Yama no Susume: Next Summit

Aoi Yukimura has come a long way from the girl whose fear of heights made mountains seem impossible. Looking back on the climbs she shared with Hinata and the friends they met along the way only makes her eager to go higher, though she still prefers enjoying the mountains at her own pace. An invitation to visit the school's mountaineering club introduces a more competitive approach to climbing and forces Aoi to think about why she keeps returning to the trail. New routes bring harder ascents, changing weather, and moments when confidence fails, but also views that can only be reached one step at a time. Every summit becomes another measure of how much Aoi has grown, not just as a climber, but as herself.