Koenji Thrown Away Like a Stone

"A camera? Damn, the heavens have finally opened their eyes!" Shangguan Che stared at the new item popped up by his Daily Draw, nearly slapping the table in excitement. "As expected, my status as a lucky dog can't be hidden forever!"

He stroked the black camera in his hands, thinking of the photo session he'd promised Sakura, his mouth stretching almost to his ears.

The two had agreed to meet on the club floor where there wasn't much activity, and Shangguan Che arrived 20 minutes early.

It started as a habit of being early, but as he stood in the hallway waiting, a sudden thought struck him: "Since I'm already here, why not activate Clairvoyance and watch Sakura's entire journey from her dorm?"

No sooner said than done, Shangguan Che activated the skill to peek at Sakura's dorm, only to find it completely empty.

"Not in the dorm? Then I'll just wait by the first-floor elevator." Just as he shifted his gaze, soft footsteps sounded behind him.

"Sorry, I'm late." Sakura was clutching her camera bag, breathing slightly, her bangs a bit messy.

Shangguan Che hurriedly retracted his long-distance gaze and waved his hand with a smile: "Not at all, I just got here way too early."

Although he hadn't seen the whole trip, seeing her in person a bit earlier wasn't bad either. He looked Sakura over—wearing black-rimmed glasses, bangs covering half her face, and dressed in her usual loose school uniform; she was plain, yet very pleasant to look at.

Looks like I need to keep the photos normal today, don't want to scare her off, Shangguan Che decided in his heart.

Over the next two days, Shangguan Che's life was completely filled with taking photos, chatting with Sakura about photography, secretly slacking off with Clairvoyance, and scrolling through his phone.

His only discovery was seeing Ichinose appearing frequently in the Student Council office, which made him mutter to himself: "Could it be that Ichinose joined the Student Council?"

Once he got home that night, Shangguan Che immediately sent a message: "Ichinose-san, did you join the Student Council?"

Not long after, Ichinose replied: "I did, but it was Vice President Nagumo who pulled me in. It's nothing special, really."

Looking at the screen, Shangguan Che couldn't help but retort: Why does this sound like someone taking a backdoor route and then telling the people who failed, 'I'm no different from you'?

He replied: "That's still super impressive! I've seen Nagumo-senpai at the Soccer Club, and he didn't even spare me a glance."

After sending the message, a ridiculous thought suddenly popped into Shangguan Che's head: Could Nagumo-senpai be jealous of my soccer skills? No, no, he looks quite kind, I must be overthinking it.

"Shangguan-kun is also very good," Ichinose replied.

"Not at all, Ichinose-san is clearly much more outstanding than me." Shangguan Che seized every opportunity to compliment her, telling himself endlessly that he needed to be thick-skinned.

"No, Shangguan-kun is actually also..." Before Ichinose's message was finished, Shangguan Che's phone suddenly popped up with countless messages from the boys' group chat. Ignoring them, Shangguan Che continued to praise Ichinose.

On the new week, as soon as Shangguan Che entered the classroom, he felt the atmosphere was off—the boys in the class were sitting unusually close, whispering to each other, their eyes darting toward the girls from time to time.

He remembered the message bombardment in the boys' group chat last night and instantly understood: "Oh, there's a swimming class today. These guys are discussing which girl has the biggest 'front armor'."

Shangguan Che rolled his eyes, feeling speechless: Although the girls in this world have great looks and figures, isn't the lecherous nature of these boys a bit too exaggerated? Logically, shouldn't boys care more about their reputation? Is it appropriate to talk about this so blatantly in class?

Sure enough, the girls noticed the boys' discussion and cast looks of disgust and contempt. Shangguan Che nodded: "See? My values are the normal ones."

When they reached the swimming pool, Shangguan Che looked at the instructions on the wall and was completely dumbfounded: "No way, does the school really require students to swim? I'd heard rumors, but I didn't think it was real."

What made him break down even more was: "I'm a total landlubber myself!"

He stared at the note saying "Non-swimmers may join the observation group" and let out a sigh of relief, then glanced at Blue Climbing in his skill bar and couldn't help but grumble: "This skill is so useless, it can't be used at school at all! Wait, climbing? I remember in the novels I used to read, the first stage of a knight's training was rock climbing. Am I going to be cultivating immortality in the city?"

After thinking for a long time, Shangguan Che decided: "Forget it, I'll just be an honest landlubber. Observation group, here I come!"

He followed the crowd toward the observation area, muttering: "Is the observation group on the second floor? Why are there so many people? It feels like half the class is here. Are they all just too lazy to move?"

Standing by the second-floor railing, Shangguan Che looked down at his classmates who had changed into their swimsuits on the first floor—because of his nearsightedness, and the fact that Clairvoyance didn't have a "yellow filter," he stared for a long time without seeing anything special.

"The pool is about the same as on TV. Surely no one would do their business in there, right? We're all high schoolers, it shouldn't be that ridiculous."

Shangguan Che watched for a while and felt bored, wanting to find someone to talk to, but looking around, he didn't recognize many people. He habitually reached into his pocket for his phone, only to remember he'd left it in his locker before entering the pool.

"Shangguan-kun, your phone is outside." A gentle voice came; Sakura was standing next to him, holding a towel.

"Oh, it's you, Sakura." Shangguan Che scratched his head. "It was just a reflex. Thanks for saving me; it would've been too awkward standing here alone." He felt that saying "breaking the awkwardness" sounded better than "creating the awkwardness."

Seeing Sakura lower her head again, her bangs covering her eyes, Shangguan Che had to take the initiative to start a topic: "Did you never have a chance to learn to swim, Sakura-san?"

"Um, I rarely go to crowded places," Sakura said softly.

"I just never found the right opportunity to learn," Shangguan Che chimed in, then asked curiously, "By the way, can you swim? Just asking, it's fine if you don't want to say."

He calculated in his heart: People in the observation group either can't swim or don't want to. Sakura said she didn't have the chance to learn, but she didn't say she couldn't. Asking never hurts.

"I can't," Sakura shook her head.

Shangguan Che had a flash of inspiration and suggested: "How about we have a competition to see who learns to swim first? The loser has to fulfill a request that both parties agree to. Of course, we can also just compete for fun."

Sakura hesitated: "This..."

"Forget it if you don't want to. I was just saying it off the cuff," Shangguan Che quickly smoothed things over.

"It's fine. As long as it's a request both parties agree to, we can compete," Sakura looked up, her eyes very serious.

"Then thanks for indulging my whim, Sakura!" Shangguan Che said with a smile, though he was pondering: If either Sakura or I drop out, we won't be able to spend all three years of high school together. I have to help her avoid the trap of dropping out. The reasons for dropping out are nothing more than failing grades or serious violations of school rules. Let me ask about her studies first.

He cleared his throat: "Sakura, how are your grades? Just curious, since we have a competition, I want to know my opponent's 'strength'~ I can tell you mine too."

"My grades... they're just so-so," Sakura said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"I'm about the same. If I don't work hard, I can't keep up with the others at all," Shangguan Che said the honest truth.

His heart skipped a beat: Sakura's grades aren't great? Then she's very likely to drop out due to failing grades. I have to find a way to help her.

Should I say 'I'll teach you'? Too much like a confession. Say 'I don't want a classmate to drop out, let's study together'? Too fake, like Hirata. Say 'I'll only teach you'? Seems like I'm looking down on her. Say 'Let's tutor each other'? Would that be too deliberate?

Shangguan Che struggled for a long time, then suddenly realized: I'm already eating with her, what's there to worry about regarding studying together? I'll just say it!

Just then, Sakura pointed downstairs and said, "Look, Shangguan Che, the class is holding a swimming competition."

"Huh? Oh, is that so?" Shangguan Che had just regained his focus when he heard Sakura ask, "What were you talking about when you said 'No, that method is too lousy' just now?"

"It's nothing, nothing at all, I was just spacing out," Shangguan Che quickly deflected, "Is our class splitting the competition by gender?"

"Yeah, the boys and girls are competing separately," Sakura nodded.

The two leaned against the railing to watch the race, and as they saw Kōenji Rokusuke swimming as fast as a fish, Sakura couldn't help but say, "Kōenji is swimming so fast."

"Yeah, he's like the stone I used to skip across the water, bouncing right along the surface," Shangguan Che blurted out, only realizing it sounded wrong after he said it, "Ah, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant he's very agile."

Sakura was amused, her eyes curving into crescent moons.

The race ended, with Kōenji Rokusuke taking first place in the boys' group and Onodera Kayano taking first in the girls' group.

Shangguan Che took a deep breath and gathered his courage to say, "Sakura, it seems like academic grades affect class points, so why don't we organize a study group to study together?"

"Study? Sure, thank you, Shangguan Che." Sakura nodded with a smile.

"Don't mention it," Shangguan Che felt a sense of relief, "Anyway, it's just the two of us for now, but if I can help Sakura make some good friends later, it would be great to have more people."

After the swimming class ended, Shangguan Che made plans with Sakura to go to the library to study together, feeling delighted: "Today I not only resolved the awkwardness of the swimming class, but I also got the study group with Sakura off the ground—it's simply perfect!"