The moment Kitagawa Kai entered the water, his strokes looked neither as fierce and explosive as Shibata's nor as mechanically precise and efficient as Kanzaki's. Instead, they were exceptionally smooth and steady, with an almost unhurried poise, and he kept the splashes low and fine.
Shibata and Kanzaki quickly took the lead, swimming almost side by side as water burst violently around them.
But just a few seconds later, Kitagawa Kai's speed steadily increased, and he quietly caught up from behind, closing the gap with a steady pace that was startling.
Ichinose Honami stared intently at the third lane, her azure eyes not blinking once.
They touched the wall!
Shibata Sō slapped the pool wall hard first, then lifted his head, panting heavily, his face alight with the exhilaration of victory.
Right after him, with almost no difference in their times, Kanzaki Ryūji and Kitagawa Kai touched the wall.
"Shibata Sō, 25.46 seconds, first place!"
"Kitagawa Kai and Kanzaki Ryūji, 25.92 seconds, tied for second!"
The Swimming Teacher's voice rang out clearly, and a wave of astonished chatter rose around the pool.
"Tch!" Shibata Sō wiped his face. Though he had won, he looked at Kanzaki and Kitagawa, who had arrived almost at the same time. "You two did pretty well. You were right on my heels."
Kitagawa Kai took off his goggles and raised an eyebrow. "Shibata's fast, all right, but for a guy, being too fast isn't a good thing."
"Kitagawa-kun, Kanzaki-kun, you were amazing! You were only a little behind Shibata-kun!"
Ichinose Honami's clear voice was full of genuine admiration. At some point, she had come over near the pool's edge. Her gaze shifted between the three of them, then settled on Kitagawa Kai's water-beaded profile.
Kitagawa Kai looked up and met her eyes, smiling lazily.
"Too bad. If I'd beaten him, maybe I could've treated Ichinose to a drink."
Ichinose blinked, then smiled, her expression dazzling as sunlight on the pool.
"Then next time you race, I'll cheer Kitagawa-kun on properly."
"Don't. If you cheer Kitagawa on any more, he'll overtake me."
Shibata Sō grinned and casually cut in, draping an arm over Kitagawa Kai's damp shoulder as if they were the best of friends.
He had clearly heard their conversation. Now he gave Ichinose a teasing wink. "Ichinose-san, you can't play favorites. If you're going to cheer, you have to cheer for all of us!"
The blush on Ichinose's face had yet to fade completely. At his words, she couldn't help laughing, and Shibata's straightforward teasing dispelled the trace of bashfulness from before.
Her azure eyes curved into crescents. "Shibata-kun is right. I'll cheer for everyone in Class B! I'll look forward to seeing you and Kanzaki-kun do your best in the next race, too!"
Kanzaki rolled his eyes but still gave Kitagawa an assist as usual. "Ichinose-san, objectively speaking, Kitagawa was only a little behind first place. With you cheering him on, he might actually beat Shibata."
Shibata Sō's arm stiffened on Kitagawa Kai's shoulder. He slowly turned his head and looked at Kanzaki with a wounded expression that said, "Are you even my friend?"
Kanzaki pushed up his glasses with an expressionless face, completely ignoring the reproach in Shibata's eyes.
"K-Kanzaki-kun..." Ichinose felt the heat that Shibata's teasing had just suppressed threatening to return.
"The data supports it." Kanzaki Ryūji nodded, his tone still steady and even. "Shibata's lead was 0.46 seconds, and a visual estimate puts Kitagawa's average speed over the final fifteen meters above Shibata's. If there were an additional variable, such as..."
He paused, but what he said next made Ichinose's ears burn. "Positive encouragement from a particular person. Considering the measurable impact psychological factors can have on athletic performance, it is theoretically possible for him to surpass his current result."
Kanzaki's thoroughly reasoned, objective analysis left Ichinose's cheeks bright red.
"O-Okay, that's enough! The girls' group is about to start, so I... I'm going to get ready!"
"The boys did well! Now, girls, get ready!" Kishida Raishi's gaze swept across the girls' area. "The rules are the same: 50-meter freestyle. The first-place finisher in each group will receive 5,000 Private Points! I hope all the girls will give it their all, too!"
With the boys setting a high standard and the points as an incentive, the atmosphere among the girls noticeably changed as well.
As the heart of Class B, Ichinose Honami was naturally placed in a group of stronger swimmers.
"Take your marks-"
"Ready-"
"Bang!"
The starting gun fired! They entered the water!
The girls entered the water more lightly and swiftly, and their splashes were relatively small.
Ichinose Honami had excellent swimming technique, moving through the water like a mermaid set free. However, because of her astonishing figure, she only managed a mid-to-upper-level result.
Ichinose took off her goggles and breathed lightly, droplets sliding down her flushed cheeks and damp pink hair.
Just then, a light blue towel was held out in front of her.
Ichinose paused, then followed the hand holding the towel to see who it belonged to.
Kitagawa Kai had somehow already been waiting beside the path she would take out of the pool.
He didn't approach right away. He simply waited until she pushed herself up from the pool's edge, then naturally held the towel where she could easily reach it.
"Thank you, Kitagawa-kun." Ichinose took the towel, her voice faintly breathless from the exercise.
She draped the soft, light blue towel over her head and quickly wiped the droplets from her face and neck, also hiding the blush on her cheeks, which had risen from her strenuous exercise and certain other reasons.
"You were really good at swimming, Ichinose."
"I was okay. I've trained a bit before, too." Ichinose Honami gently pressed the towel against the droplets of water at the ends of her hair.
Kitagawa Kai didn't reply right away.
He openly looked at Ichinose, his gaze candidly passing over her wet pink hair and settling on her pale cherry-pink swimsuit.
His eyes were clear and bright, filled with unreserved appreciation for something beautiful.
Under his gaze, Ichinose's cheeks grew warm. The blush from her exercise not only failed to fade but seemed to deepen.
"What are you doing, Kitagawa-kun?"
Her voice was lower than usual, with a hint of barely perceptible fluster.
"Your swimsuit, Ichinose..." Kitagawa Kai paused. "It really looks nice. The color suits you."
Ichinose felt her ears starting to burn.
Honestly, this guy...
"I-Is that so..." In the end, she could only mumble a few syllables. Her gaze drifted to the splashing pool beside them, and her fingers unconsciously twisted the edge of the towel. "It's just a really ordinary style..."
[Dong!]
[Ichinose Honami's Affection Level +3, current Affection Level: 55 (Friend)]
"Come on, Ichinose," Kitagawa Kai said, naturally changing the subject. "Let's go help teach the students who can't swim."
A few students in the shallow end were still working hard on floating and kicking. Their movements were clumsy but earnest.
"Ah, okay." Ichinose came back to herself and casually draped the towel she'd used over her body.
For the rest of the time, Kitagawa Kai didn't tease her. He simply waited calmly for Swimming Class to end.