Time passed quickly, and a week had already zipped by since the entrance ceremony.
Although Mamoru was initially exasperated by the sheer size of the campus, he had somehow finished placing the necessary Wedges in key locations, granting him a comfortable cushion of leeway in his daily life.
Naturally, this didn’t mean every single Curse on school grounds had been cleared—regular patrols would remain a necessity going forward.
Still, with teleportation Wedges now positioned across various areas, getting around had become vastly easier.
Which brought things to the present, where the students of Class A were currently in the middle of swimming class at the pool.
Because the school’s pool was located indoors, it remained unaffected by the weather, boasting space and state-of-the-art facilities that rivaled public swimming complexes in the city.
It was truly an ideal environment for swimming, and the Class A students were all happily slicing through the crystal-clear water.
However, Mamoru was nowhere to be found among them.
“My, I certainly didn’t expect you to skip class, Mamoru-kun.” “Anyone can catch a cold or feel under the weather.” “Fufu, yes, I suppose so.” Arisu smiled softly while Mamoru stared lazily at the pool.
The two were currently sitting in the second-floor spectator seats, watching their Class A classmates swim below.
“So, setting official excuses aside…
do you think spectating like this will actually lower our evaluation?” “Let us see.
We lack sufficient data, so this is purely speculation, but I doubt a single instance of spectating will cause our marks to drop.” The reason Mamoru had sat out swimming class under the guise of feeling unwell was to perform a single test: to see how much sitting out a physical education class would impact the class’s evaluation.
“Well, in reality, students genuinely do miss class due to injury or illness.
They probably won’t press the issue too harshly.” When a student missed a class like P.E., determining whether the excuse was legitimate or not became a murky affair—especially for a class like swimming.
Some might harbor a phobia of water from a past near-drowning incident, while female students might deal with sensitive personal matters.
“Though if you repeat this two or three times, it might very well hurt your standing.” “I know.
From next time, I’ll pay the points and sit out properly.” Hearing those words, Arisu turned a surprised glance toward Mamoru.
“Mamoru-kun, are you planning to sit out the next swimming class as well?” “…Yeah.” Arisu had likely assumed that Mamoru’s absence today was merely a test to probe the school’s evaluation criteria, and that he would attend normally starting next week.
Confronted by her look, Mamoru offered a hesitant response, looking as though the words were difficult to force out.
“Could it be that you cannot swim?” “No, I can swim fine.” Vagueness coating his voice, Mamoru cast a subtle, brief glance down at his own body.
For a jujutsu sorcerer whose daily life revolved around combat, body scars were by no means rare.
In Mamoru’s case specifically, he possessed enough strength to earn acknowledgment from the strongest sorcerer of the modern era.
But to attain such power, he had endured a staggering amount of reckless training and real life-or-death battles.
Meaning…
‘I don’t look like a normal, law-abiding citizen under this shirt.’ Remembering how he had been peppered with questions by classmates and teachers who saw his body during middle school swimming classes, Mamoru’s eyes took on a distant, faraway look.
‘I don’t know what’ll happen next month, but I definitely want to sit out as much as possible this month.’ If swimming class turned out to be mandatory for earning course credits, or if next month’s point allowance turned out to be abysmal, Mamoru was prepared to give up and attend.
But if that wasn’t the case, he intended to avoid it by any means necessary.
As for today’s absence, while he had framed it as a test to gauge class evaluation, his true motivation was simply wanting to stingy with his points.
‘Right, that aside…
how am I supposed to answer her?’ Pulling his stray thoughts back to reality, he looked at Arisu, who wore a suspicious expression beside him.
With someone as sharp as Arisu, a half-baked lie was bound to be seen through in an instant.
“Ah…
well, how should I put it…
I have scars from an old accident, see?
I just really hate drawing attention to them.” After a moment of hesitation, he decided to tell the truth about everything except the actual cause of the scars.
Body scars were a sensitive topic, even for a guy.
Casting his gaze toward Arisu, he silently communicated his wish for her not to pry any further.
“I see.
My apologies.
I did not mean to ask about something uncomfortable.” She seemed to pick up on his hesitant, uncomfortable demeanor.
Mamoru let out a quiet sigh of relief.
‘Still, what do I actually do if I’m forced to swim next month?’ Mamoru’s body was covered in countless scars of various sizes.
Imagining the day he would have to explain what kind of “accident” could possibly leave such marks filled him with a wave of gloom.
Staring blankly at the pool in an attempt to escape reality, Mamoru fell silent.
Arisu similarly gazed down at the pool without a word, letting a quiet stillness settle between them.
After a short while, a lingering question tucked away in the back of Mamoru’s mind resurfaced.
“…Still, why are we having swimming classes at this time of year?” “Indeed.
I found that detail somewhat unnatural as well.” Normally, swimming classes took place during the height of summer.
Starting them in early spring was clearly unusual.
“Could it be that a special exam requiring swimming is coming up?” “A special exam?
So you also believe a test heavily impacting class evaluations will take place, Mamoru-kun?” “Are we really bringing that up again?
I think it’s almost guaranteed to happen, yeah.” From the very first day, once they became virtually certain that inter-class competition was taking place, the two had already pondered what form it might take.
“If evaluations were based solely on regular written tests and daily behavior, it’d be practically impossible for the lower classes to catch up.
As a competitive system, that’d be completely broken.” “Yes, I agree.” However, while they considered it practically guaranteed, both of them deliberately avoided sharing this line of thought with the rest of their classmates.
Sharp students would figure it out without being told, and even if everyone knew, there was no concrete countermeasure they could take right now.
Sharing the information would accomplish nothing beyond stoking anxiety among their peers, yielding zero benefits.
“Though if swimming is involved, I will be unable to participate.” Mamoru heavily disliked the idea of a test like that as well.
If that happened, skipping his current P.E.
classes would end up being completely pointless.
However, after giving it a bit of thought, Mamoru surmised that such a worry was likely groundless.
“I don’t think swimming itself will be the test.” “What makes you say that?” “First off, if it were a simple contest of athletic ability, they could just evaluate us through normal P.E.
grades.
That means inter-class exams won’t be about simple sports or written tests.” In response to Arisu’s question, Mamoru listed his reasons one by one as they came to him.
“Second, if they just wanted to assess our swimming ability, there’d be no reason to start swimming classes this early in the year.
Since we have an indoor pool, time of year wouldn’t matter at all for a test like that.” “Indeed.
Seasonal timing is a very good angle to consider.” ‘A swimming curriculum structured to finish in time for summer…
Are they planning something at the sea?’ Thinking along the lines of a body of water, a large lake or river was a possibility, but the ocean was the first thing that popped into Mamoru’s mind.
“Third, based on what we know so far, the school places heavy emphasis on class-versus-class competition rather than individual performance.
Even if one or two students can’t swim, the exam design should allow others to cover for them.” Piecing together the listed points, Mamoru organized his thoughts.
‘The key takeaway is that it won’t be a test of individual raw ability, and that it’s highly likely to take place at sea.
If we’re leaving campus, it won’t be a day trip, so a training camp format?
Testing us out in nature…’ As he pondered, a sudden theory surfaced in his mind.
“Survival training on a deserted southern island…
Nah, that’s way too outlandish, right?” Having voiced the random thought, Mamoru let out a dry laugh at how absurd it sounded.
However, Arisu—sitting right next to him—refuted his doubt with a serious expression.
“No, that cannot be ruled out entirely.
In fact, there are corporate entities that conduct training seminars on uninhabited islands.” “Seriously?” Mamoru was genuinely surprised by the new piece of information.
“Yes.
Though, of course, only a select few large corporations with immense financial capital can afford to run training on such a grand scale.” “If it’s this school, though…
it might actually be possible.” When it came to financial power, this institution certainly possessed the resources to pull off something like that.
“Indeed,” Arisu agreed.
Yet, despite having his theory validated, Mamoru wore a somber look.
‘Am I even allowed to leave school grounds?’ He had already finished setting up his defense Wedges around the campus.
Even if he were outside the school, he could teleport back instantly if something went wrong.
But a student who was supposed to be off-campus couldn’t afford to get caught on security cameras, meaning his freedom of movement would be severely restricted.
Meanwhile, Arisu wore an equally somber expression.
For someone dealing with physical disabilities, a survival exam on a southern island was nothing short of a nightmare.
“…Well, it’s just a wild guess anyway.” “Yes.
It is something we will discover in due time.” It was merely speculation—a conversation born out of simple small talk to pass the time.
Deciding there was no need to overthink it, the two let the topic rest.
“Still, a southern island, is it?
Tell me, Mamoru-kun…
would you like to see me in a swimsuit?” Likely wanting to shift the gloomy mood, Arisu asked with a teasing smile on her lips.
‘There she goes again…’ Having grown accustomed to her antics, Mamoru was about to deliver his usual “No, not really,” when he caught a subtle hint of resignation flickering deep within her smile.
Over the past week spent together, he had learned that while Arisu possessed the cunning to leverage her physical disability to her advantage, she wasn’t entirely unbothered by her condition.
There were moments when she quietly lamented her slow walking pace.
Even now, her eyes watching the swimming Class A students held a subtle trace of envy.
‘She’s given up on ever having the chance to play around in a swimsuit, hasn’t she?’ Would it really be right to give a thoughtless, insensitive brush-off to someone feeling that way?
Though only a split second passed, Mamoru thought deeply before opening his mouth.
“…Yeah.
I guess I’d kind of like to see it.” Perhaps that response came as a genuine surprise.
Arisu looked up at Mamoru’s face in astonishment.
After staring at him intently for a long moment, a slow, gentle smile spread across her features.
“I see.
If the opportunity ever arises, then.” For some reason, the smiling expression on Arisu’s face as she said those words looked just a little lonely to Mamoru.
‘Ah, man…
did I pick the wrong response after all?’ Maybe a lighthearted joke would have been better.
Mamoru scratched his head, mentally chastising himself for the misstep.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Author’s Note I struggled a bit while writing this pool chapter.
For people working a bloody job like jujutsu sorcerers, don’t surprisingly few characters have visible body scars?
Reverse Cursed Technique is explicitly stated to leave scars behind, and while Gojo Satoru can be explained away simply as “because he’s Gojo Satoru,” it feels weird that close-quarters brawlers like Todo don’t have a single visible scar.
Setting aside meta explanations like visual design choices or artists omitting them to save effort, I approached this chapter under the assumption that sorcerers actually possess numerous scars that simply aren’t rendered in the manga or anime art style.