Swimming Pool

Swimming Pool (プ-ル, Pu-ru) is chapter eleven of the Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai light novel series. It is chapter eleven of volume one.

Summary
One day, when Kodaka was in the club room, he saw Sena playing a galge (again) and grinning creepily at the screen. Kodaka called out to Sena again which shook her a little but she nevertheless, asked what happened to Yozora.

“Yozora said her favorite book goes on sale today, so she went home.”

“Hm, seems I won't be disrupted from playing my game today.”

Kodaka then looked at Sena's game and saw that the protagonist was playing in the swimming pool with the girls. They splashed water over each other, played some beach ball and had a swimming competition. The protagonist then won the match and the girls then praised them.

Suddenly, Sena stopped playing her galge but still looked at the game. Sena the asked if Kodaka knew how to swim as Kodaka said that his previous school had swimming lessons. Sena then turned and bashfully asked if Kodaka can teach her.

Kodaka was surprised since Sena was known to be good at sports as well. Sena then unhappily said that she did not have swimming class since elementary school as Kodaka then asked what's the occasion.

“''You don’t know? I want to be Natsumi's friend and we can go to the pool together. It’s annoying if you can’t swim when playing beside the sea. Moreover, Natsumi only cares about people who swim as well as her.''”

Kodaka then thought that Natsumi was a fictional character and Sena trying to have fun with a 2-D character is defying the laws of Physics but he decided to keep quiet. In the end, both decided to meet up at Ryugu Land on the following Sunday for swimming lessons. Sena then told Kodaka not to tell this to Yozora as Kodaka agreed, knowing fully well that Sena will be unable to deal with Yozora.

During Sunday, Kodaka met Sena there and went to Ryuguu Land. The place is an elegant building with a dome roof and aside from the swimming pool, there's a boxing room and a supermarket. The entry fee is also rather cheap after the discounted student-price and to Kodaka, the only flaw is that the place is a 40 minute long walk to the nearest bus stop.

Kodaka and Sena then went inside the place and both parted ways to get changed. While Kodaka was amazed at the sight of the pool, Sena arrived and called him out, Kodaka cannot help himself but to linger and ogle at Sena.

"Hmm it's quite a good place."

“''Yes. Such a large place, so let’s unleash your energy to swim.''”

“''Yes. It’s lucky for us to come here before it goes bankrupt.''”

“Bankrupt ?”

“Because it didn't have any business here.”

“Is that so ?”

“Absolutely, if people want to earn money with this large-scale structure, they have to attract not only the local people but also people who live near the district, and due the location of this pool, it’s impossible to do that.”

“So, why did they build the pool here ?”

“''In fact, this structure is not a single plan, there should have been plans of large-scale development. But due to various reasons, the tunnel, railroad, and the big residential area which should be made were suspended, finally, only Ryuuguu Land was totally constructed. And for the reasonable price, it used to attract many citizens from the city area, but the number of passengers and the cost of this structure are out of proportion. And the citizens won’t come if they increase the price. So surely it will close down after a few years.''”

“''That's a tough story, with such a dreamlike name 'Ryuuguu'(Palace of the Dragon King). By the way, Sena, where did you get this information ?''”

“The mayor talked about it when he came to my Papa.”

“Papa...the headmaster of school.”

“Yes.”

“By the way I haven’t seen the headmaster yet, maybe I should pay a visit to him.”

Sena then blushed and fearfully asked if Kodaka wanted to be her boyfriend. Kodaka then explained that his father and her father were friends and that he has to thank the chairman properly. Sena then turned back to her normal mode.

“You should have told me earlier, idiot !”

“No, it was you who went mad first.”

“Being just Kodaka, how dare you being insolent to me."

“Since when I'm being insolent....”

“By the way, is it true that your Papa and mine are old friends ?”

“They said so, so it must be true.”

“''Hmm… It’s bad to say this as his daughter, but my Papa is an intangible person. People who can make friends with him are nearly non-existent. So what kind of person is your Papa ?''”

“''Well, my father…perhaps, is lucid. He can get along well with foreign people, he can make friends everywhere.''”

“That’s totally against your trait.”

“''Shut up! By the way, your traits are similar to your father’s.''”

“''You're too innocent! My Mama lacks friends due to her arrogance. I am more similar to my Mama, including our appearance and characteristics.''”

“....You know you're arrogant huh....”

“W''hat’s wrong with perfect people showing off themselves? And it’s truly noble, complete and perfect.''”

“''Yes... Yes....''”

“So, teach this perfect me to swim now.”

“Yes...Yes....”

After having a shower and some stretching, Kodaka begins to teach Sena the basics. Soon, Sena was able to flutter kick very beautifully as Kodaka was impressed but annoyed when Sena was surprised to know that there is a good and bad way to do it. Sena soon learned and mastered basic swimming and even managed to swim perfectly for up to ten meters.

Sena then finally lifted her head up and smiled happily before asking Kodaka to teach her how to crawl. Unsurprisingly, Sena can easily crawl that wasn't inferior to Kodaka's at all.

Sena's speed also seemed to increase as well as seeing that, makes Kodaka smile involuntarily. Kodaka then taught her how to breaststroke and it took a little longer since he himself is not very good at it.

However, Sens still learned how to breaststroke and may even be better than Kodaka's. Sena then asked Kodaka to teach her how to butterfly but Kodaka did not know how to and thought that learning the butterfly was not a good idea for high-school anyways.

Since it cannot be helped, Sena then asked for a small competition to see who can swim the fastest. Kodaka won by crawling but it was a marginal victory and it fiercely broke his confidence to know that he barely won against someone who had never swum before yesterday.

After this, Kodaka and Sena went and got some drinks and yakisoba for lunch. Sena said that she learned to swim faster than expected and is interested in going to other pools and playing water slides. Sena then munched down her yakisoba and three Frankfurt sausages as Kodaka agreed with Sena.

"Hmmm....meat..."

(Sena reacted immediately) "WHAT ?!"

“….Eh, no, I meant the meat in the fried noodles is tough to eat, I can’t even bite it.”

“Don't say something so confusing, dummy.” (Blushing)

“….You totally accept people calling you ’meat’, although only Yozora calls you that.”

“…True, It’s that idiot's fault for giving me such a weird name…”

“I have the feeling you accepted it from the beginning though.”

When Kodaka says that when Yozora first called her meat or cow, Sena did not really complain as Sena said that she was glad that she actually got her first nickname and blushed as Sena quickly told Kodaka not to tell Yozora about this as he agrees. Kodaka then went for a toilet break.

The place was rather large so Kodaka took some time to get back but when he did, he saw Sena was surrounded by a group of guys and initially, it seems that the boys were just flirting as Kodaka walked calmly knowing that the guys would leave if they knew he was there but as he gets closer, Kodaka realized that the guys seem to be more and furious.

Kodaka had a bad feeling about this.

“…..You… Don't act so cocky !!”

“'' Hah? Who is cocky, you walking trash. All of you are just nameless mob characters without any right to talk to me in the first place. What an eyesore, just disappear already. And don't approach me from within ten kilometers ever again, you third class bacteria.''”

“This bitch….!” “Damn it !!”

“''Hm, for quite a while now your reactions only have one pattern. Woman, bitch, damn…. How poor is your vocabulary? Ah…maybe you guys don’t know what is ’vocabulary’, for is it from a foreign language? So don’t stand around here, get back to elementary school to further study, you apes.''”

“Damn you !!”

“…Oi wait, aren't her legs trembling already ?”

Once the guys found out that Sena is fearful of them, Sena's insults no longer have the same power as before as the guys begin to laugh. Kodaka then thought that this sure is troublesome and approached Sena. Sena then felt relieved as the guys turned around and saw Kodaka.

When they saw him, they showed a little bit of fear as Kodaka noticed that they are probably a little older than him. Kodaka lowered his voice, stared at them and said that Sena is with him in a tone "with a bit of anger". The men the left with a faded voice assuming that Kodaka is Sena's boyfriend.

Just when Kodaka was bout to relax, Sena begins to insult them yet again as one of the guys was too angered and rushed in trying to hurt Sena. Kodaka then quickly grabbed his wrist and told them that it's best not to use violence. Then another man lunged at Kodaka but he quickly pushed the first man causing the two attackers to hit each other.

The third one then tried to punch Kodaka but he merely caught the latter's wrist and wrenched his body to the fence. Kodaka then glared at him and using the most threatening tone he can think of to warn them not to use violence while smiling. (Ironically, Kodaka smiling is the scariest)

The three then agreed and ran off.

“''Good job, Kodaka. I used to think that you were a weak delinquent, but you are actually good at fighting too―. I praised you so do appreciate it. Huhu, I'll let you lick my feet as reward.''”

“…Well, cause I always fought with delinquents or upper classmen since primary school, I am actually familiar with fighting.”

“Well, I hope they know their limits. Dumbasses always make trouble.”

“Ah…, actually you are the dumb ass, you idiot.” (Kodaka was shouting)

“W…What…?”

“''Why did you purposely provoke people? They will give up talking to you if you say you are with a guy. You can even call security there if they kept on bothering you. Everyone will get angry if they are fiercely scolded for trying to chat with you.''”

“B..Because… those people are too nauseating…”

“''Everywhere has people who want to flirt with the girls. This is common sense.''”

“'' K.. Kodaka, what's with you? I thank you, and now you're trying to scold me !?''”

“''Yeah, I am scolding you! Those are reasonable guys, whereas in the world there are worse people all over the place! This is not our club-room. Fighting with people for unknown reasons will make irreversible consequences. And I can't always be there to protect you.''”

“''Shut up! Put it aside! And this is none of your business !''”

“It is my business !”

To Kodaka, he cannot just leave a friend aside. Sena's face then blushed and mumbled that this is the first time some boy her age has gotten mad at her before saying that she wants to go home. On the bus, Sena is silent and occasionally turned to look around at Kodaka but if Kodaka turned back, she would ignore it.

After dropping off the bus, Sena thanked Kodaka bashfully before leaving. Kodaka wondered if Sena was still mad at him.