What a disastrous predicament! To give you some insight, I am currently running late to class. Twenty minutes late, to be exact. Now you may be wondering why. There are two reasons why I ended up in this situation.
The first one was that I overslept for eleven hours. No, that's a lie. I actually woke up normally this morning after sleeping for eight hours. However, I simply went back to sleep for an accumulative eleven hours.
The second reason was that I had a stomachache this morning. A horrible one at that. So, I sat on the toilet for approximately 20 minutes before finally taking a shower.
What a chaotic start to my day! Though, to tell you the truth, I am not actually worried at all about arriving late to the class. After all, we are going to be losing all of our class points anyway, so I might as well take my sweet time and remain lax for the whole month.
Walking through the entrance, I decided to pay a visit to the convenience store first and bought myself some light breakfast, namely two slices of sandwiches. Due to my being in a rush, I hadn't been able to prepare myself an appropriate meal for breakfast. I'd rather not starve myself and wait for lunchtime to come.
By the time I reached the classroom, our teacher was already there and had started teaching. Standing out like a sore thumb, everyone's attention was on me, but I ignored their gazes and went to my seat.
"What did I miss?" I asked to my kind and friendly neighbour, Horikita.
"Nothing much, nothing you couldn't revise later on on your own."
"Then why do Yamauchi and Ike look so happy right now? They aren't even attempting to hide their smile."
"I have no idea. It's best to ask them yourself. After class had ended, of course." Horikita decided to give a little advice, which I didn't heed.
Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I sent a text in the male group chat Ike had created. The text read, 'Is there something going on right now?' It didn't take long for them to text a reply.
'We are having swimming class after this. I say swimming, but the real important part is the girls. And by girls, I mean them being in their swimsuit.'
I see. I got confused a little at first. In the anime, they had the swimming class around the start of May. However, in the light novel, it actually started earlier in the month of April.
Swimming huh? If I'm being frank, I am no different from Ike and Yamachi, as I too am looking forward to the swimming class. I'm a healthy teenager, after all. Of course, I'm not going to be ogling the girls like these two will.
'I have asked professor, and he agreed to record the girls in their swimsuits.'
'And how will he be doing that?' I asked Ike.
'Just leave it to me. I'll act as though I'm feeling unwell and skip class. I'll then rank the sizes of the girls' boobs, and if there's an opening, I'll try taking pictures.'
How disgusting. At any rate, it's best that I don't involve myself with them, lest I be recognised as a pervert as well. switching off my phone and putting it back into my pocket, I slept through the whole class. Though at first I had been worried about ruining Horikita's impression on me, having to sit and pay attention to the class is something I'd rather avoid at all costs.
I, however, was brought back to consciousness by someone. Lifting my head from the table, I saw a familiar scene. It was Hirata, just like the day of our enrollment, who had awakened me from my deep slumber.
"Wake up, Ayanokouji-Kun. Lunchtime is over, and everyone is leaving for the swimming class." The man said with his usual smile. It seems like he is looking after me more than he did in the canon. Maybe it was due to our good start on the first day. Apparently, I had also slept all the way through lunchtime. My empty stomach is not going to appreciate that.
Standing up from my seat, I wiped my eyes for a few seconds before I said anything. "Thanks Hirata. You're as helpful as always."
"You're exaggerating. I just woke you up, that's all." Dismissing my gratitude, the man began walking to leave the class. I, on the other hand, found myself walking by his side. It's good to have a reliable friend around.
Being the last to arrive at the pool, Hirata and I immediately entered the locker room and began changing our attire. By the time we entered the locker, most of the boys were already leaving the room, and I must note that they looked quite eager, most definitely due to their impatience in wanting to ogle at the girls in their swimsuits.
That left just two of us, and quite frankly, I too am a bit excited at the thought of the girls being in their swimsuits. My class is filled with beauties after all.
As I put my swimming trunks on, Hirata, who had somehow finished changing before me and was waiting for me, began looking at my body from head to toe.
"You did mention that you enjoy being productive." Hirata muttered underneath his breath rather quietly, as if he were speaking to himself. My ears managed to catch his words, though.
"What was that?" I asked him.
"Nothing, I was just caught off guard by your physique. That's all." He replied.
"You are well built yourself. If I recall correctly, you were planning on joining the football club, yes?" I turned the topic of the conversation over to him.
"That's right. I already met with the senpais at the club fair. Soon, my training will begin."
"That's good to hear. I'll just stick to jogging, though."
After the conversation ended, we left the locker room and headed to the pool. Once we got there, I began observing around, and to my surprise, only about half the class was swimming while the rest was on the second floor. Sotomura is also on the sidelines, observing the girls as he had originally planned.
Not wasting time, we approach the side of the pool. However, just as we were about to enter the water, Hirata was dragged away by the girls, leaving me on my own. Poor guy. Being popular sure has its own pros and cons.
"Alright, everyone gather-" Just as one of my feet stepped into the water, I was interrupted by the P.E. teacher. He told us to gather around him as he began counting the students, one by one.
"16 people, I see. I expected more people, but I guess it works. Today, I'll be examining your abilities once you have finished warming up. You guys will be swimming."
"Umm, sensei, I can't swim though..."
"Don't worry, as the teacher, I will do my best to ensure that you know to swim by the summer. So, it doesn't matter if you're bad at swimming now. Learning how to swim will definitely be useful. I guarantee it." I didn't remember this part, but surprisingly, we were given a foreshadowing of the island test this early into the first volume.
Thus, everyone began their warm-up exercises, while Ike and Yamauchi kept glancing at the girls on multiple occasions, trying to peek at them. Then, we were told to start the 50-metre swim.
Swimming huh. In the past, I was quite an active swimmer, but not in a competitive sense. Rather, my cousin, who lived just around 100 metres from my house, had his own pool. We'd often swim together whenever we hung out. Though it has been quite a while since the last time we hung out.
I began swimming casually, getting used to the feeling once again. Using the proper form, I finished swimming the 50-metre distance and laid on my back as I floated on the water while I waited for everyone else to finish up. Fuuuu, I forgot how refreshing swimming can be.
"Hehehe, a totally dominant victory. Did you see? My absurdly swift swimming?"
Actually, Ike, you finished 15 seconds after me. Not wanting to embarrass him, though, I kept that thought to myself. As Ike began bloating around about his prowess, though, the P.E. teacher decided to rain on his parade.
"Since it looks like most of you can swim, you guys can immediately start competing against one another. 50-metre freestyle, separate yourselves by gender."
As in the canon, Ike began complaining about it while the teacher ignored him and began explaining the reward and punishment for the winner and the loser. I, on the other hand, couldn't care less, as I was tremendously absorbed in the freshening water. Though I was soon told to leave the pool, the competition between the girls was about to start.
Reluctantly, I climbed out of the pool and waited on the sidelines. As the competition began, it played out exactly as the canon. Woohoo, what could be more exciting than watching a competition in which you already know who's going to win, right?
On another note, Ike, along with the rest of the boys, was cheering for the girls rather enthusiastically. I said cheering, but in truth, they're actually observing and evaluating the bodies of the girls. Hirata was the only exception to this behaviour.
I, on the other hand... yeah, let's not give any more details on that.
I walked over to Horikita, who placed second. Her speed was impressive. Alas, Onodera is a member of the swimming class, so Horikita basically had little chance to begin with.
"Quite impressive. Even though you ended up second, it doesn't negate the fact that you were faster than the rest of the girls."
"Thank you. I don't really mind whether I lose or win, though. In any case, do you think you can win?"
"We'll see. Sudou and Hirata are quite athletic, so they might prove to be a hurdle. Worst-case scenario, I won't place any lower than 5th place."
"That's rather confident of you. I hope you're not all bark but no bite, though. I will be watching on the sidelines."
I was assigned to the second lane, with Sudou in the first. To be good but not the best. That is my goal in this competition. With that thought in mind, I dove into the pool as the signal went off.
It is worth noting that Sudou's pace was nothing short of incredible. If he had pursued a career in swimming rather than basketball, I wonder how far he'd go. I decided to match his pace slightly, barely keeping up but still leaving the rest of the boys in the dust.
Finishing the race with great speed, Sudou was then showered with applause and voices of admiration.
"Is that even possible, Sudou? You finished in 25 seconds."
"Well, I do swim from time to time, just for fun."
The current world record for 50 metres in freestyle is around 20 seconds. That is to say, what he achieved, despite swimming 'just for fun', is quite literally absurd.
Sadly, though, I, who achieved 25.6 seconds, was shadowed by Sudou's accomplishment and went unnoticed by everyone, with the only exception being Horikita, who immediately came to my side.
"You lied."
"Huh?" I was rather confused by her statement.
"You said that Sudou and Hirata might prove to be a hurdle. Yet with that absurd speed of yours, you can clearly beat them."
"I did say that they might, not that they will. Not to mention, I did lose to Sudou."
"Yes, but barely. Had you not tired out and slowed down near the end, you could have beaten him."
"Yeah, but it has been a while since I last swam. If given another chance, I might be able to beat him." Informing her of my ringrust, we turned our attention to the second race between the boys.
"If that's the case, then you should have warmed up properly." Yeah, yeah, okay, miss perfect. Sorry that I was playing around and that I actually do not care whatsoever about the competition.
"At any rate, let's see if Hirata can beat my record."
Hirata, who stood over the starting line, was showered with cheers from the girl. Filled with jealousy, Ike's face contorted in one of disgust while Sudou also made a disapproving face and glared at Hirata.
"If you win, I'll destroy you for sure. I'll show you the full extent of my power."
Pretty sure he said swimming was just for fun.
As the signal went off, Hirata dove into the water in amazing form. His technique was near perfect and didn't contain any wasted movement. Everything is where it should be and is functioning properly to propel him forward.
"As I thought, he's fast." I made that comment to Horikita, who was observing the race with great focus.
Hirata had created a considerably large distance between him and the rest of the boys. This predicament incited the girls to cheer him on even more. As he finished the race, Ike immediately asked the teacher about Hirata's record time.
"Hirata's time is... 26 seconds."
Ike was immediately fired up and began feeding Sudou's ego by convincing him that he could beat Hirata. Meanwhile, Hirata was, once again, just like usual, being showered with compliments and admiration from the girls.
"It seems like you're faster than him after all." Horikita commented after a while. It turns out that even Horikita was surprised by Hirata's speed.
"The difference is extremely minuscule. On his best day, Hirata might beat me after all." A difference of 0.4 seconds might as well be nonexistent.
"You were also incapable of performing to the best of your abilities, right? Yet you still scored higher than him."
"That's true. I just don't want to underestimate anyone, that's all." I was trying to stay humble, but Horikita shut down all of my arguments.
Out of nowhere, Koenji, wearing a speedo, entered the scene and immediately became the centre of attention. I decided to pay everyone no mind and sat down on a nearby bench. Once Koenji wins his race, we'll be having a tiebreaker match. For now, I'd like to simply relax my body and let it rest.
Soon, Koenji finished the race with a record time of 23.22 seconds. Everyone was shocked, to say the least. That is just about 3 seconds more than the world record. Koenji could easily compete in the Olympic Games and achieve great results if he wanted to.
Laying on the bench, waiting for the final match to start, I stared deeply into the ceiling. What I did just now goes against my original goal. All I had ever wanted to do was simply enjoy high school life again. Not standing out or becoming a popular guy. I'd rather just take it easy and enjoy a simple life. In a way, one could say that my interest aligns with the original Kiyotaka.
"Koenji-Kun and Sudou-Kun were extremely fast. I'm quite excited about the finals."
"Is that so?"
As I was deeply immersed in self-lecturing myself, Kushida spoke up next to me. I was enticed by the figure of Kushida in her swimsuit. With a body like that, she could, rather easily, find success in modelling. Before I'd get caught staring, though, I averted my gaze and struck up a conversation with her.
"By the way, you were super fast. You must have trained in middle school, right?"
"Actually, I was quite bad at swimming back in middle school, but then I learned how to swim. That reminds me; you were pretty fast too, Ayanokouji-Kun." Turning the attention of the conversation onto me, I find myself in quite a pickle. Even though I had just lectured myself not to stand out again, Kushida had apparently noticed my speed.
In order to get myself out of this predicament, though, I decided to play the classic Kiyotaka move, that is, playing dumb.
"I was fast? I don't think so. Even though I finished second, I'm pretty sure the rest of the boys were just slow."
"But you achieved a faster time than Hirata-Kun, though. If I remember correctly, it was around 25.6 seconds. You were really close to beating Sudou-Kun as well."
Apparently, not only did she notice my placement but also my record time. I guess playing dumb won't work after all.
"Ayanokouji-Kun's body looks pretty solid as well. Even though you're slim, your muscles look just as well refined as Sudou's."
"I did say that I enjoy being productive and that I usually jog."
"But this isn't the kind of build one would get just from simply jogging." Okay, she's digging alright. She is digging into my life, trying to find any secrets she could hold on to.
"Well, if I'm being honest, I actually used to play softball in middle school. But I was never that good, and my school lost the district-level tournament." I need to thread the lines carefully. I don't want Kushida prying into my life.
"Even so, you must have trained religiously. If not, I couldn't see how one could achieve a body like yours."
"Well, genetics play a huge role as well."
"Hmmm, does that mean that your parents were athletics?" Her barrage of questions seems to have no end. Luckily for me, though, the PE teacher came to my rescue.
"Alright, Koenji, Sudou, Ayanokouji, Hirata, and Miyake, please stand on the starting line."
"Well, that's my call. I'll catch up with you later, Kushida. Bye." Leaving before she could even say anything, I headed to the starting line. However, I was stopped on my way by Ike.
"Oi, Ayanokouji, what was that?!"
"What was what?"
"Listen here carefully!" He whispered as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Kushida-Chan is mine, so don't even think about getting in the way."
"I wasn't planning to." Personally, Kushida Kikyo is not someone I'll be able to handle.
"Are you sure? Because if I ever see you make a move on her, I'll beat you up for sure." Shiver me timber.
"Yes, I won't get in your way. Now let me go before the teacher scolds me." By now, everyone is already on the starting line, except for me.
"Alright, as long as you keep that in mind, we won't have any problems." Finishing his sentence, he released the hold he held on my shoulder.
"Sure." I won't rob him of his delusions, at least. As long as you are happy, Ike.
I've measured every possibility and outcome, and through my calculated measures, I will make sure to get rid of all the attention placed on me. Soon, the wistle blew, and I swam faster than I had before. Although I was just done lecturing myself about standing out, I guess I'll be doing more of that after this.
This time around, instead of matching Sudou's pace, I went faster than him but slower than Koenji. Had I gone any faster and actually beat Koenji, the teachers might be a pain in the ass and force me to represent the school and even compete in the Olympics.
Thus, finishing second, I achieve a record time of 24.3 seconds, losing to Koenji by 1 second and beating Sudou by 0.5 second. Hirata and Miyake, on the other hand, were behind Sudou by 1.8 and 2.7 seconds, respectively.
Climbing out of the pool, Sudou looked at me with pure shock on his face. The same goes for everyone else. I guess they really didn't see me the first time around after all.
Kushida was the first to approach me.
"You were even faster than before! I knew it! You were lying when you said you barely train."
Then comes Hirata, who was humble and graceful as ever in defeat.
"You're amazing, Ayanokouji-Kun. You must have been your middle school's representative for swimming, right? I'm sure of it!"
Somehow, despite ending up in second place, I had attained more attention than Koenji himself. I guess my 'calculated measures' weren't so calculated after all.
That is when I saw a couple of my classmates heading my way. Deciding that I don't have the energy to converse with anyone else any further, I bid Kushida and Hirata goodbye and immediately returned to the locker room.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Horikita, somewhat smiling softly. I wonder why?
[Scene Change]
It was the final subject of the day. Instead of returning to class immediately after the swimming session, I sat in the toilet booth for quite a long time. I needed to make sure that the next period's teacher would already be in the class by the time I arrived. I have neither the need nor the energy to talk with anyone else today.
Five minutes went by after the period started. The teachers would usually arrive on time, so I believe returning now is a safe bet.
Arriving at the front door, I slide it open and bow down slightly to the teacher before apologising for being late. I gave the excuse that I got stuck in the toilet with a stomachache. As usual, the teacher dismissed my apology and allowed me to take my seat.
Almost immediately after I took my seat, Horikita spoke up.
"I knew you'd be able to do it."
"Huh?"
"I knew that you were capable of beating Sudou."
"You seem to have rather high expectations of me."
"Indeed, for some reason, I seem to be expecting quite a lot from you."
"Even so, I couldn't beat Koenji."
"That's fine. His speed was freakish. Had you beat him as well, you'd probably be good enough to compete for the Junior Olympics."
Surprisingly, Horikita is being quite nice to me today. Perhaps she is in a pleasant mood.
"You're being somewhat nice to me today. Any reasons behind that?"
"I simply state things the way they are. If you had performed terribly instead, then I would simply tell you that your performance was terrible."
"I see. I feel like that is the best part of you, Horikita. You choose to be honest rather than comply with others' emotions." Although some people might not appreciate that part of her.
Strangely, though, she turned to face me and stared deeply into my face. Did I say something weird? However, Horikita simply looked back to the front and diverted her focus back to the lesson.
I, on the other hand, diverted my gaze back to the sky outside. Ah, it looks like it's about to rain. I also forgot to bring any umbrellas. I guess I'll be getting wet today. Sighing, I closed my eyes and rested my head on the table. What a long day today has been!
A/N: Hey there, thanks for reading my work as usual. This time around, I tried very hard to make the MC converse with as many people as possible. I apologise if you think that I'm developing the characters too slowly. It's just that I greatly admire Kinugasa's writing ability and the way he develops his characters. I'm trying my best to do the same. No rushing development. No one immediately falls in love. As far as this fic goes, I've made plans for most volumes up until Y2V4, so you best believe that I'll be tackling the hurdles in the future excitingly. For now, though, I'd like to develop everyone carefully. Anyhow, I hope you guys will have a great day, and once again, thank you for reading my work.