Facing Amane, who was still hopping and circling around her.
Horikita decisively reached out her hand.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, stop pulling my ear."
Amane let out a cute protest.
"Hmm, I respect your opinion, Amane-san."
Horikita smiled and released her hand from Amane's ear.
Then she cupped Amane's face.
"Cough, cough, Suzune, so many people are watching right now, it's not appropriate... I'll let you kiss me secretly when we get back, boo hoo hoo—"
Horikita forcefully pulled Amane's cheeks outwards.
"This mouth of yours is really annoying, always saying such unreliable things."
Horikita said, but the pressure in her hands gradually lessened.
Eventually, it turned into gently kneading Amane's face.
"Kikyo-chan, save me."
Amane saw Kushida not far away and immediately called for help.
"Ah, I'm just passing by, Amane-san, don't mind me. You can continue."
Kushida said, winking at Amane.
With an expression that seemed to say, 'Go for it, I won't disturb you two,' she quickly jogged away from them.
"It's not what you think, save me, Suzune is bullying me, save me... Kikyo-chan, you're so disloyal."
Amane pouted.
She simply gave up resisting.
And let Horikita knead her face as she pleased.
But Horikita had only kneaded a few times.
When her expression became a little strange.
"What's wrong, Suzune? Are you feeling sorry for me?"
"No, your expression right now looks a bit like a pufferfish, so it's a bit disgusting."
Crack.
That shouldn't be the sound of a heart breaking, should it?
"P-pufferfish? I don't look like a pufferfish at all! Not at all!!!"
Amane looked at Horikita with teary, wide eyes.
"Even if you say that, you really did look like one just now."
"Hmph, Horikita-san is a meanie."
"I'm so happy! You finally see that I'm a bad person, so as a bad person, bullying Amane-san comes with even less guilt."
Horikita patted her chest.
Looking completely relieved.
Amane blinked.
No.
Something was very wrong.
Horikita wasn't like this before!
Could it be... the legendary leveling up by defeating monsters?
Bullying Amane once gives +1 experience.
And then she turned into this terrifying appearance?
"You weren't really scared, were you? Amane, you're a bit timid."
Horikita saw Amane staring blankly at her.
She pinched her cheek.
"Wuwuwu, I thought Suzune you had turned bad, wuwuwu."
Amane hugged Horikita tightly, rubbing her face against hers repeatedly.
"I never said I was a good person."
Just as Horikita was about to say something else.
Suddenly.
A whistle blew.
Everyone's gaze focused on the Swimming Class Teacher.
Oh.
So there was a teacher; Amane almost forgot about this teacher with such a weak presence.
"I see everyone has practiced enough... That girl over there, could you please get off someone else?"
Amane then let go of Horikita, scratching her cheek a little awkwardly.
"Back to the main topic, due to insufficient participants for this 50-meter test, the five-person team competition will temporarily be changed to a two-person team competition. You can choose your opponents freely, but you must obtain their consent."
The Swimming Class Teacher finished speaking, glancing at the mere fourteen people present, like big cats and small kittens.
"To encourage you to work harder, I plan to give individual point rewards to the winners. The top three winners in the two-person team competition will receive five thousand, two thousand, and one thousand individual points respectively, while other winners will receive five hundred points."
There are even point rewards for the test!
This school is excessively good to its students.
However, those who are willing to participate in the swimming class usually have some understanding of swimming.
It probably won't be that easy to win.
Just then, Yamauchi raised his hand.
"This student, do you have a question?"
"Excuse me, how is 'top three' determined? And since it's a two-person team competition, can we compete with girls?"
Yamauchi smiled a little perversely.
Even Wang Meiyu distanced herself from him.
"The top three are ranked according to the shortest time. As for the latter question, if the other party agrees, it is allowed."
As soon as the Swimming Class Teacher finished speaking.
Yamauchi and Ike both jumped up.
"Yay!!!"
Seeing their embarrassing performance.
The tall and muscular Sudo silently kept his distance from them.
Standing with them felt a bit shameful.
"Suzune, shall we team up?"
Amane linked her arm with Horikita's, looking eager to please.
"You don't think I'd lose to you, do you?"
Horikita thought Amane was planning to take advantage of her not being very good at swimming.
"Hehe."
Amane didn't explain.
She simply wanted to take the test with Horikita.
After a simple grouping.
The first group was Wang Meiyu and Onodera Kayanu.
Given Wang Meiyu's usual performance.
Everyone didn't have high hopes for her.
But what was unexpected was that.
Onodera, another student with an extremely low presence in the class.
Was actually a hidden master!
She completely crushed Wang Meiyu at the start.
Achieving a time of 26 seconds.
Wang Meiyu, on the other hand, took 43 seconds.
It looked quite pitiful.
The second group was Mori Nene and Inokashira; both finished in their thirties, which was a relatively normal result.
Then came the third group.
It was the more exciting match between Hirata and Sudo.
Many of the girls in the observation stands were cheering for Hirata.
Which made Sudo a bit annoyed.
So, he went all out from the start of the race.
Finally, he defeated Hirata's 26.13 seconds with 25 seconds.
But after the race, everyone felt sorry for Hirata.
This made him feel a bit unbalanced, and he even refused to shake hands with Hirata, who congratulated him after the race.
Suddenly, Sudo's reputation among the girls plummeted.
The fourth group was Kushida Kikyo and Yamauchi Haruki.
I really don't know how little Kikyo agreed to compete with Yamauchi.
Perhaps it was a forced choice because everyone already had a test partner?
Amane agreed with this possibility.
The highlight of this group was that Kushida actually defeated Yamauchi-san in the end.
Poor Yamauchi-san was quite devastated.
Next was the fifth group, a battle of two male rookies, Ike Kanji and Hondo Ryotaro.
Both took over thirty seconds, nearly forty seconds, to finish the race.
Making the Swimming Class Teacher exclaim that they were so bad, his dog could swim faster with a dog paddle.
Sorry.
The above sentence was merely Amane's delusion.
However, the Swimming Class Teacher's expression was indeed not very good.
The sixth group was Kouenji Rokusuke and Ayanokoji.
"Is it finally my turn, the beautiful me? All you lovely girls, get ready to cheer for my performance!"
Kouenji, wearing a uniquely styled swimsuit, strutted proudly to the edge of the pool.
Ayanokoji, on the other hand, looked unmotivated.
"Miyako-san, what's a normal speed for a boy?"
"Eh! Th-this kind of thing, how would I know!!"
"I thought you would know."
"There's no way I'd know, alright!!!"
Amane felt her face burning hot.
The usually quiet and reserved Miyako-san actually had this side to her.
"Then, a speed similar to Yamauchi's should be fine, right?"
"Huh? You're talking about swimming speed?"
"Otherwise? What did you think I was asking about?"
"Cough cough, if you want to get noticed, swim faster. At least at Sudo or Hirata's level, that's a normal boy's speed. Yamauchi's speed will just get you laughed at."
Amane finished speaking and gave Ayanokoji a thumbs up.
"Good luck."
Ayanokoji nodded silently.
At the teacher's command.
Both simultaneously jumped into the water.
Kouenji swung his arms, pushing through the water like a propeller, surging forward quickly.
Ayanokoji saw Kouenji suddenly accelerate.
He could only slightly speed up, trying not to lose too badly.
After both reached the finish line.
Ayanokoji turned his head.
He found everyone looking at them in stunned silence.
"Kouenji, 21.59 seconds, Ayanokoji, 22.11 seconds."
The entire swimming pool became silent.
Amane was dumbfounded.
Are these two really that ridiculous?
The world record is only 20 seconds, right?
Kouenji, emerging from the pool, had a puzzled expression.
Someone was actually able to keep up with him when he was going all out.
This was simply too incredible.
And Kouenji had a premonition.
Ayanokoji hadn't used his full strength.
On the other hand, Ayanokoji.
Looked at Amane with a hint of resentment.
It was because she told him to swim faster.
That he was carried by Kouenji's rhythm and accelerated.
Although he deliberately swam a beat slower than him.
But such a result...
The attention he received was too conspicuous.
"It's over, my five thousand points are gone! I already planned how to spend them, boo hoo."
Amane looked utterly dejected.
"You were actually aiming for first place?"
Horikita was a little surprised.
She thought Amane's skill level was, at most, only slightly better than an average person's.
A person's energy is limited.
She couldn't possibly be good at archery and also excellent at swimming, could she?
"Um... originally, I was planning to take a gamble, but it seems there's no hope now."
Horikita nodded, half-believing, half-doubting.
After all, even Horikita hadn't expected anyone to swim it in 21 seconds.
Horikita and Amane stood at their respective starting positions.
As the signal sounded, Amane and Horikita simultaneously dove into the water.
The difference was that while Horikita swam forward with all her might, there was no movement from Amane's lane.
"Amane-san didn't sink, did she?"
Kushida looked worriedly at the Swimming Class Teacher.
The Swimming Class Teacher quickly ran to Amane's lane to check.
Only after realizing she hadn't directly sunk to the bottom did the teacher breathe a sigh of relief.
But if she didn't sink... could this child have swum underwater?
Is everyone in this class a swimming champion?
The Swimming Class Teacher fell into self-doubt.
Horikita felt she had performed beyond her usual ability.
She looked up.
There were only about three meters left to the finish line.
She was about to turn her head to see where Amane was.
But when she turned, she couldn't see Amane's figure at all.
How could this be?
Could she really have... Horikita quickly looked forward.
She ended up crashing right into Amane's arms.
"Eh heh heh."
Amane proudly puffed out her chest.
After touching the wall in her own lane, she swam to Horikita's lane and poked her head out to observe.
When she saw Horikita was still looking behind her, she directly surfaced, which is why Horikita bumped into her.
"Miyako Amane, 23 seconds 01..."
When Horikita heard this number, she couldn't help but show a shocked expression.
This goofy person was actually good at swimming too.
"How about that? I'm super amazing, right?"
Amane winked.
However, she was rewarded with a flick to the forehead from Horikita.
"Yes, very impressive. So, can you please let go first? Also, please keep your hands to yourself, otherwise, I don't mind giving you a punishment."
"No way!!!"