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morning
studying and then gone for a long walk and a late lunch with Hachiro before
spending a quiet night at home. But she had not minded at all, considering the
plan for today.
    The wind gusted again and Kara
shivered as she packed away her bento box.
    "It's so beautiful up here,"
Miho said, standing up. "And the air is just so fresh. I feel more —"
    "Awake?" Sora teased.
    Miho gave a shy shake of her
head. "I was going to say 'alive.'"
    Kara studied her, wondering if
she was just having a relapse of shyness or if she might have some interest in
Sora. Miho loved to talk to Kara about American boys, which were sort of an
obsession with her, but had also had a crush on Ren until she found out that he
was gay. Sora did not have Ren's sense of humor and he wasn't quite as
good-looking, but he seemed like a nice enough guy, smart and friendly. Miho
could definitely do worse.
    "You're crazy," Ren
told Miho. "I'd much rather be in class."
    His tone and expression were so
convincing that for a moment he even had Kara fooled, but then he laughed and
rolled his eyes as if to say, please, you didn't really believe that, did
you?
    "You scared me there for a
minute," Kara told him.
    Ren slipped his bento box into
his backpack and hoisted it onto his shoulders. "Don't worry. I haven't
lost my mind. I'd rather be almost anywhere than in class. And I don't mind the
exercise."
    "Would you believe I heard
two girls complaining about being here?" Hachiro said. He had been quiet,
but now he grew animated as he mimicked one of the girls. "'I've been to
the top of Takigami Mountain a million times. Ensoku should take us somewhere
we've never been.'"
    Sakura shivered as the wind
gusted. She put up the collar of her jacket and pulled her black cap down
tightly around her ears.
    "I agree," she said.
"There are so many places we could have gone. But since this is only a day
trip, maybe we'll do more than one ensoku. Last year's trip to Osaka was an
overnight."
    "That bus ride took
forever," Ren moaned.
    "I love the mountains,
anyway," Sora said.
    "This isn't much of a
mountain," Kara said, as the rest of them packed their bento boxes away.
"For a girl who's used to skiing in Vermont and New Hampshire, it's more
of a hill. And the mountains in New England are nothing compared to Colorado."
    Miho sighed. "I want to
visit America."
    "We know why," Sakura
teased.
    "Not just for the
boys," Miho said sharply.
    They all laughed at that, even
Miho, who reddened as she realized she had essentially admitted her fascination
with American boys.
    "So what makes the
mountains at home so special?" Hachiro asked.
    "Well, it's more than just
the size. They just look more . . ." She trailed off, looking around. No
matter how proficient she became in speaking Japanese, she still encountered
words that she did not know how to translate and it frustrated her.
    "Formidable," she said
in English. Then, instantly, she thought of a suitable substitute. "The
mountains at home are more impressive," she continued in Japanese. "Some
of them are scary. They're huge and have steep cliffs and throw shadows that go
on forever. In New England, most of them are covered in forest —"
    Sora spread his arms. "Look
around. What is this?"
    Kara nodded. "Yes. That's
one thing Takigami has. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't criticizing. I love it here,
and it is beautiful. It isn't very steep and it makes for a perfect hiking
mountain. I just like how intimidating the mountains can be at home, almost
like you're looking at some other world. Or an ancient world. And in northern
New England there's snow on the mountains all winter long."
    Much of the snow in the city had
either melted or been cleared, but on Takigami Mountain a light covering
remained. From what Kara had learned of the local winters, the average snowfall
was unpredictable.
    Other students were getting up
now, putting their backpacks on. Kara noticed Mai and Wakana a few tables away.
She might have smiled at them except that they