Mother and Motherland are Greater Than Heaven, Pt. 1

Standing outside the station, we stood out like a bunch of tourists. You wouldn’t have expected us to be lost in our own city. The Culture & Travel Club… it’s too wordy to call it that, let’s call it the Culture Club. The Culture Club congregated by a vending machine. Like it was an idol, a deity, or maybe a spirit? Anyhow, we just stood there on our phones. All of us sucked with directions. Only a few months ago, our advisor moved to Nagoya. The only real adult in the group.

My phone is telling me it's going in a straight direction. Fair enough. I let everyone know it’s there. The Meiji Community Center.

“Everyone listen. My phone is telling me that Meiji Community Center is there!”

Those were some strong words that were commanded by General Aya-senpai.

She was also right! Finally, after struggling so much with our collective lack of directional skills - we might have finally got it right. We only had 10 minutes until the event. The club’s first event, and we’re close to not being punctual.

Aya-senpai led the way. The area we were surrounded by was seemingly in decline. Rust was everywhere. Several defaced residential towers dominated the landscape. Despite being April, the trees still had barely any leaves on them. We were close to the waterways. The sky was clear. Honestly, it was a good day.

Then, Sayako gleefully suggested to us “Guys, there’s a FamilyMart over there! Let’s go buy some snacks!”

Aya-senpai then stopped. All of us looked towards our left. There was a clean FamilyMart surrounded by blemishes, to the point where the FamilyMart was the blemish on a dirty area. Ok. I am exaggerating to a point. The area just looks like it’s seen better days.

Aya agreed.

“Sure thing Sayako, anyone who doesn’t want to buy snacks can just wait outside. Tateishi-sensei, do you agree?”

The slightly low-spirited Tateishi-sensei responded. “Yeah, I don’t mind. I’ll wait outside, as I have a few drinks and snacks of my own. I don’t mind sharing with any of you guys.”

What a nice sensei. It does seem strange. Aya-senpai was the leader of our group despite the personalities such as a literal teacher and student council president. She did shine through.

Me, Sayako, Yusuke, Sora, and Kazumi went into the store. Personally, I just wanted a drink. The main reason I’m here is to challenge myself with food, so I’ll just get some drinks. It was starting to warm up. Quickly, I opened the weather app and it said it was to be 24 degrees by lunch. I’m a sucker for sports drinks. I purchased two bottles of Pocari Sweat. I was the first to head out.

I stood waiting with my colleagues. Yep. We’re no longer high schoolers, we’ve evolved into office workers. Just kidding. Ashamedly, I noticed the waste of space around us. There was a 6-lane road we had to cross. It is pitiful that there is such a large car park here. Don’t they know about the environment and sustainability?

We have to cross this horrific road. Look how wide it is! Since we were near a port as well as multiple industries, we would have to dodge massive trucks and vans. Great. I can’t even comprehend jaywalking unless I have a death wish.

The Travel Club, and friends, all finally united in the big car park. I took a big glimpse of what people bought from the store. Kazumi-senpai bought three bags of crisps. Costly. Sora, my silent kouhai, purchased a bag of normal KitKats. What a smart man. Sadly Yusuke and Sayako were indecisive. They both pooled their money and bought what they both didn’t want after a few minutes of arguing. Coffee jelly and two bubble milk teas. I hope they make the most of that.

By this point, we would be late. Oh well! I think there were other community organisations in the centre, hopefully, they’ll pick up some of our slack. I think this is meant to be a serious event, too. Clearly, we are showing the strengths and prestige of Aisaihashi High School. Maybe I should sing the high school anthem, belching it from my lungs? I should sing with such vigour and loudness, that I lose lung capacity and become permanently deaf! On second thought, no.

Our group size was only a few more people close to a platoon. Aya-senpai, our military officer, led the charge straight onto the community centre! “Everyone! Let’s go help people!”

There wasn’t much fanfare, but I will say I could feel a certain sense of what we were doing… was right. In fact, it is! We’re putting our money where our mouth is. All of us agree that this was a noble cause! This is certainly not to eat free food. Well, actually, is it free if we went and used our manaca cards, spending money on transport? Also, we still had to do volunteer labour, helping out others too, so it was unpaid.

Oh, who am I kidding, even I don’t view the world through a lens that everything is a transaction. In that case, whoever this made-up person is reading my thoughts is spending their time reading a random 16-year-old.

All of us safely made it past the 6-lane road. What a terrible idea. Walkable cities? They should see Nagoya. Walkability might as well be a myth on the same level as Santa Claus, or the origin myth of how Japan began. Yeah. Let’s just ignore the science, shall we? Scientifically Nagoya is the worst city for pedestrians.

I need to stop rambling.

The Culture Club stood in front of the community centre. It wasn’t imposing as you’d think it to be, but it wasn’t a small building either. Meiji Community Center held its position by the crossroads. The telephone pole was holding so many wires, I was fearing for the safety of everyone in this area. It looked like a critical spot indeed. Those wires were so numerous, it rivalled the population of China. The net worth of Bill Gates. As dense as Tokyo.

I think you can picture it now.

Sadly, the building was aging. One could see yellow stains, similar to urine, on the top. Either someone was peeing from the roof, or the paint was decaying. The inside was seemingly comfy and homely. This was despite temperatures being warm for April. I’m fearing for May.

Aya-senpai whispered to Tateishi-sensei. From the excerpts I could hear, I believe Tateishi was the one who actually organized the club’s involvement. Maybe she agreed to Aya-senpai that she’d be the advisor if she helped out with this.

Then Tateishi-sensei went inside. Aya-senpai earlier had told us to wait outside. It was exactly 10:30. From my understanding, I don’t think this was a super strict time to enter.

Although, speaking about it… I can see Tateishi-sensei bowing to two people through the glass door.

Our confident self-righteous leader spoke. That’s Aya-senpai.

“Everyone, we’ll be in for maybe 2 - 3 hours. From what I’ve been told by Tateishi-sensei, we’ll all be split into pairs, and we’ll be helping out people either our age or a bit younger.”

Kazumi-senpai piped up with an inquisitive tone.

“So… Do we choose which pair we want to be with? I don’t mind going with you Aya-chan! I’d die for you.”

Then she made a kissing motion towards Aya-chan. They say you shouldn’t ship real-life people together, but… well, I’ll make an exception for this one.

Aya-senpai, maybe a little bit embarrassed that Kazumi did that in front of everyone, said that “Yes. You can choose who you want to pair up with, although someone is going to be on their own.”

Sakura responded. “I wouldn’t mind being on my own.”

Fair enough, Sakura.

We all decided quickly who we wanted to pair up with.

I paired up with Yusuke. Sora was with Sayako. Aya and Kazumi, as already suggested earlier, left Sakura on her own.

Then, Tateishi-sensei gestured at us to enter the building.

Wait. Sakura wasn’t going to be on her own, no? I regret to say that I couldn’t be bothered to bring this up. Tateishi-sensei would probably mention it on her own, right?

“Sakura, do you want to pair up with me?” Said the Culture Club advisor.

“Sure.”

All tension solved. Now onto the actual event.