Hidden Talents

So although Kamio Tatsuya had never spoken to him, he had left a deep impression on him.

Then there was the guy who looked like a delinquent, Sudo Ken.

He'd heard Sudo was in the school's Basketball Club. Athletes really did have impressive physiques. Hirata from the soccer team was the same way.

But he soon noticed someone who stood out from the others.

Ayanokoji Kiyonaka's muscles were different from the exaggerated physiques of Kouenji and Sudo.

They looked very well-proportioned, and Kamio Tatsuya thought that was probably the ideal physique. Had this guy trained in something?

As for Kamio Tatsuya himself, he was no slouch compared to trash like Ike and Yamauchi, but he was still far behind the people mentioned earlier. In fact, there was no comparison.

He was even worse than Hirata, and that was only because of the physical enhancement potion the system had given him.

But it didn't matter. He had a system. As long as he was patient, he'd have a strong body sooner or later.

As he left the Men's Locker Room, Ayanokoji Kiyonaka found himself walking beside Kamio Tatsuya, and they headed out together.

Glancing at Ayanokoji in surprise, Kamio Tatsuya joked, "I thought you'd distance yourself from me along with Yamauchi and the others."

"Uh, those are two different things, aren't they?"

"Are they?"

Kamio Tatsuya gave no clear answer.

"Come to think of it, have you trained in something? You seem really strong. You were very efficient when you fought Yamauchi earlier, too."

Hearing Ayanokoji's words, Kamio Tatsuya was at a loss. The situation was like an ordinary person being told by Jack Ma, "You're really rich."

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Huh? That wasn't what I meant."

"Compared to you, I'm nothing. Your thick upper arms and back muscles are far from ordinary. Have you done any training?"

Ayanokoji Kiyonaka's body seemed to have not only great endurance, but also tremendous explosive strength. He was nothing like an ordinary person.

"No. I was blessed by my parents and given this body."

"Your family's genes must be incredible, on par with wild animals in the jungle."

What was this guy's deal?

Even wild animals would lose their physical fitness if they didn't exercise for a long time, let alone humans.

So this guy had definitely undergone systematic training.

He could've just admitted that he'd worked out a little. No one would have pressed him about it afterward.

Instead, he said he was just born that way. What was the point of telling such an obvious lie?

Was he messing with me?

Feeling Kamio Tatsuya's displeased gaze, Ayanokoji Kiyonaka was a little confused. He had no idea what he'd said wrong.

Not long after they left the locker room, the girls came out of theirs as well.

But things weren't as expected. Hasebe Haruka, whom the boys all considered a goddess of sports, wasn't among them. Not even the second-choice candidate, Sakura Airi, was there.

"Hasebe isn't here! W-what's going on?"

"I've been looking forward to this since last night... God is so cruel to me!"

Hearing them, the girls observing from the second-floor stands cast the boys a look of disdain. Unfortunately, the two idiots showed no sign of reflecting on their behavior.

Even Kamio Tatsuya wondered if the girls had skipped swimming class because those two had been so blatant.

"What are you doing?"

Just then, Kushida appeared in her school swimsuit.

In an instant, nearly every boy fixed his gaze on her, as if they had activated auto-aim.

Some stared at her chest, others at her hips, and still others at her legs.

How should he put it? She was even more impressive than he'd expected.

After taking a couple of glances, Kamio Tatsuya looked away. That deep valley was a little too stimulating; his young, vigorous body could barely handle it.

Chapter 24: Hidden Talents

After the students had made a bit of a racket, a burly man covered in muscle blew his whistle, quieting things down. He was their PE teacher.

"All right, class is about to start. Everyone, gather around."

Soon, the boys and girls gathered, but of the class's forty students, only a little over twenty were there.

"Only twenty-four? Quite a few of you are just observing." He glanced over the students on the second floor and could tell some were deliberately slacking off. "Never mind. Do some warm-ups, then go for a swim. I want to see your current level. Let's try to teach you all to swim before summer."

"You don't have to force me to learn how to swim. I'm not going to the beach anyway."

"That won't do. It doesn't matter if you're terrible at it right now. I'll help you overcome that. Once you learn to swim, it'll definitely come in handy later. Definitely."

Unlike the teachers who let students do whatever they wanted, the PE teacher outright rejected the student's suggestion. His words also seemed to hint at something.

Did he mean they might need to know how to swim for a Special Exam later?

At the teacher's instruction, the students finished their warm-ups and began practicing the 50m Freestyle.

Kamio Tatsuya couldn't swim, but his enhanced physical fitness let him pick it up quickly, and he did pretty well.

He managed to come in third from the bottom.

"Looks like you have decent athletic ability."

As soon as he climbed out of the pool, someone came over to talk to him.

Wiping the water from his face, Kamio Tatsuya saw who it was: Horikita Suzune.

Always looking for a chance to mock him. What a bore.

She was a very classic beauty. Her figure couldn't compare to Kushida's or Hasebe's, but she was still in Kamio Tatsuya's strike zone.

Especially with her school swimsuit clinging to her body, which made her curves all the more apparent.

"Not bad, I guess."

Kamio Tatsuya squeezed as much water as he could out of his hair and answered casually.

"Are you not going to swim?"

"I just swam. It's only PE class, so there's no need to take it too seriously," Horikita Suzune said flatly.

Just then, the burly PE teacher spoke again.

"Looks like almost everyone can swim. In that case, let's have a competition. The boys and girls will compete separately. I'll give the winner five thousand Private Points, but anyone who fails to meet the required time will have to attend remedial lessons."

Hearing this, Horikita Suzune's expression changed at once.

She had no interest in ordinary swimming lessons, but she really wanted those five thousand points.

Ever since a certain someone had swindled her out of ninety thousand points, she'd been living on a tight budget.

Now that she had a chance to earn points, she thought she should take it.

"Don't tell me you're aiming for first place?"

Noticing the change in her expression, Kamio Tatsuya asked curiously.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Uh, I mean, are you good at swimming?"

"I wouldn't say I'm good, but I'm not bad, either."

"I see. Good luck."

Soon, the competition began. The students competed in groups of five.

Since there were only ten girls, they went first. Horikita Suzune was among the five in the first group.

At the whistle, the five girls jumped into the pool. Horikita was in the second lane. She took the lead right from the start and maintained it all the way to the finish, securing first place.

Her time was under twenty-eight seconds—more precisely, twenty-seven point one three seconds.

Kamio Tatsuya was stunned.

What the hell, that was national-athlete level. And she'd said she wasn't good at swimming? The World Record was only twenty-three point six one seconds.

But someone in the second group was even more impressive. A girl named Onodera Kayano reached the finish in less than twenty-seven seconds.

Horikita Suzune had narrowly lost and failed to take first place, which meant she didn't get the five thousand points.

A hint of regret showed on her face.

"That's too bad."

"Hmph. Just wait and see how you do."

Horikita Suzune snorted and said no more.

Then it was the boys' turn. Kamio Tatsuya was in the first group.

He'd never expected to come in first. For one thing, he didn't have the ability. For another, he had no plans to earn points.

After swimming, Kamio Tatsuya took nearly fifty seconds to reach the finish, making him the slowest in the first group. It took him twice as long as the first-place finisher, Sudo Ken.

Sudo had reached the finish in under twenty-five seconds.

But being the slowest in the first group didn't mean he was the slowest in the class. Yamauchi, in the second group, was even worse than Kamio Tatsuya.

Sudo's time was impressive for a student. Even Hirata, who came in first in the second group, was nearly a second slower.

But there was always someone better. Kouenji Rokosuke swam the 50m Freestyle in twenty-three point two two seconds in the third group, nearly making Kamio Tatsuya's jaw drop.

And judging by how effortlessly he'd done it, he didn't seem to have gone all out. Clearly, he'd only put in enough effort to take first place.

The Japanese record for the 50m Freestyle was only twenty-one point six seven seconds. Was this school full of monsters?

He could go straight into professional sports, couldn't he?

Unfortunately, Kouenji was the only son of the Koenji Zaibatsu. No matter what, he was destined to inherit the Koenji Zaibatsu, not become an athlete.

What surprised Kamio Tatsuya was that this guy had actually been willing to compete at full strength. Was he short on points?

It was possible. During the time Kamio Tatsuya had been suspended, he'd seen Kouenji out at restaurants with upperclassmen more than once in the shopping district.

But the person who left Kamio Tatsuya speechless was Ayanokoji Kiyonaka.

His time was around forty seconds. He'd placed tenth—not great, not terrible—and was obviously slacking off badly.

Come on, man. It really wasn't necessary.

Did he think he was Saiki Kusuo?

Afraid people would find out he had psychic powers?

Give me a break. I'm a transmigrator, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

But speaking of which, Class D really did have a lot of talented people. Leaving Kouenji aside, Sudo and Onodera could absolutely make the national team if they pursued sports seriously.

Kamio Tatsuya even felt that they were wasting their time by still being at school.

"Nearly a minute for a mere 50m Freestyle. I'm starting to wonder whether all those muscles of yours are just for show."

The moment the competition ended, Horikita Suzune hurried over to mock Kamio Tatsuya.

"Oh."

Kamio Tatsuya's indifferent response made Horikita Suzune feel as though her full-force punch had landed on a cushion.

"Actually, this was my first time swimming," Kamio Tatsuya added.

His first time swimming?

Horikita Suzune was speechless. Then she thought back to his movements. At first, during practice, he'd been awkward in quite a few ways.

But during the competition, he'd already corrected a lot of them.

Had he really learned in such a short time? And could he already swim better than some people?

Could someone really be that quick to learn?

Horikita Suzune was very skeptical.