Hashimoto Yūhito can't hold on much longer.
Thirty kilograms of weight, ten kilometers, and one hour limit, these three words combined together can form a very common physical training, and it is a tolerant and gentle physical training, because the time limit is one hour. Normally, people who train regularly will run the whole course in about forty minutes, or even thirty minutes.
Like in the army.
But they're not soldiers in the army who do daily drills, they're just freshmen who joined the police academy a month earlier, or they're still clear and stupid college students who only need to hold a book, scrutinize each of their upper-class classmates with their eyes, and rack their brains to figure out whether the other side will provide help for their own upward mobility before deciding whether or not to rush up to curry favor with them.
And now, and now...
The midday sun was so dazzling that Hashimoto Yūhito felt as if his eyes were black. The excessive exercise gradually turned the illusion into reality. The half-eaten meal that had just entered his stomach began to protest under the intense exercise. His footsteps were so heavy that it seemed as if he had been tied with cement and thrown into Tokyo Bay.
Even more desperate was the fact that he had just returned from a very long distance to the finish line.
The more he ran, the more impressed he was with the long stretch of road, the more Hashimoto Yūhito suffered, and the signs of darkness in his vision intensified.
He ran wearily, not being able to tell east from west, north from south, only running along the only road with a pale face, his mind gradually emptying into a state of nothingness, his ears unable to hear anything, and in a state of confusion.
Nor did he hear the low voices around him, "Are you okay, classmate?"
"Twenty minutes to the hour, that's plenty of time, so take it easy and rest."
"Take the weight off, I'll help you."
"And this student, your face looks very bad, you also walk slowly for a while to rest, or may be heat stroke, the weight to me, you wait to catch up."
"It's okay."
Hashimoto Yūhito didn't hear anything, his eyes were lowered so wearily that he could barely see anything within a meter of his feet, and that was all, his brain couldn't process any of the information he heard or saw.
That is, until the mostly earthy field of vision was filled with the figure of another human being.
The figure, like the other cadets who were suffering through their teeth, was wearing a cadet uniform and carrying a backpack with 30 kilograms of objects on his back.
He looked quite young, sweating from over-exercise, his blue uniform a little darker in color, and his forehead hair was wet and now all ruffled up, revealing a bare forehead and full red eyes.
Unlike the other cadets, he was carrying a backpack on his chest.
Unlike the other cadets, who were running toward the finish line, he was running back from the finish line.
What was even more different was that he was smiling.
With his hair pulled up in front of his forehead, his whole face was visible, so the polite smile was quite obvious.
But what's the situation now? How can anyone smile? It's not a bitter smile or a forced smile, it's a polite smile with a hint of ease.
That's why Hashimoto Yūhito's mushy brain moved, hardened by the police cadet, "Ku-Kujō-san."
The new students might not recognize all the instructors, but the name 'Kujō Mirai' definitely stuck in their minds, and they remembered those crimson eyes.
No matter what, the ten rings in one shot, standing for four or five hours without a break, and subduing the night-attacking instructor in reverse were all too dazzling, so dazzling that they commanded a lot of respect.
The difference was so great that the other cadets couldn't even feel jealousy, but this cadet was like the sun shining brightly.
Hashimoto Yūhito smiled when he heard the 'sun' and said, "How are you, sir?"
"You don't look well, probably you're suffering from heatstroke."
He said 'probably', but his tone was very certain, and his action was even more powerful, he directly reached out to hold Hashimoto Yūhito, "We must seek urgent medical attention."
"Hashimoto-san, you can't rest, as soon as you stop, you'll lose consciousness and fall into a coma, now keep running."
Hashimoto Yūhito looked at the police cadet dumbfounded, and before he could react, he saw him raise his other hand and probe the temperature of his forehead with the back of it, "Yes."
He gave a short, easy to understand command, "Keep running."
"Give me the backpack, I'll hold you up."
It's not a negotiation, it's an order.
It was an order that could be understood half a beat slower even if one's mind was in a state of confusion.
Since it was an order, there was no room for Hashimoto Yūhito to resist, and even as he reacted, the backpack was removed from his back, and his body was so light that he almost fell forward.
But the academy student caught him in time.
As if he knew that he would fall forward due to the sudden relief, the police academy student threw the third backpack on his back and picked him up in time without blinking, "Keep the pace."
"We'll be at the finish line in ten minutes."
Ten, ten minutes?!
And, "You."
Hashimoto Yūhito took a few breaths because he was no longer carrying thirty kilograms of weight, and finally his eyes were no longer dark and confused, "Three backpacks, can you do it?"
One backpack is 30 kilograms, and three backpacks is 90 kilograms, which is like carrying a grown man on a cross-country run.
And it's an obese adult male, with an extra real adult male.
Most importantly, "We started running together, right? You've been running for a long time."
Hashimoto Yūhito struggled to catch his breath, trying to inhale more air, "Did you just come back from the finish line?"
He was panting, "You're already tired."
The uniform and the hair showed it.
But, "...Kujō-san, why aren't you breathing heavily?"
Hashimoto Yūhito looked suspiciously at his police academy counterpart, who was unchanged, with only his overheated body and rather hot breath giving away that he was in some bad shape.
But he showed no sign of panting, and ignoring the details, he was still in a state of overall ease.
Ichijō Mirai did not answer.
He listened quietly, and judged with satisfaction and practiced: "OK, sanity restored to 30%, coma delayed for ten minutes."
Looking ahead again, he smiled after a few seconds and asked in a friendly manner, "Hashimoto-san, it's time to speed up, are you ready?"
"Morofushi-san!"
Hashimoto Yūhito subconsciously looked ahead as well, and once again saw a police cadet running from the finish line.
The cadet was also in black, his uniform was almost soaked through, and he had probably put his weight at the finish line without any weight on him.
It's Morofushi Hiromitsu.
Seeing Ichijō Mirai and Hashimoto Yūhito, his eyes changed slightly, and he immediately sped up his pace, urgently picking up the two backpacks on Ichijō Mirai's body, and picking up Hashimoto Yūhito from the other side, "You're too much of a fool, Kujō-san."
Ichijō Mirai replied without blinking at the first word, "Sorry."
Their voices overlapped.
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "..."
"I haven't reached the finish line yet, I'm still in the middle of a run, and the instructors have no right to interfere with my actions," Ichijō Mirai said without changing his expression, and with appropriate surprise, "I didn't think you'd return."
Cross-country running series mission guideline 1: Do not reach the finish line.
If you reach the end, you can't go back to help others, and you can't complete the missions that are popping up like bamboo shoots in the rain.
Or to be more precise: Ichijō Mirai cannot return after reaching the end point.
When he reaches the end point, all those who have reached the end point cannot return to help their companions, but when he does not reach the end point, those who have reached the end point can return to help their companions.
This is because the instructor is not targeting them.
Cross-country running series mission guideline 2: Tasks have a sequence.
Each person's cry for help has a different standard line and a different degree of urgency, so you can't just do the tasks in the order in which they were triggered.
Some people who popped up early could hold out for another ten minutes, while others who popped up late would pass out after three minutes of not getting help.
So Ichijō Mirai takes the former's backpack and helps the latter.
Cross-country running series mission guideline 3: Morofushi Hiromitsu will follow.
By slowing down for 5 or 6 seconds and leaving the backpack on the side of the road, Morofushi Hiromitsu will be the first to come back after reaching the finish line.
"You probably didn't realize," Morofushi Hiromitsu shook his head helplessly, "that you were almost at the finish line, and you were in the first group, but you hesitated for five or six seconds and fell behind by several positions."
"I guess you're worried about the students behind you."