Progress

About five weeks have passed since Asuka left the house and the weather has been heating up as it moves into spring. She had given up trying to complete the bucket list in the order Kyo had written it. Instead, she took everything and organized them in a way that would let her get to them most efficiently.

Plotting a course on a map she found at the train station, she used a pen to draw a line through the areas she needed to go to. Shikoku is located near the south of Japan, so she plans to work her way up. But before that, she travels to Ehime prefecture which is just a little further down than Shikoku. From there, she takes a ferry across the water to Aojima Island; otherwise known as “cat Island”.

As the nickname suggests, there were cats absolutely everywhere of different shapes, colors, and sizes. They ran around her legs, meowing to her and begging her to pet them as soon as they met her at the port. They followed her around anywhere she or the other ferry riders went, meowing at them like they expected them to already have treats prepared. She stayed until the next ferry came rolling by to take her back. It was then that she found out she was incredibly allergic to cats. She was still sneezing and her eyes itched as she rode back to the mainland. She headed up to the roof of the ferry to get fresh air and avoid sneezing on the other passengers.

There were a couple of others up on the deck with her, and she chose a seat near the back. To pass the time, she took out one of her brother’s cassette tapes from the solid case she kept in her backpack. So far, she has listened to two of them. What was on them was a complete mystery every time. The first one that had been left inside player when she’d first retrieved it. Rewinding and pushing play, she was treated to the music of a foreign rock band she’d never heard of. Because she didn’t have the original box for the tape, she couldn’t even look it up. It sounded good though.

The other tape she tried was an English was a band that had a silhouette of a horned boy on the box. The low audio quality of the cassettes made her feel nostalgic even though she’d never listened to the bands before.

Running her finger along the row of tapes, she randomly chooses a new one. Making sure she has the right starting side before slotting it in, she presses the play button. It starts out as a twangy country-inspired ballad. The man’s voice warbles as he sings, until it is interrupted by a cut, and the sound of someone speaking like they’d interrupted the singer while he was performing onstage.

It was Kyo. His staticky voice crackled into her headphones. “Mic test, 1, 2, 3.” The whole tape was of him making silly noises and repeating phrases like that. Bringing up non sequitur bits of information until he was interrupted by someone entering the room. “What are you doing?” She could hear her own voice in the distance being picked up by the cassette player’s microphone. She chuckled as he yelled at her to knock before coming into his room and the audio cuts off; the western music that was playing at the beginning of the tape starts up again.

She lets it play and looks out to the rushing waves. She tries to recall when that moment happened, but it doesn’t ring a bell. He must have been collecting these tapes from a long time ago. Asuka disembarked the boat with tears in her eyes, but she was able to play them off as being a result of the cat dander. Since she’d found his bucket list, Asuka had been learning things about Kyo that she never would have otherwise. She’s not happy that this is how she had to do it, but she’s happy she has the chance to at all.

A few days after she left, she started getting worried messages from Misaki. He’d met Kasuga-san a few days ago while dropping by Asuka’s house and texted Asuka to get her to ease the woman’s anxiety. She feels guilty about it, so she allowed Misaki to give her number to Kasuga so she can keep her updated. She also keeps Misaki informed, sending pictures to him almost every day. They also speak frequently any time Asuka had free Wi-Fi.

Knowing she had many places around the country to visit, Asuka tried her best not to overspend her already relatively meager funds that totaled at ¥155,334. It’s more money than she’d ever had in her life, but she knows how easy it is to lose track of spending. Fortunately, thanks to years of experience, she was a money-saving pro.

She always makes sure to stay at the cheapest accommodation possible, opting for hostels and capsule hotels instead of the fancier ones. Rather than the bullet train, she takes the overnight bus anytime she must travel long distances over land, sacrificing speed for frugality. And she knows that the grocery stores are cheaper options than the convenience stores, so she always shops there for food.

Her student ID also allowed her to get discounts on some things like some products, and certain buildings like museums, and travel in general, so she uses it whenever she can. In fact, it was thanks to her student ID that she was able to gain access to cheaper tickets to the F2 Sazuka Racing Circuit while walking through a shopping market for cheap meals. She never would’ve been able to afford it on her budget, otherwise, but she’d won the tickets for ¥3,500 during a contest.

Reserving a ticket for an overnight bus to Mie, Asuka had made it just in time to see the races in person. Technically, “drive on a racing car track” is what was written on Kyo’s list, but she had taken liberties for that one, of course not having the time to obtain a racing license. She never even got the chance to earn a provisional driver’s license.

Continuing on the path she made on her map; Asuka eventually makes it to Tokyo. Here she’ll be able to ride in a hot air balloon all the way to Tochigi. Unfortunately, this is when the first disaster strikes. She has been keeping up with the news to see how people have been reacting in lieu of the meteor making its way closer to them. Though she had been lucky so far, unrest steadily builds around her every day. Just this April, she has seen it at grocery stores, walking down the street, and the way customer service workers are treated has been declining in quality as people take out their frustrations on them. Even at the racing circuit, she could sense there was agitation among the crowd. It had gotten to a point where a fight had broken out and the start of the race had to be put on hold as crowd control wrangled the offensive parties out of the stadium.

Asuka arrives at the hot air balloon site on a balmy early morning. The balloon sets off at 6 am and doesn’t come back until the next day, so she only has one chance each time. This is one of the last few items on her brother’s bucket list. So close to completion, Asuka’s emotions are a whirlwind of excitement and melancholy. It’s not that she didn’t want it to end. She just didn’t think it would take so little time. It’s only been about three months since she started this undertaking. She’s done so much and met so many new people, but it was already almost over. Even so, she is ready to take the next steps to do what she feels she needs to see her brother off into the next life with a smile.

There are about six other people waiting to ride the balloon alongside her; two are couples but most will fly solo like her. When instructed, they take turns corralling into the basket after the pilot’s preparations are done. Before boarding, Asuka had seen that it wasn’t permitted to bring large objects like her suitcase up with her due to weight restrictions. So, she left it at the front desk of the business hotel she’d been staying at the night before. She brought her most important items like the notebook, cassette tapes, and a few clothing articles with her, though. Just in case she ran out of money for a trip back, but she’d planned on taking another overnight bus, not the balloon.

Finally, the pilot is ready, and her group is ready to set off. The pilot pumps gasps of fire into the belly of the balloon. Before they know it, they’re rising into the air. Asuka hears the gasps and exclamation of the other passengers as they gradually rise. It’s invigorating. Everyone takes pictures as they pass through landmarks like Mt. Fuji and the Skytree as narrated by the navigator.

Incredible though it is, she can’t help wishing Kyo was here.

She’s tried not to think about it, but she can’t help herself. Why did he have to end up dying just three months before a freaking asteroid is supposed to kill everyone anyways? They could have spent this time together, instead. Kyo could have introduced her to Misaki himself. They could have finished his bucket list together. He could be here experiencing this view with his own eyes. The wind blows fiercely into her eyes. With how high up they are, it feels like she’s in a mass of dry ice, the cold stings her face and makes the tears on her cheeks hurt even more. She shakes her head. She knows she’ll be joining him eventually. Wiping her face with her coat sleeve, Asuka dares to take her phone out to record a short video for Misaki.

About an hour into the ride, something goes wrong. It starts with the pilot attempting to pull the cord that releases its flames. Everyone starts to notice and soon he’s telling everyone to hold on as they descend lower and lower. It’s all a blur of screaming and crying. They barely manage to avoid any power lines as they lose altitude. The pilot screams at everyone to brace for impact.