ROUTE 1 - ONSEN BREAK

In a two-car convoy with my friend, we carve through the winding road, breathing in sync with Hakone's unique rhythm, bound for the hot spring.

My tomboyish friend secures her parking spot with a spin turn.
Please - not in public places.

We reach the hot spring a little before eight.
On the way to the entrance, another mishap strikes.

This time I take a full tumble straight into a puddle. Even after leaving the car, I'm a total klutz.

We check in for the morning bath at the front desk.
The stairs up to the rooftop "Grand Open-Air Bath" make an oddly satisfying sound.

At the lockers I wrap myself in a bath towel - time for the open-air bath.

Two steps to the edge. I test the heat with my fingertips and sink to my shoulders.
A soft trace of sulfur follows; a white veil slowly takes over my view.
The cold at my core unravels.

This is exactly the "white dream of today" I came chasing from Tokyo.

"Recovery, progress: seventy percent."
"And the other thirty?"
"Fill it with a single word from you."

She chuckles and flicks the white surface with her fingertip; a bead leaps and disappears.

When the wind shifts, the "white" parts and the sound of a waterfall reaches from far away.
A faint blush warms my cheeks. My pulse settles back to a human pace.
The true face of the white, now, is properly the bath -- neither fog nor tire smoke.

In the water I make a serious vow: today, I won't be beaten by "transparency."

I rinse off, dry my hair.
Slip on sandals -- my bare feet go clack. At the same time, hers: clack.
Moving in sync feels good; that's the morning's keyword.

At the vending machine we press the same button at the same time, and two identical drinks drop.
I laugh and propose, "Rock, paper, scissors to decide. If it's a tie, no more bath."
"We already had one," she says.

We laugh and step outside. The white thins; the sky deepens.

A fine line beyond the ridge -- the Ashinoko Skyline beckons in a pale stroke.
She jerks her chin. "Shall we chase blue next?"
"With white in tow," I answer, earnest, with a touch of mischief.
The throttle replies with a warmer note than before.

-- The warmth reclaimed by a morning bath. White is on our side.