1 Chapter 3.1: Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for waiting! Part 1

"Wow, it's the pool!"

After lunch ended, the long-awaited swimming class Ike and the others were waiting for finally came.

Without trying to hide his lust, Ike stood up in excitement. The group faced the indoor swimming pool I also followed stealthily from the back. Or so I thought.

"Let's go together, Ayanokouji."

"Eh? Uh, s-sure."

I hesitated from Ike's invitation, but I quickly followed them to the locker rooms.

Sudou quickly started changing his clothes. His well-forged body from years of playing basketball was visible. Especially if you compared him to the others in the class, his body looks strong.

The students wrapped themselves with bath towels, but Sudou stood there in only his underwear. In that semi-nude state, he took out his swimsuit from his bag. I unintentionally spoke up at the sight.

"Sudou, don't you feel embarrassed?"

"No, I try to change as quickly as possible. If you try to hide yourself, you become the center of attention."

You can say that again. Someone who tries to change stealthily in a locker room would probably be made fun of.

"Alright, let's go."

Sudou left the locker rooms. I also finished changing.

"This school's really the best! It's even better than a city pool!" (T/N I guess it's something like a pool club?"

Ike, who came out wearing swimming trunks, shouted after seeing the 50 meter pool.

The water looked crystal-clear, and wasn't disturbed because it was an indoor pool. What an excellent facility.

"Where are the girls? Are they not here yet?"

Ike looked for the girls, sniffing the air like a dog.

"They take a while to change after all."

"Hey, what would happen if I suddenly jumped into the girl's locker room?"

"They'd beat you up and file charges against you."

"... Don't ruin my fantasies with such a real answer."

He was shivering at that reply.

"If you stare at the girl's swimsuits too much, they'll probably hate you."

"Are there any boys that wouldn't stare!? ... What will I do if I get a boner..."

If that happened, Ike would probably be hated until we graduate.

Wait, what? I'm somehow naturally talking to Ike and his group.

Even though I didn't want to and couldn't join his group, it looks like I was pulled into the group. This must be the moment that I finally make some friends.

"Wow~ This pool doesn't even compare to my middle school one~"

A few minutes after the boys finished changing, a girl's voice could be heard.

"Did, did they finally come!?"

Ike was on guard, waiting. If you're that obvious, it's obvious they'd hate you.

Even so, I was also a bit curious. About Hasebe, Kushida, and more or less, about Horikita too.

I was particularly interested in Hasebe—there's nothing wrong with taking one peek at her.

However, everyone's expectations were betrayed by an unexpected turn of events.

"Hasebe's not here! What, what is this!? Doctor!"

Doctor, who was flustered, looked all around from the observation deck on the second floor.

Ike and co. also looked around, expecting the girls to come out at any time.

Even so——. They were nowhere to be found.

Doctor looked left and right in disbelief. Is she still changing? Or...

"Doctor, b-behind you!"

"W-w-w-w-what!?"

Ike pointed his finger with a shout, clearly having noticed something. Hasebe was also on the observation deck next to Doctor.

One by one, all the girls appeared on the second floor. Sakura's also up there.

"What, what is this... What is this situation!?"

Ike buried his face in his hands and collapsed on the spot from the unbelievable turn of events.

Hasebe seems like a self-conscious girl. Furthermore, she's sensitive to the curiosity from the boys. I guess she wasn't amused by the boy's peeking.

"I thought I would get to see big breasts~!"

Contemplating suicide, Ike shouted in agony in earshot of Hasebe.

Murmurs spread among the girls. Like I said, I expected the girls to hate him for being so blatant...

"Ike, this isn't a time to be sad. There are a lot of other girls!"

"Y-yeah. Anyone's fine. This isn't a time to feel down!"

"Yeah!"

Yamauchi and Ike affirmed their friendship and clasped each other's hands.

"You two, what are you doing? Looks fun."

"Ku-ku-kushida-chan?"

Kushida interrupted the two boys.

Wearing the school swimsuit, Kushida's curvy body line was on display.

In less than a second, all the boys stared at Kushida. Her breasts are about D or E cup. I don't know exactly but it's around that size. It's also a lot bigger than I thought. Her butt was also much bigger than expected. However, I immediately averted my eyes.

Ah, the weather's really good today... World peace is great.

... It's a big trouble when a certain body part reacts.

"Why do you have a weird expression?"

Horikita looked at my face, feeling suspicious.

"I'm currently having an internal battle."

I saw Horikita's figure. Not a bad view, yup, not a bad view.

I was staring too long, so I tried to calm myself down and exert self-control.

"..."

For some reason, Horikita looked up and down my body.

"Ayanokouji-kun, do you exercise?"

"Eh? No, not particularly. I'm not proud of it, but I was part of the go-home club."

"You say that, but... you clearly look like you exercise from your the muscles in your arm and back."

"Maybe I inherited good genes?"

"I don't think that's the case."

"What, do you have a muscle fetish? Is that true? Can you bet your life on that?"

"If you go that far to deny it, I'll believe you..."

She looks dissatisfied. Looks like she has quite the discerning eye.

"Horikita-san, are you good at swimming?"

Even though Horikita had a strange expression on her face, she quietly replied to Kushida.

"I'm not particularly good or bad."

"In middle school, I was really bad at swimming. I practiced really hard, and now I'm a lot better!"

"I see."

Horikita let out an uninterested reply and backed away from Kushida. She stopped the conversation from going any further.

"Alright, everyone gatherー"

A teacher brought the students together and started class. He may be the P.E. teacher, but he looks like the type that would attract girls.

"16 people, I see. I expected more people, but I guess it works."

There clearly were students skipping class, but he didn't seem to mind.

"It's a bit sudden, but I'll be examining your abilities after you're done warming up. You guys will be swimming."

"Um sensei, I can't swim though..."

A boy raised his hand apologetically and spoke up.

"As the teacher, I'll make sure that you learn how to swim by the summer. Don't worry."

"There's no need to learn how to swim... We can't go to the beach anyway."

"That's too bad. It doesn't matter if you're bad at swimming now, but I'll make sure everyone learns. Learning how to swim will definitely be useful. I guarantee it."

Learning how to swim will be useful? Well, I guess swimming will be useful one way or another.

Even so, when the teacher says it like that, I feel a bit uncomfortable.

Eh, he probably feels the obligation to cure the hopeless swimmers.

Everyone started the warm-up exercises. Ike kept repeatedly glancing at the girls to take a peak. Afterwards, we were instructed to start the 50m swim. Students who didn't know how to swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the pool with their feet.

Ever since last summer, I haven't been in a pool since. I stepped into the pool, getting quickly accustomed to the temperature-regulated pool Then I started to swim lightly.

After swimming the 50m, I waited for everyone else to finish up.

"Hehehe, a complete victory. Did you see? My super swimming!"

Swimming casually, Ike got out of the pool with a self-satisfied look. No, you weren't all that different from the others.

"Anyway, it looks like mostly everyone can swim."

"Sorry, Sensei. Back in middle school I was called the Flying Fish after all."

"I see. Then you guys can immediately start competing against each other then. 50m freestyle, separate yourselves by gender."

"C-compete!? Are you serious?"

"I'll give the first place winner a bonus: 5,000 points. On the other hand, last place will get supplementary lessons so prepare yourselves."

Those who were good at swimming were cheering, while the worse swimmers weren't thrilled at all.

"Because there aren't too many girls, I'll split you guys into two groups of 5 and give the fastest time the overall victory. For the boys, I'll take the top 5 times and then hold a final round."

I didn't expect the school to give points as prizes. Perhaps it's to punish the students who skipped class. What a well-thought-out plan.

There were 16 boys and 10 girls, excluding those who didn't know how to swim. When the girls started their race, the boys sat on the sidelines and started to cheer for... no, evaluate the girls.

"Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan Kushida-chan. Hahahaha."

It seems like Kushida completely captured Ike's mind.

"You're scary, Ike—quiet down."

"B-but Kushida-chan is fucking cute. Her breasts are really big too."

Kushida garnered popularity from the boys in a whirlwind. Is there anyone as popular as she is right now?

If you only talked about faces, Horikita was definitely on top, but her bad personality dropped her popularity down. However, she has a fair bit of popularity, so when she stood at the start line, there were a few cheers.

"Everyone, make sure to remember this sight! Today's fap material has been secured!"

"Yea!"

Somehow, the boys were getting closer to each other through swimming.

Hirata was the only exception, having averted his eyes from the girls.

The whistle blew, and the 5 girls jumped in. Horikita is in lane 2. Taking the lead in the beginning, she maintained her lead at a distance. She confidently came in first place.

"Oh! Horikita did it!"

Her time was about 28 seconds. That's pretty quick. Without even breathing heavily, Horikita slowly got out of the pool.

The boys were staring at her bouncing ass as she got out of the pool. I also unintentionally looked at Horikita. Because she's a girl, there's something there. Yea.

Then came the second race. Kushida was in lane 4. The boys were waving and cheering with smiles on their faces.

"Woooooooo!"

They're some aggressive boys. Some of them even tried to look in between the girls' legs.

During the self-introductions, Kushida declared to the whole class that she wanted get along with everybody. It seems like her wish came true. She was constantly having friendly chats with all the boys around her. Kushida has an atmosphere that attracts other people to her.

The second race started. It was pretty one-sided. The girl known as Onodera won the race in a landslide. Her time of 26 seconds was clearly the best time. Kushida got a time of 31 seconds, which was pretty good but only got her 4th place.

I went to go talk to Horikita who had gotten out of the pool.

"That's too bad. Second place. Those swim club members look relentless."

"Not really. I don't mind whether or not I lose. Do you have confidence in yourself?"

"Obviously. I just don't have to be last."

"... That's not something you should be proud of. And I thought boys would care more about winning and losing."

"I don't really like to compete with others. After all, I avoid trouble."

I already gave up on trying to get 1st place. My only goal is to avoid the supplementary lessons.

I was put in lane 2, while Sudou was in the first lane. Matching Sudou's pace was impossible, so I didn't even try to. I aimed to stay in the middle so I wasn't last place. Keeping that in mind, I dived into the pool.

Finishing the 50m stretch with great speed, Sudou looked up from the water. The boys and girls let out a voice of admiration.

"Is that even possible, Sudou? You finished in 25 seconds."

I only got 36 seconds. About 10th place. Great, I don't have to take supplementary lessons then.

"Sudou, won't you join the swimming club? If you practiced, you'd compete pretty well."

"I plan on just playing basketball. Swimming's just for fun."

Not even breaking a sweat from that small amount of swimming, Sudou calmly got out of the pool.

"Ah, Sudou certainly has good reflexes."

Ike elbowed Sudou, feeling jealous.

"Kya—!"

A girl let out a scream (of joy).

Hirata was on the start line.

While Sudou's body gathered the admiration of the boys, Hirata's body gathered the admiration of the girls. Hirata is slender but still well-built. You can call him a slender macho man. Hearing the cheering from the girls for Hirata, Ike made a spitting gesture. Sudou also made a displeased face and glared at Hirata. (T/N apparently "slender macho" is actually a term?)

"If you win, I'll make sure to destroy you. I'll show you my full power."

Wasn't swimming just for fun...

When the teacher blew the whistle, Hirata jumped in with great form. As Hirata paddled his arms, the girls on the side were cheering him on. His swimming form looks uselessly cool.

"He's surprisingly fast."

Sudou calmly commented. Anyway, Hirata is a pretty fast swimmer. The other 4 boys were quite a distance from Hirata. His lead incited the girls to cheer him on even more.

Hirata took 1st place, exceeding my expectations. The loud cheers reverberated in the big indoor pool.

"Sensei, what was the time?"

Ike impatiently asked.

"Hirata's time is... 26.13 seconds."

"Alright, let's go Sudou. If it's you, you can win! Bring down the hammer of justice!"

"Leave it to me. I'll beat him thoroughly then make his popularity drop to the ground..."

Sudou got fired up from Ike's words, but a loss from Hirata probably wouldn't cause his popularity to drop.

"Hirata-kun, you were really cool! You're not just good at soccer, but also good at swimming!"

"Is that so? Thanks."

"Hey, why are you looking at Hirata-kun with love in your eyes!"

"Ha? You're the one ogling him!?"

"Ki—!"

And so on. Hirata's popularity exceeded frustration and is a shocking thing to watch.

"Stop, you guys. Don't fight over me. I belong to everyone. I want to get along with everyone. Just because I'm good at swimming doesn't mean you should fight over me."

I don't know what he was hearing, but Koenji mistook those cheers for himself.

With a refreshing smile, Koenji put his foot on the start line.

"Hey... Why is Koenji wearing those speedos..."

"W-what?"

Wearing speedos were allowed by the school, but no one else were wearing those. The girls looked away from Koenji's crotch area.

However, for the third race, Koenji was the center of attention. His posture at the start looked like an athlete's.

Not only his posture, but Koenji's figure is even better than Sudou's. The boys who were proud about their physicality, including Sudou, watched Koenji swim while gulping.

"I don't really care about winning or losing, but I don't like losing."

Sudou muttered to himself. At the sound of the whistle, Koenji jumped into the pool with great form.

"Wow!"

Sudou let out a surprised voice at Koenji's aggressive swimming. Hirata was also looking in amazement. His speed is really impressive. Of course, Sudou is also fast. Recording the time, the teacher looked at the stopwatch once again.

"Time is... 23.22 seconds."

"As usual, my abdominal, back, and psoas major muscle are in shape. Not bad." (T/N he actually uses the anatomical term for psoas major muscle)

After getting out of the pool, Koenji smiled and brushed his hair.

Still breathing evenly, it doesn't even look like he swam.

"I'm fired up...!"

His fighting spirit burned after his time was beaten. To be honest, only Sudou has any chance at winner other than Koenji. Rather than the finals, this is more like a one-on-one between Sudou and Koenji.

"Because both Koenji-kun and Sudou-kun are fast, I'm looking forward to the finals.

"Ah, yea."

While waiting for the finals to start, Kushida spoke up.

Because a bishoujo in a swimsuit was next to me, I entered a state of emergency as my heart went doki.

"Hmm? What is it? Your face is a bit red... By any chance, are you feeling sick?"

"No, it's nothing like that..."

"Even so, something looks off... Why do we have swimming classes in April anyway?"

"That's because we have a great indoor pool. That reminds me, Kushida, you were really fast. To the point that it's impossible to imagine you being bad in middle school.

"You too, Ayanokouji—you were pretty fast."

"No, I'm just normal. I also don't like exercising much."

"Is that so? But Ayanokouji-kun looks pretty solid. Even though you're thin, you look as well-built as Sudou."

Kushida looked at me in surprise. I feel 10 times more nervous than when Horikita looked at me.

"There's no special reason; I was just born with it. That's the truth."

The conversation revolved around my physical health. Even though I'm nervous, I feel oddly satisfied. It was only for a short while this time, but I want to talk with Kushida alone.

"Wow, Koenji's fast. I thought it would be Sudou's victory, but... what is this, Ayanokouji!"

It looks like Koenji beat Sudou by about 5 meters for the victory. The commentating Ike suddenly turned to me with a face of a demon.

"What, why me? I didn't do anything."

"That's not it!"

He whispered to me while putting his arm over my shoulders.

"I'm aiming for Kushida-chan, so don't get in the way."

I'm not trying to get in the way, but there are things in the world that are possible and things that aren't. I don't think Kushida is the type of girl to go for someone like Ike.

Of course, she wouldn't go for me either.