Super Cub Volume 1 Chapter 23 - Summer Vacation

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Perhaps her small mistake on the first day had gotten rid of the bad luck, but from the next day onward, her summer vacation job had generally continued smoothly.

At the beginning, she was nervous about going on a long trip on her Cub, which she had only done a few times before, dealing with the staff from another school, and most of all, experiencing her first part-time job. But after many round-trips, her body got used to it. 

The old teacher who handed over the documents to Koguma every morning and the young female teacher in Koufu who received the documents seemed to have realized that Koguma was not good with unnecessary chatter. They had stopped conversing with her except for handing over and receiving the documents, so as to not make her unnecessarily tense and anxious when riding a motorbike on the main road.

Koguma wondered if the job of the motorcycle couriers she sometimes saw when she was living in Tokyo as a child were this kind of job.

Although it was a job that involved interacting with people, there were different manners than those of a supermarket employee or a door-to-door salesperson who were expected to be friendly and make small talk.

If there was such a thing as a job in this world where people couldn’t complain about her unsociability, she thought that working in the customer service industry wouldn’t be so bad.

There were jobs even she could do. With this, she felt like she was a part of society even though she was a student.

Koguma touched the black steel box that was fixed to the rear carrier of the Cub. It looked a bit like a cargo box used by motorcycle couriers.

As schools entered summer break after the post-exam break period, remedial classes for students finished and the teacher training began in earnest.

Koguma’s work became two round-trips a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

The daily wage of 2,000 yen per round trip, paid as a reward for helping with school business, was dutifully deposited in a credit union near the school each time she received it.

The account into which the scholarship money was deposited and from which school expenses and other living expenses were withdrawn had once been almost empty due to the Cub and other related expenses, but now that number was steadily increasing.

She deposited 3,000 from the daily wage of 4,000 yen for two round-trips and put the remaining 1,000 into her wallet.

She refueled once every two days. She found out she could make up to five round trips to Koufu and back with a full tank, so she filled up the tank for four round trips to save some money and used the rest for living and other expenses.

Since she started working during summer vacation, her food expenses have become a little cheaper.

Koguma, who had been relying on instant and ready-made food, began to cook simple meals by herself.

She hadn’t been bad at cooking from the time she lived with her disappeared mother, but she didn’t recognize the necessity of cooking for herself because of the extra time and effort required. Now, she was choosing the ingredients and cooking by herself, little by little.

Unlike school classes, where one could sleep half the time, a loss of concentration in a job where one rode a Cub could lead to an accident, so there was the pragmatic purpose of having to eat well, but there was also the fact that Koguma’s consciousness itself was changing.

She began to use the Cub to go out, whereas before she had relied on her bicycle or public transportation.

She started working and earning money on her own to pay for some of her expenses that had been dependent on the scholarship.

She was doing things on her own initiative and responsibility, not by someone or something else. That was why she would make her own food at the very least.

A part-time job where she went to school at the same time she did during the semester and continued to ride the same course every day.

These repetitive days, with no changes or upheavals, were allowing Koguma to grow up little by little.

Koguma’s Cub had one oil change when it had traveled a hundred kilometers since she bought it. 

The owner of the used bike shop told her that the next oil change would be after five hundred kilometers. She had no idea when that would be, but the time for the second oil change came easily as she continued to work at her job.

Last time she had arrived unannounced, and she was told that she didn’t need to make an appointment for the next time, but she called just in case. She went to the used bike shop after she had finished her job.

The bald shopkeeper, who was doing the same maintenance as last time in the unusually hot weather for northern Yamanashi, looked at the Cub rather than Koguma, who was bowing lightly, and his eyes softened. The shopkeeper stopped the work he was doing and started to change the oil and check the parts of Koguma’s Cub.

He brought the vehicle to the store’s work area, put the center stand on, removed the oil cap, loosened the bolts on the bottom of the engine, placed a saucer and quickly removed the bolts to let the oil drain out.

After visually inspecting the bike parts while the oil drained out, he moved the kick lever and shook the bike to drain the remaining oil, tightened the bolts with new washers, and poured in the new oil.

After filling it to a certain level, he tightened the cap and started the engine. After revving it several times, he turned off the engine, removed the cap, and checked the oil level with the level gauge attached to the gap.

Koguma watched him work carefully. She had only casually observed him during the last oil change.

After inspecting the tires, brakes, chains, and other parts, the shopkeeper spoke as he looked at the oil he had drained from the Cub.

“You’re riding it carefully. Almost too carefully.”

What does he mean “too careful”? She didn’t understand, but she figured that it was something she would learn for herself as she rode her Cub from now on.

She paid five hundred yen for the oil change. This was more expensive than the price of the oil, but she learned from Reiko that it was an unbelievable price for a professional oil change.

Koguma thanked him and left the shop.

Instead of going straight home, she went to a home improvement store in Nirasaki to buy a can of Honda oil, a thousand yen toolset, and an oil disposal box.

The owner of the used bike shop had told her. He said that she should change the oil every thousand kilometers from now on and that it was better to learn to change the oil by herself.

That was why Koguma decided to watch today’s work closely and buy all the necessary items even though it was still too early for the next oil change.

This was Koguma’s Cub, so she could at least change the oil herself.

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