6.4
“Whoa, talk about luxury. It’s completely decked out.”
The large pool facility, normally used for club activities and regular practice, looked completely different today. A number of students crowded the area, but food stalls were also everywhere. Snacks and junk food were in abundance: hot dogs, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, and more.
Even weirder, upperclassmen seemed be managing the stalls. There were all types, from serious students who worked hard without so much as a smile, to students who looked like they were having a blast. It reminded me of the special tests.
Whatever was going on, it certainly seemed festive. While we stood around, waiting for the girls, I felt the group’s mood begin to lift.
If you wanted to attract positive attention from the people around you, you had to put in the work. Take academics, for example. If you were at the top of the class, or got the highest score in an exam, people paid attention to you. The same held true if you exhibited remarkable athleticism. But there were many ways to stand out, and one was simply being attractive. Handsome men, beautiful women—it was far easier for gorgeous people to attract attention than star athletes or academic titans. You couldn’t really deny that that special factor existed.
I didn’t know how we compared to other schools, but a lot of people at this school were more attractive than average. That included members of our group. We were surrounded by many gorgeous students whose names I didn’t know. No wonder Ike and Yamauchi were constantly horny.
What would it be like if stunning looks went hand in hand with a perfect personality? Someone who wasn't just cute and exceptionally stylish, but also academically brilliant? A girl like that would steal anyone’s attention.
Almost all of the male students suddenly focused their attention on a single point.
“Whew. This sure is a huge crowd, isn’t it?” Ichinose caught up with us, apparently oblivious to everyone looking at her.
“Hey…”
Unsure where to look, I shifted my gaze toward the wall as I answered.
“Where are the others? I thought the boys would be faster,” she said.
“They’re still changing,” I answered. They were also late due to other…circumstances. “You got changed pretty quickly.”
“Ah ha ha! I’m pretty confident in my quick-change abilities,” Ichinose boasted, as though that was something to be proud of. Her sunny innocence might just be the secret to her popularity. “Oh! Ayanokouji-kun, you brought a rash guard?”
“This might be strange for a guy, but I don’t really like showing skin in front of people. I heard that it was okay to wear this when we aren’t in class.”
“I see. I think that’s fine. It doesn’t violate the rules, after all.”
A few other students were also covering up, even guys like me. Ichinose poked my vest-covered stomach with her index finger.
“You’re pretty hard. Also, you’re slender. You have the ideal amount of muscle, without being too muscular,” she observed.
She kept touching me all over, from my arms to my shoulders. I was lucky I’d had the funds to buy an outer garment. I needed to thank Katsuragi.
“Do you work out?” she asked.
“No. It’s probably just the material. I don’t exercise daily or anything,” I said.
“Hmm.”
Ichinose lowered her eyes to look at my legs, but at least stopped asking questions. Still, standing this close to her made me hyper-conscious of her monstrous—er, her very large breasts. How in the world could I swim in this condition? I doubted whether I’d even be able to move.
“Well, those guys are late. I think I’ll go check on them,” I said.
I knew full well what they were doing, and why they were late, but I couldn’t bear seeing Ichinose in her swimsuit anymore. I turned on my heel and headed for the men’s locker rooms.
Several minutes later, we completed our preparations. We headed to the pool together. All the girls, including Horikita, had assembled.
“Wow!”
Ike couldn’t help but exclaim when he saw the wondrous spectacle the girls presented. Sakura, however, retreated to the back of their group. She, of course, was wearing a rash guard, too. Even so, not all the guys were able to conceal their delight at seeing the girls wearing swimsuits.
“Gah, ah! I can see them. Their breasts, underneath those thin swimsuits! I can see them!”
Ike and Yamauchi stared at the girls as if they both had X-ray vision. They seemed to be having the time of their lives.
“Okay, how about we get going? Looks like that spot at the far back is open.”
Ichinose led the way as we went to secure a place where we could hang out. The guys fell in line right behind the girls, their objective to ogle the girls’ gently bouncing buttocks. However, Sudou didn’t move from Horikita’s side. They looked good together. I actually thought they would be a surprisingly good couple.
Meanwhile, I walked next to Sakura, which was becoming a habit.
“Ah. Thank you,” she whispered.
“Why are you thanking me?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Sakura appeared puzzled. Then she realized that I had no idea what she was referencing. “Um, well. For inviting me out today.”
“Huh? It’s normal, after all. We’re friends. Right?”
I said the word “friend” smoothly and easily. Sakura looked up happily, her eyes sparkling like a puppy’s.
“So, you don’t need to thank me,” I said.
Sakura apparently didn’t agree. “Still, thank you,” she repeated.
“No, well… Well, okay.”
That was just the way Sakura was. It was why I could relax when I was with her.
Even so, she had become bolder. She’d matured to the point where I barely recognized her as the same girl I first met. A classmate had confessed romantic feelings toward her, and she hadn’t run away, but answered him properly. Watching her grow more and more each day, I thought that, maybe, I could change, too.
“I’ve been thinking, recently—during P.E., the teacher told us that swimming would definitely be useful to us later. I think that referred to the island test.” Sakura made this observation with a fiery look in her eyes. I decided not to deflate her.
“I see. Huh. That’s certainly true.”
“See, just like I thought!” Happy at having deduced something important, Sakura hopped innocently up and down, making her large breasts jiggle beneath her rash guard.
I felt some sympathy for a girl whose breasts were so large that they made normal things difficult, like simply removing a shirt. Regardless, I was just glad I’d been able to discover a new side to Sakura.
However, her expression turned apologetic the next moment. “If I participated properly, I think I’d be more useful. I used my poor health as an excuse to run away.”
“As long as you’re aware of that, isn’t it enough?”
The students who once lived solely for themselves, with no thought for the future, had slowly begun to realize that people couldn’t survive alone. Unless you planned to be a hermit, living on a mountain, you had no choice but to depend on other people.
The majority of junior high and high school students hadn’t noticed that yet, however. They lived in hedonistic isolation, spending their time on the Internet or feverishly engaging in mobile games. Some delinquents even committed crimes ranging from minor offenses to serious felonies. They didn’t know how to ask for help or cooperate with others. Some would spend their entire lives not knowing how.
This school was different, though. Their methods were unique, but they seemed to be trying to teach students how to become functional individuals.
Sakura had started to recognize that. She’d realized that maybe there was something she could do for the class. She might eventually become a great asset to 1-D.
“Ichinose-san. You guys. You came here today, too, huh?”
Three male students called out to us as we looked for a spot. I recognized one: Kanzaki from Class B. He nodded to us.
“Yoo-hoo! Shibata-kun, you’re here with the guys?” asked Ichinose.
Shibata raised his hand and looked at us Class D students with a smile. “Looks like a fun group! How about we join you?” he asked.
“I’m totally okay with that, but…is that all right?” asked Ichinose, looking at us.
Kushida nodded with enthusiasm, which annihilated Ike and Yamauchi’s ability to veto the suggestion. The three Class B students joined us, making our group’s total number a staggering thirteen members.
“Sorry for bothering you,” said Kanzaki, approaching me. He understood that I wasn’t especially good at dealing with a rowdy group.
Sakura quickly took a step back. She’d instantly faded into the background, so that Kanzaki wouldn’t notice her.
“That’s fine,” I said. “It’s the last day of summer vacation, after all.”
“Well, it’s true that we only have a few opportunities to socialize with students from other classes. Shibata and the others seem happy,” replied Kanzaki.
“You don’t really seem to like them, though,” I said. Kanzaki looked calm and composed, as always. However, there’d been a slyness to the way he approached me, so as not to draw attention.
“I’m like you, Ayanokouji. I’m not good with crowds.”
As Kanzaki and I chatted about nothing in particular, we heard increasingly loud cheers up ahead.
“Sounds like they’re all fired up over something,” said Sudou.
I raised my head to look. At the center of the uproar was a huge splash. A person and a ball flew upward into the air. The person delivered a powerful, aggressive spike that sent the ball flying to the opponent’s side of the pool. Apparently, they were playing volleyball.
“Whoa! Awesome! This is, like, some next-level stuff, huh?!” shouted Yamauchi.
There were three pools in the large facility, all currently being used for various activities and games. One pool was for standard swimming. Another was built to function like a lazy river with a current. The final pool was mainly geared toward activities like sports.
A large crowd of screaming girls surrounded the sports pool, in which students were playing a fierce game of volleyball. I’d never seen many of them before. The majority looked a little older than us. They were probably second or third-year students.
One male student, in particular, stood out.
“He’s awesome.”
The object of Sudou’s expressed admiration was the same student I’d noticed. At first glance, his slender form appeared delicate. Upon closer inspection, though, you saw his well-defined abs. The way his blond hair swayed whenever he moved, and the composed expression on his face, caught the eye. He was so beautiful that you could almost mistake him for an illusion, an image flickering on a screen.
Apparently, this beautiful young man had stolen most of the female students’ attention.
“Ugh, he’s the kind of guy I hate the most. Even though he’s not all that talented or hardworking, he’s a winner because of his looks,” spat Ike.
I understood Ike and Yamauchi’s venomous envy, but they were wrong. This handsome man wasn’t showered in attention due to his appearance. I saw the sharp gleam in his eyes as his attention focused upward. The beautiful young man soared into the air to meet the ball that a teammate passed him.
Most of the onlookers went quiet, as though they’d forgotten to cheer. Everyone watched with bated breath. The handsome student shot the bullet—er, the ball—at a sharp angle and with high velocity. It assaulted the enemy team. The student who received the ball was clearly skilled, too. He responded quickly and dove to try to keep the ball in play.
Everyone screamed in unison as the beautiful young man’s team earned a point. His physical abilities’ superior nature was obvious. Looking at how developed the lower half of his body was, I guessed that he focused on a sport in which he used his legs. Maybe track and field? I could imagine baseball or soccer as well.
“H-he’s handsome, he’s smart, he’s good at sports… Who the hell is he?!”
“People are really getting fired up, huh? That guy completely dominates the game all by himself.”
“Looks like it. I’m not sure who he is or where he’s from, though.”
Horikita and I didn’t know many students from other classes, or what their abilities were. The best person to ask was Kushida, whose network was wider than anyone else’s. She had our answer.
“That’s Nagumo-senpai from Class A. He’s a second year. It sounds like he’s really popular with the girls,” she said.
“Nagumo…”
I’d heard that name recently. Eavesdropping on our conversation, Ichinose explained a bit more. “He’s the current student council vice president. It’s said that he’ll take over as president next year. Apparently, he’s really smart.”
Horikita’s shoulders tightened slightly when she heard the key words “student council.”
Every time Nagumo showed off his skills, there were loud, high-pitched cheers. Other games were going on at the same time, but nobody watched. Everyone was fixated on Nagumo.
“Even though he’s popular with the ladies, I’ve never heard of him until now. You didn’t know him either, right, Ayanokouji-kun? He’s obviously skilled, but considering his notoriety, I imagine some of that must be hype. I’m sure the student council president would easily surpass him in any activity. Wouldn’t he?” asked Horikita.
What a brazen thing to say—praising the president without revealing that he was her brother.
“Yeah. They say the president is amazing. He’s possibly the most extraordinary student in this school’s whole history. Wait. He has the same last name as you, Horikita-san. Right?” asked Ichinose.
“It would appear so,” Horikita answered matter-of-factly. Apparently, she had no intention of giving an honest answer.
“But there are rumors that Nagumo has comparable skills. In fact, during the student council elections, President Horikita and Vice President Nagumo both ran for the position of president. At the time, Nagumo was just a first-year student,” said Ichinose.
“You’re quite well-informed, aren’t you?” replied Horikita.
“When I joined the student council, I inevitably picked up on those kinds of things.”
“You did?” Horikita sounded incredulous.
She couldn’t hide her surprise. I recalled that, the day I met her, she was talking to Hoshinomiya-sensei, Class B’s homeroom teacher, about “student council business.” I had absolutely no interest in working alongside Horikita Manabu, but given how the school was structured, entering the student council had to have monumental significance.
“By the way, what are the prerequisites for joining the student council? Not just anyone can join, right?”
“Hmm. Well, it’s a little tricky. To tell you the truth, I was rejected the first time I applied. But, since you can apply as many times as you want, I persisted,” said Ichinose. “The president never confirmed anything, but apparently, the final decision came from Vice President Nagumo. Later, I heard from Nagumo that President Horikita seemed disappointed in this year’s first-year students. Apparently, they usually accept two first-years, but this year, I’m the only one. That’s why I want to hurry up and prove myself. It sounds as though President Horikita might be stepping down in October.”
As Horikita struggled to get closer to her brother, Ichinose was trying her absolute hardest to gain some ground.
“My goal is definitely to be like Nagumo-senpai. We both started strong, and we get along well. All the student council presidents in this school’s history originally came from Class A, but Nagumo-senpai is like me. We both came from Class B. Then, before anyone realized it, he was next in line to become the president. So, that’s why I’m going to become president after Nagumo-senpai.”
Ichinose paused for a moment, then added, “Just kidding!”
She clearly held Nagumo in higher esteem than Horikita’s brother.
Looking displeased, Horikita snapped back. “Nagumo’s limited potential is obvious. He had a delayed start,” she spat.
“Hey, hey,” I said.
Horikita was free to think whatever she wanted, but didn’t that logic work against her, based on the fact she’d started in Class D? Unless…unless she was serious.
“Wait. Do you still think they assigned you to Class D by mistake?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Horikita said without hesitation.
“Well, I suppose I can understand why you think that. But the school doesn’t seem to sort classes based on academic ability alone. They examine your intelligence, of course, but also your maturity level and collaboration skills. They base their decisions on our demonstration of all those abilities, I think,” mused Ichinose.
“So, you’re saying there’s a problem with me overall?”
“Oh, no. Sorry. I apologize if that’s how it sounded. But think about it. Basically, Horikita-san, you’re the sort of person who believes in herself. If we turn that statement around, though, it could also mean that you’re self-centered. In the real world, there will be times when you need to determine who’s better suited to a situation: a self-important person, or someone who follows instructions. Such decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.”
Self-centered people could be hard to handle, even if they had superior talent. However, people who could follow instructions would always be in demand, a highly sought-after resource.
“I can’t believe that,” said Horikita in a low voice. Her attitude hadn't changed, but hopefully, her way of thinking had slowly begun to transform.
When Ichinose got called over by a friend, I drew slightly nearer to Horikita.
“You didn’t announce your candidacy for the student council, did you? You chose to attend this school to be by your older brother’s side, right?” I asked.
“Those are separate issues. Even you can grasp that much, can’t you? Even if I did the student council interview, there’s absolutely no way I’d get in.”
Well, yeah. If even Ichinose from Class B wasn’t accepted the first time, then Horikita from Class D… The elder Horikita probably wouldn’t allow his sister to join student council when he wanted her expelled.
I watched the game go on for a while. In the end, Nagumo’s team overwhelmed the opposition. The girls who’d cheered Nagumo gathered around him as he climbed out of the pool.
“Hey, wait a sec. That dude’s got an ear piercing! How is that okay?!” shouted Ike, clearly searching for something to say.
“But isn’t that fine? It’s still summer vacation,” replied Ichinose.
“W-well, wait a sec… He’s got a hole in his ear, right?! Isn’t that a big problem?!” Ike persisted.
“I think that’s probably a clip-on earring, actually. He dresses normally in school,” she answered.
“Ugh!” Ike grumbled. No matter how much he objected, Nagumo was a completely flawless student.
“Hey, why don’t we play some volleyball? With Shibata-kun and the other guys on our team, we’ll have six people, and you guys will have seven. If we rotate, we should be set,” said Ichinose.
Ike was the first one to agree. “Yeah, for sure! I’ll attract all the girls’ attention, like Nagumo-senpai!” he shouted.
That was probably impossible, but a lot of students seemed eager to play. Since we’d come all this way, they wanted a good experience.
“U-um, I’m pretty bad at physical activity, so…I’ll watch,” said Sakura, retreating. She probably just really didn’t want to play. Since it was obvious that she wasn’t the athletic sort, no one raised any objections.
“I don’t really feel like playing, either,” said Horikita. She seemed intractable, even though she still owed me a favor.
“Horikita-san, are you running away?” Ichinose smiled, as if to provoke Horikita.
“It’s not ‘running away’ when it’s just a simple game,” snapped Horikita.
“You’re certainly right. But this is like a microcosm of our class. Who’s more ambitious, and who has superior teamwork? In that sense, it’s a mock competition. Or are you saying that you don’t want to compete against us?” asked Ichinose. She was treating this like an analytical test of our combat ability.
“Fine. Let’s do it,” said Horikita.
The Class B students would be our rivals in the near future. This was just a game for now, but they probably wanted to ascertain their opponents’ abilities, too.
“How about this? To make the match a little more interesting, the winners gets to enjoy a free lunch, courtesy of the losers. Are you okay with those stakes?” asked Ichinose.
“Sure,” replied Horikita.
After we submitted our request to use a volleyball court, each team picked its own strategies. The rules we settled on dictated that there’d be fifteen points per set, with a three-set match. We would declare the first team to get two sets the winner. We would determine who served via rotation, and a person who scored would earn the right to serve again.
“This may be a game, but a match is still a match. Since we’re doing this, we’re going to win,” said Horikita.
“You’re unusually fired up, Horikita-san,” observed Kushida.
“With a free lunch at stake, sure. But it’s more than that. To buy lunch for this many people, you might have to spend up to 10,000 points. Even though they’re just private points, the difference between Class B and us could close by that much. On the other hand, if we lose, the gap would widen. It’s just like the special tests,” Horikita replied.
True. Two thousand points per person wasn’t a small expense.
“All right! Let’s definitely win this thing. Ken! Haruki!” shouted Ike.
“Leave this to me, Suzune. If I’m here, we’ve got the strength of one hundred men. I’ll knock those meatheads down!” shouted Sudou.
“But isn’t meathead a word you’d use to describe yourself, Sudou?” I called.
“The hell, dude? You know, ‘meathead.’ Someone’s who got too much meat in their head. Like, their brains are too big, because they study too much. Right?”
Apparently, Sudou had wonderfully misunderstood the meaning of the word. Rather like a meathead.
“Forget it,” I replied.
Sudou looked at the Class B team members and laughed like he had confidence to spare. His attitude seemed to suggest there was no way he’d lose.
"Let's see how I can use you, Sudou-kun."
Although he dragged us down in academics, he might be an invaluable ally in a situation like this.
“Sudou, do you have any experience playing pool volleyball?”
“Nope. Played a little volleyball in class, though.”
“And yet you sound really confident.”
“Basketball’s like all other sports. An upperclassman I respect said that.”
Well, Sudou certainly believed in his own abilities. Horikita was about to determine whether or not he was all talk.
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