Kuramochi had been, as usual, extraordinary. Even if that remained a source of amazement, they certainly had grown accustomed to it, otherwise, how all of this could have happen?
Kuramochi was the hero he dreamt to be, the man he hoped to meet one day in his mirror, the professor who would have given him the passion to see the end of his studies, the older brother who would have been by his side and would never have let things end this way between his father and him, the incredible friend the journey in Antarctica had offered him.
Inuzuka put his head in his hands and his tears flowed once again.
The dogs barked crazily. Riki jumped everywhere and licked cheeks, hands, glasses, all which passed in his reach. Jiro and Taro were everywhere, cumbersome and affectionate, stuck on the legs of Kuramochi, nearly making him stumble.
Utsumi was so relieved his smile was hurting, stretched on his face wiped by the austere climate of Antarctica.
- "Well, well, Himuro-san" he encouraged, straightening the arm of the injured man on his shoulder. "We're almost there. A few more steps and you'll enjoy the warmth of the snowbike."
The government official's face, wrinkled by pain, was still dirtied by the tears of gratitude he had poured, embracing the dogs when they finally came back.
- "All's fine, Himuro. We're saved now" added Kuramochi who supported him on the other side, his voice grated by their stay in the carcass of the whale.
He had put back his blue parka and the beige fur of the hood stuck to his hat, lifted by the wind of the plain.
- "Oy!" Shouted Samejima behind them. "Come back to help me! This kid's heavier than he seems!"
Inuzuka laughed weakly, hung onto the mechanic.
- "Didn't the doctor recommend exercise, especially to those who are older?" He stammered.
- "Tchh! Children nowadays have no respect anymore for whoever it is. I exercise enough running behind these damned pinguins, if you wanna now" complained Samejima. He ruffled the hair of the boy with affection. "Let's go home, okay?
- "Okay" repeated Inuzuka, exhausted, but happier than he had never been in his whole life.
Utsumi buckled the belt of the wounded man and wrapped him with an additional blanket.
- "We'll soon be at the station" he promised.
Himuro could not manage more than a shake of the head, thus that's what he did before closing his eyes.
- He's going to be fine, for sure.
- "Hmm" approved Kuramochi, his hands on the skulls of Jiro and Taro who curled up against his legs.
He really had no strength to add anything else. The fatigue and the hardships of the last days were mixed with gratitude on his features. He rubbed automatically the usual corner behind the ears of both brothers. The message wrapped in plastic still stirred in their thick black furs.
Utsumi squatted and caressed the truffles of both dogs, brushing off the snow on their snouts.
- "Well done, guys. Really, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you."
His voice went hoarse. He got up, erased with a quick gesture the emotion that rose to his eyes.
- "Rest a little" he said, giving a light pat to Kuramochi as he passed in front of him. "I'll go help Samejima."
The two others had again collapsed in the snow and laughed as if they were drunk. His head tilted, ears attentive, Riki observed them a moment, then decided they were okay. Hanging out his tongue, looking as usual like if he was laughing, he turned around and called his master to point out the scene.
Kuramochi answered with a sign of the arm.
Utsumi smiled.
The dogs adored their leader. Certainly, Inuzuka and all the others had also won their affection, but Kuramochi remained special for them.
He was always attentive to the needs of each, ready to give a hand, to solve a quarrel, to listen to somebody, but his dedication towards the dogs exceeded the domain of good-companionship. He worked shoulder to shoulder with them, ready to entrust them with his life.
They had proved today they were worth the faith he placed in them.
Utsumi released an exclamation when Riki destabilized him, passing in whirlwind.
- "Riki's the leader of the pack, but his boss's unquestionably Kuramochi" philosophized Samejima still laying in the snow. He grabbed Inuzuka's jacket and shook him with brotherly surliness. "Now, up you go, kiddo. Your bed's waiting for you at the station! You still have a long way to go before you're like the boss, inni't?"
Inuzuka got up, helped by Utsumi and staggered between both men to the snowbike.
- "You were very brave. You really did your best" Kuramochi congratulated seriously. He was now besieged by Riki besides both brothers. "Save me a little pudding, OK? It's the favorite of my sister, remember?"
- "The latecomers aren't entitled to this kind of privileges" Himuro mocked at without opening his eyes.
- "Ala! Always so inflexible, even frozen as a gobi" exclaimed Samejima, his hand on the door.
Himuro's cheeks had already taken back some colors. Or maybe it was simply the heat of Shiro who had skipped without notice in the snowbike and snuggled up against the agent who held him embraced.
- "Shiro" smiled Kuramochi.
The dog shook his spotless triangular ears, then stuck his truffle under the arm of Himuro, his big eyes clearly filled with an expression that could translate by "my place's here, whether that pleases you or not."
- "Okay" said Kuramochi, amused. "You can return with the first group, Shiro. Be a good boy, okay?"
The dog moaned, then yapped and wagged his tail.
Inuzuka was always stunned by the intelligence of the Sakhalin Huskies and their concrete communication with their leader. Especially when he himself was completely lost.
- "How's that, the first group?" He stammered while Utsumi helped him into the snowbike.
- The sled needs to be repaired before we can use it, and we can't all be at the same time in the snowbike. A group has to leave and then we have to come get the second" explained calmly Kuramochi. "I'm going to stay with dogs. You guys go with the first one."
- "No way, boss!" Protested Samejima vehemently. "You almost died frozen, we won't leave you! I'll stay, me.
Kuramochi smiled, but signed he disagreed.
- "It's better I stay. One night furthermore won't kill me" he carried on. "You brought food and blankets, I'll be okay. Taro, Jiro, Riki …"
His eyes walked on the dogs who waited quietly, their intelligent pupils fixed on him, their thick furs brushed back by the Arctic wind.
- "… Kuma, Kuro, Jakku, Aka and ah, Goro. Hm. Yes, and I. We'll wait for you here. The others should be able to get in the snowbike with you. Go, leave. Tell Hoshino-san we're fine."
Utsumi began a movement of protest.
-"Hurry, leave" cut in Kuramochi. "Himuro needs emergency care and we don't know when a blizzard will knock again. We'll wait for you."
You did not disobey Kuramochi. Maybe officially he was only the assistant-leader, but in their hearts, he was the real captain.
Maybe they were fascinated as well as the dogs when it came to him, thought Utsumi.
That did not disturb him. On the contrary, he began humming in a low voice.
- "Bye, boss!" Roared Samejima by the opened door, while the snowbike went away.
Himuro tightened his embrace around Shiro who licked his face. Inuzuka had difficulty refraining from crying, without understanding why the fading silhouette of Kuramochi among the dogs filled him with so much emotion.
Soon, Whale Hill disappeared in the unlimited whiteness of Antarctica and the only thing the boy managed to think of was the idea of his bed, Yamazato's delicious ramens and the friendly heat of the corridors at the station.
In front of the carcass which had protected them from the blizzard, Kuramochi sat down heavily in the snow. He raised his head, looking at the immense, steel blue and so clear sky, and sighed. Then he stretched out on his back, one arm on the snow, the other folded up against him. Jiro and Taro layed down in imitation immediately. Riki bent over the face of his master, panting as if he laughed.
Kuramochi held out his hand and massaged the neck of the dog, where the fur overflowed his necklace.
- "Riki. I owe you one. Thank you…"
The dog barked as if he understood, then also lay down in the snow, sticking his snout near the cheek of Kuramochi.
The young man swallowed. The pain in his arm had dissipated with the arrival of help, but it was now coming back.
And something curled in his chest beat slowly with the rhythm of his heart, like a threat.
A few more hours, then he would be back home.
Then only, when all, including the Sakhalin huskies, would be safe, would he be able to release his vigilance and listen to what his body tried to tell him.