The Blue Light

3

“Of course I didn’t. I’m not free, you know. I didn’t call because I wanted to talk to you.”

Suddenly, Ai-san’s tone turned cold and dismissive.

But when she said it, I realized she was probably right.

People make phone calls because they want to talk to a specific person.

I had only picked up the smartphone by accident.

There was someone else she had intended to call.

“Are you angry?”

Her eyes narrowed, shining a little as she smiled.

“No, not really,” I answered, trying not to show how I actually felt.

It wasn’t anger—it was more like sadness.

“Sorry, I’m kidding. Honestly, I don’t care who I talk to, boy. Actually… I have a favor to ask. Will you listen?”

I answered in a purposely blunt voice.

“Huh.”

“So, the forest you’re in… it’s on a mountain, right? Why don’t you climb it? The mountain.”

She let each word out slowly and deliberately, as if tasting it.

“Why?” I raised my voice a little.

I didn’t understand what her “so” referred to, and I also wanted to bother her just a bit.

“Because you’re in high school, aren’t you? You should at least be able to climb a mountain.”

“I don’t feel like it.”

“A high schooler who can’t?”

“…Do high schoolers have to climb mountains?”

“Of course. All the high school kids around you climb them too, you know.”

Ahead of me, the flashlight beam opened a convenient gap between the trees, revealing more dirt in the same color as the ground under my sneakers.

“You don’t have a choice. High schooler.”

She sounded like she was threatening me.

I gave a wry smile.

“…Guess so.”

I never thought about taking back the lie.

If being a high schooler meant being able to climb mountains, admitting I couldn’t would make everything a lie.

Besides, I had no reason to take it back.

It’s not like I hated the idea.

I had pretty good night vision, and my phone had a flashlight.

“Please, boy. Climb it.”

And Ai-san would be with me.

Somehow that made me excited.

“I think I can do it.”

“Good. Then let’s go, boy. High schooler.”

We left the shrine and started climbing the mountain at night.

With my phone in my left hand, talking about dumb things, we climbed the unstable brown ground lit by the flashlight.

The world of soil, fallen leaves, shrubs and trees gradually gained new features—pale rocks covered in thin moss.

It wasn’t really a walk anymore. It was a mountain climb.

I used my arms and tightened my stomach, pulling myself up with my whole body.

Sometimes the sound of animals or birds came from the darkness between the trees.

I brushed away unfamiliar bugs with my hand.

The mountain path grew narrower, but apparently it wasn’t fully cut off from people; as long as I had four working limbs, I could get through.

Later, I learned that most mountains in Japan had trails opened by climbers.

I was simply following one of them.

As I walked, the shrubs disappeared.

Between the scattered trees, white dots were moving.

They startled me at first, but when I realized they were a dozen or so deer, fear turned into excitement.

I had never seen deer moving as a group before.

Ai-san asked, “Aren’t you scared?” but I wasn’t scared at all.

After giving the deer a confident little bow, I kept walking and reached an open area.

A whole section of the forest had been cleared away, giving me a view of the sky.

And then I remembered—the full moon had been following me ever since I entered the forest.

And just like me, my town had been under that same moonlight.

From the viewpoint, I could see everything.

The brightest light was the convenience store sign.

The next brightest were the streetlights.

To the east and west, soft silhouettes of other mountains stretched out.

To the south were residential areas, and beyond them, more mountains.

Farther back, I saw a faint glow—the next town over.

Just one stop away on the train.

Of course, not Tokyo.

“It’s lonely, isn’t it?” Ai-san said as she opened her second can of alcohol, speaking my thoughts for me.

When I saw her smile, the truth hit me.

The brightest light around me was the glow of my phone.

I felt like I had noticed something I shouldn’t have.

My mood suddenly dropped.

“Ai-san… I think I’m gonna head back. I’m starting to feel a little sad.”

I was already on the verge of giving up.

Maybe it was because I was tired from climbing for so long.

I expected her to get angry, but she only smiled.

“Good idea. It looks like we’ve basically reached the top anyway.”

“The top?”

“Look. Right in front of you. Isn’t that the marker?”

There was a thin stone pillar standing there, about the same height as me.

It blended in so well with the forest that I hadn’t noticed it.

Carved into it were the mountain’s name, the elevation, and the words “Summit.”

We had really reached the top.

“Well then, Ai-san. I’m heading back.”

Satisfied, I announced my descent.

My phone showed that it was already past eleven.

I wondered what time I’d get home—definitely late.

Thinking about that, I began to walk down the mountain quickly.

“Ai-san? …Ai-san?”

No answer.

I looked at the phone in my hand.

The screen was black.

And not just the screen—my whole vision went dark.

The flashlight had died.

My phone’s battery was gone.

And for some reason, even my proud night vision had stopped working.

Panicking, I tried to run back to the clearing where I could see the town.

As I ran blindly through the darkness, dozens of tiny lights appeared.

A herd of deer was staring straight at me.

My blood felt like it was flowing backward.

My whole body tensed.

I lowered my gaze and ran toward the clearing.

This was the first time I truly felt fear in the forest.

The deer—

they ran toward me.

A rumbling sound filled the air, like an earthquake.

Sweat soaked my shirt.

When I looked up, the herd was running straight at me, countless eyes fixed on me.

I crouched down.

By some miracle, none of them hit me.

The smell of the animals brushed past my ears and made my stomach twist.

I felt cold deep in my bones.

When I snapped back to myself and looked into the darkness, I saw one last pair of glowing eyes.

No—two.

They weren’t deer.

I froze.

A wild boar rammed into me head-on.

My body rolled through the darkness, slamming into rocks and dirt.

Pain spread across my knees, shoulder, cheek, forehead.

Each spot grew cold.

I heard the boar breathing heavily.

I braced myself for death, muscles tightening between my eyebrows.

My right cheek touched something slick.

Something cold was stuck to my side.

When I opened my eyes through the pain, I saw a blue tarp.

My night vision had returned.

Wrapped inside the blue tarp was a human body.

“…Are you… okay? Are you alright?”

No response.

Even shaking the shoulder got nothing.

What was I supposed to do in this situation?

—Actually.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I was tired.

I didn’t have the strength to go down the mountain.

I didn’t even know if I was near the top or the bottom.

So I lay down beside her and pulled the blue tarp over myself as well.