Chapter 4 The Swimming Pool.

And so, the days continued to pass for Ayanokouji and his classmates. Finally, the day arrived when one of the significant events in cote took place - the day when Class D had their swimming classes. Today was the day that our protagonist, Ayanokouji, had decided to reveal a glimpse of his true strength.

"Good morning, Yamauchi!" exclaimed Ike, filled with excitement, as he greeted his best friend. In response, Yamauchi greeted Ike with his usual playful demeanor, "Good morning, Ike!"

Ayanokouji, deep in thought, realized that today was the day he had been anticipating, recalling the events that had unfolded in the light novel. He had a small mission in mind concerning his classmates.

"Wow, I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited for today!" Ike exclaimed, emphasizing the importance of this day in his high school life, albeit not in the most positive way.

"Haha! This school is amazing! I can't believe it's almost time for swimming! And when I say swimming, I mean girls. And when I say girls, I mean girls in school swimsuits!" Yamauchi exclaimed, sounding almost obsessed.

"Hey, Professor! Can you come here for a moment?" Ike called out to Professor, the nickname for Hideo Sotomura, the talented gadget enthusiast in Class D.

"Did you need something?" Professor asked, tilting his head and momentarily leaving his work.

"Professor, could you record the girls wearing their swimsuits for us?" Ike asked, with a rather lascivious request, as was typical of him.

"Leave it to me. I'll pretend to be sick so I can skip class and observe," Professor replied, confirming Ayanokouji's expectations.

"What are you planning to do with the recording?" Ayanokouji politely inquired, wanting to understand their intentions.

"The Professor is planning to rank the girls' breast sizes for us. If we're fortunate, he might even capture some pictures with his phone." Ike hesitantly voiced his thoughts, only after witnessing the intense glare that Ayanokouji directed towards him with his signature cold stare. After uttering those words, Ike spoke again when Kiyo returned to his usual self.

"Hey, man. Are you some kind of character from a manga? If so, then you should learn to control your Haki powers, alright?" he remarked.

"Hey, hey. Don't you think that's inappropriate? Ayanokouji, did you used to be involved in fights? I must admit, I was quite intimidated when I saw you," Sudou reacted visibly, shifting his attention towards them. At that moment, Ayanokouji came up with a new idea, turning the three idiots into two.

"Sudo, let's discuss this later. If you try to do anything, I will report it to the school. Of course, I won't have any evidence, so naturally the school won't believe me. But I wonder whose side the girls in our class would take, yours or mine," Ayanokouji threatened them, flashing Kakashi's iconic eye smile, which undoubtedly instilled fear in them.

"What-..." Ike began to utter, but Ayanokouji interrupted him with perfect timing.

"Not only that, by doing this, I might even steal your chances with your crush. Your life would be ruined, wouldn't it?" Ayanokouji revealed yet another bombshell.

"Um, we're sorry. We won't engage in such behavior anymore, please forgive us. Right, guys?" Ike, who had just been conversing with Ayanokouji, apologized to him and even urged his peers to do the same.

"Yeah, yeah. We won't," they both said, their defeat evident in their tone, tinged with fear.

"Right. Well, we're human; we do make mistakes. By the way, let's delete this for your reward," Ayanokouji said as he retrieved his cellphone, holding it casually between his fingers, then performing a smooth rotation. He glanced at Ike, who seemed confused by his words.

"Oh! I meant about this evidence," Ayanokouji clarified, nodding towards his phone, which he began to fidget with.

"What?" Ike exclaimed, his confusion evident.

Ayanokouji clarified, "I meant about this evidence," glancing at Ike and then back at his phone.

'Okay, I admit I was a bit scared. But how can this guy have evidence that easily? He's obviously bluffing,' Ike thought, returning to his slightly arrogant tone.

"Hey, Professor! Come here for a sec!"

"Uh, you called?"

"Professor, can you record the girls wearing their swimsuits—..." The sound indicated Ayanokouji had already recorded it, courtesy of his newly-made Alpha, which understood the situation and acted swiftly.

Ayanokouji then deleted the recording, not wanting to scare them too much.

"Now you understand the power of evidence, don't you? With this trick, at worst, you could be expelled, you know. Also, hope you learned your lesson," Ayanokouji said to all of them.

Sudo, confused, asked, "Wait, Ayanokouji, but I didn't try to do anything," feeling included in Ayanokouji's implications.

"Sudo, do you remember the time at the place near the convenience store?" Ayanokouji asked, his tone strict.

"Yup. How could I forget it? I really wanted to go all out after a long time..." Sudo began, but Ayanokouji interrupted.

"That time, you would be in serious trouble," Ayanokouji said with a tone of certainty.

"Huh?" Sudo was shocked, but coming from Ayanokouji, he believed it.

Ayanokouji then explained their plan to Sudo and the others, leaving them shocked to the core.

"What? So that was their motive, huh. Really, thanks a lot, dude, for your help," Sudo expressed his gratitude, trying to grasp just who Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was.

"Well, anyways, enough talk. It's time for swimming time. Let's go," Ayanokouji said, prompting them to follow. His classmates looked at him like a hero who saved them, akin to an MC in an Isekai anime, though only the girls did.

Ayanokouji's POV:

Afterward, we headed to the school's swimming pool, which seemed even larger than a city pool. I made my way to the boys' locker room. Sudou promptly removed his uniform, revealing his well-built physique, a testament to his years of basketball playing. Even among the other students, he stood out in incredible shape. While others wrapped themselves in towels, Sudou unabashedly wore only his underwear as he prepared his swimsuit. I couldn't help but comment.

"Sudou, you're pretty bold. You don't seem to be nervous around other people, huh?" I remarked, to which he replied...

"Yup, in sports, you can't get flustered every time you have to change. If you act all shifty, it'll have the opposite effect. You become the center of attention."

As expected, though he may be an idiot, he's a cool guy once you get used to him. Back then, he was my number one favorite character in terms of character development. Then, I undressed and...

"Woah! Ayanokouji, do you also do sports? You seem to be in better shape than I am," Sudou asked, surprised by Ayanokouji's physique.

"Well, keep this a secret, but actually, I'm a black belt holder in Karate," I said, surprising him further.

"That's awesome. Although I used to fight a little, I don't think I have the confidence to go up against a black belt holder," Sudou acknowledged his own weakness.

"I see. Thanks for the compliment. But don't fight often, okay? You may get in trouble," I reminded him again of the importance of keeping a cool head.

"Okay," he said, his tone reassuring. But still, Sudou, I needed him to fight at least twice.

Then we headed towards the pool.

A few minutes after the boys had arrived, a girl's voice could be heard. This time, they actually behaved like any normal high school student would.

Afterwards, the girls appeared, and all of them probably had one thing in mind: "Unexpected." That's because Ike and Yamauchi didn't behave like they would in a Light Novel. Seeing that, I think they thought they might have turned into good people in the girls' eyes.

"It seems that we still have got a lot of potential," Yamauchi said, which even I didn't fully understand at first, until I had an 'Oh!' moment.

"Yeah, that's right. We still ain't going down. We will win, that's for sure," Ike chimed in, catching the vibe. And I couldn't help but think, "You do watch anime, right? My dear friend, I sincerely pray you won't turn out like what I'm thinking."

"Bro!"

"Dude!"

Yamauchi and Ike reaffirmed their manly bond of friendship, clasping their hands together.

"What are you two doing? That looks like fun," Kushida suddenly chimed in, most probably for Horikita's sake.

"K-K-Kushida-chan?!" Ike stuttered. Ara~ yada, how cute.

Kushida showed up between the two of them, clad in her school-issued swimwear, stunning beauty radiating from her.

'Sigh! But man, only if you knew her true personality,' I pondered silently.

After that, in an instant, nearly all of the boys' eyes were glued to Kushida's body. However, all of the boys quickly averted their gaze.

'Ahh, this limited peace truly is a nice feeling,' I thought to myself, feeling a slight smile curve my lips.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Horikita spoke to me. Wait, she spoke to me? Omg, will the world end?

"Yup. So did you make any friends? As for me, I have a few like-..." I tried to start a conversation with her. But she...

"No, I don't think I need them."

Destroyed my fragile heart.

"But..." Nevertheless, I didn't give up.

"Are you deaf, Ayanokouji-kun?" she said, as if I were actually deaf.

"No, but don't you think you'll be lonely? Without a single friend," I said to her with a serious tone, genuinely concerned about the matter.

"Being alone is not synonymous with being lonely," she replied, echoing the same line. Though I appreciated the coolness of the quote, I really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

'Desu yo ne. (That's right.)' I thought.

For some reason, Horikita was checking me out all over, though.

"Ayanokouji-kun, do you exercise?" she asked.

"Yup, I guess by doing so, I am above average. Also, didn't I tell you I had a black belt in Karate?" I retorted in an angry tone. How could she forget about my awesome feat I just told her at the club fair?

"I see. You did mention it, but you seem to be more than that," she said, acknowledging that my physique surpassed that of most karate practitioners.

Then she joined in our conversation.

"Are you a good swimmer, Horikita-san?" Kushida asked.

"I wouldn't say I'm particularly good or bad at it," Horikita replied honestly, though I could sense some irritation in her tone.

"I was really bad at swimming when I was in junior high. But I gave it my all and practiced really hard, and now I think I've gotten better," Kushida said, probably trying to elicit a reaction from her.

"I see," Horikita responded disinterestedly, backing away slightly.

"All right, everyone, line up!"

A macho-looking middle-aged man, the kind who seemed devoted to sports, gathered everyone together and began the class. He looked like a PE teacher, but also seemed to have a charm that appealed to both men and women.

"There are sixteen of you, huh? I thought there would've been more, but this is all right," he remarked as he observed our numbers.

"After you warm up, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for me," the coach instructed.

"Excuse me, sir. I can't really swim, though..." A lone boy sheepishly raised his hand and spoke up.

"Since you have me as your teacher, you'll be swimming by summertime. Don't worry about a thing," he said, almost hinting at something.

"Well, we don't really need to force ourselves to swim, do we? It's not like we're going to the beach or anything," someone said, still uncertain about the Sensei's proposal.

"No way. I don't mind at all if you're bad at swimming now, but I'll make sure you guys are winners in the end. Besides, being able to swim will definitely come in handy later in life. Definitely," he assured with a reliable smile, gathering everyone.

Oh! I guess it's foreshadowing for that.

Everyone started their warm-up exercises. The teacher asked us to swim for about fifty meters. Students who could not swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the pool with their feet. The water must have been temperature-controlled because I didn't feel chilled when I entered and adjusted right away. After getting in, I started to swim lightly.

After fifty meters, I waited for everyone else to finish.

"He he he, that was an easy win for me. Did you all see my super swimming skills?" Ike crowed.

He'd swum expertly and now got out of the pool with a smug, self-satisfied grin. No, Ike, your performance wasn't really that different from anyone else's.

"Well, it looks like everyone can swim, for the most part," the coach observed again.

"Of course, sir. Back in junior high, people called me 'the flying fish,' you know," Yamauchi boasted, as if it didn't happen, I don't know what will happen.

"I see. In that case, I'll have you start competing against each other. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty-meter freestyle," the coach announced the impending swimming competition.

"C-compete?! Are you serious?" Ike said in a panicked tone. Oe oe what happened to your earlier motivation?

"I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The student who comes in last place, however, will have to take supplementary lessons. Get ready," the coach announced.

The skilled swimmers cheered with joy, while the less confident students groaned.

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

Excluding the observers and the one student who couldn't swim, there were sixteen boys and ten girls competing. The girls started first, while the boys sat on the sidelines, filled with excitement as they cheered.

"Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan. Haaaaaaa..."

It looked like Kushida had completely entranced Ike. I guess it can't be helped.

"You're scaring everyone, Ike, just quiet down," I mumbled.

"B-but, Kushida-chan is so goddamn cute, isn't she?"

I'm glad for your development; at least you didn't say anything inappropriate. Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with some cheering. Kushida immediately dominated the boys' attention; her face alone could have placed Horikita in the top tier, but her disdain for social interaction had caused her popularity to dip. Despite that, many of the boys still thought she looked great, so she received plenty of cheers at the starting line.

"Everyone, burn these images into your mind!" Ike cried.

"Yeah!" everyone shouted.

Somehow, swimming had strengthened the boys' bond. The only exception was Hirata, who seemed to avoid looking at the girls. The whistle blew, and five of the girls dove into the water. Horikita was in the second lane. She took the lead at the beginning of the race and maintained her position at the front of the pack, swimming confidently and effortlessly covering the fifty meters.

"Wow! Awesome, Horikita!"

Her time was approximately twenty-eight seconds. She was pretty fast.

Horikita slowly got out of the pool and went to the side, not even appearing out of breath. After that came the second race. Kushida, the most popular girl, was in the fourth lane. The boys cheered for her, smiling and waving.

"Whoo!"

Wow, those guys were really riled up.

The second race began. The contest ended up being rather one-sided. Onodera finished with a time of about twenty-six seconds, earning her the win. Kushida finished at about thirty-one seconds, which was a fairly good time but only resulted in her getting fourth place. I went over to the side of the pool to talk with Horikita.

"You were so close. Second place, I mean. I guess those guys on the swim team were really tough, huh?" I tried to start a conversation once again.

"I don't mind whether I win or lose. Enough about me. Are you feeling confident in yourself?" she asked me. Oh, how I wish I could see their faces if I just broke the world record. Which I'm not sure, but I'm pretty damn confident that I could pull it off no matter what.

"Oh! I think at minimum I would be in the top, maybe top 5 or maybe top 6," I replied to her, and she believed me, most probably because of our previous interaction.

After that, the boys' turn came, and I went to compete. If I wanted, I could easily get 1st place if that time was my full power, but I would rather not do so. I absolutely don't want some news reporters to come to my room and say, "Hey, young man, how did you beat the world record?" and all. After that, we were told our positions. Well, I guess let's go with that. With that in mind, the race started.

Sudou finished the fifty-meter race with incredible speed. The boys and girls cheered in admiration.

"Wow, you're amazing, Sudou. You finished the race in twenty-five seconds!" they cried.

"Sudou, won't you consider joining the swim team? If you practice, you could probably win at competitions!" Onodera asked Sudou to join the swimming club alongside her, but...

"Basketball is my only sport. Swimming's just for fun," Sudou, who hadn't even broken a sweat, calmly got out of the pool.

"Oh, wow, he has absolutely outstanding motor skills," Ike, feeling envious, elbowed Sudou.

"Kya!" Here it came.

A girl let out a joyful scream as Hirata took his starting position. Whereas Sudou's body had attracted the boys' admiration, Hirata's body attracted the girls. He was slender, but also well-built.

"I'm going to blow you out of the water. I'll use all of my power," he growled.

Didn't he say that he swam just for fun?

After the teacher blew the whistle, Hirata dove into the pool with beautiful form. Every time Hirata's arms cut through the water, the girls cheered by the side of the pool. His form was effortlessly cool.

"He's surprisingly fast," Sudou commented.

"Sensei, what was his time?" asked Ike, impatiently.

"Hirata's time was...26.13 seconds," the coach replied.

"All right. You can do it, Sudou. You can definitely win against him! Bring down the hammer of justice!" Ike said, almost burdening Sudo with a huge opportunity.

"Leave it to me. I'll demolish him and his popularity..." Ike's encouragement fired Sudou up, though even if Hirata lost, it wasn't likely that his popularity would drop.

"Hirata-kun, you were so cool! You're not just good at soccer, you're really good at swimming!" one girl cried out.

"You think so? Thank you!" he replied.

"Hey, why are you ogling Hirata-kun like that?" another girl said.

"Huh? I'm 'ogling'?" She snorted.

There was an indignant squeal. Hirata's immense popularity was unbelievably frustrating.

"Come on, girls, knock it off. Please don't fight over me. I belong to everyone. I want to be everyone's friend. Besides, what if someone who's better at swimming comes along?" Kouenji mistakenly seemed to assume that the cheers were for him. He put on a refreshing smile and then planted his feet by the starting line.

"Hey. Uh, why is Kouenji wearing a speedo?" Someone suddenly pointed it out.

"Wh-what?" Almost all girls screamed.

After noticing that, the girls immediately glanced away. However, in the third race, all eyes were on Kouenji. The stance he took at the starting line was just like an athlete's. His posture wasn't the only impressive thing; he looked to be in even better physical shape than Sudou. Sudou and all of the other boys in class held their breath as they attentively focused on Kouenji.

"I'm not particularly interested in winning or losing...but I don't like losing," said Sudou, to no one in particular.

As the whistle blew, Kouenji dove into the pool with textbook form.

"Whoa! Wow!"

Sudou gave a surprised shout in response to Kouenji's unexpectedly aggressive swimming. Hirata also stared in apparent amazement. Kouenji swam fiercely, but it didn't slow his incredible speed. He was unquestionably faster than Sudou. After checking the time, the teacher reflexively looked at his stopwatch twice.

"23.22 seconds."

"My abdominal muscles, back muscles, and psoas major muscle seem to be in good shape, as usual. Not a bad performance," Kouenji said. After getting out of the pool, he smirked and swept his hair up. He wasn't short of breath at all. It was as if he hadn't even swum in the first place.

"I'm fired up!" Sudou didn't want to lose, so his competitive spirit flared.

"I'm really looking forward to this. Both Kouenji-kun and Sudou-kun are so fast," Kushida said to which I decided to give her a reply.

"Yeah, even I don't think I can win against Kouenji, and I think my time would be equal to Sudo or a little less." No, I can beat him if that's his full power with this body.

"Oh! you did mention that you were physically superior, right?" She asked me.

"Yup, the last time I did swimming I think it was around 13 to 14 seconds." I said, trying to make a certain catchphrase-type event.

"Huh!"

"Oh! I mean in a 25-meter pool; ours is 50 meters." I said to her, to which she let out an "Oh!". Then for the next round, the race started and Akito won by a huge margin.

"Woah! I didn't expect that guy to be this good, but still, I think I can win against him," Sudo said.

Apparently, his time was 27.21 seconds, a bit less than Hirata's. After that, my turn came, and I was also getting a good amount of cheers from both boys and girls.

Then I took my position, and if Koenji's position would get 10 points, then mine would be 8.9 points. Of course, I could do better than that, but I don't want to attract more attention than this. Then I swam using the amount of power I needed to get the first position. My time was 26.34 seconds.

"Whoo! as expected of you, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Not only are you cool and nice but strong also."

"Yeah, you are the best."

"No, Hirata is the best."

'Being a spoiled brat sure is nice, huh?' In thought.

No, I shouldn't think like this; they were just cheering me with their full heart, and here I am. Mocking them. Then the time for the final race came. Okay. Let's do this.

"Ready."

"Get set."

"Go."

The moment I heard that, I swam towards the goal. Initially, I trailed behind them all: Koenji, Sudo, Hirata, and Akito. But then suddenly, I increased my speed, capturing everyone's attention.

"What?"

"What's happening?"

"Did his speed just increase?"

After the race finished, everyone was beyond shocked. I swam very ferociously yet in a perfect way, almost like a dolphin.

"He must have definitely beaten Sudo."

"But it would be good if Ayanokouji-kun had won against that narcissist bastard."

"Sigh! I guess no one can beat that narcissist freak."

"By the way guys, what was their time? Sensei!" Kushida asked in a hurried tone.

"Oh! Yeah. Sensei, what is it?" Others chimed in now after seeing my performance.

"Okay, I will start from the last ones."

Akito

: 27.17 seconds

Hirata

: 26.09 seconds

Sudo

: 25.03 seconds

Me

: 23.63 seconds

Koenji

: 23.17 seconds

"Wow, you guys are awesome. Just a few more seconds, and you two may break the world record. Kouenji, here, take your points," the coach said towards him as he pulled out his phone and transferred 5000 points to him.

"Ayanokouji-boy, next time, please take this perfect existence seriously and give a challenge," he whispered to me in my ear before humming a tune and walking away.

"This way, it is fine," I muttered as I walked away.