Swimming Class

"Can Gojo-kun swim?"

Walking toward the pool, Ayanokoji, keeping pace beside Gojo Satoru, voiced a question.

"A little bit. You?"

Without much thought, he answered directly.

"Same here, but it's been a long time since I last swam."

"Why aren't you changing? Didn't you say you can swim?"

Inside the pool area, Ayanokoji, already in his swim trunks, looked at Gojo Satoru still in his school uniform with some confusion.

"Didn't the teacher ask earlier? Students who aren't feeling well can skip swimming class and just sit on the sidelines."

Gojo Satoru explained with a smile.

Ayanokoji could hardly believe it. The Gojo Satoru before him was clearly full of energy—nothing about him looked weak.

"You're not feeling well?!"

"Of course not. I just don't feel like participating."

With that, he walked toward the spectator seats.

"..."

Faced with this contradictory explanation, Ayanokoji felt his fists clench!

Sitting in the stands, ignoring the laughter and splashing in the pool, he turned his head toward the glass pane in the upper left corner.

Through the glass and then through the one-way curtain, he sensed the two people behind it.

'Tachibana-senpai and Horikita Manabu?'

Why would a meeting room be set up right next to a swimming pool?

"He noticed?"

Seeing Gojo Satoru turn his face in their direction, Horikita Manabu was taken aback.

'Even more special than I imagined.'

Standing beside him, watching Horikita Manabu, Tachibana Akane looked puzzled.

"Why does the Student Council President pay so much attention to a Class D student? Someone who received an invitation from the Student Council yet didn't appreciate it isn't worth bothering with. It's just rude."

"You wouldn't understand. If anything, it would be unexpected if he had accepted the invitation."

After a moment of thought, he added with a sigh.

"I used to think I was a genius too, until I met him. That's when I understood what a true genius really is.

The gap isn't something you can close with hard work. We might spend our whole lives and never reach the height he's already at!"

Hearing her admired president make such a remark, Tachibana Akane was utterly incredulous. She knew he had no reason to lie to her, but her impression of Gojo Satoru was simply too poor.

"But he looks like a lunatic?"

"All geniuses are lunatics!"

As he spoke, he walked out of the meeting room, a hint of worry in his heart.

'I hope Suzune can handle the blow.'

"What are you thinking about, Gojo-kun?"

Sakura Airi, pulling Hasebe Haruka along, sat down beside Gojo Satoru. Seeing him still looking up, she asked with a blush.

"Nothing. Just spacing out from boredom."

Snapping back to reality, Gojo Satoru turned his head toward Sakura Airi and answered calmly.

Then he shifted his gaze to Hasebe Haruka, who was seated one spot away past Sakura Airi, and asked curiously.

"Your friend?"

Hearing this, Sakura Airi excitedly explained.

"Mm-hmm! Her name is Hasebe Haruka. Because of what happened this morning, both Haruka and I got talked about.

Then Haruka found me during lunch break. After talking, we realized we were both alone, so we became good friends!"

'They've known each other less than half a day and they're already on a first-name basis? Girls' friendships are really strange.'

"Then congratulations!

Hasebe-san, I'm entrusting Airi-chan to you. You'd better treat her well!"

Hearing Gojo Satoru say these things in that odd tone, as if Sakura were his child, Sakura was utterly shocked.

"Huh?! Huh?!"

"I will, so please rest assured and leave it to me!"

Hasebe Haruka replied with full cooperation, her face deadly serious, like a fine man receiving a daughter from her father's hands.

"Huh?! Kaka, how can you be like this too!"

Sakura Airi's face flushed bright red as she looked at the two of them.

"Hahaha~"

"Hahahaha~"

The serious expression shattered instantly, and both of them burst out laughing.

"Satoru-chan, you're so fun! I thought you'd be hard to get along with."

"Satoru-chan?"

Hearing that familiar address, Gojo Satoru was a bit bewildered.

Seeing his confusion, Airi quickly explained, "Actually, it's Kaka's special quirk—she likes giving nicknames to her friends."

'Did you two just meet or what?'

"So that means you consider me a friend?"

He put his smile back on and asked Hasebe.

"Mm-hmm, because Satoru-chan looked really cool this morning! I almost fell for you."

"Mm-hmm, Gojo-kun was indeed very cool this morning."

Sakura Airi nodded in agreement from the side.

"Huh? So you're saying I'm not cool usually? How sad!"

Watching Gojo Satoru's pitiful expression, neither of them knew how to retort, but they both thought clearly:

'This guy can't be praised—he gets too full of himself!'

"By the way, Satoru-chan, why don't you go to swimming class?"

Hasebe asked, puzzled.

"Because the blindfold is too inconvenient—it gets soaked easily."

"Why not just take it off?"

"Don't sweat the small stuff, okay? So why aren't you two going?"

Hearing Gojo Satoru change the subject, they simply assumed there was something unsightly under the blindfold—like scars, maybe—and didn't press further.

"Because those guys' stares are so lewd. Even in our uniforms, they sneak peeks all the time. I can't imagine how bad it'd be if we wore swimsuits."

Hasebe said indignantly.

"But I'm a guy too, you know?"

Gojo Satoru pointed at himself and grinned.

"Huh? Satoru-chan's different—you're special. With that blindfold on, no one can tell where you're looking."

"Boo-hoo... So you're saying I'm a weirdo?"

Watching Gojo Satoru squat on the floor drawing circles with his finger, Hasebe Haruka was both shocked and exasperated.

'Why do I feel like I'm babysitting?!'

Meanwhile, Sakura Airi, unable to get a word in, watched the two "enjoying" their chat and felt a pang of regret.

Was she just extra baggage here?

"Good afternoon, Horikita-senpai!

Huh? That sounds a bit weird, doesn't it? Was that 'Horikita, senpai' or 'Horikita-sen, pai'?

How about next time I just call you 'Sen-senpai'? What do you think?"

Pushing open the Student Council door without minding the others inside, he grinned and cracked a joke at Horikita Manabu.

Hearing this, Tachibana Akane couldn't sit still. She pointed at Gojo Satoru and snapped, "Don't you get cheeky with me! This is the Student Council! As a student, you barge in without knocking and even make fun of the president!..."

Facing Tachibana, who looked ready to keep going, Horikita Manabu raised a hand to cut her off. "It's fine. I don't mind."

"Good afternoon, Gojo-kun. Call me whatever you like."

But standing off to the side, Asahina Nazuna and Kiriyama Ikuto couldn't quite keep their composure.

In their eyes, the utterly solemn president would actually indulge a student joking around with him, even picking up the joke and greeting back.

Kiriyama stared in disbelief at the grinning Gojo Satoru, wanting to make him adopt a proper attitude, but since the president himself said nothing, he couldn't very well act on his own.

Paying no heed to anyone else's opinions, he walked straight over to the sofa and sat down, crossing his legs and asking with comfortable ease, "Then I'll just call you Xiaoxue from now on!

Hey, Xiaoxue, this sofa is really comfortable. Can you get one for my dorm? I'll pay double the points."

Seeing his arrogant demeanor, Kiriyama couldn't hold back any longer and shouted angrily, "Show some respect! This isn't a place for your nonsense!"