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“Stupid.”
After Reiko told her about her own summer vacation, Koguma summed her up with one word.
Reiko burst into laughter while picking up the okonomiyaki Koguma had made with chopsticks.
“Well, that’s true. Even I thought to myself, why did I do such a stupid thing?”
Koguma, who didn’t like to eat while cooking, fried several pieces of okonomiyaki in a frying pan. When she saw Reiko stuffing her mouth in satisfaction, she extended her chopsticks.
The okonomiyaki was still a little hot for her cat tongue, and she swallowed a slice of okonomiyaki while huffing and puffing to cool it down in her mouth. She sipped on her cold glass of unsweetened carbonated water before speaking.
“Riding a bike up Mount Fuji is stupid.”
Reiko lived in a log cabin in a villa area in northern Hokuto City.
It was the last week of summer vacation. Koguma visited here today.
When Reiko returned to Hokuto after finishing her job at a mountain lodge in order to climb Mount Fuji by motorcycle, she half-forcefully invited Koguma, who had also finished her part-time job delivering documents between Hokuto and Koufu, to her house.
They were acquaintances and talked often at school, but they rarely saw each other after school, and it was unsure if they had the kind of relationship where they could call each other friends.
Reiko also knew that Koguma wasn’t a person who didn’t seek communication much. Today, Koguma readily rode her Cub to Reiko’s house, even though she thought she would refuse. Perhaps the Cub had the power to change people’s footwork.
The two ate okonomiyaki, drank carbonated water, and had a more lively conversation than usual at the cabin.
Koguma recalled the story that the three people who had previously owned her Cub had died in quick succession, feeling like she neither cared nor not cared about it. When she told Reiko about it, it seemed that Reiko had also heard the same gossip through a bike shop she frequented, and she burst into loud laughter.
“The old soba shop owner who bought it first died from drinking too much, it had nothing to do with the Cub. The second owner who owned a bookshop didn’t die, he was in debt and skipped town during the night. The third owner was a priest who simply parted ways with it because his license got suspended.”
Koguma’s slight unease dissipated upon learning that her Cub wasn’t such a sinister object. Though, it seemed that all the previous owners had been good-for-nothing scoundrels.
After eating okonomiyaki for dinner, she continued to talk with Reiko, and the night went on.
It was almost time to leave, and just as Koguma stood up, Reiko stopped her.
“You should stay the night. It’s pitch dark at night around here since there’s no streetlights.”
Koguma decided to accept her invitation. She knew how dark and dangerous the mountain roads were at night in the rural areas. She didn’t want to return home with only the Cub’s small headlamp to rely on.
Reiko tossed a sleeping bag that had been dumped next to her Postal Cub that she had brought indoors.
Koguma was grateful for her casual consideration. It was uncomfortable to be treated like a guest and given the bed in the room, and it seemed that Reiko had noticed her glancing at the sleeping bag during the meal.
Koguma had no camping experience, so she had never used a sleeping bag until now, but whenever she did research on Cubs, she often saw articles about touring experiences with a Cub.
She didn’t think she would ever take an overnight motorcycle trip, but that might not be the case in the future. She might even want to do some camping.
Or, if her current precarious life was turned upside-down by the slightest setback, then she and her Cub could be kicked out of her apartment and forced to live in the wild.
After borrowing the bath, pajamas, and even a toothbrush, Koguma laid down in the mummy-shaped sleeping bag that was spread out next to Reiko’s bed and zipped it up so that it enveloped her body.
Koguma and Reiko went to bed side by side. Reiko looked at her Postal Cub that was in the middle of restoration in the corner of the room as she spoke.
“Maybe I did do something stupid.”
Koguma gave the same response as when she first heard about her Mount Fuji climb.
“Mmm, it is stupid.”
She looked at her green Cub parked alongside Reiko’s red Postal Cub in the corner of the room before adding, “I can’t believe you fell halfway. My Cub would have made it to the top.”
Reiko broke out into laughter, flapping her legs on her bed.
“There’s no way you can do that. You just can’t climb Mount Fuji on a Cub! It’s impossible.”
Koguma knew Reiko didn’t think that at all. The failure to reach the summit this summer was just one defeat in the first round of a challenge that would be repeated many times in the future. She was just putting on a brave front, thinking that one failure was no more than a calculation error.
“It’s stupid, but I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do.”
Inside the dim cabin. Reiko and Koguma’s Cubs. The red and green Cubs, lined up neatly, looked as if they were watching each other’s parents bragging about their child with embarrassed looks on their faces.
August 1963.
A Super Cub had successfully climbed to the summit from the start of the Fujinomiya Trail by a climbing and motorcycle enthusiast living in Yamanashi.
In the same year, the director of the Ueno Zoo completed a climb of Mount Fuji with a mixed team of a Hunter Cub and a Monkey Bike.
Thanks again, this chapter really appreciated
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