The B.G.S.'s part 21

20th August 2025 Hi Kiki. Do you remember when my friends and I told Mr Yashiro about our parents and troubled pasts Kiki? And do you remember a couple of days ago I was starting to feel like those people we met who never made up with their families? Well Mr Yashiro and Professor Largos have done something about it. I’ll start at the beginning. It all started this morning when my friends and I were having breakfast with Professor Largos and Mr Yashiro. Professor Largos was telling us that we have just nearly gathered up all the lost B.G.S.’s. “Are we going to search for the remaining B.G.S.’s today Professor?” asked Yuko. “No not today,” answered Professor Largos “today children we are actually going to do something about your parents”. “What do you mean?” asked Shizuyo. Mr Yashiro spoke next. “Ever since you children told me about your pasts I’ve been thinking about what to do about it,” he said “and my friend Professor Largos here has come up with the perfect solution”. “Come with me kids and I’ll show you what we are going to do” said Professor Largos. My friends and I followed Mr Yashiro and Professor Largos to his lab and Professor Largos got onto one of his computers. “Okay so what’s going on?” asked Hiroshi. “Well because you children told me about the people you met, who never made up with their families and some of those who realized their errors too late,” said Professor Largos “I’ve come up with a solution to make your parents realized their mistakes before it’s too late”. “Okay so what are you doing?” asked Tatsuya. “On this computer I create fantasy illusions like dreams and things, especially when I need a good dream now and again,” said Professor Largos “so I will be sending your parents some bad dreams tonight about what might happen to you six in the future if they never made up for their mistakes”. “Oh is it like how Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol got that bad dream of his alternate future if he never realized his errors?” asked Yuko. “Somewhere like that” said Professor Largos. “Do excuse me,” I said “but how on earth are you going to send these dreams to our parents?” “Ah it’s thanks to my little flying robots” said Professor Largos. He presented some little hovering robots that looked like mini flying saucers. “You see I create a fantasy illusion onto my computer, next I download the dream into one of my robots and then the robots will fly into your parent’s houses, once I teleport them there, and scan the dreams into their heads”. “That sounds cool,” said Yuko “but how do the robots get into the houses?” “Simple my robots will have a small camera on the top, that way I can watch where they are on the screen and will be able to control them of where they have to go and such” said Professor Largos. “Hang on a minute,” said Kouhei “how do you know where our families live? I mean a few weeks after I entered the boarding school I heard my mother had left our old house, but I wasn’t told where she went”. “Kouhei has a point;” I said “neither of us knows if any of our families had moved away ever since we left them”. “I found their whereabouts on my computer;” said Professor Largos “Kyoko, Shizuyo and Hiroshi, your families are still living in the same places you lived in before. But Yuko after you parent’s divorce, they moved into different apartments in the town you lived in. Kouhei your mum has been living with a sister of hers in another town ever since she sent you to the boarding school”. “That must be Aunt Mei she’s living with;” said Kouhei “I visited her a lot before that incident with my dad happened”. “Tatsuya I found out that your mum has been living separately from your dad for the past three years” said Professor Largos, “Really?” said Tatsuya “that’s surprising because my mum was always on dad’s side and never thought about leaving him, no matter how mean he was”. “Maybe something happened between those two” said Shizuyo. Professor Largos went back to typing on his computer. “I have already created your alternate futures children,” said Professor Largos “and they are just about ready to be sent to your parents”. “But before we do send these dreams to your parents,” said Mr Yashiro “you six must look at your alternate futures as well. You remember telling me that neither of you know what to do with yourselves once you graduate the Kurai Jinsei Boarding school? Well I think this will help you know what to think and hopefully not make the same mistakes made by the people you met”. Professor Largos pressed a button and then videos of our alternate futures appeared one by one on the computer screen. My alternate future showed me growing up to be wilful and independent. It also showed I had a real grudge of hatred on my parents because of how they broke promises to me all the time and were never around for me when I needed them. My hate for my parents was so strong I never forgave them and never made up with them. In the end I ran away from home to start a new life and my parents never see me or hear from me again because of the grudge I had towards them. Shizuyo’s alternate future showed her growing up to be rebellious because of her overprotective parents. So rebellious she becomes a member of a biker gang. She did dangerous tricks on her bike and kept on upsetting her parents over their worry for her. In the end she gets caught in a chicken race and dies from it. Yuko’s alternate future showed her becoming cold and isolated from everyone because of her parent’s divorce. She even closed her heart off towards her parents because of their arguments. In the end she lived as a hermit in a forest for the rest of her life. Hiroshi’s alternate future showed him committing suicide for real due to the neglect of his mother. Tatsuya’s alternate future showed him becoming insane due to his father’s control over him. And he stays in a mental hospital for a very long time. Kouhei’s alternate future showed him becoming a murderer. He murders his dad because of his abuse and kills his mum for never doing anything to stop it. Then he goes on killing other people who abuse their own children. He even kills parents who don’t protect their children from the one who abuses them. My friends and I were shocked once we finished watching our alternate futures on the computer Kiki. “Those alternate futures of ours are horrible” I said. “Yes because becoming a biker gang is something I don’t want to be,” said Shizuyo “besides I don’t even like motorbikes”. “Living a life as a hermit is something I don’t want either” said Yuko. “I know I nearly committed suicide when I was ten,” said Hiroshi “but I want to continue living my life as I am now”. “Same here,” said Tatsuya “I want to live my life, but free from my father”. “And I definitely don’t want to end up as a murderer” said Kouhei. “Yes and truthfully I don’t want to live the same way Mr Kenzou and his son Masaru did either” I said. “Well children,” said Mr Yashiro “now that you have seen your alternate futures it’s time for you to think about what you want to do about your situations with your families. I want you six to grow up to be happy, and I wish for you six to have happy futures and live happy lives with no regrets. And I’m sure your parents think the same too”. My friends and I just stood silent while looking at each other, and then we left to let Professor Largos and Mr Yashiro do their work on giving our parents bad dreams. We knew Mr Yashiro is right about us having to decide what to do I’m telling you Kiki, my friends and I do know Mr Yashiro is right that we have to make our decisions soon because we do wish to live happy lives. And of course we don’t want to make our alternate futures a reality. But we still don’t know what to do about our parents yet. I have so much thinking to do Kiki I fear this is going to make my head hurt.

The B.G.S.'s part 20

17th August 2025 Hello Kiki. I’m sorry I haven’t written to you for three weeks, but a lot of things happened since I last wrote to you. During these three weeks my friends and I visited a lot of places to find more B.G.S.’s and we went to these places together, instead of going in separate teams. First we went to Hokkaido for a whole week. There we visited the snowy mountains at Niseko, Sapporo and a farm in Hakodate, and we found twenty five B.G.S.’s in total. The boys had fun skiing at Niseko and the girls and I had fun window shopping while looking through Sapporo. We even looked at all the animals while visiting the farm. After Hokkaido we visited Kusatsu of Gunma Prefecture. You won’t believe this Kiki but we found a dozen B.G.S.’s hiding in the Kusatsu hot spring resorts. The B.G.S.’s really liked the hot spring and so did my friends and I. Next we visited Takaharu Town of the Miyazaki Prefecture, where we found eight B.G.S.’s in the village. After that we visited the Sunayama beach on Miyako Island, where we found eight B.G.S.’s. Professor Largos let us spend the day on the beach as a reward for all the work we had done so far. Next we visited Niigata City of the Niigata Prefecture where we found eight B.G.S.’s hiding between some neighbour hoods. Last of all we visited Hiroshima City of the Hiroshima Prefecture, where we found a dozen B.G.S.’s. The visit to Hiroshima City was a bit of a scary trip because the B.G.S.’s were hiding in the ruins of the Atomic Bomb Dome. The Atomic Bomb Dome is an old building that still stood after an atomic bomb in 1945 dropped in Hiroshima, just to let you know Kiki. My friends and I didn’t know what to do at first because it’s forbidden for anyone to step foot into the ruins. But then the red, blue and yellow B.G.S. Yuko, Shizuyo and I were carrying in our backpacks entered the ruins, and they got the hiding B.G.S.’s out of there for us. It was such a relief Kiki we had other B.G.S.’s to help us in that situation. But we didn’t find just the B.G.S.’s while on our trips Kiki; we ended up finding more families that were broken. At Niseko we met a man named Mr Ougi, whose wife and children left him about eight years ago. What happened was Mr Ougi had a drinking problem and kept on spending most of his earnings on alcohol. He even spent some of the earnings his wife earned too. Mrs Ougi had enough of her husband’s alcoholism and she left him, taking their children with her. Mr Ougi hadn’t seen his wife or children since because his ex-wife couldn’t forgive him or trust him anymore, even though he was sober now. I can’t say I blame Mrs Ougi for that Kiki; with how Mr Ougi caused pain, misery and trouble to his own family, it’s no wonder she doesn’t trust him now. In Sapporo we met a woman named Mami Komaki and she told us she cut herself off from her family when she left home at the age of 18. The reason was Miss Komaki was the middle child in her family and she always felt like she didn’t exist or didn’t matter to her parents because her elder and younger siblings got more attention than she ever did. So after finishing school Miss Komaki moved away at once after having enough of being ignored nearly all of her life. And she hasn’t contacted her family since because even thinking about her family just brings back bitter memories of her life. Makes me believe Miss Komaki will probably never want to see her family again Kiki. At the farm in Hakodate, the farmer and his wife told us about their eldest daughter Sakura, who died a few years ago from a road accident. You won’t believe this Kiki but we were told that Sakura was selfish and unhelpful to her family. She never helped out around the farm and she was one of those countryside folk who want to live in a city instead of the countryside. Of course the farmer and his wife tried to talk some sense into her and make her understand her responsibilities on the farm, but Sakura never took any of their words for reasons. In the end Sakura ran away from home to live in the city. The farmer and his wife were very cross and disappointed with her and they didn’t forgive her for her actions. Even when and after she died from the road accident, a year and a half after she ran away, they still can’t forgive her for her selfishness. If you ask me Kiki, I think getting killed from the road accident was Sakura’s comeuppance for being so selfish. At Kusatsu, just before we found the B.G.S.’s in the hot springs, we saw a funeral going on. A woman who attended the funeral told us the funeral belonged to a sixteen year old boy named Daisuke Iwashita who committed suicide. The story about Daisuke is he had been blamed for crimes he didn’t commit nearly all of his life. In elementary school he was accused for stealing his classmates lunch money, but it was really a girl named Aya Kuroda who did it because she was the type of girl who stole things from other children. In middle school he was accused for bullying another classmate, but the victim Inou Katase lied about being bullied by Daisuke because he was the type of boy who liked getting people into trouble by lying about them. Then in high school he was accused for making a friend of his die from an asthma attack. The friend was really killed by a nasty bully named Mamoru Yamada who just liked watching the friend suffer from an asthma attack. Of course Daisuke tried to tell his parents and teachers about what really happened, but no one, not even his parents, believed him so he always got punished by being grounded or sent to prison. In the end the real culprits got captured and punished but Daisuke never forgave anyone for not believing him ever. Being accused for his high school friend’s death made Daisuke have enough of being accused of crimes he didn’t commit, so he committed suicide so he would never be accused of anything again. I don’t blame Daisuke for committing suicide Kiki. I mean anybody would commit suicide if they’ve been blamed for everything they didn’t do all their lives. At Takaharu Town we met an elderly couple named Mr and Mrs Sumi, who have been raising their grandson and granddaughter, ever since their mum abandoned them two years ago. The story is the mum was married to Mr and Mrs Sumi’s son, but the son died in an accident not long after the granddaughter was born. The mum became so heartbroken after her husband’s death she ended up neglecting her son and daughter. So she left her son and daughter with her parents-in-laws and just left in a great hurry. And they haven’t heard or seen her since. Mr and Mrs Sumi are happy with raising their grandchildren, but they do hope one day that woman will come to her senses and see her children again. It sounds to me Kiki, that woman was a weak woman who couldn’t pick herself up after losing her husband and couldn’t bear the responsibilities of becoming a single parent. Just how selfish can you get? Seriously Kiki I hate to think how Mr and Mrs Sumi’s son in heaven is feeling about this. And there’s no doubt the grandson and granddaughter will hate their mum when they learn the truth about her one day. Mark my words Kiki that will happen. We didn’t meet anyone at Sunayama beach, but we met a widowed man named Mr Okazaki in Niigata City. Mr Okazaki was a downer and he had been like that ever since his son, Tomi, committed suicide five years ago. You won’t believe this Kiki but Mr Okazaki is a weak-willed man you lets everyone around him push him around, and he never stands up for himself. Can you believe that Kiki? Anyway the story is Kiki; Tomi hated his father letting everyone push him around and never standing him for himself. Tomi was the opposite of his dad; never letting people push him around and such. It got worse for Tomi in high school. He kept on getting bullied for no reason by some classmates. Tomi fought them back, which I say is good because you shouldn’t let bullies bully you. But Mr Okazaki, well here’s another thing you won’t believe Kiki. Mr Okazaki said he kept on telling his son to not fight the bullies and just ignore them. My friends and I couldn’t believe our ears when we heard that; it sounded like if Mr Okazaki was bullied he would just let the bullies bully him. Anyway the bullying for Tomi did get worse because there were times he got hit by the bullies, and it didn’t help when his dad didn’t do anything much about it. So one day Tomi died by making himself drown in the sea. I’m sorry to say this Kiki but it was Mr Okazaki’s fault Tomi killed himself; it was stupid of him to not even try to do something about the bullying, not even talk to the parents of the bullies. This is a guilt Mr Okazaki will be holding on for the rest of his life Kiki, believe me. At Hiroshima City we met a young woman named Megumi Yamada. She had been placing lots of paper cranes at the Hiroshima City memorial, hoping that her little sister would come home. The story is her sister Maki disappeared soon after she graduated from high school and she has been missing for six years now. Megumi claims it was her fault Maki disappeared because she got more attention from her parents than Maki ever did. The truth is Megumi was considered very beautiful and was always an A-grade student at school, so her parents were always praising her and giving her a lot of attention because of that. But as for Maki, she wasn’t as beautiful or smart as Maki so she didn’t get as much praise as her sister did. So it’s obvious to me Kiki, Maki got very angry and jealous of her sister and made herself disappear because she couldn’t take it anymore. It isn’t Megumi’s fault Maki ran away; it was her parent’s fault for not being careful with Maki. And it’s very clear to me Maki isn’t going to return home for a long time to come due to her hate and jealousy. These three weeks had been fun Kiki, but over the three weeks I had been thinking about something. To tell you the truth Kiki ever since my friends and I first met people who had sad pasts, quite similar to ours, I keep getting these feelings inside of me. And those feelings had me thinking; ‘am I the same as those people who never made up with their parents, because I haven’t made up with mine yet?’ or ‘am I never going to let go of my hate towards my parents, ever?’ or ‘is my broken relationship with my parents never ever going to mend?’ All of those questions kept on going on in my head. But then yesterday I decided to gather up my courage and tell Professor Largos, Mr Yashiro and my friends how I felt. While we had lunch I told everyone about my feelings and the questions I had in my head all the time. Everyone was silent for a few moments, but then Shizuyo spoke up. “Well I can’t really say we are the same as those people Kyoko,” she said “I mean we haven’t runaway, or broken off with our parents permanently, or made ourselves disappear, or died”. “No we haven’t,” I said “but what if we do, do any of those things in the future? And what if we do end up the same as those people who never made up with their families? What shall we do then?” My friends didn’t reply to my questions because neither of us knows what to do about our situations. My friends and I really do need help Kiki; we need a push or a nudge or anything to help us know what to do.

The B.G.S.'s part 19

 

26^th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today it was Yuko and Kouhei’s turn again to look for the B.G.S.’s. I got the story from them when they returned. They went to Kamogawa City of Chiba Prefecture and they ended up in a big forest.

You may not believe this Kiki but that forest used to be part of a town called Amatsukominato. But that town merged with Kamogawa City in 2005 and I am not kidding about that. Anyway back to what I was saying.   

“Wow this is a nice forest” said Yuko, looking all around the forest.

“No doubt the B.G.S.’s are hiding in bushes and trees” said Kouhei. Yuko agreed.

Kouhei turned out to be right Kiki, because once the blue B.G.S. started squeaking many other B.G.S.’s came out of hiding in trees and bushes. Twenty in total in so many different colours I don’t know.

“You see I told you they would be hiding in trees and bushes” said Kouhei.

“Wow I can’t believe we’ve found this many B.G.S.’s” said Yuko, in surprise.

 “Professor Largos will be happy with this find of ours,” said Kouhei “we better go now”.

Kouhei was about to press the button on his remote, but then Yuko stopped him. “Hey what’s that?” she said. She pointed to some smoke rising into the air. “That wouldn’t be a forest fire could it?”

“I don’t know,” said Kouhei “but we better go and look just in case it is a forest fire”.

Yuko and Kouhei followed the smoke, but it turned out they didn’t need to worry. The smoke was from a camp fire and a ragged looking man was stirring some soup in an old looking pot.

“Oh hello there” said the man.

“Uh hello,” said Yuko “uh pardon us for disturbing you sir. We saw the smoke from your fire and we thought it might have been a forest fire”.

“Oh it’s okay, I’m only cooking a soup of wild edible plants,” said the man “would you youngsters like some?”

“No thank you sir,” said Kouhei, politely, “we’re just about to go home”.

Just then the man started to go into a fit of coughing.

“Are you alright sir?” asked Kouhei, going over to him.

“Don’t bother about me boy,” said the man “I’m going to be dying soon anyway”. He showed Yuko and Kouhei some blood that got onto his hand, from his mouth.

“You should be in a hospital!” gasped Yuko. She was about to get her cell phone out of her pocket, but the man stopped her.

“Don’t bother,” said the man “I don’t have the money for the hospital, and dying out here in a wood is my own punishment for what I did in the past”.

“What do you mean?” asked Yuko.

Yuko feared the man was an ex-convict and was living alone in the forest to atone for his past crimes. The truth is Kiki, Yuko and Kouhei noticed that the man was living in a house made from bamboo. And he was growing edible wild plants and vegetables in the forest. This meant he was a homeless hermit.

“The truth is I failed to protect my own children from my wife” sighed the man.

The man’s name was Yuuhei Kikuchi and he told his story to Yuko and Kouhei. In the past Mr Kikuchi had a wife and had a son and daughter. But his wife was abusive.

“My wife Michiyo was ill and it made her insane,” said Mr Kikuchi “it first happened when our son Kaito was born. She ended up with child birth depression and when our daughter Kayo was born it got worse. At first Michiyo neglected the children, but not long after Kaito turned eight her behaviour got worse”.

Kouhei understood where this was going so he interrupted Mr Kikuchi. “Let me guess;” he said “your wife began to abuse Kaito and Kayo, and she hit them hard whenever she got upset and angry. Am I right? I know this because my father was abusive towards me too”.

Mr Kikuchi flinched after hearing that and sighed. “I hate to admit this but you are right son, my wife did abuse our children,” he said “whenever they caused an accident like spilling things on the floor or broken things by accident, she would slap them on the faces hard. And when they had done some that was wrong she would beat them hard as if they caused the end of the world”.

Kouhei wasn’t happy to hear that because it was the same with his dad. “And where were you when all of that happened?” he asked Mr Kikuchi.

“I did always make my wife stop and try to get her to come down, and told my children to quickly go to their rooms till it was safe,” said Mr Kikuchi “you see I never left my children alone with my wife because I understood how dangerous that was”.

“If you did understand that sir,” interrupted Yuko “then why didn’t you have your wife sent to a mental hospital at that time?”

“Because I loved Michiyo,” answered Mr Kikuchi “I loved the kind, loving and patient woman she was before. And I hoped she would go back to who she was before”.

“Do excuse me sir,” said Kouhei “but that was wrong of you to believe your wife would go back to being kind. My mum believed my dad would go back to his kind self too but he never did”.

Mr Kikuchi sighed again. “You’re right I was wrong,” he said “but I didn’t want to admit it back then. That foolishness of mine nearly cost me my children’s lives”.

He explained that one day, when Kaito was eleven and Kayo was eight, he was driving home from work. At that time Kaito and Kayo were alone with their mum because he had to stay a little bit late at work. He thought the children would be okay, but when he got home things were not okay. There were police and an ambulance at his house; his wife was arrested and Kaito and Kayo were being taken by the ambulance.

“I was told by some neighbours, who called the police and ambulance, that Michiyo beat Kaito and Kayo during a fit of rage;” said Mr Kikuchi “they heard her shouting and my children’s screaming and crying”.

“Your wife didn’t kill Kaito and Kayo did she?” Yuko asked, worriedly.

“No Kaito and Kayo were okay, but they were badly hurt,” answered Mr Kikuchi “seeing my children hurt like that made me angry and upset at myself for leaving my children alone with my wife. For once I drummed up my courage and told the police everything about my wife. I know I should have done that years ago, and that incident made me realize that”.

“What happened when your wife got arrested?” asked Kouhei.

“She got sentenced to a mental institution and Kayo and Kaito were taken away from me from social services” answered Mr Kikuchi.

Yuko and Kouhei felt a bit sorry for Mr Kikuchi. “Did you ever see Kaito or Kayo again after that?” asked Yuko.

“I did once a few weeks after they were taken from me,” answered Mr Kikuchi “I visited the foster home Kaito and Kayo were staying with. But they weren’t happy to see me, especially Kaito. Kaito was angry at me for leaving him and Kayo alone with their mum the day she nearly beat them to death. Even Kayo was upset seeing me; she yelled ‘no I don’t want to see mum again’. So I wasn’t welcomed by Kaito or Kayo”.

“Ah I see;” said Kouhei, understanding their feelings, “that means they couldn’t forgive you for stopping their mum and not being there when they needed you”.

“That’s exactly what happened,” said Mr Kikuchi “and it made me feel more and more ashamed of myself than ever. Time and time again I got reports of how Kaito and Kayo were happy with their new foster parents because of how kind, loving and supportive they were. I met them again a few months after the first visit, but they were still not happy to see me because they couldn’t forgive or forget about what happened with their mother. After that visit I couldn’t bring myself to show my face to my children ever again because of my foolishness of not protecting them from Michiyo properly. So I sold my house in the city and made myself disappear to this forest where I have lived ever since; that was twenty years ago. Even now I’m still too ashamed to face my children again because of how they hated me back then”.

“What about your wife?” asked Kouhei “what is she doing now?”

“She passed away ten years ago from an illness” answered Mr Kikuchi.

Yuko and Kouhei didn’t know what to say about all that.

“Um how did you know how to survive in a forest like this?” asked Yuko.

“Ah I learnt about wilderness survival when I was a boy from my parents and grandparents, especially from my grandma who knew a lot about what wild plants you can eat” said Mr Kikuchi. Just then he coughed up a bit of blood again. “Oh dear looks like it won’t be long now till death comes for me” he sighed. He pointed to a hole he recently dug up with a roof made out of branches and sticks. “I’ve dug up my own grave you see so I will die in this forest. Hopefully heaven will forgive me for my foolishness and I hope Kaito and Kayo will forgive me when they join me in heaven someday”.

Mr Kikuchi presented an old envelope from his old coat pocket and gave it to Yuko. “I have a letter in there to send to Kaito and Kayo;” he said “I’ve been saving that for when I day. Now I am sick and close to death so now the time has come to send it to them. The address on that envelope is to the foster family Kaito and Kayo lived with. Kaito and Kayo are probably not there anymore, but could I ask you youngsters to deliver my letter for me?”

“Of course sir, we’ll send it as soon as we get back home” said Yuko.

Yuko and Kouhei said goodbye to Mr Kikuchi and left his campsite. Next Kouhei took out the remote from his bag and pressed the button. Once they returned to Professor Largos’s house, they told us about Mr Kikuchi.

“Well let’s hope heaven will accept Mr Kikuchi once he dies” said Hiroshi.

“I’m sure heaven would,” I said “I mean I know he was a coward against his wife, but he wasn’t the one doing the abusing. And he never did anything really bad so I’m sure he’ll go to heaven. It’s only his wife who’s in hell because of her insanity”.

“Um Professor Largos do you think you can find out where Kaito or Kayo live please?” asked Yuko “I want this letter to get to one of them”.

Yuko felt sorry for Mr Kikuchi Kiki and she wanted his children to get his letter. Thanks to Professor Largos’s computers we found out Kaito and Kayo still lived in Kamogawa City, but they lived in different apartments away from their foster home of course now as they were adults now. Yuko made a note of Kaito’s address and sent Mr Kikuchi’s letter to him.

“Do you think Kaito and Kayo will accept this letter?” asked Yuko.

“I don’t know,” said Kouhei “the real question is will they forgive him by now?” Kouhei’s question was a good question indeed.

So Kiki I was right; Kouhei did meet a man whose past was similar to his. I can’t help but think Kiki. As all my friends and I have met people with stories similar to ours, well I can’t help but wonder if there is a meaning to all of this. I mean, was it fate for us to meet Mr Kenzou, Captain Touma, Ms Hana, Mr Ryuji, Mrs Koide and Mr Kikuchi? Is it trying to tell us something? I don’t know Kiki, I really don’t know.        

The B.G.S.'s part 18

23^rd July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Today it was Shizuyo and Tatsuya’s turn again to look for another B.G.S. I got the story from them when they returned. They went to Kure City of the Hiroshima Prefecture, and they ended up in a neighbourhood with houses.

“Wow this is a nice neighbourhood; so peaceful and quiet” said Shizuyo.

“Do you think the B.G.S.’s are probably hiding around dead end streets, dustbins and in someone else’s garden?” asked Tatsuya.

“Ah most likely;” answered Shizuyo “those are places where we found B.G.S.’s in neighbourhoods before. But then again as Kure has those mountains and hills, well maybe they could be there”.

Tatsuya looked at the mountains and hills. “Yes that could be a good place to look, but we better look around the neighbourhoods first” he said.

It turned out the B.G.S.’s were hiding dead end streets, dustbins and in some people’s garden bushes, like Tatsuya thought they did. There were even some in the trees. Tatsuya and Yuko found eleven in total in colours they didn’t know.

“Well this was an easy find,” said Tatsuya “and there doesn’t seem to be anymore anywhere. So I think we should go back to Professor Largos’s house now”. Shizuyo agreed and Tatsuya took out the remote from his back pack.  

Before Tatsuya pressed the button on the remote Shizuyo stopped him. She noticed a woman sitting in a chair in a small garden, holding her tummy and taking some breaths; the woman was heavily pregnant. Her name was Mrs Mari Koide.

Shizuyo went up to the garden wall and called out to the woman. “Do excuse me but are you okay ma’am?” she asked her “I noticed you breathing and I thought you were in labour now”.

“Oh no, no I’m not in labour,” said Mrs Koide “I’m just doing some breathing exercises. It makes me feel relaxed while the baby is still inside me”.

“Oh I see I do apologize for disturbing you ma’am” said Shizuyo.

“It’s okay dear, no harm done,” said Mrs Koide “why don’t you two children come into my garden for a bit. I could do with some company at the moment”.

Shizuyo and Tatsuya agreed and entered Mrs Koide’s garden to talk to her.

“How long are you due?” asked Shizuyo.

“Shouldn’t be long now” sighed Mrs Koide.

“Um do excuse me ma’am,” said Tatsuya “but you don’t sound very happy about having a baby”.

“What?” said Mrs Koide “I am very happy with having my first child, but the truth is I’m worried about being a mum”.

“Why? Did you grow up without a mum around?” asked Shizuyo.

“No I have a mum,” said Mrs Koide “but she treated me like a puppet rather than a daughter”.

Mrs Koide explained her mother was very strict with her and expected her to be perfect in everything she did; be the top student all the time at school, win 1^st place in every sport or competition she entered and always remain higher than anybody else no matter what. “2^nd place was no exception to my mother whatsoever, and she always severely punished me if I didn’t get the highest mark in school”.

“That’s the same as my dad;” said Tatsuya “he expected too much out of me too”.

“What did you dad think of all this?” asked Shizuyo.

“He didn’t know;” said Mrs Koide “the truth is he was the reason why my mother was very strict with me. You see he was always working overseas and only came home a few times a year. And he liked it when I earned first place in anything I did”.

“Oh I see;” said Tatsuya “that means your mother became very lonely without her husband around, and she became stressed of having to raise you alone. So her behaviour towards you was really to gain your father’s attention, is that right?”

“You are correct;” said Mrs Koide “her loneliness made her take her stress out onto me”.

“Didn’t you tell your dad about this?” asked Shizuyo.           

“I didn’t, it was my three school friends Asuka, Jun and Kousei, my future husband, who is now my husband, who told my father” said Mrs Koide.

Mrs Koide’s story happened during her final year in high school. She lived at Hiroshima City back then. At that time the school held concerts, plays etc just before graduation time. Mrs Koide did one final concert with her violin. After the concert was over the school principle asked her what she was going to do after graduation.

“My mother wanted me to go to Italy to study more music, but I wanted to stay in Japan and just go to a university for music,” said Mrs Koide “my mother always made decisions without thinking about my feelings. So that day I stood up to my mother and announced that I was going to attend a university to study music in Japan”.

“I take it your mum wasn’t happy with you decision right?” asked Tatsuya.

“No she wasn’t;” said Mrs Koide “she was furious at me for refusing to go to Italy. But I stood up to her shouting that I was going to make my own decisions from now on. I also told her that I wasn’t going to be her puppet anymore. Again mother got cross, so cross it looked like she was going to hit me out of anger. But then a voice interrupted her; it was my father”.

“Your father was there to see your final school concert?” asked Shizuyo.

“Only because of Asuka, Jun and Kousei;” said Mrs Koide “they told me a couple of days before the concert they found out where my father was, thanks to the help of the company he worked with and had him come to the school”.

“I take it you told them before about your mum’s behaviour and why she expected too much out of you?” asked Tatsuya.

“Yes and that’s why they decided to do something about it by telling my father about my mother’s behaviour” said Mrs Koide.

“How did you dad take it?” asked Shizuyo.

“At first he didn’t believe it after my friends told him everything,” said Mrs Koide “but when he heard me and mother arguing after the concert he believed it”.

“Good thing your dad was there to stop your mum before things went really crazy with her” said Tatsuya.

“After seeing my mother’s behaviour made my father kneel down onto the ground,” said Mrs Koide “he apologized to her for leaving her alone for so long, apologized for not coming home much, and for leaving her to raise me all the time without any help from him. He even apologized to me for my mother’s behaviour”.

“Sounds like he realized his errors at last” said Shizuyo.

“It made my mother realise her errors too and lament her actions,” said Mrs Koide “as I already told you earlier she had been lonely without my father around. Seeing my father again and hearing his apologies made her break down, crying”.

To Shizuyo and Tatsuya that was hard to believe. “What happened after that?” asked Shizuyo.

“While I studied at the university that I chose, my father went off on a long trip with my mother to make it up to her,” said Mrs Koide “he also promised her he would come home more often and not leave her alone so much again. Then a few years after university I married Kousei and then we moved here to Kure City where we are starting our new family. So I became happy at last”.

Shizuyo and Tatsuya were happy to know Mrs Koide finally found her freedom and happiness in the end.

“Did your mother ever make things up to you?” asked Shizuyo.

“Well she apologized to me a lot and promised me to let me do what I wanted to do in future,” said Mrs Koide “but I haven’t fully forgiven her yet, not after the 18 years she controlled me like a puppet. Even now I can’t look at my mother with a smile, so I never talk to my mother or see her alone. I always have my husband or my father around when I’m with her just in case it makes me upset”.

“We understand that feeling,” said Shizuyo “and it’s no wonder why you feel nervous about being a mum”.

“Yes,” said Mrs Koide, rubbing her tummy, “but I have no intention of treating my child the same way my mother treated me. And Kousei’s parents are willing to help me in any way they could. And of course Kousei has promised me to always be there when I need him”.

“You have a very nice husband” said Shizuyo.

Just then Tatsuya said it was time for him and Shizuyo to go back home; truth is he had enough of listening to Mrs Koide’s story. So they said goodbye to Mrs Koide and they left her garden. Then Tatsuya pressed the button on the remote and he and Shizuyo teleported back to Professor Largos’s house. After they got back they told their story.

“I don’t blame Mrs Koide for not forgiving her mum after what she put her through in the past” said Yuko.

“Me neither” said Tatsuya, who understood Mrs Koide’s feelings the most.

“At least she’s starting a new happier future with her own family,” I said “and if she said that she will be a better mum than her own mum was, then I’m sure she will. She has a good husband and nice parent in laws on her side to help her”. Everyone else agreed with my words.

As Hiroshi and Tatsuya have met people with similar stories to their own stories, I have no doubt Kiki that Kouhei will meet someone with a story similar to his.

The B.G.S.'s part 17

20^th July 2025

 

Hello Kiki. Today Hiroshi and I went out to find another B.G.S. again. This time we went to Nara City of Nara Prefecture and we ended up in a street filled with apartments and a small park was close by.

“I hope no one has spotted any of the B.G.S.’s here Hiroshi” I said. As we were in a city it did make me worry if someone had spotted any of the B.G.S.’s.

“I shouldn’t think so Kyoko,” said Hiroshi “I mean if someone did it would be all over the news by now”.

Hiroshi had a good point Kiki because there hadn’t been any news about weird sightings of glowing, squeaking things at night or whatever.

“As we are in a neighbourhood surrounded by apartments, I reckon the B.G.S.’s maybe hiding between the alleyways” said Hiroshi.

“That wouldn’t surprise me really,” I said “animals always like hiding and roaming between alleyways”.

Hiroshi and I began to search the alleyways. No one was about so I was free to let the red B.G.S. jump about and squeak for its friends. It turned out other B.G.S.’s were hiding between the alleyways; every corner we turned there was a B.G.S. We found ten in total.

“I didn’t expect to find this many B.G.S.’s in the alleyways” said Hiroshi.

“Yes but I’m not complaining,” I said “this will make Professor Largos happy no doubt. Now to get back to the house with this lot”.

Just as Hiroshi was about to press the button on the remote, we heard a crashing noise.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but we better go and see before we go back to Professor Largos’s house” said Hiroshi.

So Hiroshi put the remote back into his back pack, and we ran over to where the crashing noise came from. The noise turned out to be a man placing boxes into a moving van and he dropped one.

“I think that man could use some help there” I said to Hiroshi.

“I agree;” said Hiroshi “he seems to be struggling there”.

There wasn’t any room in our back packs to carry eleven B.G.S.’s so we told them to stay put in an alleyway and keep quiet.

We walked over to the man and asked him if he wanted some help moving the boxes.

“I would hate to ask you kids, but I would like some help please” said the man.

Hiroshi and I started helping the man load his box of things into the moving van. The man’s name was Ryuji Tokoka.

Just then I noticed a photo Mr Ryuji dropped on the ground; it was a photo of a little girl.

“Ah who’s this cute little girl?” I asked, showing Mr Ryuji and Hiroshi the photo.

“Oh that’s my three year old niece Nozomi,” said Mr Ryuji “she my late sister’s daughter. She and her husband died last month and I’m moving in with her husband’s parents to help take care of Nozomi”.

“That’s lovely of you,” I said “Nozomi sounds lucky to have a nice uncle like you”.

“I guess,” said Mr Ryuji “but the truth is this is the only way I could think of making up for my sin of never helping my late sister Sora”.

“What do you mean?” asked Hiroshi.

Mr Ryuji explained that he and his sister Miss Sora were twin brother and sister. But they had been born to the type of parents who loved one child over the other.

“I was pampered and spoiled by my parents, but Sora was neglected by both our parents” said Mr Ryuji.

“Oh I know this type of story;” interrupted Hiroshi “I was neglected by my mum in the past because she didn’t want sons, only daughters. I take it your Miss Sora was neglected because your parents didn’t want daughters?”

“That is exactly right,” said Mr Ryuji “my parents were overjoyed to have the son they always wanted. Therefore I was the only joy and happiness in their eyes whereas Sora was less than a stranger in their eyes. While we grew up I was always given new clothes and new toys and went to private schools. But Sora only got old hand me down clothes and toys and just went to public schools. And nothing she did ever got their attention much; even when she always got the highest scores in school she never got any praise and affection from then. Only I did”.

I looked at Hiroshi; he had a sour look on his face because Miss Sora’s neglect from her parents was the same as his neglect from his parents.

“What happened to Miss Sora in the end?” I asked.

“When we turned eighteen Sora moved out right away;” said Mr Ryuji “ever since we were thirteen she had been saving up money from part time jobs to move out. She hated our parents all her life for how they treated her and she always told me she would move out once she graduated from high school”.

“I don’t blame her for that” said Hiroshi, understanding how Miss Sora felt.

“I never saw or spoke to Sora again after she moved out, mind you that was my fault really because I never kept in touch with her ever since she moved away,” said Mr Ryuji “the truth is I always felt as a kid that Sora hated me because I got all the attention from our parents but she didn’t. Not long after Sora moved out I discovered a diary of hers under her bed. I know I should never look inside someone’s diary without permission but I couldn’t resist looking. When I opened it I noticed the diary held Sora’s feelings of how much she hated our parents for never paying attention to her and how she wished she had been born a boy instead of a girl”.

“I understand;” said Hiroshi “I felt like that too in the past”.

“I felt like a failure as a brother,” said Mr Ryuji “I was her twin brother but I didn’t do much to comfort and help her. Not to mention I didn’t stand up against our parents much. That’s why I didn’t contact her once ever since she moved away; I felt too ashamed to face her over these last ten years”.

“Hey it’s not your fault,” said Hiroshi “the ones at fault are your parents for neglecting their own daughter”.

“I do know that,” said Mr Ryuji “but sometimes I still feel like I failed Sora”.

“So if you never saw or heard from Miss Sora again, then how did you found out about Nozomi?” I said.

“I found out about her last month, which was ten years after Sora moved away” said Mr Ryuji.

Mr Ryuji explained he got a call from the police last month, saying that she had died from the car accident.

“I learnt from the police that my sister got married when she was 24 and had a daughter,” said Mr Ryuji “the police gave me the address of where my sister and her husband lived and I rushed over there at once. Nozomi was staying with her dad’s parents at that time and I met her there”.

“How did your parents feel when they heard of Miss Sora’s death?” I asked.

“They didn’t care much about Sora’s death,” answered Mr Ryuji “they didn’t even shed tears for her death even at her funeral. All they did was say that we were all born to die and that’s it. They didn’t even feel any remorse of their neglect of Sora”.

“Of course they wouldn’t,” said Hiroshi “if they didn’t care about her while she was alive, then they wouldn’t while she’s dead too”. Mr Ryuji’s parents reminded Hiroshi more and more of his neglectful mother.

“What happened with Nozomi after her parent’s funeral?” I asked.

“Seeing my niece made me decide right away that I want to take care of her;” said Mr Ryuji “it made me get that feeling that this could be my chance of making it up to my sister by raising her daughter”.

“Did your parents agree to that?” asked Hiroshi.

“No they didn’t,” said Mr Ryuji “they felt no connection at all to Nozomi. That made me cross because they were treating her like how they treated Sora. So for once in my life I stood up to them. I yelled at them for how they treated Sora and I also yelled how ashamed I felt for never helping her. And so I went against their wishes and agreed to take care of Nozomi”.

“Good for you,” I said “what happened to your parents after that?”

“Oh I broke off with them,” said Mr Ryuji “I’m not talking to them again and I’m not letting them see Nozomi either. I’m not letting them treat Nozomi the same way they treated Sora”.

“I don’t blame you for that,” said Hiroshi “so I take it your brother-in-law’s parent’s agreed to help you look after Nozomi”?”

“Yes they did,” said Mr Ryuji “I found out how nice they were to Sora and treated her just like a daughter. So I asked them for help and they said I could move in with them so we could all raise Nozomi together. To me they are true parents you can count on; they are nicer than my parents were. And I’m happy my sister found a family who loved and cared about her”.

“And Nozomi’s lucky to have an uncle and grandparents who love her and care for her too,” said Hiroshi “and I’m sure Miss Sora up in heaven is happy to know her daughter is happy and well”.

“I do hope so” said Mr Ryuji.

Just then I told Hiroshi that it was time for us to go back home and we leave Mr Ryuji to his packing. So we said goodbye to Mr Ryuji, and went back to where we hid the eleven B.G.S.’s. Then Hiroshi pressed the button on the remote and teleported back to Professor Largos’s house. Once we got back, we told everyone about Mr Ryuji and his family.

“Well I think Mr Ryuji did good breaking up with his selfish parents like that” said Tatsuya.

“I do too,” said Hiroshi “and I’m happy to know that Nozomi will live a happy future with her uncle and grandparents”.

Let me say this to you Kiki. As Hiroshi and I met up with a man whose parents were the neglectful types like Hiroshi’s mum is. I’m wondering if Tatsuya and Kouhei will meet up with someone whose parents are like their parents.  

The B.G.S.'s part 16

16^th July 2025

 

Hi Kiki. Yuko and Kouhei went out to find some B.G.S.’s today. I got the story from them when they returned. They went to Shibata at Miyagi prefecture, at some old lonely street.  

“Hmm this is quite an old street,” said Yuko “most of the buildings here look like they could do with some new coats of paint and fixing up a bit”.

“I agree with you on that,” said Kouhei “well we better get moving on looking for any B.G.S.’s”.

As Yuko and Kouhei were walking down the street, Yuko noticed an old fashion wooden built boarding house.

“Wow you don’t get many boarding houses like this anymore” said Kouhei.

“That’s a nice place,” said Yuko “I wouldn’t mind living here myself”.

“With how this old boarding house is still standing, the owners must take pretty good care of it” said Kouhei.

Just then a middle aged woman with a scarf over her hair came out of the building. She was the landlord and her name was Ms Mayumi Hana.

“Oh hello there, what are you children doing here?” said Ms Hana.

“Please excuse us but we couldn’t resist looking at this building as it looks so nice” said Yuko.

“Oh that’s okay,” said Ms Hana “are you children on some kind of errand?”

“Eh more like a quest really,” said Yuko “you see my little sister lost some toys of hers that look like the one I’m holding now”.

Ms Hana looked at the blue B.G.S. in Yuko’s arms. “Hmm well I haven’t seen anything like that around here,” she said “but you are welcome to look into my lost property shed. I always find lost items around here so I made a lost property shed a few years back to store the items in. I even get people bringing lost items from the park or other places here too”.

So Yuko and Kouhei went into the lost property shed. There were many lost items in there; lost toys, lost gloves and other things. I always find it amazing how much stuff people can lose Kiki. Anyway as soon as Yuko and Kouhei started to look around the shed a cherry-red and a Barbie-pink B.G.S. came out from hiding between some toys.

“Ha we found them rather quickly this time” said Yuko.

“You know what they say; better now than later” said Kouhei.

Yuko and Kouhei picked up the two B.G.S.’s and told them to be quiet and still, and got out of the shed. Ms Hana was happy when Yuko told her they found the toys.

Yuko couldn’t help but continue to look at the boarding house. “I’m amazed how you’ve managed to keep this old wooden building standing,” she said “I mean I’ve heard it can be tricky to keep old wooden buildings standing, especially when wood can start to rot in a few years or so”.

“Ah that’s because the tenants and I work together to keep this place standing,” said Ms Hana “we all love this building too much to ever let it rot away or get torn down”.

“I can see that” said Yuko.

“And to tell you the truth I promised the original landlord I would continue to look after this place,” said Ms Hana “and keeping that promise is something I intend to do for the rest of my life. I owe a great deal to that man after all the help he had giving me”.

“Why did something happen?” asked Kouhei. The way that Ms Hana spoke made him get the feeling that Ms Hana went through something bad during her life.

“Well it’s a bit of a long story and it’s a sad one too” said Ms Hana.

“Kouhei and I don’t mind long stories and we’ve heard lots of sad stories before” said Yuko.

Ms Hana agreed to tell her story. The story was she used to be married to a man named Jirou Kubota. She was divorced now which was why she was a Ms and was now called by her original surname instead of her married surname. Ms Hana and her ex-husband had a daughter together called Akane and they were a happy family at first. But then sometime after Akane turned five years old everything changed; Ms Hana and her ex-husband would yell and fight with each other when ever things went wrong between them.

Yuko recognized this familiar story at once.

“The arguments I had with that man were the type of arguments that seemed to go on forever,” said Ms Hana “and there were times I would throw things at him in anger. But it’s all because of those stupid fights of ours that we lost our daughter in the first place”.

“She ran away?” asked Kouhei.

“Worse, she died from a traffic accident” said Ms Hana.

Ms Hana explained Akane went through a phase of throwing terrible tantrums while at kindergarten and bullied her classmates.

“Oh this means Akane became very upset due to your arguments and took out her frustrations on other children” said Yuko, understanding Akane’s feelings. Yuko never took out her frustrations on other children Kiki, just got upset.

“Yes and the stupid thing is my ex-husband and I never noticed how our daughter felt until it was too late;” said Ms Hana “we got so distracted by our arguments we failed to notice our daughter, never mind her feelings”.

This really was familiar to Yuko because her parents neglected her feelings too.

Ms Hana explained next that one day when Akane was seven years old; she was having another argument with her ex-husband at a park. That made Akane upset and embarrassed because lots of people were listening to the arguing. Akane got so angry that she shouted out she wished her parents would get divorced and then she ran off, crying. But she ended up running into the road and she was hit by a car, and she died from her injuries.

“That’s sad,” said Kouhei “what happened to you and your husband then?”

“Things got no better;” answered Ms Hana “we kept on blaming each other for Akane’s death. I couldn’t take it anymore so I asked for a divorce at once. We divorced not long after Akane’s funeral”.

“I don’t blame you for that,” said Yuko, understanding Ms Hana’s feelings, “but how did you end up living in this boarding house?”

“Well a friend of an old friend of mine introduced me to this building and she suggested that this was the perfect place for me to find my feet after my divorce,” said Ms Hana “and she was right. I made many friends with the tenants who live here now and who lived here before. The original landlord and his wife were kind to me and they always listened to my problems whenever I felt down. To me they were like having new parents around since mine had died quite a long time ago”.

That sounds nice,” said Yuko “I hope you don’t mind me asking but did you ever get married again?”

“No my heart was so broken after losing Akane and from my divorce I became afraid to ever get married again in case I got my heart broken even more,” said Ms Hana “I was also afraid of becoming a mother again because of how I failed as a mother to Akane”.

Yuko and Kouhei understood. “I take it you haven’t seen your ex-husband since the divorce?” asked Kouhei.

“No but I’ve heard that he got married again and he has a new family with his new wife so no doubt that he is happy now” said Ms Hana.

Yuko couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ms Hana. Just then Kouhei looked at his watch and said it was time for him and Yuko to get back home.

“I understand,” said Ms Hana “just tell your sister not to lose her toys again and you children take care of yourselves”.

“You as well Ms Hana” said Kouhei.

Yuko and Kouhei walked to a corner of a house where no one could see them. The Kouhei got the remote out from his backpack and pressed the button. And once Kouhei and Yuko teleported back to Prof Largos house, they told everyone the whole story about Ms Hana.

“Sounds like Ms Hana and her ex-husband were hit by karma” said Shizuyo.

“I agree, especially since they lost Akane due to their errors too late” I said. Everyone agreed.

With how Yuko, Shizuyo and I have met people whose pasts were like ours Kiki, I’m getting the feeling that my friends and I will meet more people who had the same troubled pasts as us.