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The female student, who was clearly approaching Koguma and not the other students around her, was a classmate whose name and face she at least knew. While pretending not to notice, Koguma took her green drawstring bag in hand and turned it inside out to check the stitching.
She was supposed to then submit her work to the home ec teacher, who gave passing marks unless your work was too incomplete, then get a stamp, and class was finished for her.
Even so, Koguma pretended that there was still work left to be done.
Koguma didn’t like the girl who finished her assignment early and walked towards her very much.
Standing in front of Koguma’s desk was Reiko, a female student in her class.
A tall figure and long hair. A beautiful face that was hard to approach. Like Koguma, she didn’t proactively talk to the other girls in class very much, so naturally she never had an opportunity to talk to Koguma. She was a person of a different type from Koguma.
She had high grades and excelled in sports. According to the gossip among the girls, Reiko’s parents ran a company in Tokyo, and she lived alone in her parents’ vacation home in the northern part of Hokuto City.
A girl who had everything she wanted. As far as she could see, there was no one in class who could be called Reiko’s friend, but she was alone because she wanted to be.
She had no parents, no money, and her grades were average. She was an existence that contrasted Koguma, who somehow became alone in class. Koguma wasn’t a fan of Reiko.
Reiko walked to Koguma’s side without hesitation and spoke to her, who was pretending not to notice her.
“You’re riding a cub?”
She had a voice that carried well. Overwhelmed by Reiko’s direct words, Koguma answered her while dropping her gaze to the helmet bag in her hands.
“It’s used, though.”
There was a silence that lasted exactly as long as Koguma’s reply. Reiko was expressionless.
She seemed to have taken in every word that Koguma uttered in her small voice. Reiko spoke to her again.
“Can you show it to me later?”
Koguma felt her back curl up. It was much easier to be laughed at.
She didn’t like being paid attention to by the girls in class, but her existence was acknowledged by the most troublesome of them all.
“After class, maybe.”
That was what she finally answered with.
After the fifth period and the homeroom that she wished would never end if possible, Koguma picked up her day pack.
Should I just hurry and leave? I’ll just tell Reiko tomorrow morning that I accidentally forgot, and she won’t talk to me any longer. Koguma half-ran out of the classroom.
Even though it was the first day of her scooter commute, today ended on a bad note. The only thing that could be called a gain was the helmet bag she made in home ec.
It was then that Koguma realized that she had left the drawstring helmet bag she made today in the classroom.
Half forgetting that she had left the classroom in a hurry, Koguma turned around to head back down the hallway.
“Here. You forgot this.”
Right behind Koguma, Reiko was standing there, holding the olive green helmet bag.
There was nowhere to run. Koguma gave up on evasion and walked next to Reiko.
Without any particular conversation, the two of them arrived at the motorbike parking area via the elevator.
“Here.”
Koguma, who had arrived at the parking area, pointed at her parked Cub.
If she had to show her Cub to Reiko and couldn’t refuse, then she would try to keep contact and conversation to a minimum.
Reiko, who had been walking next to Koguma and matching her slightly quick pace without saying a word until then, became talkative as soon as she saw the Cub.
“Wow, isn’t that the best of cab-style Cubs? Just over five hundred kilos on the road and the tires are still brand new. I knew Cubs were cool. The helmet is a classic Arai, I see. I wanted one too.”
Reiko was in high spirits, something never seen before. Giving little notice to an overwhelmed Koguma, she was touching the Cub here and there as though it was a kitten.
Reiko seemed satisfied after looking at the Cub for a while. She brushed her hair up and spoke.
“I ride a motorcycle to school too. Wanna see?”
Koguma wouldn’t know anything even if she was shown a motorcycle, and honestly, she didn’t want to see it, but Reiko was peering into Koguma’s face with a face that said, “Look at it, look at it!”, and she nodded in spite of herself.
When she saw Reiko pushing her bike from around the back of the parking area, Koguma understood why she talked to her.
The bright red bike that belonged to Reiko was a scooter that was similar and different to Koguma’s. Reiko explained it to her without her asking.
“Honda MD90, Postal Service Cub.”
It was a type of Cub that was often parked in front of the post office, and even the postman who delivered mail to Koguma’s apartment rode one.
Even Koguma, who didn’t know much about bikes, somehow knew by looking that they had the same body. If the bikes were animals, then their torsos would be almost the same shape, but the front and back parts corresponding to the legs were slightly different.
Its tires were a size smaller, and it had a variety of accessories around the handles. Compared to Koguma’s practically new Cub, it had scratches here and there.
On a closer look, it wasn’t just the color and front and rear legs, but many parts that were different from Koguma’s Cub.
The brake lever was made of a blue coated material, and it had an adjustment knob at the base. It had a shape that was easy to grip with two fingers, and it somewhat gave off the feeling of modern climbing equipment. The brake lever on Koguma’s Cub was a dull silver with a bare aluminum surface, and the shape was similar to the one on her bicycle.
Reiko’s red Cub was blue in many places.
The spring that supported the back tire, the rim of the headlight, the handle grips, the blinkers that were smaller than the ones on Koguma’s Cub, and the chain and gears that were exposed on Koguma’s Cub with the cover removed. The wires extending from the handles had a uniform blue finish, and their shape was also slightly different. The number of screws that were exposed on the bike surface were also blue. Koguma didn’t think that the Cubs she saw when she went to the post office for something had these kinds of blues.
She wondered if this was one of those modified bikes. Even Koguma, who had no interest in motorcycles, knew that there were people in this world with such a hobby by looking at the magazine section in a bookstore. However, she didn’t understand this preference that was like applying over the top decorations to the shoes you wore every day.
Reiko opened the box of the same color that was affixed to the back of the red Cub. She put on the blue helmet and gloves she took out from it. That convenient box was the only thing that was on this red and blue Cub but not on hers that Koguma was interested in.
Reiko inserted the blue key into the Postal Cub and put her blue suede short boot-clad foot on the kick lever. Even the lever was a slender blue lever, different in shape and color from the one on Koguma’s Cub, which was an iron bar with a rubber grip. Reiko’s Cub started up with a much louder sound than Koguma’s Cub.
Koguma’s hearing, followed by her gaze, was drawn to the sounds and exhaust fumes spitted out by the muffler. Even when she saw custom cars in town, the fact that they mainly produced bothersome sounds was a characteristic part in a sense.
The muffler on Reiko’s Cub was about half the length of the one on Koguma’s Cub. The muffler, which looked like it was made by cutting and bending a metal pipe as thick as a water pipe, emitted a thick and low sound like a large vehicle, not something you would expect from the same scooter as Koguma’s Cub or the delivery mopeds in town.
The muffler of Reiko’s Postal Cub, a red Cub with blue modified parts, had turned a bluish rainbow color with the high heat of the exhaust.
Reiko, wearing a motocross-type helmet that covered her face, put her face close to Koguma.
“I’m sorry for being the only one talking. I was happy to meet a fellow Cub rider.”
That was all Reiko said, and then she took off, making a lot of noise.
After standing in the parking area for a while, exhausted from dealing with people, Koguma started her Cub’s engine and put on her helmet. She kicked up the stand, pushed the Cub to outside the parking area and straddled it, then started the engine and headed off. A quiet, easy on the ears, and unremarkable sound.
On her way home, she was thinking about what to do if she met that classmate, Reiko, in the classroom tomorrow.
Should I say something to her tomorrow? No, she’s probably done with me after I showed her my bike today, and I won’t have to talk to her or have her make me feel so tired tomorrow.
However, she thought that if Reiko was the one to talk to her, she should at least say a little something to her.
For now, they had Cubs as a topic they had in common.
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