Swimming Pool

As they entered the swimming pool, everyone in Class D was stunned by the sight before them.

Hoshino knew this school would certainly have a swimming pool, but he never expected it to be this luxurious!

Although it was located within the gymnasium, the swimming pool had its own independent space. It was incredibly spacious, fully equipped with changing rooms, equipment rooms, and all other necessary infrastructure. It felt like it could easily accommodate three or four classes at the same time; one could only describe it as wealthy and extravagant!

This period was a swimming lesson, but since it was the first one, the teacher simply explained the safety precautions and then left, leaving everyone to their own devices to get accustomed to the new facility.

Hoshino wasn't actually very familiar with the sport of swimming. Because he grew up far away from rivers or lakes and his physical education classes never included swimming, he was a total "landlubber."

Most people rushed into the changing rooms to change, and before long, the pool was packed with people. The most eye-catching group had to be Kushida and the others; after all, the sight of a group of beautiful girls playing in the water was truly quite captivating!

Obediently finding a corner to sit down, Hoshino silently watched the beautiful scenery before him and suddenly felt that not knowing how to swim wasn't so bad after all!

"Yo, Hoshino, why are you sitting here? Aren't you going to play with them?" The expressionless boy came over to strike up a conversation.

Hoshino suddenly felt a wave of malice and didn't even know how to respond.

"What kind of person I am... Ayanokoji, if others don't know, don't you? Who would I play with?" Hoshino looked up, staring into Ayanokoji's eyes, and retorted.

"Uh..." After hearing Hoshino's words, Ayanokoji fell silent, and the two could only stare at each other in silence.

After staring for a long time, Hoshino realized that Ayanokoji wasn't shaken in the slightest! He could only silently admit defeat, look away, and gaze at his surroundings.

"Do you mind if I sit here? You see, I don't have any other friends either, at least I can talk to you!" Ayanokoji spread his hands.

"Hmm... fine, I don't have any objections." Hoshino glanced at Ayanokoji and turned his gaze back to the pool.

Ayanokoji sat down near Hoshino, and a silent, awkward silence followed...

Hoshino couldn't find any topics to discuss, and he didn't really want to talk to Ayanokoji about class matters. As for Ayanokoji's habit of controlling his scores, it was better not to bring that up lightly.

"Ayanokoji, your muscles are quite well-developed!" Hoshino stared at Ayanokoji's arms. The solid muscles clearly belonged to someone who exercised regularly. Unlike his own casual workouts, Ayanokoji's muscles seemed to have been honed through specialized, scientific training; they were somewhat "beautiful"!

"No, I haven't really exercised much. I'm not bragging, but I was in the Going-Home Club during middle school!"

Ayanokoji took the conversation in stride, but Hoshino didn't believe a word of it. There was a distinct difference between scientific training and casual exercise. Although he didn't go often, Hoshino had been to the gym before. Was Ayanokoji treating everyone like a "fool"?

Thinking about Ayanokoji's "clumsy" score control, Hoshino didn't quite understand whether Ayanokoji wanted to hide his strength or not.

Hoshino didn't respond, shifted his gaze away thoughtfully, and the two fell back into silence.

Once free time arrived in a class like this, everyone naturally formed small groups. Some people were excluded from the environment, sitting silently on the seats beside the pool, not even having changed into their swimsuits.

Come to think of it, this kind of free time could probably be considered time for the "normies." For those who weren't good at socializing, they wouldn't actually play in the pool with others, at most just chatting by the poolside.

Just as the two were sitting in silence, a girl came over to talk. It seemed to be the girl sitting next to Ayanokoji; she must have come to find him!

"Eh? Why do you look so miserable? What are you thinking about all by yourself?"

Indeed, if the girl hadn't mentioned it, Hoshino wouldn't have noticed the change in Ayanokoji's expression. This was the first time he had seen such a significant change in Ayanokoji's face!

"Hmm... it's nothing, and... I'm not alone, okay!" Ayanokoji put away his helpless expression and turned to look at the girl.

"Eh?" The girl looked surprised and shifted her gaze to Hoshino.

"This is Horikita, and this is..." Seeing this, Ayanokoji began to introduce them to each other.

"I'm Hoshino Hoshiya, just call me Hoshino. Nice to meet you."

Hoshino only glanced at Horikita briefly before looking away; he really didn't know where to look. Was the school's taste actually decent?

"Nice to meet you."

Horikita nodded and sat down next to Ayanokoji.

"To think they can be so carefree after what just happened!"

Hoshino turned his head in surprise, struggling to keep up with Horikita's pace. After thinking for a moment, he realized Horikita was still brooding over the fact that Class D's class points were zero!

"Maybe they're just trying to relieve their stress?"

Ayanokoji spoke in a feigned casual tone, but no matter how Hoshino looked at it, they were just playing around.

"Is that really the case? They certainly look like they're having fun!" There was no expression on Horikita's face, but her tone revealed nothing but disdain.

"Having a swimming lesson at a time like this, with most of the period being free time, the vast majority of first-year students would have a lot of fun." Ayanokoji seemed to be defending his classmates.

"They're just like elementary schoolers, but I don't think that's the worst part... although in the S-system, they are the most defective of products."

Horikita's gaze turned to Sudo, who was sitting at the other end of the pool. Hoshino and Ayanokoji followed her gaze.

At this moment, Sudo was sitting by the pool with a look of extreme annoyance, his temper flaring. It felt like if anyone went to talk to him, they would be punched in the next second!

"We can't just stay out of it either! Because they belong to Class D as well."

Ayanokoji felt helpless about Sudo too and could only try to persuade Horikita.

"That's true..." Horikita nodded slightly, her gaze returning to Sudo in the distance.

Ayanokoji fell into deep thought. After a moment of silence, he spoke again: "Considering the current information, how can we get at least some class points? The only way is to make everyone change their attitude toward life. Try to get high scores in the next midterm exam!"

Eh? What on earth were these two talking about? To think they actually wanted to change others; honestly, that was quite arrogant! Hoshino didn't say it out loud, just silently listening to their conversation. Sudo was indeed a problem, but he wasn't the most serious one. There were other, far more severe issues existing in the class right now!

"At the end of the day, they were all dreaming a sweet dream when they enrolled. Thinking they could enjoy the benefits of the legendary top-tier college admission and employment rates. They can only..." Ayanokoji analyzed with an expressionless face.

"They can only rise to Class C or higher! As long as they are in Class D, their future dreams will never be realized." A look of inexplicable sadness appeared on Horikita's face.

"Heh..." Hoshino couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was impressive that they could discuss such things without caring about who was around! Were they really not considering themselves as people?

Hoshino really didn't know how to retort to Horikita's words: if it were only about Class C and above, wouldn't it be better if the school just recruited students from Class C and above? Why recruit students for Class D at all? To recruit an entire class of underachievers just to act as pacers?

When it comes down to it, there certainly wouldn't be that many favors to go around, as there are at least 120 people per grade in Class C and above. That's already the vast majority of the students, isn't it? There's absolutely no necessity for this! And what was that about "as long as you're in Class D, you can't achieve your future dreams"? Was Horikita's dream really just to not be in Class D? In the end, is that all these people amount to?

"What's wrong? Hoshino, you seem to have a lot of objections to what I said." Horikita's gaze sharpened, and she stared fiercely at Hoshino.

Ayanokoji also looked at Hoshino with some curiosity; in their usual conversations, Ayanokoji had only ever thought of Hoshino as someone obscure, rarely showing this kind of aggression.

"No, it's nothing, I just found it a bit funny, that's all!"

"Funny? What do you mean?" Horikita was relentless, her tone filled with dissatisfaction.

"...I just thought, so your dream is really just to not be in Class D? How should I put it... it's quite... simple?" Hoshino couldn't handle Horikita's stare and could only answer vaguely.

"..." Horikita was stunned upon hearing this, left somewhat speechless.

"Hoshino, what are your thoughts on our current class?" Seeing that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, Ayanokoji quickly stepped in to mediate.

"Thoughts? I can only say the road ahead is long! After all, the point gap is so large..." Hoshino didn't answer the question directly, simply responding to the massive gap in their current points.

This was a problem everyone could see; Hoshino had essentially said nothing at all.

"I'll be going then..." Hoshino ignored the two people beside him, stood up, waved his hand, and headed toward the changing room.