Chapter 35: The Right To Call Dibs On A Girl On Campus

T/N: The support for this translation has been overwhleming. If it continues like this, I'll look into other COTE works to bring to you guys too because I feel this fandom is underrepresented (I also admit I, as a reader-funded patreon owner, want to tap into the COTE market if it's big enough haha)

Keep them stones coming yall!

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'Poor Kushida-chan… she's so unlucky to have been targeted by such a cunning guy.'

Just as Ike's mind was full of fantasies, the situation in the swimming pool had taken a turn for the worse.

"Puff~~"

Beyond Ike's imagination, Ying Ye Zhenshi was like a flying carp, jumping into the water, swimming, and utilising every ounce of his strength, speed and skills, as if effortlessly, to successfully reach the finish line in the first place.

"Twenty-two point five seconds!"

The teacher was a little shocked when he looked down at the time recorded.

'There's yet another monster. Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons are plentiful in this class. How could there be three of such perverts among the first-year class D this year?'

"Hey, there are still some great seeds hidden here, isn't it?"

Kouenji Rokusuke, who had been watching the pool from not too far away, had his fighting spirit ignited.

He began to scan Ying Ye Zhenshi's figure very interestedly.

'Why is his time so good?'

Looking at Ying Ye Zhenshi's stellar results, Ike thought frantically, since he had been thinking of laughing at him.

When he saw the sight of Kushida running to congratulate Ying Ye Zhenshi, he became even more jealous and felt offended by the boy's astonishing performance.

"Sudou, you absolutely cannot lose to him."

Ike was not a contender in the final's race, so he could only ask his friend Sudou to fulfil his wish.

"Are you stupid? He's clearly been trained. How could I possibly win?"

Sudou Ken complained.

He was being realistic here.

If it had been basketball, he may still have put in the extra effort to beat Ying Ye.

But for swimming…?

He was not an athlete who specialised in swimming, and he had only got the time he had because his physical fitness had given him the edge over the others.

Although he was a little unreconciled about being beaten, he understood that it was normal for there to be someone better than him at swimming.

"Hey~~ Ying Ye-kun is really amazing."

As soon as he pulled himself out of the pool, he was immediately greeted by the approach of the beautiful girl, who had been cheering him on softly.

He felt it was much like a girl in love approaching him.

"Didn't I just say that you would be good at swimming?"

Kushida Kikyo smiled excitedly and caressed his muscles a few more times in wonder.

He was really too overbearing in the pool.

There was no one in the class who could compare to him.

"Ah, it was just luck."

Ying Ye Zhenshi let out a breath and answered perfunctorily.

Having swam 50 meters in one breath had allowed his breathing capacity to develop a bit, and had caused him to be out of breath as a result, but he recovered quickly.

"Come on, Ying Ye-kun."

Encouraging him with a cute 'come on', he realised Kushida was really good at motivating people.

After a short break, before the class would be released, the excited teacher organised the final race.

The fastest five boys were going to compete.

And with only twenty seconds having just passed, Kouenji Rokusuke, who had also got ashore, looked at Ying Ye Zhenshi with great interest, while standing there in just his briefs.

"I never thought that there would be someone like you in the class. That was a splendid performance. But why hide in the corner all the time, gloomy boy?"

"It's just luck."

Ying Ye Zhenshi responded stiffly and left.

"This couldn't be achieved with just luck. You must have a secret, gloomy boy. You are really quite interesting… To have actually made me lose."

Kouenji Rokusuke spoke to himself.

Sudou Ken, whose head had bobbed up later, had an ugly expression on his face.

Just now, he had been directly left behind by the two of them.

Although it was only a matter of three seconds, from his point of view, the distance of three seconds was unbelievably long.

"You really won't consider joining the swimming club? It'll be really good for your portfolio."

After announcing the winner of the race without a doubt, Ying Ye Zhenshi was rewarded with 5,000 points and had found himself being pestered by the unreasonably muscular swim teacher.

The adult really wanted to drag him into the swimming club and take him to compete against other schools.

"As long as you train professionally, you might just be able to compete in the international arena in the future."

"No. I'm not all that interested in swimming competitions and swimming in general."

It was just a sport he did to exercise.

'Competitions and the like… why would it be necessary to live for some competitions?'

Ying Ye Zhenshi bluntly refused, causing his muscular teacher to take a hit.

'Can talented people just do whatever they want like this?'

Clearly, he had asked so many people and was desperate to have them swim for the school team, and yet, the swim teacher had been rejected each and every time.

Not only was it Ying Ye Zhenshi who rejected him, but also the other students he had taken a fancy to.

Either they were not interested in swimming or they just had other goals.

The muscular teacher had to leave it be.

"That was great, Ying Ye-kun. A lot of girls were talking about you just now. You have a great figure and a handsome appearance. I heard them saying that you are also very good at studying, so as long as you don't stare at others creepily and talk to them more, you will become very popular."

Kushida brought him some news of the reactions of the others.

It had Ying Ye Zhenshi wondering whether he had obtained the right to call dibs on a girl on campus.

"I'm telling you this as a secret but all the girls were talking about you just now. Someone is already attracted to you. If you keep working hard like today, you might receive a love letter soon. When someone asks me for your number, I'll give it to them directly, okay?"

As if she were teaching a child, she informed Ying Ye Zhenshi of how to get in touch with people.

"Oh, is it just that?"

Ying Ye Zhenshi didn't care much about his reputation among girls.

So long as his betrayal of the class was exposed later on, no matter if it was a boy or a girl, they would want to kill him.

'Fame and whatnot, I'll take it all with a pinch of salt.'

Moreover, it was too pretentious of him to think that he could change other people's impressions of him just because of a single swimming competition.

'What right to call dibs on a girl…? I'll just put it to the back of my mind for now.'

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