The Hellish Training for Middle Schoolers
Just as the high school students were mocking the middle school students, a voice interrupted them.
Upon seeing the figure emerging from the woods, the high school student immediately deflated.
The middle school students turned around at the same time when they heard the sound, and were immediately surprised.
"Horio!?"
"What are you doing here? Did you lose the game too?"
Everyone was puzzled by Horio's sudden appearance.
"What?! You dare to call the Coach by his first name?!"
"That's right! You're not allowed to disrespect the Coach like that!"
"Apologize to me right now! You brats!"
The high school students immediately became unhappy upon hearing the junior high students' nickname for Horio.
Compared to the anger of the high school students, the junior high school students were more surprised.
"Coach?"
"Did you appear here specifically to teach us, Horio!?"
"That's great! If you, Horio, are the Coach, we'll definitely become stronger."
The Seigaku members were delighted to hear that Horio was their Coach.
Others were puzzled, wondering why they, all junior high school students, would be in Coach positions.
"Stop, stop, everyone listen to me. I am indeed Coach, but only Coach for high school students."
Your Coach is that Scruffy Old Man.
"Alright, enough talk, let's begin training."
Horio pointed at Mifune then immediately announced the start of today's training.
"The junior high school student went to change clothes, and after changing, he went back to the warehouse to get a shovel and dug a very, very deep hole."
"High school students, come with me, I'm taking you to climb a waterfall today."
Mifune and Horio each arranged their training content, and then the entire high school team ran towards the waterfall.
"Climbing waterfalls? That seems more interesting than digging tunnels. Count me in, Horio."
Upon hearing about the high school students' training content, Kintaro immediately wanted to follow the high school students' group.
At that moment, Horio suddenly turned to look at him, his expression becoming very serious.
"What, are you going to abandon your team again because of yourself, Kintaro?"
"Horio..."
Horio's words were so direct that Kintaro fell silent.
Ignoring the aggrieved Kintaro, Horio turned and followed the group of high school students.
"Alright, what are you all dawdling for! Go change your clothes and come back to dig the hole!"
Seeing that the middle school student didn't seem to be in the zone yet, Mifune's thunderous voice rang out again.
The junior high school students then sprang into action, taking off their uniforms and donning matching white short-sleeved shirts.
After each taking a shovel from the warehouse, the group began digging a hole.
Meanwhile, Horio led the high school students to a waterfall.
"Isn't it spectacular? This is your first training exercise for today. Climb up."
Looking at the waterfall in front of them, which was only a dozen meters high but had a rather rapid flow, the high school students were once again in a dilemma.
"What's wrong? This is just a warm-up. If you're too scared to go, go back and bully middle schoolers."
Seeing that no one moved, Horio resorted to provocation.
Sure enough, Sasabe jumped into the water and climbed upstream against the current.
Once the first person to take the lead was identified, others followed suit.
In no time, a line formed, and as someone was knocked down by the waterfall, the person behind would take their place.
Those who are knocked down will return to the back of the line and wait for the next opportunity.
Hidden beneath the flowing water, the stones, polished smooth day after day, are so slippery that people constantly fall off them.
In this seemingly endless cycle, it took an hour before someone finally managed to climb the waterfall.
Perhaps inspired by this, more and more people subsequently succeeded in climbing the waterfall.
Another half hour passed, and all the high school students had climbed up the waterfall.
"Coach! We did it!"
All the high school students stood upstream of the waterfall and shouted at Horio, as if seeking a reward.
"It took me almost an hour and a half to do that, nothing to brag about. Go back and find that old man for the next training exercise. I'll come back this afternoon to train you guys properly."
Horio's words poured cold water on the excited high school students, and the joy they had felt from successfully climbing the waterfall vanished instantly.
"What!? You mean you threw all our uniforms into the pit and made us bury them!?"
"What right do you have to do this!?"
When the high school students returned to the court, they encountered the middle school students who were protesting after digging the hole.
"Tch, wake up, middle schooler! Don't you understand? Your clothes are completely pointless here."
"What? You bastard, say that again if you dare!"
Sasabe recalled that they had experienced the same thing as the middle school students on their first day and couldn't help but speak up.
However, Sasabe's reminder did not earn him understanding. Upon hearing Sasabe's words, Kaitou immediately prepared to fight him, but was stopped by the others.
Mifune did not intervene to stop what was happening.
Afterwards, Mifune arranged for high school students to practice sparring on the court, while junior high school students were responsible for carrying wooden buckets down the mountain to fetch water.
In the end, all the water brought back was given to the high school students; the junior high students didn't get a drop. This situation continued until Horio returned in the afternoon.
After the high school student asked the middle school student to fetch water for him for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Horio returned to the basketball court.
"What are you guys doing hanging around here instead of practicing? Go and call the rest of you over here."
The high school students, who had been so arrogant towards the middle schoolers, immediately became docile upon seeing Horio's expression and went to gather the others without looking back.
"What's wrong with you guys? You're already this exhausted before the day's training is even over. With this kind of physical condition, how long can you keep going here?"
Looking at the middle school students lying on the ground, panting heavily, Horio shook his head and deliberately uttered such contemptuous words.
He turned and glanced behind a tree, then left.
"Damn it! I refuse to lose to those high school kids!"
"Just thinking about their condescending expressions is annoying; I'm not going to lose to them."
"That's right, we can't let them succeed."
We must persevere longer than them.
"It's just fetching water, I'll let those high school students drink their fill."
The middle school students, who had been panting heavily on the ground from exhaustion, were spurred on by Horio's words and stood up as if they had been injected with adrenaline.
With their morale greatly boosted, they picked up the wooden buckets from the ground and headed down the mountain.
Just then, behind the tree that Horio had glanced at, Mifune was hiding and drinking.
Looking at the junior high school students who had regained some of their energy, Mifune's eyes flashed with an ambiguous light.
On the other side, the high school students gathered by Horio stood on the court, ready to play at any moment.
Horio approached them, and couldn't help but find their forced composure somewhat amusing.
"Alright, now let's announce the afternoon's training schedule."