The next day, Shiori and I set out to climb that mountain like we talked about. That said, it wasn’t the hike itself that was my objective. No, my real destination was a cool spot about halfway up. The pathway was paved, so we pushed our bikes uphill with us, heaving our shoulders. On the way up, these bikes were nothing but dead weight, but once we were ready to head home, they’d make getting down the mountain a breeze! With that as our silver lining, we continued to climb and climb until we reached the parking lot at last.
I couldn’t believe how much time it took us to get here. We had left the station at three, and now it was past five. That was over two hours of travel! Granted, we might have gotten here a little faster if we hadn’t gotten lost at one point on the way. Well, that, and the slope of the mountain gradually got steeper as we approached our destination. Since the map said it was only ten kilometers, I had sorely underestimated the journey.
Anyway, the hiking part was mostly over now. We weren’t at the top yet, but the finish line was close at hand. And about five minutes later, with the help of our hand-drawn map, we found a sign that read BELL TOWER OBSERVATION DECK.
Shiori’s eyes widened. “A bell tower?”
Indeed, a monk rang this huge mountaintop bell every New Year’s Eve.
“This is the observation deck…?” She sounded a little unsatisfied as she said that.
Technically, we could see the city from here, but there were too many trees in the way to call it much of a vista. After heaving our bikes up all this way, I could understand why she might have complaints.
She hadn’t seen anything yet, however.
“Over here, Shiori.” I beckoned to her and led her to the opposite side of the bell.
“…Oh!”
A ladder descended nearly straight down from the roof of the bell tower. There was a hole just big enough for someone to pass through.
“Wait… We can go up there?!”
“Bingo,” I said.
Her eyes lit up like fireworks, and I couldn’t help but smile. This was the whole reason I brought her here—just to see those eyes.
Mt. Ryozen Bell Tower Observation Deck was located halfway up a holy mountain ten kilometers south of the train station. The bell tower itself was part of a Buddhist temple, but its roof was an observation deck. It was pretty cool. I had wanted to check it out ever since one of the researchers told me about it.
“I’ll go first. Be careful on your way up, alright?”
“Okay,” she replied.
When I got to the top of the steep ladder, I purposely avoided looking at the scenery just yet. Instead, I lent Shiori a hand and pulled her up. Then, together, we gazed out.
“Wow…”
The art museum vista we went to yesterday was only at an elevation of 100 meters max, but supposedly this place was four times as high. The view was easily a hundred times better. From here, we could even see the ocean!
“See why I wanted to bring you here?” I asked.
“Yeah… Thank you.”
Smiling, she gazed out at the scenic view. As for me, I had all the “view” I needed right beside me. Her dark, silky hair fluttered in the wind, and the breeze carried a sweet, peachy scent my way. After a few moments, I started to feel like a creep, so I hastily looked away.
Fortunately, I was rewarded with something even sweeter.
“I’m glad I came here with you, Koyomi-kun.”
She turned to me with a bashful smile, and my heart skipped a beat. Why was it racing all of a sudden? Now the blood was rushing to my face, making it burn red. Even my ears felt hot. Unable to endure her gaze, I turned my entire body in the opposite direction, praying the wind would snuff out the fire in my cheeks.
Then the conversation petered out, and for a while after that, we simply stared out at the scenery in silence. Whenever I snuck a glance at her, it seemed like her cheeks were faintly pink…or maybe I was just seeing things.
Once my own blush finally faded, and I checked the time, I realized it was almost six. Although our return trip wouldn’t take half as long, we still needed to leave soon if we wanted to get home before dark. I started to suggest we go…but then, on a whim, I stopped.
The researcher who told me about this place said the view was most beautiful at night. Being around the end of July, the sun usually set around 7 p.m. If we waited another two hours, we could see the nightscape for ourselves.
The road home would potentially be dangerous in the dark. We could get lost, and our parents would probably get mad at us for staying out past nine. But this was the perfect opportunity to see that nightscape—and Shiori’s reaction to it.
As I waffled back and forth, however, as if to direct me to the correct choice, she suddenly spoke up. “I think we should probably go home soon.”
Yes, I know that’s what we should do…but I… “The thing is, I heard this place has a really gorgeous view at night.”
“It does?”
“Yeah. What if we stay until it gets dark so we can see it?” I suggested.
At this, Shiori furrowed her brow. “But…it won’t get dark until like eight… If we stay here that long, we won’t get home until ten or so…”
“We’ll be going downhill, so it won’t take that long. We can probably get home sooner if we bike really fast.”
“We can’t go fast when it’s dark! It’s not safe!”
“But it’ll be really pretty…”
My protests faded away, and I fell silent. She was completely right, of course. However…
“Okay, you win. Let’s wait until dark,” she said.
I was so psyched, I nearly cheered out loud! But then I saw her looking at me with an exasperated smile like I was a little baby, and I started to feel really pathetic.
“You know what… On second thought, forget it. Let’s go home.” Without waiting for her, I started climbing down the ladder.
“What? Are you sure?” Perplexed, Shiori followed after me.
With no further discussion, we hopped onto our bikes and headed down the mountain path. She was right—this trail would be unbelievably dangerous come nightfall. What if she got hurt because of me? With no courage to speak, I kept my foot on the brake as we slowly worked our way down the mountain.
She rolled up beside me. “Let’s just come back sometime when we’re older and don’t have a curfew anymore,” she offered gently.
“There’s no guarantee we’ll still be friends by then,” I scoffed grumpily, despite how much I appreciated her suggestion. What in the world was I sulking about?
“Actually, I had a dream the other night,” she said suddenly.
“What kind of dream?”
“I dreamed that my future self came to see me in a time machine.” She stared straight ahead with a contented smile on her face. “She told me that you and I will be together when we’re grown up, and we’ll still be together even when we’re old and gray.”
Sounds like a nice dream.
“When you’re an old grandpa, you’ll go senile and forget who I am. Then, when I come to your rescue, I’ll get to say, ‘I’m no one special’!”
“No way. If anyone’s gonna go senile, it’s you!”
“Ha ha ha! Yeah, maybe so. But if I do, you better help me, okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, of course.”
“You mean it?”
She looked over at me with such sheer delight on her face, her eyes sparkling from all this talk of dreams…and so I answered her seriously.
“I promise, if you’re ever in trouble, I’ll do everything I can to help.”
“Okay!”
And if I had to guess…that was the day I fell in love with her.