Dinner With Family by Hiroyuki Morioka (best novels for teenagers TXT) 📕

“I have no intention of discussing such far-reaching matters,” said Till. He sounded truly displeased.

“But Till—”

“No buts, Jint.”

“I can’t just leave it at that.”

“Then it would be wise of me to simply hang up right now. But I really don’t want that,” he said, his tone softening. “We parted on such terrible terms last time. I’d like our last parting to be more upbeat.”

“That’s asking too much, Till,” he groaned. “Do you even understand how I feel? I was looking forward to seeing you and Lina. Obviously, given the current situation, I wasn’t overjoyed... to tell you the truth, I was more scared than excited. But still, I was looking forward to seeing you. Actually, I was scared because I was looking forward to it. And now, here you are, telling me you won’t even deign to meet me. After which you tell me you’d like to part on sunnier terms. The Till I knew wouldn’t be that unreasonable.”

But that was a lie. The Till he knew as a child was, from time to time, a ball of irrationality. Of course, to Martinese children, most adults were like that.

“There is a way we can meet,” said Till. “If you stop being an Abh, and defect as a Martinese citizen, then we will welcome you whole-heartedly.”

A faint smile cracked his cheeks. He thanked the God he didn’t believe in that no one was here to see.

“Jint?” came Lina’s voice.

“Ah, uhh...” Jint’s mouth apparently didn’t want to produce words.

“What Till said is true. We can’t exactly throw together a big to-do for your return, but I’ll whip up a fun dinner party, just us and our relatives. I’ll even make you your favorite, Melohn Oh Shoo.”

“I’d have loved to have some,” said Jint. “But it’s no use. I’ve got my own responsibilities to deal with.”

“What responsibilities? Your responsibilities as an Abh? As a conqueror? As an invader? Are they more important to you than us, Jint?”

“Lina, I’m sorry,” said Jint. “I really can’t come back.”

“Tell the truth. You met a girl you like.”

“That’s not it!” he lied.

“No? Because if you did, I’d be relieved.”

“So you’re saying you’d understand if I couldn’t come back just because I met a girl I like?”

“That’d be far easier to understand,” said Lina. “You are at that age.”

“Easier to understand than having responsibilities?”

“You need to be responsible when it comes to your girlfriend, too.”

“I’m talking about bigger stuff, here. You’ve gotta know where I’m coming from.”

“I suppose, but you don’t need to worry your head about the big stuff just yet. You’re in the prime of your youth. Don’t you want to let loose?”

“I know you still think of me as a little kid, but...”

“It’s fine. Say no more.”

“You’re never going to stop treating me like your little one, huh. I’m already grown enough to be having kids of my own, you know.”

“But you don’t have any, do you?”

“Well, no, but...”

“You are once and forever our baby boy, Jint.”

“That’s no fair, putting it that way, Lina.”

“But it’s true!”

“Let’s table the family talk for now — there’s something more pressing to go over,” said Jint. “You’re listening, right, Till?”

“I’m listening all right. But I’m not about to talk politics. Not while you’re still an Abh.”

“Then let’s talk as fellow Martinese. I’m already voting age.”

“Abhs don’t have the right to vote,” said Till bluntly.

“I know that. But I am old enough to talk politics. And while I may be an Abh, I love the Martinese wife-land, and the people who live on it. I don’t care if that love is one-sided. I love every place the light of Hyde’s sun shines upon.”

“Then why do you refuse to come back to us?”

“Argh!” Jint shouted in pent-up frustration. “Because if I switched sides, there’d be no one left to stop the Hyde System from collapsing!”

“I see you’ve made quite some headway in your career,” he said scornfully.

“I don’t want to hear your sarcasm. What happened to the Forr Da Antohbeeta?”

“That is an internal affair for the government to worry about,” said Till, after a moment’s pause. “I can’t leak that information to outside agents. Plus, it’s not exactly a topic for family to be getting into.”

“It is family talk. The Star Forces didn’t even attack the Forr Da Antohbeeta with anything close to their real firepower.”

“That wasn’t their real firepower?” A note of surprise in his voice. “Are you saying it was a limited strike? I mean, we know they could have bombed more—”

“No, as in, it wasn’t even a ‘limited strike.’ All that was, was a little show of annoyance. They thought you were throwing a wrench into their training exercise. I’ll give you all the details next time — that is, if you give me a next time. But let me ask you something — if the same level of attack that destroyed the Forr Da Antohbeeta were to hit Crandon, what would happen?”

“I never said the Forr Da Antohbeeta were destroyed.”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not they got destroyed. I’m asking you what would happen if the Star Forces were to vent their annoyance on Crandon?”

“Many citizens would die,” he admitted (reluctantly, if his tone was any indication).

“And among those dead might be my family. That’s why this is a topic for family!”

“I see you’ve become quite the sophist, Jint.”

“That’s a bad habit of yours, Till. As soon as you’re about to lose an argument, you call the other guy a sophist.”

“Only if the ‘other guy’ is a kid. Logic doesn’t go down with kids.”

“Lucky I’m not a kid. I’m all for logic.”

“All right then. Fine. Let’s talk. I just can’t talk about it right this second. I haven’t prepared myself to talk to you — to Count Hyde of the Empire — in an official capacity.”

“Not a problem. I want some time, too. I’ll call again sometime soon. Then we can find the best way forward for our system together.”

After dropping the line, Jint called together the interested persons of the Hyde