Cross-country running series mission guideline 3:
Onidzuka's class has more than 30 students, and with the other classes, there are about a hundred people, so if everyone pops up a quest, that's more than a hundred quests.
Ichijō Mirai can't do it all by himself, he needs help.
For example, Morofushi Hiromitsu, who was always the first to arrive, Matsuda Jinpei, Furuya Rei, and others, who were on their way to help the other students in front of them.
One more fish, one more part of the mission.
As for the fact that not everyone needs help... they do.
Even if some people could have held on to the end, they would quickly seek help when they see someone lending a hand to help others. This is human instinct.
After many readings, Ichijō Mirai was able to determine the approximate number of tasks he could accomplish: more than fifty.
Each fish helps eight or nine people, which adds up to more than fifty [Mission Accomplished] hints and Low-level Painkillers.
That's why Ichijō Mirai treated the Morofushi fish very well, and praised them very favorably, "Morofushi-san is very perceptive,
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "..."
It's a compliment, but it's a bit childish.
Morofushi Hiromitsu paused, and took the initiative to explain, "Because of Instructor Onidzuka, I've been paying more attention to you."
It was a true statement, and he watched Ichijō Mirai's expression.
"I know that Morofushi-san pays quite a bit of attention to me, and often lays eyes on me, especially on facial expressions," Ichijō Mirai looked ahead, "Please keep an eye on Hashimoto-san."
He let go of Hashimoto Yūhito and took three steps forward, just in time to hold the cadet in front of him as he stumbled, "Are you alright? You don't look so good."
"Leave the weight to me for now."
Ichijō Mirai stepped back with the weighted backpack and supported Hashimoto Yūhito once more, reminding Morofushi Hiromitsu, "Hashimoto-san is suffering from heatstroke, and is expected to pass out in eight minutes, but there's a chance that he'll pass out early, and will need more attention from us."
He looked ahead again and saw a flash of gold color coming against the current and asked knowingly, "Furuya-san is here too?"
"Well," Morofushi Hiromitsu waved, "we rushed to the finish line before realizing you were missing, so we came back together to look for you, and to help some of our classmates along the way."
Technically not 'we', he'd realized when Ichijō Mirai had hesitated.
Furuya Rei ran over, "What's wrong with this student?"
He looked at Hashimoto Yūhito's face and frowned, "Heatstroke?"
So he said, he didn't stop, instead, he continued to sprint back with increased speed, and a few moments later, he caught up with two weighted backpacks, "Instructor, they've called an ambulance."
Furuya Rei was hesitant to say this because, "It's for you."
"The first few times you took students who were not in good shape back, although you didn't go too close to the finish line, and only sent them a few hundred meters away from the finish line, but they talked to the instructors when they got back to the camp."
The instructors were speechless for a long time.
The few freshmen who finally made it to the finish line, all of them wishing to lie on the ground as a dead dog, were also speechless for a long time.
This is really...
It's just too much...
"It's really too much," said Onidzuka Hachizo, "that child is too stubborn."
Pretending not to care, he stood farther from the finish line, his brow furrowed as he paced back and forth, his anger and anxiety growing stronger with each passing second, "It's been three or four round trips, and even if we don't finish the whole thing in the next couple of times, we're almost at two round trips, aren't we?"
That's twenty kilometers, more than thirty pounds of weight, plus an hour limit.
As an instructor, Onidzuka Hachizo knew exactly what this meant, and paced back and forth faster and faster, until he saw another figure in the distance and immediately took a few steps forward to look at it.
In the distance, at an intersection only 700 or 800 meters from the finish line, three people were slowly jogging towards each other, the one on the edge with blonde hair, and the other two with black hair, most likely Ichijō Mirai.
Onidzuka Hachizo looked on.
When the two black-haired police cadets raised their faces, but did not show their red eyes, he clenched his fists and frowned again.
He couldn't wait to look again as another figure shifted in the distance.
This time it was the same figures holding each other up, the same two brunettes, one of them holding the other up, supporting each other, and they stopped when they reached the intersection and could see the end of the road.
Onidzuka Hachizo couldn't see them clearly from the distance, so he could only stare at them.
A low cough suddenly sounded, "Cough."
Onidzuka Hachizo subconsciously turned around and saw an instructor who looked to be in his mid-forties, he reacted for a moment and was immediately annoyed: "It's almost time, that troublesome kid isn't coming back, is he?"
This explains the look of anxiety and anticipation on his face.
The instructor, with an unopened bottle of water in his hand, didn't comment on this remark, but only looked away into the distance.
Onidzuka Hachizo was tempted to add a few more indignant words, but in the end, he just remained silent as he looked into the distance.
In the distance, two silhouettes spread out at the intersection and slowly jogged together towards the finish line, they ran slowly and slowly became clear in Onidzuka Hachizo's field of vision, and in the sunlight, he saw a splash of red, and couldn't help but feel invigorated.
The other instructor suddenly spoke, "Not bad at all."
"What?" Onidzuka Hachizo immediately spoke out in displeasure, "I can't believe it's really back."
"Onidzuka," The other instructor sighed, "We have no grudge against him, would you have recognized him from so far away if we were just following orders against him from our superiors?"
He continued what he had just said, "Not bad."
"Did you notice that he was always helping his companions, but never helped any of them to the finish line, he always dropped them off at the intersection and let them walk the last leg on their own."
"Even now, even for the last time, there are no longer people who need help behind him, he did not directly set up his companions to run to the finish line, did not because of time constraints to rush to the finish line first, but put his companions down, accompanied him to slowly rush to the finish line together."
Being suddenly exposed to this, and hearing these words that sounded like compliments, Onidzuka Hachizo was momentarily hesitant about his colleague's stance, "Yoshida, you..."
The instructor's name was Yoshida, and Onidzuka Hachizo knew him as an instructor who was older than him on the job, but they didn't have a lot of personal contact.
"And," Yoshida added, "it wasn't just him."
"He wasn't the only one who went back to help his peers, about a dozen students went back one after another, and no one went back until the instructor explicitly forbade it."
"Look at the students in this class."
The innocent students of this class?
Onidzuka Hachizo barely suppressed his worry and looked behind the finish line, realizing that at some point, the freshmen who had been scattered lying on their backs, resting and bending their legs in a sad manner to move their muscles had all stood up, and they had coincidentally gathered behind the finish line, looking at the last two silhouettes that had arrived.
Even the police academy student who had just arrived and was supported by two people because of an obvious special situation, he looked like he had an injured foot. At this moment, he was stepping on the ground with one foot firmly and the other lightly, not paying any attention to the ambulance, and was concentrating on looking at the last two figures.
One of the two silhouettes was particularly shaky, and the other was not close to protect their companions, they just sprinted into the finish line, completing an hour and ten kilometers of cross-country weight.
Most of the instructors were clearly not in a good mood.
The freshmen, on the contrary, erupted in a loud cheer and quickly crowded around the finish line, with people picking up the wobbly figure and scrambling to help Ichijō Mirai unload his heavy backpack, handing him towels and bottled water.
Onidzuka Hachizo's anxiety and worry faded, and he narrowed his eyes as he watched the bustling group of new students.
This year's freshmen...
Yoshida: "Collective honor is always easiest to accumulate when there is a common enemy."
"With one of the best leaders stepping up to the plate and starting to serve as a role model, this class of freshmen will be better than any class before."
They have a leading sheep.
A leading sheep who respects his peers, loves his brothers and sisters, has great empathy, and will take care of them like an alpha lamb.