A Hero I Look Up To

Fun and Games

Tobio is now in his last year of elementary school, fifth grade! Mia and Serena are in his class once again. Today was September 15, 2017, a day before Chris' twenty-fourth birthday and the day Serena is finally going to meet Chris for the first time. As Tobio opened Chris' car door...

"We finally brought her, Chris!" Tobio exclaimed. "This is Serena, our friend!"

Serena however, was very surprised on how old Chris was. She looked at Mia, then Tobio, then Chris, to wonder what's going on.

The children have entered the car. Tobio sits next to the window with his seat facing the drivers seat. Serena is sitting comfortably on the other side of the window seat, while Mia sat on the middle seat a bit cramped, but enough to endure the ride.

"You're... Chris?" Serena politely asked Chris.

"Yeah." Chris replied. "You might think I'm crazy, but... I'm actually his babysitter."

"HIS BABYSITTER!?!?" Serena was a bit concerned. "What... wha... huh...?"

"Tobio's parents aren't around, so we go to the park to have fun and do homework!" Mia says with excitement.

"Ooh, the park! I'm already excited!" Serena exclaimed, putting both of her hands on her face. "What will we do there?"

Mia points her right finger up into the sky. Serena looked at Mia as if she had an idea. Tobio already knew what Mia was going to say, so he didn't interfere.

"We usually hang around a big tree and talk about stuff. Sometimes Chris brings some games for us to play, or sometimes takes us to his work place or Augustin Bakery." Mia explained smoothly.

"Chris has a job!?" Serena was a bit shocked. "Where?"

"Chris works part time at Red Lotus Cafe." Tobio responded, looking away from Serena's eyes and looking at the window. "His part time job isn't today, so we can't go there."

"Oh yeah, and you also get to meet his two co-workers!" Mia exclaimed with starry eyes.

Serena got more hyped up than she was when the group first talked about Chris. Serena figured that Chris is a fun guy and can do whatever Tobio wants to do, while in reality, she doesn't know that Chris became a "full-time babysitter" for Tobio because of how the parents aren't always at home.

"So... do you guys play shiritori?" Serena asked Tobio. "It's a really fun game.

"Shiritori?" Mia asked, looking at Serena with curious eyes. "What's that?"

"It's a Japanese word game where someone starts off by saying a word in Japanese. The next person starts off with the word that ends with the Japanese character in the first word. You keep saying them until you can't think of it, or the Japanese character ends with "n" (ん)." Serena explained the rules to Tobio and Mia, which left them perplexed. Tobio and Mia don't know Japanese at all, even if Tobio's name and surname are Japanese. Serena looked at them as if they saw a ghost and got confused herself.

"Y-You don't know...?"

"Not at all!" Mia complained, holding on to her head. "How would I know Japanese words right off the bat!?"

"That's true..." Tobio adds on, looking outside the window. "Although my name is in Japanese, I don't know a lot."

"Have you asked your parents?" "Serena asked Tobio.

"They're always busy, so I never get the chance to ask." Tobio replied with a sad tone.

"Ah... well then, hand me your phone, Chris!"

"Wha—!?" Chris was shocked to hear what Serena said. Mia was out of words to say, thinking that Serena wants to barge into Chris' private matters.

Tobio saw the fun Mia and Serena were having, but he realizes that he will graduate elementary school soon. Tobio remembered all the fun times with his friends, how they played on the playground at school, hanging out with Chris at Satellite Park after school, Tobio thought—hoped that this much fun will happen with his parents soon, since the last time they ever had fun was when he was in second grade.