We woke up before dawn.
Leaving the mountain hut we headed for the summit of Mt Fuji.
Whenever I was about to doze off, the old woman beside me would start snoring so I didn"t get a wink of sleep. Yoshino, on the other hand, looked like she had plenty of sleep and woke up full of energy. Skipping around in the darkness.
- ( Section omitted. ) -
Having watched the sunrise from the mountain top, we started the descent.
The tour guide told us there was a postbox at the summit. If I"d known about that beforehand, I would have written postcards to my friends in the Yamayurikai and my graduated onee-sama. Such a pity.
I"d heard that coming down the mountain was harder than going up and that proved to be true.
Even Yoshino, who"d been so energetic, stopped talking as much and the pace was noticeably down.
Eventually she decided to pay to ride a horse down.
Her initial enthusiasm to conquer Mt Fuji with her own legs had disappeared somewhere. She said, "This is easier on the legs," then sped off, humming. Talk about happy-go-lucky.
But despite this she insisted I keep the business about the horse a secret.
Was it a problem of pride or the amount of money she spent? It"s unclear.
- ( Section omitted. ) -
Straight after the descent, we soaked in an onsen at the base of the mountain.
It wasn"t a problem for Yoshino since she rode a horse down the mountain, but I wanted to look away when I took my shoes off. Naturally, my feet didn"t get to soak for as long as Yoshino"s either.
It was unfair of Yoshino to ride a horse, after all.
- ( Section omitted. ) -
I told our friends in the Yamayurikai about Yoshino riding a horse down the mountain when we were at Sachiko"s holiday house, and she retaliated violently.
All I did was tell the truth and she got angry.
If she didn"t want me to say anything, she shouldn"t have got on the horse.
* * *
" - So basically, from reading these diary entries the conclusion I reached was that Rei-chan wanted to ride on a horse too."
Yoshino said.
"You kept going on and on and on blaming me for riding on a horse. In the end, don"t you think it was just jealousy?"
"Jealousy?"
Rei spoke up, hearing something that couldn"t be left unchallenged.
"Right. n.o.body said you couldn"t ride the horse. So walking down the mountain was a choice you made of your own free will. But you really wanted to ride a horse. And that"s not something you could ever admit. Honestly, you"re so contrary."
"I"m contrary?"
Something like willfully reading someone else"s diary was the sort of thing that would normally cause an argument between any two people, but for some reason it was completely different with the two of them.
Between two people as close as Yoshino and Rei, there wasn"t a division between what belonged to one or the other. There was no problem with her opening the desk drawers or closet, so the diary was something she"d naturally look at too.
"You regretted it so much but you had n.o.body to complain to, so you let your feelings out in your diary. Am I wrong?"
"Um."
Danger, danger. When Yoshino spoke with such self-confidence, Rei would find herself gradually starting to agree with her.
Even though she felt as though Yoshino was subtly, no, completely wrong.
"So what? a.s.suming what you say is true, Yoshino, why couldn"t I just go on a ride around the local park with you?"
"Because you wanted to ride a real horse, and it"s too far to somewhere like a farm. I initially considered something like a merry-go-round too, but like Sachiko-sama said, I think the amus.e.m.e.nt park would be too crowded in summer."
"But even so, I don"t understand why I have to ride this thing."
Rei let out a huge sigh, still straddling the wooden rocking horse.