Week three, Monday,
Just as expected, Chabashira Sae came over with two sets of exam papers.
You En still thought the comprehensive questions in these two major categories were pretty well designed. They hadn't been made by someone trying to trip students up, but by someone who had actually studied the subjects.
They were steady, well-rounded questions. If you'd studied hard, working through them was actually enjoyable—a thoroughly satisfying experience.
The results came out at noon, but Chabashira Sae didn't come to the classroom.
Everyone ran outside to check the giant screen. There were no rankings, but the scores were listed from highest to lowest.
"You En, total score: 200."
"Sakayanagi Arisu, total score: 195."
"Ichinose Honami, total score: 195."
"..."
"Horikita Suzune, total score: 186."
You En looked for the girls from Class B.
"Ando Sayo, total score: 155."
"Kobashi Yume, total score: 147."
...On the whole, everyone scored around 150, meaning they'd mastered over 70 percent of the material. That was already quite good.
"Only one person got a perfect score this week?"
Hasebe Haruka looked at the results and couldn't help commenting.
She didn't usually pay much attention to grades, but Wang Meiyu cared quite a bit. Hasebe liked the shy girl, so she'd come along with her.
Wang Meiyu looked rather admiringly at him. "You En is amazing."
"I knew he was good at tests, but this is a little ridiculous," Hasebe said.
"If only it were a single subject. With everything combined, I couldn't even finish the questions."
Yukimura sighed. He'd only scored 160 this time, despite studying seriously all along. He'd mainly gotten nervous during the test, and hadn't even had time to answer some of the questions.
"Wanna fight?!"
Ken Sudō suddenly shouted.
You En looked over and saw some students from Class C staring coldly in their direction. They must have made some sarcastic remarks that had gotten under Sudō's skin.
Ishizaki sneered. "Trash is trash. You're still making excuses and saying studying is useless. The Basketball Club didn't want you either. Our class got two official members, and they still didn't pick you."
At that, You En had a bad feeling.
Ken Sudō panted heavily, unable to hold back any longer. He completely lost it and started forward, ready to throw hands.
Hirata Yosuke came up behind him and tried to talk him down, but Sudō wouldn't listen, so he had to physically hold him back.
Sudō flung out an arm and sent Hirata stumbling. "Stay out of it!"
"I'll be looking forward to the day you slink away from this school."
Ishizaki and the others left after tossing out a few more taunts.
You En watched from the side and noticed something: Ishizaki and the others hadn't come up with those remarks themselves. A student named Kaneda Satoru had told them what to say, and they'd repeated it.
The provocation had worked all too well. Ken Sudō was like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest touch.
Several girls were gathered around Hirata Yosuke. Karuizawa was particularly close, clinging to his arm and asking him all sorts of performative questions.
"Must be nice. They got together so quickly."
Kanji Ike watched the scene with envy.
Yamauchi was envious too, though he couldn't resist making a snide comment.
"Forget a gyaru like Karuizawa. Her face is pretty average. I'd need at least someone on Kushida's level."
As he spoke, Yamauchi glanced at Ayanokoji beside him, as if to prod him into saying when he could arrange for him to meet Kushida Kikyo alone.
Ayanokoji sensed trouble and tried to stop Yamauchi with a look, warning him not to ask that in front of everyone, but Yamauchi didn't seem to get it.
So Ayanokoji had no choice but to say he needed to use the restroom, cutting off what Yamauchi was about to say.
"Are these people really... students?"
Horikita Suzune stood some distance away from the Class D crowd. As You En walked over, she asked him.
She thought about how she'd spent the whole day with the Class B girls yesterday, then cooked with them in the evening and enjoyed dinner together.
Seeing this bunch from Class D today made the contrast feel enormous,
even though she hadn't expected much from them in the first place.
"..."
You En didn't think poor grades were a big deal. A person couldn't be judged by their test scores. But the students in Class D had poor habits and personalities, and that was a problem.
He'd been planning to tell them that the exam could lead to someone being expelled, but now he didn't feel like handling it himself.
He took out his terminal and sent Hirata a message, then planned to have lunch with Horikita Suzune.
Hirata Yosuke received the message and read it. His expression turned extremely grave.
"Hirata: "Is this information true?""
"You En: "The Class B homeroom teacher said so.""
"Hirata: "Is someone definitely going to be expelled, or would even the lowest-scoring person be safe as long as everyone passed?""
"You En: "If everyone passes, they probably won't expel anyone.""
"Hirata: "Could we talk for a bit, sometime around lunch?""
"You En: "I don't want to get involved in this. Sorry.""
"Hirata: "All right. Either way, thank you. Your warning could keep our classmates out of danger.""
"You En: "It was no trouble, Class Representative. Good luck handling things.""
You En put his phone away, then suddenly remembered that he had swimming class later.
He remembered the gym teacher saying that once they'd completed the lesson requirements, they could use the other facilities. Maybe he could invite a friend to go swimming with him.
You En wanted to see Horikita Suzune in a swimsuit, so he suggested,
"After we finish the lesson later, how about we find a pool and practice together?"
"What are you talking about?"
Horikita Suzune stared at him with a baffled look.
"Why would we rent a pool just for the two of us?"
You En answered directly, "Because I want to see you in a swimsuit."
"..."
Horikita Suzune couldn't understand how his mind worked. She sighed.
"Kushida already sent you photos last time."
You En said, "But I want to see you in person."
"No."
Horikita Suzune turned down the suggestion, though she wasn't entirely firm in her resolve. The thought of showing herself to him alone made her feel a little reluctant in a way she couldn't quite explain.
"Oh."
You En replied in an exaggeratedly wounded voice.
Horikita Suzune felt as if she'd done something wrong. Resigned, she said,
"I'll take a few pictures later and send them to you. Stop acting like that."
You En perked up. "Really?"
Horikita Suzune twirled a strand of hair around her index finger. "It's the same swimsuit as last time. There's nothing special about it."
"Take a few more pictures, please!"
"I don't understand you."
Horikita Suzune sighed helplessly, though a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Then came swimming class that afternoon.
After the gym teacher had taught them a few things, he gave You En some one-on-one coaching for a while, then sat off to the side and watched the students do as they pleased.
"Let's see who can swim the fastest!" one student suggested.
"A race?"
The gym teacher nodded. "Then I'll put up a prize. First place gets 5,000 points."
"Seriously?!"
Yamauchi Haruki shouted.
Ken Sudō was already worked up. He rubbed his hands together. "Then I have to win."
Koenji seemed to be planning to take part too.
You En supposed it made sense. At this school, upperclassmen and underclassmen didn't interact. As the heir to a zaibatsu, Koenji couldn't trade with upperclassmen using outside resources.
And by the third week, most students who spent their points freely had almost run out.
The gym teacher glanced at You En. He knew You En had been training with Annie, but they weren't working on competitive speed so much as building endurance and adaptability. So he said,
"If we're going to race, let's make it a challenge... We'll do a long-distance swim. 1,500 meters."
"Long distance?"
Ken Sudō didn't know what that meant. He thought it simply meant swimming a longer distance, and remained full of confidence.
Everyone moved to a larger pool, big enough for 50 people to compete at once.
The girls joined in too.
Matsushita Chiaki secretly tried to estimate how much it had cost to build a pool like this.
There were the application fees, excavation, construction, the pool's circulation system and temperature controls, not to mention the showers, changing rooms, reception hall, and all the rest...
Even at the bare minimum, it had to cost 50 million yen, right?
And the school had more than one or two of these pools. They built them like money was no object.
"They're absurdly rich."
On the boys' side, even Kanji Ike, who didn't know much about construction, could only marvel. He'd been to swimming pools a few times, but there was no comparison. This one was like a small artificial lake.
"Let's begin."
The gym teacher glanced at You En, then at Ayanokoji and Koenji. The winner would come from among those three. He'd wanted to give You En some personal points by giving him extra coaching, but he couldn't make it too obvious.
It was up to You En to do the rest. The teacher had already done all he could.
More than 20 boys entered the water together.
To everyone's surprise, the fastest ones were the Idiot Trio, with Ken Sudō leading the charge.
You En swam using the stroke that felt most comfortable to him.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched him from beside him. The kid was a completely different swimmer from last time. You En kept his strokes long to conserve energy and breathed on one side, adjusting his balance to keep from tipping over.
Even Ayanokoji couldn't do any better. From here on, it would come down to stamina.
By around 20 meters, most of the boys had already slowed down. For beginners, that was about the limit.
Ken Sudō powered through nearly 60 meters in one go, then suddenly ran out of steam and slowed to a crawl.
You En, Ayanokoji, and Koenji passed him without hurrying and swam on ahead.
By the 800-meter mark, the gap between the three had begun to widen.
You En and Koenji were at the front, with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka trailing behind them.
But You En felt that Ayanokoji still had energy left. He'd probably noticed something was off.
They'd already completed a lap, and the students around the pool were watching them as if they were superheroes.
"I'm done. You guys carry on."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka climbed out of the pool. His breathing had only quickened slightly; he wasn't even panting.
Koenji nodded to You En. "You En boy, it seems the winner will be decided between the two of us."
"Then let's do it."
You En and Koenji began their final lap.
Koenji really was the heir to a zaibatsu. He powered through on pure physical fitness, as if he'd taken performance-enhancing drugs. It was absurd.
But that didn't matter.
You En focused and activated "Second Self," filling himself with renewed energy. His body returned to peak condition, and he easily passed Koenji to take first place.
Though Rokusuke Koenji had lost, he didn't seem bothered. He simply brushed back his hair, nodded in approval, and went to take a shower.
The gym teacher announced the winner, cleared his throat, and tapped at his terminal. Then he said to You En,
"Here are your 5,000 points."
"Thank you, sir."
You En checked his point balance. He now had 13,500.
He'd earned 4,000 points from his part-time jobs on Tuesday and Thursday, then 6,000 on Friday. He'd spent 1,500 going out with Ando Sayo and the others and splitting the cost of that evening's ingredients.
With this 5,000, he'd broken the 10,000-point mark again.
A message suddenly came in.
You En opened it and saw a swimsuit selfie from Horikita Suzune.
She seemed a little embarrassed, so she'd barely included her face in the picture. Her photography skills weren't great either, but she'd gotten all the important parts in the shot.
You En thought for a moment, then took a few pictures of himself and sent them back.
"Horikita Suzune: "?""
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