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After her first commute to school on a scooter, Koguma squeezed her Cub into the motorbike parking area where there were several scooters parked.
It may or may not be different from how she used to ride her bike to school, but at least she was no longer covered in sweat from pedaling uphill in this season.
Koguma took off her plain white open-faced helmet and removed her yellow leather gloves, which had embroidery on the outside and looked like they were meant for construction work rather than motorcycles. She straightened her bobbed hair with her hand a little, even though it wasn’t particularly crushed by the helmet.
She removed the key from the Cub, inserted the key into the keyhole at the base of the bike fork, and locked the handles.
It was a little before the first bell rang for the start of class. Koguma was about to head for her classroom when she noticed that she was still carrying her helmet.
She couldn’t bring it into the classroom, but she also felt awkward about throwing her brand-new helmet, which still smelled of resin, into the back of her Cub.
Theft was rarely heard of in this school, but if a bicycle was left unlocked in front of the station and stolen, then it wasn’t just the thief’s fault.
What should I do? Should I take it to class after all? A hesitating Koguma recalled something she read in the manual last night. The Cub had a helmet lock.
Koguma located the helmet lock under the rack of the Cub and tried putting the key in her hand into it and turning it. With a snap sound, the lock bar that was pushed in came off. When she pushed in the lock bar with her finger and turned the key again, it came off.
Koguma, who decided that it was safe to use the secondhand Cub, took the helmet straps and tried to pass the metal fittings through the lock bar. It didn’t reach.
The helmet lock was located deep under the rack, and the strap couldn’t reach it. When she stretched it, the helmet bumped into the big and solid rack. She changed the angle this way and that, turning the helmet like it was a puzzle ring, and finally got the helmet fixture through the lock bar. She pushed the bar with her fingers and locked it with a snap.
It took some time just to fix the helmet in place. She checked her watch and saw that the time was right before the first bell rang. While thinking that this was no different from when she used to ride to school on her bike and made it just in time, she fiddled with her hair to calm her panic.
She was worried about what was going on with her helmeted hair, but there wasn’t anything nearby that was just right for reflecting herself in. Her getting irritated over trivial details might be due to the fact that finally riding the Cub to school was no different from riding her bike, at least in terms of time.
She looked at the Cub she had used up all her scholarship money savings to buy. She saw the helmet lock that gave her so much trouble earlier, and one of the Cub’s accessories jumped into the view of Koguma, who had decided to bring her helmet into class starting tomorrow.
Every scooter model had a rearview mirror. Koguma moved the locked handles a little bit and looked at herself in the rearview mirror of the Cub.
She felt at ease with her face that was free of makeup and her bobbed hair that was the same as usual. She remembered her missing mother telling her that women had to look in the mirror every morning. The first bell rang.
Koguma toyed with her bangs for peace of mind, patted the Cub’s seat once and headed for her classroom.
Her gait was a bit lighter than yesterday.
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