After listening to Horikita's speech, Shinohara said nothing, merely nodding, appearing to agree to cooperate with Horikita.
In this way, among the four small cliques of Class D girls, Karuizawa's group, due to Karuizawa herself being on good terms with Amane, and everyone in the clique trusting Amane more, Horikita had already established a connection with Karuizawa's side through Amane.
Kushida's group had a somewhat different view of Amane because Amane ultimately couldn't help Ichihashi-san, but since everyone except Kushida lacked strength, Horikita had no intention of bothering with them.
It seemed that the people in the remaining Shinohara clique would listen to her, Horikita Suzune's arrangements in the future, and there was no need to worry about this either.
Finally, the neutral honor students were all ambitious individuals dissatisfied with the status quo, and Horikita could easily gather them around her.
Thus, Horikita Suzune had quietly completed the integration of the Class D girls.
Compared to Horikita's smooth progress, Ayanokoji, on the other hand, encountered setbacks everywhere.
Even though everyone saw his daring act of clocking in front of Mashima-sensei and his performance in outwitting Class A, his evaluation dropped because his identity was ultimately guessed by multiple classes.
Coupled with his usual lax and unconcerned attitude, and his below-average grades, honor students like Yukimura didn't even give Ayanokoji the time of day.
The current situation was that the honor students with better academic abilities than Ayanokoji looked down on him and were unwilling to accept Ayanokoji's leadership. Even though they all respected Amane, they said they were willing to follow Amane's arrangements, but they felt uncomfortable with the idea of following Ayanokoji's arrangements.
Having hit a wall with the honor students, Ayanokoji thought that if those with good academic abilities were unwilling to accept his leadership, then those with poor grades surely would, right?
But what surprised him was that those with worse grades simply tossed him a line like, 'What's the point of getting into Class A? I think things are fine as they are. What does your desire to get in have to do with me?' This attitude left Ayanokoji in silence for a while.
Ultimately, the unproductive Ayanokoji could only abandon his plan to integrate the Class D boys at this time. Only by demonstrating his strength would people be willing to follow him, and those assigned tasks would not find excuses to refuse to obey arrangements and instructions. People inherently admire strength, it's just a matter of degree.
What Ayanokoji needed to do was wait for an opportunity.
Besides waiting for an opportunity, he had no way to quickly change people's preconceived notions of him, unless the school had another special exam, but that probability should be quite small.
Outdoor swimming pool.
When Amane awoke from her sleep, the sun was no longer so scorching. Still a little groggy, Amane casually hugged something and rubbed against it affectionately.
A fragrant smell.
"Huh? Amane, wake up quickly! Everyone is watching, it's so embarrassing!"
Seeing that some people's gazes were already directed their way, Shiina quickly patted Amane's back, trying to rouse her.
Two beautiful girls hugging in a corner quickly attracted onlookers.
Amane faced the gazes of the crowd as if accustomed to it, first stretching lazily.
Two large jellos jiggled, causing Kushida's eyelids to twitch involuntarily.
The boys, even more focused, watched, their gazes, filled with desire, instantly converging on Amane.
"Hiyori, how long have I been asleep?"
Amane casually unzipped her clothes, a bold move that caused some boys to whistle suggestively.
"Let me see, hmm, Amane has been asleep for three hours."
Shiina stood up, stretching her legs while glancing at the time on her phone screen.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I seem to have slept a bit long. By the way, Hiyori, how were your swimming class grades?"
Amane changed the subject to swimming class grades, and Shiina's cheeks flushed slightly.
"My swimming class grades... were barely passable."
Barely passable probably meant hovering around the passing mark. Amane calculated for a moment, then smiled.
"How about we play a game?"
Upon hearing 'play a game,' Shiina immediately became interested.
"What game do you want to play, Amane? I'm quite good at card games, you know."
Just as Shiina was showing off her specialties to Amane, Amane whispered something into Shiina's ear.
Shiina's face immediately turned crimson, and she repeatedly waved her hands in refusal, but Amane hugged her and coaxed her for a long time before Shiina reluctantly agreed.
"First, let's be clear, if the cooperation fails, you can't blame me. After all, my swimming performance can't compare to yours, Amane."
Shiina emphasized again, still a bit uneasy.
"It's fine. Then we'll go according to the plan, okay?"
Amane smiled and winked at Shiina.
Shiina shyly averted her gaze, then looked back at Amane, nodding earnestly.
After putting away her phone and jacket, Shiina didn't need to prepare anything since she was already wearing a swimsuit.
Amane, on the other hand, came to the poolside with her jacket half-unzipped.
"Yo, isn't that Miyako-san? Are you planning to join us? It's been a long time since I've seen Miyako-san in a swimsuit. Come down and play with us!"
A muscular boy boldly invited Amane.
Immediately, it caused an uproar, but unlike the typical hooting from boys that normal girls would elicit, Amane had extremely high popularity among both boys and girls.
Since the start of the school year, various rankings had been circulating among both male and female students. Among the dazzling rankings on the girls' list, Ichinose and Kushida were the fiercest competitors for the top spot.
Although Amane also ranked in the top three on the 'cute' and 'figure' type lists, she was still slightly inferior compared to girls like Ichinose.
However, there was one ranking where Amane always stood at the top.
That was the list for the most lecherous girl, with Miyako Amane in the first place.
And it was a list with no second place.
Normally, upon seeing this list, people would say things like Amane was unchaste or didn't behave herself, but when they or he actually met Amane, they realized that a lecherous girl was the most attractive presence.
"Want to see my swimsuit? Yoshida, you're getting bolder, aren't you? But, well... I'm in a good mood today, so I'll grant you that wish."
Amane unzipped her jacket, revealing a pure black tight-fitting swimsuit underneath.
Immediately, the shy gasps of girls and the excited cheers of boys formed waves of sound in the outdoor pool.
"Miyako-san's swimsuit is a bit too provocative; it doesn't fit a high school student's attire at all."
"Um... could you blink first before saying something like that?"
"Look, Miyako is holding up her jacket. She wouldn't be thinking of..."
"To be so daring even in front of boys, Amane-san is a bit cool, actually. If she were a boy, I definitely wouldn't be able to resist confessing to him."
"Even if she's a girl, there's no rule against confessing, right? I heard some girls have confessed to Amane, you know."
"Really? Then I'll try it later. Wait, is Amane-san planning to throw her jacket into the pool?"
Amane glanced at the already surging crowd and shouted loudly.
"Three!!!"
"Two!!"
"One!"
The moment Amane finished shouting, she threw her jacket into the outdoor pool.
The girls were still relatively reserved, but the boys rushed towards where the jacket fell, one by one, as if to prove themselves, and began a scramble for the jacket.
Just then, Shiina took a deep breath.
Taking advantage of everyone's attention being on the jacket, Amane grabbed the nearby Shiina and jumped into the pool.
As soon as she entered the water, Shiina immediately clung to Amane according to the plan, because Amane said she wanted to carry her and swim a round trip in this outdoor pool, and complete it while Shiina only took one breath.
The reason Shiina agreed to Amane was partly because she didn't quite believe Amane could manage to swim a quick round trip with her on just one breath.
The outdoor pool was a full hundred meters long, making a round trip two hundred meters. Even if Amane was carrying someone and doing an underwater swim, it would be impossible to complete it with Shiina only taking one breath.
This was something even world-class athletes couldn't do.
Amane... naturally couldn't do it either.
Her goal from the beginning wasn't to swim a round trip with Shiina, but rather... Amane wrapped her arm around Shiina, and the two gradually sank to the bottom. After a few seconds, Shiina started to feel breathless and wanted to break free from Amane to surface and breathe.
Just then, Amane gently leaned in close.
Shiina felt the suffocating sensation gradually disappear.
Amane slowly transferred her air to her.
As expected of Amane, to think of such a method.
Shiina even marveled at Amane's cleverness in her heart.
The next second, she looked at Amane, who was practically pressed against her, and her eyes suddenly widened.
Only then did she realize how Amane was getting air into her mouth.
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