- Part 6

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At the changing rooms, I opened up my locker and grabbed my bottle out of my bag. I cracked it open and drank almost half of it in a single gulp.

Katsumi, who had been intrigued by my abilities, came over to me. Following her was Yukina.

"Do you swim often, Takanori-san?"

"Not really. I used to swim back in elementary school."

"In middle school, Yuu-kun wasn't even part of a club."

I wanted to correct Yukina and say I was president of the "Go Home Club", but admitting that to them would be social suicide.

"Then, how did you get so good?!"

Just like Yukimura, Katsumi was surprised that I was apparently good at swimming. Honestly, I probably came 2nd because I had good technique and some luck on my side.

"I don't think I'm good. I think you're overestimating my abilities."

"No, no! The way you swam, it was incredible! Takanori-san, what kind of skills are you hiding from us?!"

"I'm average, really..."

I wanted to reassure them that I wasn't hiding anything. This was my true strength when I went all out. Yukina laughed at our strange conversation.

"Well, I can't wait to race against you in the final race."

"Same here, Yukina-san. I'll be sure to beat you."

"No, I'll be the one to beat both of you!"

Katsumi announced, before Yukimura interjected from the sidelines. He dual-wielded two nearly empty bottles of Bocari Sweat in each hand.

"Good luck trying to beat me, Katsumi!"

All four of us were fighting for the top spots in the final race. It was going to be a troublesome battle with lots of strong enemies.

When we returned to the swimming pool, Himeji explained that we'd be doing the losers race first. Participating in that race were the bottom four from both race 1 and 2: Demiza, Hono, Tanaka, Nora, Sanou, Fujimura, Suzuki and Mitsuba.

Once our break was up, they got ready on the starting platform. I predicted that Demiza or Sanou would win, simply because they got 5th in their respective races. The rest was fair game.

"On your marks... get set... gooooooooooooo!!"

With the official start from Himeji, everyone leapt into the pool. Tanaka had a bit of a late start, but made a splash as he tumbled into the pool.

Immediately, leading the race was Sanou, who was using a front stroke like me. Flanking her sides were Demiza and Hono, who were able to close the gap and catch up. However, Fujimura was hot on their tail, followed by Mitsuba and Suzuki. Nora and Tanaka were the physically weakest students in the race, so they lagged behind.

In an unexpected turn of events, Hono had overtaken both Sanou and Demiza. Slowly, even Fujimura surpassed them too, but Demiza was recovering her ground. In the battle for who would take last place, Tanaka was beating Nora, as Nora's strokes were weak and not pushing him very far up the track.

Then, a head popped out at the finishing line. Turning it around, Hono had became the winner of the loser's race, followed by Fujimura in 2nd and Demiza in 3rd. Sanou, despite being a 2nd Year, only got 4th. It was a good race by everyone. Himeji recorded the results on the whiteboard.

Loser's race results
9th: Hono Ria
10th: Fujimura Shouko
11th: Demiza Taiga
12th: Sanou Nozomi
13th: Suzuki Mayuri
14th: Mitsuba Jun
15th: Tanaka Houji
16th: Nora Takayuki

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