7 Morning Laps

We were woken up by the captain playing a trumpet. And he wasn't exactly playing it that well either.

"Why the hell are you playing the trumpet this early the morning?" I asked as I was putting my equipment on.

The captain ignored my question and just kept playing. I looked on both Sakuta and Paul's bed to see if one of them wasn't awake. And to my surprise Sakuta was awake and getting ready.

Paul was the problem today, he put his pillow over his head to block out the noise that the captain was making.

I walked over to Paul and warned him once, "Paul wake up or I will force you to get up." I could tell that he heard me from his reaction. "Alright then you asked for this." I said.

With all the strength that my morning self would give me I kicked Paul out of bed. Paul flew out of bed and hit a wall and dented it somehow.

"Oh… That works to." The Captain stated.

"That's what happens when you don't get your ass out of bed the first time." I stated towards Paul and Sakuta.

"Every day you will have five minutes to get yourself out of bed, dressed, and to make sure that bed you sleep on is made. If it's not made by the end of those five minutes I will make all of you run laps, even if just one of you are late you all will run laps." The captain stated. "You have three minutes left, get moving."

"Yes sir!" We all yelled.

By the time is announcement was over my bed was already made and I was already in uniform. As I was exiting the room to stand on our designated line that we are assigned for morning call I could see Sakuta making Paul's bed while Paul was putting his uniform on.

"You're out here early." The captain stated. "Why aren't you helping Sakuta and Paul?"

"I've always helped Sakuta out with everything he did. We've been friends for a long time so it makes sense but even during basic training he needed so much help from me. He needs to learn to be more independent."

"Which has worked?"

"It's surprising but yea. It has worked recently. Sakuta finally woke up and didn't struggle today and is now helping Paul out."

"You're proud that he's doing what you did to him aren't you?"

"To be completely honest, I do wish I could still do it. But if he's finally maturing and helping others like I helped him, then I'm fine with not being able to help him."

Once I finished my sentence Sakuta and Paul came running out and approached me.

"Thank you for your help." They said while bowing at me.

My face got all red and I didn't know what to say. So I said the first thing that came to mind, "What did I help you with exactly?" I asked.

"Talk about it at breakfast." The captain demanded.

"Yes sir!" Sakuta and Paul said.

"Alright you were only 15 seconds late. Not bad for your first timed wake up call."

"Alright before we get breakfast we will be running five miles around the track outside."

I glanced towards Sakuta, then Paul, both of their eyes were wide open, but Paul's mouth was also hanging open.

"Yes sir!" I yelled.

"Yes sir!" Sakuta and Paul yelled.

Once we arrived outside I looked around and could see the sun starting to rise above the many mountains that were around the facility.

"Begin!" The captain yelled and clapped his hands.

I was caught off guard but I immediately caught up the ground that I lost to Sakuta and Paul. Of course it wasn't a race but I always try doing double of what we are commanded to do.

In under six minutes I completed the five miles we were tasked to do. "Dammit that could've been better time." I muttered to myself. I ran as fast as I possibly could to make up my time to reach ten miles in ten minutes but I couldn't make it. "Have I slowed down?" I asked myself as I was approaching the captain.

"That's amazing…" The captain said with his eyes wide open. "You were able to reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour. That's not humanly possible."

"What mile are the others on?" I asked.

"Sakuta's on mile two while Paul is on mile one still but is about to be on two." The captain responded.

"Arata I want you to keep running until you can't anymore."

"Yes sir." I responded.

I began to run again. I passed Sakuta so many times I lost count on how many times I passed him.

Next thing I know I heard I whistle blow. I looked towards the direction the sound. With his hand the captain is as motioning me to finish the lap I was on and meet up with them.

So on the final lap I observed my surroundings making sure no one else was approaching the track. I looked left, the right. No one was around.

Then I stopped.

Lined my footing up like I was about to run the 100 meter dash in high school.

In my head I was preparing myself for the dash. Non-stop running for another half a mile at the highest speed I could do.

3…

2…

1…

Bang.

I ran as fast as I could. Didn't think about anything but the finishing location and my speed.

As I was approaching the captain I started to slow down until I came to a halt.

"Fall in line." The captain commanded.

"Yes sir." I responded.

"That was decent time for you needing to run five miles. In the future you will need to run faster. Most of the facilities you will serve at will be over ten miles long and you'll need to get to specific areas in an extremely timely manner." The Captain made it sound like it's bad that Sakuta and Paul did five miles in under an hour.

Most people from basic training couldn't even do five miles in a hour. "I will now inform you of the scores. In third place we have Paul, his time was five miles in 65 minutes and 34 seconds. In second place we have Sakuta with a time of 55 minutes and 26 seconds. And in first place we have Arata with a new facility record of six minutes and 23 seconds.

I looked towards Paul and Sakuta to see their mouths wide open in shock.

"I'm aware of what you're about to say. But don't. You will not speak of anything that happens here with any other cadet."