Poolside and the Side Effects of a Max-Level Build

On Wednesday morning, Orikasa Yuu woke up ten minutes earlier than usual.

He did not have a habit of lingering in bed, but today was the first swimming class. That body, tuned to its limits by the max-level panel, was about to shed its cover in full view of everyone, like a precision instrument forcibly placed on display for countless eyes to scan and evaluate.

"Troublesome."

He silently repeated those two words, then got up and washed.

Advanced Nurturing High School's indoor swimming complex stood on the east side of the gymnasium. Its exterior was a streamlined silver-gray dome, but the space inside was even more extravagant than expected. There were ten full fifty-meter standard lanes. The water was so clear that the blue tile patterns on the bottom were visible, while the surrounding stands were covered in non-slip rubber. Even the air carried a faint blend of disinfectant and some expensive fragrance.

"This is way too luxurious..." Ike Kanji stared up at the skylights in the dome, his mouth hanging open. "My middle school's pool wasn't even a third of this!"

"Obviously. This is a government-run school." Yamauchi Haruki was already impatiently taking off his jacket. "Hurry up, I can't wait any longer!"

Orikasa Yuu followed at the back of the crowd, carrying the school-issued swim bag in his hand, his face entirely expressionless.

An Energy-Saving Ideology adherent's nightmare: a mandatory group activity involving the display of one's body.

The boys' changing room was filled with the restless energy unique to adolescence. Sudou Ken was the first to take off his shirt, revealing muscles that were fairly solid but slightly rough-looking. Hirata Yosuke's well-proportioned physique looked like that of a magazine model, drawing several whistles. Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki, meanwhile, were as skinny as chopsticks and mocked each other's ribs.

Orikasa Yuu walked to the locker in the farthest corner and silently began unbuttoning his shirt.

He had no intention of showing off, nor any need to hide. The core of Energy-Saving Ideology was "do not actively expend energy," and taking off clothes was merely a necessary physical action.

But when his shirt slid completely off, the chatter in the changing room fell eerily silent for a moment.

It was not the swollen muscle built up in a gym, nor the exaggerated blocky contours of a bodybuilder. It was a body of extreme leanness, extreme symmetry, and extreme practicality—his shoulders and back were as smooth as if carved by a blade, his waist and abdomen tightened into a sharp V-shape, and every muscle was thin yet taut. Like a cheetah. Like a drawn blade. Like a combat machine calibrated with absolute precision.

The most frightening part was its sense of "balance." There was nothing superfluous, no weakness anywhere, as if every cell in that body had been calculated into the optimal solution.

"Hey... Orikasa, you..." Ike Kanji's voice cracked. "What kind of monster are you?"

"Have you trained?" Sudou Ken frowned. Beneath his red hair, his eyes held none of their usual provocation, only the scrutiny of an athlete facing an unknown powerful opponent.

"No." Orikasa Yuu folded his shirt and placed it in the locker, his tone flat. "I was born this way."

That was the truth. The [Strength: MAX] granted by the max-level panel was not the result of acquired training, but physical parameters adjusted to their limits from the moment he was born.

He changed into his swim trunks, ignored the shocked and jealous stares around him, and walked straight toward the pool.

When Class D's boys appeared together at the edge of the pool, a wave of suppressed gasps rose from the girls' section.

"Is that... someone from Class D?"

"You're kidding, that body..."

"Who was that again? I think his name's Orikasa? I never noticed him before..."

Orikasa Yuu ignored those stares. His eyes swept over the pool—the water temperature was constant, the water quality was clear, and there were no obvious safety hazards. Then he looked over the stands.

In the uppermost corner of the stands, Hasebe Haruka and Sakura Airi sat side by side. Unlike everyone else, neither had changed into a swimsuit. They still wore their dark red school uniform jackets. Sakura Airi had drawn her knees up, resting her chin on her arms, curling into a ball with only a small tuft of pink hair showing. Hasebe Haruka, on the other hand, lounged against the back of her seat, looking down as she said something to Sakura.

"What the hell?!" Yamauchi Haruki's voice exploded beneath the stands. He pointed upward, his face filled with grief and indignation. "Why aren't you getting in the water? What's the point of coming to swimming class if you won't swim?!"

"Exactly!" Ike Kanji wailed along with him. "We've been looking forward to this all week! This is fraud! This is psychological damage against boys!"

A unified chorus of booing rose from the girls' section.

"Disgusting."

"Go die, perverts."

"Who cares what you were looking forward to?"

Karuizawa Kei even rolled her eyes. "Can you two keep it down? This is so embarrassing."

Yamauchi and Ike shrank under everyone's scorn like two stray dogs drenched by the rain.

Orikasa Yuu stood at the poolside, preparing to enter the lane farthest in the corner, when he suddenly felt several gazes settle on him.

In the stands, Hasebe Haruka was nudging Sakura Airi with her elbow, her lips moving as she said something Orikasa could not make out. Sakura Airi wrapped her uniform jacket tighter around herself, but from his angle, he could see that the tips of her exposed ears had turned so red they were nearly translucent.

On the other side of the pool, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood in the shallow end with his eyes half-lidded. Yet his gaze slid from Orikasa's shoulder line to his waist and abdomen like a scanner, lingering for roughly half a second before casually moving away. That was not a look of appreciation. He was recording data.

Horikita Suzune stood beside Ayanokoji in a conservative black one-piece swimsuit. She looked at him expressionlessly, then immediately turned away. But beneath the water, her fingertips tightened slightly—an instinctive defensive reaction toward an unknown variable.

"Oh?"

A lazy, arrogant voice came from behind him.

Koenji Rokusuke leaned against the poolside railing, his wet blond hair plastered to his forehead. His bare upper body displayed equally near-perfect muscle definition. His gaze traveled over Orikasa Yuu as though appraising a work of art.

"A perfect body." Koenji ran his fingers through his bangs, a rare curve appearing at the corner of his mouth, devoid of mockery. "Not a fake vessel piled up in a gym, nor an inferior product chemically enhanced by drugs. Rather... an innate, pure 'completed form,' free of any waste."

He spread his arms as if embracing something. "Even I have to acknowledge it. You may be more interesting than I imagined."

Orikasa Yuu did not respond.

He slipped into the water. The cool pool water instantly enveloped his body. He stopped in the lane farthest in the corner, leaving only his head above the surface, then closed his eyes.

An Energy-Saving Ideology adherent's helplessness: even if he wanted to minimize his presence, this max-level body would automatically draw attention.

In his mind, he marked today's energy expenditure assessment as over budget.

"Students, you're free to do as you please. Be careful, and don't go too far from the shallow end." The PE teacher blew his whistle, apparently considering today's teaching task complete.

The pool instantly grew lively. The boys began splashing one another, while the girls gathered in small groups in the shallow end to chat. Orikasa Yuu sank into the water, leaving only the part above his nose exposed, like a silent reef.

From the stands, Hasebe Haruka's voice drifted down on the wind in broken fragments:

"...Did you see that? That body..."

"...Stop talking..."

"...Airi, your face is so red..."

Orikasa Yuu sank a little deeper and released a string of bubbles.

His first swimming class slowly came to an end amid social energy expenditure far beyond his expectations.

What Orikasa Yuu did not know was that, during the next few swimming classes, the PE teacher would organize an in-class swimming competition.

When that time came, his "completed form" of a body would no longer be able to hide beneath the pool water.