by Amanda Rose
“What is it? Yu-Lee, please go on.” Jenko lifted Yu-Lee’s head with his index finger beneath her chin; his eyes were reassuring. “I know it’s not there anymore but… if I… if I described it to you would you put it on your map? It was the dearest place to me… I, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked. It’s not fair,” she began to talk at a faster pace. “Yu-Lee, Yu-Lee, just relax. I’d love to. Nothing has ever made me as unhappy as having this corner empty. It would be an honour,” his cheeks wrinkled just slightly as he smiled. Her scarlet eyes lit up and she swooped back her long black hair, which shone with purple hues in the moonlight, before she poured her hearts happiest memories out to him in all the detail that her brain could muster.
Masumi crawled into the tent, quite exhausted, and Kairu followed suit not long after. Inside the tent Masumi and Kairu lay facing each other. They had had a wonderful night talking and enjoying the celebratory dinner. Kairu’s smile didn’t last when the illusion was discovered to be just that; an illusion. The chipper mood faded into the old heady thought-filled boy from Yokutan. Masumi noticed immediately. “Kairu…? What is it?” she asked looking up to him with insightful eyes. “Nothing… it’s nothing,” he lied, as he shook Okichi free from his mind. Masumi looked at him longingly before accepting the claim, but even then, not fully. Silence filled the air, and the two slowly drifted off to sleep.
Mack lit up his second cigar that evening and puffed it to relax. He plunked himself down across the fire from Mei and Kato, who had huddled together beneath a blanket to stay warm. “S’ how’s the leg mending?” Mack asked between puffs. “Pretty good. She’s take ‘n’ care ‘o me,” Kato smiled nudging Mei who playfully nudged back. “Good,” Mack said, and took another suck back on his cigar. The sweet burning taste filled his mouth. “How ‘re you two holdin’ up?” he questioned, having had not addressed his troops as friends as much as he’d have normally liked to in the past few weeks. “We’re keep ‘n’ it t’gether Mack. It’s been hard, but ch’ya never led us wrong before. We trust ya with our lives boss. Ain’t no mistake ‘n’ that,” Kato began. Mei kept her eyes on him, then shifted them onto Mack. “He’s right. We’ve always trusted you,” she included then let out a great big yawn, “oh, I think I’m ready to hit the hay,” she giggled as a sleepy haze overcame her body. “Yea, I agree. Night Mack,” Kato said trekking behind Mei. Mack flung his head back, teeth gritting down on his cigar, “Night you two,” he managed to say around the oblong object.
A flurry of smoke, mixed with his-own condensing breath, rose up into the cold air, mingling into puffy cloud like formations. He’d felt at ease, and relaxed up until this point. They believed in him. They trusted him. Those words interchangeably took their turn resting on his shoulders. Was it to be taken more seriously to lead? Did it mean the job was already well done? He wondered. No resolution presented itself. He felt the buzz of the alcohol wearing off as he tried to search for an answer he desperately desired, but it did not come. He shook it off after getting held up on it. Another puff, relaxing him like a drug-like induced mellow overshadowed his aggravating unanswerable question. He looked overhead at the blue-black starry night sky. He bunched up a random blanket that was left next to him, and used it as a pillow. Mack laid back to rest while he pondered, and before he knew it he’d fallen asleep.
Leadership is a difficult path…
Chapter 19: The Train Station
“Mack…? Hey Mack, wake up!” he could vaguely hear the ruffling of his shirt as the gentle tug of Masumi badgered him awake. He felt slightly out of sorts, barely remembering falling asleep beside the fire. None the less, he was wide-awake when she waved a bowl of sweet smelling rice beneath his nose. His stomach replied immediately with a rather insistent grumble. “Here you go,” she merrily placed it beside him.
At first, he wondered if his sense of scent had simply deceived him, but upon the first bite of the rice, the mouthful proved to taste just as good as it smelled. He looked around in wonderment. Masumi noticed his thought-invoked eyes quite quickly. “It’s not your imagination,” she said like a mind reader to his surprise. “Vince picked up some maple sugar in Uwajima, so he gave it to us to use with breakfast,” and then she added, “I remembered how my mother showed me to prepare maple rice. All we’re missing is the cream,” a contented expression spoke of her pride in her cooking abilities, which Mack would not deny, was well deserved. He praised her accordingly, and the beaming turned into a magma hot expression. He winked at Vince for the contribution, then reverted back to eating his bowl of rice.
“How goes the map, Jenko?” Mack asked, peering over to his food-loving friend as he gobbled up the last of his morning meal. Between muffled mouthfuls Mack thought he could hear him make out something that sounded like it might be the word ‘good’. Jenko was quick to share the fruits of his labour in progress. Elegantly illustrated and well proportioned, the path of their route was outlined on the paper. The black ink, ruined as it was, did not stray across the page. To the untrained eye it displayed perfection. “It’s incredible Jenko,” Kato tapped him on the back respectively. “It’s all right… the mountains are too close together, and Uwajima is too big…” he modestly tried to deflect the praise of his talent. Mack couldn’t help a smirk from emerging.
For the first time that day, Mack noticed the sky. Enclosing in on them was that distant storm that had threatened from the far south the previous night. His smirk faded, and the magnetic feeling of the air was beginning to emerge. He quickly downed the last of his breakfast as fast as he could bring it to his mouth. “Alright, we’re leaving. Common everyone, up. Now!” he stood dusting off the powder snow stuck to his behind.
Jenko curled up his map and stuck it away in it’s protective tube casing. The group had the packing already completed before Mack had been woken up that day. Even Mei had taken the liberty to get his things together for him. They were all set to start out down the rock face.
Securely they attached their ropes around stone holds, and Masumi checked the knotting. She ended up fixing one, but the rest were fine. It now was time to shimmy down to the ground. They got dressed in their harnesses, and Masumi clipped them onto their ropes. Nervously Suako and Vince looked over their shoulders to the land so far below. “Phew!” Suako shuttered. “Hey,” Vince got her attention, “It’ll be alright,” his smile was assuring.
“Ok everyone!” Masumi addressed them, “Y’all got your gloves on? … Good! Get a good hold on your rope, make sure the leather palm is touching the rope, it’ll help you hold on. Have one hand up, and one below where I attached your harness. Shift the rope threw your hands to move down, like this,” she demonstrated for them. “Use your legs to push off of the side to help you move down. Now, if you slip…” she went on explaining procedures for any possible situation. Mack was growing impatient, constantly keeping the storm within his sight. Her words seem to linger on, and he was just about to speak out when she wrapped it up. “…that’s it! So, follow my lead. Just push off with your feet like this and loosen your hands a little from the rope,” she showed them as she began to lower.
It was like a leap of faith as one by one they went. Suako shut her eyes closed tight and then, swoosh! The air caressed her ears as she went over the edge. Safely her legs plunked back against the firm stone. Opening her eyes, she saw everything as Masumi described it to be, and Suako felt like a bit of a fool for being so fearful. She couldn’t help but let out a tiny giggle. She pushed out again, swoosh! She went down again. It was actually quite a bit of fun, and she found out that going down was much simpler then climbing up, Thank god for that she thought.
Huh? What the…? Snow? Suako found her self baffled when they reached the bottom so suddenly. It had seemed like they’d only just first taken that first little bound a second ago. She sighed miserably as she unhooked her harness from the rope. Then looking around she realised she was the only one there. What?! Shock grabbed her. She spun around, and then finally looked up to see everyone else w
as still a good twenty feet up.
A minute later they came down to join her. “Hey!” Mei called down to Suako, “Hah, our late starter turned out to be as fast as a flying bullet!” she laughed. Mei planted her feet into the snow, “I guess nothing puts you out for long,” Mei smiled. “Yeah,” Suako forced a fraudulent smile. A flash back of falling nipped at her as she blinked. The others came down before Mei could pick up on the subtle signals Suako had briefly given off.
“Let’s just leave the ropes here for when we come back,” Yu-Lee said, exhausted at the thought of climbing back up that darn thing once more. “Good idea,” Jenko agreed detaching himself. “Right. Now we should…” Mack’s eyes silenced his mouth. He turned, looking out over the endless mounds of snow that stretched out to the ocean. It had come; just starting, sparse snowflakes came down from the dark sprawling clouds overhead. The other noticed his displeased attitude, and took notice of his interest in the weather. Though to the inexperienced traveller the light snowfall heeded within itself no danger. He turned to look for the train station; it was at least a few hours trek away. Darkness was settling in for the night.
Mack felt an overwhelming anxiety. What should I do? His brain refused to answer. Again, he scanned around, but ideas were not promoting their existence. Damn! Damn it! What the hell are we going to do? If we camp we’ll be buried alive. I don’t trust those goddamned clouds… but if we go, we’ll be stuck out in the storm. We’ll never make it! No peace was available within his brain. Again, eyes longed for a solution, and again, nothing presented itself willingly. Or did it?
It was so obvious, so plainly there before him. Why didn’t I think of this before? How could I have been so blind? What’s wrong with me? But no time to answer such monotonous questions. It was time to solve the ‘x’ and ‘y’ of this equation. It was…
“Is everything alright Mack? What are we going to do?” Kairu asked as he bundled his gear. Damn it all to hell! So brilliant, so perfect! It was… it was… it was lost. Now what? What the fuck were they going to do now? Frustration edged him on until his right eye began to twitch. “We’re going for the station now,” he answered bitterly, and then commenced to walk toward it. It was the only option available. If they were lucky, they wouldn’t be trapped in the month of storms furious temper. If they were lucky, history wouldn’t repeat itself.
The wish he had been praying for almost seemed as if were going to come true. The day stayed in a maroon-like darkness as the sun sank behind dark clouds far beyond the mounds of snow, and the ocean waves past them. Spread out like the diamonds of stars that peeked out between the clouds in the sky, the snow fell. It was magical. Even when it came down faster, like falling pixie dust, it hadn’t been awful by any means; but the serenity did not last.
Gusting winds soon decided to join the fray, and like bee stings, the snow flew up at bare skin. Exposure was so awful they even tried to cover their eyes with their scarves. Unfortunately, the storm had a mind of its own, and it seemed to derive a sick sort of sadistic delight in torturing them. Morbidly, they trudged on against the northern gale force winds.
They could begin to feel the icy deep freeze within their bodies. Lunges, if only in their imaginations, salvaged the recollection of being fluid filled, so they began coughing and wheezing as they went. The maroon sky got even darker, and the snow so thick that the station was out of sight. Something had to be done, they would not last the night in such conditions.
Mack could not help but recall the brutal past that haunted him every February. Trying to block it from his mind, he found himself unable to combat the intense images from showing their ugly faces. They were burned into his skull. The sky just the same as that above him now…
It had been Mack’s second year working as a soldier for the C.D.F.P. He’d been on a training exercise, far to the north of Torusan. His Commander had issued the party into five groups of three men each, and each team had been assigned to collect three red flags, which were buried in chests beneath the snow along with extra rations as incentive. The objective of the mission was to be able to use their issued maps in order to locate the chests, as well as to practice survival skills.
Initially it was only meant to be a three to five-night practice drill. They had been given appropriate rations to last them the five days, a tent per group, flint and the such, to last them through. It was a routine drill, and when they set out it had been an enjoyable day; cold but still beautiful blue-sky sunny day. The first day had been excellent. Mack’s party’s group leader had been an excellent map-reader, and they had reached the first chest in good time. After stopping for a late leisurely afternoon lunch, they decided to keep going toward their next mark in order to have less to do the following day.
Each flag was made to be harder to find. The first bit of terrain they covered had been relatively flat, and the snow not much higher then the top of their shoes, rarely to their ankles. Up ahead of them lay the rocky uneven grounds of the granite rich lands. The north-western corner of the East Green Continent had rocky sections surfacing through the dark abounding soil. The hike was taking its toll on their legs, and by nightfall their hamstrings were burning and ached deeply. Steep hills were unkind to unfamiliar travellers using them as their road. They sat by their campfire and enjoyed their prized rations obtained from earlier that day.
The next morning a beastly overshadowing cloud shut out the light from the sun. Nothing could penetrate threw the thick sky, though they thought nothing of it. It was dismissed as just another nasty looking snow cloud; It was winter, and it was just as expected for that time of year, even if it wasn’t something anyone coveted. They set out again across the snowy plains, stretching out sore limbs.
“Heh! Hey Mack, at this pace we’ll be the first ones back. I can see that nice fat juicy bonus already, eh? Man, this is sweet!” A younger first year soldier rubbed his hands together greedily. He was energetic and, by speculation, only cared about women and how he looked at every second of everyday. He was a bit of a hot shot, but otherwise the life of the party. Mack and Kentaro, their precious map guru and temporary commander, both liked him a lot.
“Yea Jiro, I can see it now.” Mack had no trouble feeling the same. Some extra cash, to cruise the town and go bar hopping with? Sure! It sounded great to him in his young years. He was barely Jiro’s senior, though had maturity to his credit. A break from work would be just fine with him. Kentaro wasn’t about to disagree with that idea either.
“I know some real hotties downtown grid sector five. There’s a bar they always hang out at. It’s called… it was…” Jiro snapped his fingers as if to order his brain to spew out the name. “Ah! That was it, ‘The flying Dragon’. Heh I can’t wait till we get back to Torusan. I’m not leaving till they kick me out- unless one of those sweet gals wanna have some fun,” Jiro said, spoken like a true playboy. The one talent Mack wasn’t as great at. Kentaro and Mack kept giving each other sideways glances; Jiro’s enthusiasm drew curly-cue smirks.
Jiro continued “…The beers cheap, and the music’s great. I know the guy there so he can get us a discount at the inn upstairs. So how about it, are you in?” he swept back his long sandy blond bangs back from his blue eyes. Not just a playboy at heart, he had the image to pull it off. “Sure,” Mack replied. “I’m in too,” Kentaro concurred. Why not? If they were with mister handsome maybe they could, just maybe, have some luck with the ladies too. “Great. We’re gonna have a blast. When you meet…” he was full of energy and continued rambling on about everything. Kentaro and Mack just listened, continuously giving each other those lip biting, near laughter, sideways glances.
As they travelled onwards and the clouds began to drop their snowy flakes down on them while morning was still early. The wind picked up, but they continued to pay little attention to it. Jiro’s mouth went on flapping about so many frivolous things. With the wind blowing as it was, Mack was relieved to have Jiro’s stories to distract him. Anything was better than being left to simply
dwell on how awful that wind was.
Still, they continued to ignore them storm front. They reached their second chest at noon on the second day. It was shielded under a piece of the granite, jutting free of the snowy earth. The large granite piece blocked the bitter wind, so they made a small fire and heated the soup they found inside the second chest. Mack had shoved the second red flag into his backpack. The hot soup warmed them from the inside out, and it was enough to motivate them to finish the job, once their bodies had shed the nasty chill.
The warm mouth of Jiro now had strength again to continue with silly miscellaneous stories, when they started for the third chest. That afternoon the land migrated its state once more; steep rolling hills, deeply covered in snow proved to be the next challenge. It was all down to willpower at that stage for them to persevere. Just get it over with, then go to ‘The Flying Dragon,’ was the thought that kept them all going. They were all healthy and young, and figured that they could endure a little bad weather.
Mack and Kentaro occasionally shared some of their stories too. It was almost like a challenge to see who had done what, and therefore who was more of a man’s man. It was a silly testosterone game between them. The crown was ultimately handed over to Jiro; the most foolish of them all, ultimately became the ‘hero’, and consequently the winner.
