Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 4.5: Chapter 13.1 - A Glimpse of Normal Life

"I appreciate your praise, but I was forced to wear this." Horikita finally responded, looking vexed.

"Hehe~, you can thank me for giving you the chance to see Horikita-san in a swimsuit!"

When I reached the edge of the pool, I stopped walking before turning around. Abruptly continuing the conversation would make Ichinose's provocative teasing a fact, so I started doing some stretches. That way, it would look like talking to them again was just a byproduct of what I wanted to do.

"I figured that you were the one responsible for it, but how did you convince Horikita?" I asked.

"With the power of sympathy baiting!" Ichinose boldly answered. "You see, I was originally going to wear my school swimsuit, but my friends told me it's a no-go. So, I begged Horikita-san to wear a stylish swimsuit with me!"

"You were being a little brat about it, so I had no choice but to go along with your whims. I wouldn't want to derail our meeting."

"Ehehe..." Ichinose giggled while clinging to Horikita. "Us aside, it seems like you're not wearing a typical swimsuit, Ayanokouji-kun."

Most of the guys wore swimming trunks but I saw a few others covering up like me.

"It might be strange for a guy, but I don't really like showing my skin to people. We heard it was okay as long as we weren't in class."

Ichinose peeked ahead and saw my friends playing in the water.

"Ohh, Sakura-san and Hasebe-san also wore rashguards, huh?" she smiled. "I think that's fine. 'Not like it's against the rules."

I finished stretching so I decided to leave them be.

"Well, you guys can go have fun. I'm gonna head back."

"Okay~! Let's hang out later, Ayanokouji-kun!" she waved.

The fact that she even managed to rope Horikita into her group already says a lot about Ichinose's abilities in persuasion.

"Kiyopon!" Haruka and the others called for me as I approached them.

A couple of hours later...

"Oh, hey there!"

"Amikura-san... right?"

"Yep, and you're Hasebe-san, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Ohh, so you guys are Ayanokouji-kun's closest friends!"

"You're Sakura-san, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Kobashi. You can call me Yume if you want."

"Uh- Um..."

We were in the same pool, and the area where we played around wasn't too far from where Ichinose's group stayed. It was inevitable for our groups to eventually become adjacent to each other.

So apart from Ichinose and Horikita, there's Amikura, Kobashi, and Shiranami-- a group of five girls. They must've been the initial bunch because from what I can see, some more Class C students joined them later on.

"Hey, Sudou, how are ya?"

"Oh, Shibata. Wanna have a swimming race?"

"You're on!"

"Don't get too excited now. You might bother other students," scolded Kanzaki.

The sporty guys seemed to know each other and were told off by the serious Kanzaki. Meanwhile, Akito was chatting with Beppu.