The B.G.S.'s part 16

16^th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Yuko and Kouhei went out to find some B.G.S.’s today. I got the story from them when they returned. They went to Shibata at Miyagi prefecture, at some old lonely street.  

“Hmm this is quite an old street,” said Yuko “most of the buildings here look like they could do with some new coats of paint and fixing up a bit”.

“I agree with you on that,” said Kouhei “well we better get moving on looking for any B.G.S.’s”.

As Yuko and Kouhei were walking down the street, Yuko noticed an old fashion wooden built boarding house.

“Wow you don’t get many boarding houses like this anymore” said Kouhei.

“That’s a nice place,” said Yuko “I wouldn’t mind living here myself”.

“With how this old boarding house is still standing, the owners must take pretty good care of it” said Kouhei.

Just then a middle aged woman with a scarf over her hair came out of the building. She was the landlord and her name was Ms Mayumi Hana.

“Oh hello there, what are you children doing here?” said Ms Hana.

“Please excuse us but we couldn’t resist looking at this building as it looks so nice” said Yuko.

“Oh that’s okay,” said Ms Hana “are you children on some kind of errand?”

“Eh more like a quest really,” said Yuko “you see my little sister lost some toys of hers that look like the one I’m holding now”.

Ms Hana looked at the blue B.G.S. in Yuko’s arms. “Hmm well I haven’t seen anything like that around here,” she said “but you are welcome to look into my lost property shed. I always find lost items around here so I made a lost property shed a few years back to store the items in. I even get people bringing lost items from the park or other places here too”.

So Yuko and Kouhei went into the lost property shed. There were many lost items in there; lost toys, lost gloves and other things. I always find it amazing how much stuff people can lose Kiki. Anyway as soon as Yuko and Kouhei started to look around the shed a cherry-red and a Barbie-pink B.G.S. came out from hiding between some toys.

“Ha we found them rather quickly this time” said Yuko.

“You know what they say; better now than later” said Kouhei.

Yuko and Kouhei picked up the two B.G.S.’s and told them to be quiet and still, and got out of the shed. Ms Hana was happy when Yuko told her they found the toys.

Yuko couldn’t help but continue to look at the boarding house. “I’m amazed how you’ve managed to keep this old wooden building standing,” she said “I mean I’ve heard it can be tricky to keep old wooden buildings standing, especially when wood can start to rot in a few years or so”.

“Ah that’s because the tenants and I work together to keep this place standing,” said Ms Hana “we all love this building too much to ever let it rot away or get torn down”.

“I can see that” said Yuko.

“And to tell you the truth I promised the original landlord I would continue to look after this place,” said Ms Hana “and keeping that promise is something I intend to do for the rest of my life. I owe a great deal to that man after all the help he had giving me”.

“Why did something happen?” asked Kouhei. The way that Ms Hana spoke made him get the feeling that Ms Hana went through something bad during her life.

“Well it’s a bit of a long story and it’s a sad one too” said Ms Hana.

“Kouhei and I don’t mind long stories and we’ve heard lots of sad stories before” said Yuko.

Ms Hana agreed to tell her story. The story was she used to be married to a man named Jirou Kubota. She was divorced now which was why she was a Ms and was now called by her original surname instead of her married surname. Ms Hana and her ex-husband had a daughter together called Akane and they were a happy family at first. But then sometime after Akane turned five years old everything changed; Ms Hana and her ex-husband would yell and fight with each other when ever things went wrong between them.

Yuko recognized this familiar story at once.

“The arguments I had with that man were the type of arguments that seemed to go on forever,” said Ms Hana “and there were times I would throw things at him in anger. But it’s all because of those stupid fights of ours that we lost our daughter in the first place”.

“She ran away?” asked Kouhei.

“Worse, she died from a traffic accident” said Ms Hana.

Ms Hana explained Akane went through a phase of throwing terrible tantrums while at kindergarten and bullied her classmates.

“Oh this means Akane became very upset due to your arguments and took out her frustrations on other children” said Yuko, understanding Akane’s feelings. Yuko never took out her frustrations on other children Kiki, just got upset.

“Yes and the stupid thing is my ex-husband and I never noticed how our daughter felt until it was too late;” said Ms Hana “we got so distracted by our arguments we failed to notice our daughter, never mind her feelings”.

This really was familiar to Yuko because her parents neglected her feelings too.

Ms Hana explained next that one day when Akane was seven years old; she was having another argument with her ex-husband at a park. That made Akane upset and embarrassed because lots of people were listening to the arguing. Akane got so angry that she shouted out she wished her parents would get divorced and then she ran off, crying. But she ended up running into the road and she was hit by a car, and she died from her injuries.

“That’s sad,” said Kouhei “what happened to you and your husband then?”

“Things got no better;” answered Ms Hana “we kept on blaming each other for Akane’s death. I couldn’t take it anymore so I asked for a divorce at once. We divorced not long after Akane’s funeral”.

“I don’t blame you for that,” said Yuko, understanding Ms Hana’s feelings, “but how did you end up living in this boarding house?”

“Well a friend of an old friend of mine introduced me to this building and she suggested that this was the perfect place for me to find my feet after my divorce,” said Ms Hana “and she was right. I made many friends with the tenants who live here now and who lived here before. The original landlord and his wife were kind to me and they always listened to my problems whenever I felt down. To me they were like having new parents around since mine had died quite a long time ago”.

That sounds nice,” said Yuko “I hope you don’t mind me asking but did you ever get married again?”

“No my heart was so broken after losing Akane and from my divorce I became afraid to ever get married again in case I got my heart broken even more,” said Ms Hana “I was also afraid of becoming a mother again because of how I failed as a mother to Akane”.

Yuko and Kouhei understood. “I take it you haven’t seen your ex-husband since the divorce?” asked Kouhei.

“No but I’ve heard that he got married again and he has a new family with his new wife so no doubt that he is happy now” said Ms Hana.

Yuko couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ms Hana. Just then Kouhei looked at his watch and said it was time for him and Yuko to get back home.

“I understand,” said Ms Hana “just tell your sister not to lose her toys again and you children take care of yourselves”.

“You as well Ms Hana” said Kouhei.

Yuko and Kouhei walked to a corner of a house where no one could see them. The Kouhei got the remote out from his backpack and pressed the button. And once Kouhei and Yuko teleported back to Prof Largos house, they told everyone the whole story about Ms Hana.

“Sounds like Ms Hana and her ex-husband were hit by karma” said Shizuyo.

“I agree, especially since they lost Akane due to their errors too late” I said. Everyone agreed.

With how Yuko, Shizuyo and I have met people whose pasts were like ours Kiki, I’m getting the feeling that my friends and I will meet more people who had the same troubled pasts as us.      

The B.G.S.'s part 15

13^th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today it was Shizuyo and Tatsuya’s turn to search for more B.G.S.’s. I got the story from Shizuyo and Tatsuya when they came back from their trip. They got teleported to the port of Akita of the Akita prefecture. It was a surprise for them to see the sea and boats.

“Look at that ocean” said Shizuyo admiring the sea.

“It’s lovely” Tatsuya agreed. They wanted to look at the sea all day, but of course they had to think about the stray B.G.S.’s first.

“I do hope we don’t have to search on any of these boats for the B.G.S.’s,” said Shizuyo “I mean they won’t allow us to just walk on any of the boats to look around, the especially the big ones that carry passengers or cargo”.

“Yes you’re right and we don’t have any money for tickets and such” agreed Tatsuya.

Just then the yellow B.G.S. jumped out of Shizuyo’s arms and was about to jump into the sea, but Tatsuya grabbed it.

“You mustn’t do that,” he said sternly to the B.G.S. “I know you like swimming but the sea is dangerous. You can’t just go swimming in any sea you see unless you know its safe first. And right now the sea isn’t safe because the waves are a bit rough at the moment”. The B.G.S. just squeaked in a sulky way.

This is true Kiki. The B.G.S.’s do like to swim and get this; they can even breathe underwater. My friends and I found that out a couple of weeks ago. We were at the park we always go and Yuko took three B.G.S.’s with her, despite we told her not to do so in case anybody see them. Anyway while we were at the park the B.G.S.’s had a swim in the pond. I couldn’t believe it when I found out they could swim and breathe under water. But then again when it comes to aliens Kiki, I reckon anything is possible.

Back to the story Shizuyo and Tatsuya were just about to walk along the harbour some more, when they ran into a man wearing a smart white captain’s uniform. His name was Kaito Touma and he was a captain of a passenger ship.

“What are you two kids doing here?” asked Captain Touma.

“Oh we are just looking at the boats and the sea sir,” said Tatsuya “but if we’re not allowed here we’ll go at once”.

“Oh no need to leave,” said Captain Touma “anyone is welcome to walk around the harbour. Just as long you don’t try to sneak on board any of the boats”.

“Wouldn’t dream of it sir” said Shizuyo.

Just then Captain Touma noticed the yellow B.G.S. in Shizuyo’s arms. “That’s an interesting toy you have there” he said.

“It’s a toy that my um grandfather made for me” lied Shizuyo.

“Well it’s still very nice,” said Captain Touma “oh speaking of interesting. There have been sights of the sea glowing at night time, but only when the night time sky is clear and the sea is calm”.

“Really?” said Tatsuya “um does anyone know why the sea does that?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Captain Touma “although it is possible that it may be anglerfish”.

“That would make sense because anglerfish have those lights on the top of their heads” said Tatsuya.

“I don’t suppose you kids would like to see the glowing sea happening tonight with me would you?” asked Captain Touma “the sea is going to be calm tonight so we’ll be able to see it happening then”.

“Oh well we would but aren’t you going to be casting off in one of the boats soon sir?” said Tatsuya.

“Not until tomorrow,” answered Captain Touma “so you kids are welcome to look around my ship for the rest of the day. Then tonight we’ll see the strange glowing sea together”.

“Well then let us let my sister and I phone our mum and let her know what’s happening” said Tatsuya.

“Okay you kids do that and then come back here” said Captain Touma.

Shizuyo and Tatsuya quickly left to find a phone booth.

“Tatsuya do you think its B.G.S.’s swimming about in the sea at night time making those glows?” asked Shizuyo.

“Well it could be or it might not,” said Tatsuya “which is why we need to see these glows in the sea thing ourselves tonight. Shizuyo phone Professor Largos and tell him what’s happening. I need to talk to our B.G.S. friend here because I’ve got an idea”.

 

While Shizuyo went off to phone Professor Largos, Tatsuya spoke to the yellow B.G.S.

“Okay B.G.S. listen carefully to want I want to say to you okay?” said Tatsuya. The B.G.S. squeaked yes. “We think there are some friends of yours in the sea,” said Tatsuya “so tonight I need you to look if there are friends of yours in the sea. And if they are your friends guide them to shore, and Shizuyo and I will collect you both in a bit. But make sure nobody sees you or your friends. Do you understand?” The B.G.S. squeaked yes, meaning it understood Tatsuya’s plan.

It wasn’t long till Shizuyo went back to Tatsuya after doing her phone call. “Okay Mr Yashiro said that we can stay and see if those strange glowing things in the sea tonight are B.G.S.’s,” she said “but if they are not we must get back to the house once we are finished. It will be too late then to continue the search tonight”. Tatsuya understood.

So for the rest of the day Captain Touma gave Tatsuya and Shizuyo a tour of his passenger ship. It was quite a big boat and it was very fancy inside. It had a big restaurant, a cinema room, a nurse’s office, a lot of rooms for guests to rest in and plenty of room on deck for walking about. Shizuyo thought it was so lovely walking about on a passenger ship, she wished she could afford a cruise trip.

After the tour Captain Touma had tea with Shizuyo and Tatsuya.

“It must feel nice being a captain of a ship and traveling around on the ocean” said Shizuyo.

“Yes it does, but there are times when it’s troubling because of bad weather and other troubles like that,” said Captain Touma “but I love it all the same. And to tell you children the truth I feel free while I’m out on the ocean”

“Free?” said Tatsuya “what do you been by that?”

Captain Touma looked serious. “I had a very overprotective life as a child,” he said “I was the only child of my family and I had parents who loved me a lot. But my mother’s love was an overprotecting type of love. You see she always judged everything I did as a child and every time I found something that made me happy she always treated it as if it was a bad influence on me. She even did that when I made friends and such. It was like everything I did was bad”.

“I hear you;” said Shizuyo “she sounds like another mum, namely mine”.

“It drove me to hate my mother while I was growing up,” continued Captain Touma “I couldn’t stand her overprotectiveness especially since she never thought about how I felt. Even when I became an adult she was like that”.

“Okay so how did you decide to be a captain of a ship?” asked Shizuyo.

“Well I found a magazine about ships and planes while I was still in high school,” said Captain Touma “and there were some captains and pilots talking about feeling free while they are in the sky or on the ocean. So I decided to become a captain of a ship to be free from my mother; I prefer boats over planes”.

“I take it there’s a chance your mother wasn’t keen on this idea?” asked Shizuyo, who understood the situation.

“You’re right she didn’t,” answered Captain Touma “she jumped to the fact I may die while on a ship and suggested I work in an office like my father did. But I snapped and told her again I wanted to become a captain. I even snapped, telling how much I hated her and how she felt everything in the world was a bad influence on me. So against her wishes I studied to become a ship’s captain, and I became one after working for a couple of years”.

“What happened with your mother after that?” asked Tatsuya.

“Well of course my mother was cross I went against her wishes,” said Captain Touma “and that led to a big argument between my mother and me. After that I broke off with my mother and moved away to pursue my career of being a ship’s captain. And I haven’t spoken to her since”.

“I don’t blame you for doing that” said Shizuyo, who understood everything.

“My father had secretly visited me and tried to get me to make up with my mother,” said Captain Touma “but I refused unless my mother admitted she was wrong. But of course she refused and she still refuses to admit her wrongs”.

“What a stubborn mother” said Tatsuya.

Captain Touma’s story reminded Shizuyo of her past and the overprotectiveness of her parents.

Hours later, night time came. It was a clear night so the sea was calm and the moon was lighting up the night sky. Captain Touma, Shizuyo and Tatsuya were standing on the dock and looking at the sea. Shizuyo had the yellow B.G.S. in her back pack for hiding. The plan was to place the B.G.S. into the sea once the strange glows come.

“The strange glows should appear any moment now” said Captain Touma.

As soon as he said that some glowing colours appeared under the sea. The glows were so deep under the sea no one could see carefully what the colours were.

“Wow look at that” said Tatsuya.

“Incredible isn’t it?” said Captain Touma.

While the captain was distracted, Shizuyo carefully and quickly placed the yellow B.G.S. into the sea. “Go see what’s happening down there” she whispered to it. Then the B.G.S. dived under the sea.

Captain Touma, Shizuyo and Tatsuya kept their eyes on the sea while the strange glows were dancing around under the sea. It was like an underwater light show. Shizuyo was impressed with the light show, but Tatsuya hoped the yellow B.G.S. didn’t forget the plan. About ten minutes later the glows disappeared.

“Well that was certainly interesting,” said Captain Touma “I’m glad I got to see it tonight”.

“Same here,” said Tatsuya “but my sister and I better go. We promised our dad we would come straight home after seeing the strange glows”.

“Of course,” said Captain Touma “well I now need to get my boat ready for tomorrow. I hope you children make it home safely”.

“We will and thank you for today” said Shizuyo.

Once Captain Touma was gone Shizuyo and Tatsuya looked at the sea to look for the yellow B.G.S. A second later the B.G.S. came out of the water along with a dozen B.G.S.’s. There was a coral coloured one, a salmon coloured one, an aqua-green one, a white-brown one and other colours I didn’t know.

“Wow what a catch we’ve found” said Tatsuya.

“Well the sea is a big thing” said Shizuyo.

Shizuyo and Tatsuya got the B.G.S.’s out of the sea. Next Tatsuya got the remote out from his backpack and pressed the button. One they got back to Prof Largos’s house they told me and everyone else the whole story.

I’m starting to realize this Kiki, which I’m sure you’re noticing too, apart from finding B.G.S.’s my friends and I are starting to find dramatic stories from people that we meet on our search for the B.G.S.’s.

The B.G.S.'s part 14

9^th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki today only Hiroshi and I went out to find another B.G.S. because Professor Logan needed the other’s help with taking care of the B.G.S.’s in his house. Hiroshi and I ended up on a rice farm in Takashima. But apart from finding a B.G.S. there, there was something else there for us to discover.

I’ll start at the beginning. It all started after Hiroshi and I arrived at Takashima, in a forest next to the farm lands.

“It’s so beautiful and green here” I said, taking a photo of the area at once.

“How are we going to find a B.G.S. here?” asked Hiroshi “with all the rice fields around there’s no telling where it is. Not to mention it could be hiding in any of the rice storage sheds around here”.

“That is true,” I said “and the farmers won’t like it if we go around poking around at their fields back and forth”.

Just then I had an idea and took out the red B.G.S. from my back pack. My plan was for Hiroshi and I to pretend we were looking for a lost toy and our B.G.S. was to squeak quietly while we looked around for the ‘lost toy’.

“Will they fall for that?” asked Hiroshi, who wasn’t sure with my idea.

“I don’t see why not,” I said “come on let’s just try”.

So Hiroshi and I began our search for a B.G.S. around the rice farm. My plan worked because whenever we came across a farmer, we told him or her about our search for a ‘lost toy’ and they did fall for our lie. So it was easy for us to look around the rice fields to search for a B.G.S. We even looked around the storage sheds where the harvested rice is kept. And the red B.G.S. remembered to squeak quietly through our search. But we had no luck on finding any B.G.S.’s.  

“Oh dear,” I sighed “as we have no luck on finding any of the B.G.S.’s around the fields or in the storage sheds, I fear they may be hiding in someone’s house in the attic or in a garden”.

“I hope that’s not the case” said Hiroshi. We didn’t exactly want to go sneaking around houses or gardens to search for a B.G.S.

Just then as the red B.G.S. squeaked another squeak replied.

“Where did that come from?” I asked. The squeak came again.

“Sounds like it’s coming from that garden over there” said Hiroshi, pointing to a lone house on a hill.

“Oh no, please tell me the B.G.S. isn’t in the garden” I said, worriedly.

I didn’t need to worry in the end because when Hiroshi and I walked towards the lone house, a lime-green B.G.S. and a lemon-yellow B.G.S. came out from a tree that stood just near the house.

“Oh thank goodness” I sighed, picking up the two B.G.S.’s I was relieved that we didn’t need to look into the garden.

Just then an old man, who I later heard was named Osamu Kenzou came out of his house. “Hello is someone out here?” he asked.

“Oh please excuse us if we have disturbed you sir, my friend and I were looking for some toys I lost, but I’ve just found them again” I said.

“Oh no problem, just be careful with your things from now on” said Mr Kenzou.

Suddenly Mr Kenzou fell over onto the ground. Hiroshi and I went over to see if he was okay.

“Ah do excuse me it’s just my legs; they aren’t as strong as the used to be, which is why I end up struggling with walking and standing up most of the time,” said Mr Kenzou “my neighbour usually comes over to help me with the house work and cooking, but her family have come over today to visit her. So I told her I would take care of myself today, while she enjoys her family’s visit. But as you children just saw I feel tired and weak right now and I’ve still haven’t done much housework or fixed some tea for myself”.

Hiroshi and I decided to help Mr Kenzou for a bit before going back to Professor Largos’s house. Of course Mr Kenzou felt it was going to be trouble for Hiroshi and I to help him today. But we assured him that it was going to be okay for a little while. So Hiroshi got to work on hoovering the house and I went into the kitchen to make tea and rice balls for us all. While I waited for the kettle to boil I helped Mr Kenzou get comfortable on a zabuton. Just then I noticed some photos on top of a table. There was a picture of a woman, a picture of a young man, which I assumed was Mr Kenzou when he was younger, a few photos of a boy as a baby, as a little boy and as a high school student, and a picture of Mr Kenzou, the woman and the boy together.

“Are these photos your family members Mr Kenzou?” I asked.

“Yes the woman is my late wife Haruno and the boy is my son Masaru” answered Mr Kenzou.

“Oh does your son visit you sometimes?” I asked.

“No the truth is we haven’t seen or spoken to each other once since my wife died 23 years ago,” answered Mr Kenzou “and the truth is it’s my fault that I haven’t seen my son for a long time”.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Mr Kenzou told me and Hiroshi about his life while we had tea and rice balls. The story is Mr Kenzou used to be a successful corporate lawyer in the past and he lived in the city of Nagahama at that time.

“I loved my job and I loved my family,” said Mr Kenzou “and I always wanted to keep them well sheltered, well fed and happy. But I ended up being a failure of a father and husband”.

Another part of Mr Kenzou’s story was he was a workaholic; always busy with his job. Because of that he spent little time with his wife and his son.

“Because I was always so busy at my job I ended up breaking millions of promises to my family especially to my son,” said Mr Kenzou “I missed Masaru’s birthdays lots of times, I always missed his sport games like baseball and football, I even missed his school entrance ceremonies and graduation ceremonies. I wasn’t better with Haruno because I barely remembered our wedding anniversaries.  Worst of all I wasn’t even with her much when she became ill because of how busy I always was”.

I recognized this story at once Kiki because it was the same story as mine.

“My relationship with Masaru broke all at once after Haruno died,” said Mr Kenzou “he lost his temper and blew into my face about how I was never there for him or his mother. He even told me that he was never going to trust me again”.

“Oh dear” I said. This really did remind me of myself, especially when I told my parents I wasn’t going to trust them again.

“As soon as my wife’s funeral was over Masaru fell out with me all at once, cut off all contacts with me and moved away to start his own life without me, and I never saw him again after that” said Mr Kenzou.

“And you’ve never seen your son ever since?” asked Hiroshi.

“I’m afraid no,” answered Mr Kenzou “we are completely estranged from each other. My wife always warned when she was alive about how I was never careful with my relationship with my son. I realized too late that she was right; right after Maseru ran away from me. I tried many times to locate Masaru and call him, but I never got any word of him. It’s clear he never wants anything to do with me anymore because I was never there for him. And there is nothing I can do now to try to make up with Masaru. As I said before it was my fault”.

Hiroshi and I started to feel a bit sorry for Mr Kenzou.

“So why and when did you move here to Takashima?” asked Hiroshi.

“Ah I came down with an illness ten years that made me lose strength in my leg muscles,” said Mr Kenzou “because of that I couldn’t really work anymore so I had to retire from my job. I came to live here in Takashima because of a suggestion I got from an old friend of mine. He had a relative who lived in this house before I moved here. My friend showed me pictures of the house in the past and I liked the house when I first saw it. When his relative died there was no one else in the family who wanted to live in the house so it was put up for sale. So when I retired from my job I decided to move here because the countryside is always the best to be when you retire; that’s what I’ve been told before anyway. And I’m glad I moved here because I enjoy the peace and quiet here and I’ve made new friends here”.

“But don’t you miss your old life in Nagahama city sometimes?” asked Hiroshi.

“Well yes,” Mr Kenzou admitted “but I have all of my memories that I think about all the time, which is enough for me. Not to mention I always have Masaru on my mind even though I will never see him again even when I die. But I know we will all be together in heaven someday”.

Hiroshi and I didn’t know what else to say to Mr Kenzou after that because we felt sorry for him.

After finishing tea, Hiroshi and I said goodbye to Mr Kenzou because it was time we got back to Professor Largos’s house. Hiroshi and I hid behind a tree where no one could see us and Hiroshi pressed the button on the remote which teleported us back to Prof Largos’s house. Once we arrived back to the house, we introduced the lime-green and lemon-yellow B.G.S.’s to everyone and told them about Mr Kenzou.

“Wow Mr Kenzou’s story is like yours Kyoko” said Yuko.

“Yes you’re right Yuko” I sighed.

So Kiki the other thing Hiroshi and I discovered at Takashima, apart from the lime-green B.G.S., was a man who was estranged from his son because of his mistake of never being there for Masaru because of his job. Just like my parents who made the same mistakes of never being there for me because of their jobs.    

The B.G.S.'s part 13

5th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki, yesterday my friends and I started going to other cities of Japan to look for more B.G.S’s. It all started yesterday morning right after we had breakfast. Shizuyo, Yuko and I were getting ready for our first trips in our room. We each had a small back pack to carry around with us because we were going to take a B.G.S. each with us. As I already told you before Kiki, the B.G.G.’s are able to find each other by squeaking.

“This is going to be fun” said Yuko. She was looking forward going to places.

“This isn’t a field trip you know Yuko” said Shizuyo.

“I know, but it is still exciting” said Yuko. There was no point arguing with Yuko there.

Just then there was a knock at the door. It was Hiroshi. It was time for us to go. The boys, the girls and I all made our way to Prof Largos’s lab. Prof Largos and Mr Yashiro were waiting for us.

“Get ready children,” said Prof Largos “I have the machine ready to teleport you to other cities”.

Mr Yashiro handed the boys a remote control each that we needed to teleport back to the house. Yuko, Shizuyo and I placed a B.G.S. each into our small back packs. The boys had back packs to carry things in too.        

“Now children remember this;” said Mr Yashiro “don’t lose your remote controls, don’t let anybody see the B.G.S.’s and come straight back here after you’ve found another B.G.S.”.

“Yes sir” my friends and I said altogether.

The teleporter was now ready to teleport us somewhere in Japan. Yuko and Kouhei went onto the platform first and they were teleported to Iya Valley in Tokushima Prefecture. Shizuyo and Tatsuya were next and they went to Niihama City of Ehime Prefecture. Then it was Hiroshi and my turn to go onto the platform and we got teleported to Kiso Valley in Nagano Prefecture.

I will tell you what happened to all of us, one by one Kiki. I learned from Shizuyo, Tatsuya, Yuko and Kouhei of what had happened to them when they came back from the cities.

I’ll start off with Yuko and Kouhei’s day. Yuko was completely awestruck once she and Kouhei was teleported to Iya Valley. Not to mention she found the teleporting thing amazing. Iya Valley is a mountain valley just to let you know Kiki. Yuko and Kouhei were on a hill at the top of the village, and Yuko couldn’t stop admiring the beautiful view. Kouhei had to remind her about their quest on looking for a B.G.S.

“Good thing the teleporter teleported us to this village; it’s a perfect place to look for the B.G.S.s” said Kouhei.

Yuko took out a blue B.G.S. from her back pack. “Okay B.G.S.” she said “we are going to start looking for any of your friends in this village. So remember what Prof Largos said yesterday; you must squeak quietly while we’re looking around the village, okay?” The B.G.S. squeaked yes.

Yuko and Kouhei started to walk through the village. But after only just walking in the village for a few minutes, they heard something that captured their ears. A group of people were talking about some strange squeaking noises they heard in the wood. Kouhei and Yuko went over to the group of people and asked them what noise they were talking about. The people explained they heard the squeaking noises after they crossed the Kazura Rope Bridge of Iya valley. They reckoned there were rats about, so none of them wanted to look because they didn’t like rats.

Kouhei had a funny feeling the squeaks maybe from a B.G.S. So he suggested he and Yuko should go to the Kazura Rope Bridge and Yuko agreed. They asked the group where the bridge was and the people gave them directions to a river where the bridge was. Thanks to the directions they were given, Yuko and Kouhei made it to the river and the bridge.

“Wow look at that bridge and that river” said Yuko, in surprise.

“Since the people said they heard the squeaking noises after crossing the bridge, that means we’ll have the cross the bridge too” said Kouhei.

“Oh dear” sighed Yuko.

Truth is Kiki the thought of crossing the rope bridge sounded scary to Yuko. But thanks to some squeaking of encouragement from the blue B.G.S., Yuko understood she had to if she wanted to find any more B.G.S.’s.

And so Yuko and Kouhei slowly and bravely started to walk across the bridge. Yuko kept on holding to the sides of the rope bridge for balance.

“You alright Yuko?” Kouhei asked.

“I will be once we get to the other side” said Yuko.

“Just continue hanging on Yuko, we’ll be on the other side soon” said Kouhei.

A few minutes later Yuko and Kouhei reached the other side of the bridge safely.   

“Phew, that was nerve wrecking,” sighed Yuko “I’m happy that’s over”.

“I thought that was exciting really” said Kouhei. Truth is he finds anything that looks scary exciting; whether it would be climbing a very tall tree, riding a scary roller-coaster or jumping off a high diving board.

Yuko had a quick look around to check if the coast was clear and it was. Then she took out the blue B.G.S. from her back pack and held it in her arms.

“B.G.S. we need to check around here for any of your friends,” she said “so go ahead and squeak please”.

The blue B.G.S. started to squeak out while Yuko and Kouhei started to walk along the path, taking great care that no one else heard the blue B.G.S.’s squeaking.

“This is nice,” said Yuko, who was enjoying the walk, “I feel like staying here for the rest of the day, walking around this wood and the village again”.

“Yes but Mr Yashiro probably wouldn’t like it if we ended up staying here all day” said Kouhei.

Suddenly Kouhei made Yuko stop walking.

“Shh do you hear that?” he asked.

Yuko perked up her ears and heard some squeaking noises. “I do hear that,” she said “we’re close to the strange noises those people told us about”.

Yuko and Kouhei followed the sounds of the squeaks to some trees a bit far from the path. And there, to Yuko and Hiroshi’s surprise, were five B.G.S.’s playing hide and seek amongst the trees. There was a tan coloured B.G.S., a pine green B.G.S., a raspberry coloured B.G.S., a lilac B.G.S. and a lavender B.G.S. The blue B.G.S. jumped out of Yuko’s arms to join the other five.

“Wow what a find!” gasped Yuko.        

“This makes our task easier” said Kouhei.

Yuko gathered up the B.G.S.’s into her arms and on her shoulders, while Kouhei got out the remote from his backpack and pressed the button. They got teleported back to Prof Largos’s house.

I won’t tell you yet about what happened when Yuko and Kouhei got back Kiki. I want to tell you about what happened to me and the others first.

Shizuyo and Tatsuya ended up at the Besshi copper mine of Niihama, an old mine that produced copper from 1690 to 1973.

“Wow fancy arriving at an old mine” said Tatsuya.

“If Yuko was here she would say it would be like being in an Indiana Jones movie” said Shizuyo.  

“So would Kouhei, he loves those movies” said Tatsuya. He took a good look around the area.

“What are you thinking Tatsuya?” asked Shizuyo.

“Well to be honest;” said Tatsuya “there is a possibility that a B.G.S. is either hiding around this mine, or inside the mine. We better look around here first before going into the mine”.

Shizuyo agreed to Tatsuya’s plan and took out a yellow B.G.S. from her back pack. Then they started to look around the outside area of the mine. The yellow B.G.S. squeaked a lot while in Shizuyo’s arms, hoping another B.G.S. would answer. But there was nothing, not one trace of a B.G.S. around.

“Well then it looks like we will have to go inside the mine” said Tatsuya.

“Wait a minute though,” said Shizuyo, worriedly, “we haven’t got any protection helmets with us. And we can’t just go into an abandoned mine without a helmet, that’s dangerous you know”.

“It may be dangerous but we’ve got no choice here;” said Tatsuya “either we face the danger of going into the mine, or return to Prof Largos’s house without any B.G.S.’s”.

Before Shizuyo said anything the yellow B.G.S. jumped out of Shizuyo’s arms and bounced to the entrance of the mine.

“Ha our friend clearly wants to go into the mine and we should too” said Tatsuya.

Shizuyo saw she was outnumbered and finally agreed to go into the mine. Tatsuya took out his mobile from his back pack to use its light, as the mine was dark inside. Shizuyo took out her mobile for light too and held the yellow B.G.S. in her other arm. Then she and Tatsuya started to walk into the mine.

Tatsuya was impressed with the mine and couldn’t stop admiring it. “This is quite exciting,” he said “kind of makes you wish you got out more in the past hey Shizuyo?”

“Well I could have done if my parents had let me go out” said Shizuyo, reminding Tatsuya of her overprotective parents.

“It’s a shame this mine doesn’t have copper in it anymore” said Tatsuya.

“That’s what happens with mines;” said Shizuyo “you find a mine filled with coal, copper or something else. Then you mine it till there’s nothing left. And once the mine is empty it’s useless. Even if coal or copper mines produce more coal or copper they are still useless now”.

“That is true;” said Tatsuya “the only mines that are valuable now are gold, silver and diamond mines”. 

Shizuyo and Tatsuya continued walking in the mine, but there was still no sign of any B.G.S.’s. “Tatsuya we seem to have been walking for a while and we still haven’t found any B.G.S.’s” said Shizuyo.

“We’ll find some, we just haven’t walked through the whole mine yet” said Tatsuya.

Suddenly Shizuyo stopped walking. “Look over there” she said. She noticed a faint glow coming from down a tunnel.

“Ha looks like we’ve found something at last” said Tatsuya.

Tatsuya and Shizuyo ran towards to where the glow was coming from. Just around a corner, there were three B.G.S.’s jumping around. There was an opal coloured one, a pearl coloured one and a copper coloured one. The yellow B.G.S. jumped out of Shizuyo’s arm and joined the three B.G.S.’s.

“See Shizuyo?” said Tatsuya “I told you we would find them in this mine”.

“Okay, okay you were right,” Shizuyo admitted “but how are we going to get out of this mine without getting lost? We’ve walked a long way in this mine; I fear it’s going to be difficult to find our way out again”.

“Ah no need to worry about that,” said Tatsuya “Prof Largos said his remote control for his teleporter could teleport us back to his lab no matter where we are. Even if we were in a very deep cave or in the deep underground the remote could still teleport us”.

“Really? That’s clever” said Shizuyo.

So Shizuyo and Tatsuya gathered up the four B.G.S.’s, then Tatsuya pressed the button on the remote control and they got back to Prof Largos’s lab.

Now I will tell you about what happened to me and Hiroshi, Kiki. Hiroshi and I ended up at a village called Tsumago in Kiso Valley. I felt like we had been transported to the past like in the 1600’s, because the village was one of those old wooden house built villages.

“This place feels lonely,” said Hiroshi “I wonder why there are people who still live here?”

“Well people do have their own sense of taste of where they want to live,” I said “you get those who like living in a town and city, those who like living in the countryside and village, and there are those who like living near the coats and mountains”.

“Point taken,” said Hiroshi “now the big question is, where or how shall we find the B.G.S’s?”

I took a look of the village and had a think. “Well we could try looking for them in the woods, but it wouldn’t hurt to look for them in the village either” I said.

“Okay so let’s do this then,” said Hiroshi “we’ll look around the village. But we’ll split up so we can cover more grounds”.

I agreed with Hiroshi’s idea so splitting up is what we did. I had the red B.G.S. with me and I carried it around with me while I walked around the village. After walking around the village for about half an hour, I found no trace of any B.G.S.’s. I was afraid there may not be any B.G.S.’s in Tsumago at all.

Just then Hiroshi ran up to me. “Did you find any B.G.S.’s?” I asked him.

“No but I have found a hunch of where there might be some,” said Hiroshi “I overheard some people saying there is a haunted tree in the woods”.

“Haunted tree?” I said “what on earth are you talking about?”

“Well the people said that the tree had been making strange noises, which they thought was just squirrels or birds,” said Hiroshi “but at night time people have seen the tree glow like a lantern”.

“But trees don’t do that” I said.  

“I know, and that’s why I’m suggesting that B.G.S.’s might be in the tree” said Hiroshi.

I agreed with Hiroshi’s suggestion and asked him where the tree was.   

“Well I asked the people and they said it was in the woods outside the village and they said it’s one of the biggest trees in that wood” said Hiroshi.

So Hiroshi and I headed for woods to search for this haunted tree. It took us about half an hour to find the tree we were looking for Kiki because lots of trees in the wood were huge. But then we finally found it. You won’t believe this Kiki but the tree was so tall and big it was like the tree was touching the sky.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a tree this big before” I said.

“Me neither,” said Hiroshi “I think this tree could go up to the heavens if it kept on growing”.

The red B.G.S. started squeaking and some squeaking replied back.

“How do you like that?” said Hiroshi “my idea of the B.G.S.’s being here was right”.

“I wonder how they got themselves in this tree” I said.

“They probably landed on this tree after they fell out of Prof Largos’s spaceship,” said Hiroshi “I can’t imagine the B.G.S.’s climbing up or bouncing up this tree”.

The red B.G.S. squeaked again and the squeaking noises from the tree replied again.

“Do you think the B.G.S.’s are stuck?” I asked Hiroshi.

“I think they might be,” answered Hiroshi “leave this to me Kyoko. I’ll climb up there and get them myself. I’ve climbed up trees loads of times”.

“But you haven’t climbed up trees like this tree before Hiroshi,” I said “you’ll never be able to climb a ginormous tree like this”.

“I can with these” said Hiroshi. He took out a pair of shoes which had spikes on the sides and front from his back pack.

“What are those?” I asked.

“These are special shoes for climbing trees with,” Hiroshi answered “Professor Largos had a feeling we may have to climb trees while looking for the B.G.S.’s here. So he created these shoes with his machine for me. With them I can climb this tree with no trouble at all”.     

I still didn’t like the idea of Hiroshi climbing up the very big tree, but there was no point in arguing to make him change his mind Kiki. Boys are too stubborn. Anyway Hiroshi took off his shoes and placed the spiked shoes on his feet. Then he began to climb the tree. I kept on holding my breath and letting it out again, while Hiroshi climbed and climbed and climbed.

“Have you found any B.G.S.’s yet?!” I called out.

“No not yet!” Hiroshi called back. He went back to climbing, and then he suddenly shouted. “I found them!”

“Are they okay?!” I called out.

“Yes they’re fine, we’re coming down now!” Hiroshi called out.

I prayed for Hiroshi’s safety while he started to climb down the tree. It really frightened me watching Hiroshi do this because he could’ve been seriously hurt or died from climbing up and down the tree. But in the end he got out of the tree safely, to my relief, and he had four B.G.S.’s clinging to him. There was a light-orange one, a hazel-brown one, a maroon-purple one and a magenta one.

“I can’t believe you really climbed up and down this tree without getting hurt” I said.

“Remember what I said, I’ve climbed up and down trees lots and lots of times” said Hiroshi.    

The red B.G.S. started to squeak out and the four B.G.S.’s Hiroshi found joined it. I was happy we found more B.G.S’s.

“Well there doesn’t seem to be any more B.G.S.’s around here, so I think we better get back to Professor Largos’s place” said Hiroshi.

“Good idea, I think we have done enough for one day mainly you Hiroshi” I said.

So Hiroshi got out his remote control from his back pack and pushed the button. Then we got teleported back to the house.

Once we all got back to Professor Largos’s house, we told all of our stories to each other and to Professor Largos and Mr Yashiro.

“Well, well, well, it seems all of you had bits of excitements today” said Mr Yashiro.

“We sure did” said Yuko.

“Well you children go up for a hot bath or shower and we’ll have something to eat afterwards” said Mr Yashiro.

My friends and I were happy to be back at the house because we were tired and hungry after searching for the B.G.S.’s today.

This really was a start of an adventure for my friends and I Kiki, and there’s no doubt there may be more adventures to come.

The B.G.S.'s part 12

2^nd July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today I thought my friends and I were going to start looking for more of the B.G.S.’s but I was wrong. Professor Largos wished to go through with us about what places in Japan he had been to and which places we would be going to such as Niigata, Kyoto, Kobe, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Yamanashi Prefecture, Tokyo and some other places in Japan. He also told us he planned to have the boys, girls and I to divide into pairs for each city; that way we could cover more ground and save time.

“Okay kids,” said Professor Largos “here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll locate the B.G.S.’s on my computer and you kids will go to the places where they are in pairs. Once you kids find a B.G.S. you come back here straight away by pressing the button on the remotes I will give you. I have a dozen spare remotes for the teleportation machine. But you must be careful and keep a hold of the remotes. If they get broken or lost you would have to come back here the normal way by train, car or plane and of course we don’t want to do that because that would be expensive to get here. Are there any questions?”

“I have a question,” I said “what should we do if somebody like a policeman asks us why we are not in school, as it’s not the end of school term yet?”

“Don’t worry about that,” said Mr Yashiro “I have some permit papers permitting you kids to be absent from school because of family emergencies. Be sure not to lose them because I had trouble creating them”. My friends and I promised to be careful. “Now while Largos here continues for get everything ready for our quests tomorrow there is something I would like to discuss with you kids,” said Mr Yashiro “so Largos do you mind if we leave you for a moment?”

“You go ahead” replied Professor Largos.

Mr Yashiro led the boys, the girls and I to a living room and asked us to be seated.

“You must excuse me kids, but there is something I really want to talk to you all about” said Mr Yashiro.

“What is it sir?” I asked nervously.

“Well it’s about all of you,” said Mr Yashiro “I read reports that you kids started attending Kurai Jinsei Boarding school at the age of eight, nine, ten and eleven. Can I ask why you children started attending school at those ages?”

I stared at the others, with the look saying ‘should we tell him?’, and they nodded yes. “Well sir the reason why we attended that school was because we all wanted to get away from our parents” I said.

“I have heard that things aren’t going well between all of you and your families,” said Mr Yashiro “I’ve also heard you kids haven’t gone home to visit your families, not even for the holidays, only once since you attended Kurai Jinsei. Forgive me for prying but can you please tell me what happened?”

My friends and I agreed to tell Mr Yashiro what happened with our parents, and Kiki I will tell you about our pasts now. But I warn you they are long stories.

I will start with my story. In the past I lived with my parents and my grandmother in a city, in an apartment. But my life with my parents felt lonely because both my parents worked. They were always so busy with work they barely spent time with me and they kept making and breaking promises to me. For example when I was in kindergarten I was going to have dinner with my parents and grandmother at a restaurant for my 6^th birthday, but my parents didn’t turn up because they were busy with work. My parents apologized immediately the next day and said we would have a picnic at the weekend to make it up to me, but that never happened because of their work. My parents broke lots of promises to me in the past; whether it was my birthdays or special events like school plays or sports at school, they never kept their promises to come to see me. It made me angry and start to hate my parents. The only person who was there for me was my grandmother. I was always happy when grandma was with me; she was always there for me, she never broke promises to me and she was more motherly to me than my mum ever was. It’s because of my grandma that I started writing in diaries when I was 8; she gave me a diary for my eighth birthday and told me how a diary would be my friend if I wrote in it. So I ended up writing in it, telling the diary about all the times my parents broke promises to me, how I loved my grandma and how I was beginning to hate and distrust my parents. Sadly for me when I was still eight years old my grandma got sick and she passed away. Her death made me feel lonelier than ever because my parents still didn’t spend time with me that much because of their work. One day I finally snapped at my parents.

It happened on the day after my ninth birthday. My parents were apologizing because they failed to spend time with me on my birthday again.

“Kyoko your father and I are sorry we missed your birthday again because of our work,” said my mother “but we do promise that we will make it up to you”.

I was thinking ‘yeah right you will’; my parents never kept their promises of making up to me after breaking another promise.

“Yes please tell us what you want or want to do and we will sort it out for you” said my father.

“Alright I’ll tell you what I want,” I said, sounding upset, “I want to go to a boarding school. All my life you two have always made me feel lonely because none of you could get away from work to be with me, even for one day. With grandma gone I feel lonelier than ever and I hate coming home to an empty house. That’s why I want to go to boarding school; at least there I won’t feel lonely”.

My parents were surprised with what I said and tried to apologize to me for making me feel lonely.

“Quit the apologizing!” I shouted “all I hear from you two is ‘I’m sorry for this or sorry or that’ and you always promise me things but always break them! I am never trusting you two again”. I ran off to my room to cry and didn’t come out of my room nor talk to my parents for the whole day.

My parents tried to apologize to me again and have me reconsider my decision to go to boarding school. But I told them again I couldn’t forgive them and I still wanted to go to boarding school. So a month later I attended the Kurai Jinsei boarding school, which I found better to be than at home.

“So then,” said Mr Yashiro, after I finished my story, “I take it you still haven’t forgiven your parents or given them another chance Kyoko?”

“No I haven’t sir,” I said “because of all the times they left me alone and all the promises they broke to me, I haven’t found the heart to forgive them yet. I also don’t have the heart to see my parents again. That’s why I haven’t gone home to visit my parents ever since I first attended the school, not even once. To be honest with you Mr Yashiro, I was surprised you managed to get permission from my parents for this trip. Getting in touch with my parents was never easy for my teachers in the past while they were at work; it was only my grandmother the teachers could talk to”.

“Well I have to admit it to you Kyoko, I did have trouble getting permission from your parents,” said Mr Yashiro “in fact I had to ask someone from your parent’s workplaces to ask your parents for me. And I managed to get a reply from your mother’s co-worker saying your mother had given me permission”.

I figured it was like that Kiki because it was like that in the past too, especially when my grandma tried to get in touch with my parents while they were at work.

Anyway that’s the end of my story; it’s time for Shizuyo’s story. Shizuyo lived with her family in a house in a town; she has a mother, father, three older brothers and one older sister; so Shizuyo is the youngest in her family. Her life had been difficult for her though; both her parents and siblings treated her like she was a weakling, who couldn’t do anything without being watched and they didn’t trust her with anything she did or said.

“I hated it so much when my family treated me like that,” Shizuyo said to Mr Yashiro “I felt like I was in one of those families where the daughter of the family are considered useless. But my older sister was never treated like that; she’s free to do anything she wants like my brothers are and she gets praised for every achievement she’s received like my brothers have too. But me, my parents always worried about me; even when I won first place at sport days my mother and father would worry over me checking if I was okay and keep on telling me over and over again not to overdo things. They even wouldn’t let me go to school and come back home by myself when I was old enough to; I always had to have one of my brothers or have my sister take me”.

“Hmm that does sound like they are over worrying about you,” said Mr Yashiro “I take it there is a reason for that?”

“There is,” answered Shizuyo “the truth is I was quite weak when I was little; always feeling tired like my energy kept on running out of my body quickly, even walking just a little bit always made me feel tired so quickly. I don’t feel like that now because I felt stronger and better when I started elementary school. Even my teachers at that time saw I wasn’t weak. But even then my parents and siblings kept on fussing over me like I was still a fragile doll or something. And when I was eight, I found out something about myself that I never knew until that day”.

Shizuyo found out the truth on the day she was having a check-up at a doctor’s clinic. She told me that for as long as she could remember she always went to visit the doctors because of how weak she felt in the past. The doctor, who was a woman, named Doctor Toshihime was giving Shizuyo the check-up; she had been Shizuyo’s doctor ever since she was a baby and Shizuyo liked her because she was kind and understanding. Now while Dr Toshihime was giving Shizuyo the check-up she wanted to talk to her alone, so she sent Shizuyo’s mum back to the waiting room. Normally Shizuyo’s mum always wanted to be with Shizuyo during check-up time to be sure everything was fine. But on the day Dr Toshihime managed to convince Shizuyo’s mum that everything was okay and to let her speak to Shizuyo alone.

“Well Shizuyo,” said Dr Toshihime “I can see that you are incredibly healthy and you certainly have grown stronger over the years. Why you can even walk and run without getting tired so quickly”.

“Yes I can,” said Shizuyo “but mum and dad aren’t convinced that I am not weak as I used to be. They still treat me like I am nothing more than a weak little baby. I understand that I was weak when I was little, I do remember that, but I hate it when they go over protective on me when I’m not even weak anymore. It isn’t fair. I’m not sick or anything you know and they won’t even give me a chance to prove that”.

It was then Dr Toshihime sighed and looked at Shizuyo with serious eyes. “Shizuyo there is something that I should tell you, something that your parents should have told you already” she said.

“What do you mean?” asked Shizuyo.

Shizuyo found out from Dr Toshihime that she had been born two months prematurely, which was why she was weak when she was little. Shizuyo was horrified when she heard that because her parents and siblings never told her about it before. Dr Toshihime also explained at that time it looked like Shizuyo was going to die because she was very weak as a baby but by some miracle she survived and lived.

“My goodness,” said Mr Yashiro “I bet that was a shock to you Shizuyo?”

“It was I must admit,” answered Shizuyo “I mean you would think my parents would tell me of this situation when I was old enough to understand. But Dr Toshihime told me they wanted to keep me in the dark because they feared I would end up in a terrible shock and become dangerously ill. Urgh it made me really mad at my parents for never telling me the truth. I mean I am not ill, weak and fragile or anything as you can see. I’ve grown stronger and independent since then and being at the Kurai Jinsei Boarding School makes me feel stronger and more independent”.

“I agree with you Shizuyo,” said Mr Yashiro, “with how healthy and strong you look, it’s hard to believe that you had been born prematurely. So how did you attend Kurai Jinsei Boarding School?”

“It was thanks to Dr Toshihime because not only was she my friend, she had always been on my side” answered Shizuyo.

What happened was not long after Shizuyo had her check-up Dr Toshihime visited her house to speak with her parents. Of course her mother feared the doctor was going to give her some bad news about Shizuyo, but the doctor revealed nothing was wrong. Shizuyo was in the same room with her parents and the doctor because the doctor wanted to speak with Shizuyo too.

“The reason why I am here is because I wish to discuss something with you,” said Dr Toshihime “Shizuyo has been telling me you still keep guard over her like she’s about to collapse am I right?”

“Of course we do,” said Shizuyo’s mother “I don’t think it’s safe yet to not keep an eye on Shizuyo yet. You know how difficult it was for us when she was born. She was kept in the hospital for a few months and not keeping an eye on her was dangerous while she was still very little. Especially when she would collapse from exhaustion and get fevers very easily”.

“I do understand your worry Mrs Sakuma,” said Dr Toshihime “but Shizuyo is eight years old and is no longer the weak little girl she once was. And if you and your husband keep being over protective of her, she won’t be able to achieve anything on her own in life. Not to mention you are not going to be here, to protect her, forever”.

“I was happy that Dr Toshihime was always able to talk sense to my parents,” Shizuyo said to Mr Yashiro “they listened to her more than me. Whenever I tried to get them to listen to me my words just fell on their deaf ears”.

Anyway after Dr Toshihime spoke with Shizuyo’s parents, she showed Shizuyo and her parents a brochure about Kurai Jinsei Boarding School.

“I was thinking it might be a good idea for Shizuyo to attend this school,” said Dr Toshihime “not only would she earn a good education there, she will also become more independent. This school is out in the country so Shizuyo will get plenty of fresh air and there is a hospital in a town that’s near to the school in case there’s an emergency in Shizuyo’s case. So Shizuyo will be well looked after, make many new friends and find out what she wants to do in the future”.

“I agree with your idea,” Shizuyo spoke up “I’m sick of being wrapped in cotton wool by my parents who still see me as the very fragile baby I was when I was born years ago. And I’m sick of living in this house like I’m a prisoner in a prison with guards watching me day and night. Dr Toshihime I want to go to that school; at least I will be given a chance to live freely there”.

It wasn’t easy for Dr Toshihime to convince Shizuyo’s parents to let her go to Kurai Jinsei Boarding School because of their worry. But thanks to Dr Toshihime’s persuasion and a show-round from the school, the parents finally agreed to let her attend the boarding school, as long as Shizuyo promised to be checked on now and again by the school nurse.

“I take it you are happy at the Kurai Jinsei boarding school Shizuyo?” asked Mr Yashiro, after Shizuyo finished her story.

“Yes I am,” answered Shizuyo “because I was finally able to live freely without my parents’ worry over me, try out new things without my parents’ interference and not feel like a prisoner ever again. I still have to be checked over by the school nurse once a week to see if I’m still healthy and well, but at least here I don’t have my mum hovering over me as if something bad is going to happen to me”.

“I have to say,” said Mr Yashiro “when I phoned your mother to ask for her permission I did hear a lot of worrying from her. But I told her you would only be doing light work and there was a doctor near my friend’s farm, so I was given your mother’s permission in the end”.

“I thank you for that” smiled Shizuyo.

“So I take it you haven’t gone home to visit your family for holidays since then?” asked Mr Yashiro.

“No because I know what will happen; it will be just like it was before, my parents worrying over everything about me and keep guard over me during the whole holidays,” said Shizuyo “I want to enjoy my freedom a bit more. Not to mention I’m still cross with how my family treated me in the past. That’s why I haven’t forgiven them nor gone home to visit them once”.

“I see” said Mr Yashiro, who understood the situation.

Now it’s time I told you Yuko’s story Kiki. Yuko used to live with her parents in a small house in a town. But that changed when her parents got divorced. I’ll start at the beginning. At first Yuko’s life with her parents was happy; you know a normal, happy family life, but when Yuko was five years old everything changed. At that time Yuko’s parents’ marriage started to fall apart; they had frequent arguments everyday over everything. For example if the dad’s dinner was not how he liked it he would shout to the mum about it, and of course the mum would argue back that he should do his own dinner if her cooking isn’t to his liking. Another example if the mum was out shopping for hours, the dad would get mad at her for being late and of course that made the mum mad at him and she shouted back.

“Those times were the most horrible times of my life,” said Yuko “it was awful when I heard them yell and fight at each other. There were even some times when I heard my mum toss things at my dad in anger. I always hid myself outside the house where I wouldn’t hear them fight”.

“It’s never easy for a child with parents who don’t get along so well,” said Mr Yashiro “I know because I’ve met many children with parents like that before. I’ve heard that your parents are now divorced Yuko, when was it that your parents divorced?”

“It happened when I was eight,” answered Yuko “my mum and dad were having one of their usual fights and then my mum finally shouted out that she wanted a divorce and my dad agreed to that. Even though I wasn’t happy about it, I wasn’t against it or anything because I was fed up with all their arguing”.

“I understand,” said Mr Yashiro “so was it your mum’s or dad’s decision to go to a boarding school?”

“Actually it was a judge’s decision” answered Yuko.

You see Kiki Yuko’s parents had their divorce at a family court with a judge.

“While the divorce was going through my mum and I were staying at one of my mum’s friend’s house,” said Yuko “at first it felt nice that I wouldn’t have to hear my parent’s argue while they were separated from each other. But even when I was only with my mum I couldn’t stop thinking about all those times when she and my dad fought. Not to mention in my dreams at night I could hear them arguing and things like that”.

“It seems to me you were starting to feel depression because you couldn’t forget about your parents fall out and because they were divorcing” said Mr Yashiro.

“That’s exactly what happened,” said Yuko “and I also felt like I wanted to get away from both my mum and dad, you know so I could try to forget about them and their fall outs”.

“I understand that too” said Mr Yashiro.

Because Yuko was feeling depressed at the time of her parents’ divorce Kiki, she didn’t know what she should do because she knew she would be in her mum’s custody and only visit her dad on some days. It was only on the day of the divorce that Yuko decided what to do; she decided to talk to the judge. You may not believe this Kiki but Yuko told me that she felt like the judge was the only person she wanted to tell her feelings to on that day.

Truthfully children of divorcing parents never really attend the courts or other offices where they divorce. But Yuko went to the court with her mum because her mum’s friend wasn’t able to look after Yuko that day. To Yuko this was her chance to speak to the judge. As soon as Yuko and her mum arrived at court, Yuko gathered up her courage and asked an employee of the court if she could talk to the judge, without her mum knowing about her wish. The employee was surprised to hear Yuko wishing to talk to the judge, but Yuko pleaded with him to let her speak to him. So the employee went around asking if it was possible for Yuko to speak to the judge.

“Did you get permission to talk to the judge Yuko?” asked Mr Yashiro.

“Yes, the employee came back to me quite soon and told me the judge would see me,” answered Yuko “of course my mum was surprised the judge was going to see me because she didn’t know I wanted to see him. She wanted to come into the judge’s office with me but I quickly said I wanted to see and talk to him alone. So I was led to the judge’s office without my mum. The judge was a stern looking man, but he was the type who would listen to what anybody had to say. I gathered up my courage again and told him about how upset I was because of my parent’s fall outs and my decision of not wanting to stay with any of my parents because of that. The judge listened to every word I said with a stern and sympathetic look. He also said that he would see what to do about me”.

“You were very brave indeed to speak to the judge Yuko,” said Mr Yashiro “it’s always good to speak out to someone when something is bothering you. So what happened after you spoke to the judge?”

“Well my mum’s and dad’s divorce finally became official after a lot of talking and after they signed a divorce paper,” said Yuko “I wasn’t with them at that time, but I learnt what happened from a court clerk. The judge told my parents about what I said to him, which made them surprised because they never knew how I felt at all. It didn’t surprise me really because my parents never understood about me at that time; when they argued they completely forgot I was there. Because of that the judge declared I should go to boarding school to recover, which I agreed to at once because as I said I wanted to get away from my parents. Thanks to the judge’s secretary the judge found out about Kurai Jinsei boarding school and declared I went there. Of course my mum tried to apologize to me and wanted me to stay with her, but I told her that her apology was not accepted and I was going to boarding school. So in the end my parents divorced and I was sent to the Kurai Jinsei Boarding School”.

“Have you spoken with any of your parents since then?” Mr Yashiro asked Yuko after she finished her story.

“No I haven’t,” answered Yuko “because even now when I think about my parents the bitter memories come flooding back to me. Not to mention I can still hear their shouting in my mind, so I still haven’t fully recovered from those times yet. Going home and seeing either my mum or dad again is something I still don’t feel like doing yet”.

Mr Yashiro understood and decided not to ask Shizuyo, Yuko and I anymore questions. Now I am going to tell you about the boy’s pasts Kiki. I’m warning you though, their stories are worse than mine, Shizuyo’s and Yuko’s.

Hiroshi lived with his parents and two younger sisters before, but his life was not happy. You won’t believe this Kiki but his mother didn’t love him. She only loved her two daughters. I’ll tell you the reason why in a minute Kiki. Mr Yashiro couldn’t believe it when Hiroshi told him that, which I’m sure you don’t believe either Kiki.

“My mother never cared for me during my life,” said Hiroshi “she never looked at me in the eye, never smiled at me and I have no memories of ever being held or hugged by her. Back then it was like I had done something terrible to make her hate me like that”.

“Did your father know about this?” asked Mr Yashiro.

“I think he did,” answered Hiroshi “because my dad always spent days with me when he wasn’t at work. He would also take me to parks and other places. Really he would do anything to make me happy I suppose. But he didn’t really do anything about my mum’s negligence; he just let her do whatever she was doing, like pretending to be blind to her actions”.

“That’s horrible,” said Mr Yashiro “and it wasn’t like that for your sisters?”

“Nope, they got all of mum’s love, attention and praise whereas I didn’t” said Hiroshi, a little sadly.

Here comes the worst part Kiki. One night when Hiroshi just turned eleven he found out the reason why his mother hated him. That night he heard his father shouting to his mother about her neglecting Hiroshi more than ever. During the argument Hiroshi’s father blurted out the reason why she hated Hiroshi was because she never wanted sons.

“That’s no excuse,” said Mr Yashiro, interrupting the story, “just because she didn’t want any sons, does not mean she should hate and neglect you Hiroshi”.

“I couldn’t believe it either,” said Hiroshi “I always thought it was because I was a bad boy to her. But hearing it was because I wasn’t wanted broke my heart completely”.

Here comes another worst part Kiki so brace yourself. Finding out the truth of his mother’s despise hurt Hiroshi so much it made him believe he shouldn’t live anymore.

“I know they say killing yourself is a sin,” said Hiroshi “but I was so hurt I couldn’t help but feel I shouldn’t live anymore”.

“You were just in shock and depressed of knowing the truth that’s all, and you are just a kid so you would feel like that” said Mr Yashiro.

“Three days after that night I learnt the truth, I went to the park where a big lake was,” said Hiroshi “I decided to end my life by drowning in the lake. I looked at the sky, praying to the heavens to forgive me and let me into heaven so I could be reborn into a family who would love me. Then I walked into the lake to make myself drown. What I didn’t know was a policeman was passing by on his bicycle and he saw me walk into the lake. I only knew that when he ran after me and got me out of the water. I struggled in the policeman’s arms and shouted ‘no let me go I want to die!’ But of course the policeman kept on holding me and telling me to calm down. After that he called for backup so he could take me to the police station and find out why I tried to drown myself”.

At the police station Hiroshi told the policeman everything about his mum’s hate and negligence towards him and told them why she hated him. He also told them about his dad failing to do anything about her. The policeman was cross from hearing that and decided to do something about it now. He asked Hiroshi where his dad worked and Hiroshi told him, and the policeman was on the phone to Hiroshi’s dad at once.

It wasn’t long till Hiroshi’s father entered the police station in a panic; he had heard about Hiroshi’s attempted suicide. He was cross and upset with what Hiroshi tried to do but he was happy that he was okay and pulled him into a hug. The policeman spoke severely to Hiroshi’s dad about his wife’s negligence towards Hiroshi and that he doesn’t do anything about it. Hiroshi’s dad sadly confessed that he always knew, ever since he married his wife, she didn’t want to have any sons. But he believed that she would have changed her mind once they did have a son, but of course when Hiroshi was born she didn’t change her mind.

“I don’t really know what to do,” said Hiroshi’s dad “I mean I hate how my wife treats our son, but I still love her and believe that she will come to her senses soon”.

“Oh really Mr Masui?” said the policeman, crossly, “then tell me this. What are you going to do if your wife continues to hate her son for the rest of her life? And what will you do if your wife gives birth to another son, and she treats him the same way she treats Hiroshi?” Hiroshi’s dad flinched and stayed silent. “Mr Masui,” said the policeman “you leave me no choice; I’m calling the child social authorities to see what they have to say about this, for the sake of your son’s happiness and future”.

So in the end Kiki the social authorities visited Hiroshi’s parents after hearing what the policeman told them. Of course the mother showed no remorse on her actions and showed how she only cared about her daughters. The authorities declared that Hiroshi would be sent to boarding school and the parents would not be allowed to see Hiroshi until Hiroshi said he wanted to see them again.

“So I transferred to the Kurai Jinsei Boarding school,” said Hiroshi “and before you ask Mr Yashiro no I have not contacted nor seen my family since then. I still hate my mum for how she treated me and I still don’t want to see my dad because he never tried to do anything about mum”.

“You really had a difficult time there Hiroshi,” said Mr Yashiro “and I’m glad the policeman was there to stop you from committing suicide. If you died you would never have met your five friends here”.

“It is true;” Hiroshi admitted “once I befriended Tatsuya and Kouhei I started to perk up and become happy again. And of course meeting Kyoko, Shizuyo and Yuko made it better”.

I’m certainly happy that Hiroshi is still here Kiki; I told you before I like him a lot.

Now I will tell you Tatsuya’s story. He lived with his mother and father in a house, but his life was very unfair. Tatsuya’s father was a C.E.O. of a company therefore he was very demanding and always expected too much out of people. It was the same on his wife and son. For example he expects his wife to always arrange his clothes to be ready in the morning before he goes to work, and always have dinner ready on the table for him when he gets back from work and never does anything himself. As for Hiroshi; his dad made him study all the time and not let him have any time to play and spend time with friends.

“That sounds like your father is one of those high demanding lords from the Meiji era;” said Mr Yashiro “wanting the whole family to always be perfect and not wanting them to have fun in case it disgraced the family name”.

“That’s exactly what he’s like,” said Tatsuya “and what’s even worse is that every time I found something that makes me happy, my dad would make a judge of it and then take it away from me like it’s a bad thing for me. As for my mum, well she loves me of course and I love her. But she always take’s my dad’s side. Back when I was starting to learn to read and write my dad made me practice reading and writing for hours nonstop. Of course I hated it and told my mum that but she just told me to do as my dad said and concentrate on learning to read and write. And another time, my mum got me some video games for my birthday to play with. But dad told her to take them back at once; to him video games are a waste of time and a distraction to my school work. I begged mum not to do that but she just said whatever dad says we do, and she took back the games”.

“Sounds to me your mother is the type of woman who can’t stand up to anybody, not even her own husband, like a real pushover” said Mr Yashiro.

“That’s exactly what she’s like,” said Tatsuya “I mean mum worked hard to keep him happy, but nothing she did satisfied him. And she just kept being the good obedient wife, and never stood up to him once no matter how unfair he treated her or me. The only time I ever became happy was when I was eight. At that time I made a friend with this boy named Riki who loved to play football. He was so full of spirit and I ended up bonding with him because not only did he teach me to play football, he also taught me how to have a good time with my life. But my dad didn’t like me spending time with Riki; he thought Riki was a bad influence on me and would put me off from my studies. Urgh it was the same when I made other friends around that time too. I felt like my dad didn’t want me to have friends at all”.

One summer day when Tatsuya was eleven he decided to rebel against his father’s orders for once. That time Riki and his family were going to move to live in another town, which of course made Tatsuya upset. But Riki asked Tatsuya if he wanted to spend the whole weekend with him playing football together for the last time. Tatsuya accepted at once because there was no way he was going to miss the chances of playing with his friend for the last time. The only problem was his father was never going to allow it, which is why Tatsuya made a plan.

“That Saturday I told my parents I was going to spend the day studying at the library,” said Tatsuya “of course that was a lie, but there was no way I was going to tell them, especially my dad, that I was going to play with Riki all day because they would never agree to that. My dad accepted that right away and told me to study hard while mum just told me to be careful. Then I left the house to secretly play with Riki. Playing with Riki that day was one of my best days ever; finally a whole day of laughing and playing and no studying so hard”.

“I understand that,” said Mr Yashiro “I like having a whole day to myself too without having to work and things. But what did you do about Sunday? The libraries are closed on Sundays”.

“Ah I asked my mum on that day if I could go and see Riki because he was going to move on Monday, and she agreed,” said Tatsuya “so I spent the Sunday at Riki’s house, having a good time and all. I even said my goodbyes to him and gave him a goodbye gift; a brand new football. It did make me sad because Riki was moving, but we promised to keep in contact with phone calls and letters of course. So I didn’t stay sad for long”.

Here comes the worst part of Tatsuya’s story Kiki. When Tatsuya got home after spending the last day with Riki, his father was there waiting for him and he was very cross. He had found out that Tatsuya lied about going to the library on Saturday and found about him spending two days with Riki and no studying. It made him so cross that he hit Tatsuya for lying and disobeying him. He even grounded him for the rest of the summer as well as not let him play with his friends for the rest of the summer.

“That was when I got cross with my dad,” said Tatsuya “I pushed him onto the floor, shouted I hated him and then went off to my room to have a tantrum. Later that evening my mum came into my room to check on me. I complained to her nonstop of how unfair it was of the way dad treated me and not let me be happy. I also complained about how I hated him for trying to make me a robot of studying”.

“How did your mum respond?” asked Mr Yashiro.

“At first she was silent,” said Tatsuya “but then she revealed to me that my dad decided to send me to boarding school. I told her that was fine with me; at least that way my dad wouldn’t control me there. Once summer was over I was sent to the Kurai Jinsei Boarding School immediately. I was glad I was going there because I had finally gained my freedom of my dad’s strictness and control. So I no longer had to live like a robot of studying”.

“I take it you’ve never gone home for holidays because of your father Tatsuya?” asked Mr Yashiro.

“You’re right about that;” answered Tatsuya “I mean if I ever stepped one foot in that house it would be my father demanding me to study all over the holiday. I so don’t want to go back to that again”. Mr Yashiro understood.    

I will now tell you Kouhei’s story, but I warn you Kiki his life was really unfair. Kouhei’s dad was an alcoholic and whenever he was upset with something he turned violent on his own wife and son. Kouhei’s mum got abused by him the most while Kouhei hid away in his room so he wouldn’t see or hear anything.

“Having an alcoholic and abusive parent is a worse thing to ever have,” said Mr Yashiro “did your dad ever hit you Kouhei?”

“Well what I ever got really was my dad throwing things at me like bottles and cans, which gave me cuts and bruises,” answered Kouhei “only my mum got the physical abuse like slaps, punches and kicks”.

Mr Yashiro didn’t like the sound of this story one bit, which I’m sure you don’t either Kiki.

“Did your mother ever ask for a divorce?” asked Mr Yashiro.       

“No,” answered Kouhei “you won’t believe this but despite the abuse my mum still remained faithful to my dad. She once told me that my dad used to be a kind man before and after I was born. And she hoped that he would go back to be kind and loving again, which is why she didn’t want to leave him”.

“That is a stupid way of thinking, not to mention dangerous,” said Mr Yashiro “once a person becomes violent and abusive, it’s impossible for them to stop being like that. That’s why it’s best to get away from people like that as soon as possible”.

“My mum’s friends, who knew about the abuse, said the same thing to my mum and told her again and again to leave him, but my mum wouldn’t have it” said Mr Yashiro.

One day though Kouhei got into a predicament with his dad when he was ten. He came home from school, finding neither his mum nor dad home yet. So the house was quiet for now. While the house was quiet, Kouhei took a bath and did his homework. But then he heard somebody coming to the house and he went to see who it was. Unfortunately it was his dad.

“I called out to him from the top of the stairs to say welcome back,” said Kouhei “but to my mistake my dad was in one of his moods again. He yelled at me from downstairs, asking where mum was. I told him she was probably out shopping, but he started accusing me of lying to him”.

“That’s one of the problems with alcoholic people, they’re not very good listeners and believers” said Mr Yashiro.

“Yes well I told him again I didn’t know, but he still didn’t believe me,” said Kouhei “then he came stomping up the stairs, grabbed me by my clothes, and asked me again where mum was. At that moment I started to get scared he would hit me like he hits mum, so I pushed him to make him let me go. But when I pushed him he fell down the stairs and became unconscious. After seeing what had happened I quickly ran down the stairs to see if my dad was okay, but he didn’t respond to me. So I quickly got to a phone and dialled 119 for an ambulance”.

It wasn’t long till an ambulance came and took Kouhei and his dad to the hospital. While at the hospital Kouhei told the doctor about what had happened.

“I can tell this wasn’t your fault Kouhei,” said the doctor “I have been told before about your father’s abuse, so don’t you worry”.

“My mum soon came to the hospital and the doctor told her what happened,” said Kouhei “it made her feel ashamed for not getting home before dad did and having to leave me to deal with dad alone. The doctor had a long talk about my dad and his abusive ways to mum and declared it was time that my dad was arrested for his abuse”.

“Forgive me for saying this Mrs Takayama but if you let that man continue his ways, you and your son may end up killed by him,” said the doctor “I have seen many people who have died at the hands of an abusive person”.

“Hearing the word killed made my mum finally agreed that my dad was too much of a dangerous man to stay with,” said Kouhei “and so she phoned the police and told them everything about my dad’s abuse. As soon as my dad recovered from the accident he was arrested immediately, which was fine with me because I didn’t want to see him ever again. When my dad got arrested and sent to prison, I thought my mum and I could finally live happy together without that man around. But I was wrong because not long after my dad’s arrest, my mother suddenly sent me away to the Kurai Jinsei Boarding School”.

What happened was Kiki; Kouhei’s mother fell into depression because of all that happened with her husband. And it made her take up drinking like her husband.

“Ah I see what had happened there Kouhei;” said Mr Yashiro “she sent you to the boarding school because she feared she would end up hurting you the same way your father did”.

“Yeah but I wasn’t happy when she did that;” said Kouhei “she made the whole decision without even telling me. She didn’t even give me a hug or a kiss goodbye when a car came to take me to the boarding school. Because of that I have refused to contact her or go home and see her once in a while. As of now I still cannot forgive her for abandoning me just like that”.

In my opinion Kiki it was good Kouhei did come to the Kurai Jinsei Boarding School because he was safe from having to live with his depressed mother. I have heard stories about people living with relatives who are depressed; and nothing good comes with staying with people like that, just like it isn’t good to stay with abusive people. And another good thing about Kouhei having been sent to the school was that he met new friends to make him happy again and forget about his parents.              

After my friends and I finished telling our stories to Mr Yashiro he sighed and looked at us with pity. “It all makes perfect sense now why you kids have stayed at the boarding school for six years or so and not gone home once” he said. He also had a look on his face saying ‘something has to be done about this’.

“There is something else we also need to tell you sir,” said Hiroshi “Tatsuya, Kouhei and I are still living troubled lives at the school. Because I attempted suicide, Tatsuya rebelled against his dad and Kouhei pushed his dad on some stairs by accident, we are still treated like we are problematic children that will do something bad again in a minute”.

“Say no more Hiroshi,” said Mr Yashiro “I have heard about how you boys are always under suspicion, especially by that gym teacher Mr Kisaragi; I also heard about that incident with him and the police two years ago. When I next phone the school I’ll have a talk with him about that”.

For some reason Kiki I felt better after my friends and I told Mr Yashiro our stories; it felt like having a father around to share my problems. I haven’t spoken to my dad for a long time so I’ve forgotten what it felt like to talk to a dad you know. Now you know the stories behind me and my friends Kiki. I told you they were long stories.