Kento’s reporting work took place during the spring holidays. As he met and spoke with a number of athletes aiming for the Paralympics, Kento began to realize that he had had the wrong idea all along. For these people, sports was much more than a casual hobby to engage in after conquering their injuries or disabilities. These were real athletes in a competitive world, with everything on the line.
They conditioned their bodies for maximum performance, and had the skills and ideas to make full use of their capabilities. At the very end of his project, Kento met a certain man.
He was a triathlon athlete with a prosthetic leg who lived in the Shikoku region and also a software developer for a medical equipment manufacturer. The venture company not only manufactured CT and MRI scanners, but was also active in developing prosthetic legs and nursing robots for those with cervical spine injuries.
The company had a large factory and research institute in Kochi, and the man, named Ishizaka, worked at the research institute.
One day during the spring holidays, Kento and the TV crew visited the research institute. Despite the intimidating image that came from the “research institute” name, the facility was in fact a large open space like a gymnasium with an array of training machines connected to computers for analysis. It looked like a gym that one would find around town.
Ishizaka was running on a treadmill with his prosthetic leg. Various wires were attached to every part of his body. His skin was tanned from the sun and his hair was cropped short. His sharp face and thick eyebrows made him look like a rugged actor. Muscles bulged in every part of his body, and his thighs were taut.
From the knee-down on his right leg, he was wearing a strangely-shaped prosthetic leg. The knee consisted of a metal rotor, and the shin looked like it was made from thin, flexible plastic. The ankle was a metal spring.
A few researchers were clustered around the monitor, staring intently at it. After fifteen minutes or so of running, Ishizaka stopped and beckoned to Kento and the staff.
“This is called an electromyogram. It tells you which muscles contract when I run.” He explained the jagged slopes on the monitor that looked like a seismic reading. “My body becomes the research subject. I contribute the data myself so we can make better prosthetic legs,” he said.
Triathlons involved swimming, running, and bicycling, which required different prosthetic legs for each. Ishizaka sat down on a nearby chair and took off his prosthetic leg to show Kento. His real right leg was amputated from the mid-thigh downwards. Kento stared unflinchingly at his leg. Then, he touched the prosthetic leg lying beside it.
“This must be an artificial joint that works in place of your knee. And instead of a hinge, you use a rotor ? that’s a good idea. When you land, this spring absorbs the shock. That’s pretty amazing,” he said, impressed. “This is an amazing leg!”
Ishizaka looked at Kento with surprise. “You’re pretty honest with your reactions, aren’t you?” he said loudly. “As long as you’re not afraid to speak your mind, you can be assured there are no barriers between you and me. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think much about you idol singers, but it looks like I was the one discriminating.” He grinned, rolling his big eyes.
“I really am impressed,” Kento said earnestly. “I hurt my knee and was told I couldn’t exercise for a year. That’s when I learned about the knee joint from my doctor.”
Yes, Orihara had explained in detail to him, using an anatomical chart, just how complex and well the knee functioned, despite how simple the structure looked at first glance.
“Until then, I didn’t know. I thought all the knee did was bend.”
“That’s right,” Ishizaka said. He proudly lifted his prosthetic leg. “Someday I’ll make a knee more magnificent than the one God made. My ambition is to make a knee so great that when an athlete enters a competition with it, he’d make all the non-disabled people jealous.”
✦ ✦ ✦
After their filming segment was finished, Kento walked around looking at the computers and training machines. Ishizaka came over to talk to him.
“So I heard you’re going to the same school I used to go to.”
“My school?”
Ishizaka jerked a thumb at the staff, who were busy carrying cameras, microphones, and other filming equipment on their shoulders.
“I just heard. You’re from Shonan Senior High? I used to be in the Athletics department there. I was on the track team.”
“What?” Something familiar sparked in Kento’s head. But the man in front of him looked much older than Orihara. He recalled the list of new members he had looked at in the club room. He had been too occupied with Orihara’s name at the time, but?he said alphabetical order, right? If he remembered correctly, didn’t the name that came after Orihara start with “Ishi”?
Even if they didn’t join the team at the same time, if they were fellow members, it was possible that they knew each other’s names, at least. Kento grabbed Ishizaka’s arm.
“Do you know a Yuri Orihara?” he asked hoarsely. Ishizaka’s thick eyebrows shot up.