It was the third day of high school life. That day, periods 1 and 2 were reserved for the sports test, period 3 was LHR (Long Homeroom), and period 4 would be the second part of the school tour that couldn’t be finished the day before.
Also, the trial mode ends today. Starting tomorrow, regular classes begin. In other words, today’s the last day we get to go home in the morning.
“Still, why are we even doing a sports test?”
“It’s probably because they don’t know our physical abilities yet. Middle school grades are relative evaluations, so they can’t just rely on that. The school has no way of knowing how athletic each of us is.”
I answered Hina’s question with a guess. It makes sense that P.E. teachers would need to know students' athletic ability to plan class content. Besides, sports tests are likely mandated by national education policy anyway.
“By the way, Yuu-chan, what are you doing? Hurry up and get changed. First period starts at 8:50, and we have to be on the field by then, so we need to move.”
It was just before 8:40, right after the morning homeroom ended. Our homeroom teacher, Sakakibara-sensei, quickly finished the announcements and said:
“There’s no telling what means a pervert might use to peek at you. Don’t let your guard down just because everyone’s the same gender. Always close the curtains before changing.”
And with that, he quickly left. A gentleman, huh.
After that, we closed the curtains and the entire class began to change clothes at once. Naturally, everyone took off their blouses. No one was bothering with the “put the gym uniform on over the blouse, then remove the blouse underneath” trick. Though since they were wearing skirts, they just pulled their gym shorts on over them.
Even Hina, sitting in front of me, started changing without hesitation. And once again, I was reminded—Hina really is amazing.
Our school uniform is a blazer style. And to prevent it from becoming see-through, we’re required to wear a vest between the blouse and blazer. So that’s a three-layer combo—blouse, vest, and blazer—which makes it hard to see anyone’s figure (except for people like Hina).
In that kind of uniform, my body shape didn’t stand out. But now that we’re in thin gym clothes, it shows quite clearly. I’ve got a straight, shapeless torso. When I was a guy, I never cared. But now? Now, it bothers me a lot. There’s a voice inside me trying to reason, “You’re a guy, so don’t worry about it,” but...
...the person right next to me is Hina...
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Wait a sec...????
“Hina-nee. Hina-nee.”
I gestured for Hina to come closer.
“What is it, Yuu-chan? You’ve gotta hurry and get changed or we’ll be late!”
Even so, she leaned in close. I whispered to her:
“Hina-nee. Be honest with me. Am I... small?”
Hina made a what the heck are you talking about? face, but she immediately seemed to understand. She leaned in and whispered back:
“I mean, I know your standards are Ryou-nee or Mika-nee, but among girls our age, cup sizes from AA to B cover about 90% of everyone. So yeah, you’re not small. That’s accurate.”
!!!
I knew it! I looked around at the other girls in class—there were plenty who were around the same as me or even less. Hah! I was worrying over nothing.
The fact that I have no curves hasn’t changed. But knowing that is actually average really helped me calm down. Heck yeah.
“Tachibana-san, both of you—what’s going on?”
Tohira-san spoke to us from behind.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’d heard Japanese women were modest, but I was still surprised when everyone started stripping all at once.”
I turned as I said that, and there she was:
“Imouto-san, were you surprised? Well, there’s not much time before class starts, and since we’re all girls here, it’s faster to just change without worrying if your underwear’s showing. Oh, and my sister told me that in about two months, some people will even start changing in front of male teachers like Sakakibara-sensei without caring.”
She said it with an awkward smile. But whether people change in front of male teachers or not—who cares about that?
…You too… were a boob maniac all along.
There are six first-year classes this year at Matsubara Prefectural Girls' High School. Classes 1 through 3 began their sports tests out on the field, while classes 4 through 6 started in the gym. In second period, the groups would switch places. The test events were the ones mandated by the Ministry of Education: the 50-meter sprint, standing long jump, handball throw, and the 1000-meter run. I thought that was it, but even vertical pull-ups were included. Unless it's inclined pull-ups, that's an event girls usually can't do, right?
The first event was the 50-meter sprint. Over 100 students weren’t all starting with the same event, but even so, the waiting time ended up being longer than the time spent actually running or jumping. There was nothing to do but talk to pass the time. Since the starting events varied by group and testing was done in order of student numbers, people naturally ended up chatting with those whose student numbers were close.
“Have you two decided on a club yet, Tachibana-san? Want to play volleyball with me?”
Despite hearing yesterday about the tragic state of the club—only three members—Tohira-san was still undeterred. She didn’t waste any opportunity to recruit even during the wait. She was actively chatting with others besides us, too.
“I’m not joining. I mean, you can’t even play a proper match with just three members.”
Hina pointed out the obvious. Yeah, seriously. At least gather enough people to actually compete.
“Hehehe. But if the three of us join, that makes six. That’s enough for a match! You don’t need a libero, after all.”
“Oh, I count as part of that six, huh.”
That was unexpected. I figured Hina was the main target since she’s tall and clearly experienced, but it turns out she wanted me as a player too?
“It’s fine. Someone around your sister’s height is totally viable. MB (Middle Blocker) might be a stretch, but still.”
“Nice eye. Yuu-chan’s got a ton of potential. If it were me, I’d use her as a wing spiker.”
As we were chatting like that, it was finally our turn.
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“Tachibana Yuuri : Time – 6.80 seconds…”
The student reading out the times sounded somewhat exasperated for some reason.
Ugh, I botched the start. I already suck at the 50-meter sprint since it’s over before I can really build up speed, and screwing up the launch just ruins everything. If this had been the 100-meter dash, I’d probably have clocked over 12 seconds. For someone like me—who can clear 11 seconds in the 100 meters in this body and this world—it’s a total disgrace.
“Ta-Tachibana, you're... pretty fast, huh.”
PE teacher, Tajima-sensei managed to get the words out, still in a daze.
…Right. Guess it's rare for a girl to break 7 seconds. Even Hina, who’s athletic, ran it in 7.72.
“Tachibana-san's onee-san was amazing too, but could it be that Tachibana-imouto-san is actually really good at sports?”
Tohira-san asked, visibly surprised.
“I’m probably not great at ball games or anything that takes technique, but I’m confident in events where it’s just jumping, throwing, or running.”
To be honest, I’ve got some circumstances behind this, but my physical ability is basically off the charts. Like, I could probably break the women’s world record in every track and field event. With the right training, I might even compete with the men’s world records.
“Tohira-san, like I said earlier—if you're serious about volleyball, Yuu-chan's a real asset. Her max vertical reach probably exceeds three meters.”
“Whaat!? Three meters?! That’s pro level! Amazing! Tachibana-san, please join me in volleyball!”
Tohira-san grabbed both my hands and started recruiting me enthusiastically.
Hey, Hina—you totally sold me out, didn’t you!?
In the events that followed, I continued to record super high school-level results—for a girl, anyway.
– Handball Throw: Distance – 52 meters
Originally, the measurement lines only went up to 30 meters. But after I casually tossed the ball way past that mark, they hurriedly extended the lines to 50 meters. When I threw again after the update, it went over 50 meters.
Tajima-sensei was left teary-eyed because even the added lines weren’t enough. After that, they gave up on using fixed markers and decided to measure my throws manually.
– Standing Long Jump: Distance – 301 cm
Whoa, over three meters! For reference, three meters is national top-class level among male high schoolers.
– 1000-meter Run: Time – 2 minutes 47 seconds
Nice! A new personal best.
“Tachibana! You’re incredible! Let’s aim for the world together! You’ve got what it takes to dominate the global stage!”
“Tajima-sensei! Tachibana-san is coming with me to aim for Tokyo Gymnasium!”
After finishing the run, both Tajima-sensei, who advises the track and field club, and Tohira-san began a full-on recruitment war—completely ignoring me in the process.
Finally, we reached the last event on the field: pull-ups.
Before we began, Tajima-sensei gave me a heads-up.
“Tachibana. You only need to do up to ten pull-ups. Anything more, and we can’t even grade it. Honestly, all your scores so far have been out of spec and it’s causing us headaches.”
After that, he told the rest of the girls the same: a max of 10 pull-ups would be enough. But honestly, it feels pointless. Vertical pull-ups require serious arm strength. Even most guys struggle with them—there’s no way the average girl can manage.
In fact, almost everyone so far had recorded a score of zero.
As for me? I knocked out 10 clean reps and wrapped it up.
As expected, over 70% of the girls got zero. A few managed one or two. The only other person besides me to hit 10 was—
“Reiko Murai – Record: 10 reps”
Someone else did it.
Not only that, but her pull-up motion was smooth—almost elegant. And her arms, visible from under her short-sleeved gym shirt, were slender but unmistakably an athlete’s.
Who the hell is she?
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