by Simon Archer
“Can you believe it?” she started. “There are so many kinds of rocks! I just want to take one of each home!”
“You realize you can’t do that, right?” I was instantly nervous that she’d started collecting treasures that it was illegal to even pick up.
“Yes, silly,” she said, smiling. “I won’t break any rules!” With a flip of her tail, she was off again. She was right, however. There were more rock types than I’d seen on a decent hike in a while. Mount Kitadake was part of a range that made up a composite volcano, so the geological variance was vast. A benefit of that was that the vegetation was also extremely varied because of the richness of the soil.
We were about four hours into our hike when Daiki held up his hand for us to stop. Then he pointed off to his right. The girls and I looked to see what he wanted us to notice. About twenty yards away, there was a bed of various alpine flowers. Most I didn’t recognize, but there was one that I did know. It was the Callianthemum hondoense. Ellie had told me about it, and it was a favorite amongst hikers, according to Daiki. The small, white flower had a burst of yellow stamens in the middle, but the leaves on the plant were what was most interesting. Each bright green bunch looked like the cross between clovers and smooth bromeliad leaves, all clustered one on top of the other. The whole plant wasn’t a foot tall, but it still added a quaintness to the landscape that made it even more beautiful.
Daiki decided to have us take our lunch next to the flower bed, so we found a nearby rock large enough for him and me to sit on and pulled out some dehydrated meat sticks and our canteens. We ate quickly because we wanted to reach the summit before the sun was down. As we were packing up to leave, Daiki asked me something. Ellie was standing nearby and came over to translate.
“How do you know my father?” he’d asked. It was a question I wasn’t ready for. I had no idea who this man’s father was. I looked at Ellie and shrugged.
“Please ask him who his father is. I think he may have me confused with someone else.” I told her. I watched his face as Ellie asked him my question. When she was done, he smiled and said something back to her. She nodded and looked back at me.
“His father is Isamu Sato,” Ellie told me, a cautious look on her face. Daiki must have seen the confusion in my expression because he added to his answer. Ellie told me he’d said, “when my father found out about your intention to climb, he wanted to make sure you had a proper guide.” I looked at him for a moment, choosing my next words carefully.
“Your father was kind enough to entertain a business proposal we had for him,” I said, hoping it would satisfy Daiki’s curiosity. It did not.
“I’ve been a guide to many of my father’s business acquaintances,” Ellie translated. “None of them ever actually wanted to be on the mountain, but they all wanted to make a good impression on me for their own benefit. You are different.” I tipped my head to the side slightly and looked at him. Regardless of the language barrier, I could tell by his tone that his line of questioning was genuine and not meant to intimidate or insult.
“Ellie,” I said. “Tell Daiki that I do apologize for not knowing that he was Mr. Sato’s son. Also, tell him that, had I known, there was no reason for me to treat him differently. He was his own man, as was apparent by his confidence, and his choice of profession.” Ellie translated quickly, and I waited for a response.
“I do not mind not being known as my father’s son when it comes to business matters,” Ellie reported Daiki had said. “It is a welcome surprise to know you are honorable in your intentions with your dealings with my father.” Now it was Daiki who was watching me for a response.
“It is a great compliment where I come from, to be recommended professionally by one’s father,” I told Ellie to convey. “A compliment you are very deserving of, from my experience today. It is a pleasure to hike with a guide as knowledgeable and informative as you are.”
When Ellie was done translating, Daiki stood up, put his hands together, and bowed. I did the same.
As we got underway again, I wondered if Isamu Sato had arranged to have his son guide us as some sort of character test. I couldn’t blame him if so, after all he’d gone through with Omnicorp. I was curious about how Daiki ended up in a line of work so different from his father’s. Perhaps there was another sibling who was set to take over Isamu’s empire. Regardless, I liked Daiki and was comforted by the fact that the man I was about to do business with had a son with such down-to-earth qualities.
My attention turned back to the hike when the terrain started to steepen. We’d made very good time on the lower portion of the mountain but started to slow while navigating complicated ground. Every now and then, I had to remind myself to look up and take in what was around me instead of only focusing on reaching the summit. The higher we got, the more dazzled I was by the view. Of course, we could see Mt. Fuji, but it was the multi-colored features of the Southern Japan Alps that were unusual. The way the light played off the different types of stone and vegetation made the surrounding mountainsides look individually painted.
Hours ticked past, and the colors got even brighter and more varied as the sun got closer to the earth. Ellie and Kennedi pointed out every new color they saw. The amazement on their faces was truly entertaining. Finally, just as we reached the summit, the sky exploded into an orange, pink, and gold kaleidoscope of color.
Kennedi stood on one side of me, Ellie on the other, and both took hold of one of my hands. With Daiki standing a couple of feet away, the four of us stood there, silent, soaking in the beauty. The sky shifted in color and hue as the sun slowly sank away, leaving a quickly advancing dark in its wake. When the last rays of light faded, the temperature started to drop quickly. There was just enough light glowing from behind the mountains to see by, so we turned to start our descent. The Katoano-koya hut was less than a mile back down the mountain, and that was where we were staying the night.
We started filing down the mountain, following Daiki. We were in an area with jagged rocks and wooden ladders, so Daiki was taking it slow. The girls and I made it to the bottom of a rock pile and waited for Daiki to go down on the terrain ladders that had been put on the mountain to assist hikers. We could see his silhouette as he neared the bottom of the ladder.
Then we heard a tremendous CRACK! The shadow that was Daiki dropped several feet as the rung of the ladder he was standing on broke. When he hit the rocks below, his body fell sideways and was hanging off a boulder. An eerie silence followed. Then Kennedi started yelling.
“DAIKI! CLARK! His leg is jammed between the rocks!” She could see him clearly with the incredible night-sight that was typical of cat girls. The three of us scrambled to get to Daiki. Ellie and Kennedi went down in front of me to check the terrain so that I didn’t end up in the same place Daiki was. There was a rock next to Daiki that was just big enough for one person to stand on. I gently stepped over to it when I reached his level.
The sky was getting darker with every passing moment.
Once on the rock, I crouched down to see what condition Daiki was in. He hadn’t made a single sound since the fall. I pulled a flashlight off the carabiner that it was hanging from on my pack and shone the light on Daiki. His leg was jammed, clear up to his knee, in between the two rocks that the ladder was supposed to have taken him over. I could see blood soaking through his pant leg.
I moved my light slowly, following the outline of his body. When his leg jammed, he had fallen sideways over the side of the boulder he’d landed on, and was hanging there by his leg. If his leg slipped loose, he would fall into another rock pile some thirty feet below. He wasn’t moving, and there was blood dripping from his head. I held my breath for a moment to listen. A couple of seconds later, I heard a faint wheezing. He was still breathing. A wave of relief washed over me. Now that I knew he wasn’t dead, I had to make sure he stayed that way.
“Ellie! Get a chopper!” I screamed up the hill. “Kennedi! I need you here. If he wasn’t hanging over the edge, I’
d let the paramedics move him because it is obvious he’s hit his head. Hanging at that angle, though, he may fall to his death before they get here.” I saw Ellie go perfectly still while she created an internet connection. Then Kennedi circled around below where I was and climbed up a path on the other side of the rock that was smashing Daiki’s leg. She was careful not to disturb the ground in any way that may move the rock. When she got to the other side of it, I shone my light on Daiki’s leg.
“Can you wedge this open so I can pull him out?” I searched her face.
“Yes,” she said calmly. “He’ll have to be upright first, or his weight will pull both of you down the mountain. I can pull him up so we can strap him to your climbing harness.” She braced herself and leaned far over the edge of the boulder to try to reach Daiki’s arm to pull him up. She flattened herself out across the top and the side of the boulder and stretched out. When his arm was in her grasp, she started to pull him up.
I took off my pack, pulled out my rope, and put the rope on the ground beside me. I flattened myself against the rocks I would be hauling Daiki over to get him back to the top of the mountain. It only gave me a slight angle forward, but it should be enough for Kennedi to get Daiki strapped to me without the two of us falling backward.
“Are you set?” Kennedi checked.
“Yes!” I said. A moment later, I felt part of Daiki’s weight start to pull back on me. She got him up as far as she could, wedged her foot in the cracks where his leg was jammed, pushed, and spread the rocks open, releasing his leg. She hoisted him up so she could finish strapping him to my harness. When Kennedi saw that he was strapped on securely, she took the end of the climbing rope and scurried up the side of the mountain. When she was above us, at the top, she sat down, wound the rope around her, and leaned back. She held the rope attached to me in one hand, and the slack end in the other. She would be what caught us if I was to slip for some reason.
My heart was pounding in my ears. I took a deep breath and held it in. The sound of blood pumping in my ears got deafeningly loud. Then I let the air out and did my best to calm my nerves. Adrenaline was what was going to get Daiki out of here alive, and I didn’t need to waste it on my own nervousness. I reached up as high as I could and found two solid hand-holds above me. I hung from the rocks I had hold of for a split second before being able to find toe-holds for some stability, and then I started pulling Daiki and me up.
Every muscle in my arms, chest, and back instantly protested. The further up I got, the faster I scrambled to find new foot-holds, then hand-holds. I reached up with my right hand. Then with my left. Then I’d pull and repeat the process.
At some point, everything went numb, and I noticed the dark mountainside became quiet. There was no more Kennedi or Ellie shouting. There was no heavy breathing from my own chest, or rocks sliding under my body. It was perfectly quiet. I could feel the warmth of Daiki’s blood drip down my neck where his head was laying, but nothing else. It was a completely serene moment until I had the realization that I was about to pass out. The thought scared me, and I snapped myself back to a conscious state, thankful I hadn’t completely gone under. I looked up as best I could and saw Kennedi’s shoes just a few feet above me. I found two new hand-holds, grabbed on, and pulled with all my might one last time. I heard a pop in my elbow but kept pulling.
Finally, I felt some of the weight being lifted off my back and Ellie’s hand on my shoulder, holding on to my jacket. As soon as Kennedi had Daiki released from my harness, Ellie pulled me the rest of the way up. She turned me over and laid me on my back next to Daiki. I went to push myself up to a sitting position, but my arm wouldn’t work.
“Stay down,” Kennedi told me in a tone sterner than I’d ever heard her use. “Ellie, how long?”
“Three minutes out,” Ellie answered. I could only assume they were talking about the helicopter.
“Did you tell them there were two?” Kennedi checked.
“Yes. They are ready,” Ellie answered. The two of them sounded far away. I needed to ask them something.
“Ken… Kennedi,” I stammered, not realizing that speaking would be a feat. “How are we going to get down to camp?”
“Oh, Clark,” Kennedi said quietly, and I felt her hand on my face.
“You are going with the helicopter, Clark.” I heard Ellie’s no-nonsense voice say as I closed my eyes. “Kennedi and I will hike back down and meet you at the hospital.”
“The hospital. That’s a good idea, Ellie. I should go to the hospital with Daiki to make sure he’s okay.” That was the last thing I remembered of being on the beautiful summit of Mount Kita.
22
I blinked my eyes open against an extremely bright light. I didn’t know where I was, and everything around me smelled strange. I turned my head on my pillow and could see the outline of a figure beside the bed I was in. It was unmistakably Kennedi. I blinked a few more times until she came into view.
“Good morning,” she whispered. I felt her hand on mine. I tried to sit up, but it felt like two hundred pounds of weight was sitting on my chest, so I stopped.
“Where am I?” I could see her smiling. It was a relieved smile.
“You are at the hospital in Tokyo,” she told me. I turned my head back and looked up at the ceiling. I could see the white tiles and recessed lights now that my vision had cleared.
“How long have I been here?” My brain was fuzzy. The kind of fuzzy you feel when you’ve slept too long and can’t seem to wake up.
“This is your second day,” Kennedi said. “You were asleep for about thirty-four hours.” I looked at her again and then closed my eyes. I tried to remember the last time I was awake. I remembered lights, a lot of wind, and a rope. Then a face flashed through my mind. I looked at Kennedi once more.
“Daiki,” I whispered.
“He is okay,” she said. “He has a broken leg and a concussion. He had to have a blood transfusion because he lost a lot of it, but otherwise, he is fine.” She smiled softly at me. The more she said, the more the fog cleared in my mind. I remembered him falling, and Kennedi strapping him to my back. Then I remembered the loud pop I heard from my elbow and looked at my right arm. It was in a cast that stretched from shoulder to thumb.
“What happened here?” I tried to move it, but nothing was happening.
“You dislocated your elbow pulling the two of you up the slope,” she started. “It would’ve just been a bit sore, but you climbed another ten feet after it happened, so you ripped everything holding the top and bottom of your arm together. They had to do surgery.” Kennedi looked down at the floor, ashamed.
“What’s wrong?” I mustered enough strength to turn the hand she was holding over and grasp hers.
“I couldn’t heal your arm because all the damage was internal,” she said slowly. “Then they took you away before I could heal your chest.” I looked down at my chest and saw a mound of gauze taped to it.
“What happened to my chest?” I was starting to wonder if I could feel any of my body.
“You were losing strength, so when you pulled the two of you over the last rock, you couldn’t hold yourself off it. It severed your pectoral muscles almost all the way through.” She was still looking at the floor.
I tried to think of a way to make her feel better. Kennedi, and all cat girls, have the ability to heal wounds with their saliva. She had been the reason I was able to survive all the injuries I sustained when I fought on the platform. What would normally have taken weeks to heal, she would have treated and gone in a matter of days.
“Don’t worry, Kennedi,” I told her gently. “Let’s get out of here, and you can take care of the wounds. The internal injuries are apparently healing, or I wouldn’t be awake to talk to you about them.” She blinked and looked up at me. She gave me a weak half-smile. Just then, Ellie walked in the door behind Kennedi. She was followed closely by a blonde-haired man in a white lab coat.
“Hello, Clark,” the man said. “I’m Dr. Kubota
. It’s good to see the color of your eyes. How are you feeling?”
“Hi, doctor.” I wasn’t sure I’d be able to give him a thorough answer because I still couldn’t feel my arm or chest. He must have seen me struggling to give him an evaluation of myself.
“If you are wondering why you can’t feel the right side of your upper body, it is because you are still under the effects of a spinal block we gave you in order to perform the surgery on your arm,” he explained.
“That makes some sense,” I said. “I’m having a little trouble with the details of how I ended up here, but other than that, nothing hurts.”
“It will,” Dr. Kubota said. I was a little shocked by his bluntness but appreciative of it at the same time. “When the block wears off, you’ll feel it. As for the memory, that will come back clearly as the pain meds wear off as well.”
“You have me on a spinal block and pain meds?” I wasn’t a fan of medications.
“Yes,” he answered while checking the IV I hadn’t realized I had hooked to my arm. “It’s best to control the pain before the block wears off, which will be in about an hour or so. Otherwise, you’d end up taking four times the amount of medication to get it within manageable levels.”
“When can I leave?” It was the only question that was really waiting to come out.
“Tomorrow, if your pain is controlled,” he answered. He started to walk out the door, and I saw Kennedi glaring at him.
“Hey, Dr. Kubota,” I stopped him. “I’d like my CG here to be allowed to treat my wounds.”
“Sorry, Clark. That is against hospital policy,” Dr. Kubota said and kept heading for the door. Kennedi stood up and looked and raised her voice.
