227. The Swimming Race

At first, only Izumi and Jin had the bet. Finding it quite interesting, Hiroyuki and Shou joined in on the bet as well. They both quite understand that Tōru lacks talent in sports, so Hiroyuki only makes a bet on Shou, that is if one of them loses, he has to buy yakisoba for all five of them.

Izumi and the others reached the shore and stepped into the water. They discussed where the finish line of the swimming race would be. Out of the six of them, only Tsukushi didn't join. In the end, he will be the judge of the race.

"Shall we race to the lifeguard over there?"

Jin pointed in a direction that was around 120 meters from his position. The lifeguard sat on the high chair to keep an eye on the beachgoers.

Hearing Jin's suggestion, Izumi and the others agreed.

With them standing side by side in the water about 120 cm deep, beachgoers watched them curiously as it was clear that they were having a competition. Several of the interested beachgoers also grabbed their phones to record. Well, the truth was that they were only attracted to Jin and Izumi because of their good looks though.

Looking at those two, Hiroyuki felt irritated as if he wanted to beat them up because their looks were better than his.

— — — —

Hiroyuki, along with Izumi, Jin, Tōru, and Shou took their respective positions. Several people who were swimming noticed the competition, so they immediately stepped aside to make way for Izumi and the others. Meanwhile, Tsukushi, who did not participate, could only stand on the shore, preparing to give the signal.

"On your mark, ready, start!"

Simultaneously, the five youngsters started their race. Jin and Izumi competed at the front, followed by Hiroyuki and Shou, and the last position was Tōru. Even though it was Tōru who suggested a swimming race, it was still quite embarrassing because he was in the last position.

Hiroyuki tried hard to catch up with Izumi and Jin, what's more, he heard the girls even give cheers to the two of them which made Hiroyuki even more irritable. He even wondered why he couldn't be as popular as the two of them.

"Ahhhh, unforgivable!"

Not knowing where or how he seemed to have gotten a power so suddenly made his physical abilities increase, and he quickly caught up with Izumi and Jin. And this time, three people are simultaneously competing to get to the finish line. Hiroyuki's awakening startled Izumi and Jin who unconsciously reduced their speed and made Hiroyuki overtake them. When Jin and Izumi tried to catch up, unexpectedly the finish line was already in front of Hiroyuki and he finally managed to win the race.

Beachgoers watching their race cheered and applauded. Especially the girls who started talking about Hiroyuki.

"Who's that spiky-haired guy? That's cool. He seems like a great sportsman."

"Yeah, even those two good-looking boys can't match him."

"Want to get closer to him?"

"Why not you? I'm embarrassed to be in front of a cool guy."

Listening to the girls talking about him, Hiroyuki immediately acted arrogantly. He crossed his arms and said haughtily to Jin and Izumi.

"Hahaha, look at this great Hiroyuki. You are indeed talented, but your talent is still below mine. Hahaha."

A moment later.

"Hello."

"May I know your name?"

"You were so cool, can you teach me to swim that fast?"

With many girls approaching him, Hiroyuki smirked as if the earth and heaven were on his side now.

"...ki!"

"...yuki!"

"Stupid Hiroyuki! Did you hear me?"

Suddenly Hiroyuki heard a loud voice in his ear that changed the scenery around him. And that scene was right where they were about to do a swimming race.

Hiroyuki was a little surprised because Izumi was in front of him whose body was still clean and his swimming trunks had not been wet by sea water either.

He slapped his cheek to confirm.

"Ah, what the fuck. So I was just dreaming? Damn it!"

"Is there something wrong with your brain that makes you wet dreams in this scorching sun? You know, you've been grinning ever since and your expression looks perverted."

"Wet dreams, your grandfather! How can I have a wet dream at the time…"

Hiroyuki suddenly stopped talking and glanced around him. He could see people looking at him strangely, even the girls looked at him disgustingly.

Hiroyuki immediately went limp and murmured.

"I'm done for."

Hiroyuki was lost in thought for a long time, he even fell silent with a lecherous expression showing on his face. No wonder the girls looked disgusted at him even though their original intention was to see Jin and Izumi.

"Pffft."

"Hahaha."

"That was quite a gag. Hahaha."

"Don't fantasize too much, this is the result. Hehehe."

Shou, Jin, Tōru, and Izumi laughed at their friend's anguish. What Hiroyuki had done was unusual, they were quite sorry for him because the girls hate him, but they were also laughing at his stupidity. Even Tsukushi, who didn't talk too much, couldn't help but laugh.

Izumi patted Hiroyuki's shoulder and said,

"Don't think about it too much, you'll get used to it later."

"Who wants to get used to that? Damn it!"

Hiroyuki was getting more and more annoyed because they were making fun of Hiroyuki. At that moment, Shou said.

"Then you don't need to enter the race! Just go buy us Yakisoba!"

"Ain't no way. I haven't lost yet. Just wait, I'll show you my true skill!"

Hiroyuki who was provoked by being belittled immediately stood up straight to shake off his earlier embarrassment.

Pointing with his index finger at Izumi and Jin, he said.

"I'll prove it, I can be superior to you in other areas! Let's get started!"

Jin was dumbfounded to see Hiroyuki who looked like he was possessed, while Izumi could only laugh at him inwardly.

A few moments later, they got ready.

They stood side by side with the small waves crashing against their bodies.

Tsukushi gave the signal.

"Start!"

After Tsukushi gave the signal. Jin, Tōru, Shou, and Hiroyuki immediately stepped on the gas. As Izumi predicted, Jin was the superior, followed by Hiroyuki, Tōru, and Shou. To his surprise, Tōru was actually superior to Shou in swimming, in fact, he almost overtook Hiroyuki.

But.

Izumi then dived into the water as everyone's eyes fell on the four people in front. Needless to say, with his water dragon slayer abilities, he dived swiftly and overtook them all.

Izumi was still in the water waiting for them. As soon as his four friends barely got close enough, he emerged from the water as if he overtook them by diving.

"The fuck."

Jin and Hiroyuki were surprised when Izumi appeared in front of them, in which Tōru and Shou overtook them when Jin and Hiroyuki were stunned for a moment. In the end, just like Jin, Hiroyuki lost the bet and made those two have to treat them all.

"How can you suddenly be in front of me?"

"Yeah, you're cheating."

Jin and Hiroyuki started to complain. But Izumi answered.

"Well, it turns out that if you lose, you can make excuses. It's quite surprising."

"Damn it! I can't believe I lost against you."

Both Jin and Hiroyuki were startled by Izumi who suddenly appeared in front of them. And because of that, Tōru and Shou get ahead of them.

Reluctantly, the two of them went to buy drinks and Yakisoba.

Even though they were a little upset by the shocking defeat, they felt that it would not be bad for them to go to the beach together once in a while.

As they were talking and joking around, Izumi suddenly felt a goosebump. His body stiffened and trembled as he felt a terrifying aura suddenly appear as if that person didn't need to bother hiding oneself. His friends were confused when they saw him who suddenly fell silent.

When Izumi turned his head, he saw a girl who had the appearance of a high school girl with waist-length, straight black hair and eyes of various colors, though it turned black again after looking at Izumi for a while. If Izumi could describe her appearance, she was such a beautiful and charming girl. Moreover, she was wearing an all-black bikini. But behind her beauty, there is a horror that Izumi can't ignore.

Izumi started to raise his guard as soon as the girl saw Izumi. He could only hope that there wouldn't be any problems even though he had prepared for the worst-case scenario to occur.

On the other hand, that girl covered her mouth as if she was hiding her sadistic grin.