"What are you discussing that you have to hide from us? Can't you just stop when you see us come in, instead of hiding in the locker?"
Tachibana Mikari curled her lips and glanced at Uenohara Ayano, who had already frozen in place and was at a loss, directly exposing Tsukahara Hibiki's excuse.
"I think it's more like you, President, already knew Manager Hikigaya would bring us here to the locker room to train, so you hid in the locker ahead of time."
Manager Hikigaya was someone brought into the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club by President Hibiki herself to help out, she didn't believe President Hibiki wasn't aware of Manager Hikigaya's ability.
"..."
Tsukahara Hibiki gave an awkward smile, while Orizuka Momoka turned her reddened ears away, trying hard to keep a straight face and not reveal any emotion.
Although she didn't want to admit it, the facts were as they were.
She never expected Tsukahara Hibiki's so-called "observing" would actually mean hiding in the locker to peep, and she had been forcefully pulled in to hide along with her.
When she wanted to come out, Hachiman and the others had already entered the locker room. Hayase Saki, Uenohara Ayano, and Tachibana Mikari were each like wolves and tigers, eager to receive training. She simply couldn't find a chance to leave, resulting in being caught red-handed now.
"Ahem, don't say it like that. I brought Momoka here to join you," Tsukahara Hibiki cleared her throat softly, suddenly spreading her arms to hug Orizuka Momoka, tightly wrapping around her to stop her from moving.
"President, what are you doing?"
Orizuka Momoka never expected her President would betray her on the spot and side with Tachibana Mikari and the others, who were disrupting the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club's order.
"President, you're really bad, selling out Momoka without hesitation."
Tachibana Mikari looked at Tsukahara Hibiki in surprise, chuckled, and walked over to help her restrain the struggling and escaping Orizuka Momoka.
"What do you mean 'sell'? I originally just wanted to let Momoka see and find an opportunity to have her join you to receive Hachiman's training together."
Seeing that Tachibana Mikari agreed to cooperate with her, Tsukahara Hibiki smiled helplessly.
"Who knew you'd catch us first. But it's fine. Let's deal with Momoka today, then later you can just find a chance to train at the outdoor pool. Don't worry, Momoka won't say anything."
"You're going too far!", Orizuka Momoka panicked, hastily reprimanding the two who had ganged up and were dragging her to be trained by Hachiman.
"Is that so? Why do I feel like you're actually quite happy? Wasn't it you who made the noise inside the locker that gave us away?"
Tsukahara Hibiki looked at the righteously scolding Orizuka Momoka, blinked, and grinned wickedly at the competition swimsuit on her body that was still slowly dripping water.
Orizuka Momoka might fool the others, but could she fool her? They had been together in a cramped, poorly ventilated locker. She could already sense what Orizuka Momoka was really thinking.
"...", Orizuka Momoka.
"Manager Hikigaya, I'll leave Momoka's education to you."
Tachibana Mikari, seeing that Orizuka Momoka was silent, directly dragged her to the bench with Tsukahara Hibiki.
"Hachiman, Momoka's mouth says no but her body says yes. Just train her directly."
Tsukahara Hibiki pressed down on Orizuka Momoka's shoulder, smiling as she reminded him.
"Momoka, huh…"
Hachiman let go of Sakurai Rihoko, whose eyes were still dazed, and turned to point at Orizuka Momoka, who shared the same name as Luri's Momoka.
"Although President Hibiki and the others have explained the situation, I still want to hear your true thoughts. Do you want to receive my training just like them?"
"Gulp... I, I..."
Orizuka Momoka looked at Sakurai Rihoko, who had been trained into complete smoothness, and seemed to see her own future. She looked up at Hachiman's face, nervously gulping.
———
["'Outstanding Manager of the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club' mission completed."]
["Mission reward: club branch feature unlocked."]
["New club activity unlocked, Group Training."]
[Current clubs: Service Club, Girls' Competitive Swimming Club (branch)]
[Group Training: Focused training to consolidate members' results and enhance their relationships. More participants = better results.]
(Note: Participants limited to club members)
Led by Tsukahara Hibiki, the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club's President, the outwardly boy-hating Orizuka Momoka bit her lip and, together with Tachibana Mikari and Sakurai Rihoko, helped Hachiman complete the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club's request.
Upon hearing the system notification, Hachiman, sitting on the bench, was extremely surprised. At the same time, Orizuka Momoka and Tsukahara Hibiki were also shocked, their faces glowing like morning clouds suddenly turning pale and delicate again.
That was it? So simple? Nanasaki Ai hasn't even come to train yet?
Could it be that the ones who truly needed stress relief and performance improvement were just the four of them. Uenohara, Tachibana, Hibiki, and Momoka? Hayase Saki and Sakurai Rihoko didn't count?
Indeed, in the original story, the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club only had four main female leads, Uenohara Ayano, Tachibana Mikari, and the others, who needed to relieve stress.
Hachiman, understanding the logic, couldn't help but be speechless.
If he had known, he would've just gone straight at Tsukahara Hibiki and Orizuka Momoka. After all, Uenohara Ayano and Tachibana Mikari had already been relieved of stress, and Hibiki, the one who invited him in the first place, obviously wouldn't resist. The only slightly troublesome one was Orizuka Momoka, but she was actually easy to handle too.
He hadn't paid much attention to the Girls' Swimming Club's request mainly because he thought Nanasaki Ai would be hard to deal with and planned to go with the flow.
Who would've thought…
"What's wrong, President Hachiman? Are you unsatisfied with Momoka? Or with me?", Seeing that Hachiman seemed to be distracted, Tsukahara Hibiki licked her glossy lips, reached out to hook Orizuka Momoka's shoulder, ignored her shyness, and pulled her along to peck Hachiman on the lips, snapping him out of it.
"I'm too satisfied. I was just wondering how you plan to wrap this up. Though I can often come to the swimming club for training, with so many people, if they disappear every day to get training from me, won't it draw attention?"
Hachiman stroked the tall ponytail hanging down from Hibiki in front of him and looked at the blushing, burning face of Orizuka Momoka who hadn't said a word, then smiled.
"That's simple. Let them rotate and take turns getting your training outside. I'll have little Saki section off an area and have the others avoid it. Just be careful when doing close-up instruction."
Tsukahara Hibiki, hearing the concern, immediately laughed, not minding Nanasaki Ai or Uenohara Ayano's gazes.
She had thought Hachiman was concerned about something big, but he was just worried about getting caught.
Anyway, she already understood what was truly effective in training. As long as they were careful, training outside was even better, maybe more effective.
"Still outside?"
Hearing Hibiki's words, Nanasaki Ai felt like the world was unreal.
Everything that happened today, was she dreaming? President Hibiki and Vice President Momoka, even Sakurai and the others doing such outrageous things could still be said to be for improving performance and reaching nationals.
But to continue receiving guidance outside in the pool? What kind of logic was that?
Aren't they afraid of being discovered? The Disciplinary Committee had just created a blacklist specifically for Manager Hikigaya, and the whole school knew. Letting a guy into the swimming club was already risky, and now they dared be this bold?
"Relax. The more you try to hide, the more suspicious you look. Just be bold. Stick to President Hachiman and they'll just think you girls like him too much, acting overly affectionate."
Tsukahara Hibiki confidently waved her hand. Manager Hikigaya was the Service Club's President, specially here to help the swimming club's aces and ace-candidates improve their results. So what if his guidance was a little close?
The results were excellent. One-on-one, energy-draining, tailor-made guidance, that's how it works.
Don't like it? Go ask the Service Club for help too. Invite Manager Hikigaya to your club.
Once you realize how amazing he is, you'll understand why they wanted him as their permanent manager.
Although that was a plan meant for damage control if they got caught, she naturally didn't want to create extra problems if they could avoid revealing how powerful Hachiman's training was.
One or two other clubs couldn't compete with the swimming club, but it's not like other clubs didn't have pretty girls.
Like the tennis club, track club, volleyball club, girls' basketball club, even if none had as high a proportion of girls as the swimming club, their combined strength wasn't negligible. It wasn't impossible for them to start trying to steal their manager.
"...", Nanasaki Ai didn't know what to say.
She felt Hibiki's ideas were ridiculous, completely different from the President she usually saw.
Was this the real President Hibiki?
"If Nanasaki doesn't want to join, fine. I'll remind her not to leak anything about today. As for the rest, they'll receive training outside. If that's still not enough, they can find President Hachiman privately. After all, we can't hog the locker room every day."
Tsukahara Hibiki, seeing that only Nanasaki had objections, while the others were either eager like Mikari or already used to it like Hayase, continued giving instructions.
She wasn't a p*rvert. She didn't want them to take risks just to receive training in the pool.
It's just that, unlike other clubs that could use empty classrooms, their club's base was the indoor pool, with little private space.
The locker room and showers were full of people; the bathroom was almost always occupied. Hiding for a day or two might work, but long-term would definitely get exposed. Plus, there were so many people needing training, it was hard to manage.
If Hachiman did close-up training in the pool and their scores improved immediately, no matter how intimate it looked, people would believe in his effectiveness.
She really wasn't a mean-spirited p*rvert.
"Hibiki, did you pull me into the Girls' Swimming Club just for today?"
Hachiman looked at the awe-inspiring Tsukahara Hibiki, unshaken even after that embarrassing moment, and couldn't help feeling a little speechless.
Should he say, worthy of a behind-the-scenes heroine, her ideas were bolder than the next.
Good thing he could handle it, or he really might have died "on the job."
"I originally just wanted you to help relieve Uenohara and the others' pressure. I didn't expect I'd struck gold."
Tsukahara Hibiki's heroic and pretty face lit up with a bright smile, but her words made Uenohara Ayano's face flush red. So the President originally planned to sell her out first.
"Hachiman, let's have another training session. Little Saki is outside keeping watch. Let's go test our training results quickly, before people misunderstand."
"...Saki, Sakurai, come here and train again."
Hachiman rolled his eyes, too lazy to correct Hibiki's "misunderstanding," and waved to Hayase Saki and Sakurai Rihoko, who had already recovered and were watching him eagerly.
The newly rewarded "Group Training" feature was already coming in handy. He had to see what effect it had, and how it differed from the Service Club halo boost.
Although holding group training in the locker room felt wrong, the system didn't specify a location, only that number of participants mattered: the more, the better.
Headache-inducing. Did the number of people really make a difference? The more people, the less individual training time.
Could there be some hidden function to this group training?
Hachiman kissed Hayase Saki, pulled in Sakurai Rihoko, and began working with Tachibana Mikari, Orizuka Momoka, Tsukahara Hibiki, and Uenohara Ayano to research what effect the group training feature actually had.
———
Drip! Drip!
Time passed quickly, but for Nanasaki Ai in torment, it felt excruciatingly slow.
Until Tachibana Mikari and the others trained until their entire bodies were red as blood, like boiled shrimp, and large beads of sweat dripped from the ends of Momoka and Sakurai's wet hair. Hiding near the locker room door, afraid to get dragged in but also keeping watch to prevent intruders, Nanasaki Ai finally couldn't hold back.
"President Hibiki! Is the training over now?"
She had never seen such an extremely special kind of training, but since President Hibiki agreed to it, she couldn't say much.
But they'd locked the locker room for so long, it was time to wrap up. If they dragged on any longer, they'd be staying past school closure.
"Of course. Hibiki got too into it and forgot the time."
Hachiman pressed down on Tsukahara Hibiki's head, splashed some water on her flushed face to cool her overheated brain, then looked over at Sakurai Rihoko sitting up, and gently touched her gray-purple short hair, softly advising, "Sakurai, all the needed training has been done. The first session is the most effective, your performance is sure to jump significantly."
"However, I've spoken to Hibiki about your family situation. I know you didn't accept this training just to go to nationals."
"If you run into trouble and need help, don't hesitate. I came to the Girls' Swimming Club to relieve your stress, it's my duty to help eliminate anything that could hinder your performance."
With his rich "book" experience, Hikigaya knew that Sakurai's father, who changed drastically after her mother's death, likely held a major pitfall. But before it happened, he couldn't ask her to leave her family.
Thankfully, he had a romance watchlist to warn him beforehand if danger came.
"Th-thank you, Manager Hikigaya... If I run into trouble, I'll come to you...", Sakurai Rihoko quietly felt the warmth from the large hand on her head, like her father's when she was young, pursed her lips, bowed her head, and gave thanks.
Though she already felt Manager Hikigaya's care during the training, she hadn't expected him to pay attention to her family situation too, and to kindly remind her to come to him.
No wonder Mikari-senpai, Hayase, and Momoka, despite having no real need to reach nationals, still wanted his training, even President Hibiki.
Unfortunately, her father had fallen into despair after her mother's death, and she had no energy for love.
She hoped her father would recover after she got good results at nationals, then she'd thank Manager Hikigaya properly.
"You're still thanking him... Go test your performance and see if Manager Hikigaya's training is legit or not."
Nanasaki Ai twitched the corner of her mouth at Sakurai's thanks, walked over and forcibly pulled her away. While speaking, she glanced at Hachiman, still sitting unshaken with Hayase Saki in his arms.
She used to have a good impression of him. Rumors said the Service Club helped students. As its President, Hachiman must've been a kind and helpful person.
But now that she saw his method of "assistance," she really had trouble believing in him.
[T/N: The Silk Song is real!]
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