Chapter 5: 2.2 Swimming Day
"All right! The pool!"
The end of lunch signalled the start of swimming class and the time of fantasies for many boys.
Without even trying to hide his excitement, Ike leapt up and headed with the others toward the indoor pool. And the others followed.
"Come on, let's go together, Ayanokouji!"
"Huh? O-okay."
Ike pulled the shy boy along into the locker room, behind them was Heylel.
Sudou promptly removed his uniform and started to change, showing off his physique. He'd built up his body through his years of basketball playing. Even in comparison with the other students, he was clearly in incredible shape. While the others wrapped themselves in bath towels, Sudou unabashedly wore only his underwear. He stood there, semi-nude, and took his swimsuit out of his bag.
Ayanokoji, who was next to him, couldn't help but ask, "Sudou, you're pretty bold. Aren't you nervous being around other people?"
"In sports, you can't get flustered every time you have to change. If you act all shifty, it'll have the opposite effect. You become the centre of attention."
Fair point Heylel thought as he too removed everything but the undershirt and the swim pants.
"All right, I'm going on ahead." A moment later, Sudou left the locker room.
Then Ayanokoji's eyes went to Heylel and then came his verdict: decently muscular, practises something.
Heylel looked around the room, Kouenji had just entered, seemingly set on taking his time he shooed Heylel out who was followed by the rest.
Upon seeing the fifty-meter pool, Ike cried out, "Whoa, this school is something else! It's even better than the city pool, don't you think?" The water was clear and beautiful, and because it was indoors, we didn't have to worry about the weather. The perfect environment.
"What about the girls? Aren't they here yet?" Ike looked around, sniffing the air like a dog.
"Don't sniff at least," Heylel shook his head.
"They take a while to change, so they're probably not ready," Ayanokoji answered.
"Hey, I wonder what would happen if I just suddenly jumped into the girls' locker room?" Ike said.
"They'd gang up on you, beat the crap out of you, and then file charges, probably," Ayanokoji answered.
"Don't give me such a realistic, deadpan answer and ruin my fun!" Ike began to tremble with fright as he played that scenario in his head.
"If the girls sense you staring at them in their swimsuits, they'll probably hate you."
"Come on, like there's a guy out there who wouldn't stare! Agh. What am I gonna do if I get a boner?"
Heylel shrugged, "Don't worry, it would be hard to notice yours."
"Hey!" Ike shouted only to be ignored and a brief chuckle went through the boys who were there.
"Wow! It's so spacious! It's so much bigger than the pool at my junior high school," A few minutes after the boys had arrived, a girl's voice could be heard.
"A-are they here?!" Ike looked ready to pounce, which elected a sigh from Heylel, "While I agree that the girls from our class are beautiful, can you stop being a dog?"
Ike ignored him instead searching for a particular girl, who he couldn't locate. "Hasebe isn't here! Wh-what's going on, Professor?!" Ike cried.
The Professor, who had been watching the class, was now in a panic. Standing on the second-floor observation deck, he scanned the room. Ike and the others also looked around.
At this height, the Professor's beady, bespectacled eyes should have spotted his prey instantly. However…He couldn't find the girls anywhere. He looked to his right and left, as if in disbelief. Could they still be changing? Or could…"B-behind you, Professor!"
"What?!" Ike pointed and shouted. The situation had become clear. Hasebe stood behind the Professor on the observation deck. One by one, the rest of the girls appeared, until they'd all emerged onto the second floor. Sakura was among them.
"Wh-what's going on? How did this happen?" Ike slumped to the ground and buried his face in his hands, shaken by this unbelievable turn of events.
"Because you were being far too obvious? If you had toned down your…antics, they might have been comfortable swimming," Heylel pointed out. They had made the girls too self-conscious.
Ike looked at him like a wounded dog, was he crying? "Aw, but I thought I'd get to see big tits! Big tits! I thought this was my chance!" No, he was not crying more like he was contemplating suicide.
His wails of agony reached Hasebe. "Gross," the girls muttered among themselves.
Ike was being far too obvious, so it wasn't surprising that the girls hated him. "Ike, don't be sad! Come on, there are still tons of girls out there for us!" Yamauchi said.
"Y-yeah, that's right. You got haven't. I can't get down in the dumps now!" Ike cried."Bro!" Yamauchi and Ike reaffirmed their manly bond of friendship, clasping their hands together.
"What are you two doing? That looks like fun."
"K-K-Kushida-chan?!"
Kushida showed up between the two of them. She was clad in her school-issued swimwear, which nicely showed off her voluptuous figure. In an instant, nearly all of the boys' eyes were glued to Kushida's body. She must have been a D or E cup. Ayanokoji didn't know for sure, but he estimated.
She was a lot bigger than anyone had thought. Her butt and thighs were also more voluptuous than the boys had pictured, which was strangely captivating. However, all of us boys quickly averted our gaze and Heylel could swear he heard someone mutter something about world peace.
"Why the pained expression?" Horikita examined Ayanokoji's face closely, with a suspicious look.
"I'm currently in the midst of an internal battle," He replied.
Horikita was in a school swimsuit. He knew she looked good. Not bad at all. But if he stared, it was likely that something bad would result. He thought it best to grin and bear it until "it" calmed down.
As they talked, Horikita's eyes roamed over him, "Ayanokouji-kun, do you exercise?" she asked.
"Huh? No, not really. I'm not particularly proud of this, but in middle school, I was the kid who never had any after-school plans."
"Well, you say that, but…judging from the development of your forearms and your back muscles, you seem above average."
"I guess my parents blessed me with good genes?"
"I don't think that's the only reason."
Heylel who stood a step from them agreed but didn't interrupt.
"Jeez, what's with you? Do you have a muscle fetish or something? Is that it?" Ayanokoji dodged the question.
"I suppose if you deny it that much, I have to believe you…" She appeared somewhat dissatisfied—Horikita had a rather discerning eye and enjoyed using it, and Ayanokoji took note of that.
"Are you a good swimmer, Horikita-san?" Although Horikita gave a slightly puzzled look in response to Kushida's question, she quietly answered. "I wouldn't say I'm particularly good or bad at it."
"I was really bad at swimming when I was in junior high. But I gave it my all and practised hard, and now I think I've gotten better," Kushida said.
"I see." Horikita gave a disinterested response and backed away slightly, clearly signalling that she didn't want to continue the conversation further.
"All right, everyone, line up!" Their PE teacher arrived with bravado, he looked very well-exercised, the personification of the words PE-teacher.
"There are sixteen of you, huh? I thought there would've been more, but this is all right."
Some of the students had ditched class, but it didn't bother him.
"After you warm up, I want to see what you can do. Swim for me," the coach said.
"Excuse me, sir. I can't swim, though… "A lone boy sheepishly raised his hand and spoke up.
"Since you have me as your teacher, you'll be swimming by summertime. Don't worry about anything."
"Well, we don't need to force ourselves to swim, do we? It's not like we're going to the beach or anything."
"No way. I don't mind at all if you're bad at swimming now, but I'll make sure you guys are winners in the end. Besides, being able to swim will come in handy later in life. Definitely."
Definitely? Heylel picked up the word…yes two-thirds of the earth is water, it would come in handy sometime or the other.
After warm-up exercises, the teacher asked us to swim for about fifty metres. Students who could not swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the pool with their feet.
One by one, the students took to the temperature-controlled water and swam the fifty-metre distance.
"He He He! That was an easy win for me. Did you all see my super swimming skills?" Ike crowd and Heylel felt second-hand embarrassment at the lie.
"Well, it looks like everyone can swim, for the most part."
"Of course, sir. Back in junior high, people called me 'the flying fish,' you know."
"I see. In that case, I'll have you start competing against each other. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty-meter freestyle."
"C-compete?! Are you serious?" Ike cried.
"I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The student who comes in last place, however, will have to take supplementary lessons. Get ready." The skilled swimmers cheered with joy, while the less confident students groaned. But Heylel was stuck on one thing, '5000 points.' Points for victory then.
"Because we don't have very many girls, I'll split you into two groups of five people, and the student with the fastest overall time will be the winner. As for the boys, I'll look at the top five finishing times and then move on to the final round."
The girls started first, while the boys sat on the sidelines, filled with excitement as they cheered… no, as they assessed the girls.
"Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan. Haaaaaaa…" It looked like Kushida had completely entranced Ike.
"You're scaring everyone, Ike, settle down," Ayanokoji tried to calm him down.
"B-but, Kushida-chan is so goddamn cute, isn't she? And her breasts are pretty big, too!" He defended his position all the while causing Heylel more and more second-hand embarrassment.
"Everyone, burn these images into your mind! Remember the fap material you see here today!" Ike cried and Heylel wondered if he should skip all swimming classes from now on.
But that was only Heylel's thought everyone else shouted, "Yeah!" Somehow, this class had strengthened the boys' bonds.
Another exception was Hirata, who seemed to avoid looking at the girls.
The whistle blew, and five of the girls dove into the water. Horikita was in the second lane. She took the lead at the beginning of the race and kept her distance from the others, maintaining her position at the front of the pack. She swam confidently, effortlessly covering the fifty meters.
"Wow! Awesome, Horikita!"
Her time was approximately twenty-eight seconds. She was pretty fast. Horikita slowly got out of the pool and went to the side, not even appearing out of breath. To the boys, results were of secondary importance. Their eyes were glued to the girls' jiggling butts.
Kushida, the most popular girl, was in the fourth lane. The boys cheered for her, smiling and waving.
"Whoo!" The guys were riled up. Some even tried to sneakily cover their crotches.
When she had introduced herself, she had declared she wanted to be friends with everyone in the class. it looked like that could be checked off the list—on the other side of the pool she stood with the girls and they all were happily chatting, all of them involved in the conversation.
The two girls had presented an excellent performance, but they were lucky. In the second race a girl from the swimming club, Onodera, finished the race with a time of twenty-six seconds. Kushida finished at about thirty-one seconds, which was a fairly good time but only resulted in her getting fourth place.
Horikita came second and was approached by Ayanokoji.
While their conversation was ongoing Heylel was standing next to Hirata, "I wanted to strangle Ike halfway through."
Hirata had a bitter smile but didn't disagree. Rather he shifted the topic, "So, how did you become friends with Kouenji?"
Friends? Heylel wanted to deny it but…were they friends? Kouenji didn't seem like the type to have them and he called him his 'gofer' but that could just be ribbing between friends. Thinking it through he could only really say, "Who knows? I think it is more that he just doesn't care if I am there or not."
Hirata raised a brow, "Don't you two hang out?"
"Maybe," He supposed he had asked Kouenji for his exercise routine and they did spend an hour or two together after school, most of which involved being dragged around by the blonde to hunt for information.
"Alright boys! Gather up!" The teacher called out and the pair went up and joined the rest of the boys.
One by one the boys went in and one by one the rankings came, all unremarkable really and Then Sudo took to the water.
He was fast, very dexterous and strong, emphasis on strong. His strokes had power and agility. And when he reached the end he had set the class record, twenty-five seconds.
"Wow, you're amazing, Sudou. You finished the race in twenty-five seconds!" they cried.
"Sudou, won't you consider joining the swim team? If you practice, you could probably win at competitions!" The swimming club girl was all over him.
"Basketball is my only sport. Swimming's just for fun." Sudou, who hadn't even broken a sweat, calmly got out of the pool.
"Oh, wow, outstanding motor skills." Ike, feeling envious, elbowed Sudou.
"Kya!" Came a girl's cry, and then came more, "Oh my god!" "So handsome~"
They weren't admitting Sudo rather they were all eyeing Hirata who was on the starting line. He had a macho-pretty boy body and that had sent the girls to places.
After hearing the girls' delighted squeals for Hirata, Ike spat in response. Sudou didn't seem very amused either and shot Hirata a glare.
"I'm going to blow you out of the water. I'll use all of my power," he growled.
After the teacher blew the whistle, Hirata dove into the pool in beautiful form. Every time Hirata's arms cut through the water, the girls cheered by the side of the pool. His form was effortlessly cool.
"He's surprisingly fast," Sudou commented. It was certainly true that Hirata swam fast. There was no doubt that he'd shot ahead of the four other boys who were competing with him. This, of course, prompted more shrieks from the girls. Hirata didn't fail to live up to our expectations: He came in first place. Deafening cheers reverberated throughout the room.
"Sensei, what was his time?" asked Ike, impatiently.
"Hirata's time was…26.13 seconds."
"All right. You can do it, Sudou. You can win against him! Bring down the hammer of justice!"
"Leave it to me. I'll demolish him and his popularity…" Ike's encouragement had Sudou all fired up, but even if Hirata lost, it wasn't likely that his popularity would drop.
"Hirata-kun, you were so cool! You're not just good at soccer, you're good at swimming!" one girl cried.
"You think so? Thank you!" he said.
"Hey, why are you ogling Hirata-kun like that?" another girl said.
"Huh? I'm 'ogling'?!"
There was an indignant squeal. Hirata's immense popularity was unbelievably frustrating.
"Come on, girls, knock it off. Please don't fight over me. I belong to everyone. I want to be everyone's friend. Besides, what if someone better at swimming comes along?"
Kouenji mistakenly seemed to assume that the cheers were for him. He put on a refreshing smile and then planted his feet by the starting line.
"Hey. Uh, why is Kouenji wearing a speedo?"
"Wh-what?"
Although the school allowed such tight swimwear, Kouenji was the only one in our class wearing it. The briefs drew attention to his crotch, and the girls all looked away.
However, in the third race, all eyes were on Kouenji. The stance he took at the starting line was just like an athlete's. His posture wasn't the only impressive thing, either. He looked to be in even better physical shape than Sudou. Sudou and all of the other boys in class held their breath as they attentively focused on Kouenji.
"I'm not particularly interested in winning or losing…but I don't like losing," said Sudou, to no one in particular.
As the whistle blew, Kouenji dove into the pool in textbook form.
"Whoa! Wow!" Sudou gave a surprised shout in response to Kouenji's unexpectedly aggressive swimming. Hirata also stared in apparent amazement.
Kouenji splashed fiercely as he swam, but it didn't slow his incredible speed. He was unquestionably faster than Sudou. After checking the time, the teacher reflexively looked at his stopwatch twice. "23.22 seconds."
"My abdominal muscles, back muscles, and psoas major muscle seem to be in good shape, as usual. Not a bad performance," Kouenji said.
After getting out of the pool, he smirked and swept his hair up. He wasn't short of breath at all. It was as if he hadn't even swum in the first place.
These back-to-back performances had gotten everyone fired up, everyone except Heylel. He just groaned as he stepped up the starting line, he should have gone in before Kouenjie, hell, he should have gone before Hirata.
And as he took his stance his eyes went to the blond standing on the other side of the pool, he was standing there, waiting for him, "Heylel boy, you better not disappoint." His proclamation was louder than the coach's whistle with which he dove in.
His form was excellent, and his movement was too, taking one stroke after another as the water rippled past him. He was flying though, unfortunately not as fast as Kouenjie, not even faster than Sudou. "Twenty-five and a half," The man announced.
When he walked out of the pool he looked like he had put in some work into that speed, he was breathing rough. "Fuck man, how do you do it?" He said as we walked out of the pool.
"Stick to the routine I have provided, Heylel boy, and you might be able to at least make for a warm-up," He announced as he circled the room. Heylel just shook his head as he followed after.
The blonde was not even affected by what he considered strenuous exercise and told him that he would barely make for a warm-up even if he continued to break his back doing the plan he had given him.
His performance was nothing to scoff at but he wasn't Hirata pretty nor was he Kouenji fast so no one remarked on it. No one other than Kouenji and one girl, Horikita. "Your friend seems very athletic," She remarked to Ayanokoji.
He studied the pair of boys who were heading to line up in the five-man race, "We have some sporty people this year."
"Sporty?"
"A person who—" He was cut off as an elbow dug into his side, "Ouch!" He pulled back from the offender his hand going to rub the impact side. "What was that for?"
She did not respond, keeping her eyes on the coach. Who pulled the whistle to his lips. With a single sound, all five were off. It seemed close for the first second but that was all. Koueneji just tore through the competition, he finished five metres ahead of the delinquent, who finished second, followed by Heylel and then Hirata.
Naturally, Kouenjie took his spoils as the winner, the 5000 points.
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[A/N: Fuck this chapter, I had to write about 3k words about swimming. I hate it with all my heart.
Also, no major changes here if only because I don't know what I would change since this chapter focuses a lot more on the other students of class D than anything else.]
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