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[lights-and-cameras]

There Were Hellos . . .

SHIZUOKA, JAPAN — SPRING of 2004 A family of 4. The Masaharu parents and their children—Damian Masaharu (aged 9) and Finnegan Masaharu (aged 7). Living in Shizuoka with a modest home. Everything was perfect. Was.

"Niisan is unfair!" A young lad pointed his finger at a kid older than him. "It's not unfair if it's mine," the elder mockingly replied. What led the lad to call his older brother unfair? He took the better-grade Gundam kit for him to assemble. Their father had come home from work with gifts prepared for his two children. He assumed a few Gunpla kits would be enough to keep them occupied after attending classes. It is not as if they did not have other toys at home, but sometimes, the children would get bored playing the same things over and over. One cannot blame their curiosity for more, especially with how often advertisements of toys may appear on television. Bless the children's love for trying new things. At first, the children happily accepted their father's gifts. After all, who would complain about free Gunpla kits? Every time their father comes home with new toys for them to play with, to them, it feels like Christmas. With a household income that is more than enough to provide for themselves, they should express gratitude for their father. His consideration of their materialistic views as children is worthy of a 'thank you' card and doing good deeds to pass such favor to those who are worthy. "Dinner is ready!" Their mother announced as they were busy arguing about who deserves the better Gunpla kits. "Finn, you can take the two SD kits! Let me have the HG one," Damian reasoned as the child in front of him continued to have his arms in front of his chest. "Niisan, but this HG is better than what I assembled!" Finn replied, pouting and attempting to sway his older brother with his eyes. While they were about to start a worse argument, their father hurried them to the dining table. "Now, now, children. Let's eat dinner before worrying about who deserves a better model." The father of the Masaharu family let out a chuckle as their mother watched close by with a welcoming smile spread across her lips. "Dear, it is healthy for them to have minor arguments from time to time. Especially about those things they call Gunpla!" She laughed, patting the top of Damian's head before ruffling his hair. This action alone earned a whine from the young lad who had a cold glare, eyes seemingly boring holes into Finn's. Finn sat down beside his father, sticking his tongue out in front of Damian. As the older brother had noticed, he scrunched his nose before facing their mother. "Mama, he's disrespecting me," Finn pressed his lips into a thin smile and looked away. Still, his actions were not left unnoticed by the woman. Their mother shook her head, making the younger child lower his head with a hushed 'sorry' falling from his lips. He could hear Damian chuckle as he won the argument before he joined in with a laugh. He's grateful enough to accept the kits left to him. For dinner, as he still had the palate of a child, he was served with Chicken Katsu. As he would always tell his mother, it's his favorite dish ever. Included in his meal were the usual side dishes that he told his parents he can tolerate. Having this specific viand for any time of the day can easily make the young lad happy. Even made better if his mama prepared the meal! To everyone's satisfaction, the dinner went well. In between the consumption of their meals, they had small conversations to catch up on what happened during their day. According to their father, he spent a lot of time dealing with angry clients. To their mother, she had an enjoyable time browsing for new items to improve their home. For the older child, he went scouting for frogs near the ponds. As for little Finnegan, he enjoyed a lot of dango skewers that he ended up spending a lot of his 'savings' on. After eating supper and doing chores, everyone was all smiles as they watched whatever was on the television until the children have fallen asleep. Oh to have this setting every day, but fate had different plans for the family.