"Good morning Yamauchi!"
"Good morning Ike!"
As I waited on my seat, I saw Ike call out to Yamauchi with a smile on his face.
It was unusual for these two to get to school early. It has been a week since the entrance ceremony. Ike and Yamauchi has always arrived at school just before the bell rings, sometimes even later.
"I can't wait for P.E. later! I'm so excited I can't even fall asleep~"
You aren't even supposed to sleep in class, you know...
"Yup, this school's the best, swimming will start soon! I say swimming, but girls are the important part! By girls, I mean their swimsuits!"
Seriously? You still aren't over that club. Wait— wasn't that a just a joke? Boys sure are weird. The girls backed away from Ike and Yamauchi's excitement. I guess they had the same thoughts as me.
I was used to swimming, I neither enjoyed nor hated it. Seeing Ike and Yamauchi so excited filled me with envy. I wanted to look forward to something that much as well. I wanted to talk to others with that degree of excitement as well.
Looking at the girls, it doesn't seem like they're as excited as Ike and Yamauchi. I wonder why? Do girls normally not like swimming? Should I not like swimming as well?
"Oi, professor. Come over here."
"Fufu, did you call him?"
After a while, a chubby boy, who apparently has the nickname "professor", walked towards the one who called him. I don't know his name, but I'll try to figure out later.
It's only a week into schools, and they already have nicknames for each other? I want to give nicknames too, but what nicknames can I give to people. Should I call Suzune "Rude Girl"? It doesn't sound like a nickname. Quite frankly, it was just an insult. What about Suzu? Su-chan?
Haaah... Whatever. I'll just think about it later. Surely, this "masterpiece" can think of something, right?
As if prompting me to think of a nickname, Suzune arrived.
She and I talked about normal high school things. I tried to listen to the boy's conversation to see what they were talking about, but I couldn't. Suzune would open up another topic whenever I even glanced to the direction of the boys.
'What's with her today?'
After lunch ended, the swimming class had officially started. Much like the other boys, I was also quite looking forward to it.
For once, I wanted to swim for the sake of enjoying it. Not for training, not for anything else but my own enjoyment. This would mark my first time swimming with people who didn't absolutely abhor me. Thus, I was looking forward to it.
"Kiyone."
"Kiyone-chan!"
Breaking me from my thoughts were two voices calling me. It was Kikyou and Suzune. The two of them looked at each other and an awkward silence developed in our little space. I wonder what they wanted.
"Let's go to the— "
"Let's chang— "
After the silence, they both spoke once more. Unfortunately, they cut each other off. I felt like I heard tongues clicking, but I'm sure that that was just my imagination. Somehow I could feel the tension rising. If I was Koenji, I'd probably say they were fighting for me... yeah, that's impossible. I was just a run off the mill high school student, after all.
"Let's go to the locker rooms together, Suzune, Kikyou."
At this point, I almost couldn't care less on what they wanted to say. All I wanted to do at this moment was change and try to enjoy the pool. I grabbed their hands and quickly made our way to the locker rooms.
Arriving to the locker room with Kikyou and Suzune in tow, I let go of their hands and made my way to my locker.
The people in the room hasn't changed yet. All the girls in the room still had their uniforms on. It seems that despite whatever happened earlier, we were still quite early. Opening my locker, I took the swimsuit out and began to change.
Third Person P.O.V.
The girl's locker room was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Lockers were open, but no one was changing. Suddenly the door opened. Inside came a petite girl with an impassive face, and two flustered girls trailing behind her
'Kushida-san wouldn't even budge when we tease her about seniors who were trying to get her attention.'
'Lucky...~'
'Was that really the Horkita? The stuck-up, snobby girl?
'Oh no, they're getting ahead of me'
Various thoughts popped up about the scene unfolding before them. A single girl broke the two supposed unflappable people in the class. Ayanokouji unperturbed— no, oblivious to the attention, simply walked toward her locker.
She opened her locker and started to undress. Removing the buttons of her blazer and moved on to her polo.
"What a bold girl.", everyone thought.
Ayanokouji didn't express embarrassment in changing in front of other people. She had been doing so very early in her life after all but the other didn't know that.
The girl, still unaware of the amount of stares she was getting, continued undressing, unabashed. She started to remove her skirt and thigh highs. By now she was only in her undergarments.
Everyone was focused on her. The girls took note of her smooth, unblemished skin, hourglass figure, and surprisingly developed body. Her body was not overly muscular but to some degree, showed signs of training or at least participation in some form of physical activity.
Not hearing any shuffling of clothes apart from hers, Ayanokouji stepped out of her stupor and curiously questioned the class.
"You are still not changing, why?", tilting her head and clad in her undergarments she confusedly asked.
"Urk!" "Gah!" "Oof!"
'Was that why I rejected that guy back in middle school?'
'Am I gay?'
'I guess I'm kinda not straight, huh.'
Various sounds and thoughts echoed in the room. The people must not have expected such a display of vulnerability and obliviousness from the girl. The group wanted to protect the girl (not that she needed any) but they didn't know that.
"A-Ayanokouji-san, don't you f-feel embarrassed?", Nene Mori asked.
"Embarrassed? Why? I'd rather not be punished if I'm late."
The people in the room were confused as to what she meant by punished. Brushing it off as one of the girl's eccentricities, most of them paid it no mind and started to change. Sitting on the bench, Ayanokouji waited for her companions to change.
Unbeknownst to everyone...
'Tsk! More rivals, how can I even get closer to Kiyone/Kiyone-chan when everyone's going for her now.'
two people were changing with jumbled and calculating thoughts in mind.
I drew what Kiyone would look like. I know I (tried) to describe her to the best of my abilities, but I feel like I didn't do a good enough job to actually imprint the image I have of her in my mind. So, I just drew it. It's not the best but this person tried.
Was I covering her hands? Yes. Did I cut off the picture of the feet and just showed the thighs and knees? Yes. Kiyone was supposed to carry her bag using two hands, but it turned out horribly, and I've erased it to the point that marks from previous attempts showed. Not wanting to redo the whole thing, I thought; why not just cover it up?
Anyways, this author's note has gone on long enough. Thank you for reading this chapter.