"…So you guys are literally just comparing… sizes?" Kanzaki's cheek twitched uncontrollably as he looked at Shibata in exasperation, almost wanting to whack him on the head.
He'd been worried this was some special exam in the bathhouse, but it turned out they were just fooling around?!
"Haha, don't be like that, Kanzaki." Shibata grinned impishly, then reached over and yanked away the towel Kanzaki had wrapped around his waist.
"Wha—?!"
"Dude, Kanzaki's a secret powerhouse!" The surrounding crowd went wild with shock. Ishizaki, on the other hand, wasn't about to let that go. He quickly hauled Kaneda up out of the water for a direct comparison—and in that instant, Kanzaki dethroned Kaneda, who had previously been hailed the champion.
Kanzaki had Shibata trapped in a headlock, reprimanding him for his ridiculous stunt, while Kaneda finally heaved a sigh of relief, grateful to be off the hook.
"Damn! No way our class can lose!" Ishizaki refused to give in, scanning the area in search of reinforcements. Just then, another member of Yukio's class, Albert, strode in. Ishizaki's eyes lit up.
"Ha! You're all finished now—our ace is here! Albert, get over here and do the class proud!"
Albert, clueless about what was going on, still followed Ishizaki's lead. His entrance made Kanzaki and Shibata freeze in their tracks. Seriously? Did Yukio's class just field a nearly two-meter-tall giant for this contest?!
Ishizaki wasted no time replicating Shibata's technique, ripping away Albert's towel in one swift motion. Instantly, a brand-new champion was born. Kanzaki had barely settled into the king's seat before Albert toppled him with sheer natural endowment, ushering in a new era.
The spectators gasped as if witnessing a legend.
"That's…that's crazy!"
"If Albert ever joins the sports festival, I'm telling you, he'd have to get a drug test first. No way he's not on some sort of performance enhancer."
"It's over for us. Our entire class just got wiped out."
While Albert reigned over the bathhouse with his drawn sword, loud laughter and heavy breathing sounded from the entrance. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" rang out. Class D's Koenji, sculpted muscles gleaming like steel plating, stepped into the dueling arena.
At this, Class D—who'd been pretty subdued until now—suddenly found hope.
"Koenji?!"
"Our savior's here at last! No way you'd lose to some four-eyed wimp, right?!"
They'd been soaking for ages without a single victory to show. Surely this would finally restore some pride for Class D.
Yukio, relaxing in a nearby bath, opened his eyes at the mention of four-eyed wimp. Glancing over toward Class D, he spoke calmly but firmly:
"Watch your mouth. Who're you calling four eyes?"
"!" That Class D boy jolted as if electrocuted, instantly standing and bowing a full ninety degrees in apology toward both Yukio and Kaneda. Only then did the matter drop. In truth, many of the onlookers appreciated Yukio stepping in—plenty of them wore glasses themselves, or had close friends (or even crushes) who did. Hearing someone flippantly throw around four eyes was irritating.
Koenji seemed unfazed by all this, eyes locked on Albert. With a confident shake of his head, he let out a stylish laugh.
"You're nothing. Hahaha! No one can defeat the epitome of perfection—me! I am the most beautiful being on Earth!"
"Huh?" Ishizaki couldn't just let that slide. "How're you so sure you'll win if you haven't even tried comparing?"
"Yeah, talk about arrogance," chimed in Nomura, equally dubious of Koenji's bragging.
"Ha!" Koenji let out a haughty chuckle, unperturbed. "Why bother with a contest when the outcome is obvious? Setting off a pointless war and spilling needless blood just to confirm my supremacy? Silly."
"Tch." Ishizaki heard nothing but hot air. "All talk, no guts, is that it?"
"Naive boy," Koenji said, as if relishing the chance to mock him. "Your childish provocation is laughable, but perhaps I'll humor you this once—grant you a close-up view of my perfection."
With that, he undid his towel. He was like a golden-maned lion leaping out of the brush to fell its prey, and the crowd gasped in unison.
"That's…even bigger than Albert's!"
"No way—does Koenji transcend entire ethnic boundaries?!"
"Incredible! Koenji, Class D is proud of you!"
"This can't be happening…!"
Ishizaki took two steps back in shock, while Albert turned his face away with a shamefaced look, feeling like he'd let his class down.
In this dire moment, Ishizaki set his last glimmer of hope on Yukio, eyes blazing. "Aniki… Aniki! Please, Aniki!"
"Knock it off," Yukio growled, brow twitching in annoyance. He hated how Ishizaki's pleading made it sound like someone had died.
"But, but aniki, we can't lose here!" Ishizaki lamented, even trying to climb out of his tub into Yukio's.
Yukio couldn't take it anymore. "Damn it, you troublemaker!" he snapped, rising to his feet to face Koenji head-on. Instantly, every pair of eyes in the bathhouse locked onto them. The onlookers swore they'd never paid this much attention in class, not even if they studied a hundred years.
"It's—It's Yukio! Looks like a tiny margin, but I think he's got Koenji beat by a few millimeters!"
"Shut up! Our boss is leading by at least ten millimeters!"
"Dude, someone run and grab a measuring tape!"
"This is like time-traveling back to the Jurassic—two T-rexes about to tear each other apart."
Koenji, who dismissed everyone else as mere commoners, now afforded Yukio a trace of respect, courtesy of the etiquette hammered into him from an early age.
"I must admit, Yukio-kun… your performance is unexpected. Still, with the two of us so closely matched, a few millimeters of difference is basically negligible. Meaning, in the end, I'm the winner."
"Huh?!" Ishizaki, still reeling from excitement, blew up at once. "Koenji, don't you have any shame? You literally just said it's too close to call, and now you're claiming victory?"
"It's the truth, naive boy," Koenji retorted with an indifferent shrug. "If we're T-rexes, then in terms of actual hunting experience, I hold the advantage. I'll have you know, I started hunting over a year and a half ago."
"Tch." Yukio plopped back into the water, unbothered. He wasn't about to brag about that sort of private experience in a bathhouse standoff. He'd leave the childish bragging to the kids…