Super Cub Volume 1 Chapter 50 - My Cub

 This is the last chapter of volume 1, but there's still a bonus short story

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With Reiko, who was tall for a girl, on the back of her Cub, the ride started out slow, but once it got up to speed, it went surprisingly well.

The Cub that delivered the newspaper early in the morning rode around carrying an even heavier-looking bundle of newspapers. It was probably no problem for such a Cub to carry a girl.

The two didn’t decide on a purpose or destination, but Koguma started riding towards the mountains of Kamakura, opposite the way she had come.

Reiko had been quiet since they left the ryokan on the Cub. Koguma also rode along the beach without saying a word. To remove the barriers that caused Reiko to hesitate to speak, it was better to be some place where they could hear each other and the Cub.

The sea in Shonan that she saw on the way here was beautiful, but both Koguma and Reiko lived in the mountains of Hokuto. They felt more at home surrounded by the sounds of the forest and trees.

The Cub briskly rode along the Asahina Pass in northern Kamakura. Reiko, who was holding onto Koguma’s back and listening to the sound of the Cub, opened her mouth. She spoke in Koguma’s ear.

“It seems that it’s the end for my Cub.” 

Reiko rode a MD90 Cub, the type used by the postal service. Koguma had noticed that her opportunities to ride her Cub had been decreasing since she took on Mount Fuji during summer vacation.

“The engine, wiring, and suspension are all dead. And the frame is cracked.”

That was probably an excuse. With the equipment and parts in Reiko’s house, it would be easy to reassemble her Cub. Even the Postal Service Cub, whose body was difficult to obtain, had its parts widely available like for a regular Cub. Even so, Reiko saying that it was the end meant that her feelings for her current Cub were over.

“So I’m thinking of buying a new Cub. A store I know says that they have a CT available.”

Reiko’s voice completely changed and turned lively. This was the moment of new encounters motorcyclists experienced many times in their lifetime. Koguma experienced it as well. A few months ago, in front of that used-bike shop.

“A CT is a Hunter Cub, right? A Cub that travels on these mountain roads.”

“Yes. They had finally stopped making them and there’s no more new ones. They’re still in demand overseas, though.”

Ever since Koguma started riding a Cub, her eyes were naturally drawn to any reading material where Cubs showed up.

She knew that the CT110, an off-road Cub for export, was used in many countries as a farm bike for agriculture and cattle breeding, and was also favored by postal workers, mountain rangers, and landmine-clearing teams in remote areas. 

A few years ago, the Cub 90 was replaced by the new Cub 20, which was produced overseas, followed by the renewed body of the Cub 50, and the production of the Hunter Cub with the old body was discontinued.

“There’s a new Cross Cub out.”

“Do you really think a leisure bike like that can replace the CT? It’s over. The days when the Cub was the world’s most powerful farm bike is over.”

Reiko was a Cub rider with more experience and skill than Koguma, but Koguma thought that she had an overly sentimental view of the Cub. She stubbornly turned her back to the fact that the machine evolved and became something newer and better.

However, Koguma, who got to know Reiko through the Cub, could see that she was looking away from the new Cub, but also glancing at it with some interest. Perhaps in a few more years, Reiko would be riding the new Cub she hated so much.

The way Reiko treated her Cub was different from that of Koguma, who thought of her Cub as a tool to be used everyday without hesitation, not a stuffed animal to be cherished and loved. There were probably as many differences as there were Cubs.

Maybe those differences would change in the future. For both Koguma and Reiko.

At least when Koguma began riding a Cub, she learned that the latest wasn’t always the best.

For the time being, Koguma just voiced that no matter how much her position or state of mind changed, she wouldn’t change and didn’t want to change. 

“You should take good care of your Cub.”

She heard laughter from behind her. Reiko slapped Koguma’s Cub with her palm.

”That’s right, because it’s a Cub, I’m sure you won’t have trouble finding parts for it in another ten years. It will keep running forever.”

“You think so?”

It seemed to Koguma that even fifty or a hundred years from now, the Super Cub would still be running around town, distributing newspapers, mail, and deliveries, and carrying salespeople, policemen, farmers, and young people.

“If you buy a Hunter Cub, give me a ride on it.”

“After I finish breaking it in. When it arrives, I’m going to ride it carefully first.”

Koguma’s Cub travelled along with the two of them riding on it.

Surely, it would continue to travel with the things precious to Koguma to where she wished to be.

Honda Super Cub.

Since its launch in 1958, it has been used around the world as a small motorcycle with outstanding performance, and its total production was about to reach 100 million units.

Koguma’s youth was one of the 100,000,000 stories created by the Super Cub.

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