As for Yamauchi Haruki, the other three naturally trusted him completely.
It wasn't that Yamauchi Haruki normally came across as especially reliable; rather, in a matter like this—one that could only exist in the shadowy corners—the few of them were, you could say, grasshoppers tied to the same string.
Besides, Yamauchi Haruki was the organizer of this "Great Youth Activity." The equipment had been pooled together with everyone's money, the plan had been drawn up by Yamauchi Haruki staying up all night digging through information online, and even the set of cleaning uniforms meant to serve as disguises had been pilfered by him from who-knew-where.
Since he'd taken on the leading role, then naturally he had to make every preparation perfectly.
Otherwise, he could hardly let the few of them make the whole trip for nothing in the early morning, only to end up not only failing to score any "benefits" but also coming to the miserable fate of having their reputations ruined, could he?
"I really can't wait."
Ike Kanji rubbed his hands together, unable to keep himself from swallowing a gulp of saliva.
His mind had already begun, uncontrollably, to conjure up all sorts of strange and peculiar scenes—the kind that generally only show up in fanservice anime. Those were the proof of youth; were the few of them about to enjoy their own youth next?
The other two, Sotomura Hideo and Sudou Ken, also nodded along one after another, the same emotion flickering in their eyes.
Sudou Ken drew in a deep breath, pressed down the last sliver of nervousness in his heart, turned to look at Yamauchi Haruki, and asked.
"Haruki, those girls you said earlier you were going to notify—you've notified everyone you were supposed to, right? Don't let it turn out that after we've spent all this time setting up, there's not a single soul in the changing room."
Yamauchi Haruki smugly patted his chest and nodded without the slightest hesitation.
"But of course. When have I ever botched a job?"
He leaned in closer and lowered his voice, a note of pride in his tone.
"I looked into it ages ago. Today's the last day of summer break, and everyone's got this pent-up urge to have one last good time before the term starts—plus, today happens to be the pool's open day."
"This pool today, it's not just the girls our class invited who'll be coming. There are also girls from other classes, and even the upperclassman senpai from the higher years—they'll all be coming over today!"
Yamauchi Haruki planted both hands on his hips, lifted his head to look at the ceiling, and couldn't help letting out an affected sigh of feeling.
"Just as I thought—on the last day, everyone wants to relax and properly enjoy this youth without regrets."
Hearing this description, the breathing of the other three inevitably grew a few degrees quicker.
The four boys huddled in the dark corner, exchanged a glance, and then, with knowing, meaningful looks, broke into laughter. That low chuckling echoed through the quiet building, sounding rather lecherous.
According to the plan they'd drawn up beforehand.
The few of them intended first to change into their own casual clothes, then to find a hidden spot on the outskirts of the pool and lie in wait.
Once the invited girls began arriving one after another, they would step out from the corner, pretending they'd only just arrived themselves and had merely run into each other at the entrance by coincidence—thereby clearing themselves of any suspicion of having cased the place in advance.
Time slipped by, second by second.
Soon the horizon gradually paled with the white of a fish's belly; a faint sliver of dawn light pierced through the clouds and spilled across the campus of this Advanced Nurturing High School.
The few of them began to spring into action one after another.
Sudou Ken and Ike Kanji served as the vanguard, pretending to go to the bus stop to welcome the classmates who were about to arrive.
The pool they were heading to today was not the standard pool inside the school where swimming classes were normally held.
So, to get there from the dormitory district, you basically still had to ride a special shuttle bus from the bus platform on campus.
For the sake of this scheme that couldn't bear the light of day, these big strapping boys had forced themselves up early in the morning, fighting off their drowsiness, and even had to rush to catch the first bus to come case and set up the place—more than enough to show just how hard and how difficult things were for them in pursuit of this so-called "youth benefit."
The early-morning air still carried a trace of coolness.
When Sudou Ken and Ike Kanji, yawning and ambling along, leisurely reached that main bus stop in the living district, the sight before them couldn't help but lift their spirits.
Sure enough, on the platform, quite a few people had already gathered in twos and threes, all dressed in the casual style of people about to head off for some fun at the pool.
Seeing so many people had come here so early in the morning, the two of them felt an immediate flush of delight. It seemed Yamauchi Haruki's intel hadn't been wrong after all—the crowd coming to the pool today would absolutely be no small number.
However, just as Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken were about to blend into the crowd, their eyes casually swept across the scene, and inadvertently landed on the two people standing at the very front of the platform.
After getting a clear look at those people's faces, Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken's footsteps couldn't help faltering slightly.
It was Horikita Manabu of Class 3-A, and Nagumo Miyabi of Class 2-A.
One the current Student Council president, the other the vice president—these two prominent figures in the school had unexpectedly also shown up at this bus stop leading to the pool, dressed in simple casual wear.
Who would have thought that the people of the Student Council, who usually seemed so serious and rigid, would actually come join the fun at the pool on the last day of summer break too.
Still, regarding the appearance of these two big shots, after a brief moment of surprise Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken did not develop any thought of fear or retreat.
After all, in their understanding, even if the Student Council president and vice president had come, they were just here to swim and relax normally.
That didn't conflict in the slightest with the secret plan they were going to carry out behind the scenes.
As long as their hands and feet were clean and quick and they weren't caught in the act, who could ever trace it back to them?
So, they still intended to proceed according to the original plan.
The two of them stood in a corner of the platform, craning their necks, and began searching the crowd for their targets from their own class.
Only, after scanning around once, they didn't see that Kushida Kikyou who'd agreed to come, nor any of the other girls from their class—not even half a shadow of a single person.
"That's strange."
Ike Kanji frowned and checked the time.
"It's already past the meeting time we agreed on. How come there's still no sign of anyone?"
Sudou Ken also scratched his head, a little puzzled.
"Could it be that because there are too many people heading to the pool today, they couldn't squeeze onto this bus?"
The two of them looked at the special shuttle bus in front of them, already nearly packed full of students, and thought to themselves that this was indeed a possibility.
After all, girls always spend a lot of time putting on makeup and picking out swimsuits before heading out, so being a little late was a perfectly normal thing.
"In that case, let's just wait for the next one."
Ike Kanji proposed.
But if they just stood here idly waiting for the next bus, it would take up quite a lot of time.
And right now, by their reckoning of the time, that outdoor pool had already officially reached its opening time.
The pool had opened, and naturally so had the changing rooms and the like.
Since the girls hadn't arrived yet, they could just take advantage of this window to board this bus first, head into the pool, and go straight to the changing room to install the equipment.
Time waits for no one.
Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken decisively went and found Yamauchi Haruki and Sotomura Hideo, who were still standing by on standby, and told them about the girls not having arrived yet.
After hearing the two of them report, the few of them huddled together to discuss for a moment and quickly made up their minds.
Since the other girls hadn't woken up yet or hadn't arrived, this happened to give them a perfect window of opportunity.
They could absolutely start acting ahead of time, without having to nervously worry about some girl suddenly bursting in.
Sotomura Hideo pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and stuck up a thumb at the group.
"I just took a careful look through the binoculars a moment ago."
Sotomura Hideo said to them with a smile.
"At this point in time, there's absolutely no one inside the girls' changing room—even the cleaning lady is still out in the corridor doing her cleaning."
He turned his head to look at Yamauchi Haruki.
"Yamauchi, you can act boldly. Going in now is absolutely safe."
Hearing this, the muscles on Yamauchi Haruki's face twitched slightly from excitement.
He nodded forcefully, signaling that he understood.
Then, while undoing the buttons of his jacket, he turned his head and instructed the other three.
"You few, you'd better do a good job keeping watch for me. No matter who comes close, you've got to find a way to block them or send me a signal!"
The few of them nodded one after another to show they understood—after all, if any mishap occurred, not a single one of those present would be able to escape.
Sudou Ken glanced at the time on his phone and urged Yamauchi Haruki with a hint of agitation.
"All right, all right, stop wasting time, hurry up and get moving. With something like this, the longer you drag it out, the greater the risk."
Yamauchi Haruki didn't dare delay any longer either. With nimble hands and feet he pulled the slightly oversized cleaning-staff uniform—the one he'd gotten from who-knew-where—on over himself, put on a cap pulled down very low, and donned a face mask too, making sure no one could tell it was him.
Then he took a deep breath, picked up the yellow plastic warning sign he'd prepared long ago reading "Cleaning in Progress, Entry Forbidden," glanced furtively left and right with a guilty conscience, and, steeling himself, crept toward the entrance of the girls' changing room.
Watching Yamauchi Haruki's back disappear around the corner.
Sudou Ken and Ike Kanji exchanged a glance, and then began to act as well.
The two of them quickly ran to the boys' changing room and, at top speed, changed into their own swimwear.
According to the original plan, what they had to do now was disguise themselves as the first batch of ordinary students coming to swim, naturally make their way to the poolside to observe the surrounding situation, and incidentally provide cover for Yamauchi Haruki.
After changing, the two of them draped their arms over each other's shoulders, putting on an act of chatting and laughing, walked out of the changing room, and arrived at that enormous outdoor open-air pool area.
The early-morning sunlight spilled over the azure pool water, the surface shimmering with ripples of light—it should have been an utterly pleasant and beautiful summer's tableau.
Yet the moment the two of them stepped to the edge of the pool, they keenly noticed that the atmosphere here seemed a bit off.
By this point, some thirty or forty students who'd come in a step ahead of them had already gathered at the poolside.
There were boys and girls, from every grade.
But what felt incredibly strange was that not a single one of these people was in the water—nobody had even changed into swimwear. In the entire pool area, the two of them were the only ones who had put on swimsuits.
Then Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken noticed that everyone, at this moment, was uniformly bowing their heads, phones in hand, eyes fixed dead on the screens, as though watching something extremely eye-catching.
What's more, from time to time the crowd let out bursts of suppressed exclamations, the sound of sharp intakes of breath, and whispered murmurs laced with thick disgust.
Seeing this scene, Ike Kanji couldn't help slowing his steps. He nudged Sudou Ken beside him with his elbow and muttered in a low voice.
"Hey, Ken, don't you think something's kind of creepy here? How come so many people are all looking at their phones?"
Sudou Ken also wore a baffled expression.
"Yeah, they all came running to the pool first thing in the morning, so how come they're all bowing their heads over their phones? Shouldn't they hurry into the water and have a good time? What on earth are they looking at?"
Full of doubt, the two of them were just about to step forward and find a classmate they knew to see what exactly had happened.
And it was right at this moment that the crowd suddenly parted to both sides of its own accord, opening up a passageway.
Accompanied by a set of steady, forceful footsteps.
A tall figure dressed in casual clothing walked out from the crowd and came straight up before Sudou Ken and Ike Kanji.
The one who'd come was none other than that Student Council president they'd seen at the bus stop just earlier—Horikita Manabu.
At this moment Horikita Manabu, too, held in his hand a phone with its screen still lit.
On that cold, stern face of his, a layer of visibly gloomy storm clouds now hung.
Those eyes, sharp as a falcon's, were fixed dead on Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken before him.
The commanding aura of a superior, befitting the Student Council president, was unleashed at full force in this instant, bearing down heavily on the two boys' shoulders.
Horikita Manabu stopped his steps and looked at them.
"You two..."
Horikita Manabu spoke slowly, his voice exceedingly cold.
"Do you have any idea just what unspeakably foolish, idiotic thing you've done?"
The instant this accusation came out, the air all around seemed to congeal.
Hearing these words—abrupt, without head or tail, yet carrying such pressure.
Sudou Ken and Ike Kanji's faces changed in an instant, their heartbeats beginning, uncontrollably, to accelerate wildly.
It was only at this point.
That they belatedly shifted their attention away from Horikita Manabu and noticed the eyes with which everyone else around them was regarding the two of them.
Those gazes were mingled with shock, contempt—the kind of look one gives to garbage.
Especially some of the girls: the very instant their eyes met the two boys', they backed away several steps with faces full of revulsion, and some didn't even bother to hide their nauseated expressions.
Seeing this treatment—being spurned by the entire crowd like rats scurrying across the street.
Ike Kanji's heart gave a "thud," and his mind went instantly blank.
What's going on?
Could it be... that the secret-filming plan he and the others had drawn up this morning had already been exposed?!
But how could that be possible!!
Ike Kanji screamed wildly in his heart, his face full of disbelief.
After all, they'd only just begun to act!
That fellow Yamauchi Haruki probably hadn't even climbed up into the girls' changing room's ventilation duct yet; the cameras were still in his bag, not even taken out.
This was a plan that hadn't even started being carried out at all—how could anyone possibly know in advance? And from the looks of it, it seemed the entire pool already knew!
Just who had leaked the word?
Amid his panic, a figure that was always expressionless flashed through Ike Kanji's mind like a bolt of lightning.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka!
Right, it had to be him!
Could it be—because earlier he and the others had gone to invite him to take part in this plan, and the few of them had explicitly said that if he didn't participate, they wouldn't share those secretly filmed resources with him afterward.
So this seemingly honest fellow harbored a grudge, and in order to take revenge on the few of them, actually went and tattled to the school or the Student Council?!
That fellow Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, normally so quiet and unassuming—who'd have thought his scheming ran so deep. What a vicious guy, truly!
He was trying to put them straight into the grave!
Still, although his heart was already in an utter panic, even to the point that his calves were faintly trembling, Ike Kanji forced himself to bite down on the tip of his tongue, struggling not to let himself fall into disarray.
Right now there was no substantive evidence proving they'd done anything. As long as he refused to admit it to the death, maybe he could still bluff his way through.
Having made up his mind.
Ike Kanji forced out a smile uglier than crying and began playing dumb.
"P-President, what are you even talking about?"
He stammered out, trying to make his tone sound a little more innocent.
"We... we only just changed and came out, we were just about to go swimming. This foolish thing you're talking about—I... I have absolutely no idea what it is."
Sudou Ken, beside him, had also come back to his senses by now. A moment ago Sudou Ken had been practically drenched in sweat—after all, getting caught doing something like this was not a matter that could be resolved easily.
But hearing Ike Kanji brazenly bluffing like this.
Sudou Ken latched on as though he'd grabbed a life-saving straw, hurriedly swallowed a gulp of saliva, and chimed in.
"Th-that's right! We didn't do anything. Don't go accusing people at random. We just came here to enjoy the last day of summer break, that's all."
Looking at these two clowns before him still trying to bluff their way out even with death at their doorstep.
On Horikita Manabu's cold, stern face, not even the faintest ripple of emotion showed through.
Horikita Manabu spoke coldly, his voice not loud, yet clearly carrying into the ears of every single person present.
"Stop keeping up the act. It will only make you look even more pathetic."
"The four of you—this utterly despicable act you conspired to commit today has already caused irreparable, serious damage to the reputation of this school and to the dignity of the entire student body."
Hearing Horikita Manabu state quite accurately that their participants numbered four people, Ike Kanji felt his legs go weak in an instant, and he nearly collapsed straight to the ground.
It was over.
All over!
Sudou Ken's heart was even more like dead ashes, thinking to himself that this time they were truly done for.
Since he even knew the exact number of people, then he must surely know their plan—and this matter, Ike Kanji and the others had only told to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Who would have thought this fellow had actually reported them!
Damn it all!
____
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