But Kageya Shinjitsu's interaction with Kushida Kikyo nearby had left Kanji Ike furious, his face turning red with rage.
His jealousy was rising fast.
"Ahhh, damn it."
One of the four idiots couldn't take it anymore.
You could feel it from a long way off.
"What's wrong with them?"
Kushida Kikyo followed Kageya Shinjitsu's hand with a surprised look.
They'd been talking about Ken Sudō, but why were the others so worked up?
"Maybe they were comparing sizes and got embarrassed."
Kageya Shinjitsu knew the truth, but didn't want to explain, so he answered casually.
He didn't care whether he annoyed Kushida Kikyo.
She'd served her purpose. She could leave now.
Besides, he'd already paid her. Even he couldn't stand being fondled like this for no reason.
"Comparing sizes?"
Kushida Kikyo looked surprised.
She gazed at him innocently.
"You mean muscles?"
"Oh, I see. You guys care about that, too."
"So guys with big muscles attract other guys, huh?"
Kushida Kikyo looked as if she'd just learned another useless fact.
But Kageya Shinjitsu really wanted to remind her.
Did she want to think about what she was saying?
He still didn't say anything. Compared to what he was about to tell her, muscles were easier for people to accept.
Kushida Kikyo stayed by his side, like they were close friends.
The swimming teacher didn't keep them waiting long. He was a muscular middle-aged man.
As soon as he arrived, he enthusiastically called the students over to line up.
"All right, everyone, gather around."
"Sixteen people are absent? That's a lot."
"Never mind."
The teacher seemed a little displeased that so many students had skipped class, but he kindly let it go.
That only strengthened Kageya Shinjitsu's resolve to skip the next lesson.
"I'll get straight to the point. I'll lead you through some warm-up exercises, then you'll swim, and I'll see how good you are."
Swimming class was, naturally, about learning to swim.
"Um, teacher, I'm not very good at swimming..."
One student said he was hopeless.
But the teacher didn't mind at all.
"Don't worry. Since I'm teaching you, I'll make sure you can swim before summer."
"You don't have to force me to learn. I'm not going to the beach anyway."
"That won't do. It doesn't matter if you're bad at it now. I'll help you overcome that."
"Once you learn to swim, it'll definitely come in handy someday. Definitely..."
The muscular teacher explained.
He was much more straightforward than their homeroom teacher.
It'll definitely come in handy?
Kageya Shinjitsu, slacking off to one side, caught that useful bit of information.
If a teacher at this school said so, there had to be a reason.
After the teacher finished talking, the students didn't dare refuse or complain. They followed his instructions.
They dutifully warmed up, then learned things like treading water.
The students who were ready to compete were gathered together.
"Looks like everyone has a little confidence."
"Let's have a race next: fifty-meter freestyle, separately for boys and girls."
"I'll give the winner five thousand points."
"Of course, there's a penalty for losing, too. The slowest swimmer will have to attend extra lessons, so be prepared."
The teacher's announcement caught everyone's attention. Kanji Ike and the others, who'd been sneaking glances at the girls, snapped out of it.
Then they got excited about the swimming race.
Ike was clearly confident about his swimming. He kept bragging with Yamauchi Haruki and the others, and the two of them nearly got into a fight over it.
"Five thousand points? It's not much, but I spent too much this month, so an extra five thousand would be nice..."
"Five thousand points is better than nothing."
"Teacher, this'll be easy. Back in middle school, they called me the nimble flying fish."
The students' attention had successfully been drawn by the points.
Many of them had already decided those five thousand points were theirs.
"There aren't many girls, so we'll split you into two groups of five. The fastest time wins."
"For the boys, the five fastest swimmers will compete in the final."
The teacher didn't pay them much mind. He simply announced the competition.
"Five thousand points."
Kageya Shinjitsu glanced at Kanji Ike and the others.
It wasn't much, but he wasn't about to pass up even a few points.
Swimming was one of his strengths, too.
He remembered that he'd first learned to swim because of some girl.
Who was she again? He'd almost forgotten.
He usually didn't have a chance to show off, so he couldn't be bothered. But now that there was a reason, he'd do it.
Playing dumb to catch people off guard depended on the situation. If you played dumb all the time, you might actually become an idiot one day.
He only refrained from showing off because he loved proving people wrong, but didn't like bullying others without cause.
Now Kageya Shinjitsu wanted to see the look on Kanji Ike and the others' faces when they wanted to beat him to death but couldn't.
Whenever he saw people like that, he got excited. Even watching the girls swim had lost its appeal.
The girls went first. The boys sat by the pool, cheering them on with great enthusiasm.
The looks in their eyes made the girls uncomfortable.
Kushida Kikyo, the class's popular angel, drew the most attention.
[new novel, new chapter, first update. It's a niche genre, so everyone's support will decide how the numbers look. If the response is decent, I'll finish it. If you like it, please support me with comments, subscriptions, flowers, tips, favorites, and monthly votes.]
### Thirty-Fourth Chapter: The Swimming Race—Good Men Fear Persistent Women
Kanji Ike and the others' shouts echoed through the swimming pool.
"Kushida-chan! Kushida-chan! Kushida-chan! Kushida-chan! Kushida-chan..."
It wasn't just because Kushida Kikyo was popular. They rarely got to see the girls in swimsuits, and her ample assets stirred up Kanji Ike, Yamauchi Haruki, and the others even more. Their voices rang out without letting up.
They kept cheering.
The girls in their class competed in the pool like a group of mermaids, swimming for first place.
Unfortunately, Kushida Kikyo didn't gain an advantage.
Her stamina was only average to begin with. With the boys cheering her on like that, she wanted to give up, but given the circumstances, she finished the race.
The five thousand points were completely out of her reach. In the end, a girl named Onodera won the prize.
Apparently, she was on the swim team and won by a full twenty-six seconds.
Kushida Kikyo came in fourth—not because she was good, but because the others were worse.
The girls' race ended, and the boys' began. It was like a contest to decide the monkey king.
They went wild, eager to show off in front of the girls. Maybe if they did well, they could compete for the right to date someone at this school.
Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike fell behind right away. They were nowhere near as good as they'd claimed to be. Meanwhile, the red-haired delinquent named Sudō clocked twenty-five seconds, beating even the top girl.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka seemed to have plenty of strength left, but he was getting slower and slower.
"What's going on?"
Kageya Shinjitsu could tell something was off about him.
Even when he'd been with Kanji Ike and the others earlier, Ayanokouji had seemed unusually calm.
Now it was clear he had plenty of stamina, too.
"Koenji and Sudō are both really fast. You're up next, Kageya. I have a feeling you'll be fast, too."
As Kageya Shinjitsu wondered how capable Ayanokouji Kiyotaka really was and whether he was putting on an act, Kushida Kikyo quietly came over and sat beside him. She started chatting as if they were old friends.
She even poked his muscles, clearly interested. She'd been like this ever since earlier, and now that she was doing it again, he wondered whether she was using him as a shield.
Kageya Shinjitsu could see the boys' murderous glares.
He hadn't even cheered for Kushida-chan, yet she'd come over to him.
Kanji Ike and the others looked ready to kill him.
Koenji Rokusuke was up next. The monster swam the course in 23.22 seconds.
The girls let out a chorus of surprised laughs, as if they'd found something to tease him about.
After all, Sudō Ken had swum it in twenty-five seconds, and the teacher had already invited him to train for competitions—though Sudō Ken had later turned him down with a boastful air.
"He's fast."
Kageya Shinjitsu wanted to tell the overly familiar Kushida Kikyo not to call a guy fast so casually.
But seeing the innocent look in her eyes, as if she had no other thoughts, he gave up.
He'd heard of a good woman fearing a persistent man, but never a good man fearing a persistent woman.
Even that popular guy Hirata seemed to have given up on him a little.
But this woman was still just as enthusiastic.
A thousand thoughts ran through his mind. When the teacher called him over, he left Kushida Kikyo with a few words, then headed off as she cheered him on.
"My turn."
"Do your best, Kageya!"
He could still picture the admiring, intrigued look Kushida Kikyo had given him at the end, along with her cute little cheer.
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