Everyone followed the crew cut coach to the center of the dojo. The floor was covered with a layer of soft plastic, reducing pain even if one fell on it. There were also many training instruments like leg presses, rings, barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, etc. Most importantly, there was a clear space for sparring. Everyone looked around curiously. However, soon, the crew cut coach started giving commands, leading the students in warm-up exercises similar to those in physical education class to prevent cramps later. "One two one... one two one..." A rhythmic sound continuously came from the Coach's mouth. After the warm-up, the crew cut coach began teaching. "Beginners in Taekwondo generally start by learning basic stances and movements, and only then move on to learning attack techniques and defense capabilities."
"In addition, we must persist in training our physical fitness."
"Since this is an experience class, time is relatively limited. Today, I will lead everyone to experience all aspects, though it will be relatively superficial."
The students nodded, half-understanding, but all seemed very interested.
"Now!" The crew cut coach suddenly raised his voice, capturing everyone's attention.
"Watch my movements and follow along."
"Stand straight! Head up! Chest out!"
"Lift your leg... kick forward..."
"Retract your leg... punch... use some force!"
"Retract your fist... lift your leg... side kick... strike forcefully with your palm..."
...
After repeating the movements over and over, everyone's initial enthusiasm was dampened considerably. However, Mochizuki noticed that Shikimori was doing it quite seriously, and her movements were very graceful.
"+1, +1, +1, +1, +1, +1, +1..." This sound, of course, was not the Coach's training shouts, and only Mochizuki could hear it. The system had also begun to operate, allowing Mochizuki to start mastering Taekwondo.
"Don't underestimate these basic techniques, they can help you build a solid foundation..." The crew cut coach lectured everyone while demonstrating the movements.
"Now, everyone maintain this posture, I'm going to come down and check."
From somewhere, the crew cut coach produced a stick about a dozen centimeters long.
Then, he walked around to each student, inspecting them and correcting their movements one by one.
When he got to Shikimori, the Coach said with satisfaction.
"This girl with pink hair has very standard movements, everyone can take a look."
Actually, the crew cut coach felt that Mochizuki's movements also met the passing requirements for a beginner, but compared to the girl next to him, they were not worth mentioning.
Mochizuki looked at Shikimori next to him, and the others also shifted their gaze from the Coach to Shikimori.
"You boys, why are your movements all so stiff, not even as good as a young girl's!" The crew cut coach spoke earnestly, hoping the boys would show some spirit.
Hearing this, the boys felt somewhat ashamed.
As for Shikimori, she realized she had accidentally been praised and attracted everyone's attention, and the smile on her face became a little stiff; this wasn't the result she wanted!
"Everyone needs to pay attention to posture transitions and the fluidity of movements, learn to transition between different stances, and how to smoothly combine multiple technical movements."
"Alright, everyone relax."
Hearing that they didn't have to maintain the posture anymore, everyone immediately relaxed, rubbing their arms and legs.
...
"Now, we will learn techniques such as dodging, blocking, and intercepting."
When learning new techniques, Shikimori was praised repeatedly again.
...
"Students, next we will conduct physical fitness training, considering that everyone's bodies are too stiff. We will do flexibility training. Everyone form teams of two and prepare for stretching exercises, and finally, sparring."
Hearing they had to team up, in an unfamiliar environment, made everyone a little uneasy. Fortunately, there were a total of ten people present, which was just enough to form five small teams, so no one would be left alone.
If Hikigaya were here, he would definitely be very happy about this situation.
Moreover, the final sparring also stirred up everyone's emotions.
So, everyone began looking for teammates...
"Shikimori..."
"Mochizuki student..."
"Let's be a team."
The two smiled awkwardly at each other, especially Shikimori, who didn't expect Mochizuki student to have the same idea as her.
As for the others around them, seeing Shikimori, such a beautiful girl, team up with Mochizuki, the other boys showed looks of regret.
There were only three girls present. The other two girls, having come together, naturally formed a team.
This left Shikimori as the beautiful girl who was left alone.
This made them unable to help but wish they were the lucky one who could team up with her.
Before they could muster the courage to invite her, the goddess had already proactively teamed up with someone else.
...
While everyone was forming teams, the crew cut coach went to bring over five mats.
"Everyone, the mats are also new."
To let everyone feel the benefits of the newly built Taekwondo gym, the Coach kept introducing that all the equipment was brand new.
Then everyone realized that the physical flexibility training involved holding each other's feet down for sit-ups.
No wonder they had to form teams of two.
And when Shikimori saw this situation, she couldn't help but overthink.
In this situation, didn't that mean she needed to hold down Mochizuki student's feet and he hers?
Would her socks smell today?
From exercising until now, she didn't know if she had sweated...
At this time, Mochizuki also found the situation a bit awkward. Was this kind of contact a little too much...?
A girl's feet weren't something you could just touch casually, even through socks.
But present, there were no other girls Shikimori could team up with.
So Mochizuki spoke: "Shikimori, how about we just skip it? I'll talk to the Coach."
"No!"
Mochizuki looked over in surprise.
Shikimori became flustered, speaking haltingly: "No... I mean... we can't give up easily, yes, we can't give up."
Mochizuki nodded, that made sense. Giving up easily didn't seem like something Shikimori would do.
Then they could only go for it.
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