Nikei Yomiuri Shipping Collection

Mitsuyomi - Road Trip

Whenever he sensed that there was a scoop nearby, Nikei always jumped at the chance to go after it as soon as he could. To him, this scoop came in the form of one of his classmates leaving school for a business trip in a foreign country.

Kokoro was told that she was to go take a plane to Canada in order to share her current research about the mentality of the common people and how the overall happiness levels of the country can be increased if certain measures were taken to help their daily lives. Her flight was to be the next day.

When Nikei heard, he practically begged on his hands and knees to be taken along with her. Not only did he want to go with her to parliament and check out where the action was happening, but he also wanted to get the inside story about Canada and Germany's deals regarding their Hydrogen Strategy. 

After promising over and over that he wouldn't get in the way of their work, the psychologist reluctantly agreed to take him along. He would have to buy his own plane ticket and other things though, and split the gas money with her, which he deemed as a fair fare.

When their plane landed in the Ottawa International Airport, Nikei kept trailing behind Kokoro with his bags like an excited terrier. "We're finally here! Look at how old-fashioned all these things are, way different than in Japan! But I guess that's because we might be in an old part of the city rather than hanging out around Tokyo," the journalist rambled on.

"We need to get a rental car," Kokoro told him. "It'll be the quickest way to get anywhere for a few days."

Kokoro used google maps for them to work together and find a car rental dealership that allowed them to use a car for the next few days, using Nikei as a translator to talk to the man since the journalist was the only one of the two that could speak some English.

After they secured their method of transportation, the psychologist began driving them to Parliament Hill. However, the drive seemed to be taking a lot longer than anticipated as they navigated the city. "Um... Are we lost or do you know where we are?" Nikei questioned.

"Yes, this is the correct route according to the map I have," Kokoro answered, not taking her eyes off the road. "We'll be there soon, the drive is just longer because we needed a rental car. And it will be longer if you keep complaining." When she saw Nikei huff and simmer down in his seat, she added, "If you don't get into trouble, I'll take you to the ByWard Market or the Rideau Centre later."

The promise of getting to see popular tourist sites shut the journalist up, and he didn't say a word for the rest of the trip. It took about twenty minutes, but they finally reached Parliament Hill and parked nearby. With the taller man on her heels, Kokoro made her way into the building.

When they went to go check themselves in, they were stopped at the visitor's entrance and searched while being questioned. "My name is Kokoro Mitsume, I was told to come here to present my mentality research at a meeting here," she explained, "and his name is Nikei Yomiuri, he's a journalist who came to cover a story of the Hydrogen Strategy. We're both here on official business, could you tell us where we can go?"

Instead of being told, the two of them were guided by separate people to where they were supposed to go. Kokoro ended up at her meeting, which took half an hour as she presented everything that she found to the branch that would handle what she had found. When she finally left the meeting with a standing ovation, she went back outside to find an excited journalist waiting for her.

"Did you get the story that you were looking for?" the tired psychologist asked.

"Yes! I got the good details for the best article to share with Japan, even if my English is still rusty!" Nikei exclaimed. "This will be great things if the world moves away from fossil fuels and towards using hydrogen instead, it's more eco-friendly too!"

"That's nice," Kokoro stated, half-ignoring the journalist's oud rambling. "I'm tired right now, and our flight home doesn't happen until the afternoon tomorrow. Do you want to stop at the market or the centre in the morning? Both of them have food options."

As Kokoro walked out of the building with Nikei talking about his scoop and the tourist attractions beside her, she started believing that maybe the times where Emma refused to let go of her were much better than hearing Nikei ramble near-incoherently about his latest news story to her.