Swimming Class! Showing Off?! I Will Crush Everyone with the Might of a Thunderous Giant Vat!

The swimming instructor's booming voice cut through the noise by the pool, finally pulling most of the students away from their furtive appraisals of the figures outlined by one another's swimsuits.

He clapped his hands lightly. The crisp sound of his palms meeting seemed to press pause on the commotion, and he proceeded to announce the day's lesson plan in a brisk, no-nonsense tone.

"All right, everyone!"

His penetrating voice carried steadily to every corner.

"For today's swimming class, we'll begin with a simple swimming proficiency test! First, boys and girls will line up separately, then divide into groups—remember! Groups of three!"

He paused, sweeping his gaze over the students lined up beside the pool. Deliberately building suspense, he continued.

"The test is... the 50-meter freestyle!"

After speaking, the teacher slowly looked around again, his eyes briefly resting on every face before he added.

"If anyone can't swim at all, is afraid of water, or has any other difficulty, let me know in advance. Safety always comes first!"

"One student is unable to participate today due to certain circumstances and is already resting in the stands."

The student the teacher meant was, naturally, Sakura Airi.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Class D students all turned their heads in unison, their eyes fixed on the stands.

Under everyone's gaze, Sakura Airi's cheeks grew slightly warm. Her already timid shoulders shrank inward, and she lowered her head even further, a faint blush spreading all the way to her ears.

At that point, a gentle, encouraging smile suddenly spread across the teacher's face. Then, changing the subject, he offered a reward that made nearly every student's eyes light up at once.

"Also, to encourage everyone to take this seriously, the top-performing student among the boys and girls..."

He deliberately paused, watching the students' eyes brighten, before loudly announcing.

"I will personally award 5,000 Personal Points!"

"Whoa!!!"

The moment those words came out, the Class D camp erupted!

5,000 points!

For many students who had already squandered their points and were now strapped for cash—or had even begun borrowing money—

it was undoubtedly an unexpected windfall.

"5,000 points! Awesome!"

Yamauchi Haruki was the first to jump up, his face flushed even redder with excitement and his earlier agitation.

"My swimming skills are no joke! Those 5,000 points are as good as mine!"

He thumped his chest hard, as though the reward was already in his hands.

Ike Kanji also rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Yamauchi... looks like the two of us need to have a proper showdown! I'm not letting you keep those 5,000 points all to yourself!"

The two were completely immersed in their desire for the prize money and blind confidence, without the slightest consideration for the possibility that there might be hidden swimming experts in their class. The girls were also buzzing with discussion.

"5,000 points... not bad..."

Karuizawa Kei brushed back her hair. Her tone was fairly calm, but there was a trace of interest in her eyes.

"Yeah, I could buy that newly released bag..."

Meanwhile, Sato Maya had already begun planning how to spend the points.

Shinohara Satsuki nodded as well.

"Looks like I'll have to swim my best!"

Elsewhere—

Kushida Kikyo still wore that flawless, adorable smile as she turned to Horikita Suzune beside her.

"Horikita, can you swim? The 5,000-point reward is pretty generous."

Horikita Suzune replied indifferently.

"A little, but the focus this time isn't the points. It's evaluating one's own physical fitness."

Though she said that, her eyes involuntarily swept toward the boys' side, as if searching for someone.

Among the girls, the most excited was undoubtedly Onodera Kayano. Her short dark-purple hair looked especially lively under the sunlight, while confidence filled her heroic features.

"Swimming? Haha! That's one of my strengths!"

She waved her fist at several girls she was fairly close with, determined to claim the girls' prize.

"Looks like those 5,000 points are already in the bag!"

The test began soon after.

The boys and girls took their turns in orderly groups.

Water splashed throughout the pool as cheers, panting, and the whistle of the teacher recording results rose and fell one after another.

On the boys' side, Yamauchi Haruki, Ike Kanji, Sudo Ken, and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji naturally gathered together, their attention on the first few groups currently being tested in the pool.

Watching their clumsy strokes and utterly average speeds, the smugness on Yamauchi Haruki's face became more pronounced. He could not help raising his voice.

"Hey! Look how slowly they're swimming! They're practically taking a stroll in the water! Those 5,000 reward points from the teacher were clearly prepared for us!"

Ike Kanji chuckled beside him, a competitive gleam flashing in his eyes as he proposed.

"What's the fun in only taking the teacher's reward? How about this—we four have our own race?"

He deliberately paused before raising the stakes in an obvious attempt to provoke them.

"Whoever wins gets 2,000 Personal Points from each of the other three! Do you dare?"

Sudo Ken crossed his arms, raising his brows slightly.

He had always been extremely confident in his physical strength. Although swimming was not his specialty, he certainly did not think he would lose to Yamauchi and Ike.

"Fine! Who's afraid of who!"

He immediately accepted without the slightest hesitation.

Meanwhile, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji watched the three of them trade words with an expressionless face. However, his mind was rapidly calculating. At 2,000 points per person, the winner could earn an additional 6,000 points. Combined with the teacher's 5,000-point reward, that would make 11,000 points in total...

That was indeed a considerable gain.

Besides, this was also a valuable opportunity to observe his classmates' swimming abilities.

With that in mind, Ayanokoji decided to reveal a tiny bit of his ability. He nodded and calmly spoke two words.

"Sure."

Just as the four of them were rubbing their hands together, each holding back a competitive fire and preparing for a proper contest in the pool—

a huge wave of gasps and commotion suddenly erupted from the girls' area next door.

The noise was loud and urgent, instantly drowning out the sounds of splashing water and everything else around the pool. The boys all stopped what they were doing and turned toward the girls' side.

"No way?!"

"Those are... Akiyama and the others?!"

"Koenji, Hirata, and Akiyama! The three of them are in one group!"

"That speed... are they monsters?!"

All the boys, including the four from Yamauchi's group, were drawn by the commotion and turned their heads toward the girls' side. More precisely, they looked toward the trio that had just finished their test: Akiyama Shin, Koenji Rokusuke, and Hirata Yosuke.

The swimming instructor in charge of timing stared at the stopwatch in his hand with a stunned expression, his mouth slightly open as though he had witnessed something unbelievable.

He checked the numbers on the stopwatch several times before finally calling out the results in disbelief.

"Hirata Yosuke!"

"50-meter freestyle—25.50 seconds!"

"Koenji Rokusuke!"

"50-meter freestyle—23.00 seconds!"

"Akiyama Shin!"

"50-meter freestyle—21.50 seconds!"

Those three results exploded beside the pool like three heavy bombs.

Hirata Yosuke's 25.50 seconds was already considered outstanding for someone his age—enough to get him onto a school team!

Koenji Rokusuke's 23.00 seconds was even faster than the current women's 50-meter freestyle world record of 23.61 seconds! But the most terrifying result belonged to Akiyama Shin!

21.50 seconds!

That result was only a stone's throw away from the current men's 50-meter freestyle world record of 20.91 seconds! Though the crucial gap of 0.59 seconds represented a qualitative difference—

this was still a professional athlete-level performance!

The entire Class D, boys and girls alike, had fallen into stunned silence.

"Y-you've got to be kidding...? Twenty-one seconds?!"

"Koenji got under twenty-three seconds too?!"

"Are they even human?!"

"Akiyama... you'd never guess it normally!"

The girls covered their mouths, their eyes wide as they repeatedly glanced between Akiyama Shin and Koenji's fit bodies, which rose and fell slightly from the exertion and were covered in droplets of water. Their gazes were full of astonishment and disbelief.

Kushida Kikyo looked at Akiyama Shin, who stood by the pool casually drying his black hair with a towel, his expression still calm. Her heart was filled with pride. See? That's my man!

She had nearly shouted it out just now, but fortunately covered her unreliable mouth in time.

Horikita Suzune also stared blankly at Akiyama Shin, complicated light flickering in her cool eyes.

21.50 seconds...

That kind of physical ability...

Just how much strength has he been hiding?

She realized that her understanding of Akiyama Shin seemed to remain at a very superficial level.

Wang Meiyu, Matsushita Chiaki, Hasebe Haruka, Karuizawa Kei, and even Sakura Airi—

their eyes were also firmly drawn to the black-haired boy who had achieved such an astonishing result.

So... so amazing...

That was the shared thought in all their hearts.

On the boys' side, Yamauchi Haruki, Ike Kanji, Sudo Ken, and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji were completely dumbfounded after hearing the results and the surrounding discussion.

"H-how much?! Twenty-one seconds...?!"

Yamauchi Haruki stammered as he repeated it, all the smugness and excitement vanishing from his face, leaving only horror.

"K-Koenji got twenty-three seconds too?!"

"Akiyama got twenty-one seconds?!"

Ike Kanji's mouth hung open in an O-shape, wide enough to fit an egg inside.

"What the hell are we even competing for?!"

Sudo Ken could not help blurting out a curse. He turned back with a defeated look on his face. If he had to compete against those people in swimming...

that would be nothing but humiliation!

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji still showed no expression on the surface, but waves churned within his heart.

21.50 seconds...

And it looked like he had not even gone all out...

Akiyama Shin... what a monster.

Even he, after receiving all kinds of physical training in the White Room, could not say for certain whether he could achieve that result without revealing all of his strength...

Silently, he raised his assessment of and vigilance toward Akiyama Shin by another level.

The commotion beside the pool did not subside for a long time.

The absurdly powerful results of the trio made up of Akiyama Shin, Koenji Rokusuke, and Hirata Yosuke hung like a massive shadow over every student taking the test afterward.

To most people, there was no longer any suspense over the 5,000-point reward.

And the gap in ability between Class D's students was laid bare in an extraordinarily direct and shocking manner during this seemingly ordinary swimming class.