Swimming Contest

Hikigaya's Route to Senior High Is Not Normal, As I Expected

"Patience is the foundation of eternal peace. Make anger your enemy. Harm comes to those who know only victory and do not know defeat. Find fault with yourself and not with others. It is in falling short of your own goals that you will surpass those who exceed theirs." - Tokugawa Ieyasu

…

Hachiman's POV

…

There wasn't much going on in Hachiman's mind for the past couple of days. After the small retort Suzune had done towards Hachiman, which only prompted Hachiman to completely ignore Suzune, angering the girl.

Besides that, Hachiman had done mostly thoughts regarding the whole result of the private points.

That and committing to his job in the library, he had, as expected, managed to finish the twelve hours by the end of Wednesday, meaning Hachiman was able to begin working for private points. Again, working six hours a day, at least for the month, would be sufficient for Hachiman considering the work was light, at least he thought and theorized.

Even if he had to cut hours, he assumed Nao would understand, considering how fair and nice she was being to Hachiman.

Furthermore, Hachiman still had a lot of stuff he had to theorize and find out. Now that he knew how individual private points were given, simply based on how students behaved in school and in class.

And if that was the case, Hachiman knew that his class would not fare well, considering most students were not really behaving appropriately. It was only a matter of time before the class would find out, and they would be plunged back to reality.

For Hachiman, he was content with the information he had gotten, and he had picked up over the course that not only was this crucial for understanding the dynamics of private points, but also the class dynamics.

Simply put, if the third year in class D were harassed and bullied due to their private point cost as what Hachiman had seen prior the first week, then it would explain why the classes may be arranged the way they are.

Perhaps the private points held a contentious role as to the classes. After all, Manabu did imply that classes do shuffle, so whether the classes shuffle due to private points, or that private points dictate the class shuffle, Hachiman wasn't sure which it was.

It was like a circle, one that Hachiman had to figure out. But it was a circle he was close to figuring out. He could feel it.

As for classes, Hachiman didn't really feel any stress with the content nor work. With the time he had, he could finish it appropriately, and even then, he had no problem with it. He followed the material, listened, and did his work. He individually should be fine.

The same could not be said for everyone else in his class.

Regardless, when Hachiman was told Friday of the first week that they would be out swimming, he was mildly surprised.

It wasn't that Hachiman didn't want to do physical activities, Aoki had somehow managed to break into Hachiman's brain and to remove any laziness genes he'd have. Coupled with the daily martial arts Aoki would force Hachiman to do, and Hachiman wasn't the scrawniness of people. If anything, he was above average at that.

However, whenever he would spar, even Hachiman admitted he would more often rely on his insight.

Regardless, overall, in stamina, muscle, and overall body proportions, Hachiman was above average. His body was like Yousuke Hirata.

The only difference between him and Yousuke was that Hachiman was a lot darker and uglier, mainly because of his eyes. It was funny how such a small difference caused everyone to see you as entirely different or not even worthy of a glance.

But alas, Hachiman had lived with that.

Just like how had lived with Aoki placing him through a training regiment that forced him to remove the laziness he had prior. In the end, Hachiman was a stronger and more physically active person, willing to do whatever it took for his goal.

Even then, Hachiman was surprised by the sudden idea of swimming.

Hachiman watched as Ike and Yamauchi were both making it to class early this one time for some reason. How convenient.

Regardless, Ike and Yamauchi held no shame in their reasons for showing up early.

"Haha! I was looking forward to today so much that I barely slept last night!"

"This school is just the best! I cannot believe that it is almost time for swimming! And when I say swimming, I mean girls! And when I say girls, I mean girls in school swimsuits!"

Hachiman looked on in exasperation. Clearly, it was spotted from a mile away.

Regardless, the swimming classes were all co-ed, meaning many of the girls would be showing off their swim suits. The girls, understandably, backed away from Ike and Yamauchi's rabid excitement.

Some boys didn't participate nor entertain Ike and Yamauchi's perverted behaviour. Kiyotaka sat alone as always not really caring, Yousuke continued to be respectful, clearly not seeing the swimming class for that.

And surprisingly, Sudou was just making a competitive field out of it, wanting to be the best performer, rather than look at girls unlike his friends.

In a weird way, Sudou, the most troublesome kid in their class, was behaving more properly than Ike and Yamauchi right now.

That was when Ike and Yamauchi began to call for someone. "Hey professor! Come here for a second!"

"A chubby boy, who was apparently nicknamed, "The Professor," approached them slowly. Hachiman vaguely remembered the boy's name to being Sotomura.

"Yes? You called?" Sotomura asked.

"Professor, can you record the girls wearing their swimsuits for us?" Ike asked curiously, clearly enthralled by what was approaching.

Sotomura nodded, "Leave it to me, I'll pretend t be sick so that I can skip class and observe." Sotomura reassured both Ike and Yamauchi.

Hachiman looked on, clearly disgusted but knowing he had no clout to express his opinion.

"What are you planning?" Kiyotaka asked, confusion etched on his face.

"The professor is going to rank the girls' breast sizes for us. If we're lucky, he'll get some pictures with his phone." Ike smiled perversely.

Hachiman deadpanned, "At least say it with some humility… Not just pure proudness at your perverted nature…"

Hachiman was tempted to beat them up for their behaviour, but he decided he shouldn't. He would just contribute to the negative and chaotic environment Class D was in, at least for the time being.

He just had to put up with it for a bit.

After all, nobody would listen to the quiet kid nobody had talked to, nor remembered.

In the end, Hachiman just looked away, not wanting to entertain their drama. He instead sat down, placing his feet in the water as if making him a bit nostalgic.

Not that he was a good swimmer, but before Aoki, one of the more impressive physical feats Hachiman had done as a kid was swim 2-5 kilometers without any break. Hachiman couldn't remember the actual count, but he knew he outstretched his other peers, and that he fell asleep when he got home.

Haciman gave a small neutral expression as he remembered such a memory.

"Funny how such a small thing could make me remember something from my childhood." Hachiman thought, ignoring Ike and Yamauchi's plan that was doomed to fail.

He could even hear Kiyotaka and Suzune having one of their back-and-forth conversations. With that, Hachiman did his best to filter it out, but even then, he heard the contents.

"Pathetic." The female voice which Hachiman could understand was Suzune Horikita.

"So, you are here as well, huh Horikita?" Kiyotaka asked back clearly confused at her presence.

"Yes. I just arrived while you were looking at those boys over there. You didn't notice me huh?" Suzune crossed her arms, "If you want to be their friend, why not try and speak to them?" Suzune asked clearly not getting it.

"Of course, you would say that you likely didn't have any friends. How come you try your own advice?" Hachiman retorted. "But it seems Ayanokouji is a loner trying to make friends."

"Shut up and leave me alone already. If I could just do I, I wouldn't be agonizing over it."

Suzune chuckled demoralizingly, "Well, from what I've seen, you don't seem to be unsociable or lacking in communication skills, though."

"There are plenty of reasons as to why I am unable to. So far, you are the only person I've been able to speak to, Horikita." Kiyotaka explained.

Hachiman had finally managed to filter it out, and so he finally sighed as he didn't have to hear that conversation.

That was until Ike called out Kiyotaka's name. "Hey Ayanokouji!"

Hachiman silently groaned at the louder voice.

"Yes?"

"We're taking a bet on the girls' chest sizes, and we've come out with some probabilities."

Kiyotaka seemed unaware of the true extent of what the boys were doing, as he simply accepted what was going on.

Apparently, from what Hachiman could hear, because the boys were being very loud, Haruka Hasebe was the most likely contender for what the boys were testing. Hachiman sighed as he clearly didn't want to be involved.

"Men have only two things constantly on their minds! Tits and Ass!" Ike exclaimed, which made Hachiman cringe.

"How can you say that with such confidence." Hachiman mumbled in clear surprise.

Considering he was also hearing them wager private points Hachiman knew that perhaps Suzune and Yukinoshita really did have another property in common.

Another one of the boys then mentioned Airi Sakura as having the largest chest. However, Hachiman didn't care about placing any bets, but clearly the boys were loud enough that both he and the girls could hear, seeing the boys as filth and perverted.

Eventually, Hachiman knew that they were about to head to the pool. While apart of Hachiman wanted to get involved, he decided to just let everything occur.

Many of the boys were clearly excited about being in the pool with half naked girls. For Hachiman, he merely sighed as he got ready. Ike and Yamauchi were immediately going out to the pool, for reasons not having to do with the actual school.

Some of the boys went with a bathtowel, whilst others, simply Sudou had been very bold and keep on his underwear, taking his swimsuit out of his bag.

Hachiman somewhat commended Sudou for being so bold and unapologetic regarding his body.

The words Sudou explained were surprisingly realistic, coming from someone like Sudou. "In sports, you cannot get flustered every time you have to change. If you're acting all shifty, it'll have the opposite effect. You become the center of attention."

Hachiman hummed at that, all the while he positioned himself to being one of the last boys to come out.

Sneaky guys simply got mocked. Hachiman calmly took off his shirt, revealing some small cut marks on his shoulders and hands as well. A bit to his legs alongside some scrapes and bruises.

This wasn't because of Hachiman's own doing directly, however, it was merely from the training regiment Aoki would place him through, in addition to the few tussles and fights he had gotten himself involved with.

Regardless, they weren't too noticeable, but considering he also had fisheyes, many people could consider Hachiman an ugly person, which he accepted. However, it was best he remained in the shadows when it came to that.

Hachiman eventually made his way out, only to see the pool was literally fifty meters.

"Whoa! This school is something else I tell you! Better than the city pool!" Ike exclaimed clearly entertained by such a wide pool.

"And yet he probably can barely swim." Hachiman retorted, which he didn't know why he was.

"What about the girls? Aren't they here yet?" Ike was literally sniffing the air like a dog, clearly yearning for the attention of the opposite gender.

"Are you sure the girls won't hate you if you stare at you?" One of the boys asked, presumably Yousuke.

"Come on! As if there's any guy out there who wouldn't stare! What am I going to do if I get a boner?" Ike asked, clearly worried.

Hachiman sighed, "You probably won't have to worry about the girls seeing a boner regardless…" (This was taken from a book like this, but I cannot remember which specific book).

In an unexpected turn of events, one which dashed all of the boys' wishes were dashed as all the girls approached from the second floor, clearly surprising Sotomura, as Ike and Yamauchi both began to contemplate the ending of their lives after such an incident.

That was until Kikyou came and gave a literal lifeline to the boys.

Of course, Kikyou's body was a lot more voluptuous than anticipated, considering the limitations. Here, not only was her chest a lot bigger but so were her butt and thighs.

Many of the boys went from staring to looking away with discomfort. The physiological reaction Kikyou produced to every male within a 3-kilometer radius, that hopefully was also of a similar age of Kikyou, began to hit everyone, almost like a shock.

Even Hachiman himself admitted Kikyou had given him a small shock, but alas, he recovered quickly compared to others.

"Why the pained expression?" Suzune asked Kiyotaka, who merely answered with a struggle.

"Merely having an internal battle right now." Was all Kiyotaka could say as Hachiman finally sat down, and placed his legs in the water, gently moving them as if to enjoy the temperature, as it was colder than the air around them.

Hachiman sighed as he once again ignored the remaining chatter that was going on, instead focusing on his legs dangling in the water.

That was until he heard an older male which clearly made a thundering sound whilst also capturing the attention of everyone.

"All right everyone! Line up!" The middle-aged man called out. He was clearly a PE teacher with how lean and athletic he seemed.

"There seems to be a decent amount of you, huh? While I thought you would've been more engaging, but this is all right." The teacher shrugged the attendance off as he focused on the current active participants.

It didn't frustrate him that some students ditched class.

"Anyways, after you all warmup, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for me." The coach explained clearly, wanting everyone to put it all in.

"Excuse me sir, but I can't really swim, though…" A lone boy mumbled, clearly nervous.

"And that is completely fine. With me, you'll swim by summertime." The coach waved it off, "I don't care about your current predicament when it comes to swimming, if you can improve, then it will be fine. Swimming will come in handy later in life."

Did the coach mean something by that statement? Hachiman would probably have to think about that after he finished analyzing everything with the private points.

While it could be thought of as a survival tactic to avoid falling like rocks, Hachiman felt there was more to do with it than he anticipated. Of course, everyone was given the time to swim fifty meters, which Hachiman and the rest did.

Hachiman wasn't planning to go, but since everyone who was participating was going, so did he.

"Such an easy win! Did you all see my super swimming skills?" Ike smirked clearly feeling confident, despite the fact he had performed no differently than the others.

"Well, looks like everyone can swim, for the most part." The coach applauded the students who are involved, all the while Yamauchi and Ike continued to bark, but not bite.

"These two are slowly annoying me." Hachiman sighed as he observed everything going on.

That was until the coach smiled, clearly challenging the cocky nature of the two, "Well then in that case, we can have each other competing against each other. We will separate the groups by gender, fifty-meter freestyle."

Obviously, Ike and Yamauchi freaked out, as the coach then offered a consultation price. "The first-place winner I will give 5000 points. As for the individual who finishes last, you will have to take supplementary lessons, okay?"

Once all the students nodded, some cheerful and excited, while others clearly groaned at the difference in skills, Hachiman looked on.

He had no intentions of winning the private points because he already would get enough. He was simply fine without it.

But alas, he was pretty much forced to else he would have to take supplementary swimming lessons. He can swim, but he didn't want to because the price wasn't worth it, nor did he want to in front of others.

Alas, the coach then began.

"Because we don't have very many girls, I'll split you into two groups of five people, and students with the fastest overall time will be the winner. As for the boys, I'll simply look at the top five finishing times and then move onto a final round." The coach explained.

But for Hachiman, the fact that the school would openly aware points as a prize was used to reward students.

Especially with how important private points seemed to be for every student, even the classes, Hachiman had a reoccurring thought about them.

"If they can be a motivator for going to work and the likes, couldn't this also be used for the entire classes to behave? Who is to say that these private points can be withheld as a penalization to students or classes whom are troublesome, like Class 1-D, and even Class 3-D?"

And so while the girls began to get ready to swim and compete, Hachiman had his head leaning down, his fist on his chin as he was deep in thought, not paying attention to the outside world around him.

…

Here's a question. Should Hachiman begin to connect to his fellow classmates now? Or is it too early? Also, should I include more of other classmates' POV? Regardless, we can see Hachiman is again slowly gaining everything. Also, the swimming contest was the topic for this chapter and a bit of next chapter, so there's that. Anyways, I have not much else to say so hope you enjoyed.