Swimming Class

Changing room.

"Hasebe, I never knew you were hiding your skills—your muscles are almost as good as mine." Sudo said, flexing his own muscles again.

Ike was also curious, pinching and saying, "Never expected it, Hasebe. You look so lean, but you're actually pretty solid."

"Haha, not really. I just practiced karate for a while before."

"You guys done changing yet? I can't wait to go check out the girls in their swimsuits."

But then...

"Why? Why, though?"

Watching Ike, Sudo, and Yamauchi kneeling off to the side, clutching their heads and shouting "why" in despair, Ayanokouji silently edged closer to Hasebe. Their voices were too loud, and some of the observation group overheard, with Hasebe—one of the class's cutest girls—calling them disgusting.

"Hey, what's wrong? You guys seem a little down."

Seeing who spoke, the three immediately brightened up, because it was Kushida in her school swimsuit. They adored this lively, cute girl.

Kushida in her school swimsuit showed off graceful curves, drawing the eyes of almost every boy. Hasebe couldn't help sneaking a few more glances at the comparison points.

Today's a good day, a real good day.

"Everyone, gather up."

A muscular middle-aged man—the gym teacher—called the students together to start class.

This muscular guy looked over the gathered students, then at the observation group, and said, "Looks like quite a few chose to observe. I'll let it slide this time. Now follow me in warm-up exercises, and then I'll see how well you can swim."

"Teacher, I can't swim."

A student raised their hand to the gym teacher.

"Haha, no problem. As your gym teacher, it's my responsibility to make sure you all learn before summer. Trust me, learning to swim will definitely be useful to you later. Definitely."

After finishing the warm-up exercises, the gym teacher announced free swimming, and then he'd hold a fifty-meter swimming competition later.

"Ahem."

The gym teacher cleared his throat, then said in a loud voice, "Let me say it again: boys and girls compete separately in the fifty-meter swim. First place gets a reward of five thousand points from me."

The competition started with the girls.

"Go Kushida! Go Kushida! Kushida, Kushida, go, go, go..."

Looks like Ike had completely fallen for Kushida in her school swimsuit.

The girls' group ended quickly, with the winner being Onodera from the swim club.

Soon it was the boys' group.

One heat was Hasebe, Takagahara, Hirata, and Sudo.

Because Hirata was in the race, the girls' cheers were exceptionally loud.

The race started, and Takagahara shot ahead, achieving an excellent time of just over twenty-three seconds, shocking everyone with how well he swam. Hasebe also got a time of twenty-four seconds, Sudo over twenty-five, and Hirata over twenty-seven.

None of the later boys' heats could beat them, so Takagahara took first in the boys' group. Hasebe glanced at Ayanokouji—his swimming form was very standard, and his body was in good shape. He couldn't be holding back, could he?

Just as he was thinking about Ayanokouji holding back, Takagahara walked over and said, "Hasebe-boy didn't go all out. That disappoints me."

"Haha, I gave it my all, really."