Swimming Class

Toru Hasegawa was starting to lose it.

He couldn't force himself to finish the bento like they did in manga or anime. That would be irresponsible toward his own body.

He closed the pink bento box and returned it to Sakayanagi Arisu exactly as it was.

"I really can't do this justice, so please take care of it yourself!"

After saying that, Toru left the classroom and headed to the convenience store to buy a bento.

"Classmate Sakayanagi... are you all right?"

Kamuro Masumi hoped Sakayanagi Arisu wouldn't take her anger out on her. The person responsible was clear, so she should go hassle Toru Hasegawa instead!

"It's fine. This is my own problem." Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head and handed the bento box to Kamuro Masumi. "Take care of this for me. I'll wait here."

"Okay."

Kamuro Masumi nodded obediently, picked up the bento box, and dashed out of the classroom.

"Thank goodness there wasn't a problem this time. Otherwise, I'd have to eat in the cafeteria from now on."

By the time swimming class started, Toru still hadn't noticed anything wrong with his body, and he finally relaxed.

"Good. Only one person has chosen to observe." The swimming instructor nodded, clearly pleased. "I'll get straight to the point. After we warm up, I want you all to swim so I can see what you're capable of."

Aside from Sakayanagi Arisu, whose health made it impossible for her to exercise, everyone else in Class A had chosen to participate.

Toru discreetly glanced at Kamuro Masumi in her swimsuit and was surprised to find that she had quite an impressive figure.

Her flawless skin showed above her standard school swimsuit, and her long, shapely legs drew plenty of the boys' attention.

Toru didn't dare look for long. He quickly turned his gaze away and raised his hand.

"Um, actually, I'm not very good at swimming."

His words seemed to flip some kind of switch. Many others immediately chimed in, since none of them had expected swimming to be part of the class right from the start.

"That's fine. I'll make sure you can all swim by summer."

The swimming instructor flashed his white teeth, making Toru shudder involuntarily.

The muscular older man's smile reminded him of certain unpleasant things.

"Anyway, those who can't swim don't have to compete for now. Everyone else, split into boys' and girls' groups. I'll give the first-place student a special reward of five thousand points. Now, let's warm up."

At the swimming instructor's command, all the students began warming up.

Toru was assigned to the first group of boys.

"You're the one who's always by Her Highness's side, right? I'm Masayoshi Hashimoto."

A blond... no, golden-haired boy came up beside him.

"Actually, you've got that backwards," Toru corrected him. "She's the one who keeps clinging to me, not the other way around. Don't get that mixed up."

"Is that so..." Masayoshi Hashimoto replied noncommittally.

Toru casually asked, "By the way, how good are you at swimming?"

"Not bad."

"People who say they're 'not bad' are usually pretty impressive."

Toru snarked. The ones who said they couldn't swim were the ones who really couldn't.

As it turned out, his prediction was right. Masayoshi Hashimoto posted an excellent time of twenty-six seconds, while Toru managed forty, which was fairly average.

"So this is what you call 'not bad'?"

It was rare for a boy to strike up a conversation with him. Even though he sensed that the other boy might have an ulterior motive, Toru still gave him an opening to talk.

"Pretty average, really." Masayoshi Hashimoto modestly replied. "That guy over there is the one who's impressive."

As he spoke, he pointed toward a boy with long blue hair in the distance.

Toru had noticed him too, mainly because he didn't look like a high school student at all. He looked more like a street thug.

"I think his name was... Kito, right?"

"That's right. Despite how he looks, he's surprisingly sensitive."

Wasn't "sensitive" a slightly odd way to describe a boy?

As Toru wondered about that, Hayato Kito returned to the poolside after posting an excellent time of twenty-five seconds, looking completely at a loss.

Especially his hands—he seemed unsure where to put them. They kept moving up and down, and Toru was starting to feel embarrassed for him.

In the end, Hayato Kito won the swimming instructor's prize: five thousand points.

"What are you doing?"

Since he couldn't live on bento boxes all the time, Toru planned to get dinner at Keyaki Mall that evening. But Masayoshi Hashimoto, who had approached him during swimming class, had followed him there.

"Let's exchange contact info first."

Masayoshi Hashimoto grinned as he asked to trade contact details, and Toru readily agreed.

"By the way, have you been here before?"

"I have. Why?"

"It's my first time. If you can, could you recommend somewhere affordable that'll fill me up?"

Toru figured things would be a lot easier if someone who knew the place showed him around.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't here to eat when I came before."

The two boys stood there, staring at each other in silence.

"...Let's just find somewhere to eat."

Toru concluded that, when you didn't know what you were doing, sometimes you just had to take a loss.

Just then, someone unexpected spoke to them.

"Um... are you two trying to figure out what to have for dinner?"

Toru looked back. The girl had hair about the same color as Masayoshi Hashimoto's. She was very cute, and her school uniform stretched taut across her ample chest. She wore black thigh-high socks beneath her skirt, and her appearance hit all of Toru's preferences.

"Yeah. May I ask who you are...?"

"Oh, let me introduce myself. I'm Kikyo Kushida from Class D, first year. My goal is to become friends with everyone. You two are first-years too, right?"

Her words soothed the stirrings in Toru's heart.

Something was off. There was something wrong with this person.

How could a normal person possibly want to become friends with everyone? Anyone in their right mind would realize that was impossible after thinking about it for even a moment.

Toru glanced at the number above her head: 60. Fairly average, neither high nor low.

"My name's Toru Hasegawa, and this is Masayoshi Hashimoto. We're both in Class A. To be honest, we really were trying to figure out what to have for dinner. It'd be great if you could help us."

"Mm-hmm." Kikyo Kushida nodded, then seemed to suddenly remember something and exclaimed as she looked at Toru, "Wait, are you that Hasegawa from yesterday's club orientation?"

"If there isn't anyone else named Hasegawa... then yes."

"I knew your voice sounded familiar! I only realized after I heard your introduction. Hehe." Kikyo Kushida lightly tapped her head with her fist, looking adorable.

"Anyway, come with me."