It was before dawn in the Shinba Park Hotel near Keio University and Danica was out cold in her bed, hugging her pillow and trying to sleep off the jet lag from arriving the previous day. Her alarm had gone off but she had yet to climb out of bed, mumbling something about five more minutes. Then she awoke with a gasp as she was drenched with ice and water, screaming and huffing as she jumped out of bed but got caught in the sheets and ended up on the floor with a rather loud thud. A man stood over her bed dressed in jeans and a T-shirt just laughing at her as he dropped the ice bucket and winked. 

	“Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!” Sean said in a thick Irish accent as he took a few cautious steps back. Danica growled slightly and lunged for him but her foot was still caught in the sheets.

	“You limey Irish Bastard!” she snapped in a southern drawl. “Trying to have my catch pneumonia before my jump?” she hissed as she rolled over onto her rear end and untangled the sheets.

	“You won’t be jumping from anywhere if we don’t get going lass, now move it before I refill the bucket,” he teased as he picked up his camera bag. Danica gave him a one finger salute before getting up and grabbing her bag to change into something dry. After a few minutes she came out and pulled her hair up into a ponytail before slipping her shoes on.

	“Okay, I’m heading to the Tokyo Tower, where are you going to set up?” she asked as she grabbed her base gear and tossed him her climbing bag.

	“Main Observatory and then I will meet you after you contact me when you land,” he said as he caught the bag and slung it over his shoulder. 

	“Okay, let’s do this,” she said as she opened the door to her hotel room and went on her way. It was now early morning and she wanted to grab something to eat but she knew better than to scarf anything down before a jump. They quickly made their way through the hotel and at a moderate pace walked to Tokyo Tower, arriving just shortly after it opened for tourists. Hitting the elevator they started their ascension, not really saying anything. Didn’t matter how many times she jumped she always got nervous. Sean hopped out at the Main Observatory and wink as he stepped off. Danica just smiled and waited for the elevator to take her up to the Special Observatory Deck. Once she got there she looked around and slowly made her way towards the emergency exit; one of Japans finest security guards was standing there as well as some officials and a group of reporters, all of them looking at her oddly as she approached them.

She bowed deeply before introducing herself in Japanese and handing over her paperwork. It had taken nearly a year to get the okay from the Tower and local authorities as well as a stack of paper work a mile high and legal documents saying people wouldn’t sue them if she died. After answering a few questions for the press and taking some pictures the emergency exit door was opened and she was allowed to go through. 

The wind was blowing at a good rate but other than that everything seemed good. Setting her pack down she pulled out her base jumping suit and slid into it before zipping it up and throwing her pack on her back and securing it for the ride down. Taking a deep breath she began her free climb up from the 250m point of the S.O. to the 300m agreed upon jump point. It took a bit to get to the taped off location but Danica didn’t mind. The view was spectacular and her adrenaline was pumping. As she reached the point she turned around and pressed her back against some of the metal and pulled her eye goggles into place. 

“Okay Danica, you got this,” she said giving herself a pep talk; taking a few long deep breaths as she bent her knees. “Three…..two…..one,” she whispered to herself before making a big push from a low squat and jumping off the top of the Tower. “Bonsai Bitches!” she screamed as she went into the air and started to head for the ground. Danica fanned her arms and legs out to slow her decent with the help of her suit and slowly made her body turn with the currents that high up. She felt that rush she always craved and as far as she was concerned this day was going to be the best of her life. (Boy was she wrong.)

Sean pushed to the glass of the floor he was one and started snapping pictures, managing to catch one of her waving in the general direction of the tower. Once she reached the mini parachute pull point, she ripped the cord and it pulled out, catching on the down draft and yanking her back up someone in altitude before the descent resumed. Once she had Sean ran to the elevator and made his way out of the tower looking around to see if he could find her. 

Danica had landed in the park half way between the Hotel they had stayed in and the Tower itself, people clamoring around her taking pictures with the camera phones and asking for selfies. She posed for some, throwing up the peace sign as she did before she was able to get them to back off enough for her to get out of her gear. Then her phone rang and she pulled it out of the zipper pocket on the suit.

“You get that?” she asked excitedly.

“Lass, it was bloody brilliant! Where are you?” Sean asked and Danica quickly gave him her location as she sat down on the grass. “Right, be right there,” he said before hanging up and running off to where she was; wasn’t long until he found her still taking selfies with locals and tourists. The press hadn’t seemed to locate her yet. “Waiting for the news to show up?”

“Screw that, I already interviewed, let’s get the hell out of dodge,” she said as she handed him her jump pack and he handed over her climbing gear. “Let’s get food, I want to hit the bullet train and find a hotel near a mountain by tonight,” she said as she grabbed his hand and they ran off, getting lost in the crowd before the press could find her.