Chapter 82: Shimizu-boy, Want to Make a Bet?
Aside from Karuizawa Kei, quite a few observers had not changed into swimsuits either, so seeing students still in their uniforms was not especially rare. That made Sakura Airi feel much more at ease, because she was also wearing her school uniform.
Standing on the second floor of the indoor pool, Airi watched Yuto without blinking. Although she was more familiar with him than anyone else, she had never seen him wearing swim trunks and a swimming jacket before.
Seeing Yuto dressed for swimming made him look fresh and different, so Airi quietly kept her eyes on him.
"All right—everyone, gather here!"
The muscular middle-aged teacher called the Class D students together. After counting them, he looked a little troubled and said, "Your class has sixteen observers. That's quite a lot."
Although the teacher seemed dissatisfied with the number of observers, he did not say much about it. "Everyone, I'll get straight to the point. Follow me for warm-ups first, and after that, I'll have you swim so I can see your skill level."
"Um... Sensei, I'm not very good at swimming," Sotomura Hideo said weakly, raising his hand. His main reason for coming was to see the girls in swimsuits, and he could not actually swim.
"Don't worry. Since you changed into swimwear, I'll make sure you learn how to swim!" the muscular teacher declared confidently.
"You don't have to force me to learn. I don't really like swimming anyway!" Sotomura hurriedly said.
If the person teaching him were a beautiful female teacher, he would gladly learn. But this teacher was a muscular uncle.
"That won't do. You must learn how to swim. After all, this sport will definitely be useful later. Definitely!"
Yuto glanced at the muscular teacher.
He was emphasizing the importance of swimming. Was it because a future exam would be related to swimming?
Judging from that hint and emphasis, this muscular teacher was probably the responsible type. Unfortunately, aside from Yuto, the other students likely did not hear anything deeper in his words.
Under the muscular teacher's instructions, Yuto and the others began warming up. After that, the teacher had everyone enter the pool and swim roughly fifty meters.
Those who could not swim did not need to worry. The indoor pool was shallow, only one and a half meters deep.
Since Yuto's jacket was designed for swimming, he did not take it off and stepped directly into the pool. The water temperature had clearly been adjusted properly, so it felt just right and did not make the students uncomfortable.
Yuto casually finished the fifty-meter swim and climbed back onto the poolside. After everyone else finished, the muscular teacher had roughly grasped their levels and spoke loudly.
"Very good. Next, we'll hold a competition. Boys and girls will each race fifty meters freestyle. The student who gets first place will receive a special reward of five thousand points!"
"Five thousand points!"
"Seriously, Sensei?"
"Of course it's true. On the other hand, the slowest swimmer has to take supplementary lessons, so prepare yourselves!"
The students confident in swimming cheered, while those without confidence cried out miserably. Yuto raised his eyebrows slightly, a look of surprise appearing on his face.
This muscular teacher was unexpectedly considerate of the students. He was even using points to motivate them.
At that moment, Horikita Suzune, who had changed into a swimsuit, came over to Yuto and spoke coolly. "Shimizu, that teacher said first place can get five thousand points. What do you think?"
"Why ask me that?" Yuto turned his head and looked at Suzune beside him.
Suzune was the type of strong person who treated other people's gazes as irrelevant. No matter how the boys discussed girls' appearances, she would not be affected in the slightest, so she had still changed into a swimsuit and joined the lesson.
She was already a cool and beautiful girl with refined features. Though her figure couldn't compare to Kushida Kikyo or Sakura Airi, the school swimsuit perfectly outlined her slender, lithe frame. Her exquisite, pretty face and surprisingly impressive curves drew the attention of many of the boys.
"It feels a little... deliberate?" Suzune told Yuto her impression of the muscular teacher. "He's using points to motivate everyone, but it probably isn't that simple, right?"
Yuto smiled. As expected, Suzune had noticed the muscular teacher's hint and reminder.
Seeing Yuto smile without answering, Suzune immediately became more focused. "Shimizu, you noticed it too, didn't you? And you know more about the reason?"
Although Suzune phrased it as a question, her tone was certain. It was as if she believed Yuto definitely knew more than she did.
"There is a reason, but it isn't important right now. So don't think too much about it, Horikita. Just enjoy a swimming class that belongs to high school students," Yuto said with a smile.
"I have no intention of enjoying high school life. I only want to rise to Class A and gain Nii-san's recognition," Suzune said quietly.
Yuto shook his head helplessly. Living only to gain one's family's acknowledgment sounded exhausting.
At that moment, a tall figure came to stand before Yuto and Suzune. He had rather dazzling blond hair.
It was Koenji Rokusuke.
"Shimizu-boy!"
"Huh?" Yuto looked in confusion at Koenji, who had suddenly called out to him. He had not had much interaction with this free-spirited guy, so why had Koenji come looking for him?
Koenji Rokusuke was one of the most conspicuous students in Class D. He seemed to be the only son of a major conglomerate, which made him exceptionally narcissistic and arrogant.
He never listened to anyone, and even after being completely isolated by everyone in Class D, he did not care at all. He simply continued acting however he pleased.
From Koenji's way of doing things, Yuto saw his former self. After being feared and distanced by others, Yuto had also done whatever he wanted, completely ignoring other people's gazes.
Now, however, the more active Yuto became, the more admiration and pursuit he received from the students of Class D. The days when he had been alone had already become a thing of the past.
"Shimizu-boy, you've been betting points with others all over the place. I wonder if you have any interest in making a bet with me, Koenji?" Koenji showed Yuto a fearless smile.
Slightly interested, Yuto asked, "Oh? What do you plan to bet on, Koenji? And how many points are we talking about?"
"Swimming, of course. I heard you challenged the swimming club president and beautifully defeated him in swimming." Koenji pointed toward the indoor pool.
Yuto raised an eyebrow. This guy had heard that Yuto beat the swimming club president in swimming, yet he still wanted to bet against him in swimming.
It seemed Koenji was quite confident.
"Fine. But if the wager is less than one million points, I won't accept," Yuto said.
"Huh? One million points? Does Koenji-kun have that many points?" Suzune asked in surprise.
As far as she knew, Koenji should have less than one hundred thousand points. After all, like them, he was a first-year student who had only received one hundred thousand points.
"Koenji-kun isn't an ordinary student. You used your own methods to get quite a lot of points, didn't you?" Yuto said to Koenji.
"You actually noticed." A faint look of surprise appeared on Koenji's face.
"I happened to hear your conversation with an upperclasswomen a few days ago," Yuto answered with a shrug.
"I see. So if I want to face Shimizu-boy in a contest, I need to spend one million points." Koenji showed a fearless expression. "Then one million it is!"
"Fine," Yuto answered readily.
Because of those five million points, Suzune had become especially concerned with how to obtain points. She asked Yuto, "Shimizu, how did Koenji earn one million points?"
"Can I say it?" Yuto asked Koenji.
"Of course," Koenji said indifferently.
"To put it simply, he used money to exchange for money."
"Money to exchange for money?" Suzune muttered at first, then looked at Koenji in astonishment. "Koenji, you used real money to exchange for points with upperclasswomen?!"
"Correct."
Yuto continued, "The third‑year upperclasswomen are about to graduate, and since points can't be taken out of the school, they decided to exchange their points with Koenji for real money. The school's exchange rate was low, but Koenji offered them a much higher one."
"Does the school allow that?" Suzune asked in confusion.
"Why would it need the school's permission?" Yuto smiled lightly. "Although it looks like it violates the rules, as long as both sides are willing, even if the school knows about it, they won't take action."
"Because Koenji didn't use threats to force the upperclasswomen to transfer points to him."
"Exactly." Koenji nodded approvingly.
In truth, the biggest issue with this exchange was whether the upperclasswomen could successfully get their money from Koenji's family after graduating. But a major conglomerate probably would not refuse to pay its debts.
"Shimizu-boy, I originally planned to learn from you and earn points by challenging others, then live freely in this school. But I found it too troublesome, so I gave up and used an easier method to earn points."
"..."
Suzune glanced at Koenji. How was that an earning method?
It was clearly spending money.
Suzune was not the child of a major conglomerate. She did not have money to exchange for points.
After reaching their betting agreement, Yuto and Koenji went to find the muscular teacher and asked him to witness the wager.
When the muscular teacher heard that Yuto and Koenji planned to make a bet worth one million points, he froze for a moment. Then he looked at the two of them hesitantly.
"I can act as a witness, but do you two really have one million points?"
"Sensei, Yuto is that Shimizu Yuto, you know!" Kikyo, who stood beside Yuto, said in a cheerful voice.
The muscular teacher's expression changed slightly. Now he looked at Yuto as if he were looking at a monster.
"Shimizu Yuto... You're the rumored first-year student, aren't you? If it's you, then you really can bring out one million points for a bet."
From the muscular teacher's reaction, it seemed he had also heard the rumors about Yuto challenging clubs and knew that Yuto had earned quite a lot of points from them.
Kikyo's smile grew even brighter. She seemed happy that the muscular teacher knew about Yuto's achievements.
After that, the muscular teacher confirmed Koenji's personal points and agreed to witness the bet, as well as operate the stopwatch.
Because of Yuto and Koenji's wager, the muscular teacher postponed the students' fifty-meter swimming competition and let the two of them compete first.
All the Class D students watched Yuto and Koenji standing on the starting blocks with anticipation and curiosity. Although they often heard from others about Yuto's undefeated record, they had never seen it with their own eyes.
Today, they were lucky enough to witness it.
"Shimizu, Koenji, the wager is a fifty-meter freestyle race. Do both sides confirm?" the muscular teacher asked the two on the starting blocks.
"Confirmed."
"Of course."
After answering the muscular teacher, Yuto took off the swimming jacket he had been wearing.
Koenji seemed to be a formidable opponent, so Yuto decided to take the race seriously and removed the jacket that might get in the way.
Many girls in Class D had already felt that the jacket was inconvenient, since it hid his athletic build from view.
After all, girls admire a good physique just as much as boys do; they're simply less obvious about it.
With his swim jacket gone, Yuto's upper body was fully revealed. His abdomen was completely lean, with a sharp, well-defined six-pack that carved out a striking silhouette.
Though his skin was as smooth and fair as polished jade, his muscular build completely erased any hint of fragility. His body, a masterpiece carved from stone, radiated raw masculine strength and virility.
The girls of Class D watched with flushed faces and racing hearts. Even the composed Horikita-san couldn't resist stealing a glance, averting her eyes only to look back again.
From the second-floor balcony, Karuizawa-san swallowed hard.
'I want to touch those abs…'
Airi's cheeks flushed crimson as she stared, unable to blink. She'd seen him shirtless before, but only in the dim light of the dead of night. This was different. Now, every muscle and every inch of his skin was visible in crystal-clear detail.
The girls' excited voices and cheers for Yuto made Ike Kanji so envious that his expression twisted. He spat water onto the ground in disdain, showing his contempt.
…
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