This body, which I'd been born with, really did conceal an astonishing athletic talent.
"That Sato-bucho... seems to think very highly of you."
On the way back to the classroom, Karuizawa Kei suddenly broke the silence.
Shimizu Akira shrugged. "He's just after this healthy body of mine."
Karuizawa Kei suddenly stopped walking.
At that moment, she realized she wasn't all that different from the boisterous Boxing Club president.
"I feel a little bad asking you to talk to the president for me... haha."
Karuizawa Kei tried to hide her embarrassment behind a lighthearted laugh.
Shimizu Akira spread his hands. "After all, you don't get 80,000 points for nothing."
"By the way—why did you protect Sakura just now? Don't tell me... she signed some secret agreement with you too?"
"No, nothing like that."
"Huh? No? That's so unfair! I actually paid you 80,000 points!"
"You didn't pay for exclusive protection."
Karuizawa Kei pursed her lips in displeasure, but Shimizu Akira only gave her a nonchalant glance and acted as if he hadn't heard.
—She had paid for his protection, but there was nothing saying he could only protect her.
By the time swimming class rolled around that afternoon, the students were heading to their respective changing rooms.
That was when Shimizu Akira noticed what was unusual about swimming classes at Japanese high schools—
The girls wore proper one-piece swimsuits, while the boys only had to put on a pair of athletic shorts.
It was practically a public execution for anyone's physique.
Watching a few skinny boys awkwardly clutch their arms, Shimizu Akira couldn't help shaking his head. In a situation like this, the out-of-shape boys were probably a hundred times more embarrassed than the girls in their swimsuits.
Personally, though, being bare-chested wasn't a big deal.
Inside the changing room, Shimizu Akira was standing there with his upper body bare when he noticed that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had an unexpectedly impressive physique too.
His muscles were evenly defined, each one forming a perfect, streamlined contour.
His lean build surpassed even Hirata Yosuke's sturdiness and Ken Sudō's bulk, displaying a restrained yet extreme beauty of strength.
In the whole class, perhaps only Kouenji Rokusuke, with his near-perfect physique, and Shimizu Akira himself could compare.
The boys around them couldn't help being drawn to the three of them. Some instinctively felt their own skinny stomachs; others unconsciously straightened their backs.
Aside from silently comparing certain unmentionable measurements, men also waged a wordless battle over their muscles.
"Shimizu, Ayanokouji, how did you get bodies like that?!" Kanji Ike suddenly came over, his eyes shining with a mix of envy and suspicion.
Shimizu Akira folded his arms and answered with a straight face. "It's easy. One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten-kilometer run every day. And no matter how hot it gets, never turn on the air conditioner."
Ayanokouji remained expressionless, his tone as flat as if he were talking about the weather. "Nothing special. I just inherited my parents' physiques."
"Hey, you two!" Kanji Ike's mouth twitched as he blurted out, "One of you has obviously been reading too much manga and is making stuff up, and the other can't even be bothered to come up with an excuse! Who do you think you're fooling with answers like that?!"
The boys around them couldn't help laughing, but their eyes lingered on those two near-perfect physiques for a few extra seconds all the same. No matter how they tried to hide it, they couldn't conceal their envy and jealousy.
Not long after the boys arrived at the pool, the girls began to appear at the changing room entrance in small groups.
Unexpectedly, though, several girls, including Hasebe Haruka and Sakura Airi, didn't head straight to the pool. Instead, they appeared on the second-floor viewing platform.
The boys hadn't even had time to feel disappointed at Hasebe's absence when a commotion broke out at the pool entrance the next moment—Kushida Kikyou had arrived.
She walked in lightly, the sunlight reflecting off the water and tracing the perfect curves of her figure.
Her pale thighs swayed gently with each step, and the swimsuit accentuated her rounded hips. The impressive curve of her chest made the boys hold their breath as one.
"Whoa!"
"That's incredible!"
Exclamations erupted from the boys, one after another.
Shimizu Akira couldn't help stealing several glances at her before finally looking away.
(I have to admit, Kushida Kikyou has an amazing figure.)
Kushida Kikyou Versus the Gold Diggers? Not Even Close
In Class D, Kushida Kikyou might not have been the most beautiful or the most curvaceous girl.
But she had a unique charm—the delicate air between girlish innocence and feminine allure made her the girl everyone in class agreed was the sexiest.
When she talked to boys, her unguarded innocence—the slight tilt of her head, her naturally bright smile—was more captivating than any deliberate flirtation.
She didn't even have to pose. She simply showed off her youthful curves with confidence, and her effortless sensuality made the boys in Class D think as one:
—Kushida really was unfairly charming.
Shimizu Akira sat on the edge of the pool, silently watching Kushida Kikyou surrounded by boys as if she were the center of attention.
She was running her fingers through her damp hair. Droplets of water trickled down her neck into the hollow of her collarbone, prompting a restrained stir among the boys around her.
(She's quite the practiced performer...)
He remembered how, at the start of the school year, Yamauchi Haruki and the others had followed Hasebe Haruka around like puppies. Now they were all devoted followers of Kushida.
This seemingly sunny, cheerful girl was clearly much shrewder than she appeared. She knew how to keep boys circling around her with coy glances and well-timed physical contact.
Shimizu Akira narrowed his eyes, and his memories suddenly flashed back to his university days.
Weren't the girls in the neighboring major who were good at "keeping fish in a pond" just like this? His roommate had been wrapped around their fingers, even cutting back on his food to buy them presents.
Kushida Kikyou was clearly nothing like the so-called "gold diggers"—at least, as far as Shimizu Akira knew, she had never accepted gifts or points from any of her male classmates.
Quite the opposite. She often bought snacks with her own money and enthusiastically handed them out to the class.
She was determined to be friends with everyone.
If she were really the calculating sort, she would only bother with rich boys from well-off families.
What Kushida Kikyou truly wanted was the attention of her classmates. She longed to be looked at with admiration and respect.
Shimizu Akira remembered once seeing Kushida crouched in a corner of the classroom, patiently teaching Wang Meiyu, who was a little shy, how to fold an origami crane.
The light in her eyes then had seemed far more genuine than when she was surrounded by boys now.
Ultimately, all she craved was sincere attention and approval from others. That vanity, so common in adolescence, actually struck Shimizu Akira as rather cute.
Compared to those materialistic gold diggers, Kushida's little schemes were as innocent as a scene from a school drama.
She was clearly nowhere near as skilled.
Next, Horikita Suzune walked over with brisk steps.
She wasn't as voluptuous as Kushida Kikyou, but the fabric clinging to her skin clearly outlined her graceful figure: a slender but not frail waist, a well-proportioned bust, and toned legs shaped by regular exercise.
Shimizu Akira's gaze lingered on Horikita Suzune for a few seconds too.
After all, he'd learned her measurements through the intelligence system on the second day of school: 79/54/79.
He still couldn't understand why Yamauchi Haruki always described her as "flat."
She clearly had a well-proportioned physique shaped by rigorous training. Every curve was just right, retaining a girl's slenderness while hinting at a quiet strength.
As he pondered this, Horikita walked straight toward him.
Her sharp gaze swept over his well-defined upper body without hesitation. Her cool eyes narrowed slightly, carrying the air of an expert assessment.
"Your muscles are well-defined," she said bluntly. "What kind of training do you do?"
"Just the basics." Shimizu Akira repeated the exact same answer he'd given earlier. "One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten-kilometer run every day."
Horikita's eyebrow lifted almost imperceptibly. "I wouldn't have guessed you were so hard on yourself."
"It's just the minimum required to keep my body functioning." He rolled his shoulder. "Moderate exercise keeps your body and mind in peak condition."
"Is that so?" Horikita's gaze lingered on his tensed back muscles. "I don't train as much as you do. I just go for a morning run and do some basic conditioning every day."
Shimizu Akira noticed how the girl unconsciously straightened her back as she spoke. "Horikita, you take good care of your physique. Your fitness must be the best among the girls in our class."
At that, she narrowed her eyes slightly. "Oh? And what's the basis for that conclusion... have you carefully assessed the 'physical fitness' of every girl in class? That doesn't seem to fit your usual image."
Shimizu Akira shrugged, a candid smile tugging at his lips. "I'm a healthy teenage boy, after all. I have a little natural curiosity, too. It's perfectly normal for boys and girls our age to be curious about each other's bodies."
"By the way, what kind of image have you given me in your mind?" He caught the odd implication in her words and asked in return.
Horikita Suzune turned her face slightly. "...You just remind me of someone."
"Wait." Shimizu Akira had a bold guess. "Are you comparing me to your brother?"
The girl's shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly.
That reaction confirmed Shimizu Akira's guess. Considering Horikita Suzune's relationships with other people, there was no one else she would compare him to besides her older brother.
"Horikita," he said, taking half a step back, a helpless smile in his voice. "I didn't realize you thought so highly of me."
Horikita Manabu was the leader of Class 3-A, and the Student Council president at the very top of the school.
He could practically be called the number-one student in the school.
He was also a genius praised by every teacher as "the finest Student Council president since the school was founded"—without exception.
Shimizu Akira had never imagined that Horikita Suzune would put him on the same level as her brother.
Horikita Suzune's eyes suddenly turned cold. "...Don't flatter yourself!"
Before she had even finished speaking, her right hand came slashing down like a blade—but it was intercepted in midair.
Shimizu Akira had somehow already caught her wrist, his fingertip resting right on her pulse. He could clearly feel her heartbeat speeding up.
"If we're discussing something, let's just discuss it." Shimizu Akira slowly tightened his fingers. "Why the sneak attack? I'd say this counts as self-defense."
The movement suddenly brought them close enough that Horikita could feel his steady breathing. The realization made her yank her hand back. He simply waved his hand, his expression as calm as ever.
Kushida Kikyou: You Bitch, Just Die Already!
Shimizu Akira paid little attention to Horikita Suzune, who was deliberately keeping her distance from him.
What he'd just said had clearly touched a nerve.
—That was what happened when someone was obsessed with her brother.
Man, it was hot today.
The sunlight baked the tiles around the pool. Even his butt could feel how scorching they were.
Shimizu Akira wiped the sweat continually beading on his forehead.
(This heat is unbearable... I need to find somewhere cool.)
His gaze drifted toward the shimmering pool.
Thanks to the school's temperature-control system, the pool stayed at a pleasant temperature. It never got too hot under the blazing sun or too cold in the shade.
A few impatient students had already jumped into the water, their cheerful shouts echoing across the pool.
While they waited for the P.E. teacher to show up, most of the class continued chatting in small groups by the pool.
"I should jump in and cool off."
Shimizu Akira looked around and fixed his gaze on the third lane, which no one was using.
On the other side of the pool, Kushida Kikyou deliberately left the others and slowly approached Horikita Suzune, who was standing by herself.
"Horikita, where did Shimizu go?"
"Is something wrong with your eyes? Can't you tell boys and girls apart?"
"Hehe, it's just that you two are always together~" Kushida's smile didn't falter. "By the way, how good are you at swimming, Horikita?"
"...Good enough to get by." Horikita answered curtly, her tone distant.
"When I was in middle school, my swimming grades were always bad, but I improved after training hard." Kushida Kikyou spoke softly, gazing thoughtfully at the pool.
"If you want compliments, go ask someone else," Horikita replied coolly.
Before you continue