Swimming Lesson

"Shiraishi, can you swim?" As soon as he stepped out of the boys' changing room, Shibata Sō, with his short, dark blue hair, quickly caught up and asked.

"A little." Shiraishi Makoto turned his head in response. "You're the athletic type, right? If I remember correctly, you joined the soccer club?"

"Shiraishi really does remember clearly!" Shibata Sō's eyes lit up, and he scratched his head with a grin. "But I'm only decent at sports. Coming to this school, I realized there are way too many talented people my age. People like you, Ichinose, Hamaguchi, and Kanzaki—you're all super smart. Whenever everyone's discussing something, I can never get a word in."

"Don't say that. This is just the first exam." Shiraishi Makoto gave a light smile, not slowing his pace as he headed toward the pool. "Everyone has their own strengths. There'll be a stage for you too."

The April weather still carried a hint of chill, but thankfully the school's indoor pool was equipped with top-notch facilities. A full temperature control system ran constantly, leaving the water crystal clear and the temperature pleasantly comfortable.

Speaking of swimming, swimsuits naturally came to mind.

Although the boys of Class B weren't like Class D in the original story, loudly scheming about girls' figures or making chest rankings, at this age, which boy didn't look forward to seeing the lively, pretty girls in their swimsuits?

That said, the worldview of this two-dimensional world was truly absurd. With looks like Shiraishi Makoto's, in his original world he could've debuted as a star, yet in Class B, he barely squeezed into the top five.

The girls in the class were even more outstanding, one after another. If someone asked Shiraishi Makoto to pick one who wasn't good-looking, he'd only think they were deliberately picking a fight.

The boys always changed faster than the girls. By the time all the boys had changed into their swim trunks and gathered by the pool to warm up, the girls were just emerging from the changing room in groups.

Though not a single boy spoke, the atmosphere was conspicuously quiet, but it went without saying that everyone's gazes were probably unconsciously drifting over.

Just then, a burly, muscular man with a well-built physique approached from nearby, raising his voice. "Already warming up? Hold on a moment, let the teacher take attendance."

"All forty are here, huh? Not bad, not bad." The swimming teacher finished the roll call and nodded in satisfaction.

"Then let's get straight to it. First, I'll lead everyone through a warm-up routine. After that, we'll split into groups and get in the water so I can see your swimming levels."

"Teacher, I'm not very good at swimming..." A boy raised his hand, looking a bit embarrassed.

"No problem. Those who can't swim can watch from the side for now. I promise I'll have all of you swimming before summer comes, so don't worry." The teacher patted his chest in assurance.

The sharp-eyed students immediately caught the extra information in his words. As others filed into the water, someone sidled up to Shiraishi Makoto.

"So that means there might be a swimming-related exam in summer?" Shibata Sō speculated in a low voice.

"An exam is likely, but it'll probably be something water-related, not just swimming alone." Shiraishi Makoto shook his head gently. Swimming didn't account for much in the comprehensive ability evaluation. Even if everyone didn't know about the summer uninhabited island exam, a little thought could rule out that guess.

After everyone had swum one lap as required, the teacher finally spoke up. "Next up, a competition. Boys and girls each race fifty meters. First place gets a reward of five thousand personal points, and last place gets my special 'training'."

Hearing there were points as a reward, many athletic students' eyes lit up. Those who could swim weren't worried about coming in last, since there were complete non-swimmers among both the boys and girls.

"T-Teacher, what about those of us who can't swim?" The same boy spoke up again.

"Then just walk along the bottom. This pool isn't deep. Whoever's slowest has to stay for remedial lessons." The teacher laughed heartily.

Though the class had already reminded each other about the importance of swimming, the word "training" still sent a shiver down everyone's spine. To avoid falling into the teacher's hands, those few complete landlubbers desperately strode through the pool, competing in a kind of "underwater running."

When it came to the other students who could swim, the scene was much more normal.

"Go for it! Go for it! Go, Shiraishi!"

"Go, Kanzaki! Kanzaki's amazing!"

The girls gathered by the poolside, cheering for their favored classmates.

Shiraishi Makoto touched the edge and looked up to see Shibata Sō, Kanzaki, and the others from his group already out of the water, much faster than him. Still, he wasn't last, just on par with the average students.

"You guys are really something." Shiraishi Makoto took a few deep breaths. He'd given it his all just now, and it seemed he needed to step up his physical training.

"Everyone has their strengths, right? That's what you just told me." Shibata Sō reached out a hand and pulled Shiraishi Makoto up from the pool.

"Good work, Shiraishi. Want a towel to dry off?" Ichinose Honami stood by the poolside, holding out a towel.

This wasn't any special treatment. Ichinose Honami was organizing the students who weren't competing yet to help with support duties for everyone.

"Thanks, Ichinose." Shiraishi Makoto took the towel and wiped his hair and the water droplets off his body. "Your girls' race is next, right? Do your best."

"I'm pretty average at swimming too. I noticed during the test just now—our classmates are all really impressive." Ichinose Honami smiled and waved her hand.

Soon, the girls' results came in. Ichinose Honami hadn't lied; she placed fifth out of ten in her group, a perfectly ordinary performance.

The first-place winner among the girls was Minamikozue, who seemed to be in some sports club and was quite athletic. Among the boys, Shibata Sō took first, and both received a reward of five thousand points.

But looking back, it didn't really matter who got first.

"Shiraishi, Shibata and Minamikozue are planning to use the points the teacher rewarded to treat everyone to karaoke. Since tomorrow's a day off, it'll be from after dinner until around nine at night." The messenger was Ichinose Honami. As the class leader, she always notified everyone about gatherings.

"I'm fine with that." Shiraishi Makoto nodded in agreement.

The students of Class B seemed to really enjoy group activities. It was only the first week of school, and counting, this would be the third time. He'd declined the first two, but everyone assumed he was secretly gathering intel for the class and understood.

Taking a break now and then wasn't a bad idea.