Previous | TOC | Next
The two were spending the night at Reiko’s cabin.
Koguma wrapped herself in the borrowed sleeping bag and laid down on the floor.
There was a thick wool rug spread out on the cabin’s floor, so it wasn’t uncomfortable to sleep. Even in the northern part of Yamanashi, where it was said that air conditioning wasn’t needed at night in the summer, the villa area where Reiko lived was cool and comfortable.
It was supposed to be just coming over to hang out for a little bit, but as it turned out, she ended up having dinner with her and staying the night for some reason.
Next to her, Reiko was on a simple bed with a mattress on top of beer cases, playing on her phone.
Feeling a little unsettled in the environment that was different from usual, Koguma spoke to Reiko next to her.
“What are you doing for the rest of summer vacation?”
Koguma and Reiko had about a week left of their summer vacation.
She had been doing her homework on a daily basis, so she wouldn’t be in a panic at the end of summer vacation, but she spent most of her vacation working, so she couldn’t feel comfortable with having nothing to do anymore.
Reiko immediately answered her question.
“I’m going to fix my Cub.”
When Reiko’s Cub was brought into the cabin, it was wrecked in many places. Koguma had assumed that she would be depressed and unable to recover if her Cub was damaged to this extent, but there might be a way of thinking where fixing it was more fun.
“What are you going to do?”
Koguma answered without giving it much thought. The real reason she came here today was to consult with Reiko.
“I’m going to get my license.”
Reiko got up from her bed.
“By license, you mean for a motorcycle?”1
Koguma nodded.
By taking a part-time job riding her Cub from Hokuto to Koufu and back, Koguma broadened her range of activities and discovered the convenience and fun of the Cub scooter.
At the same time, the inconvenience of a scooter was made known to her.
There was an unrealistic maximum legal speed limit for scooters less than or equal to 50cc. In Yamanashi, where she lived, it was rare to see police arresting local farmers or students riding their scooters above the legal limit, but it was still a speeding violation.
There were several times when Koguma saw a police car and felt a chill in her heart, even though she hadn’t committed any particular violation.
There were also the hook turns at intersections, difficult to understand things that were unique to 50cc scooters. At a three-lane intersection where scooters were required to make hook turns, Koguma had been cautioned several times by police officers or patrol cars occupying the intersection for inadvertently turning into the right lane.
According to the female teacher at the Koufu high school who she met through her part-time job, in her home prefecture, it was very common for the police to see a scooter turn into the right lane, not caution it right away and let it turn, then arresting the rider and giving them a ticket.
Thinking that cops on the street corner were then nothing more than cash dispensers, Koguma decided to use the money she had earned from her job, which she hadn’t decided how to spend, for herself rather than giving it to the uniformed ATMs on the streets.
“You’re getting a motorcycle license.”
Reiko said after hearing Koguma’s decision.
“Your Cub is 50cc. That won’t change even if you get the license.”
“I’ll think about that afterward.”
When Reiko heard that, she got up from her bed. She ran to the corner of the room and turned on her desktop PC.
“If that’s what you decided, then let’s make a reservation as soon as possible.”
Koguma had been vaguely thinking about getting a motorcycle license. As soon as Reiko heard about that, she opened the website of a driving school in nearby Nirasaki and completed the application for Koguma’s admission.
According to Reiko, someone who hesitated over the reputation and facilities of driving schools would be lost about what to do in the end and miss the chance to get their license while they were confused. So it was decided that she would go to the driving school closest to her house, where Reiko had gotten her motorcycle license last year.
“Enrollment procedures and lessons should be tomorrow morning.”
Reiko was as pushy and dynamic as ever. Koguma pressed her hands against her cheeks that seemed to be loosening up without her even realizing it before speaking.
“Then I better get to sleep right away.”
The next day, Koguma began her motorcycle lessons.
The only time Reiko helped her was when she enrolled in the school, and since then she had spent the remainder of her summer vacation repairing her Cub without offering any advice to Koguma during her lessons.
At the end of summer vacation, Koguma obtained her motorcycle license. Reiko also seemed to have finished repairing her Postal Cub.
August was over for both Koguma and Reiko, and they were now in the second semester of their second year of high school.
1 I probably shouldn't use motorbike, moped, and scooter interchangeably for this series, but here Koguma is saying that she wants to get a license for a standard motorcycle, which in Japan refers to any motorcycle with an engine displacement of over 50cc. Koguma's first license is a moped license, which means she can only ride motorcycles less than or equal to 50cc.↩
Magic, thank you so much, really appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMuch better explanation than the anime or the manga, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThankyou for the translation. Now I've learned about hook turns. Explains why she took the engine from 49cc to 52cc in the anime, which I thought was pointless at the time.
ReplyDelete