Absolute Choice Ayanokoji

8. Muddy Waters

8.1

While I envied the friendship of Ike and Yamauchi from afar, Horikita approached me. I had stated that I could not understand the appeal of girls earlier, but the sight of Kushida in a swimsuit was rather captivating. Horikita in a swimsuit...not bad. She was not blessed with the natural assets of Kushida, but as the English proverb said: "less is more". I took another glance at Horikita. Not bad indeed.

Perhaps this was the impact of puberty on my adolescent mind, coupled with the fact that I did not interact much with the opposite gender during junior high.

I sat down at the edge of the pool, waiting for my body's natural reaction to fade away. Ah, the weather was so great today. World peace felt truly wonderful.

This was a brilliant opportunity to practice.

Using the corrugator supercilii facial muscles located at the medial end of my forehead, I pushed my eyebrows inwards. Then, using my depressor labii inferioris and depressor anguli oris muscles in tandem, I curved my lips downwards. According to my research, this was called a "frown". Of course, my frown was not perfect, given that a perfect execution of the facial expression would require the movement of 47 muscles, but it was a good start.

"Why the pained expression, Ayanokoji-kun?"

This was the power of flexible facial muscles. I could use them for sophisticated non-verbal communication. I increased the intensity of my facial muscle workout.

"Ayanokoji-kun, you look really depressed...Is something wrong?"

Interesting. It appeared as though increasing the intensity of the workout led to an augmented perception of the emotion. I was curious as to how far this correlation held, however. I continued to increase the strain on my facial muscles.

"A-ayanokoji-kun, your face seems to be melting!"

So beyond a certain threshold, the perceived emotion behind the facial expression stopped increasing. This was helpful information.

At long last, I decided to respond to Horikita.

"I'm locked in an internal battle with myself."

"I c-can see that...your face looks like it's trying to run away from you..."

The power of nonverbal communication. Through this new skill, I could convey the meaning of multiple sentences through a mere combination of facial muscle movements. It was really a remarkable human trait.

Horikita appeared to have gotten over the shock of watching me exercise, and diverted her attention to my body. Her eyes traced my forearms, biceps, and back, as if in a trance. She finally spoke.

"Ayanokoji-kun, do you work out?"

What a strange thing to say. Horikita had only just seen me giving my facial muscles a thorough workout. Perhaps she was trying to be...funny? I was not sure about how humor worked, but I suppose I could try to reciprocate.

"No."

Horikita raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't explain the development of your forearms and back muscles. Honestly, you might just be better built than Sudou."

Ah, she is talking about regular exercise, not facial muscle workouts. In that case, my answer is still no. I owe it to genetics, as I was part of the go-home club for all of junior high. I didn't have any time to engage in extra-curricular activities after school.