Chapter 67

The indoor swimming pool in the early morning.

Since it was the morning of a school-wide day off, the venue was empty and tranquil, the entire heated pool feeling as though it had been privately reserved.

When Tatsuya Sakuya pushed open the glass doors and walked in, a steady, crisp sound of water being struck echoed from the pool.

"Splash."

In the standard fifty-meter racing lane, a figure cut through the water like a nimble fish.

Touching the wall, turning, kicking off.

Every movement was relaxed and composed, even carrying an elegance that seemed deliberately put on for others to see.

As water churned around him, the blond young man braced himself on the edge of the pool with one arm and lightly vaulted out of the water.

It was Koenji Rokusuke.

He leisurely picked up a towel from a lounge chair and wiped his chest, then casually took out a small gold-handled comb and began tidying his wet bangs in the water's reflection as though no one else were present.

"...No matter how many times I look at it, this body of mine is still perfect."

Koenji smoothed the tips of his hair, his tone filled with pure self-admiration.

Tatsuya Sakuya placed his gym bag on a nearby chair, grabbed the hem of his black short-sleeved shirt, and pulled it over his head.

As the shirt came off, the physique he had honed through years of exercise was immediately revealed.

The inverted-triangle outline of his back muscles was clearly defined, and his eight abdominal muscles were neat and distinct, without a trace of excess fat.

Koenji, who had been holding the little gold comb, stopped moving.

He narrowed his eyes and looked Tatsuya Sakuya over twice, a faintly amused smile tugging at his lips.

"Handsome boy, although it still