The sun rose in the east.
The cool sea breeze whipped up waves, which crashed onto the beach in layers.
A group of teenagers, in the prime of their youth, ran along the shoreline where the waves had left their marks, facing the rising sun and exuding a vibrant youthful energy.
This should have been a rather beautiful scene.
However, upon closer inspection, one would notice that the faces of these teenagers showed no trace of youth; instead, they wore expressions akin to dead dogs.
"What's going on? Why does running feel so exhausting today?" Kindaichi Yutaro breathed heavily. He had only completed the second lap, yet his legs felt incredibly heavy, making even lifting them extremely difficult.
"Huff~ puff, don't talk, save your energy for breathing!" Kunimi Akira followed behind him, in worse condition than Kindaichi, looking as if he was about to die.
"Pay attention, everyone. The sand here is very soft, and running on the beach is more strenuous than on a regular track. Don't talk for now." Iwaizumi Hajime led the run and, hearing the chatter behind him, immediately reminded them.
"Hoo~ hoo~, really? Why does Akashi look completely unfazed?"
Yahaba Shigeru panted heavily. As he spoke, he suddenly heard a rapid patter of footsteps from behind him, which instantly made Yahaba Shigeru's expression turn to one of horror.
However, before he could react further, Akashi Asuka strode past him in a flash from behind, then proceeded to lap everyone.
"Damn it!" (A type of plant, indicating an expletive)
Looking at Akashi Asuka, who was breathing evenly and showed no change in expression, everyone couldn't help but curse inwardly.
This damn beast.
[Ding······]
[Congratulations to the host for successfully completing a low-level juan wang value by exceeding teammates' training volume by double in daily training—warm-up.]
[Obtained juan wang value · Stamina + 1.]
The familiar yet unfamiliar system prompt sounded in his ears, causing Akashi Asuka's lips to curl slightly.
Speaking of which.
Since joining High School, Akashi Asuka had rarely gained [juan wang value] during daily training. Most of the time, his [juan wang value] was basically only obtained during weekend breaks.
It wasn't that Akashi Asuka didn't want to work hard in daily training, but rather that having just entered the High School stage, Akashi Asuka's physical fitness was still far from being able to compete with those third-year students in terms of juan wang value.
It took almost a whole semester of training before he finally rediscovered the joy he had experienced during his Zenkoku Middle Schooldays.
For a moment.
Akashi Asuka was in a joyful mood, as if even his steps had become much lighter. After a few large strides, even his back disappeared from the sight of Iwaizumi Hajime and the others behind him.
······
Damn it, why does this bastard feel less and less human?
They suddenly felt a little envious of Oikawa Tooru and Kyotani Kentaro.
Hmm!
Yes, that's right.
Oikawa Tooru and Kyotani Kentaro were not here. As for where they were?
Don't ask, if you ask, they are at tutoring.
Although Akashi Asuka and the others had painstakingly helped the two of them with their studies recently, and their grades had indeed improved a lot, there was one problem: Aoba Johsai High School is a private school.
And it's a private High School with a very high college admission rate.
The school system in Japan is such that public High Schools generally advocate for 'happy education,' and throughout the High Schoolstage, grades are generally not emphasized; as long as you get 40 points to pass, happiness is all that matters.
But private High Schools are different. Because parents pay tuition, the school must be responsible for the students' grades.
Therefore, compared to the 40-point Passingscore in public High Schools, most private High Schools generally have the right to set their own Passing scores.
In other words.
Although the public High School system has a 40-point Passing score, at Aoba Johsai High School, the Passing score is 50 points.
Thanks to the tutoring materials provided by a kind-hearted teammate, Oikawa Tooru and Kyotani Kentaro, after a full week of intense tutoring, basically passed most of their subjects.
But unfortunately, the two seemed to have bad luck. In the final exam, one of their subjects happened to be stuck at the edge of the Passingline at 49 points.
As a result, Oikawa Tooru and Kyotani Kentarohad to undergo at least three days of tutoring before they could officially begin their summer training.
Originally, everyone had mocked the two for this matter.
But now it seems their laughter earlier was a little too loud.
······
After the morning run.
The third-year students could barely stand, the second-year students leaned on their knees, and the first-year students simply lay flat.
As for Akashi Asuka······
Oh!
He could still walk in small steps to prevent lactic acid buildup in his body.
After a short break.
Irihata Nobuteru immediately announced the first training plan for the day—Passing.
Clearly, Irihata Nobuteru was determined to strengthen the basic qualities of Aoba Johsai's players. Passing is the most fundamental skill in volleyball. If they were to simply toss and pass to themselves, for the current Aoba Johsai players, they probably wouldn't even let the ball touch the ground after Passing it.
Irihata Nobuteru's training method was also very simple.
He directly drew several circles about one meter in diameter on the sand, then grouped two to three players together to start Passing to each other. During this process, all players were not allowed to leave the circle.
The method seemed simple, but it placed very high demands on training players' precision in Passing.
It was also the first time everyone had encountered such a training method.
So, naturally, there were continuous errors at the beginning.
And once a member's errors accumulated to five times, they would receive Irihata Nobuteru's special 'reward.'
[Run one lap around the base, time limit two minutes]
This 'reward' seemed ordinary, but in reality, the temporary base rented by Aoba Johsai was quite large. Running one lap according to the designated route would be at least 500 meters or more.
If it were on a plastic track, this time limit would not be considered fast. If sprinting at full Speed, everyone's Speed would generally ensure a 500-meter lap in 1 minute 20 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds.
But the key was that the terrain around this temporary base was quite peculiar.
If one were to run a lap around it, they would likely encounter four types of terrain: sand, dirt, grass, and rocky ground, each with a different feel underfoot.
With a two-minute time limit, if it were just one or two laps, there might not be much reaction, but if the 'reward' times accumulated too much, then it would become quite interesting.
Akashi Asuka also accumulated one 'reward.'
If he were to run at a Speed of two minutes per lap, he felt that even he would reach his limit after at most seven or eight laps.
The others were even more so, as one could imagine.
Therefore, even though it was only one morning of training, Akashi Asuka could clearly feel that everyone had made significant progress.
Because those who didn't improve fast enough were already crawling in the corner.