Chapter five (segment four), twenty four years earlier, June, Yukio

There was a lot of giggling from where the girls finally emerged. Yukio looked at them with embarrassed apprehension. In their swimsuits they looked, well different. He suddenly felt very self-aware. All the girls were staring at his skinny body with disapproval.

“Well this is where all that training pays off, I guess,” Urufu said beside him.

“Huh?”

“Don't worry. Gets more fun when you're fully grown.” Urufu stretched lazily and grinned. “You're just not used to summers at the beach. The girls are feeling just as embarrassed as you do. Besides shouldn't you be watching Kyoko?”

That made him blush. How can you be so comfortable?

Urufu stood in the blazing sun as if the prospect of a deep sun-tan didn't bother him the least. Then he moved to the poolside, and Yukio could see how years of training had taught him to defy the fact that he really wasn't all that athletic.

Easy for you to say. You've already been an adult once.

Urufu jumped into the water with the grace of a log and began swimming. Breast strokes like a child.

So he can swim, but not well. He just makes up for it with that absurd stamina of his.

Yukio watched as Urufu methodically carved out length after length. He was oblivious to the jokes that were thrown after him and finished whatever goal he had set up for himself.

“He's like a brick but a pretty good looking brick.”

“I wonder about that geek show. Must have been some kind of stupid bet.”

“Matsumoto-kun,” did you make a bet or what?

Yukio looked up. It was Kubo-san, one of his former classmates from Red Rose. He hadn't known her that well back then and he still really hadn't gotten to know her.

“Eh no. He went to a really strict place after he was expelled. Maybe just took him some time to get used to our new class,” Yukio lied.

“He looks better out of the water,” Kojima-san noted. She was one of the left wing's two beauties, and would have garnered a lot more attention if it hadn't been for 3:1. She was also one of the girls who showed interest in any guy who rose in popularity.

The sun hid behind a passing cloud and the pool had filled up with students trying out the water for the first time in the year. From the other side of the pool their PE-teacher was shouting out instructions and taking notes of how well they swam.

He saw Urufu-kun climb out of the pool and receive a fair amount of back slapping. They were probably followed by insinuating questions about Kuri-chan.

That couple. Three weeks and the school still talks about it as the most unexpected event of spring term. Yukio however, was less interested in the surprise couple that existed than in one that didn't. Half of that problem shared a classroom with Kuri-chan.

3:1 comes after us. Now that will be a circus. Kuri-chan and Noriko-chan. And Kyoko-chan of course. Thinking of her had him turn around. The present girls would surely misunderstand. And left wing is the best. We can see half the pool from there.

Yukio sauntered over to the pool. He needed to cool down a bit.