The Competition

Time flew by.

It was Suzuki Tsubame's second week here.

"Hey, hey! Swimming class is this afternoon! We're in for a real treat!"

Yamauchi was beside himself with excitement as he shared the news with Ersha.

"Come to think of it, we'll get to see this afternoon. Little Kikyo's probably the biggest, right?"

As Kanji Ike spoke, his hands kept making gestures. He couldn't have looked sleazier.

"I wouldn't be so sure. I think Hasebe's the biggest in our class."

Yamauchi spoke as if he were an authority on the subject.

"I think..."

The topic drew in plenty of boys who shared their interests. Even Ayanokoji joined them.

"What do you think, Ayanokoji?"

Yamauchi threw the question to Ayanokoji. Kuroya Keisaku really did have a knack for this, didn't he? Ayanokoji was stumped on the spot.

"Uh... I don't really know about that sort of thing."

Ayanokoji looked blank, but Yamauchi wasn't about to let him off.

"Ayanokoji, you're fifth on the First-Year Handsome Ranking. Don't you have anyone you like? A guy like you could get a girlfriend whenever he wanted, right?"

"Uh... even if you say that, I really don't."

What an idiot answer. Suzuki Tsubame almost laughed.

"As the guy at the top of the Handsome Guy Ranking, how did you feel when you saw the news?"

A voice came from beside him.

Suzuki Tsubame turned to find Horikita Suzune sitting perfectly straight, quietly reading a book.

Wait, was someone asking me?

Suzuki Tsubame scratched his head. It was Horikita's voice, all right, but could she really ask him a question while acting as though no one else was there?

"Well, I was a little surprised. I thought you were pretty enough to take first place, Suzune, but you ended up seventeenth."

"I even voted for you," Suzuki Tsubame said with a smile.

"Hmph. Sorry to disappoint you."

Horikita didn't look up. To her, the ranking was meaningless. Students voted for themselves, and since she hadn't asked anyone for votes, she had naturally fallen to seventeenth.

What surprised Suzuki Tsubame was his own ranking. He was just as reserved as Horikita.

He had even politely turned down every girl who approached him, yet he had received so many votes.

Was that what they liked?

At the swimming pool.

In the boys' changing room.

"Your muscles look quite impressive, Suzuki-boy."

Koenji sounded delighted, his eyes studying Suzuki Tsubame as though he were a work of art.

His comment drew everyone's attention.

"How did you build a body like that, Suzuki? Why can't you tell at all when you've got clothes on?"

"Hmm... maybe I've just got a smaller frame. Haha."

Suzuki Tsubame laughed it off, hoping to move on. After all, he knew perfectly well where his physique had come from.

"I'm telling you, Suzuki built all that muscle playing basketball."

Sudo came over, talking enthusiastically as he showed everyone his own arm.

"I saw it myself at club recruitment last week. He didn't miss a single three-pointer."

"Really, Suzuki?"

Hirata sounded doubtful. Suzuki Tsubame was muscular, but his build was remarkably balanced.

Could one sport really work the whole body that evenly? Hirata himself played soccer, and his upper body wasn't as strong as his lower body.

"Uh... more or less. I practice calligraphy sometimes, too."

Suzuki Tsubame scratched his head and tossed out a little joke.

Hirata didn't press him. Everyone had their secrets.

Once they had changed into their swim trunks, they left together.

At the huge pool, Horikita was the only girl there so far.

With a thin jacket draped over her shoulders, she crouched alone not far from the water.

She had been left out, as expected. Not that she would care.

"Hey, Suzune. You got changed fast."

Suzuki Tsubame walked over to her alone and teased her.

Horikita said nothing. He was clearly making fun of her for crouching out there by herself.

"Suzune-chan, want me to teach you how to swim?"

Having grown up in the countryside, Suzuki Tsubame had mastered everything from catching fish to scooping up shrimp.

If he hadn't spent his childhood climbing along the ridges between fields and swimming in wild rivers,

he didn't know whether he could have survived at a top high school.

"No."

Horikita's answer was brief. Swimming was among the things she had been required to learn.

It was hard to imagine how Horikita had mastered so many skills. Apart from coo—well, she could do that too.

"Seriously, Suzune, don't you ever get lonely?"

A week ago, Horikita had raised the Long-Term Task to 30% in just two days.

Another week had passed with no change at all. A little reminder seemed necessary.

"I'm here whenever you need me, but—"

"No need."

The girl cut Suzuki Tsubame off before he could finish.

"My life is fulfilling as it is. I enjoy studying and cooking."

Horikita spoke with conviction.

Seeing the resolve in her eyes, Suzuki Tsubame had nothing more to say.

"Ooh! Oooh!"

Suzuki Tsubame knew who it was just from the sound. He turned his head.

Sure enough, Yamauchi and the others were hooting at the girls coming out of the changing room.

Kushida Kikyo and the group of flashy girls seemed perfectly at ease. Most of the other girls wore loose school uniforms over their swimsuits.

For example...

[Sakura Airi]

[Looks: 9.9]

[Intelligence: 6.5]

[Physique: 6]

Pretty ordinary apart from her looks. That was Suzuki Tsubame's assessment.

With stats like those and a face like hers, it was fortunate she knew how to protect herself.

[Hasebe Haruka]

[Looks: 9.6]

[Intelligence: 7]

[Physique: 7]

Hmm... Sakura, Ichinose, and Hasebe must be the original story's big three, right? Even Chabashira and Kiryuin were a step behind them.

"Everyone, gather over here!"

Not far away, a teacher holding a stopwatch called out. It had little effect. After two weeks, the students had all seen how the teachers operated.

Looking at the scattered students, he shouted helplessly:

"Today's a swimming test! First place in the boys' and girls' groups will each get 5,000 points! Anyone who fails stays after class for extra practice!"

That got an immediate reaction.

"Ooh! With five thousand points, I can have a feast tonight!"

Ike was thrilled. It was hard to believe he had spent all hundred thousand of his points in a single week.

"Huh? Didn't I tell you? I was the Swimming Club's star back in vocational middle school."

Yamauchi's smug expression found a new low for the human understanding of shame.

Just then, a blond boy wearing nothing but a pair of briefs walked over.

As he himself put it, only that outfit could show off his beautiful physique.

"Suzuki-boy, care for a contest?"

A confident smile lit his face.

"Hmm... I don't think there's any need. Besides, even if I say no, we're about to be tested anyway, right?"

Suzuki Tsubame didn't want to get too tangled up with him. There was no reason to.

Koenji wasn't particularly surprised by his refusal. If anything... it made things more interesting.

"How about this? We both give it our all. If you lose, there's no penalty. If you win, I'll grant you any request that doesn't violate my principles."

Then he added:

"Even if that request is to become a senior adviser at the Koenji Group after graduation, with a monthly salary of one million."

In other words, if Suzuki Tsubame won, he could collect a million Island Coins every month after graduation without doing a thing.

By the standards of his previous life, that worked out to a monthly salary of fifty thousand.

Once he realized that, Suzuki Tsubame could only nod and accept.

Fifty thousand was lying right there on the ground. No sane person would pass it up just because they didn't feel like bending down to pick it up.

The teacher who had called them over led the students through a series of stretches.

Even at an indoor pool, warming up was essential. No one wanted their body to fail them in front of the opposite sex.

"When I call your name, come to the starting blocks."

"Sotomura Hideo, Yamauchi Haruki, Kanji Ike..."

Ten students took their places.

"Ready!"

At the whistle, they all jumped into the water.

There wasn't much to see in this group. They were all amateurs flailing against one another.

Sotomura was the fastest at just thirty-one seconds. Ike took thirty-four, while Yamauchi clocked an astonishing forty-five.

"Damn it! If I hadn't been injured during training in middle school, I never would've—"

Yamauchi had barely climbed out before he started making a scene again. If you want to go back to middle school so badly, I'll help you.

Suzuki Tsubame couldn't bear to see someone suffer.

"Next group! Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Sudo Ken, Hirata Yosuke..."

As it happened, this group included the five students with the best physiques in the class.

Looking at Ayanokoji's blank expression, Suzuki Tsubame said to Sudo beside him:

"Those guys just now were pretty strange, weren't they? A normal student should be able to finish in under twenty-five seconds, right?"

Sudo nodded along.

"Those guys were pathetic. I could finish under twenty-five seconds with one arm."

Ayanokoji stared at them, dumbfounded. So that's how it is?

He had thought thirty-something seconds was normal for an ordinary student. He had planned to finish in thirty-three or thirty-four, but it seemed he would have to pick up the pace a little.

"Ready!"

At the whistle, they shot into the water like arrows loosed from bows.

Fifty meters wasn't far, but it wasn't short, either.

A beginner would be exhausted by the time they finished.

But to Suzuki Tsubame, who had grown up swimming in wild rivers and catching fish and shrimp, an indoor pool was like a little girl.