The day quickly went by after the encounter with the major general. The trainees underwent another strenuous session of army cramming. Siara spoke non-stop while using a laser pointer to the slides she had prepared beforehand.
After 2 to 3 hours, both Myra and Holly showed signs of fatigue and yet, Siara continued strongly. Only Sato was able pull through and remain focus. He was determined when it came to things that he really needed. The scholarships, getting into the top university in the world were few evidences that proved his hardwork and effort. Siara noticed this and took it down. It was a plus 1 to Sato so far.
At 6.30pm, they were finally released for the day. Sato returned his visitor pass and slowly made his way back home. His head was processing the information he had received today as you were not allowed to take back any form of physical notes back home. (The reason the trainees took down notes was so that they can refer back later on.)
His highly retentive memory allowed him to revise the information from today over and over again as he took the speed train home. Things like military customs, to the names of individuals that he needed to remember and even the different ranks of the army officials from smallest to largest were all memorised by Sato.
He reached home extremely drained. As he opened his door, he checked his automatic mailbox (author's note: this feature is something in the future, where there is a mail machine that delivers mail to your home for you automatically. There's no more need for postmans) There was a physical mail that was sent by his parents. It needed him to be at home so that the machine can deliver to him.
Clicking on the "deliver" button, within 5 minutes, a knock on his window sounded out and a drone could be seen holding onto a medium sized box. Sato opened his window and the drone placed it in his house for him. After dropping the box off, it flew away silently.
Sato was clueless to why his parents sent this to him. The only message he received from them was to "call us back when you receive the mail that we sent to you". He did that and within 5 seconds, the video call went through.
"Happy 21st birthday, my beloved Sato!" A female voice rang out from the video call as it soon revealed to be Sato's mother, Geraldine Takahashi. It was only then Sato remembered that today was his birthday. It had totally slipped out of his mind from all the constant studying and the sudden dropout of university.
"Thank you, mother." Sato gave a bright smile to his mother. He tried his best to hide his fatigue, but to no avail.
"Ehh. Sato, why do you look so exhausted today? Has university been hard on you?" Since the leave from university and his application to work was so sudden, he had not been able to inform his parents yet.
"No no I am not that tired." Sato did not intend to share his troubles with his family. After all, it would just be burdening them even more. He hesitated at first but followed up with a question. "Where's father?"
"Hey Mahiro, Come over here to say hi to your son. You havent seen him for so long. Why are you acting all shy?" Geraldine pulled a man who had all white hair. He looked older than his age as bad business affected him significantly. Even Sato's mother who was once a natural beauty had been crumpled by the crippling grasps of societal hierarchies.
"Ha..Happy 21st birthday son." His father, Mahiro Takahashi awkwardly congratulated Sato.
"Thank you, Father." Sato felt sour in his heart as he felt like his parents had aged considerably since he last saw them. The last time he had been home was when he was 16. It was during that time when Mahiro had been an alcoholic. Mahiro and Geraldine often fought, where Sato tried being the middleman. In the end, he was hurt by his father which resulted in him moving out. After that day, his father had sobered up and changed for the better, but Sato went into a deep spiral of studying. Till this day, Sato still feels uncomfortable when speaking to his father. Every year they may exchange pleasantries on special occasions, but this was the first video call in 5 years.
"You have become more handsome Sato. A handsome young man." Geraldine started choking up on tears as she realised how much his little boy had changed.
"Yes mother. I have become a grown man," Sato started tearing up as he saw his parents. "Please do not cry. I will cry too if you do."
"Okay, I will do as you say, Sato." She immediately wiped her tears away.
"Now, Sato, open up the present your mother and I prepared for you. It is said to be the trend now? I hope you like it."
Sato took a penknife and opened up the box. Removing the styrofoam protection, he found a helmet-like device inside. It was the GamingPro Device V2 that is used to play ROL. Even though, this wasn't the latest version that he used at university, it was still considerably expensive. Who knew how long his parents had saved before they could buy it for him. His heart was once again filled with warmth.
"Tha... Thank you father, mother." He was speechless.
"This is the least we could do for you Sato. You just need to know that both father and I love you dearly. And we will forever continue to love you regardless of any circumstance." Geraldine spoke honestly to her son. This was something she had always wanted to say to him, 'I love you', but she never had the chance to until today.
In the end, the call ended with a simple goodbye. Sato proceeded to go to bed without a care about the present he had received from his parents. Tomorrow was another long work day for the Sato and he knew that this was only just the beginning.