Buntaro riesce a rincontrarsi con Miyamoto, suo vecchi amico. Mentre si pensa con nostalgia ai vecchi tempi, Miyamoto appare un po' strano. Quando la verità su di lui verrà rivelata da Yumi, Buntaro, deluso, si isola sulla vetta del monte Fuji. Però, tre anni dopo, Buntato soccorre Hana, una ragazza che si era persa sul monte. Il suo destino inizierà a cambiare?

Buntarô sauve Hana Katô, une jeune femme égarée sur le mont Fuji. Cette rencontre va bouleverser sa façon de vivre... Mais trois ans plus tard, alors qu'il tente l'ascension du Nanga Parbat, un sommet de plus de 8000 mètres que personne n'a jamais dompté, il va réfléchir, dans cette situation entre la vie et la mort, à son ancienne vie et à l'affection dont l'entoure Hana. Et pourtant...

Buntarô a désormais une femme, un bébé, une vie agréable et le profond désir de protéger ceux quil aime. Pourtant, le K2 continue de le faire rêver. Sa volonté semble toutefois plus forte que ses envies de sommets solitaires. Jusquau jour où Takemura débarque à nouveau dans sa vie. Un Takemura transformé et cynique, qui compte bien entraîner son ancien condisciple sur de dangereuses pentes.

Buntaro si è sposato con Hana e insieme hanno una bambina. Costruita una famiglia, la sua vita lo rende appagato. Quando però gli giunge un invito da parte del suo Kohai Takemura, decide di partire per il K2. Riusciranno a rendere compatibili i loro caratteri così diversi?

Buntaro e Takemura stanno sfidando la parete orientale del K2, mai percorsa dal genere umano. Takemura mette un piede in fallo e precipita. Mentre tenta di risalire con le proprie forze, resta intrappolato su una parete ghiacciata. Buntaro si lancia disperatamente in soccorso dell'amico, ma sará costretto a fare una scelta spietata.

Buntaro ha sfidato la parete orientale del K2 assieme a Takemura. Quest’ultimo, però, è impossibilitato a proseguire la scalata, così i due sono costretti a scendere. Il sogno di Buntaro sta prendendo vita, anche se il suo mondo sembra impedirlo.

Buntaro, che ha sfidato da solo la parete orientale del K2, riesce a raggiungere un territorio inesplorato. Le condizioni atmosferiche però danno segni di peggioramento... A quale destino andrà incontro Buntaro su quella montagna estrema?

Buntaro Mori is a loner, but being alone in a crowd is almost as bad as being forced to fit in. When a dangerous bid for solitude introduces Mori to the rush of solo climbing, he becomes addicted to the brilliant sense of freedom he finds as he pits his body and soul against the heights. But how high does he have to climb to leave humanity behind? Transfer student Buntaro Mori starts his first day at his new school already on the administration’s radar. He’s withdrawn and sullen, and the teachers are just waiting for him to explode. When his annoying classmate Miyamoto promises to leave him alone forever if he climbs to the top of the school, Mori eagerly takes up the challenge and shocks everyone when he makes it all the way to the roof. Flushed with the victory of his first successful climb, Mori can’t resist the lure of the local peak, despite warnings from more experienced climbers about the risks of climbing alone. But Mori doesn’t care. A little danger is nothing in the face of his new obsession.

Buntaro Mori is a loner, but being alone in a crowd is almost as bad as being forced to fit in. When a dangerous bid for solitude introduces Mori to the rush of solo climbing, he becomes addicted to the brilliant sense of freedom he finds as he pits his body and soul against the heights. But how high does he have to climb to leave humanity behind? For a brief, brilliant moment, Mori thought he had found his purpose in life, but after an unscrupulous reporter’s sensationalized article gets the climbing club canceled, he finds himself more at odds with the world than ever. With nothing left to lose, Mori agrees to go alpine climbing with Kurosawa, the very reporter who ruined everything, not caring that he obviously doesn’t have Mori’s best interests at heart. But Kurosawa isn’t trying to destroy Mori. He just wants to ignite the boy’s intense potential, no matter who it hurts.

Mori and the 14 Mountain assault team are more than a week into their complete traverse of the Japanese Alps, but bad weather and worse personalities are making the training seem harder than ascending K2 itself. After Mori is singled out for praise by the expedition leader, he finds himself pushed to the edges of the group as the team is beset by a series of increasingly terrible misfortunes. As conditions worsen, can the team pull together, or will it be each man for himself against the cold mercy of the mountains?

Tragedy in the northern Japanese Alps leaves Mori reeling, but despite the devastating experience, his love of climbing remains undimmed. His ability to handle other people has suffered, though, and it takes an incredible job offer to finally draw him back down into civilization. There, he finds everything just as terrible as he left it. Will his new hopes for the future get snagged on the relentlessness of reality?

Mori’s reunion with Miyamoto, his high school climbing partner, brings up a lot of memories. It also proves that people can always find new ways to be disappointing. Unwilling to make himself vulnerable like that again, Mori holes up alone in the Mount Fuji weather research station, ready to turn his back on the world. But after months of isolation, a chance encounter with a lost hiker changes the course of his life forever.

After the solitary turbulence of his youth, Buntaro has found peace and contentment in adulthood. With a wife, a baby daughter, and a steady job as a researcher for the WEC, he no longer yearns for the terrible glory of the peaks. But when an old ambition collides with a new challenge at work, Mori finds himself being drawn back into the perilous, addictive world of climbing. Will the call of K2 prove to be too much for him to resist?