Really? You are also interested in Kumiai and its stories? It’s true that there are no two places like that in the world, there must be interesting things happening there. 

As I see that this mysterious island has piqued your interest, I will be happy to accompany you so that we can see more closely the daily life so particular to the people of this island.

Wait a minute, I have a better idea… who would I choose… 

Oh I know! And if we follow this girl here, I feel like we won’t get bored with her, haha.

I’m setting up the panorama: A beautiful architect’s house in the middle of a residential area in a small Japanese coastal town. *Zoom on the house* 

It’s morning, a young girl is about to wake up and a long story will certainly follow…

“Rina! Wake up, your alarm clock has already gone off several times, you’re not going to miss the first day of school are you?”

No answer, she must be sleeping deeply. The girl’s mother knows only one way to wake up the princess, and with an astonished look she cries out:

“Oh dear! What a good smell… I really wonder who is going to get to eat all those good cookies…”

And here is a flash, the girl wakes up immediately, the belly is stronger than the tiredness and the cookies seem to be an ideal bait to motivate Rina.

“I’m coming Mummy …” she said half asleep

“Hurry up or your father will eat it all up!”

Rina hurriedly got dressed, looking happy to be wearing her summer school uniform again.

She comes down from the floor attracted by the good smell of chocolate that emanates from the kitchen.

“Come sit at the table, I’ve made your favorite back-to-school cookie recipe: vanilla cookies with three chocolate chips.”

These cookies make me drool too, Rina is really lucky to have such a caring mother.

The girl’s father is sitting at the table and quietly drinking his coffee hidden behind his tablet. It looks like he is trying to hide something…

“Papa ?”

He responds with a simple “Hmm?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

In a slightly muffled voice, he answers.

“Please go ahead”

“It’s weird because there are only five cookies on my plate, Mom’s dish allows her to make six total. If I’m calculating right there is one missing and I haven’t even started my breakfast yet…”

A western atmosphere settles in the kitchen, you can almost see tumbleweeds passing behind them.

The father lowers slightly his tablet to let glimpse only his eyes, a duel of glance settles then between the two protagonists. The tension rises, the silence is deafening and the father answers his dear daughter.

“I recognize my daughter there, intelligent like her father…”

“I wish I had been like my mother…”

“That’s not very nice …”

“Yes I know…” 

…

The two duelists string together scathing retorts for another two good minutes, it’s unbearable, the pressure is felt even in the neighborhood.

All of a sudden Rina is silent, her father probably thinks that he has won his duel, he is already rejoicing in his victory. The young girl has perhaps a last trick up her sleeve?

“Mummy ?”

“Yes sweetheart ?”

“There was one left, wasn’t there?”

“Yes it’s in the fridge.”

Rina gets up, the silence is still heavy, she goes to the refrigerator and opens it firmly.

“You made a big mistake papa-san… This mistake will cost the life of this poor little flan”

The father then stands up suddenly, like a criminal being caught in Detective Conan, and exclaims.

“Ma… Masaka…”   *Im… Impossible*

As the girl takes the flan in her left hand and a spoon as shiny as her hair in her right, she eagerly opens the package and sticks the spoon into her dear father’s favorite dessert.

Rina turns to her father and makes her best smug face possible.

“An eye for an eye… cookie for a flan”

And while the first bite ends in a rattle of satisfaction from Rina, her father falls to the ground as if hit by a bullet in the heart.

An unprecedented drama has just taken place. A father and daughter’s close relationship is jeopardized by a simple cookie.

“Now you understand the pain I felt over three minutes ago papa-san.”

As she returns to her seat to resume her breakfast, her father unwillingly reveals the remains of the delicious cookie he dared to steal from his daughter. 

Like a criminal faced with the overwhelming evidence of his wrongdoing, he then sets out to repent for his heinous crime.

“Forgive me boss, you weren’t coming down right away, I just thought I was playing a joke on you but… it was so good…”

“Your sentence will be terrible papa-san… Mama-san, it was my turn today wasn’t it?”

“Yes, in fact he is looking forward to it, ufufu”

Ah, what a sweet and kind mother, Rina thought at that moment, she is nothing like that selfish monster of a father.

“Perfect, then you have only one path left in your redemption…”

No sooner has she finished her sentence than mama-san puts her hand on the handle of the door that leads to the backyard of the house.

We then begin to hear the sounds of a fierce and dangerous beast behind the door, it almost sounds like they are guarding a cerberus, a demonic and deadly creature.

Papa-san trembles with all his being, he knows what to expect; as soon as he passes the threshold of this door, he will have no escape.

“It’s time for you to face the consequences of your actions papa-san… and by the way… your flan was delicious.”

After these last words of farewell, Rina’s father rushes towards the door and opens it in one go without any hesitation, as if he was resigned to sacrifice himself.

*A deafening noise and a white flash*

The foul beast pounces on papa-san and knocks him to the ground, has his time come?

A big blow of tongue on his face comes to wake him up, he is stunned following the shock which he has just undergone.

“Alright I get it, come on out Sam, you can see I can’t get up”

The beast turns out to be a big German shepherd named Sam. He wags his tail frantically and licks papa-san’s face so much that he ends up covered in drool. 

It’s filthy…  (and cute at the same time… I love big dogs… just because I’m the narrator doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to have a life like others ok! baka)

And just as the heavy mood begins to fade, Rina’s mother retrieves Sam’s leash and gives it to her husband. 

Rina begins to enjoy her first cookie.

“It was normally my turn to take Sam out, but you overstepped your authority as a father in this house by eating one of MY cookies, it’s only fair… and be sure to pick up Sam’s poop when he poops.”

Resigned, Rina’s father takes the leash and ties Sam with it, then goes out the door to walk the doggie.

With a sad look and an ounce of regret…

“I’m going…”

“See you later darling, don’t forget we have an appointment together later, come back soon”

The recollection of his planned rendezvous with his dear and tender wife triggers in him a rise of adrenalin, he leaves directly with Sam in direction of the park at full speed.

“I’LL BE BACK SOON, WAIT FOR ME HERE!”

…

“Are you really going on a date with daddy next?”

“We do have an appointment but not a date, he probably forgot that we have to receive special clients at the spa in the early afternoon”

“I would have liked to see his face when he realizes that he was tricked ahaha”

“It’s not nice to make fun of your father like that Rina, I’ll make him a nice homemade flan tonight to cheer him up.”

Mother and daughter continued to talk like this until it was time for Rina to leave for Kumiai, the island where her high school is located.

“It’s time sweetie, you have to go”

Rina collects her things and puts on her shoes.

“See you tonight, Mummy.”

“See you tonight”

Just as Rina opens the front door, her father comes rushing back from his walk with Sam. Out of breath he says

“I’M HOME!”

Rina with a mocking air passes in front of him to let him enter.

“You got here fast, hope you enjoy your date with mom, hihihi”

A wink and a thumbs up.

“Don’t worry about me, I got this.”

He might be disappointed, I almost feel sorry for him. 

Rina goes through the gate and says goodbye to her dog

“See you tonight Sam, keep the house safe and protect Mummy from Daddy too. Good doggie.”

And so the girl disappears on the horizon in front of the eyes full of life of a nice dog.

…

This is already a very interesting premise, isn’t it? We won’t be bored with her and discovering Kumiai with her could be a very good idea if you ask me…

I can’t wait to discover the other people who live in this city and the secrets that this island holds for us.