Episode 29: The Consequence of Failure

Having made it back to the sub and safely returned to the city, the small group of Agent, Ouendan and Diva wasted no time in flagging down the nearest hospital they could afford. Emergency doctors and nurses threw Foxx, Chieftain, and Hajime onto stretchers and carted them off into separate rooms, Foxx going to one room to cool her fever, Chieftain into another room to suture and dress his wound, and Hajime into a third room to examine for burns associated to the duration of his time trapped in the tar pit.

Missy and Starr watch from a window outside the room as the doctors pull Foxx's red chaps and black boots off before lowering her into a tub of ice and water. The silver haired Diva screams at the freezing cold temperature, blindly trying to fight off the helping hands only to have them increase. Missy trembles as she turns and covers her eyes from the event while Starr continues to watch, trying hard to stay strong for her friend and partner.


"So Chieftain actually saved you back on that island?" Derek asked a few hours after Hajime was submitted to a bed deep in the hospital room. The tar had been removed, revealing some mildly red marks along his face and arms. He had to wear a hospital gown while his uniform is cleaned of the remaining tar.

"Yeah..." Hajime said, pushing his glasses back a bit, "He claims it's out of debt, but I can tell he did more than just pay me back for trying to help him."

"Ryu said you had Twirl's badge earlier," Morris said, "Is it still with you?" Hajime looks over to him before sighing in remorse and looking down at the white covers surrounding his lower body.

"I did... But it got lost in the tar pit," he began rubbing his reddened arm, "I tried to get it back, but wound up with these burns instead."

"So the remains of our most iconic friends have completely faded from this world," Derek sighs in disappointment, "Look's like reminisce is the only thing that's gonna keep us going for as long as we remain in this business."

"I'm not worried," Morris said," Just 'cause we lost a few outstanding people doesn't mean we have to turn in our mics and look for a different career."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Derek said with a cocky smirk, "We'll just hafta try harder to show the world what we're made of."

"Say," Morris began as he looks around the room, "Where'd Ryu go? I know Mr. Doumeki left to inform your family you won't be home 'til tomorrow morning, but I haven't seen where he ran off to."

"He said he was going to pay someone a visit," Hajime said, sighing a bit in remorse, "At least this one is more formal then the last."

"Last?" Derek asks, "Wha'chu mean by that?"

"It's...hard to explain right now..."

The two back-ups blink before looking to each other in curiosity.


Jago wanders down the streets of Brooklyn early the next morning with Saito close behind him, glancing around at the stores lining up the sidewalks.

"I can't wait until Aniki comes home!" he says excitedly, "I wanna hear everything that happened on the island since the storm!" Saito continues to follow after Jago, saying nothing and not looking too excited about the visit, before stopping and looking across the street. Jago glances to him, then follows his gaze to find Morris sneaking out of a "Build a Bear" workshop, holding a large, almost sloppily stitched teddy bear in his arms, "Hey! It's that Agent we saw at the hotel in Las Vegas! What do you think he's doing with that raggy old bear?"

Morris lugs the bear over to the red convertible and fiddles with a large ring of keys before hearing a voice chime behind him.

"Hi, Mr. Agent!"

He turns his head to see Jago and Saito standing behind him with their hands behind their backs.

"Oh, hey," he says, almost hesitant as he turns to face Jago, "You're Haji's brother, right? You 'n' Saito gonna go visit him?"

"Yep!" Jago said, "He suppose to be release today, so Atsushi-san and I want visit him, and maybe go to breakfast at Italian Restaurant!" He then turns his attention to the teddy bear in Morris' arms, "You make that yourself?"

Morris chuckles nervously, "Yeah. Would've been better, but I was pressed for time, so I had to finish it as fast as possible."

Saito gaits up to the teddy bear and pokes it with his finger, causing the stitches to come loose and send cotton raining onto the ground in front of them. The two freak out as Morris stares at the fabric in annoyance.

"Ah-no!" he groans, "I could've sworn I fastened the stitches tightly!"

"We sorry, Mr. Agent!" Jago yelps, "We buy you new one!"

"No time!" Morris complains as he grabs Jago and Saito's arms, "Quick! In the car!" he shoves them into the car and rushes to the driver's seat, turning the engine and driving off down the street towards the hospital.


Chietain grunts as he opens his eyes and glances around the white room the doctors moved him to last night. The first sight is a woman, exactly Ryuta's age, laying in another bed in front of him, her blackish-blue hair spilled around the mat and pillows. He grits his teeth in annoyance and regret.

"She cries herself to sleep every night," said a voice beside him. Chieftain turns his head to see a young, dark skinned girl sitting in another bed at the other end of the room. She had chocolate brown dreadlocks tied back in a loose ponytail, and her blue eyes appeared to be glazed, "Her brother slept by her side all night. He has such a soft snore."

"How did...?" Chieftain mutters in confusion.

"Oh...I'm sorry," the girl giggles, "My sight may be failing, but I can somehow tell who's in the room; sometimes by scent, and sometimes by hearing their voices." She then turns her head towards Chieftain, "Like the one leaning against the wall beside you."

Chieftain frowns as he whips his head around to see Hajime leaning against the wall near the door with his arms crossed and one leg tucked behind the other. He wore his clean and sanitized uniform, and hat, which Kai somehow picked up from a Lost and Found bin in the pier housing the cruise that was caught in the storm. The girl cocks her head to one side at the sudden air of silence filling the room.

"Are you two...friends?" she asked curiously. The two continued to stare before darting their heads in different directions.

"We'll...get back to you on that," they said in unison.

There was another minute of silence before Chieftain finally spoke up, "So why did you come here? I know it's not to see her."

"It was his idea to stick you in this room, not mine," Hajime said, "And the reason I came here is because I wanted to thank you for yesterday; when you helped me survive on that island."

Chieftain snorts a bit, "I should be saying the same myself. And I should probably apologize for accusing you of putting the agency in danger when it wasn't entirely your fault."

The room becomes silent again before a different voice grabs their attention.

"Hey Chaska!" Morris calls as he slips into the room, holding his hands in his pants pocket, "How's my little sister doin'?"

"Sister?" Hajime and Chieftain mutter in bewilderment.

"Ah, there you are, Morris," the girl says as her big brother waltzes over to her, "I was wondering if you'll ever show up."

"Oh, you know," Morris chuckles, "I got up really early, so I figured I look for something to show how much I really care about you."

Chaska giggles as she daintily slaps Morris on the shoulder, "Come on, brother. You know you don't have to get me anything to show your affection." She presses her finger on her cheek, "Though, just out of curiosity, what happened to that gift you were gonna get me."

"We...sorta trash it," laughs a nervous voice. Everyone, save Morris, turns to the door to see Jago and Saito walk in, rubbing the back of their heads and grinning sheepishly.

"Jago, Saito," Hajime said, almost surprised, "You came to see me?"

"Yeah!" Jago pipes up, "Mr. Agent real nice! Offered to take us to hospital in fancy red car with adjustable hood!" Saito nods in agreement.

Suddenly, the woman sitting in front of Chieftain's bed stirs and opens her eyes, giving out a more disturbing resemblance to Ryuta. Everyone turns to watch her glance around the room as though looking for someone, eventually fixing her gaze onto Chieftain and Morris; the superior compressing his lips and looking away while the third rank raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

At the sight of the two Agents, her eyes widen in terror as she grabs the curtains beside her and throws it across her, cutting off all eye contact. Jago furrows his eyebrows in confusion, about to head over to the woman when a hand whips out in front of him, blocking him from moving any closer. He looks up to see Ryuta stare down at him, rather sternly, before heading to the other side of the curtains.

"Uh...did I miss somethin'?" Morris mutters, "Why did she look at us like we was monsters?"

"It's 'cause we were at one point," Chieftain grumbles, crossing his arms, "Two years ago I made the mistake of accepting the hapless cries of a pimp who claimed she was being kidnapped by Ryuta, not realizing she was the one that needed help. In the end, she forcefully rejected his help and went back to that pimp, knowing if he continued to outrun us, he'd eventually get himself killed. And now he stuck me in this room, knowing I'd have to face the aftermath of my stubbornness."

"But why?" Jago asked, "Do they know each other from somewhere?"

"They didn't just know each other," Hajime mutters, "They were born from the same family. That woman behind the curtains...is Ryuta's twin sister..."

"His twin sister!?" Morris nearly yelps.


Rytua pushes the curtains a bit as he walks in and pulls them back, seeing his sister hunched over and grabbing her head in sorrow and agony. He remains stern as he sits on a stool and places a hand on her shoulder, causing her to whip around and face him.

"Faiya," he mutters as he sits back and takes his arms off his sister's shoulder, using his hands to perform sign language while talking, "I'm sorry I left while you were still asleep. I had to use the bathroom." Faiya trembles a bit as she folds her hands and cups them over her mouth. Ryuta places his hand on her shoulder to redraw her attention, using his other hand to continue his sign language, "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay by you until he's well enough to leave."

Faiya continues to tremble as though Ryuta wasn't giving her enough reassurance. He sensed there was something else going on that made her hate the Agents more than their last encounter. What it was he couldn't make out...until he noticed an unusually large bulge in her stomach. Before he could ask, the curtains adjacent to where he sat flew open as a chubby, squat nurse with pink hair walks towards Faiya, holding a tray of pills and a cup of water.

"Faiya, dear!" she says, "Time for your medicine!" She then notices Ryuta and cocks her head to one side, "Oh, my, isn't this a surprise? She never let's any visitors come this close to her, especially the men."

Ryuta immediately stands up, keeping his hand on Faiya's shoulder, "I'm her brother. Is everything okay?"

"Her brother?" the nurse says before beaming with excitement and rushing over to Ryuta, dropping the tray onto the table beside him, grabbing his hands and pulling them up, "That's perfect! You're just the candidate we were looking for!"

"Candidate?" Ryuta mutters curiously before the nurse tugs on his hands.

"Come along now! We don't want to keep her waiting!" the nurse pipes up. Ryuta was about to submit to her tugging when Faiya suddenly grabs the tail of his gakuran trench coat, keeping him from going any farther. He turns to see her eye's twitch with agony and terror, increasing his suspicion of something he may regret.

The nurse looks over to Faiya before releasing Ryuta and planting her hands on her thighs, "Faiya!" she then took her hands off and swung them around in the form of sign language, "I'm sorry, but since you refused to commit, we had to find someone trusting enough to do the work for you! We have to make room for more deliveries!" her last sign involved her folding her arms and swinging them back and forth as though to rock a baby.

"Deliveries?" Ryuta mutters, even more unsure of the outcome he was about to enter.

"Ah, don't worry," the nurse said with a wave of her hand, "You'll understand when we get there."

Ryuta compresses his lips before turning around and placing his hands on Faiya's shoulders.

"I'll be right back," he said, "Don't worry." Faiya continues to tremble as the nurse heads out of the curtains, followed shortly by Ryuta.

The familiar group saw him walk out of the curtains, following the nurse towards the door.

"Ryuta? What's going on?" Hajime asked.

"I don't know," Ryuta said, "Faiya's insisting I don't go, but I want to know why she's upset. I'm sure it's no big deal." He then heads out of the room after the nurse.

Chieftain sighs a bit as he looks at his hands gripping the sheets around his lower body, "Considering she was hired by some pimp, I'm fretting it's something bad."

"If Ippongi-san sister say something, he already know what going on," Jago said, looking over to Hajime, "But all I hear is talking, but no response."

"That's because she's deaf, Jago," Hajime said, "Most likely a birth defect caused by being born under the same womb. It's also a possibility her deafness was the reason she's so timid and reclusive. Spending most of her life in a city where everyone takes advantage of her lack of hearing to rape and torment her. It's a miracle Ryuta's welfare is the only thing keeping her alive in the hell that's America's negativity."

"But, couldn't she go back to Japan?"

"She could've... But she either can't afford it or the pimp preached she'll eventually come back to him. She must've thought he would use everything he can think of to drag her back to his disgusting hands; adoption papers, amendments, even call EBA when someone tries to rescue her, taking advantage of their dependency on computers to claim she's been kidnapped, and convince them to help him get her back."

"When you said adoption papers, you meant to say she was adopted?" Morris asked.

"I don't know much, only what Ryuta told me when I joined," Hajime said, "Their parents were killed in a fire at the age of six, and wound up in an orphanage deep in Evening City. Two years later, Faiya was adopted by an American immigrant who claimed he wanted a girl in his family. Ryuta didn't know she would be sold as a prostitute 'til Seijin Day, when he decided to check up on her to see how she's fairing with her life. His result turned the most important day of his life into a disaster, abandoning the party we were setting up for him and swimming overseas to try and save her from that malicious pimp. Like he threatened, he called for the Agents and used their talents and energy to try and chase him down. Faiya didn't want Ryuta to be in danger so she forced him to return her."

"After that incident," Chieftain continues, "The Commander had the Em-O-Meter checked over and updated, hoping it would perform better and keep us from running into anymore problems. But even that won't reverse the damage already done to his sister."

"Well," Chaska pipes up, sounding scolding, "I hope that incident taught you a lesson in taking one piece of evidence and using it as a reason to respond to such rude people. Maybe now you'll turn over every rock before knowing what's best."

Chieftain nearly cringes from the lecture and looks down at his hands again while the others chuckled a bit at his slight embarrassment.

"Don't worry," Morris said, "I'm sure, after being stuck on that island for two days, he'll know better than to think he can accomplish everything."

"Don't push it, Morris," Chieftain growls.

Just then, they hear footsteps coming into the room. Everyone turns to see Ryuta standing between the doorframes with a horrified look on his face.

"Hey, Ryu," Morris said, "You look like you'd seen a..." he suddenly trails off as everyone's focus drops to his arms; Chieftain compressing his lips and looking away while the rest shared the Ouendan leader's horrified expression.

Laying in Ryuta's arms is a baby girl, wrapped in a pink blanket, cooing and stretching her arms out towards him. Ice blue hair bristled from her newborn head as she squeals and coos for his attention.

Faiya looks over to Ryuta, catching sight of the baby in his arms. Trembling in more agony, she grabs the curtains and throws them shut, grabbing his attention as he looks over to her, sensing a hateful rejection that indicates he can't go near her with the baby still in his arms.

"Faiya..." he mutters remorsefully.

"Ryuta...?" Hajime squeaks, still staring at the baby in Ryuta's arms, "W...where did you...?"

Ryuta just compresses his lips and looks back down to the baby waving her hands towards him, reflecting back to the moment he wound up with this...mess.


The chubby nurse leads Ryuta down a long hallway, passing by wandering patients, some carting IV fluids. They eventually reach a part of the hallway with a spanning window on one wall, showing a room full of newborn babies, some with blue blankets for the males, and others with pink blankets for the females. This made him feel even more uneasy; assuming the reason for Faiya's refusal to let him go had something to do with what's behind the glass.

Another nurse comes out of the room, holding a wailing, baby girl in her arms. She resembled the chubby nurse, but with brown hair instead of pink. Ryuta focuses on the baby in her arms, sensing an undying urge for attention...from Faiya.

The chubby nurse laughs as she skips over to her thinner co-worker, slapping her on the shoulder, "Good news, Cass!" she then turns and presents a hand towards Ryuta, "We got ourselves a worthy foster parent for Faiya's child."

"N-nani!?" Ryuta nearly exclaims, taking a step back. Cass looks over to the aggravated Ouendan, furrowing her eyebrows in worry.

"Ms. White, I'm not sure we should do this," she said.

"Why's that?"

"Well, they're twins. According to psychological studies, their interests are nearly identical. If Faiya's not going to take care of this baby, what makes you think he will?"

"Oh, you're just bein' superstitious! They're fraternal! Gender isn't the only thing that sets them apart!" she began pushing Cass towards Ryuta, seeing his aggravated scowl increase as he backs away from them, completely reluctant to accept the responsibility that's been the result of Faiya's nightmarish childhood.

"Ms. White!" Cass yelps, "Ms. White, stop! He's having enough heartbreak as it is! Don't make him do something that's going to haunt him the rest of his life!"

"Oh, c'mon! He's just shy, that's all! All he needs is a push in the right direction!" She finishes by slapping Cass on the back, sending her stumbling towards Ryuta. Unable to free up her hands long enough to regain her balance, she tumbles to the floor, accidentally tossing the baby in the process. Ryuta blinks in shock as he instinctively dives towards her, catching her before she hits the hard, tiled floor below them.

In the split second they made contact, the baby stops crying, looking up to Ryuta who blinks and snaps his shocked gaze towards her. She looked stunned at first, but soon sports a toothless smile as she reaches her arms up, begging to be hugged. The two nurses watch before the chubby one laughs and walks over to Ryuta, slapping her hand onto his back.

"Congratulations, kid! You're an uncle!" she laughs to a still shocked Ryuta.


Later that day at the Tanaka apartment in Brooklyn, Hajime's grandfather comes out of the kitchen, seeing the Ouendan rookie sitting on the couch with Saito and Suzuki, watching MTV while sipping on a can of soda.

"Ah, Hajime," he began, "Feeling better, I see."

"Yeah," Hajime said, "Still can't get over the sensation from these burns, though."

"Don't worry, Hajime. I'm sure you'll forget about it in a couple of days." The grandfather cocks his head to one side, "And what about Ippongi-san? I heard you, Jago and Atsushi-san weren't the only ones coming back here today." the three remain silent a second before turning their nose up and closing their eyes in annoyance.

"Uncle Ryuta is being as big of a baby as the kid sitting BEHIND HIM!" they said in unison.

"Will you stop calling me 'uncle'!" Ryuta exclaims, sitting on the floor three feet from the couch while resting his crossed arms on his Indian-style crossed knees, "I already told you I don't want anything to do with the brat!"

"You're being ridiculous, Ryuta," Hajime argues, eyeing the one-month-old baby leaning onto Ryuta's back while reaching for one of his bandana tails, "You know it wasn't the kid's fault your sister was raped in the first place! So stop pretending she's the worst nightmare you ever had and play with her!"

Ryuta snaps his head over to Hajime, "If you care about her so much, why don't you take care of her instead of just sitting there and watching Beastie Boys videos!?"

"Because my last name isn't Ippongi."

"That's ridiculously bogus, and you know it!"

Ryuta suddenly feels his head jerk to the right, causing him to topple onto his side. The baby had gotten a hold of the tails on his bandana seconds before slipping off his back, refusing to let go until she landed on her side, taking the Ouendan leader with her. She stares at him a few seconds before tossing the tails to the side and waving her arms up and down, squealing and giggling at his comical disposition.

The grandfather chuckles at the stupefied look on Ryuta's face, "Isn't that cute? The mighty Ouendan leader's been brought down by his own niece." Ryuta drops to his stomach and turns an annoyed glare at the giggling baby.

"I'll give you something to laugh about, you LITTLE BRAT!!" he yells as he snatches her off the floor and springs to his feet, flailing and spinning her around in a playful gesture. The baby squeals with delight as she feels her lower body rise off the ground from the speed of the swings.

Five minutes of play swinging later, Ryuta stops, breathing heavily as he continues to glare at his unfortunate niece staring back at him with innocent eyes and wide smile, which suddenly fades at the sound of a grumbling tummy. Everyone watched as she squints her face before screaming at the top of her lungs, tears flying out like a fountain. Saito and Suzuki panic while Hajime covers his ears to drown out the loud noise.

"I think it's time for lunch!" Hajime shouts.

"My, it sure is," the grandmother giggles as she heads into the living room with a warm bottle of milk formula, "A lucky thing this bottle cooled enough to drink."

Saito and Suzuki quickly scramble off the couch and over to Ryuta, snatching the bottle in the process. They yank the baby from him and crouch down towards the floor, Saito holding the baby while Suzuki tries to get the rubber nipple into her mouth. Their towering figure and gruff faces, however, scared her more than them as she wiggles and screams refusing to accept the bottle.

"She's not drinking! She's not drinking!" Suzuki panics, "Are you sure the bottle's cool enough to drink!?"

"Of course," the grandmother mutters nervously, "I tested it before coming out here."

Ryuta grabs the wailing baby and the bottle and tears them from his cohorts' hands, "Gimme that, you morons!" he marches towards the couch, grumbling, "This' why the nannies wouldn't let you near the babies in the orphanage...!"

Hajime's gaze follows Ryuta as he flops down on the couch, cradling the baby in his left arm while holding the bottle at an angle towards her mouth. She immediately stops crying, staring at the bottle a second before grabbing and pulling it into her mouth, chewing on the nipple to squeeze out the milk formula.

"Ippongi-sama's so mean!" Suzuki whines. Hajime snaps his head back to find his and Saito's back turned towards them, running their forefinger on the soft carpet and sobbing in misery, "He's always playing with the cute little babies at the orphanage! It's not our fault those mean old nannies keep pushing us away when we try to get close to them...!"

"And now I know why..." Hajime grumbles nervously. He suddenly senses a flicker of happiness and turns his head to see Ryuta smiling as he continues to watch the baby drink the formula from the bottle in his hand.

Hajime blinks in surprise before smiling a bit himself. Look's like Ryuta's finally seen the positive side of the nightmarish disaster Faiya had to endure most of her life.


Early the next morning, Ryuta stirs at the sound of faint fussing, muffling a groan as he laid on his left under the blanket of his sleeping futon, his ribbon and bandana pulled off to let his hair spill out onto his pillow.

"This beats having Kai blast his air horn in our faces..." he grumbles, shifting his body onto his stomach while bringing his left arm out from under his blanket and dropping it on the futon near his face. His frown increases as he rubbed the around the left corner before jerking his head up and looking at the same area, expecting to find something laying there.

Immediately after realizing something was missing, two cries filled the room, forcing him to grab the pillow and throw it over his head as he looks around to find blankets tossed everywhere, indicating that everyone was up and about.

"Saito, Suzuki!" he yells as he throws the pillow off to one side and springs to his feet, "You better not be coddling that kid again!" he marches into the living room to find it completely vacant of everyone except the younger occupants of the apartment. Aimay stood a foot from the baby, both crying while Jago snaps his head between the two, trying to figure out who to calm down first.

"Ippongi-san!" Jago yelps after seeing the Ouendan leader walk into the room, "They got into a tug-o-war over Aimay's sock monkey and accidentally tore in half! Aimay started crying and your niece did the same for no reason!"

"Really?" Ryuta said, not looking fazed or upset. He crouches down and picks the baby up, gently rocking her until she stopped crying and tried to reach for him, babbling and cooing, "You're going to be a regular troublemaker for your Mama, aren't you?"

Jago and Aimay, after finally calming down, watched as Ryuta saunters over to the couch and sits down, picking up an already prepared bottle and holding it towards the baby, who grabs the corner and sticks the nipple in her mouth to suckle. A few minutes into the feeding, he sensed a couple of curious presences and looks beside the couch to see the two younger Tanakas standing near the armrest,observing him curiously.

"Is...something wrong?" he asked.

"It's so eerie..." Jago mutters, "Seeing you so gentle with a baby."

"What's so eerie about that? I babysat you and your sister when Hajime was off in America over the summer."

"First off, Aimay was two when my parents stuck them with you," said a voice that nearly startled everyone. They turn to see Hajime leaning his left hand on the doorframe to the kitchen while resting his right on his side, leering at Ryuta annoyingly, "Also, no offense, but spending 2500yen on nothing but ice cream and candy, then letting them run wild in the backyard of the dojo 'til they collapse from exhaustion is not what I would call proper babysitting skills."

"Hey, it worked didn't it?" Ryuta snorts, "It not only got your siblings to like us, but also made your parents stop using them as some annoying prop to make us strip your armband and kick you out of the squad."

"It's a miracle Ouendan had enough reliability to avoid a lawsuit and disbandment! Don't forget, it took the destruction of that meteor to get them to realize just how much of an importance Ouendan is to Japan and convince them to let me stay!"

"Excuse me, shouldn't you be at work?" Ryuta growls in annoyance, "Why're you still here telling me how to take care of a child?"

"I was at work...until our stool pigeon of followers went and blabbed about your unfortunate jump to unclehood!" Hajime pushes off the wall and plants his left hand on his side, "Then Kai went and joked that your bonding would involve excessive amounts of sugar and laps around the living room before she wears herself to sleep! Oba-san took it seriously and told me to take the rest of the week off to teach you how to properly raise a child!"

"That's ridiculous! I already know how to take care of a child! I don't need a coach to tell me how!"

"You only think you know how to take care of a child because you spent two years in an orphanage with adults watching everything that went on! That's no similar to rearing a child by yourself!"

"Of course it is! And I have ways of keeping her happy without having to spend a single yen or penny!"

"Oh really?" Hajime crosses his arms, "And what, pray tell, would that be?"

End Notes:

For those of you who haven't read Hatachi, Seijin Day is a Japanese celebration for those who have, or are about to, turn 20 which, in Japan, is considered the rightful age to adulthood. It's always celebrated on the first Monday of January and, as opposed to how 20-years-old should be pronounced in Japanese (Nii-juu sai), most (or all) would pronounce the age of twenty as "hatachi".