ryuen's insane bet amount, wearing a similar look of doubt as Ishizaki.
"95,000 points on a bet? How can we trust you'll actually honor that? You clearly don't care about the rules of the school, so what's stopping you from just pretending it never happened?" Tokito asked, making his dislike for him clear to my magenta-haired classmate.
That's a stupid argument.
He could just pay the 95,000 total points upfront, so even if he wanted to back out of the bet, he wouldn't be able to. However, Ryuen could just reverse the situation on him, claiming the person handling the bet is untrustworthy, and might just rob him of his prize. This is why an impartial middle-man is required for a bet to take place between two or more distrustful parties.
"We're classmates, you know? You should trust me more. Kukuku, If you really need a guarantee... Oi, Sensei! Come over here! And the rest of you losers follow along too!" Ryuen yelled, completely disregarding that we were in a lesson, and managing to annoy some of his classmates as well.
Amazingly, the teacher listened, putting the competition on hold as he walked over to us, accompanied by a few of our irritated classmates.
"I wanna make a contract."
Is all Ryuen said.
"... For what?"
"You were listening already weren't you? I don't need to reexplain it for you."
"No, you still need to explain exactly what you want for the contract. Even if I understood the general idea, you would need to explain the smaller details, such as the parties involved, obligations, restrictions, etc. Also, normally you aren't allowed to create any contract during a lesson."
"Normally, huh? Then what situations are you allowed to create one?" Ryuen questioned, plucking his pinky finger into his wet right ear.
"I can't answer that."
"Fine, does this situation count?" He asked, blowing the earwax he picked out in the teachers direction.
The physical education teacher sighed, a hint of annoyance in his voice from Ryuen's constant disrespect, before answering. "... Yes."
The whole contract thing was new to me. It made sense the school had one in place, since they needed a way to stop students from scamming each other, and a binding contract was ideal for that. Still, making one in the middle of a lesson felt strange. Was it because we were only in swimming class? Or because the competition wouldn't teach us anything?
"Heh, then I wanna make a contract to ensure no one can back out on our bet."
"Alright... follow me, we can set it up in that room." The teacher replied, motioning for him to come into the staff room, where the windows were covered in blinds.
"Orc-face, go get everybody to join the betting."
"Huh? Why shoul—"
"—just ignore his diss. it's better if more people are involved anyway, isn't it?"
It's nice that Ryuen told him to do that for me, but how did he instantly know Ryuen was talking to him? Does he actually think he looks like an orc? The closest person would be Kaneda, or that one guy with long hair I happened to see on my way home. If you dyed their skin green and shaved Kaneda's head bald, just Kaneda the other guy's hair would fit fine into his goblin design, you could probably convince their distant relatives that they are one of their own.
"E-Eh, I mean. I guess so..." Ishizaki replied, admitting it was the correct option.
"He's really going to just leave us like that?" Someone questioned.
While it happened right in front of us, the teacher leaving mid-lesson just because one of the students wanted to bet on the swimming competition left many of us confused.
Ishizaki didn't have enough brain cells in his head to be confused, so he ignored that, and started going around asking people if they people wanted to place bets. Quickly getting over half the class to accept it, including a few that were skipping on the viewer seating. I'd guess a few of them were influenced to accept by the teacher's actions, though I can't say for sure.
Ryuen returned 15 minutes after with a paper in hand, that was clearly the contract. The terms were rather simple, anyone who agrees to bet will have to give the amount bet to the P.E. teacher after class, or it would automatically sucked out by the school. The winnings would be equally distributed to the winners based on the amount they themselves put, and there was no punishment made as there was no reason to put one. Expiration date; the end of today.
Having them pay after class makes sense, I think. Aside from the people skipping, no one has their phones on them and can't transfer points at the moment.
It'd only waste time to make them grab their devices now to pay up.
A few over twenty people signed the contract, and the students got back together in groups separated by gender. The girls race was set to start first, with the 15 participants divided into three groups of five. To build suspense, the fastest runners in gym class were deliberately split apart, making it no surprise that Ibuki, Kinoshita, and I all won our respective groups.
The second race, which was also the final one for the girls, came next after a brief break to ensure fairness. Watching Ibuki's and Kinoshita's swimming forms made it clear neither had much real training, so my chances of winning seemed pretty high. Still, since the scores weren't shared with us, I could only guess if I was faster and couldn't compare times. It didn't help that I'd experience more drag in the water than my competitors, putting me at a slight disadvantage.
We took our positions, Ibuki and Kinoshita to my right, and two girls who shall remain nameless to my left, as nobody thinks they're going to win anyway so their names don't matter. The stares on my body, and cheers from the crowd were much more intense this time around, though I had drowned them, hyper focused on winning.
"Fweeee!" The whistle blew, starting the race.
Jumping off the block, I dived headfirst into the water, slicing through it like a spear. The warm water wrapped around me, swiftly erasing the coldness I'd felt from sitting outside without drying off. I swam using the front crawl technique, alternating arm strokes and kicking with my feet to propel myself faster. My head stayed mostly above water, but the splashing made it nearly impossible to see my opponents. I wasn't about to risk slowing down for even a split second to check their positions—if that caused me to lose, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself.
Even without goggles, I could see the end was near. My head plunged in and out, and in and out, and in and out, before I finally stretched out my arm, tapping it against the wall. Pulling my head up instantly, I turned to my left. Water blurred my vision for a moment, then I could see Ibuki was already out of the water, looking back in my direction. Kinoshita surfaced a second later, clearly finishing third, but I couldn't tell if I had beaten Ibuki—it had been a very close race.
Pushing myself out of the pool, Ibuki and I both looked at the teacher for an answer, though Ibuki's look was more of a glare. The P.E. Teacher responded to our non-verbal communication with his own, with a slight smile, he raised his arm up, building up suspense once more, and pointed in Ibuki's direction.
Ibuki glare vanished almost instantaniousl—
"You're second. Ayanokouji-san won."
Her glare returned immediately, twice as venomous as the previous one, with veins bulging on her chin like something out of a Korean manhwa.
"You bas—" Cutting herself off immediately, she took a deep breathe to calm herself down before continuing. "What the hell were you pointing at me for if she won?" She said, still not managing to stop herself from swearing after calming herself down.
"Ah, sorry." He said, laughing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "That was a little mean of me to mislead you like that, it's a bad habit of mine."
Ibuki clearly wanted to complain much more about his conduct, but she knew it wouldn't get anywhere—it was just a harmless prank, and he was a teacher. She bit her lip, glanced over to see my smug expression, and walked away, unexpectedly with a confused expression.
"What are you doing?" A monotone voice said from my side.
Turning to my right, I noticed Nishino sitting by herself, her face clearly showing boredom. Since she was one of the few who didn't join the bet, her lack of interest was understandable.
"what do you mean?"
"You were... nah, forget it. Congratulations on winning." She said, slowly clapping her hands together, her tone somehow managing to sound more monotone than I always do.
"oh, um. thanks?"
"Why do you sound confused about that?"
"i'm not sure?"
"Now you're just doing it on purpose."
"that last one was. the first two were just because i was confused."
"You're a weirdo."
I was certain now Nishino was similar to me, in that she was not very good at talking to people, and probably not a tsundere. She seemed like the type who struggled to make friends because she was a bit too blunt with her thoughts. She's different from Ibuki in that she isn't angered easily, knows when to hold back, and prefers solitude over altering her personality.
I planned to start with Ibuki since she was my seatmate, but there's no real reason not to try with both of them at the same time. It might be a bit ambitious, yet I imagine it'll take a while for Ibuki to warm up to me, this could just be a lower difficulty version.
"you're not exactly much of a normie yourself."
"True."
"..."
Unable to come up with anything to talk about, we both fell silent.
I've heard that a good way to make friends is by bringing up something we have in common, but I don't know much about her yet, and she doesn't seem like she'd want to get to know me.
I'll have to go with him.
"so, uh... what do you think about ryuen?"
"Ryuen?"
Nishino glanced at the magenta-haired boy, who stood ready as the teacher prepared to blow the whistle for the boys first swimming race. He wore a malicious smile, as if it were his default expression, with small droplets of water glistening on his skin, highlighting his defined physique.
"yes, that guy."
"I know who he is. what about him?" She asked, as the whistle blew in the background.
"just overall, like the things he's done this week. most students seem to find his bizarre interruptions in class funny, but he's not exactly popular either."
"He's certainly unique."
"i'm thinking he was probably the class clown back in middle school, and now he's just relapsing a bit. he's funny though, so i don't really mind when he interrupts in class."
"No he's definitely a delinquent."
"i'm not denying that, he's probably a mixture of both."
The race finished even quicker than the girls ones, with Ryuen winning against his opponents by a landslide. I wasn't paying much attention to his time, but he was probably a little faster than me and Ibuki—impressive, though not all that amazing for a boy.
"Doubt that's it either, he hasn't tried to befriend anyone, usually class clowns are pretty popular, they don't make enemies of their classmates by also harmfully messing with them."
"i guess that's true. do you dislike him then, like everyone else does?"
"Not really."
"you don't? why not? aren't you worried he might try something to you someday? he already tried using me as a shield in dodgeball, it's not exactly out of the question."
"My brother was a delinquent, you could say I got used to that sort of behavior. That doesn't mean I like him either though, I don't really care about him, but if I was forced to pick one it would be closer to dislike."
"fair."
The next two nameless boy races wrapped up while I continued making small talk with Nishino.
The teacher had originally planned for us to have some free time afterward, but since it ran later than he anticipated, we'd be dismissed after the final race. As a result, Nishino and a few others—mainly those who hadn't placed any bets—headed off to change early, leaving me to watch the concluding race alone.
Ryuen won the race again by a landslide, which was surprising since I expected the boys race to be closer, like ours. Apparently, our class didn't have the best of swimmers. I could understand Albert and Ishizaki not being the best due to their size, but Komiya and Yuji seemed like they could've put up a good fight, clearly that's not the case.
Ignoring the mixed cheers and cries coming from his class, we we're dismissed from class early with only 10 minutes left until this period ended. Most students left to change right away, but I was unexpectedly stopped by the teacher, who looked like he had a lot to say to me.
"Sorry for calling you out like this, Ayanokouji-san."
"it's no big deal."
"That's good to hear, and I'll keep it short for you. Your swimming form was very impressive, close to the professional level. Have you had any experience with swimming clubs or training?"
"a little bit of training, why?"
"Would you be interested in joining the swimming club?"
"no thanks. i'm not really interested in joining any clubs right now."
A brief flicker of disappointment flashed across his face, but he quickly hid it, putting on his killer smile and jotting something down on his clipboard as he changed the topic.
"Got it, that's a little disappointing, though that's what I expected anyway. I was originally going to offer 10,000 points to the winners of the race to encourage everyone to take it more seriously, but since Ryuen-kun started the whole betting thing, it wasn't necessary. I'll add that to the total points you earned from winning your bets, and it should be added to your account once we collect the money from everyone."
"is that so? thanks, i guess."
"Hahaha, I see you're not very thrilled over it."
"that's not it, i just have trouble expressing myself."
"Is that right? Well, no matter. I think I might as well ask one more time though, are you sure you don't want to join the swimming club? I'm sure you'd fit right in."
"...sensei, are you bribing me?"
He took a step back, pulling his arms back with the palms facing outward in a gesture that seemed to say "hold on" or "slow down," his smile carrying a hint of guilt.
"Bribing? No, not at all. I'm giving you the extra 10,000 points whether or not you decide to join the swimming club."
"then why didn't you call ryuen with me as well? he did pretty well didn't he?"
"Ryuen-kun didn't really seem like the type who would fit in with the swimming team. I doubted he'd even consider it if I asked."
He had a point.
I didn't think Ryuen would join the swimming team, even if the teacher had bribed him, like he did with me. He said the extra 10,000 points would be added to my account, and it didn't sound like he planned to give Ryuen any either. If I ask, I'm sure he'll claim that Ryuen's getting it as well. Though in the end, I don't actually care if he gets the points or not, nor if the teacher really was bribing me, I was just asking out of curiosity.
After making one last effort to convince me to join the swimming club, arguing it could benefit me later in some undisclosed way, he gave up and let me go change, leaving with the reminder that I would be welcomed and could join at anytime if I changed my mind.
The majority of students had finished changing and were either waiting by the door or handing over some of their allowance to the teacher, and not wanting to stand out for still being in my swimsuit, I speed walked into the changing room and went straight to my locker.
Upon opening it, I realized there was one minor issue.
My belongings were missing.
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Ch 4 End
Class C's environment is obviosuly very different from the other 3 classes, so naturally kiyomi is going to adapt differently.
kiyomi drawing was a speed draw that's why the anatomy's off, her skin poorly connects with the background + plus no water, or eye shading. Then I saved it as png and it glitched gettting saved without the layers, and missing some edits so i didn't care enough to try adding them.
kiyomi's nature is normally passive, but clearly that wasn't working out for her well in class C, so she decides to act a little bit more similar to her classmates, though she doesn't want to come off as fake either.
someone wanna explain how contracts happen to me? i didn't care enough to research it becuz it's a minor scene, but i'll probably fix it
ryuen betting 45k on kiyomi was weird, but no one really suspects anything since they haven't really interacted at all.
maybe i should of given the p.e. teacher a name instead of using the teacher 25 times.
7k