Mount Guhin Chapter 1: Time Capsule (2)

The sliding door was gently tapped.

"Hina, I'm sorry. But you can always come back here whenever you want to visit."

Hina ignored her mother as she spoke. There was no way Hina could come to Aiba Village on her own. The bus to Aiba Village only ran four times a day, making it an isolated island on land. It was so remote that you couldn't even get to a hospital without a car.

It took several hours from the city center to get to Aiba Village. So, even as a child, Hina understood that her mother's claim that she could come back "whenever" was a sophistry.

Besides, Hina knew the truth. She wasn't the only one leaving the village.

Yesterday, in the corner of the schoolyard, Naoya, the oldest among them, told the three other students at the branch school, "I'm going to middle school in town starting in April."

Mayumi gasped in surprise.

"Huh? So, Naoya, you're leaving town?"

"Yeah. It's impossible to commute to town from here every day."

Satoshi muttered as if convinced, "I'll be going to middle school in town next year too..."

"Wait, you too, Satoshi?"

Hina's eyes went wide as well.

"Hina, did you know that if it's just me and you left at the Aiba Village branch school, it'll be shut down?"

"Huh? I didn't know that. I haven't heard anything."

Mayumi crouched down and said, "Yeah, I know. I just happened to overhear the teacher talking about it."

For Hina, it was a bolt from the blue. Feeling anxious, she looked around at everyone's faces.

"Are we all going to be separated?"

"Yeah. So, I had an idea. Why don't we make a time capsule? And then, we can all open it in ten years."

Naoya said suddenly.

"A time capsule?"

Hina tilted her head.

Oh, I know that, I saw it on TV!

Mayumi looked up and said to Naoya triumphantly.

Then that makes it easy. We all write letters to our future selves, put them in a box or something, and bury them.

We're going to bury them?

Naoya looked at Hina.

What do you think? Is everyone going to do it?

I'm in.

Me too.

Seeing everyone agree, Hina nodded as well, though she didn't quite understand.

Alright, let's write our letters then.

Still not grasping Naoya's point, Hina asked again.

What kind of things should I write in a letter to my ten-years-older self?

Well, how about you pretend your dreams have come true and write about that?

Right here, right now?

To Hina's simple question, Naoya said, No, no, and after denying it, he added,

Let's bring the letters tomorrow. I'll prepare a box.

The four of them parted ways, agreeing to bring their letters after school the next day.

Naoya, Satoshi, and Mayumi's houses were on the east side of the village, but Hina's house was located at the foot of Mount Tairasu on the west side of the village. As Hina trudged along the path between the rice paddies, she thought about what to write in her letter. She continued to think even after she got home, and finally finished writing the letter to her future self. It was much harder than writing an essay or a book report. She sealed the envelope with glue and wrote To Hina on the front.

She couldn't imagine her future self, but she wondered what the other kids had written. Hina stared at the light pink envelope, which had a character illustration printed on it, now sealed shut.

The next day after school, the four of them laid their letters out on their desks in the classroom. Hina and Mayumi had cute envelopes that girls would like.

Naoya's envelope looks like the kind my grandpa uses.

Mayumi pointed at Naoya's brown envelope and giggled.

Shut up.

His words were harsh, but he was smiling.

Hina also tried to see what Satoshi was hiding behind his back.

Did you write one too, Satoshi?

Satoshi nodded and showed his letter. It was a white Western-style envelope with a watermark of roses decorating the corner.

Satoshi's envelope looks like something for a wedding.

At Mayumi's words, Satoshi laughed and showed off the envelope.

Bingo!

Then let's put the letters in this tin!

Naoya opened the lid of an empty square snack tin. The four of them put their envelopes in one after another. Naoya closed the lid, sealed it with duct tape, and wrote "Time Capsule" on the tape in clumsy letters with a marker.

Mayumi asked everyone innocently.

Hey, what did Naoya and Satoshi write?

Satoshi answered without missing a beat.

I wrote that I'd be a celebrity.

I wrote famous person. So, what about you, Naoya?

I guess I'll be a company president.

The three of them turned their gazes toward Hina.

I... um...

Satoshi stood up from his chair as he watched Hina hesitate.

Where should we bury it? Where would you choose, Hina?

Hina stared at the three of them with wide eyes. Being looked at with such expectation made her feel flustered.

The schoolyard wouldn't be usable once the school closed. The rice fields were out, too. The gardens at everyone's houses didn't seem like good options either. Where could there be a place that wouldn't change even after ten years?

Suddenly, the shrine on Mount Tairasu, where Hina had memories of her grandmother, came to mind. That place should be fine. Mount Tairasu was owned by Hina's father, Takeo Kirino. Besides, there was an electric power company transmission tower built there, so she figured it wouldn't be torn down easily.

How about the shrine on Mount Tairasu?

The three of them exchanged glances before looking back at Hina.

But my grandpa said we weren't allowed to go there.

There was a shrine there?

Satoshi and Mayumi asked.

He said I shouldn't go alone. But I think it'll be fine if we're all together.

Naoya took a shovel out of his school bag and showed it to everyone.

Then it's decided. We're burying the time capsule on Mount Tairasu. Let's go now. Look, I even brought a shovel.

At Naoya's suggestion, they all left the school and headed straight for Mount Tairasu without going home.

They passed Hina's house at the foot of Mount Tairasu and climbed up the slope. After winding their way up the forest road, they finally reached an open area about halfway up the mountain.

A large transmission tower occupied half of the clearing. Even so, the clearing was still quite spacious. Despite it being summer, there were no weeds, and the dark, damp ground was visible.

Hina ran into the clearing before anyone else, but she was stunned as she looked around. The shrine that should have been there was gone. In the spot where the shrine used to be, a large transmission tower stood.

Hina looked around the clearing in bewilderment.

The shrine is gone... It really was here.

It had been a long time since Hina had visited this vacant lot. It was unavoidable, as her grandfather had passed away two years ago, and her grandmother had developed dementia a year after that, making the place feel increasingly distant.

Moreover, that wasn't all. Hina hadn't been able to tell everyone that she would soon be moving away from Aiba Village. She was on the verge of tears, shocked by the news of her moving and the fact that the memorial shrine of her memories had vanished without a trace.

"Don't cry... It can't be helped now that the steel tower has been built."

Satoshi tried to comfort her, and Hina rubbed her eyes desperately, but tears kept spilling out one after another.

"Hey, how about over there?"

Naoya ran over and stood under the steel tower. He tapped one of the four legs on the side facing the vacant lot. The three of them hurried over to the base of the tower.

Satoshi held the empty can while Naoya began digging a hole just big enough for it with a shovel he was holding. The other three also brought broken branches to help dig up the dirt. After digging about twenty centimeters, Satoshi placed the empty can into the hole.

"Is this okay?"

After seeking agreement from the other three, he covered it with dirt. Gradually, the empty can was buried and disappeared from sight, leaving a small mound of earth.

"When are we going to dig this up?"

Naoya looked at Hina, who had asked the question with a puzzled expression.

"Ten years from now, when you turn nineteen, Hina. Besides, you're moving, right? I heard your mom and dad talking about it."

Mayumi took Hina's hand.

"I knew too. Why did you keep it a secret?"

"Because..."

She couldn't get any more words out, and tears welled up, preventing her from continuing.

"I wonder what it'll be like in ten years? I hope our dreams come true."

Mayumi agreed with Satoshi's words.

"That's right. When that happens, I'll let everyone know first. Right, Hina?"

"Yeah..."

Hina nodded, her eyes welling with tears.

Satoshi looked up at the sky and started to panic, saying, "Oh no, it's going to get dark soon," so they decided to head down the mountain right away.

"This mountain is kind of scary, isn't it?"

Mayumi muttered this as they all walked down the forest path in a line.

"Especially since they built that steel tower..." Naoya began to—.

"Hina!"

Hina was snapped back to reality by Mayumi's voice.

"The incense offering has started."

She stood up in a hurry, but her legs were numb, causing her to stumble and put her hands down on the tatami mat.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

Hina replied to Mayumi, then said "Excuse me" as she pushed past the people sitting there, sat by Satoshi's pillow to press her hands together in prayer, and returned to where she had been sitting before.

Back then, Mayumi wrote in her letter that she wanted to be a celebrity, Satoshi wanted to be an entertainer, and Naoya wanted to be a company president. Their dreams came true just like that. Mayumi has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, Satoshi is a popular talent, and Naoya is the president of a venture startup. The three of them succeeded in their own ways. However, Hina has had no changes in her life other than getting into the university she wanted and enjoying her college life to some extent.

She can't even remember what she wrote in that letter herself. Maybe she wrote something very ordinary. She wanted to know what was written, but when they gathered under the steel tower on Mount Tairasu two years ago, they couldn't dig up the empty cans after all.

What they dug up instead was an old-looking earthenware jar.

If only they had dug up the time capsule... maybe a different life would have been waiting for her. Not only that, but her younger sister Yayoi's fate might have changed too. If she hadn't brought her sister along when she wanted to visit Aiba Village two years ago...

After the funeral, she noticed Satoshi's grandfather glaring at her. He must still remember the conflict from two years ago. Unable to bear the villagers' gazes, she left the Takakura house as prompted by Satoshi's father.

As usual, the press was surrounding the Takakura house, waiting for the relatives to come out. Shaking off the microphones and voice recorders thrust at her for interviews, Hina walked quickly back to her own house on the hill. The notification sound for the group chat was ringing repeatedly, but she ignored it. It was probably a message from her childhood friends. But because she was resented by Satoshi's grandfather, she felt unbearable being there. Not only that, but Hina's family was deeply disliked by the villagers of Aiba Village. She didn't remember doing anything wrong on their part, but building the steel tower must have certainly left a bad impression on the villagers.

Hina looked at the steel tower on Mount Tairasu. Crows gathered on it, and the tower, bathed in backlighting, stood black and tall as if splitting the blue sky. She understood that this was the reason her father was hated. The other reasons were generally caused by the rejection from the exclusive villagers. That was why Hina had to leave the Takakura house in a hurry without even being able to talk to her childhood friends.

Sunset comes early in the mountain village. The sun shines on the village until 3:00 PM and it is still bright, but by the time it passes 4:00 PM, it becomes dim as if a bucket had been dropped down a well. When Hina returned to her parents' home, she hurriedly closed and locked all the sliding windows in the house, got into the light car parked in the parking lot without even changing her clothes, and left Aiba Village behind.

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