#Chapter 4: In Japan
Elsa POV
Fear and anxiety tickled my gut. My legs felt heavy. I didn't know what to do. I'm totally busted. They once got angry at me for using the microwave, knife, or even touching scissors. My parents are definitely going to ground me for messing around with the laptop too much. And an angry regret made me grit my teeth. I completely forgot to add one last code so dad couldn't find the software easily.
"Elsa, did you make this?" dad said with wide-eyed disbelief, showing me his computer screen. His finger pinpointed to my Antivirus program. I gulped, this is bad.
"Y-y-yeah, but, well, uh, I can explain!" I said with a cracked voice.
Although, there wasn't really any special explanation that could free me from punishment. I did it simply because I liked to do it. The world then didn't make any sense to me anymore as mom and dad slid smiles on their faces. Am I in trouble or not?
"Elsa, where did you learn to do this?" My mom asked me softly. Simply telling her won't be enough.
"Wait a minute," I rushed to my room, grabbed a big rugged brown box from under my bed, and walked back to them. I stared down on the object sadly. They're not going to burn this are they? I handed my dad the box and sat next to him.
"I learned from that," I said. They opened the said box and seemed taken aback from what they saw.
Kai's POV
"Wait a minute." she rushed back to her room before returning with a big brown rugged box cradled on her hands. She gave me the box and sat beside me.
"I learned from that," she said with her head cautiously lowered.
We opened it together, and we both had our eyes wide and brows impossibly high. Inside that box, there's at least nine or ten big and large books about computer hackers and computer programs. They were mine. I never used them anymore because I thought I lost them. I searched these everywhere and I never found them. But now, I didn't have to look for it anymore, because it's all back.
"I'm really sorry dad. I'm really sorry for stealing your books. I took your books secretly when you were going outside. But, learning computers and hacking are fun. Better than learning school stuff," she said with a sad voice. Though, there wasn't a sign of remorse for the last part.
No wonder she had excellent grades, especially in mathematics, computers, and languages. She got a huge head start
"Did you read all of it?" I asked.
"I've already finished reading all those books and I want to hand them all back to you," she said.
"All of it? Finished?" Gerda asked. She nodded a yes.
We were beyond shocked. What average young girl would take her time reading a number of books meant for college students? And able to understand every single thing? Amazing!
"Elsa dear, what are you interested in?" Gerda asked softly to her.
An excitable, bright look appeared in our precious daughter's face. "I'm interested in martial arts, singing, dancing, and most of all, using computers to make something fun," she said, smiling widely.
"Like making an Antivirus?" I said, smiling back. She bit her lip and nodded bashfully.
"When you grow up, what do you want to be?" I asked her.
"A singer or a choreographer is cool. But most of all, I want to be a secret agent or a white hat hacker!" she beamed.
My wife and I exchanged approving nods and looked back to her. She only gave us a weird look, tilting her head to the side.
"What?" Elsa said.
Elsa POV
"What?" I said.
Seriously, why does mom and dad keep looking at each other so much?
"You said that you really want to be a white hat hacker, right?" My mom asked.
"Yes?" I said. More handfuls of fingers longer and fiercer filled my stomach, but rather in a good way. Was this going where I thought this was going?
"We want to send you to Japan, where there's a school and college for computer geniuses. You can also learn plenty of martial arts there," dad said with a huge smile.
A gasp sounded from my mouth and I nearly dropped to my knees. "Really?! But, how you can send me there?" I said in disbelief. Okay, this was what I was hoping for, but I never knew it would come true! My parents were actually giving me such an amount of support!
"Better believe it Elsie. We got a friend lookin' for geniuses worldwide who are willing to skip high schools and go straight to college. I knew you had potential so I called him a week ago and he told me you're perfect! He already has a seat saved just for you kiddo!" dad cheered. "But hold your horses, you gotta finish school first, just until you're fourteen. From there, you don't have to worry about high school and we'll send you to him! Now pack up little miss, guess who's got an interview with my pal in Japan?"
"Me?!"
"You betcha!"
Dad lifted me up, spun me around. I laughed heartily as a few tears ran down my cheek. He put me down and warmth blanketed around me as I was wrapped in a hug by my parents
"I'm totally ready! Thank you so much mom and dad! You guys are the best!" I said. I thought I was crying. Ever since I read all those books, about the wonders of computers, from operating systems to binary codes, I really wanted to go to Japan to know more about computers. Now my dreams were really coming true!
That was 8 years ago...
Now I was nineteen. I had already finished college in Japan, but I wasn't satisfied with what I've learned so I decided to enroll as a college student again at Corona University in New York. Currently, I'm still in Japan, but I would head to New York tomorrow with my new brothers Tadashi and Hiro Hamada
Tadashi was twenty and Hiro was fifteen. They were computer geniuses too. Their parents were in good relations with mine, but they both died in a fire accident so they were adopted by my mom and dad and we became siblings.
The two brothers were white hat hackers called 'The Big Brothers' with the nickname 'Robot Maker'. Their program was named 'Baymax'. They would go to college again with me, but Tadashi's going to follow along because whe would be a teacher there.
Back in Japan, I had a few computer geeks as my BFFs. There was Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Fred, and Gogo. We stuck together like family
Mom and dad were actually white hat hackers too. They were called 'The Kingdom's Servants' with the nickname 'Servants', but they had retired.
In our family, we had a tradition to speak in different languages when in a private conversation. My family had always used Japanese, and my brothers too. As for myself, I was a little different. While my family only used English and Japanese, I could use at least five different languages like English (of course), Japanese, Russian, French, and Spanish. That way, I can talk to those who couldn't speak English or Japanese too well
"Yo sis! Pumped up about New York? The city's gonna be amazing!" Hiro yelled excitedly as he helped out to carry boxes to Tadashi's car. I told him to do other things though because anything Tadashi's holding was going to end in tragedy whenever he's too happy or giddy, and me, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Fred watched him carrying the box of all our laptops with chattering teeth.
My brothers and I were finally on our way to New York. In Japan, we stayed in a rented house. Since we didn't have much, Fred offered aid with beds, sheets, covers, and various more which we accepted gratefully
"Relax, kid. We're not even on the plane yet," Tadashi said as he ruffled his hair. He earned a wide frown from Hiro, especially after calling him 'kid'.
The rest of the group had their own teases, but it wasn't until Fred called him a 'shorty' when Hiro really reacted, jokingly chasing him around the car.
We were also borrowing the gang's cars since there was too much stuff for a single vehicle to carry. We divided into groups according to body size and the car space left available, then drove to Narita International Airport. After went all the luggage and boxes to the baggage, we say goodbyes to everyone.
"Don't break the stuff we leave behind here," I joked. Fred gave a thumbs up.
Though Gogo was one of the closest to me, when she hugged me and I felt my neck wet, I realized it was the first time I'd seen her cry. I patted her back and told her I would be alright and I'd visit when I had time. She made me promise that
Within the plane, my seat was next to the window as Hiro's was at the middle and Tadashi's at the end. I took the chance to check for updates in all my social medias before the captain could announce take off. I adjusted the settings in my phone to airplane mode and heard the click of my fastened seat belt. The takeoff went smoothly.
Hiro played his Nintendo, Tadashi slept silently with his neck pillow, and I tapped a beat along the songs of my favorite Halsey album which was 'Badlands'. I positioned my cap and move into a comfortable position. Leaning my head to my seat, I watched the sun retreating to the clouds