"Whoa! Sarada-san! Why did you do that to Ena-kun?!"

"Why? Because he didn't get to participate in today's lesson; so I forced him to participate."

Despite being underwater, I can clearly hear what they were talking about.

What an annoying girl. Now then, what should I do? Let's teach her a lesson and fake my drowning.

Thanks to Taiko's swimming lessons, I'm able to swim and hold my breath for a couple of minutes. Despite being a voice actor, that guy really loves to swim too. I should tell him about this incident and thank him for training me.

I should let out some air to really sell the prank. I slowly let out some air and a bunch of bubbles rose to the surface.

"You guys are all overreacting. The pool isn't that deep so there's no way he can drown."

"But does Ena-kun actually know how to swim? Is that the reason why he doesn't want to participate?"

Silence filled the air and was broken when bubbles broke the surface.

" " "ENA!!!" " " The entire class yells in fear.

Someone dove into the pool to save me. I couldn't tell who it was, but as they got closer,I recognized their face. It was Shina. To really sell the act, I try to reach out to her and pretend to lose consciousness as if I really drowned.

In the dark, I felt Shina's hand grab mine for a moment and then her arm around my body. We're going to break the water surface soon and then—

"Sensei! Pull Ena-kun up!" Shina says loudly. I can feel myself being pulled out of the pool. Around me, I could hear the worried and frantic voices of my classmates.

"Ena-kun!" Shina yells as she leans in close to check if I was breathing or not. I held my breath in anticipation. Shina then tilted my head back and started giving me CPR. The experience is not enjoyable if you're still alive, but I had to really sell the prank.

After a couple of attempts, I came back to life and pretended to throw up the water. I turned over so that my hair would cover my face once I sat up. "Gah!! What the h-!!"

"Ena-kun!!!" I was tackled by Shina who was now in my arms. "Whoa… Shina…"

"Are you ok Ena-kun?" Our teacher came up to me and visibly expected me. 

"I think so… what happened? All I remembered was that I was pushed into the pool."

I saw our teacher glance toward Eiriko's direction and I followed her glance. Eiriko had her head down and I couldn't see her face. "I'll take care of her later and make sure she gets the appropriate disciplinary action. Anyway, let's get you to the infirmary. Do you think you can walk?"

"Sensei!!! The boys are here with the stretcher. They'll take him to the infirmary."

"Oh! What great timing! They'll take you there, Ena-kun. Just take it easy." I nod my head and wait for the stretcher. I looked at Shina who was sticking to me. I stroke her head and assured her that I was ok. "Everything will be alright Hiyori-san."

She responds by shaking her head. "Fine, just a little longer until the stretcher comes." She nods her head in agreement. I sigh and let her cling on for a little longer.

I lay down in the stretcher and I was taken to the infirmary. Once in the infirmary, the nurse did her routine check up to see how I am mentally. I wasn't shaken up that badly because I was conscious the entire time.

"I'm surprised how stable you are despite lingering between the world of the living and dead."

"Is that so…"

"You must have such a resilient mind. …Have you had such an experience before?"

"Nothing that comes to mind."

"I see. Well, you're free to go back to class or stay here if you like."

"I'll head back to class."

"Ok then. Take care Ena-kun."

When I reached the classroom, the class was made into a self-study period. The atmosphere was heavy and no one wanted to say a word.

"What's wrong with everyone?" I said as I looked around. "Everyone was worried about you." Shina was the first one to say something. She stood up from her seat and walked over to me.

"I'm sorry Ena-kun! I'm the class representative of this class and I didn't stop Sarada-san and scold her enough and because of my lack of action, I allowed her antics to get this far. I really hoped that her bullying was limited to teasing you and bossing you around, but I was wrong and naive for thinking that. I'm really sorry Ena-kun!!" Shina bowed deeply to me.

And another unexpected thing happened.

"We're sorry too Ena-san!" All my classmates bowed their heads to me in apology. "Everyone… Why is everyone apologizing? You guys didn't do anything wrong."

One of my classmates said, "It was as Hiyori-san has said. We all thought that Sarada-san would just tease and boss you around and we thought that it would only amount to that. She showed us that we were wrong in thinking that too, so because of that; We're all sorry too."

I took a moment to collect my thoughts but there was something I wanted to ask all of them. "I'm glad everyone was worried about me and was looking over me in silence so please raise your heads. Though I wanted to ask, "What happened to Sarada-san?"

Everyone glances at each other and no one seems to have an answer. Shina on the other hand said the most logical consequence for an incident like this, "She'll either get a suspension or worse expelled."

"I guess that's what she deserves."

"Ena-kun?" Hiyori and the others notice my change of tone that came off as smug. "This whole pool incident was my plan to get back at her. It wasn't even planned out, better yet, everything I did was made up on the spot."

Everyone was shocked to hear that me, the quiet and ugly nerd, came up with a plan to get back at his bully. "Did you guys really think I drowned? I was acting the entire time." I told them my entire plan and everyone was speechless. Some even felt betrayed that I went this far.

The classroom door opened and Eiriko stood there with angry eyes. She flounced up to me and slapped me across the face. She slapped me so hard it left an imprint on my cheek.