Chapter 5 - Swimming

"I never thought the mandatory swimming episode would come this early.." Kiyotaka mumbled under his breath, unamused by his current situation.

A few days before May 1, a mandatory swimming lesson had been implemented in their P.E class.

Of course, Kiyotaka already knew how to swim. It was a given, of course. He has no choice, but to learn.

So, of course, that wasn't the reason why he was disheartened by this specific class.

"–No, I'm telling you guys, it's the legs, not the chest." Azusagawa said, his voice determined, and full of confidence, as if he wasn't saying such a ridiculous thing that may brand him as a pervert.

"No, man. It's the chest. It's where it's at, man. The. Chest." Sora retorted, trying to emphasize his point, as if it would make things a lot better.

Such conversations went on, and these two kept arguing which ones were better, chest or legs, while they wait for the girls whom were changing into their swimsuits.

For these two, this was the perfect occasion to discuss such lecherous and dirty thoughts, so no girl could possibly overhear them.

And, as much as Kiyotaka agreed in that mindset, he didn't want to destroy the relationships he has with girls, as few as they are.

"I can't help but feel disappointed in these two, for some reason." Tatsuya, Yumeko's seatmate, said with his trademark even tone.

Tatsuya had always been like this. Distant, and aloof. He never loses his composure, and always had a straight face. He was like the male version of Kaguya.

And yet, right now, Kiyotaka can see the small tinge of disappointment behind his aloof expression.

"It's not like we can stop them anyways, Tatsuya-san." Akise chuckled, scratching his head with an awkward expression.

Akise was right, Kiyotaka mused. If there was one thing he learned on his own, was that he can't control what others think.

Before, he thought he could do so, but he was wrong as he spent more, and more time on this school.

He can control how others may act. But, he cannot control how they think. He cannot control their mindset, nor how they see things.

Even he, at most, can just influence their thinking. And it made him somewhat annoyed because it costs too much effort.

"Just leave them be." Oreki, the Silent one in Class E, mumbled while staring emptily in the distance.

Oreki speaking brought silence to the whole male population of Class E. Even Sora and Azusagawa, who were still arguing, stopped.

Noticing the noise died down, Oreki blinked, and turned his gaze towards his fellow male classmates in curiosity, wondering what made them go silent.

"Dude... You can talk..?"

"Who do you take me for?" Oreki glared at Kirigaya, who just raised his hands up and shook them all around in defense.

"No, no, no!! It's just, we've never heard you speak, dude!!" Kirigaya defended nervously, and the whole male population cannot help but nod and agree at his words.

Kiyotaka may have been busy with his own group of friends, but even he notices who doesn't talk much. Oreki was one of them.

The whole time he had been classmates with Oreki, never once did he see him talk, even as he spends time with the Nai(Shiro and Sora) siblings.

"This whole thing is just surprising, man. Never thought you'd speak before the whole class." Sora said. Kiyotaka assumed that Sora must've heard this guy talk before.

But of course, it must've been somewhere private for Kiyotaka not to notice.

"Too much effort.." Oreki groaned, before sitting down at the edge of the pool, and began submerging his legs in water.

The boys, who were baffled just now about Oreki actually being able to talk, slowly begun to huddle close, and whispered to one another.

"He can actually talk?"

"That was unexpected.."

"I really thought he's mute!"

"Me too..!"

"Oi, he might hear you guys, tone it down." Oreki could perfectly hear them whispering to one another, yes.

However, he didn't bother. It took too much energy for him to tell them he could, and knew it would just prolong the conversation even longer.

So, he chose to leave them be, and be quiet.

"What are you boys talking about?" A familiar voice interrupted them, making them turn their gaze to the source of the voice.

It came from.. Kaori.., In a school swimsuit.

Kiyotaka had zero interests in seeing the girls in their school swimsuits. After all, he was trained to not react upon seeing that.

However, as a growing teenager, of course, even he would feel something seeing a girl, much more, his childhood friend.

"Kiyotaka's getting a boner."

"Wanna try that again, Akabane Karma?" Kiyotaka's glare made Akabane go silent, and raise his hands up im surrender.

Poor guy didn't even last five seconds teasing Kiyotaka, and he's already down.

"Waaah! Kiyoyaka's bullying me, Kaori..!" Karma comically cried, and clung unto Kaori, who didn't even seemed bothered, despite the skin-to-skin contact.

Karma's bold actions made everyone surprised. But they were even more surprised when Kaori didn't even seem to care.

Seeing Karma clinging unto Kaori, Kiyotaka felt... Odd.

And so, in response to those feelings, Kiyotaka began pulling Karma away from Kaori's body, while the said girl just watched with a smile.

"Geez, Karma-kun. You really should tone down your teasing with him, especially with dirty jokes." Kaori giggled, and Kaguya, who had been behind Kaori this whole time, followed with her usual monotone voice.

"He's right, Karma. You should tone it down." 

"Well, at least I got what I wanted." Karma, with his usual, devious smirk, said, while he was being pulled away by Kiyotaka.

With the boys, seeing the two side-by-side, only had a single though going through their heads currently.

'The differences are so huge..'

"My, you guys were just thinking about something disrespecting, weren't you?" Yumeko giggled, her smile... Now somewhat scary.

It was scary how women's intuition could be sometimes. Because now, they knew they were in trouble;

Although Kaori's expression remained smiling and cheerful, Kaguya's gaze became darker, and darker, almost like a glare.

She definitely knew they were comparing her body with Kaori's.

"Is everyone here?" Just as Kaguya was about to speak, the Coach's voice interrupted her.

He had stopped the disaster just before it could even  begin.

The boys, with the exception of Tatsuya, who remained aloof, Oreki, who kept his legs in the water, Kiyotaka, and Miyuki, who were just looking at them exasperated, looked at the Coach, as if he were their angels.

And seeing such a thing happen made the Coach sweat drop.

But of course, he had to be professional. So, he ignore them, for now, and tried to act normal for the sake of his professionalism.

"Hm.. Perfect attendance, huh? I wasn't expecting that. Most classes only had half the students attending because of the girls. That doesn't seem to be the case around her, huh?" The Coach said, clearly amazed, and proud of this perfect attendance the Class E has.

Hearing the Coach's words, Kiyotaka couldn't help but feel exasperated. He was just glad that the girls didn't hear Sora's and Azusagawa's words earlier.

"I guess we can trust them a small bit, sensei."

"... For.. Now.." Yuuki said, followed by Shiro shortly after, giving her older brother, Sora, a side-glance.

Clearly, she knew her older brother way too well.

"Alright, then. After you warm up, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for me." The Coach said.

Almost immediately, Class E acted, and paired up into duos of the same gender to make warm ups easier for one another.

"Kaguya-chan, let's pair up!"

"Right.."

"Wanna give it a go, Shirogane?"

"Phrasing, Akise!!"

".. Us.. Two.. Huh..?"

"My, is there a problem with this, Shiro-san?"

"Uhhh.. I feel scared.."

"I call dibs on my best pal!!"

"Huh–?" Kiyotaka gave Karma an incredulous look, finding Karma's actions a bit odd.

"Man, and I was going to ask him too. But dibs are the universal rule." Sora, who was about to go to Kiyotaka, sighed.

But thankfully, his buddy, Azusagawa, took him as his partner.

So now, Kiyotaka has become Karma's warm up partner. He didn't know why, but it can't be that bad, could it?

And so, be just went along with it, and paired up with his 'best pal', as per Karma's words.

Nothing would go wrong, right?

♕✾—✾♔

"Please get away from me...." Kiyotaka, who had just finished warm ups, came back to the group shivering and terrified.

He thought that nothing would go absolutely wrong with Karma.

Oh how wrong he was.

"Miyuukii..!"

"Wha– Karma, what did you do?! Why is Kiyotaka acting weird?!"

"Eh? What did you do to Kiyo, Karma-kun?" Kaori asked, her expression filled with curiosity, seeing Kiyotaka shivering, terrified, while clinging unto Miyuki.

Karma, whom had been following behind Kiyotaka slowly, just gave his usual, devious smirk. And it was at that moment that Kaori knew that Karma did something terrible.

"Eh? What do you guys think did Akabane-san do?"

"Maybe, he said something to him?"

"Maybe, he molested Ayanokouji?"

"Do you think Akabane made Ayanokouji turn gay?"

"Wow. Your thoughts over there are insane."

"I cannot believe what I'm hearing.."

"What in the world–" Kaori, Tatsuya, and Kaguya, the only ones who weren't going along with the class' theories, felt completely enthralled by what they were starting to make up.

Slowly, each and every idea became far ridiculous than the last. There was even a theory where Akabane had turned Kiyotaka into a demon.

It was slowly, going a bit too far. And yet, Kiyotaka kept shivering in a corner with a terrified expression, while Karma gave him his signature devious smirk.

".. Just what is this chaos...?"

♕✾—✾♔

"Since it looks like everyone can swim, let's have a small competition, Class E." The Coach said with a smile, while the whole class just stared at him with their usual expressions, trying their best to forget the chaos that had jus ensued.

However, no matter how much they did, they just couldn't forget all of the shenanigans that had occured in just a few minutes..

And thus, even they cannot reply to their Coach, which made him confused.

"You children are acting odd. But well, as long as you guys perform well, I'll allow it.

I'll split you people in two groups. And have the best performing student in each group compete against one another." The coach explained, hoping his words would go through the students despite them acting odd.

He then began grouping the students randomly into two groups of seven. And, the first group was..

"My, are Azusagawa-san and Oreki-san girls now?"

"I'm not against competing with girls, you know?" Azusagawa shrugged, uncaring of the fact that he's in the girl's group.

Because the number of girls and boys were uneven, two boys had to be placed into the number of girls so that it's be more efficient,

And, due to the Class' decision, Oreki and Azusagawa were the ones thrown into the girl's group.

But that's not to say it wasn't intentional.

The boys knew that these two wouldn't bother to put in effort in their performances. So, they took this opportunity to put them in the Girl's group, so they can compete on their own.

It was harsh, I know. But Oreki and Azusagawa agreed anyways, so it was fine and all.

"Ready, get set, go!" As soon as the coach blew the whistle, the girls, along with the two boys, immediately dived into the water. However..

"Isn't that Oreki?!" Sora pointed at the very start of the pool, where Oreki was just... Floating. He wasn't even swimming, nor making an effort.

He wasn't even moving, just floating...

"Geez, and here I thought he'll at least swim.." Miyuki mumbled under his breath. Despite his seemingly exasperated tone, a small smile still sat on his face.

Oreki was really Class E's spoiled child.

"..." While everyone was staring at Oreki, Kiyotaka kept his gaze on the racing girls. And Azusagawa..

Or rather, he was staring at one specific person, speeding past the other girls.

'Looks like she's not going rusty anytime soon.' And suddenly, the coach blew his whistle, signaling that someone had already made it to the end.

"22.41 seconds. Not bad."

"Wait, someone already finished?!" Kirigaya exclaimed, shocking most of the boys who were just gossiping about Oreki.

Their gazes immediately moved from the floating man at the pool, to the floating Kaori at the other end of the pool.

Oddly enough, they both looked done with their lives, as they just floated lifelessly in the water, while everyone finished their time.

"And I was just going to ask who do you guys think would win.." Karma sighed, somewhat disappointed that he got distracted by one of his classmates.

"22.41 seconds.. Isn't that quite fast? Is Kaori a swimmer?" Miyuki asked. Though, he wasn't really expecting anyone to answer that.

"Kaguya isn't that far behind too, is she? 24.69 seconds is pretty close." Kiyotaka just sighed at Karma's and Miyuki's conversation.

Kiyotaka himself knew that there was no point in comparing these two.

He'll admit, Kaguya IS a talented person. She's the epitome of a genius, in his opinion. However..

Kaori was one of the top products of the White Room. As such, Kiyotaka knew she wasn't that serious in that swimming competition.

He knew that Kaori only got that time, because she wanted something out of Kiyotaka. And that something was..

".. I won't lose, Kaori." He mumbled under his breath, returning Kaori's mocking gaze from the pool with a glare of his own.

She was challenging him.

"Boys, stop the gossip, and get up there already!" But their little stare down got interrupted by the coach.

The boys groaned, and complained about not wanting to swim and tire their bodies out, or something along those lines, while they climbed their own platforms.

However, Kiyotaka paid no mind to those little things.

Instead, he made his mind go blank. He silenced the world around him, and focused on one single thing; the other end of the pool– the winning point.

Slowly, Kiyotaka began taking controlled breaths. Calmness always makes things a thousand times better, after all.

Then, he relaxed his muscles. Tension will just make things in the water worse, so he needs to calm his muscles down.

However, he chose to stop just right there. He didn't need to go all out yet. This was just a competition between him, and the boys after all.

And so, he waited. Waited for that whistle to signal his start. Just like B̩͎͍̾ͅā̤̓̍͘c͕͗ͤ̕̕ḳ̯͍̑ͦ t̲̂̓ͩ̑ḣ̖̻͛̓ẹ̿͋̒̕ṇ̤͛̒̍.

"Ready, get set, go!!" As his body began to submerge in the water, blue began to fill his vision. But, he ignored that feeling.

Slowly. But surely. He can surely do it.

He can slightly hear the muffled voices of the girls underwater, but he didn't mind them.

He just needs to get to the end, after all.

He just needs to w̦̺̐̐͟I̍̅̀̎̊ṇ̤͛̒̍..

"22.42 seconds." As Kiyotaka rose from the water, that was the first thing he heard.

He looked back, and saw that the next one to him, Tatsuya, was still quite far away.

Seeing that made him sigh in relief, as he allowed the world around him to return once again.

He could hear the girl's shocked chatter, and their surpised voices. But he didn't care.

Kiyotaka just gave Kaori a mocking look. To which, in return, Kaori just grinned. But it wasn't her usual grin. There was something hidden behind it.

They may be friends, but they're still quite competitive when it comes to a few things.

And so, Kiyotaka won between them. He may had been just a second earlier, but it was kind of a fair fight, anyways.

He held back, and so did she. It's not like they could fully go all out in the school. Not yet.

"Quite the feat, Ayanokouji-san." As soon as he climbed up from the pool, Tatsuya, who had just finished, asked beside him.

"Hm?" Kiyotaka hummed, acting dubiously at his words. However, Tatsuya wasn't having any of it.

"Just 1 second above Hironaka, huh?" No, that wasn't on purpose at all, Kiyotaka thought to himself with a suspicious smile on his face.

He definitely did not do that on purpose.

"Keeping your silence, hm? It truly seems like you're more than what you seem you are." Tatsuya huffed, before going out the pool, and walking away.

Kiyotaka didn't care, though. It didn't matter if these people, even his classmates, were starting to become doubtful of him.

Why would he? After all, he has the most powerful t̲̂̓ͩ̑o̯̱̊͊͢o̯̱̊͊͢l̙͖̑̾ͣ in his arsenal from this class.

If things did go awry..,

Let's just say he'll have lots of fun playing around.

♕✾—✾♔

『 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚕, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚝, 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 』