Seishi observed the Japanese humanitarian team that had already been in place for a month in the small camp in Mali where he and his team would stay with them for many months. He judged that the oldest must be Ikeda Yoshio, the leader of the expedition. About forty-five years old, thin, with short black hair and a rather marked face, it is in collaboration with this doctor that Seishi, himself a young surgical intern, should lead the Franco-Japanese camp. He then began the introductions. Seishi brought with him Moussah, a twenty-six-year-old nurse of African origin whose knowledge of this part of Africa would be very useful to them, and Irene, a thirty-five-year-old nurse with a gentle face framed by long brown hair. Ikeda-sensei, for it was him, introduced the rest of the team in turn. Takahashi Hiroshi was also a nurse in his thirties, wearing glasses and a short bob. Ikeda-sensei sighed in exasperation before introducing the last member, visibly absent, of the team. He pointed at a young man with a long, loose ponytail busy with children, apparently from the village where the team had settled.

"Saneda Ryô," whispered the doctor.

Irene and Moussah looked at each other, a little surprised that he did not even deign to move. Seishi smiled and waved his hand as he saw that the young man was glancing at them. The latter jumped, as if caught at fault, then shrugged his shoulders and turned his head away.

“Saneda-kun is eighteen, Ikeda-sensei continued. But don't pay attention, it's better not to bother with him.”

Seishi looked at him, intrigued.

“He would do anything for the children, with whom he is always. In a month he even seems to make himself understood and understand them but for the rest, we... He doesn't give a damn. He never integrated, we can't ask him for anything.”

Ikeda-sensei led the small group to the camp.

“I don't know why he came here. Probably because his difficult and rebellious character seemed freer here, in opposition to the conventions and life in Japan. Come now, I will explain how the current camp works and then we will discuss our organization.”

Taking one last look at the young man, Seishi followed him.

Ryô, on the other hand, had grabbed a little girl of about eight years old, who stubbornly remained with her head turned away.

“Yesterday you sick... Cough”, the young man tried to explain.

The girl shook her head as she tried to free herself.

“Tell me problem... We cure...”

“No! The sorcerer says evil eye. Leave me!”

Taking advantage of a moment of surprise, she escaped Ryō's grip and ran away.

“Samaaaa...”

Ryô remained puzzled for a moment then sighed and walked away to take care of his chore of cooking the rice... In addition, he was going to have to count extra covers now!

-Notes and Warnings-

This story is purely fictional and any resemblance to existing events or people would be purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. Copy and repost forbidden.

The era

This is the only story I wrote that is set in “the real world”. I guess this implies the need for some warnings. This story was mainly written and is set at the end of 1999 and the beginning of the 2000s. Many details related to technology or opinions and habits date from this time (it hurts a lot when you reread it so long later). I hesitated to "update" the story, but it would have changed too many things. Therefore, keep in mind that this story takes place in this period and not... when you read it.

 -If you want to skip the notes, it was the really important thing to know about the story. After this are general info.-

Names and honorifics

Most of the protagonists in the story are Japanese, so I tried to apply the customs on how the characters address each other. This means with the use of honorifics on the name or surname.

The use of the first name is not frequent. Even if things are changing among young people (in 2000!) or in some circles, it is generally between relatives, friends... Never at first with a stranger. Just look at manga where, even if they are lovers or even married, the characters always call each other by their name (without honorific eventually).

Seishi and Soma having both grown up abroad are a special case, because they naturally adopted the first name as soon as they met and we will discover why it became natural for all of them afterwards.

The evolution of these names with the relationships between the characters is also important.

Usually when a part is narrated from a character's point of view, I try to keep the names of the other characters in the descriptions consistent with the way he names them. There may be exceptions. Thus, Seishi, or his French father, who is more flexible, even if he addresses Ryô with honorific when he speaks to him, can more easily think of him only by the first name.

It's not always easy to keep it flowing in the text. Sorry if I made mistakes or inconsistencies.

A short glossary:

X-sensei: for a teacher, doctor or person with a certain level of education or to be respected (can also be approached as "master" in the artistic field).

X-san: the basic, neutral one. In a reductive way, we can compare it to Mr/Mrs.

X-kun: colloquial, masculine. For a man of the same age or younger than you. Also from a man to a man of lower status. Can be used for a woman but it is a special case.

X-chan: very familiar. Normally for young children, or girls. Took on a "cute" meaning to replace the "san" in adults but for very close people (childhood friends, lovers, parents...).

X: Not using honorifics on the name also indicates a familiarity, close to the kun for boys.

Language

For the characters:

Most of the time the characters use French or Japanese depending who they are with or English when not able to speak the other’s language.

I will usually indicate by italics the fact that a character speaks in a language other than the usual one and that this is significant.

For me/the story:

I’m sorry to say that I’m not a native speaker (and probably mad to attempt translating that). Even if I can easily read anything, writing (or worse speaking) is another issue… So please forgive English mistakes that probably come to worsen my already poor writing skills. Feel free to (kindly) point any language issue.

This story was originally written in French. If you happen to be bilingual and care to compare with the French version, I’ll be happy to know if you think there are wrongly translated meanings or other errors.

Translating this old story is a kind of test to know if I could actually write and publish another story that recently came to my mind (I intended to do it as a webtoon but realized it would be too ambitious of me).