Chapter 5: Popularity?

Ayanokoji POV

Today was a day many of my classmates were excited for. The Swimming class. Swimming is an activity where a person uses their limbs to propel themselves through the water. They mainly engage their lats, shoulders and legs for swimming and those who regularly practice swimming tend to get those features with time as they practice

I look towards my side as I see Horikita sitting and writing something down in her notebook, I didn't want to bother her. I looked toward the other boys in class as they were talking about something. Wait, maybe this is my chance to make some guy friends!

I make my way toward the group as I saw Yamauchi, Ike, Sotomura and Hondo. The girls were giving them weird looks but they didn't notice it

"Hello, what are you all doing?" I asked out of curiosity as Sotomura  looked toward me and chuckled

"Ah, Ayanokoji-dono, you have finally approached us. You desire to know our biddings?" Sotomura asked in a very formal fashion as I nodded

"Well Ayanokoji, we were betting on the girls!" Ike said excitedly as I nodded

Ah, they were betting on the races, I took a look around the class as I spotted a girl who had the build of a swimmer as well as her hands having the signature tan distinction that swimmer's tend to get due to swimming often.

"Well, how much to enter the bet?" I asked as they chuckled at me

"2000 points, the winner gets the entire sum" Yamauchi said as I nodded

"Well my bet is on Onodera" I said as they all looked at me confused

The girls were looking at our direction as they sneered at me, wait what did I even do

I looked toward Horikita as she had a angry and disappointed look on me, is she mad I didn't bet on her?

"Not someone like Kushida or Haruka?" asked Ike as I tilted my head to show my confusion

"Onodera is obviously an athlete, I think she would be the fastest girl in swimming from our class" I said as all the boys do a spit take which confused me further

Were they not betting on the swimming? did i mistake their intentions? did I already make myself such a fool that no one will ever want to talk to me?

"A-ayanokoji-" Yamauchi began as he was immediately stopped by a blue haired girl named Hasebe Haruka

"Stop. Don't." Hasebe said as Sotomura raised his hands in defense as I asked

"What happened? what's the problem?" I asked as Hasebe looked me in the eye and gripped my shoulders

"You shouldn't talk to those boys." she said firmly as I took a step back, away from her touch

what is she even doing? she got all up into my personal space without being my friend nor having permission

"May I ask what's the problem? I don't understand why you are telling me to stop talking to people" I say as I realized a lot of people were staring at me, I really don't like this.

"Just trust me, don't talk to those three. It isn't good for you. You can talk to me if you want instead." she said as she physically started dragging me away holding my arm as I am left in a daze

What is even happening? why am I getting dragged away from a conversation

"Let him go" I heard from my side as I looked surprisingly toward Horikita who had joined the conversation

"Huh? what's it to you?" Hasebe asked as Horikita glared at her, why am I still here? just to suffer?

"He can walk himself. No need to drag him. Ayanokoji, come here. It's break and you haven't ate." Horikita said as I realized she was right, I needed to eat

"Eh, Ayanokoji can eat with me, won't you Ayanokoji?" Hasebe said as she leaned toward me with a weird look

I don't think I want to sit with Hasebe, I moved toward Horikita as she was my friend and looked toward Haruka, I should atleast be polite

"Horikita is my friend, I want to sit with her during my break, I am sorry if that upsets you" I said as Hasebe looks at me a little disappointed but shrugs to herself

"It's alright, I can eat with you some other time" she said as I nodded, hopefully next time she isn't going to drag me away from someone I am talking to. She gives me a playful smile as she walked away, confusing that girl is

I looked toward Horikita who at first appeared normal but I looked towards her lips as they had ever so slightly curled up

Her being happy has made feel better to, I made my way toward my seat as we both ate in silence as I unpacked a sandwich I bought at the convenience store. It wasn't anywhere near the perfection that was Horikita's but it was much better than anything that my previous place of living had.

I looked toward Horikita as she ate her bento in silence as we both didn't utter a word yet still appreciated the silent but comforting company. It was quite relaxing

"Hey Ayanokoji, try this" Horikita said as she held out a crispy looking food infront of my mouth

As she gestured for me to eat it, I took it from her hand as she gave me a annoyed look. What did I do now?

I put the dish in my mouth as it exploded with flavor. It was delicious, Horikita truly was on another level

"What is this called?" I said while chewing which might've been rude but I didn't care, hopefully she didn't noti-

"Don't talk while chewing" she said flatly as I nodded, ofcourse she wouldn't let it go

"And well, they are called croquettes, its a potato roll originating in france. Did you like it?" Horikita asked as I replied this time after chewing

"Yes, it was delicious. You really are a magician in the kitchen" I said as she chuckled

"You know what a magician is but not icecream? you are confusing Ayanokoji" Horikita said as I shrugged

As we continued to have light conversation as the break ended and it was finally time... for swimming!

Me and Horikita split ways as I heard the boys in the locker room snickering while saying something, I move to listen as I heard something

"The professor can record the girl's as he is acting sick! we are gonna have so much material!" I heard Yamauchi talking to Ike. Disgusting, they were going to record Horikita. I quickly changed into my swimsuit, a simple pair of swim trunks as I quickly walked out to where Sotomura was sitting

"Ayanokoji-dono?" he asked as he saw me approaching, my eyes emptier and colder than usual, I stare him into his eyes, portraying a look that would send a chill and the fear of god down Sotomura's spine

"The camera." I said as I held my hand out, gesturing for him to hand it over as he handed it over without complain. I look at him, still with my eyes fixed onto him

"Do not. try to do anything like this again. I will give you a chance to be a decent human but do not try to commit sexual harassment like this again, ok?" I said as he hurriedly nodded

I take the camera and threw it into a dustbin as I sat down near the pool, waiting for the others to come.

After a while the rest of the boys came out as I heard Ike yelling

"Where are the girls!?" He yelled questioningly with a equally questioningly large amount of energy

"They take a lot of time to change, it's how it usually is" said Yamauchi as I heard from the girls side as they finally started to come out

"Wow! this school's pool is Olympics' size!" I heard from Onodera as all the girl's followed suite

The boy's having no modesty oogled at them as my disappointment at the outside world grew by the second. These people are the reason I might think Nihilist's may have a point.

I looked toward the observation deck as Hasebe and Sakura chose to sit out to the disappointment of many of the boys but it didn't last that long as Kushida came and dragged them away

Horikita walked toward me as she started at my body, it wasn't a super body builder physique with large bulging muscles

I had a decently lean physique with a large amount of compact muscles and strength that was developed due to the years of training. But my body didn't look as flashy nor as defined as someone like Kouenji

"... Ayanokoji do you exercise?" Horikita suddenly asked as I shrugged

"Not that much, just a bit of running and calisthenics here and there" I said as she reiterated

"No, this isn't simple amounts, they are really well built, the development on your arms and back isn't something  most people achieve without years of hard work...." she said while looking at me suspiciously

"I just have good genetics, besides many guys have great physique's in our class and mine isn't near the best" I said as she shook her head

"Your build might as well be the most attra- the most suited for sports and actual functionality instead of the bulky build of someone like Kouenji" she said as I asked

"What were you going to say?" I asked as I pointed out how she changed words mid sentence

"Nothing important, let's get into the water and start getting warmed up" she said as I nodded, I casually cut through the water as I swam around slowly

"H-hey! wait a second" I heard Horikita from behind me, did I go too fast for her?

"Sorry, I lost track" I said as she swam to near me as she sighed

"It's nothing" Horikita said as she was about to continue speaking as I heard the Teacher yell something out as we were called to meet up around him

"Did you look at that!? I was called the flying fish back at my middle school!" Yamauchi bragged as we heard the teacher say

"It seems most of you an swim well enough, let's do a race! winner's will get 5 thousand points each!" he said as most of the class got excited at the prospect

First it was the girl's turn as Horikita ended up getting second place overall to Onodera who had a time of 26 seconds which was great, Horikita lost out by about 2 seconds

I went over to her with a water bottle and offered her the bottle

"Great swimming, you did amazing out there" I said as she took the bottle and took a sip

"Not good enough sadly, that swimming club girl was better" she said as I shrugged

"it's more impressive to be that great while also being amazing at other things to me Horikita, you did amazing, don't worry" I said as she smiled a little at my words

"Thanks Ayanokoji, I appreciate it... also isn't your race next? you better do your best and not put minimum effort!" Horikita said as I looked as I saw that the guys had finished the first race and I was in the second one, Kouenji had a time of 23.22 which was pretty good, as Horikita was encouraging me....

Maybe I can let loose a little, I will swim to win this time. Besides, this might help me get people to like me

I was called to the stand as I got into position for swimming, beside my lane was Sudo and beside him was Hirata

Just a second passed as I heard the signal, the signal I had heard thousand's of time back then. That place where I have swam this length thousand's of times

I let go of my self control as I let the water guide me, propelling at speeds I had done time and time again back then

"19... 19.10 seconds...." The teacher uttered slowly as I got out of the water, my hair getting infront of my eyes as I push it back, styling my hair like some gentleman with hairgel

I got out of the pool as after 5 seconds sudo reached and after that hirata, I walked toward Horikita and sat down, noticing the stares of the people around

They had their jaw drops. What happened? my time had increased a bit since the last time I checked before I came to this school

I turned toward Horikita as I asked her

"Was that good enough to satisfy you?" I asked her, tilting my head to show expression

"Y-yes?" she said, dazed at something

As everyone was still in a trance I heard the teacher

"Ayanokoji, you do realize you broke the men's long course world record by almost 2 whole seconds?" the teacher said as I froze

the record was that high? I didn't even try my hardest for this one?

"Oh, uh, I see." I said as Sudo yelled at me

"HAH!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY OH, I SEE! AYANOKOJI YOU'RE THAT GOOD AT SWIMMING!?" Sudo yelled at me as I shrugged

"I just used to..... practice when I was younger. it stuck" I say, trying to get out of this awkward position as I was swarmed by the whole class, I looked pleadingly toward Horikita who turned her face away, Traitor!

After a few minutes of me deflecting questions, I was asked by Onodera and the teacher

"You should join the swim team! with you we could go world wide level!" she said as I backed away a bit

"I am sorry but I am not planning on joining any clubs, Plus It was mostly a fluke, I won't be reaching that time again I think" I said, trying to dissuade her

"Then how'd you get a time as good as that!?" she asked as a lot of people were looking at me, waiting for an answer

"B-because Horikita encouraged me?" I said as I shifted the attention to Horikita, this is what you get you Traitor

As the girl's swarmed Horikita I made my retreat to the locker room and changed as I went to the classroom. Away from all the people

What a troublesome day, I thought people would like me but they only got more aggressive with me, this world is so confusing....