You know how sometimes a bet gets out of hand? This is one of those times.
With her arms wildly swinging around, Hikari fell into the water.
[Kuroda Hikari, overboard, loser.]
She kicked her feet until her head broke the surface. The girl spit out a mouthful of water. "Stupid bet. Why did we ever agree to this?" It was all his fault. The stupid pervert she had liked since middle school.
"Hey, Makoto, look at this." He handed his only friend a magazine.
"Taisuke, don't pass that around here." Makoto got flustered.
"Is that Keijo National?" Sekai asked.
He grabbed the magazine and hid it behind his back. "No."
She raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've never heard of Keijo?"
"Well, uhm, not really." This was just a magazine with girls in bikini, right? Why did Sekai know about it?
"It's a sport," she explained. "Female only contestants knock each other off the Land with their breasts and butt."
"My kind of sport," Taisuke said, he had a dreamy look on his face.
"That sounds uhm… interesting."
"I think you would be really good at it, Saionji-san," Taisuke said, he elbowed his friend. "What do you think, Makoto?"
"Uhm, yeah. She has the right figure for it."
"You think so?" She turned slightly pink. "Hey, wait. You just want to see me jumping around in a bikini."
"Busted," Taisuke said.
"Guilty," Makoto added.
"Well I don't see why only females have to compete. Why can't I watch some hot guys in shorts knock each other off with their butts?"
"That's not how Keijo works," Taisuke said.
"Why not?"
"Yeah," a voice added. "Why not?"
Taisuke turned pale. "For such a small girl, Setsuna-chan is sure scary," he whispered to Makoto.
"I think none of you would remain standing against us," Sekai proudly declared.
"Keijo wouldn't be fair with boys against girls," Makoto pointed out. "We don't have breasts."
"Well, let's do boys against boys then," Sekai said.
"I'm not doing Keijo," Taisuke said, he crossed his arms. "Keijo is for girls."
"Midterms are coming up," Setsuna said. "I propose a bet."
"What did you have in mind?" Taisuke asked.
"If your marks are higher, we'll do a girls Keijo tournament. If we score higher, we'll do a boys tournament."
"Hey, hey, where would you even do that?" Makoto asked. "We don't have a swimming pool."
"Organisation is left up to the losers," she said.
"Deal," Taisuke said.
"Hey, you can't just decide that," Makoto said.
"What's wrong?" Sekai asked. "Are you scared?"
"Fine then. Let's do this."
With a giant splash, someone fell into the water.
[Sawanaga Taisuke, overboard, loser.]
He came up next to her and coughed up a disturbing amount of water. "This is ridiculous." He held himself up by the edge of the pool.
"Shut up," Hikari said. "No one expected us to tie."
"Get me out of this stupid pool."
She held out her hand.
"So what now?" Sekai asked.
"Well," Taisuke said. "I sure did not expect this."
"Just how much did you study?" Hikari asked. "You never scored this high."
"Well, with the proper motivation…"
"We could do heads or tails," Makoto proposed.
"Don't be ridiculous," Sekai said.
"Uhm," someone from class I-4 spoke up (the bet had spread there as well). "I… well, my dad knows some people at Aqua Square."
"So?" Otome asked.
"Well, if I asked him, he could probably arrange a Land for our tournament."
"Whose tournament, Katsura?" Otome mocked her. "We don't have a loser."
"Actually," Makoto said. "I think we have two."
Otome staggered back.
"What's wrong?" Kotonoha asked, a purple shine was in her eyes. "Not so tough anymore?"
"Hey, you-" She was hit again by Kotonoha's breasts. Against such size, they didn't stand a chance. The range and power was ridiculous. The Trio had already been knocked off (with only one attack).
Otome was quickly driven to the edge. If that pair hit her again she would probably fracture her jaw.
"Can we just talk about this?"
"I'm done talking," Kotonoha said. She made a half-pirouette and stuck out her butt. Otome was knocked over the edge by the impact.
[Katou Otome, overboard, loser.]
Kotonoha chuckled. This was fun.
"Do you see what I see, John?" The elder twin looked through his binoculars.
"I do, Jon," the second twin replied. "A perfect outfighter, a perfect infighter and a perfect counter, all on the same Land."
"Our readers are going to love this." The first twin raised his camera.
Makoto climbed out of the pool. He had managed to hold his ground for quite some time, but when he had attacked Sekai, she had stepped aside and used the force of his own attack to throw him overboard.
He moved his wet hair from his eyes and looked at the edge. Class I-1 and I-2, who had wisely stayed out of this stupid bet, were watching them, along with several teachers and even a few parents. But in that crowd, completely out of place were two identical tall guys with felt hats and black raincoats. One held a notepad and binoculars and the other held an expensive looking camera.
He pointed them out to Taisuke, who turned pale.
"It's them," he said.
"Who?"
"John and Jon Johnsen, of Keijo National."
"That stupid magazine?"
"That's the best selling magazine in the country you're talking about."
"Why are those perverts making pictures of the girls?" He asked. (By now, all the boys had been knocked off).
He shrugged. "I only hope they give me some copies, you know, for research purposes."
"They can't be here," Makoto insisted.
"Technically this is still a public swimming pool."
"Whatever man. I'm going to-"
"No," Taisuke held him back. "We are going to watch as these hot girl-"
The bell chimed.
[Winners: Kiyoura Setsuna, Saionji Sekai and Katsura Kotonoha,] the voice announced.
"What?" Taisuke looked like a child who had candy taken away from him.
"A Keijo round lasts only five minutes," Makoto reminded him.
"But, we have to go until a winner is decided."
"Only in official competition, this counts as a friendly match."
"But- that, whyyyyy?" He sank down on his knees.
"Come on." He helped his friend up.
"The world is stacked against me!"
"Sure, sure. Let's get dressed."
None of them noticed the big smiles the three winners momentarily sported, or the looks they threw each other immediately afterwards.
The camera flashed once more, capturing that look.
Next time, I won't lose!
