Previous | TOC | Next
Reiko was born to a father who was a city assemblyman in Tokyo and a mother who worked as a catering bento vendor.
Her father always told her to be aware of her own course in life, hoping that his only daughter, Reiko, would find something important enough to bet her life on, just as he had devoted his life to the municipal government of his hometown.
It seemed that no matter what you did, if you thought about how you wanted to be and what direction you wanted to go in, you would naturally decide what you should do.
Her mother, who still worked as the manager of a bento shop, doing everything from making bentos to delivering them, was the opposite. She told her that the future was unpredictable. She should do whatever she felt like doing at the time.
Reiko followed those words, and only recently she had found what seemed to be the answer. She wanted to overcome the walls that obstructed her.
For that reason, starting in high school, Reiko chose to live in their vacation home in Yamanashi with a view of Mount Fuji in the distance, where she had spent her childhood and where she first became aware of the walls that surrounded her, rather than in her Tokyo home with her parents.
Reiko then got a part-time job and obtained a motorcycle license, and with the good fortune of getting a Postal Cub in good condition, she started riding in the mountains of the southern alps, Chichibu, and Tanzawa, which were too tall for her to reach when she was a child.
Reiko, who had rode her Cub through all the firefighting forest paths in the mountains that were inaccessible to cars and climbers, felt that she had seen the true form of the mountains, which looked like nothing more than blue lumps from the city’s perspective, but what always caught her eye while driving along such mountain roads was the highest mountain in Japan.
If I can climb that mountain on my bike, I can overcome the walls that are taking away my freedom, she thought.
The inconvenient position of a teenage high school student wasn’t so painful once you knew that the barriers around you could be overcome at any time if you felt like it.
It was a classmate named Koguma, who she met in high school, who made Reiko decide to go ahead with her plan for Mount Fuji, which she had been somewhat thinking about.
She always looked directly at what she needed and what she should do for herself. That was why she chose the Super Cub as a tool for her daily life and something to give enrichment. She was a girl who could walk without hesitation to the best solution without being confused by preconceptions or eagerness.
She wanted to climb Mount Fuji on her bike. But she didn’t know how to do it. With those thoughts on her mind, Reiko acted by thinking about what Koguma would do.
With a clear awareness of her goal and what actions should be taken, she put together a bike that would allow her to climb Mount Fuji on her own Super Cub, not an off-road bike with a large displacement engine that was adapted to climb Mount Fuji.
Even so, it seemed that she was a bit naive in her expectations, and her specially-made Cub that was tuned with a 110cc engine as its base was screaming on the steep, low-oxygen slopes after the 8th Station.
Reiko soothed the engine of her Cub, which seemed to be slowing down, and continued to ride while focusing on the road ahead.
Not enough oxygen. Not enough fuel. Not enough power.
She wondered if she should have talked with Koguma more. Maybe if she had done that, she would have a better idea of what she needed.
Or should I have tuned the engine more? Or should I have used thicker tires for the front and rear?
It was becoming clear to Reiko that what really needed to become stronger was herself. She had hardly sat down on her seat after the 5th Station. Her body ached all over from standing so long. Her arms, legs, and body were too thin.
Her current ability couldn’t even climb Mount Fuji, which was just a tourist spot with a lot of slopes. It was her unfeigned self.
She pulled herself together again after almost falling off her bike in exhaustion, and squeezed her handlebar grips tightly as they shook and tried to tear her hands off.
If I can see what I’m lacking now, then let’s see how far my small and weak self can go.
The up and down motions of the bike made her body bend and almost tore her away from the Cub. When she stood her body on the mountain, it would tumble down. She got down on her bike. She made her body cling to it in order to hold onto the mountain.
A signpost came into Reiko’s field of vision. She rode past the mountain lodge and climbed further.
It wasn’t until she had been riding for a while that she realized that she had passed the 8th Station.
Great chapters, thanks again.
ReplyDelete