FAMILY MATTERS : part 1
It was night in Chiba and after a long time it's citizens felt some relief.
For many it had been a long and deadly war with severe repercussions.
Japan along with rest of Republic of East Asia avoided the most of the destruction caused by this war but April Fool's Disaster caused severe hardships all over the world by wiping out nuclear power capability and they were no exception.
Now that the country's leaders had declared they were leaving the Alliance with Earth Forces and seek separate peace with PLANT it seemed to many there was finally hope and promise for the future.
Everyone was not in mood to celebrate however;there was one Japanese Family in Chiba where their minds were preoccupied by something else as they quietly watched the news of the ceasefire on their Television screen.
The daughter got up and went to her room while the parents kept sitting on the sofa in the darkened Living room.
"A Declaration has been presented that Republic of East Asia will seek peace with PLANT.
A high-level delegation has already been sent to negotiate the terms and they have high hopes that the talks with be successful.
...
In other news,tensions between the Atlantic Federation and Eurasia continue to increase as-"
The mother changed the channel to some old serial drama as she couldn't keep watching the news.
She looked at a framed photo on nearby table with their son,Hachiman;He had just finished training in a technical field and about to leave for Alaska and from then on out to the open space and admittedly he looked rather smart in his uniform.
Not of their country's military though. Though unusual it wasn't illegal to sign up to the Atlantic Federation as long as they accepted their home country would not take responsibility and deny to have anything to do with them in case of being captured or worse.
Komachi in particular was hysterical and tearfully demanded his reason for this decision and whether he had gone mad.
Mrs. Hikigaya however had a inkling that it had something to do with someone from his school and his borderline desire to protect someone regardless of his own well-being.
Without him ever stating it she knew her son enough to know that his drive to help someone was enough to seek whatever means to get to themstubborn
One of few occasions his father said he was proud of him.
Their house got little damage but many of the homes in the neighbourhood had been destroyed or abandoned so the night had an eerie feel.
Komachi had gone back to her room after dinner. The once sly,cheerful girl just wasn't the same with war breaking out;her older brother went overseas to fight and rest of the family lived in shelters outside Chiba for safety.
Mrs. Hikigaya understood his son's reasons for leaving and had a feeling her daughter did too but with no news of him and his final message to them few days ago about a mission laughed from the moon seemed foreboding and she feared the worst.
Still,they had to respect his decision and learn to move on. That's what he would have wanted.
"I'm going to talk to our daughter. It has been really hard for her."
Mr. Hikigaya kept staring at the Television screen despondent. He never was good at expressing his feelings but there was undoubtedly an oppressive air around him;he didn't know how he'd cope with loss of his only son which he had neglected for years in favour of the younger daughter,not even celebrating his birthday. And now he wouldn't even get a chance to reconnect with him.
She got up and slowly paced towards her room,not bothering to turn on any lights and only the glow of the Television dimly lit the place.
She reached the door and knocked on it.
"Sweetie? I'm coming in."
She waited for a moment and there was no response.
She had to tell and prepare her for the worst possibility regarding her brother's whereabouts;she opened the door and walked inside.
...
Komachi sat quietly on her bed,staring at nothing in particular as moonlight entering from the window dimly lit the otherwise dark room.
She said nothing as she heard a knock on her door. Still said nothing as her mother walked in and slowly sat next to her on her bed.
She knew her mother was worried and waiting for her to respond to her presence but she didn't and kept looking away.
So many thoughts in her head but didn't know what to say.
"Stupid Big brother"
She muttered. She should have cajoled him,use every bit of her slyness to keep him from going to war. He would always accept her demands in the end no matter how unreasonable she was being but not this time. Now she didn't want to accept if anything happened to him. She didn't even say goodbye when he left. Selfish,yes. But that's just her.
Mrs. Hikigaya sighed and nodded understandably.
"I know"
"All because of that friend in school? What he even intend to do by joining the military? Not even of our country."
At least she knew why did he went away. The hard part was for her to understand people make decisions which aren't rational if they feel strongly about something. It didn't mean he didn't care for his own family and they should respect his decisions even if it's hard or even hurtful to accept.
"Your brother might not-"
"Mother! Please..."
She was being very selfish. She longer was a little kid who fully knew and took advantage of being cute and dotted on but a high schooler and acting like a spoiled brat everyone else had so much stuff to deal with.
More moments of silence and the mother thought of giving up and try talking to her another time,maybe bring her father along with her too. He had always spoiled her too much so it was time for him to pick up the slack.
Silence was broken as the bed creaked with movement of Komachi closer to the window. Mrs. Hikigaya noticed Komachi lean closer to the window and squinted a bit as if to focus on something outside.
"Mother,there is a black car in front of the house"
Mrs. Hikigaya quickly turned to look outside and indeed there it was with some men in suits standing beside it from what she could figure out in the mostly dark street. They had been engrossed in their thoughts they didn't realise having visitors.
"Who could it be at this time of night?"
She wasn't expecting any visitors and it honestly seemed shady so she got off the bed and walked to go see what was going on. Komachi worldlessly followed after her since there was nothing better to do and it was getting suffocating in any rate so any distraction was fine.
They made their way to the living and to their surprise the lights were turned on and Mr. Hikigaya was standing who turned to look at them awkwardly as if he had been surprised and just remembered they were here too.
"Dad?"
Komachi asked since it was strange to see him so attentive since he had been in a slump for quite some time.
"Um...I was standing outside to get some air and..."
His strange way of talking caused Mrs. Hikigaya to raise an eyebrow which moved above the level of her spectacles which he thought looked cute but now wasn't the time.
"We have a visitor"
He turned to look at the sofa and Mrs. Hikigaya walked forward to follow her husband's line of sight.
Her eyes opened wide with surprise on recognising who was sitting there.
A young lady with long,black hair in dark blue dress gave off a cool and regal aura but her expression softened and smiled a bit on seeing her.
"Mrs. Hikigaya,Komachi." She greeted by nodding slightly.
"Yukino-san!" Komachi whispered in awe.
"It's been a while but I'm afraid I don't have much time and have important news. It's about Hachiman"
A/N: Responding to a question in a review regarding how Hachiman could have joined Atlantic Federation when Japan is in Republic of East Asia in Gundam Universe.
The main teen cast were Orb citizens which was neutral but at first sort of coerced and later voluntarily joined Atlantic Federation before eventually defecting to Orb.
Shinn Asuka was Orb citizen who became refugee to PLANT and volunteered to join ZAFT in Gundam Seed Destiny.
It's not uncommon even in real world militaries for non-citizens to volunteer if they meet their criteria.