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After finishing her afternoon classes, Koguma put on her Arai Classic open-faced helmet and mounted her Cub that had a box and front basket attached to it yesterday.
Reiko’s home was in the opposite direction, and she drove away with her tires squealing and the muffler of her Postal Cub emitting a thick, low sound that did not sound like it came from the same Cub like Koguma’s.
Koguma slowly set out on the prefectural road on her way home.
It was much more convenient to keep the helmet inside the Cub’s steel box instead of carrying it around in her helmet bag like she did until now. She thought it felt good to put the day pack she carried on her back into the basket and ride without any bags on her back.
Feeling lighter than yesterday, Koguma turned right at the traffic light where the prefectural road intersected the Koushuu Kaidou.
She decided to go to the shopping center again today. She didn’t have anything in particular to buy, but a short detour of about a kilometer wasn’t a waste of time, and she might actually find something to buy there.
Besides, she wanted to ride around in her Cub with new equipment. Koguma headed east along the Koushuu Kaidou.
It was a weekday afternoon, and the main road was both crowded and empty. Other cars and motorcycles were passing Koguma’s Cub.
Ever since she bought this Cub, the speedometer needle had only moved to the top of the meter.
Even so, it was faster than the bicycle she had ridden, and it was sufficient to fulfill Koguma’s needs, but she felt like it wasn’t the most optimal speed on a public road where she wasn’t the only one driving.
It was safer to keep a good distance from the other cars and go with the flow of traffic at the same speed than to drive slowly and be surpassed by other cars. Koguma had become good at pulling over to the side of the road when a car came up behind her and letting it pass her, but sometimes there were cars that brushed past her at close range, as though to harass her.
In order for Koguma to reach her ideal speed, she must tilt the speedometer needle from the top to the right. The Cub had the ability to do this. Koguma made sure there were no cars before and behind her and turned the Cub’s throttle.
The engine sound and the sound of the wind changed. The Cub was gaining speed steadily, but Koguma turned the throttle back.
She wasn’t that scared or anxious about the speed she had never rode at before, but her helmet didn’t have a transparent shield to cover her face. The wind hit her face and hurt her eyes.
Koguma slowed down. She soon reached the shopping center that was about a kilometer from the intersection. After parking, she entered the supermarket, looked around, and then quickly returned to the parking area where she had parked her Cub.
The monthly scholarship deposit day was coming up, and the inside of her wallet was looking quite empty, but Koguma wanted to make sure of something before she went shopping.
She climbed on top of her Cub, put on her helmet, tightened the strap more carefully than usual and put on her gloves. She adjusted the collar of her rustic summer uniform that consisted of a navy blue skirt, blouse, and navy blue vest, and buttoned up properly.
Koguma started the Cub’s engine and accelerated as soon as she reached the national highway.
The needle on the speedometer reached the apex, and from there it tilted even further to the other side.
Even though it was a used Cub, there wasn’t anything obviously wrong with it, and even Koguma could tell that it still had a lot of power left in it. She carefully checked her own adaptation to that speed rather than that of the Cub.
She was concerned about her uniform flapping in the wind, but she knew that her kinetic vision and semicircular canals were receiving an increasing amount of information in proportion with the speed.
She reached the intersection where her apartment was a turn away, but she went straight through the intersection and rode some more.
As she thought, the current Koguma could only use half of the speedometer.
A Cub with enough ability to run faster than it did now. Koguma, who was adapting to speed.
But, the wind hit her face and made her eyes hurt. Unless she did something about it, she wouldn’t be able to go any faster.
Koguma turned on the national highway and returned to her apartment. She had to solve this problem.
After the out-of-gas incident and the luggage box, now it was time to deal with the wind. The Cub had given Koguma constant challenges ever since she bought it.
Strangely, Koguma didn’t think of it as a pain or burden.
At the very least, Koguma hadn’t been bored since she started riding the Cub.
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