Translator: Haruto.

Mixed-gender swimming classes.

I believe such a set of words carries a certain kind of hope, wonder, and beauty in and of itself.

In my previous world, it was nothing more than a dream.

The boys were only allowed to admire the girls and their swimsuits from very—and I mean very—far away. And some unfortunate folks weren’t even allowed as much.

However…!!

This school is a different story!

Boys and girls stay together during P.E. class!

Which means that boys and girls must swim together as well!!

Heck yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!

And so, now you know why I’m so excited this morning. Amane, on the other hand, looks kind of gloomy…

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to attend today’s swimming class.”

“Huh. You don’t know how to swim or something?

When I ask her that, Amane gets as stiff as a robot.

“…”

“I-I’m sure you’ll be fine…”  

So she really can’t swim…

Amane’s physical abilities are heavily downgraded when she’s at school because her life energy must remain sealed at all times. She says she even finds moving her body difficult in that state.

“Teach me.”

“Huh?”

“I just figured that if I don’t know how to swim, I can just have you teach me, Shuu-kun.”

“Well, sure, why not?”

I managed to act cool and collected.

Inside, however, I’m throwing a freaking party!

No way! Will I seriously be allowed to make direct contact with Amane while she’s wearing a swimsuit?

Is this really happening? What if it’s just a dream…?!  

I pinch my own cheek.

Ouch!

That means it’s real… Heck yeah!

I keep walking to school, psyched out of my mind.

“Alright, guys, the areas around the pool are a bit slippery so be careful, okay?”

After listening to our teacher’s instructions, we take a cold shower.

I’ve never understood why the water at school is always so freaking cold.

Even the pool is cold! Darn it!

Shaking slightly, I stand on the side of the pool and the smell of chlorine reaches my nose.

The teacher starts checking how far each of us can swim.

I was able to swim 50 meters—the length of the entire pool—and I think I could have kept going.

The people that don’t know how to swim are told to stay in the smaller, 25-meter-long pool and learn how to do it from other students.  

“Next. Himeyuri Amane!”

“H-Here!”

Amane appears quite nervous as she stands on the diving board.

She gets in position and dives into the pool with perfect form, leaving our classmates in awe.

Wait, Amane can’t swim…

I’m also caught off guard by her perfect diving technique for a second, but I soon realize something’s wrong.

Amane hasn’t resurfaced.

Air bubbles appear in the water.

Ah…

I throw myself in the pool without a second thought and find Amane thrashing about underwater.

She’s also blushing like crazy. She seriously gave it a shot knowing she couldn’t swim.

She throws her arms and legs around frantically but no matter what she does, she keeps sinking deeper and deeper.

I hold her in my arms and bring us both back to the surface.

“Are you okay, Amane?”

“Cough, cough, cough… Sheaah…”

“It looked to me like you were in quite a pickle down there…”  

“I-I was fine…”

She insists that she was fine but it was obvious she was freaking out a moment ago.

“Should I let go of you, then?”

“No! I’ll drown!!”

“Alright, let’s go to the smaller pool.”

“Uuuuuuuhhhhh!”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”  

I took Amane to the side of the pool, pulled her up, and brought her to the small pool.

Thankfully, our teacher allowed me to be Amane’s swimming instructor.

All the boys, and even Momoka, are glaring at me with jealousy in their eyes.

Haha! Suck it!

A huge grin appears on my face and their glares intensify.  

Now, if you’d excuse me—

“Let’s begin our swimming lesson.”

“I’ll be in your care!” Amane answers me earnestly.

“I think the problem is that you don’t know how to make your way through the water, Amane.”

“Make my way through the water?”

“Yeah, I’m talking about the way you use your hands to propel yourself forward.”

“I see, I see,” Amane mumbles. “What else?”  

“Your posture. You let your hips sink too much when you’re trying to swim.”

Amane looks at me utterly surprised, as though saying, “Huh? Really?”

“If you learn how to raise your hips more, you won’t waste so much stamina and you’ll swim faster too.”

“I honestly thought I’d be fine if I just moved my body around…”

How did you even come to that conclusion? You know what? I won’t even ask.  

Let the practical section of the lesson begin.

In order to get her used to keeping her hips elevated, I put a floating board under her belly.

“Don’t take this off, okay?”

“G-Got it.”

“Now, I want you to hold my hands and start kicking. Just not too hard.”

“Okay.”

A splash, splash is heard as Amane kicks the water.

Crap, she’s too adorable. I might die of cuteness.

“Uuh! This is pretty difficult… Can I do it without the floating board?”

“Nope, we need it to help you raise your hips more.”

“A-Alright.”

Once she reaches the 25-meter mark, it’s time to move on to the next step.

“Now you’ll have to swim using your arms instead of your legs.”

“Huh? Isn’t it a little too soon for that?” Amane asks, surprised.

“Swimming with your arms is actually not that hard. I know you prefer using your legs, but you’ll move faster and more easily if you learn how to move your arms properly.”

“Ohh! Is that how it works?”  

“Yeah, you’ll get it once you give it a try. When you start swimming, make sure to use your entire upper half and not just your arms, alright?

Amane tries to do exactly as I said, but she still can’t get the hang of it.

Seeing no other option, I grab Amane’s arms gently and show her how to do it.

Her skin is terribly smooth, just like you’d expect from a girl’s.

Our lesson continues until she finally learns how to swim front crawl.

She was even able to swim a full lap in the small pool, after which she came running to me and hugged me excitedly, pressing her cushions on my chest and nearly sending me to shake hands with Buddha.

It’s time to show everyone her new front crawl technique in the large pool…

Thanks to her success in the smaller pool, Amane feels confident while standing on the diving board.

Once again, she dives into the water with perfect form.

This time, though, she resurfaces without a hitch and begins swimming forward.

I’m relieved to see how well she’s doing… until I realize she has barely come up for air.

I taught her how to breathe while swimming, but I bet she’s too focused on the way she’s moving her arms and legs and has forgotten all about it.

And sure enough, as soon as she makes it to the 25-meter mark, she reaches her limit and sinks deep into the water.

Well, at least she can swim 25 meters by herself.

I throw myself into the water to save her.

When I pull her out of the water, Amane starts apologizing to me.

“You did well. You even made it to the middle of the big pool.”

“But… you did your best to teach me and I still wasn’t able to do it on my first try…”

“Right, I guess you’re not used to it since you always learn life energy techniques on your first try.”

“???”

It looks like she’s got no idea what I’m talking about.

The thing is, while it can take me hundreds of tries to learn a technique, Amane usually does it on one try.

Which is why failing to learn something instantly is sort of a new experience for her. That’s how talented Amane is.

“At any rate, you need more practice so we’ll be visiting the neighborhood pool soon, okay?”

“Huh? Practice? At the neighborhood pool?”

“Yeah, it won’t be a date, though. We’ll just practice together.”

“That’s a date in my book.”

Amane’s regained her spirits.

“Hold on! I wish to attend your little practice session!”

It seems Momoka plans to sabotage our date.

“I mean, it isn’t a date, correct?” She asks smugly.

“Can you stop interfering with our romantic comedy just because you don’t have a boyfriend of your own?”

“Oh, shush!”

“No, wait! I know what it is. You just don’t have any friends apart from Amane, huh.”

“Wha?! I-I do!”

“Yeah, right.”

“Uuuughhhhh!”

In the end, Momoka didn’t back down, despite my best efforts.

“Hm? You’re going to the neighborhood pool?”

Hold on. Now even Ayame-san is going to throw herself into the mix?!!

“Oh! If Ayame is going, I can’t miss it for the world!”

You too, Toru?!  

Aaaaaaaghhhh!!

My perfect lovey-dovey-pool-date plan is ruined!!

Previous Chapter – Contents – Next Chapter

This month’s supporter: Greg.

Consider supporting me on Buy Me a Coffee!