Chapter 10
JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
10:12 A.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
'I hate her.'
"What kind of world do you think we are living in? Evangelion? Bokurano? Some other weird anime that had underaged protagonists as mankind's last hope of salvation?"
'Mama and Papa are guilty of child abuse through neglect by making me live with Ichigo’s family, she said. While disregarding the facts that it was my informed choice to live with the Ohta family, that I was never out of contact with my parents such that Mama and Mother had frequent spats with each other regarding Mother’s attitude towards me, and that Mama and Papa became part of the Ohta family’s financial support system because the presence of me and my daughter snapped the Ohta family’s finances in half. '
"Ma'am, I understand that you have concerns about Ikeda Ao but –"
'I’m suffering child abuse inside this family, she insists. Even after she saw me give as good as I get in multiple verbal arguments with Mother. Even after I told her stories about Ichigo that show how considerate and supportive a boyfriend, fiance and father he was. And even after Father’s commanding officers at the time vouched for his good conduct and his treatment of me after investigating us themselves.'
"I'm not only here because of Ikeda Ao, sir. I'm also here because of Yamada Ran and Yamada Moe."
'Our academics...alright, she has a point regarding our academics. Before parenthood I was always among the upper half of my classes, as was Ichigo. After parenthood, we always ended up around eight to twelve places away from last place of the classroom grades. But she’s ignoring the fact that our future aspirations, me as either a sewing professional or a cook and Ichigo as a member of the Self Defense Forces, were ones that only requires healthy bodies and a willingness to learn as opposed to dazzling academic grades. '
"Ma'am, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare have no need to be concerned about the Yamada twins."
"They're children, one is crippled, and they're Japanese citizens too with genuine koseki in Minamisanriku, Miyagi. Why should we not be concerned about their captivity in this hospital?"
‘I’m at severe risk of getting pregnant again, she claims. She ignores the fact that Ichigo and I had been using condoms and practicing natural family planning and withdrawal ever since I gave birth. With no prompting from our parents even!’
"'Captivity' is a very inaccurate term for what we were doing in regards to them."
"Oh? So what does Defense Intelligence Headquarters call it then, sir?"
'I always hated her trimonthly home visits to check up on us three because of her attitude. But now...'
"Temporary detention."
"For. What. Crime?!"
'Now, she might be our daughter's only hope.'
"Potential violation of the Firearms and Sword control law."
The admittedly handsome, yet unlikeable man in business suit from four days ago smirked down at the woman I hate most in the world, Mrs. Taro Miyuki of the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Mrs. Taro looked furiously at ‘Mr. Mysterious’ for several seconds before she replied with her own smirk, which was given a viciousness of its own by the beige colored skirt suit she was wearing.
"Did you know that the Ministry of Education is our ally in this matter regarding the Yamada twins?”
The smirk that ‘Mr. Mysterious’ beamed down at Mrs. Taro slowly faded into a frown as Mrs. Taro went on while wagging a finger in his face.
“Education is vouching for the good moral character of these girls, and between Health and Education we have fourteen years of documentation to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Yamada twins are law abiding Japanese citizens who can be trusted with not using their inherent magical abilities for any illegal activities. Once that happens, you and whoever else in the intelligence community and the Self Defense Forces supporting this idiocy will release them to our custody or else suffer the consequences of a court order."
'Mr. Mysterious' hissed upon hearing Taro's words.
"You idiots! Japan is in the middle of preparations for possible war, and Education and Health wants to scuffle with Defense at this critical moment?!"
“Yes we will, if the Ministry of Defense is proposing the conscription of child soldiers.”
My attention was directed away from the arguing duo by the doorway when Mother lightly tapped my right shoulder.
“...Kurumi, where’s my son? I want to talk with him.”
I stared at Mother, who was still as unused to calling me by name in conversation with me as she was two days ago when she apologized, asked for my forgiveness and started to treat me better.
“I...don’t know, Mother,” I replied to the woman who was currently wearing a loose fitting, thin white shirt and a worn out blue jeans. “Ichigo went outside earlier to fetch the person he said could help us. Then Mrs. Taro came into our room later, without him.”
“So, basically Ichigo is currently hiding from us because he brought Taro into this mess?” Mama deadpanned from my left, wearing the same jacket, blue cotton pants and a white printed shirt that had the picture of a black colored statue of Jesus Christ and the words Pista ng Itim na Nazareno. A quick look in that direction revealed her frowning at the two arguing government workers, by the door.
“I don't believe so, Mama. You know what kind of person Ichigo is, he won’t hide from a simple verbal argument” I said in defense of my boyfriend.
Ichigo was a person who solves problems with diplomacy over force, but at the same time he wasn't an easily cowed person. He will loudly defend his choice to the bitter end until convinced otherwise or when his patience snaps, as I first learned during the time I revealed my pregnancy.
Mother quickly joined me in the defense of Ichigo’s reputation.
"Kurumi’s right. The only way my son wouldn't be here in this room right now was if he was doing something else that he doesn't want us to know about, or if something suddenly came up," Mother added in defense of Ichigo.
"Well then, what is he doing right this moment?"
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, SuntoDistrict, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
10:14 A.M.
Ohta Ichigo
“It’s good to see you Dad,” I said as I hugged him tightly in the hospital lobby.
“Me too son. Me too,” Dad, clad in a slightly wrinkled Type 2 uniform and sporting crew cut hair he had Mom do just last week, replied as he patted me on the back.
After we finished doing this manly ritual, I looked towards Kentaro with a grateful smile.
“Thank you for pulling this off, Father,” I told the man currently wearing a thick, long sleeved violet shirt and blue jeans.
After I told Kurumi that I had an idea, I mentally elaborated on my idea since at that point it was still quite rough. It took me around three and a half hours to finally polish the idea in my head, a full thirty minutes after the daily seven o clock dinner that came into our hospital courtesy of the JSDF.
I quietly asked Kentaro to follow me into the corridor, and explained my idea once we got there.
I told him that the problem we, and by extension the Yamada twins, face was that we were plucked out of our communities and placed somewhere else. As a result friendly people who could intervene on our behalf would have to go through multiple layers of bureaucracy, both horizontally and vertically at the same time, just to get in contact with us never mind giving actual assistance.
In that way we can't ask the city governments of Matsumoto or Yokosuka, nor the Nagano or Kanagawa prefectural police for help. We were simply out of their jurisdiction. Therefore the best way to obtain assistance in our situation would be to go through different channels. To ask for help from people who were the most unlikely to get asked help from.
Thus enter Taro Miyuki, Child Welfare Officer and constant headache to both the Ikeda and Ohta families.
Taro was formerly the star child welfare officer of Yokosuka's Child Guidance Center, and was now directly employed by the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau as the first member of an experimental group that specializes in cases deemed too dangerous or too politically sensitive for ordinary child welfare officers.
Aside from the full authority of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Taro also brought with her a junior colleague who is being groomed to join said experimental group, who would tackle the case of the Yamada twins.
As additional backup to her, I also suggested to Mrs. Taro via Kentaro’s cellphone to bring in the school teachers of the Yamada twins, and through them the Ministry of Education. As a result of that action, the twin’s homeroom teacher came here along with people from the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education, and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Technology.
To ensure that we were also covered from the Self Defense Forces side of things, we contacted Dad, Sergeant First Class Ohta Hayato, and told him everything that happened. He quickly started using the Self Defense Forces’ official channels of complaint, along with calling up all his friends in Western Army.
And finally, for when everything else fails, I personally and secretly contacted my maternal grandfather Aratetsu Kisho.
He was the current mayor of Nishiwaga, Iwate Prefecture, disavowed by most yakuza and right wing groups in Japan for views and actions that were inherently inconsistent with their tenets and disliked by the Japanese Communist Party and other leftist groups for the exact same reasons.
“Don’t mention it kid. Hayato, how are things on your end? What did your friends say?”
Dad sighed in response to Kentaro’s question.
“They said they are unsure what effect a flurry of reports from mere second lieutenant to colonel ranked officers from a completely separate army unit would do to my official complaint against the DIH. Some of them pointed out that those reports might prejudice superiors against my official complaint.”
“So they’re not going to do anything?”
“They didn’t say that Kentaro. They suggested it’s better to wait for the official channels to respond to my complaint.”
"And while we wait, our granddaughter will be constantly harassed by men at least ten times her age because of her power."
"Father," I quickly interjected to prevent an argument, "that's what Taro was for, remember?"
"I know that Ichigo. It's just...isn't there any other child welfare officer who could be assigned to you and Kurumi? Just seeing Taro's face makes me want to punch her."
"Stop that Kentaro," Dad suddenly said in a commanding manner. "I know you hate her. But wanting to punch her in the face is just inappropriate, especially when she's only trying to do her job."
"Wait Dad. Not that I'm disagreeing with what you said, but...didn’t Taro harm you?" I asked, as memories of our first encounters with the woman flashed through my mind.
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Taro Miyuki’s first appearance in our lives was when she knocked on the door of our apartment on a Sunday night, two months after Ao’s birth.
When we opened the door, she showed her identification as a child welfare officer and requested an interview with Kurumi outside of the apartment building. Kurumi refused, while bluntly stating that she is wary of going outside with strangers at night, no matter how official looking their identification was. Taro accepted Kurumi’s explanation and rescheduled for the interview for next morning, which Kurumi agreed to.
The next morning Taro showed up, and Kurumi finally agreed to that interview. The interview lasted from morning to afternoon, with a lunch break where Taro bought lunch for the two of them. When the interview ended Taro escorted Kurumi back to the apartment and bade her farewell.
The week after that the Ohta and Ikeda families received notifications signed by Prefectural Governor Yuji Kuroiwa, requesting that we all go to Yokosuka's Child Guidance Center to answer questions regarding Kurumi's pregnancy and her living in with the Ohta family away from her parents.
We all went to the Yokosuka Child Guidance Center while full of worry in our hearts, and there we met Mrs. Taro standing beside the director of said center.
Our group was then separated into two smaller groups. One group, composed of our parents, went with the director of the child guidance center. The other group, composed of me, my wife and our baby daughter, went with Taro.
Once we were inside one of the center’s rooms and were comfortably seated in front of a desk, Taro requested that Kurumi stay silent because she had already been interviewed. After Kurumi agreed, Taro started asking me questions while writing things down in a notebook on the table.
She asked about how I first met Kurumi. Of the events that led up to me asking her to be my girlfriend. Of what was running in my mind the day when I started having sexual relations with Kurumi, and of the day that I found out Kurumi was pregnant.
What were the events that happened after our parents learned Kurumi was pregnant, how did I think of my girlfriend after they learned she was pregnant, after she moved in and started living with me, and after she gave birth to my daughter.
What plans did I have for the future, what role would Kurumi play in that future, and how would we take care of our children.
The interview finally ended around noon, and Taro told us that she had no further questions so Kurumi and I were free to go home if we wish so, until we were summoned again.
We thanked her, and quickly went to a nearby Seven Eleven for lunch. After that we started to walk around and sightsee Yokosuka’s municipal buildings in a sorta, kinda date.
And then around five in the afternoon our parents called us via Kurumi’s cellphone, and we met in front of the building the Yokosuka Child Guidance Center was located in. And it was then that Kurumi and I saw that something happened.
Our fathers had grim looks on their faces, while Mom and Magdalena were glaring at each other. When we asked about what happened, all they said was that they don’t want to talk about it but the Child Guidance Center might tell the two of us soon.
That ‘soon’ was two weeks later, when another notification was delivered to both our families. In it, we were politely requested to go to the child guidance center to receive ‘guidance’ regarding the issue of Kurumi’s pregnancy and moving in with the Ohta family.
We all went there, and were guided to a room by Taro. Once we were seated she started to politely admonish our parents for their particular, and very unusual for Japan according to Taro, decisions.
Kentaro and Magdalena were guilty of child neglect for ‘pushing’ Kurumi to live in with the Ohta family, and of potential child abuse via Kurumi dropping out of school to have her baby. Mom and Dad were guilty of child abuse, specifically aimed at Kurumi, because Dad was ‘doing nothing’ to stop Mom’s behavior while Mom was verbally abusive of Kurumi.
All four parents were to receive guidance from the Child Guidance Center, while Kurumi was to be sent back to the Ikeda family along with Ao and restrained from all contact with me until we were became twenty years old so we could concentrate on our studies.
That was the moment that Taro lost control of the meeting, because Kurumi became apoplectic while I waited for her to run out of steam so I could voice out my own complaints.
Kurumi was outraged at the idea that she was being neglected by her parents. She pointed out her parents’ constant communication with her, their frequent dinner time visits to our apartment and the regular arguments regarding any topic that Mom and Magdalena enter into every time they meet. She also emphatically rejected the notion that she was being abused.
Taro pointed out that the legal definition of child abuse according to the Child Abuse Law is not limited to physical beatings or sexual assault but also includes being starved, being neglected in such a way as to negatively affect the health of a child, abusing one's spouse, verbal and mental abuse of a child, and leaving a child in the custody of someone who does any of the above mentioned acts.
Taro then stopped talking, probably because she didn’t need to state that both parents were partially guilty of child abuse according to the Child Abuse Law that she had just recited, all thanks to Mom’s behavior against Kurumi.
Kurumi disregarded what Taro said and gave her own question. She asked Taro if she believed anything Kurumi said during her interview. When questioned why, Kurumi said she was sure she told the child welfare officer about her verbal arguments with Mom.
Taro scoffed. Then she asked Kurumi if she was trying to prove that she was being verbally abused by Mom. Kurumi countered by asking Taro if a constant word war between an adult who always loses their verbal battles and a child who always won said battles would count as verbal abuse.
Mom forgot the situation we were in at the time, because she was infuriated by what Kurumi said. Mom mockingly asked Kurumi to describe her fictional wins, because as she recalled it all their fights ended with Kurumi shutting up.
Kurumi smiled at Mom and politely asked Mom if she had seen Kurumi calling it quits and packing up her bags to leave the Ohta family’s residence. Or if she had ever seen Kurumi react in any way that could be used as justification to call Kurumi a bad influence on me and a bad mother for Ao.
What ensued was a verbal fight that, as Kurumi had said earlier, established the true nature of Kurumi’s relationship with Mom for the child welfare officers to see. It was that of an antagonistic mother and daughter in law, and could only be called child abuse if you stretch the meaning of the term.
The fight went on for some time, and as usual Kurumi stopped talking at the end. But this time Mom also stopped nagging and glared at Kurumi, because she finally figured out what Kurumi was doing all this time thanks to Kurumi’s claim of winning all the fights.
Kurumi would argue with Mom long enough for Mom’s argument of the day to start self destructing from a lack of facts in front of onlookers. And then at some point in time that she determines Kurumi would start being silent and just let Mom keep on nagging at her, because she already achieved her goals of making Mom look foolish and showing herself off as a mature and forgiving person.
But on that particular day and hour, Kurumi’s strategy of dealing with Mom backfired in a most unexpected direction.
After several seconds of Mom glaring at Kurumi, Mrs. Taro agreed with Kurumi’s opinion that there is no child abuse happening in our families. What we had instead were psychological problems in every member of our family except for Ao.
As a result she is recommending that Ao should temporarily reside in an orphanage while all of us, both the Ikeda and Ohta families, will attend psychological counseling sessions until such time as can be determined that a baby or young child is safe to leave in our custody. And then she asked the director of the center if he agrees with her recommendation.
Everyone looked at director for several moments before the director gave his reply. He said Taro’s recommendation was too drastic, on the level of setting a house on fire just to kill the mosquitoes inside. What he instead recommended was counseling for every member of the Ohta and Ikeda family, and he is permanently assigning our case to Taro until such time as we can prove we had been fixed into normality.
When Taro protested that she was not confident about Ao’s safety in the custody of both the Ohta and Ikeda families, the director got angry and told her to stop overreacting and start following orders.
From that moment on Taro became a weekly disturbance and headache for the two families.
She never had a set schedule on what day of the week would she would go over and visit to provide counseling, something that she admitted was intentional on her part for the reason that we won’t have a moment to cover up abuses or psychological problems.
She also never let go of her belief that our parents had committed child abuse, but thankfully it had become more nuanced than it was at the beginning, more understanding of our parents...not that it changed anything from our parents point of view.
Magdalena was an ignorant foreigner who was importing her less civilized culture’s framework of what a parent should be into the world class civilization of Japan.
Kentaro was someone who never had a good parental role model during his entire childhood and school life. According to records Taro obtained from the child guidance center and the police station of Kentaro’s hometown of Kushiro, his parents were sexual hedonists suspected of sidelining as prostitutes for a very long time.
Dad was a traumatized orphan who had never been in contact with child welfare officers after he was given to the custody of Great Grandmom Taeko and Great Granddad Iori following Granddad and Grandmom’s death, according to his records from Higashikushira and Kanoya in Kagoshima prefecture.
Mom was someone who also never had known a good parental model during her entire childhood and school life, but for a different reason than Kentaro’s. Granddad Kisho was infamous inside Japan’s rightwing political circles for his peculiar extremist views and Grandmom Chiaki was tainted by association.
Naturally, when they found out her views our parents were furious for various reasons.
Magdalena was full of patriotic outrage. Kentaro was adamant that his deceased parents were only professional part time workers who were happily in an open marriage. Dad said he had recovered quickly from his parents' death not only because of Great Grandmom Taeko and Great Granddad Iori, but because he regularly visited a psychologist, and quickly asked Taro to check his medical records again. And Mom demanded that Taro explain the relationship between parenthood and political affiliation.
Taro also dragged Dad's commanding officers and fellow non-commissioned officers into this mess, because according to the Child Abuse Law the cooperation of neighbors, teachers and other persons as necessary must be obtained when a case reaches any Child Welfare Office. And in Dad’s case ‘other persons as necessary’ can only refer to the JSDF.
Dad was furious at her decision, because it humiliated him in front of his commanding officers and fellow non-commissioned officer. Then he became shocked when his time as a Drill Sergeant at Camp Takeyama prematurely ended all of a sudden, worried when psychiatrists, straight from the National Defense Medical College’s Graduate School came to interview him several times, and finally...when he was informed an incoming promotion to Master Sergeant was cancelled and he will permanently stay as a Sergeant First Class for the rest of his career...
Mom and I, and Kentaro because he became Dad’s best friend over time, were extremely unhappy at what Taro’s action did to Dad. Dad was visibly heartbroken by what happened, he was left with no will to fight the injustice by complaining to someone as high up the chain of command as possible.
And lastly was her constant prediction of doom regarding the future of Kurumi’s cohabitation with –
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“Did you hear me Ichigo?”
I blinked, feeling the memories go away as I heard Dad call me.
“Sorry. I was just remembering stuff. What did you say Dad?”
"I said that forgiveness is a virtue, as Magdalena always says,” Dad replied.
“And you’re a good man for being able to do that for someone like Taro,” Kentaro added while patting Dad’s back.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
10:16 A.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
“Well, I’m glad that’s over for now,” Mrs. Taro told us after she closed the door on the heels of an extremely frustrated Mr. ‘Mysterious.’
Nobody bothered to stand up from Ao's bed, whose end we were sitting on, and none of the three of us bothered to give her anything else but a silent, wary stare. In turn, Mrs. Taro answered our reaction with a raised eyebrow.
For several moments we all kept on doing the same thing, silently willing the other side into breaking down and talking first. As a result, everyone jumped in surprise when my daughter suddenly broke the silence from behind us.
"Hello Mrs. Taro."
Mrs. Taro quickly coughed and then walked towards the side of the bed, while being followed by stares from Mama, Mother and me.
When she reached Ao's bedside, she sat on it and started to converse with my daughter, who was wearing a new set of hospital gown and some child sized underwear from the donated clothes.
“Hello Ao. How do you feel right this moment? Does anything hurt?"
"No Mrs. Taro. My shoulder is in this white thingy, so it won't move and hurt. And if I don't move too much, my ribs will not hurt."
"Thank goodness. You know, when your father told me what happened to you and your family, I feared for all of you. But thank Heaven you all survived that horrible event in Matsumoto."
"We wouldn't be alive if Ms. Moe and Ms. Ran and the other inari didn't fight those bad alien soldiers. Mrs. Taro, where will Ms. Moe and Ms. Ran go to now that their mommy is dead?" My daughter asked.
"Well, as soon as my junior and the twin's homeroom teacher manage to gain custody of the twins we would temporarily place them in an orphanage where they could be taken care of while we in the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau search for their close relatives. But enough about the Yamada twins. I am confident that my junior can take care of them. Let's now talk about you. How do you feel right this moment dear?"
"I’m happy. Really, really happy.”
Ao’s answer was so unexpected that everyone in the room stared at her.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you and Grandma are no longer fighting each other – oh. Mrs. Taro, Grandma has finally accepted Mama as Papa’s wife. Isn’t that good news?”
“It is. How did this happen?” Taro asked while looking between me and Mother with an equal mix of surprise and suspicion on her face.
“Remember Yuki’s promise on when she would accept Kurumi as a daughter in law?” Mama asked in a rhetorical manner.
“I believe the words were ‘When the brat is too dead to further embarrass the Ohta family.’”
“Oooh. Verbatim. You memorized that Taro?” Mama asked as Mother winced at having those words repeated again, here and now and in front of Ao.
“It’s very hard not to, with the uniqueness of the case of Kurumi. But never mind that. Kurumi, were you hurt that badly ?”
“...how much were you and your junior told in your briefing?” I curtly asked her.
“A lot, by the minister of Health himself. But minister Tamura was somewhat incoherent in his briefing. Probably because he can’t believe a lot of the information he was giving us.”
“Well then. My head was hit very hard. Many times. I lost consciousness for days. That’s all.”
“That’s horrible,” Taro gasped. “Did the doctors give your head a check up? The human brain is a fragile object.”
“Kurumi was given an extensive check up by the doctors of this hospital. And they had given her the all clear,” Mother answered in my stead.
Taro looked at Mother for several moments before commenting that she looked like she wasn’t used to saying my name.
“I’m not,” Mother admitted. “I only just started two days ago. I’ll get used to saying my daughter in law’s name. Eventually.”
Taro spent several more moments looking at Mother before she looked back at me.
“How about you Kurumi? How do you feel about Mrs. Ohta's apology?”
I stared at Taro for several moments, pondering on how I should answer her question.
To be honest, when I received the long awaited apology from Mother two days ago, I...I didn't feel relieved, or vindicated. I just felt...numb.
I accepted her apology, and said I forgave her...but in my mind I felt I was faking it because all I felt deep inside me while doing that was...numbness.
I can’t ever let Mother know that if I wanted to nurture this thaw in our relationship.
“Mrs. Taro, Mama is still confused about this. Please don’t make her decide things now,” my daughter suddenly replied in my stead.
‘Ao. Why did you say that?’
A few tense seconds passed, where both Mama and Mother were looking at me and I looked back at them in the eyes to bluff my way out of saying anything. And then Mrs. Taro thankfully broke the silence with a question.
“Is that so? Very well. Let’s get back to you dear. So I was told...you can see the future?”
The tense atmosphere returned again, but this time everyone was staring at Taro.
“I don't see the future, I read it. What do you think Mrs. Taro? Is it awesome?”
Taro took her time in answering, obviously pondering on her response. And in the end, her reply was a surprising one to give to a child.
"I lean towards the opinion that your power is a negative influence for you, Ao."
Taro explained that not only was her power a beacon for greedy people who might abuse her for it, but her power to see the future might induce Ao into doing bad things.
"For example, cheating in academics and sports. Or becoming involved in gambling."
"Mrs. Taro, I assure you I would do everything I can to ensure she won't be involved in those kind of activities," I told her in reaction to what felt like a jab at my parental ability.
"Yes, you do that Kurumi. But really, if only she never had this power – "
"Lord, bakit?" Mama suddenly moaned while looking up to the ceiling, interrupting Taro. Beside her, Mother was looking at Mama with a look of sympathy on her face.
"What is it, Mrs. Ikeda?" Taro asked Mama with a frown on her face.
"Taro, don’t you ever get tired of talking at us in a sanctimonious manner?”
The child welfare officer blinked at Mama’s words for several moments before she managed to reply.
“That's a new one. Could you enlighten me as to how I appear sanctimonious to you, Mrs. Ikeda?”
“Your 'If only' is irritating," Mama tersely replied.
"...I don't understand?" Taro remarked Mama after several moments of silence.
"You don't seem to understand how frustrating your manner of using those two words were, Mrs. Taro," Mother spoke up. "Let me use an example. 'If only you could control yourself and watch in silence, then this cohabitation between your son and Kurumi would soon collapse on its own and Kurumi can leave your family and return to her own home.'"
"What was so sanctimonious about that?" Taro asked. "That was me giving you guidance in my capacity as a child welfare officer."
"That was you politely telling me to shut up and wait for an imaginary collapse in the relationship between Ichigo and Kurumi, when I had just told you that I hated Kurumi for various reasons and wanted her out of my house immediately because I don't want her bond with my son and grandchild to grow stronger with time," Mother retorted.
A moment later she looked at me, coughed, and then apologized once more for feeling that way back then. As soon as I told Mother that I accept her apology and I do forgive her, Mother's attention went back to Taro, who was staring at us.
"Let me give another example,” Mother went on. “Remember saying ‘If only you could have given your son continuous guidance regarding sex education before he met Kurumi, then instead of a girl and your son becoming parents at their age all you would only be dealing with your son becoming sexually active at his age,’ to me in the past?”
“Again, it was guidance in my capacity as a child welfare officer.”
“You said that after I told you I left my son’s sex education to the school because I had complete faith in the ability of teachers in a public school belonging to one of Japan’s major cities to explain the topic properly.”
“...pardon me but all I’m hearing at the moment aren’t complaints about the child welfare officer, but about being given guidance in the first place,” Taro said in a peeved tone of voice.
“Wrong. It’s all about you Taro,” Mama instantly replied. “Do you think it's easy to accept any word coming out of the mouth of a woman who seemed to have made it her mission to make you think you had never been a good parent at any point in your life before you had the government approved blessing of being regularly graced with her presence?”
Upon hearing that I finally joined in on this event that was a long time in coming.
“On my part Mrs. Taro, I still feel upset that you saw everything Ichigo and I did as parents and aspiring partners for life as nothing more but role playing a family.”
“The responsibility of a juvenile is to study and create juvenile appropriate social connections with other juveniles. Part time jobs are a distasteful necessity in today’s economic environment, but juveniles compounding the mistake of getting pregnant by adding parenting their children to their responsibilities – “
“Come on woman! You’re supposed to keep families together, why are you doing the opposite in Kurumi’s case?!” Mama interrupted with a complaint.
“Because she’s supposed to stay with you and your husband in Yokosuka, not move in with the Ohta family as if she’s legally married to Ohta Ichigo!” Taro snapped at Mama with what seemed to me to be long contained fury.
“Ao belongs to the Ohta family,” Mother chimed in, as if that was enough of an explanation all by itself. That only served to make Taro switch targets to Mother.
“And you Mrs. Ohta! One pillow talk with your husband and you changed your stance from demanding an abortion to demanding custody over the baby inside Kurumi’s womb? Where’s your self respect as a woman!”
"That’s enough!" I yelled at Mrs. Taro. Once I had gained everyone’s complete attention, I continued to vent my anger at the child welfare officer.
"We are going to stop talking about topics like abortion, pillow talk and feminist self respect in front of my four year old daughter?! And Ao?"
"Yes Mama?" she timidly replied as she blinked owlishly at the scene happening at the foot of her bed.
"Can you promise me that when you grow up you will never, ever argue with anyone in front of children? No, I don't want a nod. I want a verbal promise. Please?"
"Ok Mama. I promise that when I grow up I won't argue with anyone in front of children."
"Good girl. Now Mrs. Taro, can you answer a few questions for me?"
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Higashi-Guchi Fuji-Sengen shrine, Sunto District, Shizuoka Prefecture
May 11, 2013
10:30 A.M.
Ohta Ichigo
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” I said while paying the proper respect to my guest, just beside the haiden of the shrine where we couldn’t be easily seen by the worshippers...
As I unbowed, I took a moment to look at Izanami, currently cheerfully smiling at us while wearing a magical disguise.
Her appearance now was as different from her earlier one as candlelight was from a fluorescent lamp. Her European looking, no makeup face had been replaced by an unremarkable Japanese one with carefully applied lipstick, foundation and a mole at her cheek. Her black hair, once stretching down to her waist, was now gathered into a tight bun with the use of two hair sticks.
Her clothes, a tight red camisole and slim fitting blue denim pants, defiantly announced to the world an athletic body figure that any straight man would appreciate for a moment or two at the very least.
“Pardon me, but who are you?” Dad asked from my right.
I quickly started introducing the two to each other.
"Dad, this is Mrs. Izanami. She was the goddess who helped save the lives of me, Kurumi and Ao eight days ago."
"I-it's a pleasure to meet you, Kurumi's Father in law. As I asked of Kurumi and everyone I meet, please call me Izanami," Izanami said as she nodded to Dad.
Dad nodded back with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Izanami, this is my father. Sergeant First Class Ohta Hayato of the Ground Self Defense Forces.”
Dad quickly did away with the thoughtful face and replaced it with a grateful smile.
“Thank you for saving my son and his family, Izanami." He replied. "If it wasn’t for your intervention my wife and I would be mourning my son, daughter in law and granddaughter.”
“You’re welcome,” Izanami answered with a pleasant smile. That was quickly followed by a lull, wherein the both of them waited to see if the other had anything more to say.
When it became clear that there was nothing more to be said, I took the initiative and started the meeting.
"So, let's start the discussion on the donation that had been offered to my wife. Izanami...I don’t want to sound like I’m rejecting the goodness of your heart, but could we have a long term loan paid through annual installments instead of a donation of gemstones?"
"…pardon me but I don’t follow,” Izanami said in a mystified tone. “Why would you reject a donation?"
“It is because of the so called gift tax,” Dad sighed out.
Kentaro, before he went off to fetch Dad three days ago, informed me that the National Tax Agency would certainly impose taxes on the proceeds of anything we did with Izanami’s donated gemstones in addition to the gift tax, a tax levied on any property with a monetary value of more than 1.1 million yen whose ownership is given by a still living person to another person. In addition to that, we also have to find an explanation to give to the tax men when they inevitably ask where the jade and amber came from.
“A tax on gifts?” Izanami exclaimed at us. “I know that the government needs taxes to continue performing much needed services, but...a tax on one of the most sacred acts a being can do towards another? That’s too much!”
“Nevertheless,” Dad glumly replied. “that is the law of the land, so we have no choice but to either follow it or choose to do something else that’s just as simple as giving it to us. And that is taking a loan from you.”
Izanami stared at us with a crestfallen expression, for long enough that I started to feel worried. Then all of a sudden she said something that dashed our hopes for an easy financial remedy from her.
“Are fake coins acceptable to you? The only cash I have is whatever I get paid for working as a miko. And I don’t believe its enough to rent an apartment room for a month.”
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
10:22 A.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
"And that's how we are going to protect Ao," Taro ended her explanation.
As Mama and Mother started asking clarifications, my thoughts finally started moving again, towards a completely different topic.
‘Ichigo, Papa, why did you two go behind my back? And especially in this way?’
After asking if Ichigo was the one to contact her, I asked where Ichigo, Papa and Father went after meeting her in the hospital lobby. At that moment in time I was only covering my bases, I didn’t expect them to tell her their plans.
Therefore I was shocked when she informed me Ichigo said he and the other two will meet with a creditor, from whom they will borrow money for rebuilding the house. And worse...Taro asked the following words: ‘Why are you asking that question? Didn’t he tell you?’
So from that point in time until just now, I...blanked out from the embarrassment of having Taro say that and the sense of betrayal I felt from two of the people I love.
A poke at my back brought my thoughts back to the present. Another poke made me turn around and see the eyes of my daughter.
“Mama can you scoot over here? I want to whisper something to you.”
I quickly scooted over to where Taro was sitting earlier and leaned down until my right ear was near her mouth.
“What is it Ao?” I whispered while I was in that position.
“Please don’t fight with Papa?” she whispered back at me.
I managed to stop my lips from pursing up as I went back into a more normal sitting position. But since Ao was looking at my face, she noticed the movement and frowned at me.
"Mama, are you going to fight with Papa?"
I sighed and pondered on how to explain things to a semi-innocent daughter with psychic powers. A moment later I decided to do what I did in Onogoro, namely to just say whatever came to mind.
"If he doesn't give me a proper explanation, then yes we're going to have a fight."
A quick look at the other women in the room showed me that they were still deep in discussion about the plan on how to keep my child out of the line of fire between the Japanese government and allies on one hand and extraterrestrial magical armies on the other.
"Mama, why must you fight Papa? Don't you only need to make him say sorry?"
I raised a finger and opened my mouth to explain my side…when I slowly realized that she was right. Fighting Ichigo was nothing more than a band-aid placed on my wounded pride, it's not going to make me happy in the long run.
What would make me happy was my dear idiot sincerely apologizing and swearing he will never again cut me out of the decision making process for our family.
I gave Ao a bright, relieved smile and whispered an answer that made Ao smile back at me.
"You're right Ao. Thanks."
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Higashi-Guchi Fuji-Sengen shrine, Sunto District, Shizuoka Prefecture
May 11, 2013
10:50 A.M.
Ohta Ichigo
"Things weren't like this in my time," Izanami said as she wrote her name on yet another sheet of paper filled with legalese.
"I find it hard to believe that you had never dealt with any kind of paperwork before this day, Izanami," I replied as I watched Dad stamp his seal on the legalese paper that Izanami had just finished before the one she was currently writing on.
"I-it’s not that I had never done any paperwork before in my life. It’s...I can only read and write in hiragana and manyogana.”
A quick look at both the paper that Dad had on his lap and the papers Kentaro, sitting right beside Dad, was compiling in a clear folder on his lap revealed that at the very least the hiragana part was true. She had written her full title, 'Izanami no Mikoto,' completely in modern hiragana.
After a moment of thought, I shrugged and accepted the fact for what it was. After all, only knowing how to read and write in hiragana and manyogana was far better than being completely illiterate.
"Then what do you mean by 'things not being like this in your time,' Izanami?" Kentaro asked in curiosity after finishing with the paper he was just given by Dad.
"What I meant was that in my time, agreements made in the presence of respectable witnesses and sworn in the name of the gods was enough to make them valid. None of these…glaring signs of mistrust," she said while frowning down at the papers on her lap.
"While what you have just described sounds like an unfortunate change in human society,” Dad quickly replied. “There is no point in complaining since the change has already happened. All you can do now is to learn how humans do things nowadays.”
After sighing, Izanami proceeded to continue writing her full title on Kentaro’s papers.
As the seconds went by, my mind went back to what had just happened earlier.
Dad was in the middle of lecturing Izanami about the crime of counterfeiting money when Kentaro walked up from behind all of us and announced that he had a great and very profitable idea for how we were to get around the gift tax.
We would found a company that supplies rare earth and non-abundant elements through, and without any hint of irony on Kentaro's part when he said it, magical means. Izanami would be the company head while Kurumi and Mom would be her employees. And our house would be the location of the business.
After several moments of exchanging incredulous stares, the three of us there asked further details from Kentaro.
Apparently, Kentaro hopes that through the auspices of Mrs. Taro and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Employment, the proposed company could apply for a loan in exchange for delivering resources that were very, very important to Japan’s economy and national defense. And that loan was what we would use to rebuild the home.
It was a plan that solves every problem that we, including Izanami and the Yamada twins, might have with the government with an act that at heart was nothing more than bribery.
“Say Kentaro, there’s one thing that I still don’t get about this plan of yours,” Dad suddenly asked.
“What is it?”
“Why go through the effort of making a company for all of us? You can just make a deal with the government that essentially does the same thing as the hopeful scenario you outlined earlier, no?”
Kentaro looked at Dad and smirked.
“Why not?"
"Stop being so coy buddy. It doesn’t fit you."
I barely had time to process Dad saying the word ‘buddy’ before Kentaro replied to Dad's question.
"Well...Ichigo here won't be too happy with my reasons."
And that was when I realized what Kentaro was thinking about when he proposed this company.
"You're still unsatisfied about my aspirations, Father?"
Before now I thought Kentaro had given up on making me search for a job in the civilian corporate sector, ever since he had quit badgering me about that topic around the time I turned 15.
'Is he going to start again now? In front of Izanami?!'
"Ichigo, I'm not arguing that you can't raise a family on the salary of a private. Hayato here has already enlightened me on the details years ago."
'Thank you Dad. Thank you, thank you, thank you.'
"The problem is that your family is flat out broke right now and will be for years to come - no offense to you Hayato."
"None taken," Dad said with a shrug. "It is the truth I'm now dealing with."
Kentaro quickly continued talking after that.
"And it will still be the same even if you combine your salary as a private with his salary as a Sergeant First Class. Worse, Hayato will retire in around seven years time, just when Ao will enter middle school and would need the money. And of course there's no telling when your grandparents might die."
I winced at his analysis of my family's financial situation, not only because it was distressing but…he's doing it in front of Izanami. Fortunately Izanami was trying to give us privacy by covering her ears and looking up at the clouds in the sky.
"So, now that you see why I'm enthusiastic about this company…want to help me convince Kurumi about this plan?"
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
11:26 A.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
“Where are we going Kurumi?” My idiot boyfriend in thin, plain white shirt and blue jeans with a huge, expertly sewn up rip at the left leg asked as I led him by the hand outside the hospital’s doors.
“Anywhere that’s private,” I firmly replied while looking around for such a place.
The parking lot in front of the hospital wasn’t one. Too few cars to hide us from sight, not to mention its noon. We would get sun burns if we had our talk there.
At that moment a gentle, warm breeze brought to my attention the smell and sound of the evergreen trees lining the boundary between highway and hospital fences.
After a brief look I smiled at my luck, seeing as not only were the fences and the tree shade going to block us from sight in the direction of the hospital. There was also the lack of passing vehicles on the highway.
“Dear let’s go there. Under the trees.”
“...are we also going to sit on the grass?” Ichigo asked me carefully, as if...no. He was evidently trying his best to not to make me angrier than I am.
I gave my husband to be a tired and suffering look.
“Ichigo, I told you yesterday. Each of us only have three changes of clothes, and we have to look for temporary residence and food first before even thinking about buying new clothes. That’s why we can’t afford to dirty them that quickly.”
“Sorry love.”
"…it's ok. As long as you remember. Let’s go."
We strolled past the gates, where an armed Self Defense Forces member stood watch. Moments after that we finally reached a good spot, one that wasn't only hidden by the shade of the trees and the fence from plain sight but was also where the trees turned a gentle breeze into a continuous stream of wind as strong as that of an electric fan’s.
Judging the time to be quite right, I let go of my fiance's hand and asked him a simple question.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
11:27 A.M.
Ohta Ichigo
"Why didn't you tell me anything?"
There. The words that I knew would come my way since I concocted this plan four days ago had finally roosted on me.
Hopefully my explanation doesn't further anger her.
"It's because I don't want to add more things for you to worry – "
“Well you added more to my list of worries,” Kurumi suddenly interrupted, followed up by heaving in a threadbare white shirt that was tight enough to allow me and everyone else to see the outline and color of her A-Cup bra and blue jeans with lots of dried black ink splatters.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
11:27 A.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
‘Ok, stop girl. Stop. You’re here to make your love apologize, not to have a fight with him. Again, apology. Not a fight. Apology, not a fight.’
“I...I’m sorry. I’m not in a good mood,” I lamely added when I saw the shocked look on Ichigo’s face.
The conversation stuttered to a halt immediately after my apology.
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It took some time for me to regain the self confidence...the self assurance that I won’t spit out anger at my love. I didn’t know how long but it was enough that my feet started to hurt from standing still for that time.
“Ichigo, isn’t there something that you have to say to me now?”
He took a breath and replied.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:00 P.M.
OhtaIchigo
“I'm very, very sorry for not informing you about my plans.”
It was official. Kurumi was angry.
Therefore, my only option now was to apologize. Again and again and again until she forgives me, and was in the mood for my explanations.
“And what else?”
"…please forgive me?"
I instantly knew I fucked up when my wife slowly shook her head.
"Ichigo, I'll be blunt. Will you cut me off from the decision making process, again, whenever you find it necessary?"
'…oh. Damn. That's how she saw this?'
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:01 P.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
The silent wince my fiancé gave off hurt me.
I didn't like this. Not having a say in decisions that would affect our family...affect myself. It was like…I'm back to being a kid, but worse since I already had a taste of making responsible choices for myself.
I didn't like it.
"Kurumi – "
"Stop. Think more about what you're about to say next, okay? I'm already feeling angry and hurt and I don’t want to misunderstand – "
"That's what this is all about Kurumi. A huge misunderstanding – “
“On whose part?” I challenged.
Ichigo let out a sigh and looked away from me. At the same time his right hand rose up to head level, in the manner of a student who wanted to answer a question given by their teacher during class.
“...sorry. Go on."
My boyfriend quickly put the hand down and looked back at me.
“Kurumi, I just wanted to free you from the worries and stresses of the past few days. And I wanted to do so as a surprise present for you. Same thing goes for Dad and Father in law for their partners. That’s why we kept our dealings secret from all of you.”
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:03 P.M.
Ohta Ichigo
Kurumi remained silent for some time after my explanation, doing nothing else but breathing and looking me in the eyes.
"Ichigo," my wife spoke all of a sudden.
"Yes dear?"
"Our blood pressure spiked up when Taro stepped through that doorway instead of you."
"I'm sorry dear."
"I was humiliated when she asked me why I didn't know anything about what you were doing."
'Oh for the love of…damn you Taro. Damn you.'
"I'm sorry dear."
"Abortion was mentioned in front of our daughter during an argument between Taro and our mothers."
'Fuck you Taro. Fuck you.'
"I'm sorry dear. I had no idea that could happen."
Kurumi took a deep breath and exhaled the following words.
"And now I'm going to assume that there is something else you and the men did that's going to give me more headaches. Can you tell me now so we could deal with all of them in one day?"
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:07 P.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
"…I already made a deal with Izanami," I hissed indignantly.
"A deal that's going to attract the scrutiny of the National Tax Agency no matter what you do. Kentaro's plan is not only quite legal but is going to make sure you, Ao and Mom won't starve in case whatever salary Dad and I bring home doesn't cover all the expenses."
"And Izanami is a goddess, not a…a mine or factory or something!"
"Well, she said she also wanted more spending money. And she was happy with the possibility of finally getting to use her real name all the time, thanks to this company."
I had to close my eyes and take several deep breaths to calm myself down, since I was feeling tempted to give in to the bubbling hot emotions of embarrassment and anger.
"Kurumi…"
Ichigo trailed off when I looked back into his own set of eyes.
"Go ahead Ichigo," I encouraged him. "Say everything you want to say so we can finish this argument here because I refuse to bring our problems near our psychic daughter."
"…earlier I said that there had been a huge misunderstanding. Then you asked on whose part was that misunderstanding about."
"Go on."
"The misunderstanding was on my part. I thought that I must solve everything by myself, and bring home one perfect solution that would do away with all your worries, like a...good husband should."
“Like a what?!”
What he said was stunning, especially when he was already doing a wonderful job as Ao’s dad and my lover and partner and future husband.
“A good husband.”
“What on earth brought that on?”
An instant later a stray thought froze my blood, and prompted me to continue talking before Ichigo had even started to open his mouth.
“Wait, answer this first. What definition of good husband are we talking about here?”
My beloved husband to be opened his mouth to answer, only to slam face first into my own face as a wall of hot wind suddenly blasted into us from the south.