Nini (Before) - The Prince of the Land of Hope
I'd be lying if I were to say I'm not interested in the planet Earth[3].
I... am interested in it. From here, it's a sphere of light that always seems close enough to reach with an outstretched hand. I don't feel any actual longing for it, though, which shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, I wasn't born there.
My home is here, on the Hope.
The time on the clock signals the start of my activity period[4].
According to tradition -- from the time the others were on Earth -- this is called "morning." I don't know what an actual morning is like, but the way I see it, it's just when the lights are brighter.
There's really no telling "up" from "down" here[7] either, but if I consider my head as "up," then I can see Earth through the window above me. It's been looking larger and larger by the day[8]. I was told the station's orbit will be at its nearest point soon.
While calculating the remaining number of days in my head, I drift through the station. I greet everyone I pass with a "good morning," another Earth tradition I don't really understand, and proceed to initiate my exercise routine. After two hours of solid workout, I undergo a checkup and take my medication. As the eldest among those born in space -- that is, the first-ever child born outside of Earth -- my checkups are quite thorough. It is a part of my duty to provide valuable data for whole generations of children after me.
"I see you're curious about Earth, Nini[1]," the ship's doctor[2] says.
We're on a space station, but he's called "the ship's doctor;" I do wonder why that is. If I ask, though, he'd probably keep on talking for who knows how long. And besides, he's much more of a scientist than a doctor. What a convoluted mess his title is. Even though we're in space, it seems that Earth still has a strong influence over the people here.
I take a good look at the doctor's face -- a face full of wrinkles, a product of his long life. As I believe it's an accomplishment in itself to live long, I really like the look of this kind of face.
"Is that what it looks like?" I ask frankly, and he smiles.
I actually am not sure whether or not I'm curious. I can't quite put my feelings about Earth into words.
It looks pretty, that's for sure, but I don't know much more than that. It's not like I'm interested in Earth's history and geography and stuff.
Needless to say, I don't want to live there. Don't think I could manage it, either.
As far as I was told, the Earth is immense. There, I'll be free to live my life without my oxygen[5] carefully rationed, without having to adhere to a strict schedule. If I do get sent there, though, I won't know what to do with that... lack of structure, I guess.
As I tell the doctor all that, he nods along and takes notes. As I recall, it's to record my mental state for future reference[9].
"Maybe you're feeling scared, Nini."
"Scared? Of Earth? Is that what it looks like...?"
That doesn't sound right.
The doctor chuckles.
"It's one way to explain why you've been avoiding it."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to try and learn about something I'm scared of?"
"Ah. Yes, that's right. There's a saying in Japan about that... curiosity of fear."
"Japan? One of those places on Earth that are partitioned off by invisible borders?"
"Right. Japan is one of those partitions. It's where your mother and I were born."
The doctor stares at Earth with a distant look in his eyes. He hasn't been back there for 30 years now.
"It's really not a bad place," he says, "Aside from the Kegai, that is."
This international space station, Hope, was built as an escape from the Kegai -- and the escape is an ongoing procedure, so to speak.
Only a special few were chosen to come on board. I'm the first of the generation of children that follow them -- or as the doctor likes to call me, the "Prince of the Land of Hope[6]," or even the "Prince of Heaven."
From my point of view, the concepts of land and princes are things of Earth, so I don't really understand them.
Actually, no. It feels more like I don't want to understand. Right, now that I think about it, maybe I just don't like the way the older crew always say Earth this, Earth that...
"Doctor, rather than being scared of Earth... I think I might just dislike it."
"Hahaha. How come? Weren't you going on about how pretty it looked, like, yesterday and even earlier today?"
"Well... It does look pretty. But you know, I don't like the way you and everyone else always talk about it."
"Why is that?"
The look on the doctor's face suggests that he's already got his answer. It's quite impressive that he got a read on my feelings before I could express them. I wish I had the ability to see through emotions like that.
Anyway, I still have to give my own answer.
I cross my arms and drift in circles -- as I always do whenever I think. It's a routine that I came up with, based on the Japanese saying about "circulating thoughts through one's head."
"Ah, that's it. I don't like it when it sounds like they're talking down the Hope -- like they think things were better on Earth."
"Is there anything else? The human heart is not so simple; it is rarely motivated by one thing alone."
"Anything else...? Well. It makes me feel lonely, I guess."
"I see..." the doctor gives me a hug and pats me on the head. "Let me remind you of one important thing, Nini: You may be born here on the Hope, but you are also considered an Earthling -- a Japanese citizen."
"Half Japanese, half American, that is."
"No, technically only Japanese. The United States determined a person's nationality by the location of birth[10]. Japan, on the other hand, determines it by ancestry[11] -- if not by naturalization for both cases, that is. The blood in your veins makes you Japanese, at least from a legal standpoint."
"What if I get a blood transfusion?[12]" I ask, and the doctor laughs so hard that he starts spinning around. Looks like he didn't see that coming.
Before long, I start laughing as well, as we drift in circles together.
===
Chapter 13 Character Profiles
↩[1] Nini (Novus Nemo/Taichiro Oyama)
The game's protagonist.
Born on the Hope International Space Station as Novus Nemo, and raised outside of the Japanese linguistic sphere despite his ancestry.
Due to the unique location of his birth, some people treat him as effectively an alien.
His nickname, "Nini," is short for "nobody" or "new" in the International Space Station's standard language.
Being Teruko's grandson, he goes by Taichiro Oyama, his Japanese name, when he comes down to Earth. No records of his father and grandfather exist in Japan.
First-person pronoun used: Boku
↩[2] The Ship's Doctor
Nini's grandfather and Teruko's husband.
On Hope, he is not to emphasize his position as Nini's grandfather, so he taught his grandson to call him by his official title instead.
This is to prevent Nini from receiving unwanted attention, since everything on the space station -- including Nini himself -- is considered as common property.
===
Chapter 13 Footnotes
↩[3] Earth
The third planet of the Solar System.
For familiar readers who wonder exactly which Earth this is, it is Earth L32 of Universe 12.
↩[4] Activity Period
The space station operates on a 4-shift system. "Activity period" refers to when a crew member is on duty.
↩[5] Rationed Oxygen
Oxygen is a valuable resource in space.
↩[6] Prince of the Land of Hope
"Land of Hope" was originally considered a derogatory term, given to the space station due to how its inhabitants acted as if it was an independent nation.
The people in question regarded it as a compliment, however.
The "Prince of the Land of Hope" could be considered a symbol of the space station's inhabitants' arrogance.
↩[7] "There's really no telling 'up' from 'down' here"
Sense of direction can become ambiguous in outer space.
A ceiling can also be considered as a floor, making it easy to optimize the use of space.
↩[8] "Looking larger and larger by the day"
The Hope orbits the Earth in a long elliptical trajectory, passing through the World Gate, an area where time flows differently.
↩[9] "For future reference"
The doctor documents his grandson's growth both for personal curiosity and practical purposes.
The space station is completely different from Earth as an environment for a child to grow up in, specifically because there are extremely few people with whom they interact, making Earth's common sense completely incomprehensible to Nini.
This is being recorded as foundational data for designing a program to improve this aspect in the long term.
↩[10] "The United States determined a person's nationality by the location of birth"
So if a mother gives birth to a child while she's in the United States for business or travel, United States citizenship is automatically granted to the child.
↩[11] "Japan, on the other hand, determines it by ancestry"
Actually not fully the case; the doctor made a mistake because he was going by vague memory.
This chapter takes place in Earth year 1982, when only the paternal bloodline counted for a child's Japanese citizenship.
(In the present day, both paternal and maternal bloodlines count.)
↩[12] "What if I get a blood transfusion?"
Not something most Japanese people would ask, but there are times when those from cultures that place less significance on bloodline ask this question seriously.
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