Soul Strength

The much-anticipated swimming class began,

The boys let out a chorus of groans, though really, only a few of them were making a scene. Most were just a little disappointed.

It was because the swimming instructor had just said,

"The school has plenty of swimming facilities. From now on, co-ed swimming classes will be held separately.

"Of course, if you want to practice on your own, whether with friends or a boyfriend or girlfriend, you can ask me or the gym staff to rent a private pool. The school guarantees complete privacy."

Kanji Ike shouted, "How could any girl possibly accept an invitation like that?!"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka chimed in, though inwardly he thought that Hirata and You En were probably the only boys in their class who could successfully invite a girl to go swimming with them.

"Doctor" Sotoyama Hideo held the camera he'd bought with a huge number of points, feeling a little disappointed.

Yamauchi Haruki wore a sour expression and kept complaining.

Even Ken Sudō, standing nearby, was getting annoyed. He yelled at him,

"Wasn't it because you guys were so... obvious about it that the girls wanted to be separated from us?!"

Hirata Yosuke came over. "All right, all right. We finally get a swimming class, so why don't we just enjoy ourselves?"

The PE teacher walked over. "PE classes have learning objectives too. You'll need to meet my requirements before you can do whatever you like."

"Oh."

A few scattered replies came back, all sounding rather listless.

But things were different on the girls' side.

The instructor at the girls' swimming pool was also a female PE teacher. By her own introduction, she was a professional swimmer.

The person happiest about the classes being separated was actually Kei Karuizawa,

but she put on a regretful expression and said to her group, "I picked out a really cute swimsuit because I was planning to show it to Hirata, but I guess I won't get the chance now."

Sonoda Maedai realized. "So that's why your swimsuit looked so out of place. You only meant to show it to him. What a shame."

Ishikura Kayoko teased, "You really forget your friends when a guy's involved! You only have eyes for Hirata, not for the rest of us."

"Not true."

Kei Karuizawa unconsciously touched her waist, then relaxed. At least she wouldn't have to think about skipping class and come up with an excuse for it anymore.

Hasebe Haruka was in a pretty good mood too. Her body had developed just a little faster than those of the other girls her age, and, honestly, she didn't like people talking about it.

She usually tried to pick loose clothes to cover herself up.

"At least now we can have fun without those annoying boys around."

Kei Karuizawa voiced what all the girls were thinking.

The teacher spoke up. "All right, come over and let me assess each of your individual skill levels. Then I'll give you training plans to match. It won't take long."

Matsushita Chiaki lined up, quietly observing everyone's reactions and committing them to memory.

There seemed to be something suspicious about the sudden separation of the boys' and girls' swimming classes.

As far as she knew, the other classes hadn't been separated during their swimming lessons. That meant the issue had to have come from within their own class.

Who had put a stop to it? It probably wasn't one of the girls. Aside from her, only a few of them would have had the drive to take action.

Kushida Kikyo loved getting along with people. Even when those few looked at her like that and insulted her with their remarks, she didn't seem disgusted. Instead, she just smiled at them again. That was impressive—or perhaps a little frightening.

Horikita Suzune clearly had no idea what was going on.

That left the boys.

Matsushita Chiaki guessed, Hirata? Or... Ayanokoji?

She couldn't imagine Ayanokoji being so considerate. It was probably that classmate named You En Tiandai. No, it was possible he'd suggested it to Hirata.

She glanced at Horikita Suzune again.

Matsushita Chiaki's eyes lit up. She thought she'd found the right answer, because she'd more or less figured out You En's motive.

She'd seen him getting along well with Horikita Suzune these past few days, so he'd probably suggested the idea to keep those idiots from taking pictures of her.

Good for him.

Matsushita Chiaki gave You En a mental thumbs-up. Whatever the reason, it was a gentlemanly thing to do, and she benefited from it too.

"Ah—choo!"

In the other swimming pool nearby, You En sneezed.

"What's wrong? Are you that out of shape?"

Yamauchi Haruki shook his head. "You really need to work on that."

You En ignored him. Yamauchi got no reaction, so he went to talk to the others. You En could hear him complaining about him.

"Like he's ever been in a fight."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally found a chance to come over. "You En, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I feel like punching you. Let me hit you once."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was baffled. What did that mean? No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

All he could do was fall back on his usual act. "No way. I'm weak."

You En looked him up and down at his muscular physique, his expression saying, You think I'm stupid?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka realized he really didn't know how to handle this guy. One sentence and one look were all it took to leave him at a loss.

"Fine, I won't hit you. Teach me how to swim."

You En said it casually,

"Teach me properly, and I'll forgive you."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka found it baffling. Was there some connection between these things?

Not hitting him, teaching him to swim, and forgiving him—what did any of that have to do with anything?

He declined politely. "Didn't the teacher just show you?"

"I've got the basics. I just need to practice. Can you watch me and point out anything I'm doing wrong?"

You En had a fair amount of faith in Ayanokoji's expertise.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka understood. He wanted someone to practice with him. Why had he needed to talk around it so much?

For the first time, he felt a little worn out, but he still replied,

"All right."

He remembered to add,

"I'm not that good either, so I might not notice."

Right, right. He couldn't go three sentences without pretending to be weak.

You En couldn't be bothered to say anything.

After a quick warm-up and a shower, You En stepped into the pool and got used to the buoyancy of the water.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched from the side, intending to help correct his form—at the level of an ordinary classmate, of course.

But he soon realized that You En wasn't making any mistakes at all.

He picked up the breathing and floating exercises incredibly quickly, and was already doing them more or less correctly from the start.

He also seemed to grasp the key to floating almost immediately: shifting and controlling his center of gravity. Ayanokoji didn't even need to guide him.

And he relaxed quickly. Actually, this person always seemed relaxed.

Ayanokoji remembered that the hardest part of learning to swim had been relaxing. He'd never known what it meant to relax, so later he'd had to practice other things specifically to make up for it.

After watching You En go through the full floating process a few times, Ayanokoji saw him move straight on to practicing the breaststroke.

Ayanokoji thought,

Could he actually be a genius?

That wasn't really the case.

You En's ability to absorb experience and knowledge had been influenced by his other self—that is, by his previous life—so of course he picked things up quickly.

On top of that, he exercised from time to time. He didn't have a physique as ridiculously defined as Ayanokoji, Sudō, or Koenji, but he had little excess fat and decent control over his body.

Swimming lv. 0 (Initiated)

The Student Terminal updated quietly, without giving a notification.

You En kept training, planning to meet the day's requirements first.

Just then, Yamauchi Haruki complained to the teacher who was guiding him nearby,

"We're never going to be out at sea, so what's the point of taking swimming lessons so seriously? Can't we just have fun?"

The PE teacher gave him a long look without saying a word, then turned to teach the other students.

After the teacher left, Yamauchi Haruki felt rather proud of himself. He thought he'd shown courage by standing up to the teacher, and started bragging about it to a few classmates.

You En felt he'd practiced enough. He turned to Ayanokoji beside him.

"How is it? Am I doing anything wrong?"

"It looks impressive. Well, at least I can't spot any mistakes."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could actually see a few issues with You En's swimming form,

but the teacher had only gone over the basics, and the day's lesson didn't require them to get that far. An ordinary classmate shouldn't have picked things up so quickly, so he decided not to say anything.

You En gave him a doubtful look, feeling he wasn't all that reliable.

"All right, I'll ask the teacher."

You En found the PE teacher and greeted him politely.

"I've finished the training for today, but I'm not sure if my form is up to standard. Could you take a look?"

The PE teacher thought of Yamauchi just now and compared him to the student in front of him... It was almost insulting to You En to even make the comparison.

"Come with me. I'll take a look."

The PE teacher got into the water and prepared to guide him from the front, but soon realized it wasn't necessary. He watched closely instead.

After You En swam one length, the teacher had him float in the water, then carefully pointed out what he needed to work on, telling him what to change as he went.

"Very good. From here, it's just a matter of practice."

The PE teacher praised him happily. As a teacher, it was a pleasure when a student was attentive, smart, and socially perceptive.

Besides, he knew You En had never learned to swim before. That made the sense of accomplishment even greater for a teacher.

The PE teacher had planned to use his limited access to check You En's information, but found that he'd already entered the club registry. Some of his information was protected.

However, the information he wanted to see wasn't restricted: mental strength, also known as soul strength.

The difference in soul strength between ordinary people was very small, fluctuating within a range of 0.5%. Even if one person's value was positive and another's was negative, the greatest difference was only 1.005 to 0.995, or 1%.

However,

You En's information showed that his soul strength was actually,

"2.01"

The next moment, the number blurred.

At the same time,

he received a warning from the Kyudo Club,

signed by "Red Bow."