Kiruyin waited in hallway of indoor pool facility for Ichinose, it was too hot outside after all. For once, he wasn't on his phone in free time. He was thinking about the special exam that was hinted at.
The answer was related to the question, where does one require basic swimming skill?
Most definitive and obvious reason was for survival.
But why?
The school won't just leave them in an island to test them right? What will be the purpose?
'Let's just say, that the school do test our survival skills, where in the society will that be of any... wait a minute! Wait a minute!'
As if a missing piece of the puzzle was found, everything started to come into place. The school was training them to be corporate drones(elites), and he had heard some autistic bosses of some big companies tend to take their employees and to conduct survival test.
The reason? He has no idea. The first time he heard this rumour, it seemed so absurd to him that he had dismissed that as a whole. But now, it doesn't seem to be that absurd.
"... Why am I even surprised? Rich people have weird ways to spend their money anyway. But Maaan~. I even heard that some companies even test their interns in some deserted island... damn rich people! Hope you choke on your money and die!"
He murmured in envy, wanting to be rich as well. But on the second thought, thinking about the amount of time and effort one needs to put in to get rich, no thanks.
'So basically, it's survival in a deserted island.'
Kiruyin realised one more thing about the vication, the teacher said, "vication in the cruise ship". So there is a good chance that there won't be any exams in the ship. But he couldn't be sure.
Kiruyin sighed suddenly. He wasn't some all knowing master mind. He needed some confirmation from some senpai like before. When he confirmed Asahina senpai.
'Should I go and find her again?'
"Sakiho-kun ~. Did I make you wait?"
As he was contemplating how to confirm his deduction, Ichinose appeared with a bright smile.
"No, I just waited 5 minutes. So did-"
"That's not a nice thing to say!!"
"..."
Kiruyin looked at Ichinose's slightly flushed with a deadpan. A sigh threatened to escape but he held it in.
"...Did you notice what Mashima-Sensei said in his speech?"
Ichinose blinked, she was sure that he was going to tease her again but he didn't. Which made her vigilant and rethink the whole speech before answering.
"... I don't think there is anything note worthy..."
She said uncertainly. Kiruyin nodded. Maybe only he noticed because he was very paranoid. Not wanting to be embarrassed if his deduction was wrong, he decided just to share the end result of his thoughts.
He looked around, making sure no one was near. He leaned in closerto whisper to Ichinose.
"I think there will be a spacial exam in the summer vication."
Ichinose's eyes widened in shock.
"Are you sure?"
"No. Just speculation. I still need to confirm it."
"Then... should I tell everyone about this so they can be prepared or maybe even gather information?"
"Hmm~."
Kiruyin rubbed his chin in contemplation. Ichinose waited for him to answer. Students left in groups while chatting. They waved at Ichinose. She waved at them back with her angelic smile.
"No. Don't tell anyone. I will look into this matter myself. The more people involved, the greater chance there will be that other classes gets vigilant early. Mr. Cuck seems to be already suspecting something."
"Mr. Cuck?... Did we have someone like that in our school?"
"Well, that handsome street thug of Class-C. The one you said is leader of Class-C."
"Ryuen Kakeru?"
"Yeah. Him."
"..."
"..."
There was a moment of silence between the two. Ichinose's brain seemed to running at full power to make sense of the nickname but couldn't in the end. So she decided to ask.
"Sakiho-kun... why are you calling Ryuen Mr. Cuck? Calling people with disrespectful nicknames are not good."
She said with a frown.
"Okay Boss Lady! But the reason is simple, the Kak of Kakeru sounds like Cuck in English. And you know that I have Nominal Aphasia, it's very hard for me to remember bames~ I mean names. So I leach onto whatever that sticks in my brain to remember about them~."
He said with a sad tone. His expression downcast like he was dealing with depression of the highest order.
"Boss Lady!? Sakiho-kun! That's so rude! Is that what you think of-"
"Alright Ichinose-san. I need to go. Mashima-Sensei has called me to the staff room, you can go right ahead~!"
Kiruyin cut off Ichinose and walked towards the exit while waking her goodbye.
'Danger avoided.'
Ichinose huffed in annoyance and ran to catch up to him.
"Wait! I'll go with you."
"Why? Do we not have classes after lunch time? Shouldn't you be having lunch with your friends and preparing for the next class?"
"Are you soowing me away Sakiho-kun? How rude~. Not even appreciating my company. I'm being considerate of your feelings! You would be lonely without anyone accompanying you! You should be greatful!"
"... I would rather be alone..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Kiruyin and Ichinose walked out of the indoor pool facility and went straight towards the staff room.
"By the way Ichinose-san. What happened with your student Council application? Did you get accepted?"
"... Mo~~ Sakiho-kun. Are you making fun of me?"
"What? Why?"
"Did you not know that I was rejected?"
"No. Not at all."
Both stared at each other in silence before both tactically agreed to drop that matter and resumed walking.
"Sakiho-kun. Remember you said that you will tell me what I'm lacking? So? What do you think?"
Ichinose asked softly. Kiruyin didn't answer immediately. They walked in silence before Kiruyin's answer broke it.
"Your too kind."
"What does that mean?"
"You need to figure it out yourself. Even if I tell you, you won't fully get it if you don't realise it yourself. That's all I have to say."
"Mhmhmm~! You're such a bad person!"
Ichinose fumed cutely. Kiruyin just laughed softly before knocking on staff room door and opening it. The room was empty except for Mashima-Sensei sitting on his desk with his serious expression.
He looked up and invited Kiruyin inside. Kiruyin briefly told Ichinose that she can wait or leave, then entered.
He stood in front of Mashima-Sensei in rigid posture. Waiting for him to speak.
"... Sakiho. Do you know what you did?"
"Yes sensei! I broke the world record by nearly 1 second and even broke the limit of sub 20, which is considered human limitation."
He explained clearly. Not changing his tone. Mashima studied Kiruyin before nodding.
"You must have trained extremely hard. And you probably had a specific goal in mind... Kiruyin Sakiho, I can help you into realising that dream. I can help you in becoming the greatest swimmer to ever exist in human history. And I won't take no for an answer."
Mashima said with unyielding determination in his voice. Looking straight into Kiruyin's eyes. Kiruyin didn't avoid it. He stared back for few seconds before speaking.
"Sensei... while it is true that I had a specific goal in mind, and also true that I trained like I'm possessed, this is actually the first time on 4 years that I'm swimming. And I don't think it's that impressive. I used some clever tricks. I no where near have that much core strength to pull that off. I'm born weak after all~."
"...You expect me to believe that?"
"Not at all. I'm just stating facts sensei."
Mashima put down his pen and looked at Kiruyin, really looked. He was trying to find any cracks in the kids composure but he found none. Born weak? Who was he trying to fool?
But to have the guts to spout such nonsense in front of a teacher, that tells the level of denial this kid has.
'There must've been something in his past that made him adverse to swimming. I can't be forceful. I need long term persuasion-'
"Wait wait! Your thoughts are gong haywire sensei! You've got it all wrong! The reason I started swimming was to impress a girl. But I couldn't because she rejected me. After that, I left swimming. Because swimming was never my main speciality. I'm born weak! My friends can testify! I sweat on my fathers life! If I'm lying, he will die! Please believe me sense! I don't want anything to do with swimming it's too much trouble!"
'Sorry old man. Your son needs your life. Die for me real quick.'
Kiruyin mentally sacrificed his cheap father to the devils and spotted every nonsense he could thinkn of. He really didn't want to start a sports genre in his school life. No way he could do labour in this heat of summer! He was born weak!
Mashima looked at the desperate boy in front of him with irritation.
'Why does he want waste such talent?'
He couldn't let go. He was extremely unwilling. Such talent and no one knows about it?
Impossible.
~Few Inches Later~
Kiruyin closed the door behind him and huffed a sigh if relief, after intensive persuasion(begging), Mashima-Sensei finally agreed to not pursue this matter anymore. He was very flustered. So mush so that he didn't even remember what he had said to the sensei. But everything was fine since the threat of labour has now passed.
Ichinose was still waiting for him, there were few minutes before class so they both grabbed snacks from the vending machine and went to class together.
She asked few questions about why the sensei called him and he answered truthful. He saw no need to hide anything.
Risk of disturbing his loner life?
That will take some high level player to do that. And Ichinose was not one of them. She just showered him praises and cemented his belief of "Ichinose, The Best Waifu Material".
But to get her as his waifu, he needed to beat the love rival named... Chiro or something.
'Maaan. Never thought that I would have to fight a woman to get love of another woman.'
But that was for another time. Right now, it was time to settle down with the rhythm of the school.