Super Cub Volume 1 Chapter 32 - Summit

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It has been a few days since Reiko started working at the store at Subashiri 5th Station. Reiko’s attempt on the mountain continued.

She climbed the bulldozer trail that many famous off-road bikers had once trod, using her own Postal Cub.

On the first day, she had fallen down in a heap just past the 7th Station. It was the same on the second day, as a sharp stone had taken out her tire near the 7th Station, and she couldn’t go any further.

On the third day, when the 8th Station was in sight, Reiko herself ran into trouble. She suffered from altitude sickness caused by the rapid ascent of the mountain and was assailed by a severe dizziness.

Reiko and the Postal Cub’s injuries increased day by day, but their climb to the summit always stalled in the same spot. Is this my limit? I can’t surpass the wall that surrounds me and inconveniences me. Am I someone who has no choice but to live inside a fence? I refuse to admit that.

The early morning. After finishing her part-time job of loading cargo as usual, Reiko got out her Postal Cub and started the engine.

She was dressed in the same plain blue-gray work clothes and safety shoes she had been wearing since she came here.

The store owner, who tolerated Reiko’s actions that ran contrary to the spirit of nature conservation that Mount Fuji touted in recent years, and even took the trouble to create a job that would allow Reiko to check the weather and road conditions in order to ride her bike on the bulldozer trail, came to her.

“Don’t put your body up against the mountain. Let your body follow it.”

That was all he said before returning to his work. The words of the old store owner, who had conquered mountains all over the world as a mountain climber until he lost his toes to frostbite, made Reiko feel like she had been stabbed in the chest.

I might be straining myself too much. In order to overcome the obstacles to her actions and freedom, she decided to climb Mount Fuji, the first place she thought of that was high.

The result was that after treading on Mount Fuji and trying to make it yield to her, she couldn’t even cling on to its feet and gave up.

She even forgot to smile because of the string of defeats of the past few days. Climbing Mount Fuji on her Cub. Why do I feel like I’m being tormented by a hateful enemy even though I’m doing something so fun?

She looked up again at the mountain she had casually looked at before. The air was clear today, and she could see the top of the mountain clearly. Fuji in summer, with a light coating of snow on the summit. She thought that it was a beautiful mountain. Let’s take a closer look. It must be even more beautiful if I can look down from a higher place.

Reiko put her Postal Cub in first gear, revved the engine, and started up the trail.

The bulldozer trail was still tough today.

The road, which was adapted for the vehicles with continuous tracks used for mountain climbing to transport supplies and rescue the sick and wounded, was a gravel road formed of large sharp stones that a motorcycle would have to constantly push through with a lot of torque.

When she coasted or slowed down, a large pebble would get lodged in her tires and block her progress.

The Cub, which Reiko had specially built for this challenge, was light enough to show off plenty of power on level ground, but on the bulldozer trail, where the steep slope and strong road resistance put a constant strain on it, it was difficult to make progress without constantly maintaining a high rpm. 

As she repeated the challenge, she was able to pass the 5th and 6th Stations without any problems. After the 6th Station, the slope of the road towards the 7th Station became steeper, and she began to understand how to ride on it. After a series of stretches and near-180 degree turns, she reached the 7th Station.

There was a boundary between the temperature and pressure in the mountains, and after the 7th Station, she suddenly felt dizzy. She bit the inside of her cheek to bring herself back to consciousness. She quickly loosened her bite so that she wouldn’t bite it off from all the vibrations, but she bit too hard and tasted blood.

While spitting out the taste of life running through her body, she looked in the direction of the 8th Station, which was still not in sight.

The dizziness didn’t bother her anymore. She was sure she was getting used to the altitude after the attempts of the past few days.

Her bike moved in the direction of her gaze. Don’t look down, look up. But on a trail littered with small and big stones, it was impossible to choose a viable route without constantly looking at the road surface.

Reiko rode and climbed while repeating the act of looking down for a fraction of a second and then gazing up longer.

Information about the direction of travel and the road surface entered her brain at the same time. She wondered if humans were capable of such a thing. She felt as if she could see scenery around her that she couldn’t see before. What was spread out below her eyes was the world she was living in. It looked tiny from here.

The distant 8th Station was coming into view. She wondered how far it was from here to the summit.

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