Suzune Horikita admired her brother beyond measure.
And how could she not?
He was intelligent, disciplined, and unshakably determined. To everyone around him, Horikita Manabu was the embodiment of strength and reliability. Their parents adored him, perhaps even more than they should have, praising his achievements endlessly. He was the golden child, the standard by which all comparisons were made.
"Learn from your brother."
"Be more like him."
Those words had been drilled into Suzune for as long as she could remember. Studies, sports, clubs—no matter the field, the yardstick was always him.
Under such pressure, most would grow resentful. Envy often festers in the shadow of greatness. But Suzune could not bring herself to resent Manabu.
Because he had never treated her as lesser.
He tutored her with patience when she struggled with math problems. He comforted her when she stumbled at the dojo. He offered guidance, reassurance, and quiet support.
Compared to him, she often felt dull and inadequate. Yet instead of giving up, she resolved to become like him.
If he studied hard, she would study hard.
If he trained his body, she would train hers.
If he distanced himself from friendships, she would do the same.
Over time, her admiration grew into an obsession. She mimicked his choices, his mannerisms, even down to trivial details. Clothes, food, speech—everything was dictated by him.
By the time Manabu realized what was happening, it was too late. Disturbed by her complete dependence, he began to distance himself in hopes she would reclaim her individuality.
But Suzune misunderstood. She blamed herself, thinking she had disappointed him. She believed she wasn't good enough, that he had grown ashamed of her.
Through middle school, she cut herself off from others, pouring every ounce of energy into her studies and martial arts, all for the sake of catching up to him.
When she entered Advanced Nurturing High School, her heart soared. This was her chance. She could finally prove herself, finally stand before him as an equal.
She promised herself that on the day of the club festival, she would approach him again.
But what she witnessed there changed everything.
Her brother—her unshakable, untouchable brother—lost.
It wasn't the fact that he had been defeated that shocked her. No one is invincible; everyone loses sooner or later. What unsettled her was how utterly powerless he looked. He couldn't even touch Akira. He couldn't land a single blow.
And then came the final humiliation: a strike to his face that floored him before the entire school.
Suzune's heart burned with rage.
No matter their complicated bond, Manabu was her brother. Watching someone else humiliate him so completely filled her with fury.
The image she had of Akira shattered instantly. Until then, she had thought of him as a quiet, intelligent presence—someone similar to herself. Now, she saw only an arrogant, reckless showman, delighting in dragging others down.
Her hatred surged, yet beneath it all, her priority was to reach Manabu. She shoved her way through the crowd, vanishing from Akira's sight.
From a distance, Ayanokoji watched. He considered stopping her, but his mind was preoccupied. He had witnessed Akira's fight as closely as anyone.
Those movements… they weren't normal. The speed and precision behind them felt inhuman.
Is this what a true genius looks like? Ayanokoji wondered.
…
A week passed since that infamous fight.
Akira's name had spread through the school like wildfire. To say he had gained popularity was an understatement—there wasn't a single student unaware of him now.
Some admired him, others hated him, and a surprising number had even formed a small fan club. Yet despite this newfound fame, Akira remained as distant as ever. His cold aura discouraged approach. Something similar to Horikita.
Speaking of Horikita, her infatuation remained stubbornly fixed at [17%]. And it would stay there for some time. Akira knew why. He had struck down her brother in front of her eyes. This was the backlash.
"...Tch."
Horikita clicked her tongue in annoyance as she caught sight of Akira seated calmly in class, unmoved by the occasional stares and whispers surrounding him. She wanted to hate him. She truly did. But deep down, her emotions refused to comply.
Annoyance, frustration, even disdain—yes, those emotions were there. But hatred? Her heart resisted it no matter how hard she tried.
This was the subtle influence of Aphrodite's Blessing. Akira himself hadn't fully tested the skill, but he knew it was his sharpest weapon. A passive force that twisted hearts ever so slightly toward him, eroding resistance in ways unseen.
Right now, he only her infatuation was only at [17%], what would have happened if it was say, [50%]?
Horikita would want to hate him but would'nt be able to, it might cause some serious psychological damage.
"Good Morning, Kazama-kun!"
"Good Morning, Kushida."
Kushida was one of the people who actually approached Akira and had managed to make friends with him. Well, it was her goal to be friends with everyone she was bound to approach him sooner or later.
[32%]
In these 7 days Akira had managed to increase her infatuation level a little bit, he basically showed attention only towards her, although everyone else disliked such behaviour, Kushida loved it.
There was a rumor going around that Akira Kazama has a crush on Kikyo Kushida.
Kushida, being the attention seeker she is was absolutely loving all of it.
"So, Kazama-kun! aren't you excited for today?" Kushida asked in a bubbly voice.
"Why is there something special today?"
"Huh? You don't know? Today is the swimming class."
Swimming class? Is that event today? Akira wasn't sure about the timeline, it had been quite a time since he had read the original novel.
"You like swimming Kushida?"
"I don't like it as much as Onodera, but I love it nonetheless. What about you Kazama-kun? You must be great at swimming no?"
Well considering Akira's maxed out stats, he can probably obliterate all records.
"I'll say I am pretty good at it."
"Hmm…"
Kushida seemed unconviced from Akira's dull response.
…
"All right! The Pool!"
After the lunch had ended, it was finally time for the swim class.
"A-are they here?!"
"Are they here, yet!"
Ike and Yamauchi were particularly excited about seeing the girls in their swimsuits.
They had no idea how vocal they were about their thoughts as well.
It was really quite a spectacle, Akira was also a japanese high schooler in his original world and never had he ever encountered such people.
A few minutes later, girls voices could be heard.
"Wow!"
"Oh my god!"
"What the..."
Well, this was to be expected. Now the girls were ogling at Akira, Letting out gasps of surprise.
"What's so good about him?!"
"tch, He's just a good for nothing pretty boy!"
"Guys like him sure have it easy…"
He was also receiving death stares from the guys as well, clearly they were envious of Akira's popularity.
Akira wasn't particularly proud of his body, after all it wasn't really 'his' body. It was something that the system had given him based on his preferences.
As for his real body? He wasn't sure if it was safe or not, for all he knows it might've been destroyed.
"All right, everyone, line up!"
Eventually the PE teacher gathered everyone together and started the class.
"There are sixteen of you, huh? I thought there would've been more, but this is all right."
Clearly, some of the students in that count had ditched class, but it didn't appear to frustrate him.
"After you warm up, I want to see what you can really do. Swim for me," the coach said.
Everyone started their warm-up exercises. Ike kept peeking at the girls. The teacher asked us to swim for about fifty meters. Students who could not swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the pool with their feet.
Akira was quite good at swimming like he had told Kushida, he finished fifty meters just like everyone else.
"Well, it looks like everyone can swim, for the most part."
"Of course, sir. Back in junior high, people called me 'the flying fish,' you know." Yamauchi boasted.
"I see. In that case, I'll have you start competing against each other. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty-meter freestyle."
"C-compete?! Are you serious?" Ike cried.
"I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The student who comes in last place, however, will have to take supplementary lessons. Get ready."
Oh my god~ 5000 points~ Such a huge amount~
"Because we don't have very many girls, I'll split you into two groups of five people, and the student with the fastest overall time will be the winner. As for the boys, I'll look at the top five finishing times and then move on to a final round."
There were ten girls and sixteen boys present for the swim class, you can blame Ike and Yamauchi's creepy behavior causing half the girls to skip this class.
No wonder this class ends up with No Class Points.
The girls started first, while the boys sat on the sidelines.
"Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan, Kushida-chan. Haaaaaaa…"
Ike was so entranced by her that he chanted her name like a mantra.
"Kushida-chan is so goddamn cute, isn't she? And her breasts are pretty big, too!"
Kushida immediately dominated the boys' attention.
"Everyone, burn these images into your mind! Remember the fap material you see here today!" Ike cried.
'No way he said that' Akira thought, This was just sexual harassment at that point.
Eventually Horikita won with a time of 28 seconds, this was amazing for a high school girl, but in the second race a girl named Onodera won with 26 seconds, netting her win.
Next, it was the boys turn.
First three groups went in the pair of fives, Among these groups Sudo got a time of 25 seconds, Hirata got a time of 26.13 seconds and Koenji got a time of 23.22 seconds.
Fifteen students had finished their races leaving the pool just for Akira.
Akira had no idea what kind of record he can establish with this cheating body of his, but he was certainly going to give it his all.
After the teacher blew the whistle, Akira dove into the pool with decent form. Every time Hirata's arms cut through the water, the girls cheered by the side of the pool. His form was far from perfect, but good enough.
He finished the race in around little less than 24 seconds.
This was to be expected, swimming is a technical sport, the better you train the better you get, power might only play a role if two players have similar technique.
"Not too bad of a performance, pretty-boy." Koenji passed on a compliment from the sidelines, seemingly impressed at him.
Akira nodded in response, he didn't want to argue with this self loving narcissist.
If it was something like sprinting or weightlifting, Akira would've broken world records.
Nevertheless, everyone in the class were impressed from his performance, Onodera even broke through Akira's 'don't approach me' aura and tried to recruit him in the swimming club.
Akira wasn't sure why she hadn't approached Koenji considering he had a better time than him.
Nevertheless, he politely declined, he was going to stay in this world for 3 years at max, there's no point in trying to build a career here.
Akira came second in the race between the top five, Koenji bagging first place by about half a second.
Well it's alright, you win some you lose some.
As long his task is achieved, nothing matters at all.