Volume 1 Chapter 5 Part1 (2/2)

Ryouhei immediately copied him.

“It’s like something from a period drama or kabuki.”

“Oh, that’s Mount Fuji,” Nanao also said in a kabuki voice, and then he and Ryouhei posed together, before giggling when their faces met. Their laughter was infectious and everyone else burst into laughter as well, and it became the usual serious but amiable sight. Ryouhei’s and Nanao’s exchanges were a specialty of the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club, and it was unsatisfying without them.

At the very end of practice, Tomi-sensei made an announcement.

“On the weekend, I will give you five boys a mission. If you clear the mission, I shall teach all the members how to raise their hitting rates without having to fix their shooting postures or anything else.”

“Ehhh! Really!?”

“Yes, really, Yamanouchi-kun.”

Tomi-sensei laughed loudly.

In the early morning of the weekend, Minato, Ryouhei, Nanao, and Kaito were at a mountain stream. Seiya was unusually late.

It wasn’t the same stream where they had a barbecue during training camp, but a Satokawa (2) river system that was about thirty minutes by bike from Minato’s house. The new green leaves burying the riverside was wet with morning dew, and the mountain cherry trees were dotted with small red fruit. The river sounds that resounded on the bank imparted the abundance of water.

Ryouhei said to Nanao, “Why are we fis.h.i.+ng? Is it a thing where we have to learn patience? Plus, we have to send Tomi-sensei a picture of the five of us with today’s catch.”

“But it’s fine, since it seems like fun. But, I never really did much fis.h.i.+ng. People often ask me why I can’t fish even though I live by a river.”

Nanao was dressed in the latest fas.h.i.+on that seemed like it was decorating the cover of an outdoor magazine rather than a local fisherman. He started with the looks first, and because of his stance that he should just ask someone on site about how to do things, his fis.h.i.+ng kit was completely borrowed.

“If that’s the case, then work with me and Minato. In elementary school, Minato was the best at fis.h.i.+ng among us. They say that working independently is forbidden because you can’t call for help when something happens. Is it okay with you, Minato?”

Minato turned to Ryouhei with a look of amazement.

“It’s fine, but the two of you will have to catch bait at least by yourselves. Tomi-sensei gave us a sport fis.h.i.+ng pa.s.s, but we have to source the bait locally.”

“I don’t wanna touch river bugs! I’m going to buy bait, not deal with bugs.”

“Wimp. Bugs aren’t a big deal if you think about suddenly encountering a bear.”

“Minato, you’re a wild child even though you really don’t look it. You didn’t catch a cold even though you fell into a cold river, and you run on snow-covered roads without hesitation. Even if you run into a bear, you’ll probably not react to it and the bear will be the one who’ll be surprised. Rather than being suited for surviving outdoors, if anything, you’re kind of a natural airhead?”

“Ryouhei, the only person who I don’t want telling me that is you.”

“Why?”

“You just proved my point. Besides, a real bear will be coming soon.”

“Eh, what do you mean?”

Kaito was watching Minato, Ryouhei, and Nanao talk from a distance. From his perspective, Minato and Ryouhei were fundamentally similar, and they were both clearly airheads.

Shortly after, Seiya arrived.

“I kept you all waiting. Sorry for being late.”

“Is this dog maybe 'Bear?’”

“Yes, isn’t he handsome? I brought him because Ryouhei seemed to have wanted to meet him before. He’s a four-year-old Bernese Mountain dog. Bear, say hi to everyone.”

When Bear barked, Ryouhei’s eyes sparkled.

At first, Bear was simply watching Ryouhei, but when Seiya finished his fis.h.i.+ng preparations, he completely let down his guard. Minato and Nanao joined in on playing around, and they ended up on the ground jostling each other, causing a pa.s.sing fisherman to laugh at them.

Kaito called out to Ryouhei.

“Hey, get going.”

“Ehh, but I want to play with Bear more.”

“Once it gets late, the fish will probably take a nap. Then fis.h.i.+ng will be over.”

“Oh, that’s true. I did hear that it’s easier to fish in the early morning and evening.”

Wiping off a cloud of sand and Bear’s hair from their clothes, the five people and one dog then separated into two groups and headed off to fish.

Kaito and Seiya first turned over a rock at the bottom of the river. Because the hiding river bugs were being swept away, they used a hand net to scoop them out and catch them. They had been fis.h.i.+ng since they were children, but the outcome relied on searching for a point (3). As they weren’t equipped to enter the river, they looked for a place to stretch a rod and reach from land. Since they could walk alongside the river here, there were no worries about getting stung by black flies in the bushes or getting bitten by snakes.

Mountain stream fis.h.i.+ng was a dynamic activity. Instead of hanging one’s fis.h.i.+ng line down and patiently waiting, one repeating the action of circulating the bait from upstream to downstream then dragging it up, and if there was no tug, then one would steadily change the point to throw the bait into.

Seiya left Kaito, went along the rocky area and crossed over to the opposite sh.o.r.e. Bear also skillfully followed along. He quickly aimed at the shade of a rock where fish seemed likely to be and tossed his line. When he felt a tug and lifted his rod, he only took up bait. He baited it again and threw it in, and felt a great bite. Thrilled, he pulled up, and saw a dark lump—a piece of wood. He removed the hook from his pulled-in spoils and let it drop to his feet.

He then took about two hours to catch one masu salmon. Bear, with his considerably large size, was constantly sniffing its scent. Putting it away at the bag that hung at his waist, he returned to Kaito.

Kaito was trying to unravel his fis.h.i.+ng line that was entangled with an overhead tree branch. When casting the line for mountain stream fis.h.i.+ng, the hook could get caught on a tree branch or the roots, and the work to undo it was troublesome. Compared to sea fis.h.i.+ng, the catches were small, so it wasn’t suited for people with short tempers.

Seiya put his pole on the ground.

“Do you need help?”

“Oh, Seiya. Could you please pull that branch over here? It seems to have gotten stuck in a weird way.”

The two worked together and unraveled the line from the long branches.

“Thanks, you were a big help.”

“How did your fis.h.i.+ng go?”

“I’ve got absolutely nothing. If this keeps up I might not catch anything at all. What about you?”

Seiya proudly showed what he was hanging from his waist. When he took a picture of it with his phone and sent it to Minato and the others, a picture of Ryouhei with a small fish in each hand was sent back. It appeared that Minato and Nanao still hadn’t caught anything.

They found a shaded area and sat down. Seiya opened the day pack he was carrying on his back.

“I thought that we’d get hungry, so I brought bread. Do you want half?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

They stuffed their mouths with tomato curry bread, then drank from their water bottles. Bear was also given dog food. After he finished eating, Seiya brought his face to Bear’s nose.

“He’s a smart dog. Were you not able to do anything about his name?”

“Isn’t it a good name? It’s easy to remember, and it sounds strong.”

“Hmmm, is that the kind of concept behind it?”

“Also, he really is smart. He immediately got attached to Ryouhei, but he usually doesn’t get familiar with people he doesn’t know so easily, so he has a good eye for people. He seems to be showing respect for you, Kaito.”

“Thank you for that.”

When Kaito stroked Bear’s jaw, Bear stood up and sat near him, as though to nestle close to him. He looked up with jet-black eyes.

Seiya slowly opened his mouth.

“About everything with Kirisaki’s Shuu—it was wrong of me to keep it all a secret, sorry. I will talk about it properly from now on.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to talk about it. You have nothing to apologize for. You had something you didn’t want anyone else to know about, and it was wrong of me to get curious about it. Even if I knew, it doesn’t really mean that I can be helpful to you guys either.”

“That’s not true. I’m counting on you, Kacchan.”

“You…even though I was talking seriously… Can I punch you?”

“Well, since the compet.i.tion is over. I think Tomi-sensei gave us this mission not to acquire stamina and patience through fis.h.i.+ng, but to make us get away from the bow once in a while and relax. Minato seems to be conscious of Shuu and getting fl.u.s.tered by him as well.”

“Rather than him, I’m a little worried about you.”

“Me? Why?”

“Aren’t you more worried about Narumiya’s hayake than he is? Other than that, what can I say, uh… Anyways, you’re also a disappointment.”

“I don’t quite understand, but well, I’m thankful that you’re worried about me.”

“You’re kind to everyone, and yet you act rebellious towards me.”

Kaito swallowed the words that came to his mind.

——Do you have some sort of guilt towards Narumiya?

That question lacked sensitivity too much. By some chance Seiya answered yes, would he be able to find the words that he should respond with? There was no kindness in the att.i.tude of speaking of speculation as though it was true, or being okay with saying whatever one wanted if it was the truth. Just like a tag question, he was just criticizing the other party under the pretext of asking a question.

“Seiya, when I first saw you at the information session, I thought that you were a guy who was well-composed and really good at kyudo. I was watching you for a while, and I thought maybe you were similar to me in some way. You have a pa.s.sion, some kind of conviction, don’t you? I want to respect it. I respect the you who worked hard to obtain a calm and collected self.”

“You praising me feels unpleasant. Should I say that you should go practice if you had the time to observe me?”

“I want to win the prefectural tournament—with all five of us.”

“Yeah…, that’s right.”

There was the sound of a cuckoo deep in the forest. There was a maple tree spreading its leaves and branches with all its might to seek sunlight. The green wall before their eyes was slowly swaying, the flower petals from the trees dancing in the wind. The river surface shone brilliantly, and Bear closed his eyes, probably from the glare.

After that, they joined Minato’s group and finished fis.h.i.+ng by noon. Minato, Kaito and Nanao each caught one fish, Seiya caught two, and Ryouhei caught three young fish. There were days where not even a single fish could be caught, so those were excellent results. The five took pictures with the fish in their hands, salted the fish and ate them, and thus their mission was completed.

The next day, Tomi-sensei spoke in front of all the club members.

“Mission cleared, congratulations. Then, as promised, I will teach you all the three ways to increase your hitting rates.”

“Hooray!”

Ryouhei answered, looking as though he couldn’t wait. Hanazawa, s.h.i.+ragiku, and Seo watched on with expressions that said “show me what you’ve got.”

“The first way is 'equipment.’ Using a bow that matches your own physical strength and using arrows and strings that matches your bow strength. Because a heavy arrow will fly badly. The second way is 'equipment adjustment.’ Making the height of your grip and the position of your nock correct and always the same. I believe everyone was able to do all that. And now, the third way. It’s 'aiming.’ How do you all aim at the target at kai? Takehaykun?”

“Yes. You open both eyes and align the left edge of the bow with the center of the target. That is 'hangetsu no nerai (lit. Half moon aim),’ where you conceal half of the target with the bow’s yazuridou. I am generally aiming around that area.”

“Oh, what a wonderful answer. But, that 'my aiming is generally around that area’ thing is tricky. There are those who hit often in practice but cannot hit at all in compet.i.tions. Even though they aren’t especially nervous, even though they are drawing with their usual shooting postures. Why is that? That is because they aren’t aiming like usual.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“I am saying that human vision is affected by the situation of the surroundings. When the location changes, the target feels distant, or if there is only one tree growing on the arrow-collecting path, the consciousness is pulled towards there. If your aiming is ambiguous from day to day, your aim will be off because the way you see will be different depending on location.”

“Oh, even in the same kyudojo, the target seems smaller in the evening than in daytime.”

“The j.a.panese yumi has no sighting device, so you cannot see where the arrow is facing. If there is someone who can see it, that is only because they are doing hanare in front of their bodies (maebanare). In order to know whether the arrow is correctly facing towards the center, you need to be in the correct kai state where your arrow is touching your cheek—’hoozuke’—and your string is touching your chest—’munazuru,’ and then you must ask someone to look at you from behind. Especially from left and right to up and down. Just a deviation of a few millimeters can create a deviation of about ten centimeters at the target twenty-eight meters ahead. I think you all understand just how much accuracy is required. Well then, everyone, try doing it for yourselves.”

First, Ma.s.san showed them by drawing two arrows. Because he was tall, they had to stand on tiptoes to watch. And then, his arrow tips precisely faced the middle of the target. Then, with Ryouhei going first, Ma.s.san checked everyone’s aiming.

“Bring your chin down, you have to look at the target (monomi) properly. A little righter, then a little further down. There, that’s right in the center.”

“Eh, really? This right?” Ryouhei expressed surprise.

As a result, there were a few people who were aiming left rather than at the target. When someone was a beginner, because they didn’t utilize tsunomi and didn’t do yugaeri, it was unavoidable for the arrow to fly slightly to the right, so they memorized with their eyes to aim at the very edge of the top of the target. It was forbidden to put a mark on the bow’s yazuridou.

“Know the correct aim, and don’t change it. This is very important. For compet.i.tions, since your arrows are only going up today, it is unavoidable that you would try to lower them a little, but I want you to practice without changing your aiming everyday. If your aiming is the same, when you think that your arrows won’t go to the right today, you will be able to judge for yourself whether or not your left hand is weak.”

“I see,” Seo said in wonder.

Even the girls who had questioned Tomi-sensei’s teaching methods seemed to have been convinced.

“Correct shooting makes for correct hitting—don’t hit incorrectly, hit correctly. Remember that well. The ”G.o.d of Hitting” is Amanojaku. (4) Rather than those who only speak of their dreams of wanting to hit, he approaches those who seem to not have that sort of greed in mind. Besides, it is difficult to fix bad habits once you have acquired them. Many people who were self-taught in their student days and after becoming working adults, quit kyudo because they were told that their shooting postures were bad. I do not want you to become like that. Perhaps this is the selfishness of an old man.“

While Ryouhei turned towards Tomi-sensei with a look of respect, Kaito whispered into Nanao’s ear.

”Nanao.”

“Hmm? What is it, Kacchan?”

“…At the qualifiers, because of you and Seiya hitting for me, we can go to the finals…thanks.”

Nanao’s cheeks seemed to loosen, and then he promptly headb.u.t.ted Kaito.

“Owwwww!” Kaito’s shout reverberated, and Tomi-sensei gave a big thumbs-up.

<script>