Swimming Lesson

I never expected the school to open up swimming lessons at this time of year.

Uesugi Hara thought to himself as he gazed at the gently rippling surface of the pool.

The school's facilities were always top-tier; even the pool was temperature-controlled, so there was no bone-chilling cold when one entered the water.

Yet, he had absolutely no desire to move—to him, sitting by the poolside and watching the girls play in their swimsuits was a rare form of relaxation.

Even though his days had been quite leisurely lately.

"Uesugi-kun, don't you plan on getting in the water?" A girl's voice suddenly came from beside him.

Without needing to turn his head, Uesugi Hara recognized the visitor just by the sound of her voice. "If Sakayanagi-san is willing to get in, I might consider it."

"What a pity." There was a hint of vague regret in Sakayanagi Arisu's tone, though not a trace of it could be seen on her face. "My physical condition doesn't allow for strenuous exercise."

Uesugi Hara turned to look. Sakayanagi Arisu hadn't changed into a swimsuit; she was still in her school uniform, leaning on her usual cane. Kamuro Masumi was following behind her.

Wait, Kamuro Masumi?

Uesugi Hara couldn't help but cast a puzzled look. He saw Kamuro Masumi standing half a step behind Sakayanagi Arisu, her expression carrying a hint of unnatural awkwardness, as if she were quite embarrassed.

"What are you looking at?" Seeing Uesugi Hara staring, Kamuro Masumi retorted without a shred of politeness.

Uesugi Hara ignored her bristling and simply gave her a calm once-over.

She was wearing a standard school swimsuit, and her exposed skin glowed with a healthy, rosy hue.

His gaze traveled downward, landing on her fair feet. Her nails were trimmed clean and neat, and her rounded toes looked as tender and white as pearls.

Hmm, food-grade.

As soon as that thought popped into his head, Uesugi Hara slapped himself mentally. How had he been corrupted by those silly netizens, thinking about such nonsensical things?

Steadying himself, he turned toward Sakayanagi Arisu. She was wearing the familiar white thigh-high socks, wrapping around her slender calves. The petite style was no different from what he had seen before; he had already looked at them many times.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Sakayanagi-san, is Kamuro... being held under your thumb?"

"Uesugi-kun, that's not a very nice way to put it." Sakayanagi Arisu gently swayed her cane, her tone remaining gentle, though a hint of mischievous amusement flickered in her eyes. "Do I look like the type of person who would hold someone's secret over them to threaten them into doing things?"

She turned to look at Kamuro Masumi behind her, her voice softening further. "Kamuro just saw that I have trouble moving and kindly wanted to help me, right?"

Kamuro Masumi pursed her lips, her face clearly showing that she was "angry but dare not speak." Her fists clenched slightly, but in the end, she squeezed out two words: "...That's right." The tone was muffled, sounding entirely unwilling.

Watching this scene, Uesugi Hara roughly guessed what was going on. Especially seeing Kamuro Masumi's expression—full of suppressed anger but unable to lash out—he couldn't help but find it amusing.

He deliberately drew out his tone, following the thread of the conversation. "But Kamuro-san's expression doesn't look very willing." The mockery in his tone wasn't hidden at all; he was clearly looking for some fun.

Kamuro Masumi had already been holding back, and being poked by Uesugi Hara like this made her cheeks flush a bright red. Just as she was about to raise her voice in protest, Sakayanagi Arisu tapped her calf with her cane, causing the words on the tip of her tongue to get stuck.

She glared at Uesugi Hara with hatred, and in the end, only managed to squeeze out stiff words through her teeth: "Mind your own business. Can't I be happy to help Sakayanagi?"

Sakayanagi Arisu covered her lips and chuckled softly, the corners of her eyes curving into beautiful arcs. "Uesugi-kun, don't tease Kamuro; she has thin skin." As she said this, her eyes rolled, and she added slowly, "Besides, I was quite surprised myself that Kamuro would offer to help."

"You!" Kamuro Masumi turned her head sharply to glare at Sakayanagi Arisu.

Sakayanagi Arisu blinked, her tone sounding completely innocent. "I'm just stating the facts to Uesugi-kun."

Uesugi Hara leaned against the railing by the pool, arms crossed, enjoying the show. Watching Kamuro Masumi's frustrated look of "being played but unable to settle the score," and then looking at Sakayanagi Arisu's composed, "I'm innocent but you can't do anything about me" attitude, he found the two of them together quite interesting.

"Fine, I won't tease her anymore." Uesugi Hara waved his hand, but his gaze quietly shifted to Sakayanagi Arisu, a hint of mischief flashing in his eyes.

If I'm not teasing Kamuro, teasing you should be fine, right?

He suddenly turned his head and tilted his chin toward Kamuro Masumi. "Kamuro, how about a deal? Give me 50,000... wait, no." He paused, looked at Kamuro Masumi's face, and estimated that she might not have 50,000 points, so he simply changed his tune. "30,000 points will do. I'll help you pin her down on your lap and spank her, how about that?"

Kamuro Masumi's eyes flickered and brightened immediately—she was clearly tempted. But she stole a glance at Sakayanagi Arisu beside her, and that bit of temptation was suppressed by the fear of retaliation. She kept her lips tightly pursed and didn't dare to agree.

As for Sakayanagi Arisu, she hadn't moved an inch from start to finish. She still wore that composed, elegant smile, but a hint of chill began to spread in the depths of her eyes.

She didn't look at Kamuro Masumi, but instead met Uesugi Hara's gaze, her voice drifting on the wind. "Uesugi-kun, you certainly are flexible with your business. But I wonder... have you weighed whether you actually have the ability to 'pin' me down?"

Uesugi Hara didn't reply. He simply took a step forward, reached out a hand, and precisely grabbed the back collar of her uniform—lifting it gently.

That's right, with just that lift, Sakayanagi Arisu was actually hoisted up by him with one hand.

Kamuro Masumi, standing to the side, was dumbfounded. You can do that? This development was completely different from what she had imagined!

Uesugi Hara adjusted his strength slightly to bring their eyes level before speaking slowly. "Sakayanagi-san, is the view from up here quite nice?"

Sakayanagi Arisu didn't make a sound, but her originally fair cheeks flushed with color at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Was she embarrassed by being "lifted up" in public? Or was she angry at his rogue behavior? Or perhaps the collar was a bit too tight?

Kamuro Masumi watched from the side, unable to guess which reason it was.

Uesugi Hara's hand on her collar paused—seeing that Sakayanagi Arisu didn't speak and her cheeks were turning even redder, he feared he might actually be making her uncomfortable, so he let go and set her down.

When Sakayanagi Arisu stood steady, she took a light breath and raised her hand to smooth out the collar he had wrinkled. She didn't look at him, her earlobes turning pink.

"Sakayanagi-san," Uesugi Hara looked at her appearance and curled the corners of his mouth. "I suppose I've proven my ability." He paused. "I hope that in the future, I'll have the chance to see your ability as well."

After saying this, without waiting for Sakayanagi Arisu to respond, he turned and slipped away, his shoulders shaking as he walked.

Kamuro Masumi watched Uesugi Hara's rapidly retreating back, then turned to look at Sakayanagi Arisu, who was still looking down and smoothing her collar. She suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck. How did that scene look like anything other than the calm before the storm?

"Kamuro, what did you just see?"

Sakayanagi Arisu's voice drifted over without a ripple, but as it fell into Kamuro Masumi's ears, it made her feel as if she had instantly plummeted into the dead of winter.

Kamuro Masumi actually wanted to laugh out loud right now—when Sakayanagi was hoisted up by one hand just a moment ago, the tips of her ears had turned beet red. Where was that usual composed and elegant demeanor of hers?

But her reason was frantically sounding alarm bells in her head: if she laughed out loud, she was dead, absolutely dead!

Thus, Kamuro Masumi decisively chose to play it safe.

"Just now... did something happen?" She blinked her eyes, her voice filled with twelve parts innocence, as if the person who had been staring in stunned silence just a moment ago wasn't her at all.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have been able to fake such silliness even if her life depended on it, but driven by the urge to survive, she had managed to unleash infinite potential.

Indeed, human potential must be forced out by desperate situations.

Sakayanagi Arisu slowly raised her eyes, her gaze landing on her face, and only after a moment did she nod gently: "Mm, indeed, nothing happened at all."

Her voice remained flat, devoid of any emotion, yet Kamuro Masumi felt as if she had tumbled from the freezing depths of midwinter back into the warm, flower-scented days of April.

The heart that had been hanging in her throat dropped back into place with a thud. Her back was already slick with a thin layer of sweat, and only now did she dare to let out a long, secret sigh of relief, her tense shoulders finally slumping—she had survived after all.

Damn that Uesugi Hara! He caused trouble and then took off without a care, leaving her here to suffer through this ordeal!

Kamuro Masumi cursed Uesugi Hara eight hundred times in her heart, yet on her face, she still had to maintain that innocent "I didn't see anything" expression, not even daring to glance at Sakayanagi Arisu out of the corner of her eye.

Heaven knows if this young lady might suddenly change her mind and start questioning her about what just happened.

She secretly clenched her fists, deciding that if she ran into Uesugi Hara again, she would definitely have to punch him first.

On the other side, Uesugi Hara had only walked a few steps out of the pool area before he could no longer hold it in.

"Hahaha..." He leaned against the wall and laughed out loud. The contrast between Sakayanagi Arisu being in total control one second and then being hoisted up with red ear tips the next was just too funny.

The fact that he hadn't laughed out loud on the spot was the greatest respect he could have possibly shown.

Once he had laughed enough, he finally remembered his good buddy.

He wondered if that guy Kamuro could withstand Sakayanagi's wrath.

"Good buddy, I'm sorry," Uesugi Hara apologized silently in his heart. "Once I manage to get Sakayanagi under control in the future, I'll definitely let you spank her to vent your anger. Don't go easy on her when the time comes."

Thinking this way, he actually felt he was being quite a stand-up guy, and his footsteps became much lighter.

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