The B.G.S.'s part 19

 

26^th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today it was Yuko and Kouhei’s turn again to look for the B.G.S.’s. I got the story from them when they returned. They went to Kamogawa City of Chiba Prefecture and they ended up in a big forest.

You may not believe this Kiki but that forest used to be part of a town called Amatsukominato. But that town merged with Kamogawa City in 2005 and I am not kidding about that. Anyway back to what I was saying.   

“Wow this is a nice forest” said Yuko, looking all around the forest.

“No doubt the B.G.S.’s are hiding in bushes and trees” said Kouhei. Yuko agreed.

Kouhei turned out to be right Kiki, because once the blue B.G.S. started squeaking many other B.G.S.’s came out of hiding in trees and bushes. Twenty in total in so many different colours I don’t know.

“You see I told you they would be hiding in trees and bushes” said Kouhei.

“Wow I can’t believe we’ve found this many B.G.S.’s” said Yuko, in surprise.

 “Professor Largos will be happy with this find of ours,” said Kouhei “we better go now”.

Kouhei was about to press the button on his remote, but then Yuko stopped him. “Hey what’s that?” she said. She pointed to some smoke rising into the air. “That wouldn’t be a forest fire could it?”

“I don’t know,” said Kouhei “but we better go and look just in case it is a forest fire”.

Yuko and Kouhei followed the smoke, but it turned out they didn’t need to worry. The smoke was from a camp fire and a ragged looking man was stirring some soup in an old looking pot.

“Oh hello there” said the man.

“Uh hello,” said Yuko “uh pardon us for disturbing you sir. We saw the smoke from your fire and we thought it might have been a forest fire”.

“Oh it’s okay, I’m only cooking a soup of wild edible plants,” said the man “would you youngsters like some?”

“No thank you sir,” said Kouhei, politely, “we’re just about to go home”.

Just then the man started to go into a fit of coughing.

“Are you alright sir?” asked Kouhei, going over to him.

“Don’t bother about me boy,” said the man “I’m going to be dying soon anyway”. He showed Yuko and Kouhei some blood that got onto his hand, from his mouth.

“You should be in a hospital!” gasped Yuko. She was about to get her cell phone out of her pocket, but the man stopped her.

“Don’t bother,” said the man “I don’t have the money for the hospital, and dying out here in a wood is my own punishment for what I did in the past”.

“What do you mean?” asked Yuko.

Yuko feared the man was an ex-convict and was living alone in the forest to atone for his past crimes. The truth is Kiki, Yuko and Kouhei noticed that the man was living in a house made from bamboo. And he was growing edible wild plants and vegetables in the forest. This meant he was a homeless hermit.

“The truth is I failed to protect my own children from my wife” sighed the man.

The man’s name was Yuuhei Kikuchi and he told his story to Yuko and Kouhei. In the past Mr Kikuchi had a wife and had a son and daughter. But his wife was abusive.

“My wife Michiyo was ill and it made her insane,” said Mr Kikuchi “it first happened when our son Kaito was born. She ended up with child birth depression and when our daughter Kayo was born it got worse. At first Michiyo neglected the children, but not long after Kaito turned eight her behaviour got worse”.

Kouhei understood where this was going so he interrupted Mr Kikuchi. “Let me guess;” he said “your wife began to abuse Kaito and Kayo, and she hit them hard whenever she got upset and angry. Am I right? I know this because my father was abusive towards me too”.

Mr Kikuchi flinched after hearing that and sighed. “I hate to admit this but you are right son, my wife did abuse our children,” he said “whenever they caused an accident like spilling things on the floor or broken things by accident, she would slap them on the faces hard. And when they had done some that was wrong she would beat them hard as if they caused the end of the world”.

Kouhei wasn’t happy to hear that because it was the same with his dad. “And where were you when all of that happened?” he asked Mr Kikuchi.

“I did always make my wife stop and try to get her to come down, and told my children to quickly go to their rooms till it was safe,” said Mr Kikuchi “you see I never left my children alone with my wife because I understood how dangerous that was”.

“If you did understand that sir,” interrupted Yuko “then why didn’t you have your wife sent to a mental hospital at that time?”

“Because I loved Michiyo,” answered Mr Kikuchi “I loved the kind, loving and patient woman she was before. And I hoped she would go back to who she was before”.

“Do excuse me sir,” said Kouhei “but that was wrong of you to believe your wife would go back to being kind. My mum believed my dad would go back to his kind self too but he never did”.

Mr Kikuchi sighed again. “You’re right I was wrong,” he said “but I didn’t want to admit it back then. That foolishness of mine nearly cost me my children’s lives”.

He explained that one day, when Kaito was eleven and Kayo was eight, he was driving home from work. At that time Kaito and Kayo were alone with their mum because he had to stay a little bit late at work. He thought the children would be okay, but when he got home things were not okay. There were police and an ambulance at his house; his wife was arrested and Kaito and Kayo were being taken by the ambulance.

“I was told by some neighbours, who called the police and ambulance, that Michiyo beat Kaito and Kayo during a fit of rage;” said Mr Kikuchi “they heard her shouting and my children’s screaming and crying”.

“Your wife didn’t kill Kaito and Kayo did she?” Yuko asked, worriedly.

“No Kaito and Kayo were okay, but they were badly hurt,” answered Mr Kikuchi “seeing my children hurt like that made me angry and upset at myself for leaving my children alone with my wife. For once I drummed up my courage and told the police everything about my wife. I know I should have done that years ago, and that incident made me realize that”.

“What happened when your wife got arrested?” asked Kouhei.

“She got sentenced to a mental institution and Kayo and Kaito were taken away from me from social services” answered Mr Kikuchi.

Yuko and Kouhei felt a bit sorry for Mr Kikuchi. “Did you ever see Kaito or Kayo again after that?” asked Yuko.

“I did once a few weeks after they were taken from me,” answered Mr Kikuchi “I visited the foster home Kaito and Kayo were staying with. But they weren’t happy to see me, especially Kaito. Kaito was angry at me for leaving him and Kayo alone with their mum the day she nearly beat them to death. Even Kayo was upset seeing me; she yelled ‘no I don’t want to see mum again’. So I wasn’t welcomed by Kaito or Kayo”.

“Ah I see;” said Kouhei, understanding their feelings, “that means they couldn’t forgive you for stopping their mum and not being there when they needed you”.

“That’s exactly what happened,” said Mr Kikuchi “and it made me feel more and more ashamed of myself than ever. Time and time again I got reports of how Kaito and Kayo were happy with their new foster parents because of how kind, loving and supportive they were. I met them again a few months after the first visit, but they were still not happy to see me because they couldn’t forgive or forget about what happened with their mother. After that visit I couldn’t bring myself to show my face to my children ever again because of my foolishness of not protecting them from Michiyo properly. So I sold my house in the city and made myself disappear to this forest where I have lived ever since; that was twenty years ago. Even now I’m still too ashamed to face my children again because of how they hated me back then”.

“What about your wife?” asked Kouhei “what is she doing now?”

“She passed away ten years ago from an illness” answered Mr Kikuchi.

Yuko and Kouhei didn’t know what to say about all that.

“Um how did you know how to survive in a forest like this?” asked Yuko.

“Ah I learnt about wilderness survival when I was a boy from my parents and grandparents, especially from my grandma who knew a lot about what wild plants you can eat” said Mr Kikuchi. Just then he coughed up a bit of blood again. “Oh dear looks like it won’t be long now till death comes for me” he sighed. He pointed to a hole he recently dug up with a roof made out of branches and sticks. “I’ve dug up my own grave you see so I will die in this forest. Hopefully heaven will forgive me for my foolishness and I hope Kaito and Kayo will forgive me when they join me in heaven someday”.

Mr Kikuchi presented an old envelope from his old coat pocket and gave it to Yuko. “I have a letter in there to send to Kaito and Kayo;” he said “I’ve been saving that for when I day. Now I am sick and close to death so now the time has come to send it to them. The address on that envelope is to the foster family Kaito and Kayo lived with. Kaito and Kayo are probably not there anymore, but could I ask you youngsters to deliver my letter for me?”

“Of course sir, we’ll send it as soon as we get back home” said Yuko.

Yuko and Kouhei said goodbye to Mr Kikuchi and left his campsite. Next Kouhei took out the remote from his bag and pressed the button. Once they returned to Professor Largos’s house, they told us about Mr Kikuchi.

“Well let’s hope heaven will accept Mr Kikuchi once he dies” said Hiroshi.

“I’m sure heaven would,” I said “I mean I know he was a coward against his wife, but he wasn’t the one doing the abusing. And he never did anything really bad so I’m sure he’ll go to heaven. It’s only his wife who’s in hell because of her insanity”.

“Um Professor Largos do you think you can find out where Kaito or Kayo live please?” asked Yuko “I want this letter to get to one of them”.

Yuko felt sorry for Mr Kikuchi Kiki and she wanted his children to get his letter. Thanks to Professor Largos’s computers we found out Kaito and Kayo still lived in Kamogawa City, but they lived in different apartments away from their foster home of course now as they were adults now. Yuko made a note of Kaito’s address and sent Mr Kikuchi’s letter to him.

“Do you think Kaito and Kayo will accept this letter?” asked Yuko.

“I don’t know,” said Kouhei “the real question is will they forgive him by now?” Kouhei’s question was a good question indeed.

So Kiki I was right; Kouhei did meet a man whose past was similar to his. I can’t help but think Kiki. As all my friends and I have met people with stories similar to ours, well I can’t help but wonder if there is a meaning to all of this. I mean, was it fate for us to meet Mr Kenzou, Captain Touma, Ms Hana, Mr Ryuji, Mrs Koide and Mr Kikuchi? Is it trying to tell us something? I don’t know Kiki, I really don’t know.