Before I joined the military, my childhood was almost ordinary and nothing too special. Too ordinary to the point where I had no friends to begin with because I was always busy working for the family business. What did I mean by family business? Mainly producing swords, and they had been passed down for generations. I lived and grew up in a small village in Yamanagawa. That village was filled with traditional houses, especially from the samurai days, I mentioned earlier. However, unlike villages, there were cities where they didn't have traditional houses, and the majority was made out of skyscrapers, factories, and modern houses. Even worse, pollution became a problem throughout the nation of Yamanagawa because of these cities. It was a good thing my family chose not to move into the city, but I wondered what it was like living in them. My life would've been different after all.
Pollution aside, the village here didn't have that problem, so my family and I didn't have health issues. Yeah, it seemed like the government made a terrible decision to modernize the country and ignored the people's complaints, but that was a long story. Those who lived in villages wore traditional clothing such as kimonos, while those living in cities wore modern clothing such as business suits.
My family descended from a samurai clan, now fading away because of the Yamana Revolution that happened some years ago before I was born. My father worked as a swordsmith while my mother was a nun. Whenever I tried to get my father's attention to have a conversation with him, he was always busy with work. When I was a child, I wanted to show him my calligraphy work, which was his response.
"Look, Dad! Look what I've written! Did I do a good job?"
"Not now, Son. I'm busy right now. Maybe I'll take a look later."
But later never came. My father was always busy producing swords for his customers, and I was given the least attention. Even my two siblings weren't paying much attention to me, and I tried to form a warm relationship with them which failed miserably. It hurt my feelings so much.
"Um, do you have a moment?" I asked.
My brother spoke, "Not now, Yosuke. We're busy right now. If you need someone, go speak with Dad about it."
My sister spoke, "We don't want to waste our time here, so we have to keep working without ever stopping. Maybe next time when we get a day off."
"All you always do is work?" I asked.
"Well, it's a family tradition, so that's the way it is," my brother said.
"Our routine cannot be changed," said my sister.
I looked down and nodded. "I understand."
My childhood didn't go well for me. Feeling lonely did make me lose my self-esteem, and I haven't been the same ever since. Would my family stop working for once to spend time with each other? Very unlikely.
As for my mother? I never knew my mother since I was born. It could be assumed that they divorced since I was even born, and my father rarely talked about her. I remembered my father telling me that she was a nun and a heathen who converted to Western religion. If only I would meet my mother one day, my life would've been different besides living in the city. But I didn't think that dream would come true anytime soon. I wondered what she looked like right now. I missed her so much.
Now, I became a man. My relationship with my family had gotten worse, and I just felt like running away from home and never coming back. So one night, I snuck out of my family's house and did just that. If my family worried too much about work, then what was the point of living there? It was hopeless. I had no friends. My family was always working themselves to death, figuratively speaking. I had nothing. I was a loner.
One day, I was strolling across the beige road, looking around to make sure if my father was looking for me or not, but I doubted it. It was cloudy, and a few people were passing by me. I sighed in despair, wishing for my family to stop working for once.
I saw a man standing near a wooden pole, looking and smiling at something. I approached both the man and the pole. It turned out that he was looking at a paper. Said paper was about military recruitment. The man seemed very excited. Then he said something to me.
"Hey, you should join the military too!"
"Me? Joining the military? Why is that?"
The man shrugged, "I don't know! But I've wanted to participate for so long since my 19th birthday!"
"Wait. You're 19?"
"Yeah, I'm 19. How old are you?"
"I'm 18," I replied.
"Then you're old enough to join with us. I think the training camp shouldn't be too far from here. I can take you there if you want. Are you interested?"
"Uh," I paused.
I hesitated, thinking over whether I should join the military or remain working for the family business. At first glance, I couldn't take the agony of being ignored for so long, and I wanted my family to get together so everything would be back to normal. But no, the situation just got worse. I didn't know what else to do. Well, I had no choice but to join the military. Besides, what was the worse thing that could happen? I didn't know where the training camp was anyway, so following the man would lead me there hopefully.
"Sure, I'm interested. I don't see why not."
The man gasped, "Really? Alright then! Just follow my lead, and I'll show you the way!"
"Of course."
I followed the man to the training camp. The walking distance was quite short as I was surprised that the training camp was right around the corner. However, the training camp was located on top of the hill which our village was near it. My heart was pounding, knowing the risk of getting involved in something stupid. But I had to get away from my family somehow. Otherwise, I would end up working in the family business forever, and there was no going back.
