[From Hope's diary]

[WRITTEN ON 17 SEP 2022]

Since Valerie was enrolled in her school, I observed that she became more eager to ask questions and talk about her new friends. I was particularly annoyed if she compared her own toys with her friends. But hey, I remembered that I used to do the same with my mom. I had just been promoted and didn't have a mortgage. Light had finished the last installment for our apartment in Paris and our property. She also paid Paula's salary. So, I had a lot of cash for her and Conroy for their toys. During the first month since she went to school, we went to the shopping mall every week. She always asked for new toys and somehow I granted her wishes. This was because I felt guilty. We did not have much space in our apartment in Paris. Hence, she did not have many toys and could only watch TV shows.

Then, I realized that there was little space remaining in her cabinets. I made the rule that she needed to wait for at least three months for asking new toy. She also needed to dispose of her old toys or sell them online. Light also told her to be content with what we have, as her friends will also have similar limitations. Luckily, Conroy is not like her. He is relatively quiet and he enjoys playing with any available toys.

Light also wanted our kids not to just play, but to start doing house chores to train them about responsibility. Our house is bigger than our apartment in Paris, hence we need more people to do housekeeping. Although we have Paula, we do not want to ask her to do housekeeping on weekends. So, Light and I discussed on Friday night how to brief kids to schedule their chores. We decided that everyone needs to do housekeeping before we go for travel or play outside.

On Saturday, we had just finished our breakfast when I started to talk to them.

"Alright, Valerie and Conroy, " I began the conversation, "Aunty Paula will not be here on weekends. You need to help daddy and mommy..."

"Here are things we will need to do, " Light continued, "Wash the car, tend the raspberry tree, go shopping, clean the house, and cook for lunch..."

"Daddy, can I watch Robocar first?" Conroy pleaded and pouted his face, "I did not watch it yesterday..."

"Conroy, do not be a lazy bum!" Valerie complained, "You watch too many shows..."

"This afternoon, uncle Snow will visit us with his friends...", I announced to them, "We need to cook for them. And you will help daddy and mommy..". It had been a while since we moved to Bordeaux and we still had not visited NORA. I just knew from Light that Maqui's vehicle repair shop was still operational but Snow's business was struggling. Other than that, I did not know how the NORA members were doing.

"Val, you help mommy to tend the tree...", Light requested, "You can have the fruit after that..."

"Yay!", she cheered when Light said that. Soon, Light brought Valerie to the storage room. Then, she pointed her to the rack where we kept a trowel to remove the weeds, jerry can with nitrogen fertilizer, and blue watering can. Valerie brought the can to the basin in the kitchen and filled it with water.

I knew that she seemed always to prefer to do physical activities. She also initially liked to watch cartoon shows but unlike Conroy, she did not usually watch until the end. Every time we go to Serah's house, Valerie likes to play with Kelly a lot. She chases her around the front yard. That's why last night I discussed that it will be better to assign her that task.

"And Conroy, you help daddy go shopping, " I demanded, "Daddy will teach you how to buy stuff..."

"Right, first thing," I demonstrated slowly to Conroy, by standing in front of our kitchen cabinet and opening the drawer, "Take one bag from here...". Inside the drawer, there were recyclable bags we usually used to put our shopping items, I took one bag and I let him try to take another. He grabbed another bag and pulled it, but it stuck between gaps since he pulled it downward.

"Pull it upward, " I told him and raised my hand. He watched and pulled it upward and finally took the bag.

"And you need to close the drawer again, " I instructed and left him to try closing the drawer. He grabbed the drawer knob and closed it.

"Clever boy...", I praised him, stroking his hair, "Alright, we will go to the supermarket, " I took my tablet PC from the kitchen table containing the list of ingredients Light wanted me to buy and put it inside my sling bag. The ingredients would be used for our cooking.

Light was about to go out to the garage with Valerie to do gardening. Before she went out, I approached and kissed her, "See you later, Light..."

As our environment in Bordeaux was different from Paris, we went through a bit of adjustment. It would take a considerable time to walk to the nearest supermarket, unlike our previous apartment. We were not interested in buying a second car as we thought the maintenance cost would be too high. Usually, Light would wash our car on Saturday morning. Hence last week, I bought a bicycle with a kid's back seat so we could go around faster if we needed to go to Serah's house or somewhere else.

I lifted Conroy to the back seat and locked its safety belt. This was his first time riding the bicycle and he looked very excited. Light pressed the remote to open the front gate and I rode the bike outside with Conroy. I noticed that day, that when it was still early in the morning on a weekend (around 830am) not many people were around. I felt refreshed by the morning air and enjoyed my time. But not long after that, I noticed something unusual.

When we were about to reach the commercial cluster where the supermarket was located, I saw Hiromi was sitting at a table outside a cafe beside the supermarket. I saw that she was eating Chinese steam buns with another Asian lady. She wore thick glasses with an electronic device on its right frame sitting opposite to her. I realized that it was Aoede. I was wondering what things they were talking about as I knew from Light that Hiromi was a close friend of Aoede. Hopefully, not about Light or me. I stopped my bike for a moment as I observed them from afar.

I saw that Aoede took out a laptop from her backpack and played a short video to show to Hiromi. Their facial expressions looked very tense when they watched the video. After a few minutes, the video ended. Aoede also took out a brown envelope and passed it to Hiromi. She took out some photographs from inside the envelope and examined them carefully one by one. Then, Hiromi said something which made Aoede looked fearful. I saw her covering her face with both hands and bend down her head. Hiromi looked sad and embraced her.

After that, Hiromi whispered something which made Aoede quickly put her laptop back. Hiromi took out her mobile phone and opened an app. After a while, I saw a car stop in front of the cafe, both of them entered the car and left. It looked like Hiromi booked from the ride-sharing app on her phone.

"Daddy, why did we stop here?" Conroy asked from behind with curiosity. "Is daddy angry with aunty Hiromi?"

"Daddy needs to check something, Conroy, " I replied but started to push the pedal again, "We will go now..."

I was disturbed and wondered about what was discussed between them just now. But then, there was no way to figure it out. I was not as close to Hiromi compared to Light. Even if I asked her, I don't think I would get a helpful answer. So, I decided to just move on. I parked my bicycle in front of the supermarket, attached the lock on the wheel to the parking rack, and lifted down Conroy from his seat.

I took out my tablet PC from my sling bag and browsed through the list of ingredients as we entered the supermarket. I told Conroy the names of fruits and vegetables and asked him to pick those in our list with the appropriate amount. It let him learn to count. I was also interested as he pointed out various items (sauces, snacks, and toiletries) and asked me about their names. And I also showed him various notes of euro and let him match them with the price tags on supermarket shelves.

But then, I realized I needed to be quick as we needed to prepare cooking for five people. So, I carried Conroy so that he would not roam around. He was also excited since he loved the height. Luckily, the queue was not too long since it was still early in the morning. After one hour, we finally got out. I put all items in two recyclable bags we brought just now. I put one of them in the basket in front of the bicycle handlebar and asked Conroy to put another one on his lap when he sat on the back seat. When we reached home, I saw that Light and Valerie also had finished car washing and gardening.

"So now, we need to clean the house and cook at the same time. Otherwise, there will not be enough time until Snow and NORA come, " Light explained, "Who wants to help mommy with cooking?"

"Light, I suggest you let Conroy do it. I do not think he is old enough to know how to clean the toilet," I suggested, "He also just learned the names of the ingredients, it will be better if he also knows how to prepare it. Also, we can switch partners..."

"Sounds good, " Light commented, "Val, you help daddy to clean the house."

"Alright, " I started, "Val, I need your help to clean our bathroom. I want you to wipe the mirror, bathtub, and water basin, scrub the toilet bowl, replace the toilet roll, and mop the floor..."

Valerie instantly pouted her face expressing her displeasure and gazed at me, "Daddy, why do I need to do dirty things again? I just helped mommy..."

I caressed her, squatting down and holding her hand, "Because daddy will clean the rest of the kitchen and living room. " I explained to her, "Daddy gave you less tiring and quicker tasks. It is a bit dirtier but you have more free time to play after that..."

After hearing my answer, a smile grew on her face and she nodded.

"Okay, daddy!" she answered with satisfaction.

Unlike Conroy, Valerie tended to question us more. It was not necessarily a bad thing as she was more curious about how I and Light spent our days. But I got the impression she was a less obedient kid. Conroy usually always did the work without any complaint. Although, she also committed to things we assigned to her.

So I prepared her own separate cleaning kits, such as liquid cleaners, mop, and wiping cloths. I showed her how to apply the liquid and let her tried it. After initially hesitant, she did what I asked as I monitored her for a while. After that, I left her to do her tasks, prepared my own cleaning kits, and then cleaned the kitchen and living room. Light said she had used our vacuum robot to remove the dust, so I did not need to sweep the floor.

Light showed Conroy how to wash vegetables and break them (broccoli and cabbage) into small pieces. She also took out a table in our storage shed and asked Conroy to wipe it clean, and covered it with a tablecloth. I watched how he took the plates and utensils. He also took extra chairs from his own room to arrange them around the table. Roughly, it took Valerie and Conroy around forty minutes to complete their tasks. After that, they played with their toys in Valerie's room while I and Light were still cleaning and cooking. Time showed almost 11 am and it was almost the time NORA would come to visit us.

I almost finished my cleaning task when I recalled the scene I saw this morning when Hiromi met with Aoede. Our kids were not in the kitchen, as I was mopping the floor and Light was cooking. I decided to discuss Hiromi with her. I knew they went for lunch together this Wednesday.

"Hey, Light...," I called her, "This morning I saw Hiromi had breakfast in the cafe beside the supermarket..."

"That's nice, right?" she replied, "Did you have a chance to chat with her?"

"No, but do you know who was with her there?" I walked to stand beside her as she was stirring the rice with seafood on the frying pan to prepare paella. According to Serah, it was one of Snow's favorite dishes.

"It was Aoede." I claimed. And Light's turned her face towards me, a shock was reflected in her eyes, "They were having a very serious conversation..."

"Could you hear what were they talking about, Hope?" Light asked curiously as she added more peppers into the paella.

I shook my head, "Nope, I could not, " I answered, "But if I may speculate, it seemed related to an intelligence gathering. Aoede showed Hiromi some photographs and she commented on them. After that, her face looked very fearful..."

"She never told me that she was still in contact with Aoede, " Light claimed, "Hiromi only told me that she knew that we moved to Bordeaux from her..."

"From my observation so far, I am pretty sure she has a lot of skeletons inside her closet, " I commented, "Light, I know that both of you are friends. But just be careful. We don't know if she will drag you into something fishy, okay? We do not know about her past. What did you ladies talk about during your lunch last time?"

Light was silent for a while; she looked in deep thought as she turned off the stove. She picked up a spoonful of the paella, blew it a bit, and tasted it.

"She talked about her study here, " Light replied. I was bewildered as far as I knew, Hiromi talked about that sometime ago when she visited me and Light. She scooped the paella and put it in my mouth. I liked the spicy and salty taste of it.

"But she just talked about that in front of us last time, right?" I clarified, "How about from her side? Did she specifically probe you about something?"

"Nope, nothing..." Light confirmed, "If she did that, I would be already suspicious of her."

There was a part of me that felt somehow Light did not tell me the entire truth. I got the impression from her facial expression when I asked her about their lunch. It looked like she knew something important but she chose not to disclose this to me. What was it? Did Hiromi threaten her? But what kind of person could make Light feel threatened? She is a warrior goddess! But if it was really important, why did she refuse to disclose this to me?

I sighed and embraced her, "Light, I have known you for a thousand years. I want you to know I always will be with you. Even if you go to chaos..."

She bowed down her head and intertwined her fingers with mine. She turned and looked in my eyes, as she seemed to want to signal me to trust her.

"I know, Hope..." she acknowledged, "Anyway, it is almost 1130am. Snow and NORA will be here soon. I need to wrap this up first."

Light quickly finished the cooking and put all the dishes on the newly prepared table in the living room. Other than paella, she also cooked chickpea soup and baked raspberry muffins using fresh produce from our garden. I was impressed as she kept improving and even tried menus that I did not try for four years when I still did my PhD in Ecole.

I was thinking that since our table was just enough for six people, some of us would need to sit on the sofas or floor. Hopefully, they would not mind. Usually, when guests come, we did not need to cook like this. But that day was a special moment, as I had not met with NORA for six years.

"Yuuuhhhhuuu...," I heard Lebreau's voice calling me from outside, "Hope and Lightning, NORA are here!"

Valerie and Conroy looked excited, they ran out of their rooms, and peeped from the window in our living room. Light picked the keys hanging on the wall beside the door. She went outside to open the gate as I watched five NORA members stand in front of our gate. I carried Valerie and Conroy alternately to greet Gadot and Snow. Light and Lebreau hugged each other and I did high-five with Maqui and Yuj. They took off their shoes and entered our home.

I, Light, Snow, Maqui, Yuj, and Gadot opted to sit at the table while Lebreau opted to eat with Valerie and Conroy on the sofa.

"Why didn't Serah join us?" I asked Snow, "Did you guys meet her before you came here?"

"We met her almost every week before you came here." Gadot answered, "And we will meet her after this..."

"And we have big news for you!" Yuj grinned as he grabbed Maqui's shoulder who sat next to him, "Maqui and Lebreau officially got engaged!"

Maqui looked shy and glanced at Lebreau, who also seemed embarrassed. I wondered if he intended to announce this himself or that Yuj did this within his expectation. However, I teased him by raising my glass filled with lemon tea to Yuj, "Congratulations to both of you!"

"They tried to hide it from us!" Gadot claimed, "But then, Yuj caught them when Lebreau secretly went to his shop to get her new motorbike maintained every week. She brought him to the amusement park using the bike..."

"Gadot, give us privacy!" Lebreau complained and stared at him, "We prefer to talk about this ourselves!"

"So, when did it happen? Maqui, why didn't you inform us personally?" Light took the paella from a big plate in the middle and distributed it to each person's plate. I helped her by pouring lemon tea into glasses for NORA. Each of us started to take the food and eat.

"It was two years ago...," Maqui replied, "We spent some time after we were reborn before we announced it to the others. It just happened that in this new world, my repair shop and Lebreau's restaurant were located quite near to each other. We often visited each other and eventually got engaged..."

"He has beaten us. Damn you, Maqui!" Yuj poked Maqui's ribs, teasing him. I and Light burst out laughing watching both of them. I was actually surprised that Lebreau chose Maqui over Yuj as she was taller, older, and more mature than him. But hey, so was Light compared to me. Who am I to advise people whom to date?

"Snow, how is your business? Are there any grants or projects you can apply to?" Light asked, "Right now, I can help you by putting Conroy in Serah's hands. It should be enough to pay the rent." Light referred to using our budget to pay Serah to homeschool Conroy. This was important for her since it involved Serah's welfare.

Snow sighed and scratched his hair, "Not good, sis. I applied to so many banks, credit unions, and government grants. Nobody wants to give us loans or projects. There are just six months left before our contract with the Guardian Corps expires. They told me that they already found a new vendor and will not renew the contract. I will need to start to convert most of my full-time staff into temps by the end of this year..."

"Temporarily, to pay for office rent I and Snow became security guards in an apartment complex," Gadot mentioned, "But, we need to downsize if things do not change..."

"You have a contract with the Guardian Corps?" I asked in surprise, "What things have they asked you to do?"

"We help them to package, deliver and install various electrical equipment from their vendors to branches in Bordeaux. Things are hard because the government has limited slots for local mover vendors. In most cases, they just use big vendors like FedEx or UPS. But, we still have an advantage. Despite limited capacity, we can help to do the installation of those pieces of equipment. As you know, I have received my electrician license some time ago..." Snow explained in detail.

"We also have regular personal clients, but they do not pay much compared to the Guardian Corps. Lebreau helped to find those clients through her friends..." Gadot added.

"But they said they have found a new vendor, who also can do the installation at a cheaper price. I do not want to cut my salary or my staff's salary to compete with those people. The Guardian Corps said they need some local vendors to help transport safety drones and robots from factories in Paris to Bordeaux. But those projects require more capacity and we do not have the capital to expand..." Snow poured wine into his glass on the table and gulped it instantly, "We are not citizens of France, so everything is very expensive. I cannot even qualify to apply for public housing. Luckily, you help by letting Serah take care of Conroy..."

Hearing his story, I could not help but felt sympathy for Snow. Unlike in Cocoon, life in a big city in this world is really challenging if you do not have professional education or specialized skills. Unfortunately, we did not bring our reputation from the previous world. Otherwise, Snow might be able to become a patron like in Yusnaan.

"I wish I could help you, " Light sighed as she distributed raspberry muffins to each person's plate, "But I have quit from the Guardian Corps. So, I cannot persuade anyone there to hire you as a contractor..."

"Are you content with your life now, Lightning?" asked Snow and I wondered why he asked such a question.

Light crossed her arms and looked at Snow intently, "At this stage of my life, I feel satisfied with how things are right now. Hope has a better job, kids are growing well, I enjoy my freelance job, and we are financially stable. I cannot ask for more."

"Have you thought about opening your business like me? Well, I mean that your MMA class is OK but you could have more connections and various interesting things to do. I think your MMA class will become routine after a while," I could tell that Snow was trying to persuade Light, "I mean you have the potential. You were in the Guardian Corps for fourteen years. It will be much easier for you to apply for projects with them..."

"OK, so what is your point, Snow?" Light challenged him, "You want me to help your business? Is that what you want?"

"I mean I can still support Serah and kids, even if I become security guard, " Snow clarified, "But we aspire to have our own house. Right now, I have some savings by running this business. But if we close down, we can afford just the bare minimum. I am not forcing you to get into this. But it is something for you to consider..."

"Snow, we have talked about this with my family," I informed him, "Right now, my dad will retire in a few months and when his pension fund is released, he will have a lump sum of cash. He told me that he was actually interested in investing in small businesses."

"Then, it is perfect!", Snow clapped his hands, "Bartholomew can become my investor and we can keep going..."

Light chuckled and interrupted Snow, "How will you assure him that he will get the return for his money? Right now, your contract will also expire in a few months!"

"Snow, my dad has been a fund manager for quite a long time, " I advised gently, "If you want large sums of money being invested into your company, you need to prepare a convincing business proposal for him. Just a company with conventional products or services will not cut it. You need to do market research to identify potential industries and clients, and then you need to explain that the capabilities of your team will be sufficient to exploit the opportunity..."

"I have tried to craft such proposals so many times," Snow explained and looked frustrated, "The problem is always with team capabilities. People in this world like high-tech companies, but such field requires many years of formal education experience..."

"Have you tried to attend online courses?", I asked, "At least, you can demonstrate that you have some knowledge..."

"No, Hope. It's not that easy..." Light argued and she also showed sympathy look to Snow, "Practically, almost all city dwellers in this world have access to online courses. Snow is also not young anymore. At his age, his chance is quite limited. You are an outlier. Not many people have such a lucrative job like you, Hope."

I really wanted to kick myself for forgetting such an important thing. Both Light and Snow had very limited formal education. However, Light was still a bit better than him since she joined the Guardian Corps at a very young age, which provided her with a connection to a corporate environment.

I put my hands on my chin, thinking hard about how to help Snow. I did not want to break trust with my dad by letting Snow spend his pension fund as he wished. But, I could also understand his difficulty. It was not his fault that he was born with such a background. Now, I wished that there was a fal'Cie who was able to provide us with basic necessities like Cocoon. People would not need to experience job insecurity. But I supposed such a wish is futile since no world is perfect.

"Basically, there are two ways of solving a financial problem, " Light suggested, "You either generate more revenue or cut costs. If you cannot afford to live in the city since it is too expensive, you can try to relocate to the village. Would you consider working for Sazh's chocobo farm?"

"It would be very disappointing for Serah if I did that, Lightning...", Snow gulped another glass of wine. He looked depressed and I felt for him. But then, how should I help him? Even for myself, I am still under three years contract and my job as a researcher is also volatile. In my department in Inria, other than Phillippe and Louis, no staff work more than five years.

"I will try to help you, Snow, " Light suddenly declared, "Give me a look at your previous proposals and I will see how it can be improved. If the proposal requires someone with expertise in handling military or safety equipment, I may be able to help you..."

Instantly, Snow's face became enthusiastic and he took out a thumb drive from his pocket and quickly passed it to Light.

"I knew you would try, sis! Thanks!" Snow responded, "Please talk with Jonathan. He is the person in charge of communicating with vendors related to the new Guardian Corps projects. I will send his contact number to you..."

Man, I thought. How can Light be so kind? She already helped to fund my study and now she still wanted to help Snow with his business without hesitation. But she has a way to do it as she is now financially independent. Right now, Valerie is already enrolled in school and Conroy is also in Serah's care. So, Light actually has some free time to do things like this. Sometimes, I envy her for this freedom. But hey, she said similar things about me being from a privileged background, having a good education, and a lucrative career.

I am thinking that instead of viewing a problem like this as an inconvenience, I should instead treat this as an opportunity to do charity. There will be always less fortunate people in many aspects, either less talent, wealth, or even health. I can either focus on my own problems and be selfish, or I can practice giving more to others. Light came from a less privileged family, and she is a woman, but she was still willing to provide for my study. I should actually practice similar things...

"Snow, I will also try to see if my department needs local logistic vendors." I promised, "I suppose it is also quite similar to the Guardian Corps. Inria is a government institution, so it should have the requirement to hire a certain percentage of local contractors. Light, I think you can also share his proposals with me..."

"Thanks a lot, Hope!" Gadot replied, "Your help and Lightning are invaluable to us!"

"Hey, we are not promising anything, OK?" I clarified, "For all these talks, the decision to take contractors is not within my hands. But I suppose if you got Inria as another corporate client, you can make your company's portfolio better. Hopefully, I can convince my dad to invest in your company after that..."

"Alright, to show your gratitude, " Light grinned to Snow and Gadot, "Please help me to wash your dishes. And Snow, cook for Serah tonight! Ask her if there is anything that she wants to eat. I will ask her to ensure you do that!"