On the morning of my first week after enrollment, I headed to school again today, looking forward to spending time with Shiina.

There had been what seemed like a club activity orientation a few days ago, but since I had no intention of joining any club, I skipped it and returned straight to the dormitory, where I read the books Shiina had recommended.

I’d already read all of them before, but… does it really matter? How should I put it—I never realized that gaining a friend you truly get along with could feel this good. Since from the very first day I’d only been tangled up with worthless trash or outright weirdos, Shiina’s existence felt more precious to me than anyone else.

Maybe this was the kind of good feeling my oppa wanted me to experience too. It really would have been nice if we could have come to this school together.

When I arrived at the classroom, I could immediately sense a strange atmosphere. Glancing around, I noticed a group made up of several students who usually messed around or chatted idly in class, gathered together and seemingly up to something pointless. Since they weren’t far from my seat, I pretended to read while quietly listening in.

“Hey, Professor, you’re keeping proper records of the girls’ swimsuit measurements, right?”

“Leave it to me. I’m planning to skip class by pretending to be sick anyway.”

“Records? What are you planning to do with them?”

“Professor’s gonna make a ranking of the girls’ breasts in our class. If things go well, we’ll even film videos.”

This wasn’t even worth listening to—bottom-of-the-barrel garbage. They constantly complain about Hirata, calling him a normie or saying handsome guys should die, without realizing that this very attitude is why they’re unpopular. Truly pitiful incompetents.

At that moment, I felt genuinely relieved that I hadn’t enrolled together with my oppa. If my pure-hearted oppa were to be contaminated by a trashy group of incompetents like this, I would’ve lost my mind and crushed them without mercy.

Still, thanks to these idiots loudly blabbering about whose breasts are bigger, most of the girls were glaring at them as if looking at filth and it seemed likely that the majority of the girls would choose to observe rather than participate in swimming class. After all, when people openly shout about filming swimsuits and making rankings like that, almost no sane girl would show up.

That works out nicely for me. The more students who are negligent in class, the more my diligence will stand out, which should positively affect point increases.

If my video ever does circulate, I’ll retaliate without mercy then—so that’s fine.

* * *

“W-what the hell… how did this happen?!”

“I thought… I thought we’d get to see some huge breasts! I really did!!”

Just as expected, most of the girls chose to observe rather than participate in swimming class. Including the so-called Professor who planned to secretly film, there were sixteen observers. And most of them were girls with fairly large chests or those who had been glaring at the boys as if they were filth.

Naturally, I chose to participate in swimming class. I changed into the standard school swimsuit and warmed up properly. While doing so, I felt eyes on me and when I looked over, I saw several participating girls staring at me blankly. I identified two in particular who were staring intently.

“What are you looking at?”

“A-ah, sorry!”

“We won’t look anymore!”

After snapping at them once, they recoiled in fear. My chest isn’t particularly large, so that wasn’t the reason. They probably noticed that despite my slender and delicate-looking frame under the uniform, my arm and back muscles were subtly but properly developed. Even the boys had been sneaking glances before hurriedly looking away in fear.

Well, it’s better than having them stare at my chest… Still, why does this piss me off so much?

“Everyone, line up!”

At the shout of a heavily muscled man who looked like the word ‘gym rat’ had been written across his back, class began. He seemed to be the PE teacher and regardless of gender, he might be the type people are drawn to.

“So there are sixteen observers? That’s quite a lot, but it can’t be helped.”

I could feel his gaze carefully checking the observers and participants alike. If I leave a good impression or record here, it might bring a significant benefit in point fluctuations.

“This may sound sudden, but after warm-up exercises, I want to immediately check your abilities. We’ll be swimming.”

Nice. This is a perfect opportunity to get a good result. In the White Room curriculum, there was a brief period where my swimming ability even surpassed my oppa’s.

“U-um, sir. I can’t swim…”

“As long as I’m in charge, I’ll make sure you can swim by summer. Don’t worry.”

“I don’t really need to push myself to learn swimming. I don’t even go to the ocean or anything…”

“That won’t do. It’s fine if you’re bad right now, but you will overcome it. Learning to swim will definitely help you in the future. Definitely.”

Is it just me, or does that ‘definitely’ bother me? Being able to swim is certainly convenient, but why emphasize ‘definitely’ so much? It’s a strangely unsettling word.

Well, maybe it’s just a teacher wanting to fix someone’s natural aversion, so I decided not to worry too much for now. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to remember it.

After warm-ups ended, the teacher ordered a 50-meter swim. It had been a while since I’d entered a pool, so I started swimming at a moderate speed—partly to conceal my true ability from the other students.

Judging from this teacher’s tendencies, he’d likely make the students compete soon. That’s when I’ll show my real strength.

“Still, it looks like you can swim at least.”

“No problem, sir. Back in middle school, they called me the ‘nimble flying fish.’”

“Is that so? Then from here on, it’s a competition. 50-meter freestyle, separated by gender.”

Unlike the others who were flustered, this was the moment I’d been waiting for. As soon as the competition was announced, I loosened up thoroughly—getting a cramp mid-swim would be troublesome.

“The student who finishes first will receive a special bonus of 5,000 points from me. And whoever finishes last will attend remedial lessons, so brace yourselves.”

At those words, confident swimmers cheered while the less confident screamed.

But then, an unexpected situation arose. A special bonus? I thought points were only distributed at the beginning of each month—so they can also be awarded as ‘specials’ under certain conditions? This school seems to hold far more secrets than I’d thought.

“Since there are fewer girls, we’ll divide them into two groups of five or six. The fastest record wins. For the boys, the top five fastest will advance to the finals.”

With points on the line, there was no longer any reason to hold back. This is the perfect chance to clearly show why I’m a meritocrat.

There were eleven girls in total. I was placed in the first group and among my opponents was that insolent girl from the seat next to mine. I learned her name during class—Horikita Suzune, I think?

“Everyone, burn this into your eyes! We’re securing today’s side dish!”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Whatever fantasies the boys have about something they’ll never touch in their lives is none of my concern. Ignoring them, I prepared to seize the initiative the moment the race started.

I’m in lane three. Horikita is in lane two. Let’s crush this insolent girl’s spirit lightly, just to start.

Beep!

At the whistle, six girls—including me—leapt into the water. The moment I entered, I recognized that I’d taken the lead and immediately accelerated without mercy.

“Ugh!”

Horikita surged from behind, trying to seize first place. I ignored her, touched the 25-meter mark and turned back. About three seconds after I touched, Horikita finally reached the 25-meter point and I accelerated even further, finishing in first place.

Only after I climbed out of the pool did Horikita arrive and lift her face.

“Hah… haa… you… what the hell are you?”

“What?”

“What kind of… speed… is that?”

She was so out of breath from desperately chasing my pace that she could barely speak. Trying to keep up with a White Room graduate’s speed in the first place—utterly foolish. If she’d swum at her own pace from the start, she might not have gotten first, but her time would’ve been much better.

At that moment, the teacher rushed over to me with an expression of disbelief.

“Good lord, 24 seconds?! Where did you learn to swim?”

A women’s 50-meter freestyle in 24 seconds was practically world-record level. Meanwhile, Horikita’s time was a mere 29 seconds. She must have burned out at the end from forcing herself to follow my pace. The other incompetents weren’t even worth mentioning.

“Ayanokoji, was it? If you’re not joining a club, how about the swimming club? With you, you could make it to nationals—no, you could carve your name into Japanese swimming history.”

“I’m not interested. I’ll win anyway, so just prepare the points.”

Just as I said, the outcome was obvious.

In the second group, there was an active swimming club member, Onodera Kayano, but her time was only 26 seconds. It was an excellent record—but no match for me. Thanks to that, I calmly secured an extra income of 5,000 bonus points.

Next up were the boys, but no matter who won, beating my record would be difficult. I sat near the pool to rest and recover.

“Hey… got a moment?”

I looked over—it was Horikita. I glared at her in disbelief.

“You’re the one who told me not to interfere and now you’re acting familiar? I’m tired of dealing with you, so could you go away?”

“I have something to ask. Other than swimming, did you do any other sports?”

“In middle school, I went straight home.”

“And yet… your arm development, your back muscles—those aren’t normal for a girl.”

“Genetics.”

“There’s no way that’s the whole reason.”

“Why am I even having this conversation with you? Didn’t you hear me tell you to go away? You’re the one who said not to act familiar on the first day.”

Horikita looked deeply dissatisfied. She seemed to want an answer about where I trained. An incompetent thinking she has discerning eyes—it’s laughable.

“Kyaa!!”

Judging by the girls’ shrill screams, Hirata must have taken the starting line. From his build, his muscles were well-balanced and as a soccer club member, his stamina should be good. Maybe around 26 seconds?

Almost exactly as expected, Hirata’s time was 26.13 seconds—the fastest in his group.

Then, in the following race, I doubted my own eyes.

What the hell… isn’t that a speedo?

The oddball of Class D, Koenji Rokusuke, was wearing a speedo swimsuit, unlike the other boys. It was technically an official swimsuit, but he was the only one wearing it. Worse, it emphasized parts that were unpleasant to look at as a woman.

“I’m not interested in competition, but I don’t like losing.”

No one had asked, but he muttered that to himself and then, at the whistle, dove into the water with textbook-perfect form.

“Oh—! Whoa!”

I felt genuine shock at his unexpectedly aggressive swimming. The boys were all stunned, wearing blank expressions. Though the water churned violently, his speed was flawless. The teacher unconsciously checked the stopwatch again and again.

“23 seconds… 22. He’s slightly faster than Ayanokoji!”

“Just as usual, my abs, back muscles and psoas are in good condition. Not bad.”

He shattered my 24-second record by a simple margin of 0.78 seconds. Not once, but twice—being physically overpowered by him!

“Oh dear, Brown Hair Girl. You don’t look too happy. Feeling inferior because of my record?”

“What did you say?”

At that moment, a powerful rage surged within me—stronger than anything I’d felt before. I ignored the CCTV cameras I’d always been mindful of and stood up, making a proposal to the teacher.

“Sir, I request a one-on-one match with Koenji, with the condition that both of us go all-in by staking the 5,000 special points we each received.”

At those words, a strong shiver ran through everyone in the pool area. A one-on-one showdown between Ayanokoji and Koenji, both having broken world-class records—this was undeniably a once-in-a-generation big match.

“Ayanokoji, I know you’re fired up, but the boys’ finals are still—”

“Those incompetents have no chance of beating Koenji’s record anyway. Continuing would just be a waste of time, don’t you think?”

“Huh? What the hell did you just say?!”

Sudō Ken, the red-haired boy, shouted while glaring at me. Everyone else looked frightened, but to me, he just seemed like a red monkey barking loudly.

“What did I say? Are you deaf? This doesn’t concern you, so stay out of it.”

“You saying I’m worse than Koenji? An incompetent? Just because he swims fast, you think he’s something special?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Even if you re-measure your record, you’ll never beat Koenji or me. And frankly, I’m already losing my mind over this damn situation where Koenji is faster than me. So know your place and butt out.”

“You insolent bitch!”

“Stop! Hold it, Sudō!”

As Sudō raised his fist in rage to strike me, the teacher and Hirata rushed in to restrain him.

“Let go! I’ll teach her a lesson!”

“Hah! An incompetent running his mouth is quite the sight. In a school that’s sensitive to bullying and right in front of a teacher, you can’t even distinguish what you should and shouldn’t do. Your intelligence is hopelessly low.”

“Ayanokoji, please stop provoking him!”

Then, Koenji—who had been watching all this—completely ignited my fury.

“Hahaha! What a spectacular scene. Unfortunately, my condition has worsened, so I’ll be heading back now.”

“What?! Get back here right now!”

“Stop! This is going too far!”

“Please stop! I don’t want friends fighting anymore!”

As I tried to lunge at Koenji, Horikita and Kushida stepped in to stop me. By the end, the swimming class had devolved into complete chaos. The cause was me—or more precisely, my competitiveness.

Just like during self-introductions, it seems I have a talent for turning any place into a mess…

And when the swimming class somehow finally wrapped up, my eyes caught sight of the CCTV cameras again—only then did I realize that I’d made a serious mistake.