Our Finest Hour

"Hell yeah! Third place on our first try!"

Never in a thousand years would Jacob have thought that he'd be so thrilled about the results of a competitive high-school dance-writing competition, and yet, here he was, out in front of the main entrance of the emptying Shikochu Hall, punching the air and leaping for joy. In that moment, he was indistinguishable from the equally-ecstatic teenagers surrounding him (if you ignore the massive differential in body mass). Passersby gave him strange looks as they exited, unsurprised by the excited cheering of the younger team members, but baffled as to why this grown man was so elated, but anyone who knew him understood why--there was a challenge placed in front of him, and he overcame it, along with the rest of his team. That's basically all it took to get Jacob's dopamine factory going at full speed and for him to act like an overgrown child.

Before long, just like they had done earlier that morning, they were speeding down the winding mountain road to Kochi, though this time, the extreme speed of their van had little to do with punctuality, as their flight back to Ota wouldn't be for another 3 hours. After their joyous outburst outside the Hall, most of the Kameda High Calligraphy Club seemed to have immediately fallen unconscious upon entering their glorious gray rental. Jacob could hardly blame 'em--the whole day was a rollercoaster of emotions, and he was starting to feel the fatigue, too. But for him, rest would just have to wait. He was the adult here, after all.

"We did kinda luck out this year," Chinatsu said, taking up her privileged president position in the front seat once again, "Given that there were no preliminaries this time around." She chuckled. "We would've crushed it, though, so it's not like we would've been left out or anything, but...y'know, we still would've been in rougher shape when those typically begin."

"Oh?" Jacob oh'd, keeping his eyes on the forest-lined road ahead, "And why's that?"

"Because they're usually in mid-June, and you hadn't finished ironing out our weaknesses yet by that point." There was a silent 'like mine' tacked onto the end of that sentence that Jacob could hear loud and clear, and now it was his turn to chuckle.

"What, you mean my little pep talks? Hate to break it to ya, Peanuts, but I'm pretty sure if a pep talk was all it took for you to snap out of your funk, then you were halfway there already." He cleared his throat. "Also, Emi and Shinji-kun never needed one, so you're exaggerating my role in our victory quite a bit. It's like that one movie from the 90s said--the secret stuff was inside you guys the whole time."

She didn't really have a response to this, and so she allowed herself to drift off to sleep, as well, leaving Jacob to admire the lush mountain scenery of Shikoku in a satisfied silence. The whole group now had an entire month of uninterrupted summertime possibility stretched out before them. The entire month of August was their oyster, and he was determined to ensure these kids had a better time of it than he had, growing up. Sure, they were already better off than he was at their age--it was unlikely any of them have had to resort to dumpster diving for a meal yet--but that wasn't good enough. Time to think of some fun shit to do!

Upon entering Kochi's (surprisingly expansive) city limits, Jacob eyed his rear-view mirror to see the state of the crew--all were now awake, but still rather drowsy. His stomach growled. He'd gone without food for long enough, and if this old man was getting hungry, the teenagers must be positively starving.

"Alright, folks," he called out to the rest of the van, "We got a little over an hour and a half to get to the airport, so I'm gonna look for a place for us to eat." And so the search began. Haruka and Yuuko both expressed a desire for something foreign, and no one argued otherwise, so something foreign it was! Approaching the shoreline, Jacob spotted a quaint little Italian restaurant called 'The Winds of Tuscany,' complete with a cute little road sign decked out in the colors of the Italian flag, and he decided that this would be the place. Suddenly, a helping of marinara sauce sounded like the best thing in the world. Evidently, this was precisely the right choice.

"I've never been inside an Italian restaurant before..." Shinji-kun said as the group entered, marveling at the stately photos of the Roman wonders of old (like the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the Trevi Fountain) as well as some of Italy's more modern sights (such as its charming uphill streets, the Leaning Tower, and the waterways of Venice).

"Ooh. What's that smell...?" Yuuko asked in a dreamy sort of voice, Emi standing beside her looking equally spellbound.

Haruka specifically pointed at the photo of the Trevi Fountain, saying, "I know that place! My great-grandmother married my great-grandfather in front of that fountain. Dad still has their wedding photo mounted on the family shrine."

"Oh, you actually have a family shrine in your house?" Chinatsu asked, curious. "Mom would never go for something like that. She'd say it's an inefficient use of square footage."

Within minutes, a mild-mannered middle-aged man seated the group in the restaurant's bright and home-y dining area. If only the open veranda actually had access to a view of the ocean that was so tantalizingly close.

As for the food, the kids all opted for classic Italian staples--alfredo, risotto, spaghetti, the usual suspects--as recommended by Jacob, but for himself, he went with the Winds of Tuscany's special dish: An Italian-inspired rice omelette, laid in a pool of homemade marinara sauce. It was such a Japanese take on Italian food, and Jacob knew that if he didn't try it now, he'd never get the chance again. Unfortunately, it wasn't amazing, but there was potential there. Especially with the sauce, which may have very well been the best marinara sauce ever made. He made a mental note to experiment over the summer. Using the dozen jars of the restaurant's signature marinara that he bought on the way out.

***

"Everybody, I have an announcement to make!"

Haruka had taken the lead and made this grand proclamation as soon as the Kameda High Calligraphy Club exited the Haneda Airport, and it was apparent that some good news was to follow.

"Dad's been working on finalizing it, so I didn't want to say anything earlier, but it's official now: We're taking a trip to Okinawa!" There was a general outburst of excited comments before she added, holding up her phone, "And Dad's decided just now that all of you are invited to join us!"

"No way! That's awesome!" Chinatsu cheered amid the now-deafening shouts of her clubmates.

"Damn! Guessin' the pharmacy's doin' real good these days," Jacob mused. "So, when's it gonna be?"

"We're gonna take a flight down on the evening of the 17th," Haruka explained, "And we'll be staying until the 21st, where we'll be flying back late in the evening."

"Three full days in Okinawan summer sun," Yuuko said in a dreamy voice once again, "Maybe I'll get as tan as Chi-chan!"

"Sounds like a risky move," Emi chuckled, "You'd probably get badly sunburnt if you try to tan that much!" As the group bantered and planned the trip out, weeks in advance, a thought had suddenly occurred to Jacob...

"Ah! But before we head down to Okinawa, I just remembered something--Haruka, back when you first joined the club, you mentioned that there was someplace you'd love to visit again..."

Haruka nearly leapt out of her shoes. "Y-You mean, Mount Takao?!"

Jacob took on a confident stance, arms crossed. "Hell yeah! I just remembered that I haven't taken you there for a day trip yet. Of course, the rest of ya are more than welcome to join us--it's an easy hike, and the view from the top is something you'll wanna see at least once."

"So, what," Chinatsu chimed in, "We'll take a trip up to Takao the week before? Is that the idea? 'Cause I'm not doin' anything all summer, so I'll be up for that."

There were nods of assent all around, and so the matter was settled: Around the 12th of August, they'll embark on a warm-up trip to the gentle slopes of Mount Takao before they depart on the 17th for the main course expedition to Okinawa.

"Alright, everyone, let's make sure we all have each other's numbers," Emi called out, a radiant smile stubbornly painted on her face, "Just in case anyone needs to reach anyone else!"

A few minutes and much tapping later, the group had dispersed--each of the teenagers were no doubt eager to share the news of their third-place ranking with their parents--leaving Jacob by himself out in front of the airport. Now, then...what to do...?

It was about half-past 9 o'clock, yet he was feeling more awake now than he had felt earlier that day. Perhaps it was time to take a trip down to Jogamu Sports Bar for an hour or two. See how the local baseball games were going. And maybe get a few ounces of whiskey in his system, to induce drowsiness. All that fun stuff.

Hirano-san wasn't there tending the bar tonight, but that wasn't much of a surprise--he typically had Saturdays off. What did come as a surprise, however, was that a particularly attractive woman named Shimada Kumiko had been waiting for him to arrive, wearing a simple deep purple sun dress, hand wrapped around a half-full glass of some extremely dark stout.

"Ah, Young-san, there you are!" she said with a pleasantly welcoming voice, indicating that the seat next to her was available for him to occupy. "I had a feeling you'd stop by tonight."

Pleased by this development, Jacob took up her offer and sat himself in the stool next to hers. "Well, well, well. It must be destiny. Been waitin' long?"

"Only about 25 minutes or so. Got to catch the final inning of the Lions game, so it's not like I've been suffering in silence." She took a draught of her stout before setting it back down on the counter. Jacob took this opportunity to order himself a glass of whiskey.

"'When in Rome, do as the Romans do,' as we say back in the States," Jacob said with a grin. "So, I've gotta ask: What's a fine-lookin' woman like you doin' waitin' half an hour in a cheap bar for a scruffy guy like me, Shimada-san?"

She smiled a tense smile, before saying, "Well, to put it bluntly, I've misjudged you. I always thought you were base and crude and, well, not going anywhere in life. Even at Isshiki, when you showed me that there was depth underneath that scruffy exterior, I couldn't see you as anything but a frivolous meat-head. But today, as I watched your group's performance, I was finally able to shake off that false perception."

"Oh? You came all the way to Shikoku, too?"

"On my salary? Yeah, no. That wasn't gonna happen. No, the NHK Channel 3 was airing the whole competition today, and I decided to watch out of curiosity." She was holding her glass of stout, spinning it about on its bottom rim as tonight's bartender placed Jacob's glass of whiskey in front of him. "It really hit home that, well, you really are a stand-up guy, Young-san. You were put into a challenging and uncomfortable position, but not only did you not run away from it, you met the challenge head-on. And not only that, you're working hard to enrich the lives of these kids, and you've been an undeniably good influence on them."

Jacob downed his glass in one go, signaled for a refill, and said in a sardonic tone, "What, you thought I was gonna turn the lot of 'em into delinquents or something? Though, I mean, it's not too late to teach them about how fun arson can be..."

Shimada-san raised an eyebrow at this.

"I'm obviously joking," he said flatly.

"I was hoping you were," she replied flatly.

"But yeah, arsonists are no joke. When I was about 7 years old, a couple o' local shitheads set our garbage cans on fire one night. Outer wall of our trailer caught fire an' nearly collapsed it, but the local bureaucrats decided it was still structurally-sound enough for human habitation, unfortunately, so I had to keep livin' in that dump until I was 15."

"I'm still not sure if I'm in a good place to start a relationship," Shimada-san said, seemingly deciding that she was done beating around the bush and now was the time to get straight to the point, "But if I keep waiting for the 'right time,' then I'll just end up watching my whole life pass me by, y'know?"

Perfectly fine with this drastic shift in topic, Jacob turned towards her and placed his elbow on the bar, donning an exaggerated flirtatious expression. "Well, I'd say that sounds like a wonderful idea, Shimada-san. You got yer eyes set on anybody yet?"

She, likewise, turned in her stool to face him and set her own elbow on the counter, mirroring his comical expression. "Why, yes, Young-san, I do believe I have..."

And so a new chapter in both of their lives was set to begin. Apparently, neither of them had ever been in a serious relationship before, so it was agreeable to both parties to take things slow. To test the waters, so to speak. After all, any survivalist worth their salt knows that caution and careful planning are the keys to success in any undertaking, and there are few undertakings more treacherous and fraught with danger than the world of romance.

***

Unfortunately, in the morning hours of August 12th, Shimada-san was unavailable to join Jacob and the others for their day trip. "Summer Vacation is the longest one we get all year," she had said over the phone, when he brought the idea up, "So it's my best opportunity to get the whole year's assignments prepared. Sorry. But if I make good enough progress, I'll have some free time in the Winter and Spring breaks!"

"Yeesh, sounds rough," was his reply, "Makes sense, though--the class curriculum doesn't just come fallin' outta the School Fairy's ass. Or maybe it does. Is that an industry secret that I shouldn't know about?"

"Oh, it's hard to say. I'm not at liberty to discuss the intricate workings of the School Fairy..."

Thinking back on it now, it was perfectly possible that Shimada-san was either trying to be modest and not try to butt in on this group activity, or she just wasn't interested and was being polite about it. Eh, that's too bad. She'll just have to miss out on all the fun.

For today's trip, Jacob decided to pay a visit to the neighborhood Epoch Car Rental, conveniently located right next to the 7-Eleven, to acquire a van for the trip--this one, however, was eye-catchingly red, and it pleased him greatly.

"Wouldn't mind just straight-up ownin' something like this!" he said at first sight of the slick, crimson, group-hauling beauty.

The proprietor wrung his hands with great anticipation, saying, "Well, I have good news for you, then, sir, our vehicles are, indeed, available for sale, should the customer request so. Might I interest you in--"

"Whoops!" Jacob 'inadvertently' cut him off, "I've gotta get up to Shinagawa for the rest of our trip's supplies! Quick, let's sign this baby out so I can get my ass movin'!"

"Right away, sir..." the rental dealer sighed, a steady stream of sorrow emerging dolefully from out of his soul and into the cold, uncaring ether.

By noon, the skies were largely overcast, though the possibility of rain seemed quite low, given how thin and light the cloud-cover was. Maybe not the best conditions for his plan, but hardly anything to worry about. Some wispy little clouds have decided to blot out the sun? Then we will hike in the shade!

The time to meet was soon, so Jacob drove the van to their designated meeting place--an up-and-coming upscale gastro pub called SNAP-SHOT, located roughly in the middle of all their residences, between the two main train lines. They didn't open until after 5pm, anyway, so it's not like he was disrupting their traffic or anything, though perhaps, in retrospect, they should have agreed to meet at the school or something instead--Haruka and Chinatsu had a bit of trouble locating the place.

Jacob couldn't help but chuckle as he took notice of everyone's wardrobe--their tastes in fashion really did align with their personalities. Chinatsu was decked out in a torn black Warlock shirt over a magenta tank top and her usual jean shorts, Shinji-kun came with his usual button-up shirt (though this one was a charcoal gray!) and black khaki pants, Emi was likewise dressed in a sensible navy blue button-up shirt but with a long black skirt, Haruka came wearing a sky blue flower-pattern sun dress (not unlike something Shimada-san might have favored) and a wide-brimmed tan sun hat. As for Yuuko...well, Yuuko was adorned in what Jacob's brain could only label as a 'technicolor nightmare.'

Then again, his own attire was just as on-the-nose as theirs--a blue Metallica bandanna, his usual denim vest, black shirt, black sunglasses, and faded blue jeans. How unexpected. If he had worn some spiked leather bracers, he might've been a background extra in a Lethal Weapon sequel.

"Sorry, sorry!" Chinatsu called out as she arrived, being the last to do so, "I took a left at the wrong 7-Eleven. Am I the only one just now realizing that there's, like, 15 of 'em in the neighborhood?"

"It is a little much, isn't it?" Shinji-kun replied with a sagely nod, "I appreciate the convenience and all, but there's something almost...sinister about being surrounded by so many of them..."

"Well, everyone's here and accounted for, now," Emi said with an official air, before scanning the group's feet, presumably to ensure everyone was wearing proper shoes for hiking. This seemed to be the case, as they all had done so, and Emi had made a satisfied noise before turning to Jacob. "Seems like we're all ready to go."

"We're not gonna have to dig around in the dirt, are we?" Yuuko asked with some reservation, holding one hand bracingly in front of her chest, "Because I didn't think to bring any gloves with me..."

"Ah, you'll be fine," Jacob said with a wave of his hand, "Parents take little kids hiking on Mount Takao, it's that gentle of a climb. An' it's because it's such an easy hike that it's a great place to teach ya about the great outdoors!"

"Hrm, well, alright," Yuuko replied with some reluctance, still not entirely sold on the hiking portion of their trip plans, "If what you'll be teaching us really will help us survive if we somehow find ourselves stranded in the woods without one of the thousand 7-Elevens nearby, then I suppose it's worth learning."

"That's the spirit, Yuu-chan!" Chinatsu said as she rushed over and pulled Yuuko in for a one-armed hug, "We're gonna learn how to make Mother Nature our little bitch today!"

"I wouldn't mind learning a bit more about surviving in the great outdoors," Haruka chimed in, a serene expression on her face, "But more than that, I just want to see the view from the summit again. It was my favorite scenery, when I was a little girl..." She reached into the pocket of her dress and produced a huge, fancy new phone. "And I'm gonna take some high-quality pictures while I'm up there!"

"Damn, girl!" Chinatsu said, impressed, as she sidled over to gaze at it. "You must've been saving for a while to afford one of these!"

"Actually," Haruka began, going slightly red in the face, "Dad and I each got one for free, and with a discounted plan, to boot. We let the provider do some advertising in our pharmacy for a few days, and he must've gotten enough new customers to justify the cost on top of our asking fee."

"Well, one can hardly argue with those results," Shinji-kun said, also admiring Haruka's new phone, "It truly is a marvelous piece of tech, and as they say, 'There's nothing cheaper than something free.'"

"Do people actually say that?" Emi pondered, "I just thought that was a joke from an old game..."

"Alright, folks," Jacob called out, "It's time to get this show on the road! Mount Takao is calling our names!"

The crimson van was actually a bit more spacious than their previous transport, so their journey west promised to be a pleasant one. The sun was even threatening to break through the wispy cloud-cover overhead. With the roar of the engine, and a final adjusting of the rear-view mirror, the Kameda High Calligraphy Club was now westward bound.

***

Almost as if to prove the point he had made earlier about the mountain being an easy climb, Jacob and the others were far from the only ones lumbering about off the main trail--couples, small families, and even a uniformed camping troupe reminiscent of the Boy Scouts back in the States were among Mount Takao's other more ambitious climbers today.

"It's a bit crowded now," Jacob said as he led them into a wooded thicket, "But it'll clear out by evening. It always does. If you're inexperienced, even these gentle slopes can be treacherous at night, so if any of you ever find yourselves out lost in the wilderness, you really shouldn't try to move anywhere when evening falls. Focus on securin' shelter and fire first."

"Even in the summer?" Emi asked, who was working up a sweat in the humidity of a Japanese summer afternoon.

"Yup!" came their nature sensei's confident reply, "Not only would you be screwed if it was raining, but don't underestimate how chilly the nights can be out in the middle of nowhere, even in the heat of summer. An' you'll always wanna take multiple fire sources with ya--matches, multiple lighters, a battery with some steel wool an' a wire, all that kinda thing."

As they made their way through the most tame forest any of them had ever seen, Haruka piped up, "Oh yeah, Yangu-san, I've been thinking: I know the Katsuragawa is nearby, but what would I do if there was no fresh water nearby?"

"Well, for one thing, you'll wanna be careful about drinkin' river water," Jacob said, "Just because the water's in motion doesn't mean it's safe. You'll wanna boil it first. An' if boilin' it's not an option, then take a look here." He walked the group over to a patch of grass next to a tree. "Early in the morning, plants tend to have a lot of dew collectin' on 'em. It might not be a hundred percent sterile, but it's certainly a hell of a lot safer than takin' big scoops out of the river. With grass, you can use sheets or some thin clothes to soak up the dew, and with trees, you can use a plastic shoppin' bag tied tight around the branch. It's not instant, but it'll get ya the water you need."

The survival lesson continued on for quite a while, including a section on procuring food ("Never eat anything out in the wilderness if you're not absolutely sure it's what you think it is. Better men than I have met their end downin' what appeared to be ordinary wild berries.") and navigating by night ("If you really, really must travel after sundown, you've gotta memorize where the North Star and all its surrounding constellations are. But then you also gotta know where they are at that time of year an' what direction they correspond t--y'know what, just, just don't go travelin' on foot at night. It's a bad idea, in general. I wouldn't even try it.").

"So, what got you interested in all this survival stuff?" Yuuko asked as the group's unorthodox route led them to one of the official mountain trails. Despite her earlier misgivings, she seemed to be taking in these lessons with great interest.

"Well, it's simple, really," Jacob said with a shrug, "Didn't have a very good home life. My parents didn't have much interest in raisin' my brother an' I, so we coped in different ways. I swore to myself I'd be more self-reliant, so I wouldn't be so helpless anymore, so that's when I started learnin' all I could about survival in harsh conditions. So I always had a backup plan, y'know?" His expression darkened. "As for my brother..." He sighed. "Well, let's just say, I hope he's doin' better now than the last time I saw 'im. That ain't no way to live..."

Almost as if forcing himself, he straightened up and pumped his fist. "Which is why I'm teachin' ya all this stuff. It's not just about the actual act of survivin' out in the wild..." He curled both arms at his side, looking as though he were about to power up and launch energy blasts from his hands. "It's about knowin' that, even in the worst of circumstances, you'll never be powerless. As long as you have the will and the know-how, you can claw your way out of any situation. An' I know for a fact that some of us standin' here have already proved this to be true." He gave Haruka a meaningful look before letting his arms fall to his sides. Overhead, evening had begun its advance. "Damn, is it that late already? Alright, everyone, let's head back to the van. I've got some surprise supplies to take with us to the summit."

"Oh?" Shinji-kun was intrigued, "I don't suppose these surprise supplies might have anything to do with the real reason for our trip up here today?"

"Perhaps..." Jacob said evasively with a shit-eating grin. "I promise it's something good, though!"

Within half an hour, the group had reached the summit station of Mount Takao, their so-called surprise supplies in tow, which turned out to be several nondescript shopping bags. The sun was setting now, its golden glow bursting from behind the rows and rows of small, jagged verdant peaks in the distance. Leaning over the steel guard rail, true to her word, Haruka had her phone out and was furiously snapping a myriad of photos of the landscape. Naturally, this involved several group photos, as well--"It's too bad Dad couldn't make it today," she had said, "But being here with all my friends...it really is like a dream. Quick, Yuu-chan! Pinch my cheek!"

"Wha-why me?" Yuuko protested, "Chi-chan's a better pincher than I am!"

"Ara, ara~" Chinatsu feigned embarrassment, "I thought we weren't going to tell the others about our little private sessions, Yuu-chan~"

"Oh, stop that right now!" Yuuko huffed, "You're making me sound like some kind of sex weirdo!"

"It really is beautiful, though..." Emi said, turning to take in the sight of the valley below once more.

Scanning left and right, Jacob cut in, "Well, it looks like the crowd's thinnin' out. I already got the okay from the Visitor Center's managing supervisor, and I'm aware that it's a day early, buuuut..."

"Oh my God," Chinatsu squealed as she watched Jacob dig into the mysterious bags, "Are we doing fireworks?!"

With explosives sticking out from in between every finger, a giant grin plastered on his face, Jacob shouted, "You bet your ass, we're doin' fireworks!" Apparently, his shout was so exuberant that it echoed all around them, particularly from the valley below. The few visitors who still remained were caught off-guard by his outburst, and were now privately kicking themselves for not having the same idea.

Over the course of an hour, the Kameda High Calligraphy Club had set off all manner of pyrotechnic goodness on the summit of Mount Takao--from your standard warm-up selection of multicolored sparklers, to the novelty bottlerockets and charcoal snakes. Some unintended excitement occurred when the whirlers got a little too ambitious in their trajectories and shot out at Emi and Jacob's feet, prompting them to hop around like they were dodging venomous scorpions. Oh, sure, they had a big laugh about it afterward, but in the moment, there's always something innately frightening about something flying straight at you that's also on fire.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Jacob said, holding an armful of full-length rockets, "I'll just go set these up down in the clearing below us..." He was off, jogging along the observation plaza and into the trail. A moment later, he was sprinting with everything he had, gesturing them further up the square. "That way! That way! We'll get a better view from further away!" No more than 10 seconds later, the telltale fwee of a firework being launched pierced the twilight, and everyone in the group turned around at once.

A cascade of colors burst forth in the skies over Mount Takao, each new bloom building on the last. There was something fundamentally...'right' about summertime fireworks. Maybe it was because the association between the two had been baked into all of them from an early age, but even though their ears were ringing from the deafening blasts, Jacob, Chinatsu, Emi, Shinji-kun, Haruka, and Yuuko were all transfixed by the rise and fall of every last stream that illuminated the sky above.

"Like I said before," Jacob said, perhaps a little louder than he had intended due to the barrage of noise, as he placed his hands on his hips, "I didn't exactly have a nice childhood. But while I'm around, I'm gonna make sure you kids have it better than I ever did." He gestured up to where the fireworks were erupting mere seconds ago. "Now, I think that was a damn good way to celebrate our first successful Shodou Performing Thing, wouldn't you say?"

No one else spoke, but the night air buzzed with their silent agreement. Not only would this be the first, but from here on out, the Kameda High Calligraphy Club would be aiming for even greater heights. Whether that meant fostering the creation of a scholastic dynasty of top-class Shodou Performance teams, or simply facing their individual futures with full-force, it was hard to say just yet. But for now, as they continued to gaze into the darkened sky, the lights of the visitor's center glowing brightly in the periphery, all 6 members were unified in one singular thought: This was a night they would all cherish for many years to come.