August 15 2021
Hikigaya Hachiman's Path to Reformation
The de Mer Family
It feels strange, flying on a plane, I mean.
An aerial vehicle weighing around several tonnes carrying you across the sky to your destination. In our case, on the other side of the planet. Truly, there are no limits to the ingenuity of Man. One day, Humankind will leave our home planet and conquer the innumerable stars themselves. I will be long gone by then, most likely in an urn while my descendants go on and walk towards the future. Unless something happens that causes my body to stop ageing and become immune to sickness and disease. Perhaps even get bitten by a Vampire and become deathless and practically immortal. Ah, but that's in the realm of fiction.
Regardless, jet lag is a bitch. And as a first-timer, I can feel it more so than my Father beside me who has already flown numerous times before. He glances at me now and then while I just stared out out the window looking at the different cars and trucks that go by. We have already driven past many dikes which are a common sight in The Netherlands. They control and mitigate the effects of flooding since this country is under sea level. I yawn, and suddenly see the all too familiar logo of a car from my country.
Oh, a Toyota and a Nissan too... I didn't expect to see them here.
"Hachiman, are you alright?" My Father asks worriedly. He looks rather stressed from the flight, which goes the same for me and his other associates. I want to close my eyes and sleep, but that will just make my internal body clock even more confused than it already is. Even though I was sleeping 60% of the entire flight time, I still feel very exhausted and drained. The monitor right in front of my seat which hosted movies, games and music also failed to rid me of my boredom after the first two hours. And I went to and fro from it as the flight went on. After that ordeal, I now have a newfound respect for flight attendants as well as the cabin crew for enduring all of that while remaining awake.
"More or less," I reply curtly.
"It'll go away tomorrow. Our meetings won't start until two days from now. Even I'm not exempt from feeling a bit dizzy and out of it." He says before sighing and covering his mouth. "I can't wait to take a shower and go back to sleep..."
His two colleagues nod at his words. Kousaro Gin and Taname Seya were with us. They were around my Father's age from the looks of things. The former was head of the finance department while the latter was my Father's legal adviser.
"True, Mr Director. Scheduling it while taking into account our state upon arrival was a very wise move. Even I didn't think about that."
Taname-san nods in agreement with Kousaro-san, and the three of them start talking about boring stuff. Our Dutch driver, a lanky man called Marko Kristoff, drives silently along the highway. He will be my Father's driver during official travels. And from his itinerary that I saw at his desk at home, my Father will be going around Amsterdam and the nearby cities meeting with potential business partners.
When we arrived at the waiting area earlier, I immediately called my Mother to inform her of our safe arrival. But because of the difference in our time zones, she wasn't able to answer me. Must be midnight at Chiba right now or something. I doubt even Komachi is still awake, much less our Mother who comes home from work exhausted. I wanted to call either Hina, Yui or Shiromeguri-senpai, or even Saika and Yoshiteru. But I decided that calling my dear Mother first should be the best choice. I'm sure that they'd say the same too. I can already imagine Yumiko nagging at me to hurry up and call my Mother if I call the blondie first.
I'm not keen on going with my Father on all of his travels. I'll just become a nuisance and get in the way of his work. Not to mention that that's all just boring stuff. I'm not old enough to replace my Father yet, so hearing about that stuff is quite a headache. Nor am I'm interested in it in the first place. I already have a lot of things to worry about and think about, I'm not looking for something to add to it with. If anything, the only thing I want to see that's related to his company is the current progress in the construction of the sister ship of the "Hachiman". I heard that it took the Dutch shipbuilding company some time to complete it, so I'm quite curious about their port of operations. My Father did keep this little project of his a secret for years, which is an amazing feat in itself.
Who knows, I might even work here in Amsterdam someday.
We soon enter the city proper as the streets become more narrow with more people and cars in our sight. Their buildings are colourful, not to mention unique and look exactly as I expected them to be from my past research on the country. Very European I say, even though it sounds rather redundant and pointless to say.
It's a stark contrast to Tokyo, which is a jungle of tall buildings reaching for the heavens themselves. Back at home, you can only see an unobstructed view of the sky if you're at the roof of one of those buildings, at the coast or riverside or just beyond the city and into the countryside itself. Because of the terrain, the city planning there is more to upwards and efficient construction and architectural designs. We go over many bridges and drive beside the rivers big and small which hosts all kinds of boats from those used for pleasure, to those gargantuan giants similar to the ship that was named after me. Many people were lounging outside under large umbrellas, particularly in areas where either the river or the sea is visible.
My Father turns to me but stays silent when I make the car's windows go down. It's quite tinted a bit, so any colour hat I see from the inside is filtered by it. A breeze enters the car, and with it the familiar salty scent of the sea.
Hmm... Now I feel homesick. I wonder what Mother is doing...
Instead of going with him or being left at the hotel, I'll be staying with the family of a close friend of his. I did become acquainted with some of his associate's children when they went to Japan some months ago so after all. It was during an event at another Summer Camp location in Chiba where our team won during the overall competition. At that time, Yukinoshita and Hayama were a huge help in managing our team. As well as Tania-chan who kept my spirits up with her smiles and squeals. And right after the event ended while I waited for my Mother to come, I met a group of foreigners who were having trouble translating their words. I befriended them since they were an interesting bunch and also because out of curiosity. Japan is a very homogenous country, seeing foreigners is sometimes a surprise even to me. Who could have guessed that they were the children of my Father's overseas business partners when I met them again at a party organized by his company.
Truly, these sorts of coincidences are almost ridiculous. It's almost as if my life is being written by an Author as we speak.
I wonder how Lukas and his sister is doing. I'd be lying if I say that I didn't miss them by a tiny bit. I can't wait to see them again and catch up. It's always a good feeling to see a familiar face in an unfamiliar land.
"ONII-CHAN GOOD MORNING~~!"
"Good Evening, Komachi. Why aren't you asleep yet? Isn't it like in the middle of the night in China right now?"
"It's okay~! I'm still getting 8 hours of sleep! And I take afternoon naps too!"
"Oi don't slack off too much. Don't forget to help out with the chores and cook breakfast for Mom. With me gone, you're the only one who can help her out."
"Haaaaaai~! Don't worry, I'm taking care of everything!"
I yawn and stretch my legs and back while lying on the bed. To my right, the morning rays of the Sun enters through the windows and into the room. I share this room with Lukas, who's at the corner sprawled on the other bed with his covers on the floor. He's quite the heavy sleeper, and only by roughly shaking his shoulders can I wake him up so we can go downstairs for breakfast in the mornings.
I turn back my attention to the phone in my hand. Aside from Komachi and my Mother, the others also text me now and then. Though not as much as you'd expect since it's literally my fourth day here in The Netherlands. Today my Father would most likely get back to work since the effects of the jet lag would have gone away by now. As for me, I still feel some lingering discomfort but not too much for me to stay in bed all day. Lukas and Maria gave me some medicine to help me out, and it really did the trick.
"Oh yeah! Onii-chan! Saki-nee, Sai-chan and Taishi-kun dripped by earlier! We played some video games and Ice Cream!"
Saki, huh... I hope she's doing well. Now that I'm away, I hope she has taken time to think some things through. That goes for me as well. Right now, I can't really face her as I am. I have to think of a way to smoothen and clear things up without hurting or flat out rejecting her.
*sigh*
I shake my head to clear my thoughts.
"I see, I'm sure you had fun with them around. Did Saki ask about me?"
Surprisingly, Komachi took almost five minutes to reply. That might not sound much, but this is Komachi that we're talking about here. Not to mention that girls her age usually reply to texts super fast.
"Yeah, she was really surprised that you were gone so suddenly. :( I'm so disappointed in you Onii-chan! You're so close with Saki-nee and yet you didn't even tell her! Imagine how awkward it was for me to explain everything, she even thought that I was playing a prank on her! I had to ask Mama for help too!"
I wince at her words. "Ah, sorry about that. What about Kei-chan?"
"She said that she's sad that you're away and wants you to come back quickly so you can play with her again!" Komachi says while giggling. I can imagine Kei-chan saying something along those lines. The innocence and cluelessness of a child will always be amusing.
"Tell her not to be sad. When I come back, I'm gonna bring lots of sweets for her and you too."
"Ooooh! I can't wait!" She says gleefully as we continue the conversation. We ask each other about our day and what we've been doing. I send her some photos when she asks me to, right after I mention that I took some recently. She says that Mother already misses me, sometimes randomly asking her at certain times of the day as to what I'm possibly up to. Things like if I'm still taking my medicine, getting enough sleep and food, or if I'm feeling ill.
"Onii-chan, you really did Saki-nee dirty! When you come back, you better treat her like a princess and take her out for a date!" She says, trying to sound commanding and intimidating. But all it did was make her sound silly.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say..."
We continue talking for some time until I sense movement from the corner of my eye to the edge of the doorway. I pause for a moment, taking my ear from the phone and turn towards it.
"Eeehhh..." I hear small sounds and my initial presumption became true. After telling my sister that I'll be back shortly, I get up, wearing the indoor slippers that were provided for me and start walking towards the door.
"Aaaaaai!" A high pitched cry, like coming from a squeaky toy.
I take a step out, and to my right, crawling on all fours on the floor dressed in panda pyjamas, was a baby. The infant senses my presence and turns around. I squat on the carpeted floor right in front of him just as our eyes meet. Wide and bright blue eyes stare back at me, and then an equally wide smile appears on the baby's extremely cute face.
"Abababababa!" He says in baby language, and excitedly starts crawling towards me. I smile back at him and put my hands under his armpit before lifting him to my chest.
"Good Morning Anton, did you sleep well~?" I ask in Dutch. The baby responds positively at his name being called, wiggling around and causing his panda hood to fall to the side. He was mostly bald, but I see some traces of his blond hair on his head. He starts biting on his tiny fists as I adjusted him in my arms.
"You're a heavy baby aren't you. You look about two or three months younger than Tania-chan at home, yet you're almost as heavy as her..." I say while rocking him from side to side as he makes small and happy sounds. Anton must have gone out from his playroom right beside ours. It's quite safe for him to crawl around since there are small gates on the stairs that lead below to the living and dining rooms. The infant starts teething, lightly biting his tiny hands while looking up at me. It's quite harmless since this little bundle of joy hasn't grown any teeth yet.
"It's strange for a baby to wake up so early. Did Maria play with you~?" Even though he can't understand me, it is still a nice feeling to talk to a baby like this. His Older Sister's room is right beside him, and their parents are right across from theirs in the hallway. The de Mer patriarch is currently with my Father in Rotterdam meeting with some important Dutch businessmen and investors. The Britts from across the sea is also going there for a similar reason, as with several folks from Eastern Europe.
"You chubby little cheeky brat, an escapee~!" I say before I tickle his soft little sides. He jerks his small legs, giggling and squealing with delight.
I look behind me, Lukas is still fast asleep and unconsciously scratches his exposed abdomen. Quite expected since he plays on his computer into the dead of night, and also because he works out just before bed. We did some jogging outside last night, just for the heck of it. The game that he plays is some WW2 game that involves tanks, ships and planes. To be honest, that kind of genre isn't my style. I'm more of a fantasy MMORPG guy that either supports my teammates from the front or rear.
I shrug and then walk towards the infant's room where Anton most likely came from. The door was ajar with sunlight coming from the windows inside his playroom, and I soon see Maria sitting on the floor with her back to us. All kinds of toys littered the floor, to the side was his crib which had a miniature version of the solar system above it. It's really just your average baby room you'd see in Western movies, not that I watch them anyway.
Maria too wore a pyjama set with panda prints. Her light brown hair was a mess, made more so because hers is naturally more voluminous. Unlike the typical thin and long hair, you see in Japanese women. Even though she is only four years my senior, she looks way older than me. I guess it must be a cultural perception on my part. I can't help but look at people like her to be older than they really are. And it also doesn't help that we haven't seen each other in half a year. We lost contact for some time before I reconnected with the Dutch teens that I got acquainted with.
Anton makes a sound, which causes his sister to turn around.
"Oh, Hachiman! G-Good Morning!" Maria makes a broken and shaky smile and appears to be hiding something in her lap, which she covers from our view.
"Good Morning 'Ria." I return her greeting and then lightly sway the baby in my arms. "This little one escaped, so I took the liberty of carrying and bringing him back here. Should I put him back in his crib? Or just right here beside you?" A strange expression settles on her freckled face, and the smile becomes a thin line. With her hand, she gestures at me to allow her to whisper to my ear. I shrug, yet follow her strange request as I kneel with one leg beside her.
"Can you bring Anton with you outside under the Sun? It's almost time for his morning thingy."
"Uhh, sure. But what's with all the whispering?" I ask while tilting my head to the side
Maria winces and tilts her head to the thing that she's hiding. "I accidentally broke Anton's favourite toy Dinosaur. If we say the word, he'll want it back and he might cry because it's decapitated..."
I give a dry smile at her words right after she shows it to me, and I lightly press Anton against my chest just in case he might see it. The Sauropod's head is missing from its neck, no wait it's on the floor right beside her feet. Put some ketchup and then you can say that this Sauropod was a French noble that was beheaded during the French revolution!
"That looks...gruesome," I say with a grimace.
"Tell me about it..." She gently nudges me to make me stand up. "I owe you one for this. My little sister is already outside riding her bike."
"Well, okay then." I walk to the crib and then slowly put Anton in a lying position. Since we're already in his room and he was crawling around earlier, I also clean his hands with some wet disinfectant tissue that Maria gave me when I asked for it. Surprisingly, he doesn't move as much as I thought he would. And just looks up at the planets above his crib or stares at me with wide blue eyes and drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. Maria wordlessly hands me a dry and soft tissue just as I was reaching for it.
"Hey, you're really good at this stuff Hachiman." She says from my side.
"My Mother is head of the neighbourhood community and asks me to help out and volunteer at the local daycare several times," I say and carefully lift Anton into my arms, trying not to sound too cheeky about my experience. The baby rests his head on my shoulder, and I feel him start to chew on my shirt. "I haven't been there in a while because I was busy with school stuff, but I learned a lot."
"Oh yeah. You did mention that, now that I think about it," Maria furrows her brows and gives me a questioning look as if I said something strange. "Huh? You have daycare for babies?"
Now, it was my turn to give her the same expression. She is a little too close for comfort, I can see her hazel iris in her eyes as well as the light freckles on her cheeks. "Yeah? You mean you've never heard of one?" I say while stepping back, taking a random toy from Anton's crib as an excuse.
"I thought toddlers were the minimum for stuff like that." She says, sounding very much surprised at the revelation.
"That's what I thought too when I first heard about it. A lot of households in our neighbourhood have both parents that work full-time jobs and have little to no time in taking care of their children. Kids with parents like those at usually the ones who number the most in our daycare." I say.
The brunette interest in the topic seems to have piqued, but before she could ask further, Anton starts grumbling baby gibberish while wiggling his body. "Shhhhhpffffff... Ahng! Eih!"
His sister and I decide that he must be feeling impatient, and I part ways with her. "Bye-bye, we'll see you later," I say while making the baby wave at her. Maria giggles at the sight and waves back then goes back to covering up her murder victim. We go out the door back to the room that I'm staying in. Lukas is still asleep as I seat myself back on the bed. With the baby panda on my lap, I take my phone to see if Komachi is still on the other end.
"Komachi? You still there?" I call out, but all I received was silence. I wait for several moments until Anton starts biting and chewing on my finger again while making random baby sounds.
Hmm, she's probably already asleep. Can't really blame her since I took a short while to come back and it's in the middle of the night in Japan. The only person that I can think of, who's still possibly awake right now is Yoshiteru. Not only does he play games on his PC but he also spends much of his time on his phone playing shitty gotcha games during breaks at school. One time I caught him playing while classes were going on and I had to give him a slight warning.
Since Lukas is still asleep I go straight downstairs while opening the gates that barred Anton from it. The house was slightly bigger than ours and felt very much airy and spacious compared to your typical Japanese home. With one hand I held him to my chest while the other was on the rails to my right to keep me balanced. The scent of food being cooked at this time in the morning reminds me of back home. Eggs, sausage, bread, milk and coffee are the norm in this household. In our home, we usually have fish, rice, vegetables, miso soup and some leftover heated food from the previous night as our breakfast.
I can't stand their food in the mornings here. Not that it's bad or anything, it's really good and a welcome change of pace. It's just that, as your average East Asian, and I know our neighbours in Southeast Asia can relate as well, some pieces of bread and pancakes aren't nearly enough to sate my appetite! It goes through my gut quickly, and I get hungry again just as fast! Like at least two hours after eating! And the sausages and eggs, it feels weird just eating it alone without any rice! Maria can eat an entire bowl of oatmeal alone, and that's just for breakfast! Just hot water added, and without any MILK or SUGAR! That's crazy! Ah, but maybe she's just built differently! Oatmeal gives me indigestion and makes my stomach sting like a bitch!
Give me rice, or give me death I say!
Jokes aside and with all that said, I choose to eat as much as I can, even until I feel like bursting. I feel like the de Mer Matriarch notices it, and happily puts more food on my plate when we eat. Much to my dismay and surprise, Lukas even lightly chided his Mother for it at the dinner table, and she quickly apologized. I waved off her concerns and Lukas' since it would be too rude for me. She didn't change much to my relief, and we continue as if nothing happened.
Though if this keeps up for the next few weeks, I'm sure to gain a few kilos... Well, Shiromeguri-senpai always says that I'm too scrawny, and I might as well change that while I'm here.
I see a woman with her back to me, just like Maria she had light brown voluminous hair and was just a bit taller than her. Mrs Cathy is a nice lady, she is very kind welcoming and is close with all of her children. She is a housewife and spends much of her time taking care of Anton and her other young daughter. Once again the baby in my arms squeaks and makes cute noises, Mrs Cathy with an apron around herself turns around to us.
"Good morning Mrs Cathy," I say in Dutch and give her a bow. She returns one of her own with a pleasant smile on her face. That smile of hers bears resemblance to Maria, her daughter. The scant few age lines on her face do little to diminish her beauty.
"Good morning to you too Hachiman. Are Lukas and Maria up yet?" Her eyes light up when she sees Anton in my arms, and the little one squeals upon recognizing his Mother.
"Aaaaaaaahhh!" He cries out excitedly when his Mother gives him a flying kiss.
Mrs Cathy's English isn't as good as her children's, so we communicate through her native tongue. Even I speak to them in Dutch since they're so amazed and amused at my progress. And if I'm being completely honest, even I am too! I guess putting in two hours every day for the last month and a half to practice the language wasn't for nothing after all! It was a fun reunion at the airport when I first spoke to them. Lukas is still taller and bigger than me given that he's in his early 20's, and he gave me a warm hug upon our meeting. His sister Maria, on the other hand, gave me the usual three-kiss greeting, and then quickly expresses her surprise at how much I've grown in the almost half a year that we haven't seen each other. When we met in Japan, she was a few centimetres taller, but now, we're around eye level.
I guess drinking milk twice a day really works huh...
"Lukas is still asleep but Maria asked me to take Anton out in her place." The baby in my arms perks up at his name being called and pulls at my shirt from its collars. I expertly adjust him until he's lying down with his head on my right forearm.
"Oh? I thought that she had already woken up? Did she go back to sleep?"
I shake my head. "No, she's currently fixing something in Anton's room." The scent of food being cooked makes my stomach growl. Fortunately, Mrs Cathy is on the other side of the room. Anton on the other hand turns towards my chest and starts patting at it in wonder.
"Hmm, I see. I bet Lukas is still asleep as well. He came downstairs in the early hours of the morning..."
"Yeah, you're right about that." My eyes go to the empty dining table, and my househusband instincts are activated on their own. As the one who mostly handles this kind of stuff at home, it's unavoidable not to feel it again just because I'm staying in another household. I even offer to wash the dishes or help out with setting the table when I had dinner at the Kawasaki residence once. But as expected, Saki and her parents made a fuss about my statement and just told me to sit down and enjoy myself.
"Should I start setting the tableware?" I ask and take a step towards it. As is to remind me that he's still here, Anton wiggles and pulls at my shirt again. And then I realize that going about my task while carrying him is too dangerous.
Mrs Cathy smiles and shakes her head at my words. "Thank you Hachiman, that's very kind of you. But I'll handle it. You should go outside with Anton while it's still not hot enough." I automatically bow at her, to which she courteously returns one as well, and then excuse myself from the room. Anton and I pass by their living room, a bit more spacious than our house. The sofas and couch with a small table in the middle faced their TV mounted on the wall with customized cabinets and bookshelves surrounding it. We were about to walk out of the door when I hear his Mother's voice again.
"Hachiman~! Can you fetch Adriana and tell her that breakfast is almost done?" I tell her that I'll do just that and then step outside the house.
Their front porch was under the shade and the garage to my right only had Mrs. Cathy's SUV. Their family has a lot of spare and unused land in their lot, their nearest neighbour was around a five-minute walk away. I see a little girl riding on a small pink bicycle not far from the foot of the porch. She wore a helmet, shoulder and knee pads to keep her safe and secure while she rides. Her blonde hair flies behind her, just like her little brother's which I'm carrying in my arms. The morning sun feels nice against my face, I can tell that Anton likes it too.
"Good morning, Adrianne. You're up early." I call out to her when I get close enough. Instead of greeting me back, she just goes on biking on the grass with her training wheels, completely ignoring me as if I don't exist. I just stand still, completely taken aback and at a loss.
Uwaah, and she barely spoke a word to me after I arrived. It's understandable to feel a little distrust, but a 'Good morning' doesn't hurt to say, no? I also didn't help that Lukas, Maria, Anton and I were mostly with each other while she holed up in her room. She's around Kei-chan's age, and yet they are so different.
I watch her ride on until she goes back to the house. I carefully raise Anton until as I supported his bottom with my left forearm and his back with my right one.
"Anton, was it something I said? Did Onii-chan come out too strong or was it my menacing eyes again?" I ask him.
The baby tilts his head to the side at my words, blinking and staring back at me with his big and bright eyes. Several moments pass and his blank expression turns into a wide smile as he starts laughing.
"Hehehehehehe! Ahaha!" He starts wiggling his arms and legs around again excitedly. I eventually break into a smile and lightly pinch and pull at his soft cheeks.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure that I can be friends with her too. With you, Lukas' and Maria's help of course!" The baby's smile widens and his giggles become louder when he sees me do the same.
Anton and I spend the time remaining outside until Maria calls us to come back for breakfast.
Lukas on the other hand was still asleep and only woke up after around two more hours.
Hey everyone! Ivanov117 here!
So exactly one week ago, August 8th, was Hachiman's birthday!
I was supposed to post this chapter on that date, but the words just couldn't come outright. And also because I've been feeling rather down and depressed lately because of burnout. Every day feels monotonous and the same, like I'm the cog of a machine forever cursed to do the same thing for all eternity. Nothing I do makes me feel happy anymore, and the things that I used to love to feel empty, void and meaningless. I daresay that I'm losing my passion for what I do.
If you follow my other stories, you might have noticed an extreme sudden drop in updates. Or if I had updated them, you might have seen some grammatical errors or typos here and there. I'm truly ashamed of it, but my current mental state just doesn't allow me to be the Author that I was some time ago.
I'm sorry you lot had to read this, but I think I also need to let you know how I am right now. I'm not feeling myself for the past few months, and I don't know how to go about it. Nor do I see myself getting better any time soon.
And no, I am NOT DROPPING this Fic or my other works.
Well, that's all that I have to say for now.
Goodbye