Swimming Class

Advanced Nurturing High School truly lived up to its reputation for being well-funded; it even had a dedicated swimming facility located right next to the gymnasium where the club orientation was held.

Today was the day for everyone's swimming class.

Two weeks into the school year, the first week had been spent on the outdoor track and field, and the second in the indoor gymnasium. It was essentially a way to familiarize everyone with the various sports facilities on campus, check basic physical fitness, and allow for some free time after finishing the warm-ups.

Starting from the third week, however, everyone would be learning to swim in the pool.

In the boys' locker room, there was no sense of shyness among the guys as they hurried to change into their swim trunks.

Many were chatting and teasing each other about their muscles or flab.

Shirogane Taiga, a classmate, suddenly asked, "Satonaka, why are you already wearing your swimsuit underneath? And it's one of those with a top?"

Satoshi Satonaka, who was tying his long hair back while undressing, froze for a moment. "Well, I've never taken a swimming class before, so I didn't really know what to do. As for the swimsuit, I heard that wearing a top reduces drag..."

While everyone else had brought their trunks to change into, he seemed to have worn his swimsuit under his school uniform from the start, simply peeling off his outer layers.

"I didn't realize you were such an expert, man! How about a race later? Let's see if your gear actually makes you faster than me," Yoshida Kenta, a classmate, said as he slung an arm around his neck. The two seemed to be on quite good terms.

"Stop joking around. I don't even know how to swim! I just told you, this is my first time. I was always on medical leave back in middle school."

"Eh? A landlubber, huh? Then I'll have to train you into a first-class sailor!"

"Don't go overboard, Yoshida. You're too reckless; what if Satonaka drowns?" Shirogane Taiga pulled him away.

Shirogane Taiga, Yoshida Kenta, and Satoshi Satonaka were all standard handsome guys, and the three of them had a great relationship.

However, Shirogane Taiga was the cool, academic type, Yoshida Kenta was the athletic, sunny boy, and Satoshi Satonaka had an androgynous beauty.

If one were to compare them to other students, Yoshida was a bit like Shibata Sō from Class A, while Shirogane Taiga was like a male version of Masumi Kamuro.

They were all very handsome, though the girls in Class A weren't as fanatical as those in Class D, which made them seem less popular than Hirata.

"I originally wanted to sit out, but according to Katsuragi, sitting out might lower the school's evaluation. Plus, I wanted to learn how to swim, so I thought about it and decided to come. I ended up making a fool of myself because I had no experience," Satoshi Satonaka said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

"It's fine, we're all bros! You should've told me you couldn't swim; I would've brought you to practice earlier! The pool is open to students for free every night from 6 to 7."

As he spoke, Yoshida suddenly reached out and curiously pinched his arm, which was covered by the sleeves. "You look pretty thin, but I didn't expect you to be so lean."

"Stop it, it's embarrassing." Satoshi Satonaka acted a bit coy, instinctively trying to pull his arm back.

The boys arrived at the poolside in a cheerful atmosphere. The pool was a standard 50-meter facility with five lanes each for the 1.2-meter shallow end and the 2.2-meter deep end, separated by red and yellow buoy ropes.

Naturally, it took the girls longer to change, so the PE teacher had the boys wait by the poolside first.

Their swimming instructor was a devilish muscle-man who looked like he could compete in a beauty pageant. They say frequent swimming improves one's physique, and in his case, that certainly seemed to be true.

It wasn't long before the girls came out as well. The boys of Class A naturally didn't act like the monkeys from Class D; driven by the restlessness of adolescent boys, everyone just took a glance before looking away.

Class D had their swimming lesson earlier than Class A. Yuto had already heard Yuki's complaints about the Class D boys—they were actually discussing the breast sizes of the girls loudly outside the changing room, to the point where one had to wonder if they were planning to storm the girls' changing room.

The representatives of this behavior were, of course, Ike and Yamauchi.

Naturally, with the exception of social butterflies like Kushida Kikyo and swimming experts like Onodera, almost all the girls in Class D ended up as observers, and Yuki was no exception.

This left those boys deeply disappointed.

Meanwhile, on the Class A side—

"Hmm, only one person is taking leave? Well, that can't be helped; I've heard about your situation." The teacher looked toward the spectator stands. The only student from Class A taking leave—Arisu Sakayanagi—was sitting there gracefully, wearing her regular school uniform.

She raised her hand to signal everyone, looking apologetic, but given her physical condition, no one would blame her.

"Alright, let the teacher see how many of you don't know how to swim. Raise your hands!"

Including Satoshi Satonaka, only three people in total raised their hands.

After all, middle schools usually have swimming lessons, so it's rare to find people who still don't know how to swim by now.

"I'll teach you three separately in a bit. Don't worry, I'll make sure everyone learns to swim before summer break!

For now, everyone do some warm-up exercises, then get in the water to acclimate. Later, we'll hold a speed race; I want to see what kind of level you swimmers are at!"

"Eh? A race on the very first swimming lesson?"

Dissatisfied voices rose from the students.

"Don't be like that. How about this: the winners of the boys' and girls' groups will each receive a reward of 5,000 points from me!"

As soon as they heard there were points to be won, everyone became significantly more enthusiastic.

In the end, five of the fastest swimmers were selected from both the boys' and girls' sides to compete.

The winner of the girls' group was unexpected—it was Masumi Kamuro.

Second place went to Momoe Rokkaku, who was Satoshi Satonaka's childhood friend. The two of them were indeed often seen hanging out together, and since she had joined the dance club, it seemed her physical ability was truly excellent.

The two of them had basically left the other three behind by three or four body lengths; it was a total blowout.

As for the boys, the five selected to compete for first place, ranked from slowest to fastest, were—

Shirogane Taiga, Hashimoto Masayoshi, Amasawa Yuto, Yoshida Kenta, and Kito Hayato.

After the five were decided in the first round, during the brief rest before the final race began, Masumi Kamuro came over and sat down next to Amasawa Yuto.

She was wearing a simple black two-piece swimsuit, but her figure was excellent. She was already quite tall, and the fact that she had just taken first place in the girls' group was a testament to her superior physical ability.

"Are you here to cheer me on, Kamuro?"

"Who would ever cheer for someone like you! It would be better if you and Sakayanagi drowned just like the plot of the Titanic!"

It would be great if she could tone down that look of disgust, as if she were staring at a bug.

"Don't say such ominous things." Thinking about the upcoming cruise and the uninhabited island, Amasawa Yuto felt a bit helpless.

Kamuro was likely just speaking off the cuff. She stared at Yuto's upper body. "I didn't expect you to swim so fast. It didn't look like you were going all out just now. You could swim even faster, couldn't you?"

"What? That wasn't even his fastest?" Hashimoto leaned in as well. His eyes were narrow and long, darting around restlessly. To put it nicely, he looked sharp and meticulous; to put it bluntly, he looked like a double agent.

"I gave it my all just now and still couldn't catch up to Amasawa..." He looked a bit dejected.

"Your upper arm muscles are quite well-developed, and you have abs, too. Do you do any sports?" Kamuro suddenly reached out and touched Amasawa's biceps. "Don't get the wrong idea, it's just that Sakayanagi told me I could observe you more."

"I usually practice a bit of calligraphy and piano."

Kamuro looked like she didn't believe him at all. "...Are you messing with me? Are you carrying the piano while practicing calligraphy?"