In early April, Tokyo's average temperature hovered around the low teens Celsius. It felt slightly cool on the skin, yet Advanced Nurturing High School had already kicked off its swimming classes.
Fuyuji Mikage sat by the poolside, leaning back with both hands propped against the ground, his gaze roving over the girls in his class. Their youthful, vibrant figures swam through the water like fish, and the occasional silvery laughter that drifted over made Fuyuji Mikage let out a deeply contented sigh.
"That matter with Ryuen... you were the one behind it, weren't you, Fuyuji?"
Just as Fuyuji Mikage was freely indulging in the joys of youth, Katsuragi Kohei had silently arrived beside him. Arms crossed, looking straight ahead, he interrupted Fuyuji's blissful mont.
"So you found out..."
Fuyuji Mikage responded to Katsuragi's words, but his eyes remained locked on the small clique of girls splashing water at each other and horsing around in the pool.
"It wasn't hard to guess. The ti and location you let slip when you called overlap heavily with that video. And the failure of Class C's unification benefits our Class A the most." Katsuragi Kohei paused, his voice deepening. "If you had told about this matter back then, I definitely would have rushed over."
"So, how about it?" Fuyuji Mikage flashed Katsuragi Kohei a thumbs-up and bared his porcelain-white teeth with considerable pride. "My masterpiece..."
"It was a bit... that... but I have to say, it was remarkably effective." Even the perpetually composed Katsuragi Kohei was struggling to keep a straight face.
"Then it's all good. Speaking of which..."
Fuyuji Mikage casually dismissed the restroom incident. He pinched his chin and thoroughly scrutinized Katsuragi Kohei, who was wearing nothing but swimming trunks, from top to bottom.
"Before, I only thought you just liked shaving your head. I didn't realize it's genuinely, completely bald without a single hair?"
Katsuragi Kohei looked down at his own body. Without a hint of self-consciousness, he frankly said, "Ah, you an this. It's alopecia universalis. My body simply cannot grow hair."
"Is that so..." Fuyuji Mikage sank into contemplation.
The Class A students, having finished changing, entered the water one after another. The water at the pool's edge overflowed like waves, slapping rhythmically against Fuyuji Mikage's feet.
"Katsuragi, let ask you sothing."
"Mm... go ahead."
"When you shower, do you dry off really fast?"
"..."
"It... it should be considered fast, I suppose..." Katsuragi Kohei couldn't quite keep up with Fuyuji Mikage's train of thought.
"Since you're bald, do you even wash your head?"
"Yes, that's still necessary."
Katsuragi Kohei nodded solemnly and earnestly explained to Fuyuji Mikage that a bald head requires not only washing but also proper care with facial cleanser and body wash. In daily life, one must also pay attention to protecting one's it from the sun, since there is no hair to protect it.
Fuyuji Mikage listened and nodded repeatedly, indicating he had learned sothing new.
After speaking with lingering enthusiasm, Katsuragi spotted a classmate waving him over from afar. He bid farewell to Fuyuji Mikage and headed in that direction.
"Next ti sothing like this cos up, make sure to call . I'll help," Katsuragi stressed once more.
"Got it."
After Katsuragi had gone so distance, Fuyuji Mikage silently leaned his head out from the pool's edge and slapped the water's surface with his hand.
"I won, Morishita. Don't forget to treat later!"
The calm water's surface suddenly burst open as a figure shot out, the splashing water slapping Fuyuji Mikage right across the face.
"Hah~ Hah~ Hah~"
Morishita Ai gasped for breath, her small face flushed bright red.
"How many minutes?"
"Two minutes and twenty-three seconds."
"Morishita Ai breaks the record!" Morishita Ai raised her hand and cheered loudly.
"Don't forget to treat ." Fuyuji Mikage emphasized once again.
Five minutes earlier, Morishita Ai and Fuyuji Mikage had been debating whether or not Katsuragi actually washed his head on a daily basis.
Morishita Ai believed that since Katsuragi's bald head looked so smooth and didn't seem to get dirty easily, washing it occasionally whenever free would suffice.
Fuyuji Mikage, on the other hand, argued that the shorter the hair, the more frequently the head gets washed. All the more so for a completely bald head. Thus, he concluded Katsuragi most certainly washed his head every single day.
The outco was obvious in the end...
"Morishita Ai gracefully accepts defeat!"
After completing this challenge, she swam off on her own towards the other side of the pool.
Getting excited the mont she touches water really is an inherent trait of a child, isn't it? Watching Morishita Ai's receding figure, Fuyuji Mikage sighed with emotion.
He sat by the poolside a while longer. Then, a long whistle sounded, and Fuyuji Mikage withdrew his gaze.
The PE teacher off in the distance shouted, "Everyone, please gather round."
The second teacher to shatter Fuyuji Mikage's preconceived notions, right after Mashima Tomonari, had appeared!
Standing in the assembled line, Fuyuji Mikage looked at the PE teacher's exaggerated, bursting arm muscles and winced, his mind drifting back to his previous life and the always-sickly PE teacher, as well as the math teacher who, co rain or shine, never fell ill and often forcefully elbowed the PE teacher straight into the hospital.
"Three people in the redial group, huh..." The PE teacher's words seed to carry a hint of satisfaction.
"Then I'll get right to the point. In a mont, I'll be conducting a baseline test. The fastest student will receive a reward of five thousand points, while the slowest will have to stay behind for supplentary lessons..."
The PE teacher, delivering his routine instructions, entered a rambling state. The gist of it was—
I will train you rigorously to ensure you absolutely learn how to swim. Accordingly, please be prepared to face certain death.
Fuyuji Mikage broke out in a cold sweat listening to this. He could swim...
Just a little bit...
And so, after entering the water in the first group, Fuyuji Mikage decisively sought help from the person in the adjacent lane.
"Kito, do you have so forbidden, shortcut, crash-course secret technique for boosting speed by thirty percent in under a minute?"
Kito Hayato in lane two seed choked up by Fuyuji Mikage's question. It took him a while before he managed to force out a reply. "No."
"That's a problem, then."
Fuyuji Mikage dipped half his face below the water's surface, watching the shimring, scale-like sparkle of the water as bubbles gurgled up before his eyes.
Could it be that his very first redial lesson was about to be served right here?
"Fuyuji, don't I still have you beat for last place?" A gentle male voice ca from the lane on his other side.
The speaker was a rather slender young man nad Sanada Kosei. He was courteous and gentlemanly, one of the top academic talents in the class.
"Sanada, can you swim?" Fuyuji Mikage's eyes instantly lit up.
Sanada Kosei: "..."
Your silence is deafening!
The final result was as expected. Fuyuji Mikage valiantly seized last place in the boys' group with an impressive ti of 48 seconds.
In contrast, Kito Hayato right beside him showed no rcy. The mont the whistle blew, he pulled far ahead of Fuyuji Mikage and successfully took first place in the boys' group.
As an aside, first place in the girls' group went to a purple-haired girl. Her long, slender, agile legs rhythmically beat against the water, her pale pink soles undulating with the splashing waves. The sight was so utterly refreshing and delightful that Fuyuji Mikage felt his spirits soar.
After they were dismissed, Fuyuji Mikage, his face grim, paddled sullenly towards the area by the pool where the PE teacher stood.
Midway, Morishita Ai smoothly swam past him on his right, first with the front crawl, then breaststroke, and then backstroke.
Fuyuji Mikage felt he had just been silently mocked. He resolved that from now on, he would rise with the rooster to train, vowing to better himself, and strike down the arrogant Morishita Ai beneath his steed!
Arriving at the pool's edge, Fuyuji Mikage discovered that the one staying behind from the girls' side for redial lessons with him was actually his own deskmate.
"Shiraishi, you're not good at swimming either?" Fuyuji Mikage felt a bit more grounded. This was the camaraderie of sharing the sa trench.
"I haven't swam in a long ti, so suddenly getting in the water was a bit hard to get used to. But," Shiraishi Asuka suddenly exerted force, drifting with the waves right next to Fuyuji Mikage, "I didn't expect I'd be doing this together with Fuyuji-kun. Hehe~ This isn't so bad either."
Her light golden hair brushed past Fuyuji Mikage's nose, and a faint fragrance of hair, mixed with the distinct aquatic scent of the pool, pierced straight into his lungs.
"Even though your physical ability isn't exactly great, it's certainly not poor. Yet you ended up in last place..."
As she spoke, Shiraishi Asuka curiously extended her slender fingers and poked the muscles on his body. Her eyes flickered with an unusual gleam.
"Cough, cough." Fuyuji Mikage felt a bit embarrassed and shrank back a little. "A technical issue. Can't be helped."
"It's okay. I'll stay with you," Shiraishi Asuka gently consoled him.
"Shiraishi..."
"But 48 seconds is still far too slow. You'll need to work very hard, okay?" With a smile, Shiraishi Asuka delivered a critical blow.
Fuyuji Mikage, who had just begun to feel touched, was instantly drenched by a bone-chilling wave of cold water.
"So it's you two?" The disguised muscled gorilla of a PE teacher ca up behind them, picked up his clipboard and glanced at it. "Fuyuji Mikage and Shiraishi Asuka. One at 48 seconds, the other at 58 seconds. The speed is a bit slow, but it's still within normal range. With a little effort, you'll catch up quickly."
Having said that, the PE teacher had them swim another lap, began pointing out the errors in their movents, and individually explained so useful tips for the swimming process.
It has to be said, the Gorilla Teacher's teaching ability was absolutely on point. Combined with the impressive sensory perception granted by his psychic abilities, it wasn't long before Fuyuji Mikage was swimming quite decently. He could even spare so ti mid-swim to chat with the Shiraishi Asuka next to him.
"Shiraishi, you were also at 58 seconds, yet you mocked and my 48 seconds."
"Was I?" Shiraishi Asuka said. "It's different for boys and girls. Girls are allowed to be delicate. If a boy is too delicate, he'll just get laughed at."
"Well, when you put it that way—"
Fuyuji Mikage suddenly stopped and took another good look at Shiraishi Asuka, who was chatting with him while swimming along.
Her light golden long hair drifted and spread out with the waves. Her arms pulled through the water powerfully. Her legs gave light kicks that stirred up ripples, her waist moving forward with flexibility. The soaked swimsuit outlined her fine figure, yet none of it affected her ability to move through the water with effortless ease.
"Shiraishi-san, were you actually very good at swimming all along?"
"Oh dear, you found out." Shiraishi Asuka stopped and raised a hand to cover her lips, feigning surprise. "I did specialized training in swimming when I was young."
"Then getting last place... that really shouldn't have happened."
"Perhaps... I purposely stayed behind just to accompany you?" Shiraishi Asuka said with a playful tone.
"Love at first sight again?"
Fuyuji Mikage fixed his eyes on Shiraishi Asuka, who was looking back at him with a gentle expression, and asked in disbelief.
"Mmhmm." Shiraishi Asuka let out a coquettish hum.
"Just what kind of absolute scumbag was that guy you knew, that you still rember him even now?"
"A heartless man, he was."
"Good, good..." Fuyuji Mikage patted his chest. "I do have the nickna Fuyuji Mikage, the Man of Deep Feeling and Loyalty, you know." As he spoke, he felt sothing was off sowhere and looked back at Shiraishi Asuka. "So, just where exactly do he and I resemble each other?"
"I can't really put my finger on it either. I just feel you're alike..."
"Another case of a woman's intuition?"
Fuyuji Mikage was already beyond complaining about this concept. If he himself didn't genuinely possess sothing similar, he would have absolutely kicked the whole notion straight into the cesspool.
"As for that... I'll tell you another ti."
Just then, Morishita Ai happened to float leisurely past the two of them, face-up. She shot a glance at Fuyuji Mikage and dropped a single remark:
"48..."
Could this be tolerated?
If this could be tolerated, what couldn't?!
"Morishita Ai, draw your sword! Stake your dinner tonight on it!"
Once eyes t, the duel must begin!
"Bring it on! Let show you the power inherited from the bloodline of the Morishita Family's Pirate King!" Morishita Ai flipped her body over, brimming with fighting spirit.
"The Pirate King is a total landlubber, okay?!"
"Not that Pirate King! The Tenth Generation Pirate King! Nad Morishita D. Sieg."
"...You're really quite the expert at making up stories on the fly, aren't you."
"Is that so... Thank you for the complint."
"I wasn't complinting you!"
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