Senior Stories: The Junior Who Went Mountain-Dwelling and Hisashi-of-Hisashi

It was that time of year when you find yourself saying out loud that the days have started getting shorter.

I had returned to Kanagawa, exhausted from life in Tokyo, and taken a job in geological surveying. This was when I was about 27.

Geological surveying. It sounds nice, but it was the ultimate form of manual labor. Since my body fat was constantly in the single digits, I'm sure of it. Now, it's cute and squishy. I wish someone would touch it.

In this line of work, where you often work in two-man teams, I was paired with a senior named Hisashi, who could be described as a wild child. Hisashi was two years older than me. He was good at looking after people, or rather, things would go wrong if he didn't. That kind of person.

Besides us, there were about five other teams working in pairs.

Since we work in pairs, team changes happen quite frequently.

Why?

Physically demanding jobs are full of friction.
And since it's a group that prides itself on ripped, muscular bodies, things get complicated when there's a conflict.

Back then, I think I lasted because I didn't care about others at all and liked being in nature.

Also, there was the Hisashi observation.

At this exact time, I was in the mountains of Fukui Prefecture with Hisashi.

That day, around noon, we got word that one of the teams in Nagano was having a dispute.

“Kinoko, it sounds like those guys are fighting.”

“Senior, you sound happy.”

“Kinoko, a dispute is an incident.”

He turned around vigorously, carrying several 3-meter-long iron rods on his shoulder, totaling about 50 kilograms.

“Senior, if you turn around so suddenly, I’ll get hit in the head with a rod and die.”

“A job that’s side-by-side with danger is fun, isn’t it?”

I remember looking at his sparkling eyes and calmly thinking he was a total idiot.

It was when we finished work that day and were reading in our room at the inn.

“Kinoko, it seems Dashi has gone missing.”

Dashi was a boy younger than me who was working on-site deep in the mountains of Nagano.

“Who was he paired with?”

“Ninja.”

Ninja was the type who would get so absorbed in his work that he would erase his presence, and he was the type to throw hands before using words.

“Ah, that’s possible. Even I might run away. You can’t deal with that, right? Being together.”

“Kinoko, this is an incident.”

“What do you mean?”

Hisashi was so excited that I could barely understand what he was saying, so to summarize:

Dashi disappeared from the site at 13:00.
They noticed at 15:00.

They contacted the inn, but his luggage was left behind.
He didn't have his cell phone.

The site was in the mountains, and it was a little under 30 minutes by car to the inn.

In other words, a desperate Dashi had run into the mountains.

When I re-explained this to him, Hisashi muttered.

“Kinoko, it’s boring to just analyze things. The incident is happening on-site.”

“Yeah, but what are we supposed to do?”

“Let’s go check it out.”

“Starting now?”

“Where’s the idiot who would go the day after tomorrow?”

From Fukui Prefecture to the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture.
We ended up heading to the site, a journey of about 6 hours.

It would be a lie to say I didn't have curiosity deep in my heart. The curiosity to see it won out over the worry.

I realized once again how cold-hearted I was.

Information was coming in that a young man who had been working with us was missing, and that local fire brigades had been dispatched.

Hisashi spoke to me in the truck.

“When you cause this much trouble, it’s only right that everyone from the company gathers. Also, they say bears might come out.”

“In any case, it’s worrying.”

“Well, yeah. I wonder if there are any deer antlers lying around.”

He doesn't listen. This is Hisashi-of-Hisashi.

We arrived at the site around 6:00 in the morning. It was just starting to get bright, announcing a morning where the birds' songs were pleasant.

I immediately understood that it was a bigger problem than I had imagined. The fire brigade members and village office staff who had been searching all night had exhausted faces.

Watching the president going around apologizing, I knew Dashi still hadn't been found.

It was when I was about to enter the mountain site.

Dashi came down from the mountain.
It was a sight I couldn't believe was only one night.

He came down using a wooden stick as a cane, looking like a hermit.

He looked so exhausted, and it was as if his appearance had changed so much in one night that I wondered if it was mentally that tough. I'm sorry to say, but I was a little horrified.

I thought I couldn't just carelessly talk to him, but then Hisashi spoke up.

“Dashi, what were you doing? Couldn't you hear everyone's voices?”

What a guy. He went straight for the direct approach.

I couldn't take my eyes off him and waited for Dashi's reaction. It was something everyone there wanted to hear.

Dashi spoke slowly.

“At first, I was running away from the voices, but it got dark and I couldn't see my surroundings, so I got scared and sat down. Then, I could occasionally see car lights in the distance. I was whistling toward the cars, thinking they might hear me.”

I can't forget these words.

And Hisashi spoke to me, looking satisfied.

“Well, Kinoko, let’s go back to Fukui and work.”

What are you talking about?

The story of working in Fukui from 15:00.

These are the words I truly cannot forget.

Of course, I requested a change of partner.