Gifted Academy: The Perfect Student

It was 6:15 am, the time that Kaoru-san set for our first marathon training session. Since it was summer, the temperature wasn't too bad. Even so, there wasn't a very good turnout, especially of the implied target audience. Kobayashi-san, Furukawa-kun, Hamasaki-san and Itsuki-san were the first ones there, arriving a few minutes before the designated time.

As I joined the group, it would appear that not many more people would be arriving. Kaoru-san was holding a clipboard, noting down the people that came.

"This is concerning..." said Kobayashi-san.

"How are you planning on enforcing this?" Furukawa-kun asked Kaoru-san.

She looked down at her clipboard.

"It's going to be a problem if too many of them don't show up. I don't actually have any power if the majority is against me," answered Karou-san.

"Can't you threaten them?" asked Itsuki-san.

"I can't enforce punishment if there are too many people. I'll see what happens tonight. If not enough people show up, then we'll have another discussion in class."

The truth of the matter is that Kaoru-san can't do anything about this issue. She only has power if one or two students don't show up. If a large number of students skip, they'll just disregard her. Standing around in the bright early morning, we looked at each other.

"Let's just get started then. Furukawa-kun, do you have the track?"

"Yeah, I drew one last night."

On a map of the school, there was a route drawn out in pencil. From what I could see, it was around 500 metres, mostly around the sports centre and oval. We grouped up, and Furukawa-kun led the way.

Starting off with a light jog, our small group made our way through the school, breathing in the chilly morning air. It seemed that everyone currently attending were the most athletic members of the class. Furukawa-kun set a decent pace, and everyone was keeping up. It was significantly slower than what I used to do at the Ideal Human Project, though.

After a little while, we finished our first lap.

"How many are we going to do?" asked Itsuki-san.

"We'll just start with four today since it's our first day," answered Kaoru-san.

"Ah, how far is that in total?"

"I think it'll be close to two kilometres."

"That's pretty long..."

"The length of the cross country is ten kilometres. We need to increase the distance we run."

After a short break, we bunched up and began our second lap. Most of them were still pretty energetic, running the second lap without much issue. Near the end, I noticed that Itsuki-san was starting to struggle.

"Aah... this is harder... than I thought..." she was bent down, gasping for air.

"It's fine. You can take a longer break if you want, Akane-san," assured Kaoru-san.

"N-no... it's fine... I can keep up."

With a little bit more motivation, we prepared for our third lap.

I had brought a drink bottle, although I haven't really had the need to drink from it yet.

Eventually, we began our third lap. Itsuki-san was quite clearly lagging behind now. Kaoru-san slowed her pace to stay by her side.

"It's fine... Kaoru-san... you don't... need to slow... down... for my sake..." she was struggling to talk as she panted.

Furukawa-kun was still keeping his pace at the front; I stayed a few steps behind.

After a little while, we finished our third lap.

Itsuki-san was clearly exhausted, although the rest of us appeared to be doing fine.

"Akane-san, it might be best if you take a rest this lap," suggested Furukawa-kun.

"No! I-I'm fine... I want to keep up... with you..."

"That's fine then. Just go at your own pace."

"Okay~ Kai-kun..."

We took a slightly longer break this time before resuming our running.

Itsuki-san was now significantly behind, trying her best to finish the track again.

As we all completed our final cycle, we stood together, waiting for Itsuki-san to finish. Karou-san and Kobayashi-san were shouting motivational words at her, encouraging her to keep pushing. After persisting till the end, she grabbed her knees, frantically gasping for air.

"Don't... say things... like that... it's a bit... embarrassing ~"

"Ehe, sorry, Akane-san. You did well, though!"

We took a seat on the little ledge of the garden bed. The others were all chugging down water. I wasn't especially thirsty, however. After a little while, Kaoru-san dismissed us, and I decided to make my way back to my dorm. I still needed to grab my things for class.

Class went as usual.

• ───────────────── •

The time was 4:30 pm.

Karou-san had set this as the time for us to meet up for the afternoon session. I didn't have any reason to skip it, so I showed up again. Everyone from this morning was also there already. After waiting a little while, more students showed up.

In total, we managed to get around half of 2-C.

"Thank you to everyone who showed up. I'll be following up with the rest of the class tomorrow," announced Kaoru-san.

She noted their names on her clipboard.

"As we did this morning, everyone will follow Furukawa-kun. He'll lead the way."

After a little while, he started jogging. One after another, we followed behind. I could tell that the general pace of this group was quite a bit slower than this morning. After just the first lap, quite a few students were starting to struggle.

"That was the first lap. Everyone take a drink of water."

The temperature had increased a bit since this morning, although it was still comfortable enough to run. After chugging some water, everyone was prepared for the second lap, although there was less energy than before.

As we made our way through the second lap, a small group of students began lagging behind. Furukawa-kun decided to just accept it, and thus, two groups of runners were formed, a faster and a slower one. Eventually, we finished our second lap.

The faster group were fine, but the slower group were clearly lethargic. Just the first kilometre had gotten them extremely tired.

Kaoru-san walked over and gave them a motivational talking-to.

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