A Radio Crackles
無線が鳴る
On the fourth day, an old man found a broken radio inside a storeroom.
Its plastic case was cracked, and one had come loose inside it.
Jin remembered that he had repaired small machines when he was a boy.
He worked on the radio for hours while the others waited around him nervously.
As soon as the radio crackled to life, everyone in the hall fell silent.
A faint voice spoke through the noise, asking whether anyone could hear them.
Jin pressed the button and shouted the name of their small mountain town.
The moment the answered, a wave of hope spread across every face.
"We can hear you," the voice said. "Help will arrive as soon as possible."
The rescue teams had been trying to reach the valley since the first day.
But the landslides had blocked every road that led into the mountains.
The explained that a would come within about three days.
As soon as the weather cleared, the pilots would fly over the broken bridge.
Until then, the people would have to on whatever they still had.
When the radio went silent again, the hall filled with .
Three more days suddenly felt both very short and painfully long to everyone.
Jin gathered the group and told them the news as calmly as he could.
"Help will come, but only if we stay strong until then," he said.
They decided to save the last food for the weakest members of the group.
The moment the rescue arrived, the injured Daichi would be flown to a hospital.
Everyone agreed to a flat, open space where the could .
As they worked together, the strangers finally began to trust one another fully.
Yet Keiko looked at Daichi's leg and quietly bit her lower lip.
Three days, she feared, might be far too long for the injured man.