HA1 3.2 - Physical Exercise
Monday, since five in the morning Hide had been exercising in the backyard. He hadn’t received the training menu from Hanna yet, but it didn't mean he would just sit around did nothing while waiting.
As for Aizawa, Hide asked her to join him at half-past five and she complied with it even though he did not wake her up. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Aizawa immediately joined Hide in the backyard. Since a few days ago, Hide made it a habit for Aizawa to use a tracksuit as her pajama. Therefore, she could start the work out right away without changing her clothes first.
After helping Aizawa stretched, Hide then asked her to do a hula-hoop and jumping-rope for three minutes each, followed by short badminton against the wall for 14 minutes. For the last 20 minutes, Hide and Aizawa closed their exercise by playing badminton casually.
One thing that surprised Hide was, Aizawa turned out to be really like badminton. She played with gusto and often laughed cheerfully. Unfortunately, they still have to go to school.
Hide deftly caught the shuttlecock that flew at him before saying, "Aizawa, let’s stop here for today."
With a hopeful gaze Aizawa asked, "Can we play ten more minutes?"
"We'll be late for school if we don't immediately take a shower and have breakfast."
Aizawa nodded weakly while Hide handed to her a small thermos of warm soy milk. After drinking the warm soy milk to the last drop, Hide and Aizawa went to take morning shower, had breakfast, and then left for school.
---
Hide realized that he would receive Watanabe Sensei's wrath. Skipping school for one whole week was not trivial matter. Initially, he thought that he was mentally ready, but his assumption turned out to be just an illusion.
In the counseling cubicle, for more than three minutes Watanabe Sensei looked at Hide silently. It was not angry gaze, but somehow it made Hide drowned by his own awkwardness.
'It's not in vain that Watanabe Sensei has been a teacher for 20 years. He knows how to put a pressure on his students.'
Hide muttered inwardly, while at the same time Watanabe Sensei took a deep breath.
"Your daily grades have been amazing lately. Other teachers almost thought that you were a different student. Unfortunately, you ruined their positive impression by leaving the class for an entire week without permission." Watanabe Sensei took another deep breath before adding. "I don't want to hear your excuses. If you had the intention of saying it, you should have conveyed it using a permit to leave the class.
I may sound unfair, but I have no other choice. I have to impose penalty on you. You will participate on Running for Donation."
Without many words Hide answered firmly, "Yes, Sensei, I understand."
---
Running for Donation was an activity to raise charity funds by running. The rules were simple. The person or party who asked for the donation would run a certain distance for a certain nominal.
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Once a month, East Nichiko High held a Running for Donation and they would put the donation they received into scholarship program for athletes initiated the Ministry of Education. It’s usually being held on the municipal athletic field which had 8 lane of 400 meters track, on Monday-Thursday at 3:30-5:00 pm, with the main participants were members of sports club.
Whether by coincidence or not, the club responsible for holding today Running for Donation was Hiking Club.
Sayaka looked at Hide doubtfully as she said, "Are you sure you want to join Running for Donation?"
Sayaka's doubts were quite understandable, considering that in last year selection Hide got severe cramps on 5 km running test. He even had to be taken to nearby hospital by ambulance. Moreover, up to this day Sayaka believed that Hide still had feelings for her. So, she doubted his motivation too.
"As I said before, this is a penalty from Watanabe Sensei."
Sayaka nodded a few times before saying, "Hide, I'm sure you can ask Watanabe Sensei to give you other penalty, but since you have arrived here I will do my best to help you."
"Thank you for your consideration."
Sayaka then explained the rules of Running for Donation in details. In summary, photos and profiles of each runner would be uploaded to Running for Donation’s page on the East Nichiko High’s official website. Then, it would be promoted to various social media where donors could donate and select the runners.
"The rate we use is 1000 Ren/km, but you don't need to worry because I've wrote in your profile that you are a volunteer and not main runner.
For now you can sit and watch how it goes. We have regular donors who are enthusiastic about this event, so the main runner will be quite busy."
"Okay."
Hide replied briefly before rushing to the long bench behind the marketing team, who were busy working on their laptop.
Hide fully aware that Sayaka was subtly asking him not to cause problems such as pushing himself and then got a cramp like during last year Hiking Club’s selection. However, he didn't give a fuck about it. If he had to run he would run, and if he didn't need to, he would happily sit in the bench.
The problem was, he was just about to sit when one of the marketing team said, "Hide, someone chose you to run 2 km."
"Okay."
Hide answered briefly while Sayaka gasped. Then, after tightened his shoelaces and did a small stretch Hide rushed to the starting point.
---
Hide had only started his physical training for a few days, so of course he still didn't have solid stamina. However, because he focuses his training on stretching and jumping-rope, it would not be difficult for him if it's only a run without time limits or carrying weights.
Running for Donation main runners desperately suppressed their laughter when they saw Hide running at a speed of 4.5 km/h. To them, Hide was no different from a turtle.
Only Isamu Sensei looked at Hide's way of running with all seriousness. Before he became a sports teacher and hiking club advisor at East Nichiko, Isamu Sensei was a professional climber for eight years.
Apart from basic exercises such as push-ups, chin-ups, squats, or technical exercises such as wall climbing, as a professional climber Isamu Sensei also had to run 16 km, five days a week. So it could be said that he was familiar with running techniques, and he could see that Hide was a professional runner.
"Sayaka, who is that kid? Is he a member of Track and Field?"
Sayaka turned her gaze to Isamu Sensei and said, "Sensei, that's Hide, the kid who got severe cramps in the last year selection."
"Huh?"
Seeing Isamu Sensei dropped his jaw, Sayaka immediately asked, "Sensei, should we ask him to stop?"
Isamu Sensei took a deep breath before saying, "I understand if you can't see it, but I'm 200% sure that Hide has natural talent to become professional athlete.
Maintain center of gravity in the center mass while accurately placing pressure on the soles of the feet backward instead of downward, and combined it with a low and short but rhythmic stride, will result in a very friendly stride towards the knees, ankles, and soles of the feet.
It’s called cotton step and is not something you can master in a year or two of practice, unless the person is very sensitive to the rhythm and motoric movements of his body to the smallest degree."
Now, it's Sayaka's turn to drop her jaw. On reflex, she wanted to refute Isamu Sensei's judgment, but at the same time, she recalled that Isamu Sensei's assessment on someone physical ability was never wrong.
*****