Arrival in a Foreign Land

Germany – The Yet Undiscovered Land

At least for Kimura Satoru, it was. For the seventeen-year-old teen who had never been anywhere outside of Japan, traveling to an entirely different continent for his first-ever trip abroad felt like the adventure of a lifetime.

You see, ever since he was a five-year-old boy and received a world atlas book for kids, Satoru had dreamt of visiting every country in the world—places he could only grasp back then through colorful pages filled with pictures and cultural fun facts.

But out of all places, why was Germany his first choice, you may ask? After all, it was far from Japan. Why not go to a closer country like Indonesia or Korea instead? Well, there was one particular reason why it had to be Germany and nowhere else in the world.

His sister lived there. Simple as that.

Satoru and Miho were as close as any typical siblings. They teased each other a lot, argued occasionally, and annoyed each other to no end. But none of that changed the fact that the younger brother loved his sister. So when, just three years ago, she decided to study in Germany, it was as big of a shock to him as it was to their parents. Despite often being frustrated by her nosiness when they lived together, he couldn’t help but miss her presence at home from time to time. Trying to coordinate online calls across different time zones was a struggle, so they could only talk like they used to on rare occasions.

With his sister abroad, however, he saw the perfect opportunity to convince his parents to let him travel to another country while still in high school. He had hoped that the whole family would visit München, where Miho was studying, but there was one huge issue. As cruel as it might seem, they had never visited Miho there. His parents were terrified of flying and were obviously hesitant to send Satoru on his own, given his age. So, all this time, it had been Miho who traveled back and forth to celebrate Christmas and summer holidays with them—never the other way around.

Because of that, Satoru had a hard time convincing his parents to let him go alone, especially when his plan was to stay for the entire summer. They drove a hard bargain: they would allow him to fly all the way to Germany if he became the top student in his entire grade. In his first year of high school, he ranked fifth in the finals, but he didn’t give up. He studied as hard as possible, and in the most recent semester, he finally managed to claim first place on all the exam result lists.

It was sheer determination that had brought him to where he was now—standing in München Airport, hopelessly searching for the only familiar face he could hope to find in a crowd of strangers.

He had thought Narita and Haneda were loud, but the noise here was overwhelming in comparison. Turning his head left and right, he scanned the area for his sister. One Japanese person among mostly Europeans shouldn’t be that hard to spot, right? But he hadn’t considered that her short stature might make her disappear among all these tall people, who were, for some reason...

Glaring.

A sudden feeling of discomfort hit him hard. Were all these people really so rude, or was he just imagining things? He was so used to his own culture that he hadn’t even considered how difficult it might be to adjust.

“Satoru! Over here!”

A familiar voice called out in his mother tongue, finally reaching his ears.

Immediately, he turned around to see his older sister jumping up and down, furiously waving her hand high in the air, completely unconcerned about the people around her. She had never been this loud back home. Sure, Satoru had noticed some changes in her personality, but whenever she returned to Japan, it was as if she reverted to her old self—or at least, she readjusted to how things were in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Unlike her, the boy only waved shyly, keeping his hand at chest level—just enough to signal that he had noticed her.

“Hey, big sis,” he tried to greet Miho casually but cringed at how awkwardly stiff his voice sounded.

“Someone’s a bit groggy after the flight, huh?” she teased, elbowing him slightly. “Glad to see you survived it! I know it’s long as hell. My butt gets so stiff every time~” she whined.

“Nah, it wasn’t that bad. I slept for at least half the time,” he chuckled, then suddenly widened his eyes in realization. “Crap, I should let our folks know I arrived safely.” He reached for his smartphone, but before he could unlock the screen, his sister stopped him.

“Don’t worry about them. I already called the moment your plane landed. I said, ‘Unless he jumped out of the plane on the way here, he’s safe and sound.’ Hahaha!”

“You know how they are! Stop triggering their fears even more!”

Sometimes, Satoru forgot just how much of a spitfire his sister could be.

“They need to learn how to relax! After all the times I’ve flown here and back to Japan, they should know by now that there’s nothing to worry about.” Once again, she nudged her brother playfully. “Now, come on. We have to catch a bus and get you settled in my apartment. I’ve got the couch all ready for you.”

Satoru let his sister push him forward, not really having much choice. He was on foreign ground, so at least for now—until he adjusted a bit—he would have to rely on her at the beginning of his adventure.

While Miho hummed a tune, her brother looked at her fondly. Despite being far from home, a piece of comfort was still with him in the form of his sister. Because of that, the uneasiness he had felt before had all but disappeared.

Now, the only thing he could focus on was the eagerness to explore the city and immerse himself in the culture of the country his sister had grown so fond of. Just thinking about what lay ahead in the coming weeks brought a cheerful grin to his face.

“Exciting, isn’t it? First time outside of Japan?”

“More than I could ever imagine.”