ROUTE 1 - ASHINOKO

The body heat I reclaimed in the bath still lingers faintly in my fingertips. Recovery, progress: seventy percent. When I gripped the wheel in the parking lot, the rubber band of the locker key around my wrist went "clatter." …Forgot to take it off. Nearly made off with it. What I need now isn't this—it's the engine key. I press the button, and the engine growls. When I get in the car, I'm reborn into someone a little different… or so it should be. Probably.

"Ready, set." In the yellow cabin beside me, I can tell my partner gives a thumbs-up. Two engine sounds layer over morning Hakone. The higher I climb on Route 1, the deeper the green, and the sky deepens from pale aqua to lake blue. At the sign for Hakone Pass, I give a little nod. A habit. The white of the steam is already behind my back. This time, I go with the blue of the lake.

Through the gate, onto the Ashinoko Skyline. The morning ridge road has sky on both sides. The white dashed line on the shoulder somehow looks like notes today, and I sing it with my right foot while steadying my breath with the steering. The yellow car ahead flicks its hazards once, lightly. The signal for the Melody Road. I hold a steady speed and listen close. ♪ Fu-ji-wa-ni-ho-n… My mouth chases the lyrics on its own, I get carried away and reach for the harmony, and miss it spectacularly. "That semitone just now—where'd it come from?" My partner laughs on the other end of the radio. I'm serious, so I answer seriously. "Post-bath effect. My pitch got stretched out." "Is that physics? Or psychology?" …I thought it over, and seriously fell silent. The ridge wind cools my cheeks, and the blue soaks into the back of my eyes. On a corner with a wide view, Mt. Fuji shows its face for just an instant. To the white peak, a single thread of the lake's surface connects. My heartbeat's calm, but only my eyes are busy. Breathing in white and blue by turns, sending them off to the next corner.

Down the ridge, from Kojiri to the lakeshore. The water is close. The red torii of Hakone Shrine appears and vanishes through the thin film of mist. I almost get sucked into the line of cars waiting to park, and hastily flicked the turn signal back. "Want to stop?" my partner asks. "No, right now it's laps. I'll give the gods my report on the blue later." Saying it seriously, I notice my own mistake. From gripping the lever hard enough to clench my teeth, the washer fluid sprayed out with a whoosh. Clear runs across the windshield, and I froze. My partner's laughter rides the radio. "Relax, that's not 'hot water' or 'white smoke.' Just clear." I nod seriously. "Yeah. Clear is under control." The two of us burst out laughing and matched the throttle. On the south side of the lake, we enter the relay-race straight. The road one line, the sound one line, the view one line. The blue surface and the white line cut straight through the center of my chest. Breathe deep, exhale shallow. My partner's tail jumped a little, just before the beat.

Once more, the climb to Hakone Pass. I drop one gear. "Last lap—just for the feeling." I say it to no one in particular and match my spine to the wheel. I've breathed in plenty of blue. I've made the white an ally. The clear, I turned into laughter. Sorting out, progress: one hundred percent. Clearing the final corner, the lake flashes like a sword. One blip, and I quietly ease the engine down. Hazards twice. My partner pulls up alongside and lowers her window a little. "What's next?" "The peninsula. At the edge of the sea, we bend the wind twice." "Got it. Bringing the blue, toward the white of the tide." My partner narrows her eyes like a cat and puts on her turn signal first. I nod seriously too. The locker key on my wrist swayed a little in the mirror. —Blue laps, complete. Progress: one hundred percent.