║
Today marked a full week since the beginning of the school year. During that time, most of the students had all split off into their own cliques. They had also established friend groups both inside and outside of their classrooms; leaving loners—voluntary and involuntary—to themselves.
I chose to stay to myself. Currently, I found it pointless to be outgoing. There certainly was benefit to being popular, however, now was simply not the time.
I leaned against the poolside with my arms crossed infront of me, my amber gaze glossing over my male classmates as they filed out of the changing room in their various swimwear. I myself was clad in a dark blue rash-guard with white stripes and a black shorts of the same design.
"Woah! This school is seriously something else! It's even better than the city pool, don't you think?" Ike exclaimed as he beheld the crystal clear 50 meter pool.
Due to the pool being indoors, its maintenance was a fair bit easier, there was no need to worry about interference from the weather or debris while using it during class.
"What about the girls? Aren't they here yet?" Ike asked, sniffing the air like a dog, presumably to "sniff out" the girls' location.
"They take a while to change, so they're probably not ready." Ayanokoji replied.
"Hey, I wonder what would happen if I suddenly jumped into the girl's locker room."
Ike's face took an unmistakably lewd turn as he twiddled his fingers.
"They'd gang up on you, beat the crap out of you, and then file charges, probably."
"Don't give me such a realistic, deadpan answer and ruin my fun!" He cried, trembling with freight as he played out that scenario in his head.
"If the girls sense you staring at them in their swimsuits, they'll probably hate you." Ayanokoji added.
"Come on, like there's a guy out there who wouldn't stare? Agh, what am I gonna do if I get a boner?"
If that were to happen, he'd be labeled as a pervert and go his entire 3 years without ever achieving his goal of getting a girlfriend.
"Wow! It's so spacious! It's so much bigger than the pool in my junior high school."
Ike immediately perked up and swiveled his head around the room, "A-Are they here?! Hasebe isn't here! Wh-what's going on, Professor?!"
I doubt he was aware of how ridiculous he looked, and if he was I don't think he would care.
Turning my head towards the direction of the female voice from earlier, I found no one. Adjusting my glasses, I looked towards Hideo Sotomura who scanned the room from his vantage point on the second floor observation deck. He looked around frantically, panicked and in disbelief.
At that height, he should have spotted the girls easily. However, he failed to realize the same could be said for him.
"B-behind you, professor!" Ike shouted, pointing to the observation deck.
"What?!"
One by one, the girls all filed out of the shadows behind him. They seemed to have been expecting this.
"Wha-what's going on?" Ike slumped to the ground, dejectedly burying his face into his hands, "How did this happen?" Knowing him, he wasn't apologetic in the least.
Just this morning, Ike had rounded up the boys, myself and a few others excluded, and had them place bets of 10,000 points on which girl they thought was the most endowed. Hasebe Haruka had the highest votes alongside Kushida Kikyo and Sakura Airi.
To accurately deduce the answer, they had planned to have Hideo Sotomura, the Professor, record the girls to get their bust sizes by feigning sickness and observed from the stands.
However, that plan had failed before it even began.
"Aw, but I thought I'd get to see big tits! Big tits! I thought this was my chance!"
"Gross." The girl's muttered among themselves, regarding him with scornful gazes. Hasebe, in particular, looked at him as if he were scum.
"Ike, don't be sad! Come on, there are still tons of girls out there for us!" Yamauchi assured.
"Y-yeah, that's right. You have a point. I can't get down in the dumps now!" Ike cried.
"Bro!" The two shouted in unison as they clasped hands. From what I could gleam during the week, Ike and Yamauchi were rather concupiscent. So their bond was mostly likely hinged on that similarity rather than actual friendship.
"What're you two doing? That looks fun."
"K-K-Kushida-chan?!"
She wore the school issued swimwear. Instantly, all the boys' eyes had found her. Unlike everyone else that simply wanted to observe her buxom figure, I had a different reason for staring.
I'm certain it was her voice I heard earlier. If she's been that close all this time, I have no doubt that she heard everything Ike and the others were saying about the girls. So why was she acting oblivious?
A girl like her should also be well aware of her looks along with the fact that the boys had been openly eyeing her chest from the moment she appeared, yet, she seemed un-bothered.
Was she an attention seeker?
"Why the pained expression?" Horikita said. She had siddled up next to Ayanokoji who stood a few feet to my left.
"I'm currently in the midst of an internal battle." Was his response. It seems he'd also fell victim to his hormones much like the others.
"Ayanokoji-kun, do you exercise?" She asked, moving on from the subject.
"Huh? No, not really. I'm not particularly proud of this, but in middle school I was that kid who never had any after-school plans."
Her eyes met his with suspicion, "Well, you say that, but...judging from the development of your forearms and back muscles, you seem above average."
"I guess my parents blessed me with good genes?"
"I don't think that's the only reason."
"Jeez, what's with you? Do you have a muscle fetish or something? Is that it?" Ayanokoji replied. He'd have sounded fed up if his voice wasn't always so flat.
Horikita stared at him for a while before finally relenting. "I guess if you deny it that much, I have to believe you..."
She must take pride in her observation skills—it would explain her apparent dissatisfaction. Her analysis was correct, however. It seemed as though Ayanokoji had trained his body as well, it was noticeably muscular in the areas she had pointed out.
Like him, I was a bit more defined in certain areas.
"Are you a good swimmer Horikita-san?"
The aforementioned girl whipped her head around, puzzled by Kushida's sudden question, "I wouldn't say I'm particularly good or bad at it." Was her quiet reply.
"I see I see~" Kushida then looked to me with a smile. I averted my gaze, already knowing what was to come next, "And, what about you, Monty-kun? Are you good at-"
"I'm good enough to not to fall behind." I cut her off. I didn't want to join their discussion. If she truly was an attention seeker then conversing with her would probably be annoying.
"O-oh. Well, I was really bad at swimming in junior high but then I practiced super hard and now I think I've gotten better." She divulged.
"I see." Horikita gave a disinterested response and backed away slightly, clearly signalling she didn't want to continue the conversation. Kushida's smile remained the same, but the look in her eyes seemed off. It made her expression seem more like a smize than anything else.
"Alright everyone, line up!" Our P.E teacher, a middle aged; muscular man with beady eyes shouted from the head of the pool.
Adjusting my glasses with a thumb thrust, I made my way towards him and fell in line with the rest of my classmates.
"There are only twenty seven of you? I thought there would've been more, but this is alright."
Most of the students had ditched class, but, as usual, none of our teachers seemed to mind it.
"After you warm up, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for me." The coach said.
A boy infront of me raised his hand sheepishly, "Excuse me sir, I can't really swim though..."
"Since you have me as your teacher, you'll be swimming by summertime. Don't worry about a thing." Our teacher assured confidently.
"Well, we don't need to force ourselves to swim, do we? It's not like we're going to the beach or anything."
"No way. I don't mind at all if you're bad at swimming now, but I'll make sure you guys are winners in the end. Besides, being able to swim will definitely come in handy later in life. Definitely."
He wasn't wrong, swimming was a necessary skill to have. However, I get the feeling he meant something pertaining to our life at this school rather than our life out in the world. "I'll make sure you guys are winners in the end." This was definitely a subtle hint made to be passed off as simple encouragement, Miss Chabashira did something similar while explaining the point system. She didn't go in detail about certain things which caused the class to misunderstand what she was actually implying.
My amber eyes narrowed slightly behind my green tinted glasses as I became lost in thought.
I suspect that this school might host some sort of competition in the near future that will require this particular skill or perhaps even us displaying other aspects of our physical capabilities. Aside from the prospect of a sports festival, there may be other scenarios where our physical abilities are showcased similarly to how we will be tested academically.
...
A special exam perhaps?
It is plausible, considering that swimming was an extremely unlikely event for sports festivals.
After a while, everyone began their warm ups. Ike kept peeking at the girls. The teacher asked us to swim for about 50 meters. Those who could not swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the 5ft pool with their feet. I inferred that the water was temperature controlled seeing as I adjusted as soon as I entered.
After finishing my warm up, I climbed out of the pool and waited for everyone else to finish.
"He he he, that was an easy win for me. Did you see my super swimming skills?" Ike crowed proudly. In truth, his performance wasn't all that different from anybody else's.
"Well, it looks like everyone can swim, for the most part."
"Of course, sir. Back in junior high everybody called me the 'Flying Fish' you know." Yamauchi added.
"I see. In that case, I'll have you all start competing against each other. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty meter freestyle."
"C-compete?! Are you serious?" Ike asked, seemingly regretting his earlier statement.
"I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The student who comes in last, however, will take supplementary lessons. Get ready."
The skilled swimmers seemed pleased as opposed to the less confident students.
"Because there are only ten many girls, I'll split you into two groups of five, and the student with the fastest overall time will be the winner. As for the sixteen boys, I'll look at the top five finishing times and then move on to the final round."
Teachers were allotted points too, it seems. So, my earlier theory of being able to buy information should apply.
Getting into their designated groups, the girl's started first while the boys stood on the sidelines and cheered as they assessed every inch of the girls' bodies.
"Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan. Haaaaaaaa...."
"Ike, You're scaring everyone. Settle down." Ayanokoji mumbled.
"B-but Kushida-chan is so gosh darn cute, isn't she? And her breasts are pretty big too!"
Ike had become completely entranced by Kushida, though, he wasn't the only victim of her charms. Quite a lot of the other boys had similar thoughts regarding her seeing as she was kind, approachable and social, the complete antithesis to Horikita who was cold, blunt and unfriendly.
Due to that, Kushida received a majority of cheers, though Horikita also got a decent bit.
"Everyone, burn these images into your brains! Remember the fap material you see here today!" Ike cried. Somehow his brief, degenerate speech had managed to rile up the other boys who began shouting in unison; sans Ayanokoji, Hirata, Koenji, Yukimura and I.
PLIIIIIIIIIIII
The whistle sounded and the five girls dove into the water. Horikita, in lane two, had taken the lead from the begining all the way until the end; confidently and effortlessly covering the distance of the fifty meters in a time of 28 seconds. 28.35, to be precise.
Though I could tell from her stable breathing that she wasn't going all out, her display was above average at best.
"Wow! Awesome Horikita!" To the boys, results were of secondary importance. Their gazes were glued to the girls' springy derrières from the moment they were in sight. I couldn't blame them, afterall, I'd also been staring. But in my case, I held no lustful intent towards any of them.
Soon after was the second race, which featured Kushida in lane four. As she bent over to get into her starting position, the boys began cheering with big smiles and frantic waves.
"WOOHOO! GOOO KUSHIDA-CHANNNNN!" Ike topped the crowd.
Quite a number of the boys started fidgeting and covering their nether region while trying to tear their eyes away from the girls. A reaction such as that was atypical for hormone driven teens.
I, however, had no such problems and continued observing the quintuplet of girls. A girl named Kayano Onodera caught my eye. She was short with dark skin, short brown hair and yellow gradient violet eyes.
Her form was the most refined of all the other girls, and I recall seeing her signing up for the swim club so she's the most likely person to come out on top in this race.
The second race began. And, as I'd predicted, Onodera won. The race was extremely one sided. She came in at a time of 26.22 seconds, easily beating out Horikita in second at 28.35 seconds, Hasebe in third as 31.24 seconds and Kushida who took fourth place in a time of 31.79 seconds.
Next up, were us boys. I thought to myself that I as long as I got a decent placement I had no need to worry about supplementary lessons.
The first heat Sudo came in first with a time of 25.62 seconds, 10.51 seconds faster than Ayanokoji who came third.
"Wow! You're amazing Sudo!"
"Hey, why not join the swim team? I bet you could make it to nationals!"
"Basketball's my only sport, swimming's just for fun." Sudo said, getting out of the pool with no signs of fatigue.
"Oh, wow, he's got absolutely outstanding motor skills." One of the girls said. Ike, feeling envious, elbowed Sudo.
"Kya!"
A girl let out a joyful squeal as Hirata took his starting position. After witnessing the girls raving for Hirata, Sudo and Ike expressed their displeasure with the latter spitting in response as the former growled.
"I'm gonna blow you out of the water with all I've got!" Sudo declared.
After the P.E teacher blew the whistle, Hirata dove into the pool with great form and effortlessly cool movements. The more he pressed forward, the louder the cheers became.
In the end, he finished in a time of 26.13 seconds. Climbing out of the pool, Hirata heaved a breath, slightly winded. The girls erupted into a cacophony of compliments and praise that served to irritate Sudo even more.
He clenched his fist, fired up, "I'll demolish him and his popularity."
I sighed, walking over to the starting line and placing down my glasses. I was put in lane 1 alongside Koenji, Yamauchi and Yukimura who took lanes 2,3 and 4 respectively.
"Hm. A perfect being like myself deserves atleast this much praise." Koenji said, donning a refreshing smile as he planted his feet at the starting line. He must've mistakenly believed the girls' cheers were directed at him. It wasn't surprising coming from someone who labeled themselves as "perfect". He was quite the narcissist.
"Hey. Uh, why is Koenji wearing a speedo?"
"Wh-what?"
Although the school allowed such swimwear, Koenji was the only one to wear it. His briefs drew attention to his crotch, causing the girls to look away with disgust. Though, he didn't seem the least bit affected by their reaction.
What intrigued me wasn't his unshaken demeanor or his deluded mentality, it was his impeccable form. He took on the posture of a pro athlete and looked to be in even better physical shape than Sudo.
As the noise died down, the whistle blew. I dove into the water, cutting through the clear liquid as I kept count. Soon, the race had ended.
"23.22 seconds."
"My abdominal muscles, back muscles and psoas major muscle seem to be in good shape, as usual. Not a bad performance." Koenji said to himself as he pulled himself out of the water and swept up his blonde hair. He didn't seem winded at all.
If he was this good, I understood why he'd be deluded. He was nothing short of a physical prodigy.
Everyone else seemed stunned by the display and began muttering to themselves.
His time was rather impressive for his age. There was no question of who would win the 5000 points.
Climbing out of the water, I sighed and walked towards the starting line. I came in second at a time of 32 seconds flat.
That should have been enough to place me somewhere in the middle of the standings, however, the performance of the fourth heat was deplorable.
Ike came in first at 35.46 seconds while Sotomura came in last at 46.23 seconds.
Due to their incompetency, I was slated to swim again as I'd placed 5th on the list of overall students.
Horikita crossed her arms. She had moved away from Ayanokoji and siddled up next to me, likely due to Kushida's presence.
"Tragic." She said.
I lowered my head while slowly removing my glasses. Folding them, I looked out over the crowd.
"Elaborate."
Horikita involuntarily squinted and turned her head away to avoid the sun's glare bouncing off my glasses, "You're about to lose to Koenji-kun twice in a row within the span of a few minutes. Is that not embarrassing?"
"Why would it? He's proven to be quite the physical beast so him besting me in a race isn't something to be ashamed off. If anything, I'd say it's the expected result."
"I suppose..." She nodded slightly at my reasoning, "I'd thought all boys were competitive like Sudo-kun. However, it seems that line of thinking applies to neither you nor Ayanokoji-kun."
"It would seem so." Ending the conversation there, I began my trek towards the starting line.
At a leisurely pace, I walked around the outer boundary of the crowd to avoid my classmates' gazes while actively concealing my presence. It didn't take long until I'd taken my place at the starting line.
We all took our mark and soon, the race began.
While I wasn't aiming to impress anyone, I still had to keep up appearances. Koenji, as expected, took the lead in an instant, his form was impeccable and his speed just kept on increasing. It was as if the water parted effortlessly for him with every stroke.
The gap between us had widened a considerable margin before Koenji made contact with the other side of the pool.
I didn't bother to push myself unnecessarily but instead focused on maintaining a respectable position as I gradually pulled ahead of Okitani. He was struggling the most. His strokes were sometimes erratic, and it was clear he was out of his depth.
When I finally touched the wall, I surfaced and took a deep breath before calmly climbing out of the pool. Koenji had already finished, of course, and was busy striking poses for the few girls who cared enough to watch.
Being the son of the Koenji conglomerate, he'd amassed quite the fame amongst the others early on. But what popularity he'd garnered had begun turning to notoriety due to his excessive narcissism.
No. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was very prideful in himself, seeing as narcissists typically lack the skills necessary to back up their confidence.
Either way, he still allowed his extreme self confidence to illude him. Almost to the point it seemed like an act.
"Monty-kun, that was amazing! You were so fast!" Kushida's voice reached me as I toweled off and quickly wore my glasses.
I didn't respond and instead continued drying myself with a visible frown. Replying to her would make her think I was inviting chatter. But, not doing so would make her infer ║
Today marked a full week since the beginning of the school year. During that time, most of the students had all split off into their own cliques. They had also established friend groups both inside and outside of their classrooms; leaving loners—voluntary and involuntary—to themselves.
I chose to stay to myself. Currently, I found it pointless to be outgoing. There certainly was benefit to being popular, however, now was simply not the time.
I leaned against the poolside with my arms crossed infront of me, my amber gaze glossing over my male classmates as they filed out of the changing room in their various swimwear. I myself was clad in a dark blue rash-guard with white stripes and a black shorts of the same design.
"Woah! This school is seriously something else! It's even better than the city pool, don't you think?" Ike exclaimed as he beheld the crystal clear 50 meter pool.
Due to the pool being indoors, its maintenance was a fair bit easier, there was no need to worry about interference from the weather or debris while using it during class.
"What about the girls? Aren't they here yet?" Ike asked, sniffing the air like a dog, presumably to "sniff out" the girls' location.
"They take a while to change, so they're probably not ready." Ayanokoji replied.
"Hey, I wonder what would happen if I suddenly jumped into the girl's locker room."
Ike's face took an unmistakably lewd turn as he twiddled his fingers.
"They'd gang up on you, beat the crap out of you, and then file charges, probably."
"Don't give me such a realistic, deadpan answer and ruin my fun!" He cried, trembling with freight as he played out that scenario in his head.
"If the girls sense you staring at them in their swimsuits, they'll probably hate you." Ayanokoji added.
"Come on, like there's a guy out there who wouldn't stare? Agh, what am I gonna do if I get a boner?"
If that were to happen, he'd be labeled as a pervert and go his entire 3 years without ever achieving his goal of getting a girlfriend.
"Wow! It's so spacious! It's so much bigger than the pool in my junior high school."
Ike immediately perked up and swiveled his head around the room, "A-Are they here?! Hasebe isn't here! Wh-what's going on, Professor?!"
I doubt he was aware of how ridiculous he looked, and if he was I don't think he would care.
Turning my head towards the direction of the female voice from earlier, I found no one. Adjusting my glasses, I looked towards Hideo Sotomura who scanned the room from his vantage point on the second floor observation deck. He looked around frantically, panicked and in disbelief.
At that height, he should have spotted the girls easily. However, he failed to realize the same could be said for him.
"B-behind you, professor!" Ike shouted, pointing to the observation deck.
"What?!"
One by one, the girls all filed out of the shadows behind him. They seemed to have been expecting this.
"Wha-what's going on?" Ike slumped to the ground, dejectedly burying his face into his hands, "How did this happen?" Knowing him, he wasn't apologetic in the least.
Just this morning, Ike had rounded up the boys, myself and a few others excluded, and had them place bets of 10,000 points on which girl they thought was the most endowed. Hasebe Haruka had the highest votes alongside Kushida Kikyo and Sakura Airi.
To accurately deduce the answer, they had planned to have Hideo Sotomura, the Professor, record the girls to get their bust sizes by feigning sickness and observed from the stands.
However, that plan had failed before it even began.
"Aw, but I thought I'd get to see big tits! Big tits! I thought this was my chance!"
"Gross." The girl's muttered among themselves, regarding him with scornful gazes. Hasebe, in particular, looked at him as if he were scum.
"Ike, don't be sad! Come on, there are still tons of girls out there for us!" Yamauchi assured.
"Y-yeah, that's right. You have a point. I can't get down in the dumps now!" Ike cried.
"Bro!" The two shouted in unison as they clasped hands. From what I could gleam during the week, Ike and Yamauchi were rather concupiscent. So their bond was mostly likely hinged on that similarity rather than actual friendship.
"What're you two doing? That looks fun."
"K-K-Kushida-chan?!"
She wore the school issued swimwear. Instantly, all the boys' eyes had found her. Unlike everyone else that simply wanted to observe her buxom figure, I had a different reason for staring.
I'm certain it was her voice I heard earlier. If she's been that close all this time, I have no doubt that she heard everything Ike and the others were saying about the girls. So why was she acting oblivious?
A girl like her should also be well aware of her looks along with the fact that the boys had been openly eyeing her chest from the moment she appeared, yet, she seemed un-bothered.
Was she an attention seeker?
"Why the pained expression?" Horikita said. She had siddled up next to Ayanokoji who stood a few feet to my left.
"I'm currently in the midst of an internal battle." Was his response. It seems he'd also fell victim to his hormones much like the others.
"Ayanokoji-kun, do you exercise?" She asked, moving on from the subject.
"Huh? No, not really. I'm not particularly proud of this, but in middle school I was that kid who never had any after-school plans."
Her eyes met his with suspicion, "Well, you say that, but...judging from the development of your forearms and back muscles, you seem above average."
"I guess my parents blessed me with good genes?"
"I don't think that's the only reason."
"Jeez, what's with you? Do you have a muscle fetish or something? Is that it?" Ayanokoji replied. He'd have sounded fed up if his voice wasn't always so flat.
Horikita stared at him for a while before finally relenting. "I guess if you deny it that much, I have to believe you..."
She must take pride in her observation skills—it would explain her apparent dissatisfaction. Her analysis was correct, however. It seemed as though Ayanokoji had trained his body as well, it was noticeably muscular in the areas she had pointed out.
Like him, I was a bit more defined in certain areas.
"Are you a good swimmer Horikita-san?"
The aforementioned girl whipped her head around, puzzled by Kushida's sudden question, "I wouldn't say I'm particularly good or bad at it." Was her quiet reply.
"I see I see~" Kushida then looked to me with a smile. I averted my gaze, already knowing what was to come next, "And, what about you, Monty-kun? Are you good at-"
"I'm good enough to not to fall behind." I cut her off. I didn't want to join their discussion. If she truly was an attention seeker then conversing with her would probably be annoying.
"O-oh. Well, I was really bad at swimming in junior high but then I practiced super hard and now I think I've gotten better." She divulged.
"I see." Horikita gave a disinterested response and backed away slightly, clearly signalling she didn't want to continue the conversation. Kushida's smile remained the same, but the look in her eyes seemed off. It made her expression seem more like a smize than anything else.
"Alright everyone, line up!" Our P.E teacher, a middle aged; muscular man with beady eyes shouted from the head of the pool.
Adjusting my glasses with a thumb thrust, I made my way towards him and fell in line with the rest of my classmates.
"There are only twenty seven of you? I thought there would've been more, but this is alright."
Most of the students had ditched class, but, as usual, none of our teachers seemed to mind it.
"After you warm up, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for me." The coach said.
A boy infront of me raised his hand sheepishly, "Excuse me sir, I can't really swim though..."
"Since you have me as your teacher, you'll be swimming by summertime. Don't worry about a thing." Our teacher assured confidently.
"Well, we don't need to force ourselves to swim, do we? It's not like we're going to the beach or anything."
"No way. I don't mind at all if you're bad at swimming now, but I'll make sure you guys are winners in the end. Besides, being able to swim will definitely come in handy later in life. Definitely."
He wasn't wrong, swimming was a necessary skill to have. However, I get the feeling he meant something pertaining to our life at this school rather than our life out in the world. "I'll make sure you guys are winners in the end." This was definitely a subtle hint made to be passed off as simple encouragement, Miss Chabashira did something similar while explaining the point system. She didn't go in detail about certain things which caused the class to misunderstand what she was actually implying.
My amber eyes narrowed slightly behind my green tinted glasses as I became lost in thought.
I suspect that this school might host some sort of competition in the near future that will require this particular skill or perhaps even us displaying other aspects of our physical capabilities. Aside from the prospect of a sports festival, there may be other scenarios where our physical abilities are showcased similarly to how we will be tested academically.
...
A special exam perhaps?
It is plausible, considering that swimming was an extremely unlikely event for sports festivals.
After a while, everyone began their warm ups. Ike kept peeking at the girls. The teacher asked us to swim for about 50 meters. Those who could not swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the 5ft pool with their feet. I inferred that the water was temperature controlled seeing as I adjusted as soon as I entered.
After finishing my warm up, I climbed out of the pool and waited for everyone else to finish.
"He he he, that was an easy win for me. Did you see my super swimming skills?" Ike crowed proudly. In truth, his performance wasn't all that different from anybody else's.
"Well, it looks like everyone can swim, for the most part."
"Of course, sir. Back in junior high everybody called me the 'Flying Fish' you know." Yamauchi added.
"I see. In that case, I'll have you all start competing against each other. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty meter freestyle."
"C-compete?! Are you serious?" Ike asked, seemingly regretting his earlier statement.
"I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The student who comes in last, however, will take supplementary lessons. Get ready."
The skilled swimmers seemed pleased as opposed to the less confident students.
"Because there are only ten many girls, I'll split you into two groups of five, and the student with the fastest overall time will be the winner. As for the sixteen boys, I'll look at the top five finishing times and then move on to the final round."
Teachers were allotted points too, it seems. So, my earlier theory of being able to buy information should apply.
Getting into their designated groups, the girl's started first while the boys stood on the sidelines and cheered as they assessed every inch of the girls' bodies.
"Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan. Haaaaaaaa...."
"Ike, You're scaring everyone. Settle down." Ayanokoji mumbled.
"B-but Kushida-chan is so gosh darn cute, isn't she? And her breasts are pretty big too!"
Ike had become completely entranced by Kushida, though, he wasn't the only victim of her charms. Quite a lot of the other boys had similar thoughts regarding her seeing as she was kind, approachable and social, the complete antithesis to Horikita who was cold, blunt and unfriendly.
Due to that, Kushida received a majority of cheers, though Horikita also got a decent bit.
"Everyone, burn these images into your brains! Remember the fap material you see here today!" Ike cried. Somehow his brief, degenerate speech had managed to rile up the other boys who began shouting in unison; sans Ayanokoji, Hirata, Koenji, Yukimura and I.
PLIIIIIIIIIIII
The whistle sounded and the five girls dove into the water. Horikita, in lane two, had taken the lead from the begining all the way until the end; confidently and effortlessly covering the distance of the fifty meters in a time of 28 seconds. 28.35, to be precise.
Though I could tell from her stable breathing that she wasn't going all out, her display was above average at best.
"Wow! Awesome Horikita!" To the boys, results were of secondary importance. Their gazes were glued to the girls' springy derrières from the moment they were in sight. I couldn't blame them, afterall, I'd also been staring. But in my case, I held no lustful intent towards any of them.
Soon after was the second race, which featured Kushida in lane four. As she bent over to get into her starting position, the boys began cheering with big smiles and frantic waves.
"WOOHOO! GOOO KUSHIDA-CHANNNNN!" Ike topped the crowd.
Quite a number of the boys started fidgeting and covering their nether region while trying to tear their eyes away from the girls. A reaction such as that was atypical for hormone driven teens.
I, however, had no such problems and continued observing the quintuplet of girls. A girl named Kayano Onodera caught my eye. She was short with dark skin, short brown hair and yellow gradient violet eyes.
Her form was the most refined of all the other girls, and I recall seeing her signing up for the swim club so she's the most likely person to come out on top in this race.
The second race began. And, as I'd predicted, Onodera won. The race was extremely one sided. She came in at a time of 26.22 seconds, easily beating out Horikita in second at 28.35 seconds, Hasebe in third as 31.24 seconds and Kushida who took fourth place in a time of 31.79 seconds.
Next up, were us boys. I thought to myself that I as long as I got a decent placement I had no need to worry about supplementary lessons.
The first heat Sudo came in first with a time of 25.62 seconds, 10.51 seconds faster than Ayanokoji who came third.
"Wow! You're amazing Sudo!"
"Hey, why not join the swim team? I bet you could make it to nationals!"
"Basketball's my only sport, swimming's just for fun." Sudo said, getting out of the pool with no signs of fatigue.
"Oh, wow, he's got absolutely outstanding motor skills." One of the girls said. Ike, feeling envious, elbowed Sudo.
"Kya!"
A girl let out a joyful squeal as Hirata took his starting position. After witnessing the girls raving for Hirata, Sudo and Ike expressed their displeasure with the latter spitting in response as the former growled.
"I'm gonna blow you out of the water with all I've got!" Sudo declared.
After the P.E teacher blew the whistle, Hirata dove into the pool with great form and effortlessly cool movements. The more he pressed forward, the louder the cheers became.
In the end, he finished in a time of 26.13 seconds. Climbing out of the pool, Hirata heaved a breath, slightly winded. The girls erupted into a cacophony of compliments and praise that served to irritate Sudo even more.
He clenched his fist, fired up, "I'll demolish him and his popularity."
I sighed, walking over to the starting line and placing down my glasses. I was put in lane 1 alongside Koenji, Yamauchi and Yukimura who took lanes 2,3 and 4 respectively.
"Hm. A perfect being like myself deserves atleast this much praise." Koenji said, donning a refreshing smile as he planted his feet at the starting line. He must've mistakenly believed the girls' cheers were directed at him. It wasn't surprising coming from someone who labeled themselves as "perfect". He was quite the narcissist.
"Hey. Uh, why is Koenji wearing a speedo?"
"Wh-what?"
Although the school allowed such swimwear, Koenji was the only one to wear it. His briefs drew attention to his crotch, causing the girls to look away with disgust. Though, he didn't seem the least bit affected by their reaction.
What intrigued me wasn't his unshaken demeanor or his deluded mentality, it was his impeccable form. He took on the posture of a pro athlete and looked to be in even better physical shape than Sudo.
As the noise died down, the whistle blew. I dove into the water, cutting through the clear liquid as I kept count. Soon, the race had ended.
"23.22 seconds."
"My abdominal muscles, back muscles and psoas major muscle seem to be in good shape, as usual. Not a bad performance." Koenji said to himself as he pulled himself out of the water and swept up his blonde hair. He didn't seem winded at all.
If he was this good, I understood why he'd be deluded. He was nothing short of a physical prodigy.
Everyone else seemed stunned by the display and began muttering to themselves.
His time was rather impressive for his age. There was no question of who would win the 5000 points.
Climbing out of the water, I sighed and walked towards the starting line. I came in second at a time of 32 seconds flat.
That should have been enough to place me somewhere in the middle of the standings, however, the performance of the fourth heat was deplorable.
Ike came in first at 35.46 seconds while Sotomura came in last at 46.23 seconds.
Due to their incompetency, I was slated to swim again as I'd placed 5th on the list of overall students.
Horikita crossed her arms. She had moved away from Ayanokoji and siddled up next to me, likely due to Kushida's presence.
"Tragic." She said.
I lowered my head while slowly removing my glasses. Folding them, I looked out over the crowd.
"Elaborate."
Horikita involuntarily squinted and turned her head away to avoid the sun's glare bouncing off my glasses, "You're about to lose to Koenji-kun twice in a row within the span of a few minutes. Is that not embarrassing?"
"Why would it? He's proven to be quite the physical beast so him besting me in a race isn't something to be ashamed off. If anything, I'd say it's the expected result."
"I suppose..." She nodded slightly at my reasoning, "I'd thought all boys were competitive like Sudo-kun. However, it seems that line of thinking applies to neither you nor Ayanokoji-kun."
"It would seem so." Ending the conversation there, I began my trek towards the starting line.
At a leisurely pace, I walked around the outer boundary of the crowd to avoid my classmates' gazes while actively concealing my presence. It didn't take long until I'd taken my place at the starting line.
We all took our mark and soon, the race began.
While I wasn't aiming to impress anyone, I still had to keep up appearances. Koenji, as expected, took the lead in an instant, his form was impeccable and his speed just kept on increasing. It was as if the water parted effortlessly for him with every stroke.
The gap between us had widened a considerable margin before Koenji made contact with the other side of the pool.
I didn't bother to push myself unnecessarily but instead focused on maintaining a respectable position as I gradually pulled ahead of Okitani. He was struggling the most. His strokes were sometimes erratic, and it was clear he was out of his depth.
When I finally touched the wall, I surfaced and took a deep breath before calmly climbing out of the pool. Koenji had already finished, of course, and was busy striking poses for the few girls who cared enough to watch.
Being the son of the Koenji conglomerate, he'd amassed quite the fame amongst the others early on. But what popularity he'd garnered had begun turning to notoriety due to his excessive narcissism.
No. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was very prideful in himself, seeing as narcissists typically lack the skills necessary to back up their confidence.
Either way, he still allowed his extreme self confidence to illude him. Almost to the point it seemed like an act.
"Monty-kun, that was amazing! You were so fast!" Kushida's voice reached me as I toweled off and quickly wore my glasses.
I didn't respond and instead continued drying myself with a visible frown. Replying to her would make her think I was inviting chatter. But, not doing so would make her infer one of two things:
I was either sulking from my back to back losses or I simply didn't want to talk to her.
Met with my silence, Kushida donned a half-hearted smile. It seems she had believed it was the former.
"Don't feel bad," She chirped supportively, her smile brightening. "You'll do better next time! I know you will."
"Heyyy, Kushida-chan!" A girl, Maezono, called suddenly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure! I'll be right there."
"Well, I've gotta get going now. See you around, Monty-kun." With those words she headed towards her friends. I watched in silence as she merged with the crowd.
As the rest of the boys finished their races, the P.E. teacher called us together to announce the final standings. Predictably, Koenji took first place, with Sudo in second, and Hirata third. I place fifth behind Miyake Akito.
That being said, a certain individual didn't make the cut and ended up saddled with a week's worth of supplementary classes. That person was—
"Sure does suck to be you huh, Yamauchi?" Ike grinned.
"So much for 'the flying fish'."
Scoffing at Ike's remark, the aforementioned boy shrugged, "What can I say? I just wasn't feeling it today. If I got serious I'd probably end up swarmed with pretty girls."
"Yeah, sure bud." Ike droned, "As if they'd pick you over me, I mean, look at this face?" He gestured to his face with a zealous smile, "It's all a girl could ever want!"
"Ha, oh yeah?! Well, all girls want a manly man like me!" Yamauchi's voice rose as he pointed at himself while striking a pose.
"What use is a manly man if his face looks like a turtle's snout!"
"Well, what use is your face when your body is subpar!"
"Why you!" Tuning out the two sputtering buffoons, I looked around the swim area.
The teacher had already dismissed class, and left the students to chat amongst themselves regarding whatever they felt a need to address. Some of the girls seemed annoyed by Ike and Yamauchi's ramblings while the rest gossiped amongst themselves. Hirata, in particular, was at the center of all those discussions.
Despite him taking third place, his popularity hadn't waned in the slightest. As a matter of fact, he had become even more beloved by the girls, Sato Maya in particular. At least, that's what her reactions currently depicted.
While Sudo did gain popularity, it was mostly from our male classmates. There were only a handful of girls that praised his achievements, though, he seemed somewhat dissatisfied by that fact. Koenji appeared completely unbothered by his lack of attention from either sex and instead opted to admire his own reflection in the mirror.
As I watched my classmates' antics, I began thinking back on the week.
This school was a good deal more shrewd than it initially seemed. While it truly was a place dedicated to developing the youth that would eventually go on to lead Japan by arming them with the chance of being employed in any field, it raised a question that contradicted all of that.
Were our futures truly guaranteed?
It may sound ludicrous, but, let's say that all 480 individuals from our three year groups went on to graduate. How many of those students were actually guaranteed to help Japan further develop?
Even if they were to get their intended jobs, what surety was there that they'd be of any use to the country?
On average, the number of people who graduate highschool and manage to secure a stable job in Japan was less than 45%. Out of that, the percentage that tend to succeed in life numbered in the single digits due to the harsh requirements needed to be accepted into the work.
With the habits I've seen displayed, this class would no doubt end up splurging on unnecessary items without regard for what may become of them in the future due to their reckless actions.
Within class D alone, there were only a handful of noteworthy individuals that I could say, with certainty, would go on to live a lavish life.
Even despite that, Japan wouldn't necessarily benefit from their deeds.
Now, a question for you.
Why would the Japanese Government waste money and effort on developing the entire student body if they aren't guaranteed to succeed?
The answer is; they aren't.
Suffice it to say, while there were an exceptional few that could keep up with the curriculum, not everyone had the same drive and potential to do so.
To further support my thesis, I'd chatted with Manda over text and found out that Class D has specifically been singled out as defective across all year groups.
Why support a class of defectives if your aim is to bring Japan prosperity?
If it were me, I wouldn't. It's costly and inefficient. The government should also be aware of that fact, which is why I believe this school doesn't intend to help the entire student body succeed.
It's likely they'd help either Class A only or all classes excluding D.
The former seemed most probable considering the enormous cost.
I'd already theorized most of this on the second day, however, I can't be absolutely certain that it was entirely accurate. This was, afterall, only a hypothetical born from what little I knew.
Luckily there's nothing wrong with being cautious.