The Traveling Robot: What I Wanted to Find Was My Mother, What I Found Was Family - Departure: Why a Domestic Support Robot Takes His Son on a Journey

One That summer, the one who moved the most inside the house was the robot. Its model number was HK-8. A third-generation domestic support model. Three years since purchase. It was the model Mai, the wife, had chosen. Just under a hundred and seventy centimeters tall. The exterior was white. Only the joints were a pale gray. Its features were neither too human nor too mechanical. A perfectly anonymous design. The one who had given it a name was Mai alone. She called it "Hachi." Their son Yuto had first called it "House," but he got bored of that in three days. The husband, Yuki Morita, essentially never spoke to it. So that summer too, Yuki paid it no particular attention. Even as the robot made breakfast, ran the laundry, swept the entryway. It was the same as the air conditioning—something whose presence was simply assumed. One night, dinner for three was laid out on the table. Yuki and Yuto began eating, but Mai was a little late. Holding her chopsticks, she gazed absentmindedly at the robot's back as it washed dishes at the sink. Yuki didn't notice. Yuto was eating fried chicken. The robot did not turn around. Mai opened her mouth once. But she said nothing. She set down her chopsticks and said only, "Thank you for the meal." Yuki was looking at his smartphone. --- Mai disappeared in the second week of July. When Yuki woke in the morning, the space beside him was empty. She wasn't in the kitchen, or the bathroom, or on the balcony. On the table was a single sheet of paper. I'm going to be alone for a while. That was all. No contact information, no destination, no reason. The handwriting was Mai's, as always. --- It had been a week before that. The robot was folding laundry in the living room. It matched the sleeves of shirts, aligned the creases precisely, and stacked them without hesitation. Mai watched its hands for a while. Then she gently placed her hand on the edge of a folded shirt. She disturbed the crease, just slightly. No one was watching. Mai said nothing and went to the kitchen. Her back was slightly rounded. Yuki was looking at work emails. --- Yuki stared at the paper for a while. The robot came quietly to his side and said, "Breakfast is ready. Today it is toast, fried eggs, and sliced tomatoes." Yuki folded the paper and put it in a drawer. "Got it." --- Yuto was seven years old. A second-grader. Summer vacation had just begun. He asked "Where's Mama?" three times. The first time was that night. The second time was the next morning. The third time was five days later. Yuki's answers were, respectively, "A little trip," "She'll be back soon," and "A little longer." Each time, Yuto said "Hmm," and went back to playing. Was that what being seven was like? Or was Yuto simply that kind of child? Yuki didn't know. --- ## Two Fourteen years as a company employee. Yuki had thought he was reasonably good at investigation. But traces of Mai were surprisingly faint. She had left her smartphone behind. She had taken her wallet, but there was almost no credit card usage history. She had withdrawn cash the day before leaving. Seventy thousand yen. She hadn't contacted any of her friends. She hadn't said anything to her mother, either. Night after night, Yuki lined up every possibility. Disappearance. Accident. Kidnapping. Mental breakdown. As he eliminated them one by one, what remained was a simple fact. Mai had gone somewhere by her own will. Why? He didn't know. That was what hurt the most. --- The breakthrough came from the robot. One night, Yuki tried asking. "Before Mai left, was there anything unusual?" The robot paused briefly. "Allow me to confirm your definition of 'unusual.' Do you mean a deviation from routine behavioral patterns?" "Yes." "Then I have one thing to report." Starting two weeks before her disappearance, Mai had begun teaching the robot to cook. The robot had always handled the cooking, but Mai had stepped in, giving detailed instructions—"Try frying in this order," "Wait a moment here." "What dishes?" "Curry. Nikujaga. Tamagoyaki. Tonjiru. Buri daikon." All of them were Yuki's favorites. "The mistress asked me to record the recipes in detail. I complied." "Why didn't you tell me until now?" "Because you did not ask." Yuki was silent for a while. Then he said quietly. "...Anything else?" "Three days ago, the mistress said to me: 'If you're here, it'll surely be all right.'" Those words passed quietly through Yuki's chest. Yuki looked at the robot for a while. He tried to say something, and stopped. The robot stood in silence. The same face as always. Yuki looked away. --- As he followed the traces, a single clipping surfaced. In the back of Mai's closet, tucked inside an old photo album. It was a magazine page. A feature on a small mountain village in Nagano Prefecture. It showed a workshop that taught pottery. In the margin, in Mai's handwriting, small characters: Just once would be enough. Yuki took the clipping and searched for it in the middle of the night. --- ## Three He found it. On the outskirts of Kamiina District, Nagano Prefecture. A pottery workshop converted from a closed school. It offered a long-term residency program. Capacity: eight. Phone number listed. He didn't call. He intended to go in person. The next morning, he booked a shinkansen ticket. He called out to Yuto, "We're going on a little trip," and left through the front door. They got in a taxi. The ride to the station was about three minutes. Watching the streets flow past the window, Yuki thought for the first time. What had changed in the house since Mai disappeared? The food the robot made was the same. The laundry and cleaning were the same. Nothing had changed. That was why it had taken him so long to notice. In those three minutes, a large truck ran through an intersection. --- When Yuki regained consciousness, he was on a hospital bed. Fractured right leg, two ribs, numerous bruises. No danger to his life. But he wouldn't be able to move for at least three weeks. Yuto was in the hospital room. Standing beside the robot, looking curiously at the IV stand. "Papa, what's in that bag?" "Medicine." "Is it yummy?" "Not yummy." Yuto stared at the IV for a while, then said again. "Papa, you were going to see Mama, right?" Yuki was silent. "I can tell. Because you weren't wearing a suit." A seven-year-old sees these things. Yuki stared at the ceiling for a while. --- That night, after Yuto fell asleep, Yuki called the robot. "There's something I want to ask you." "Yes." "I want you to take Yuto to Nagano." The robot paused. "To the mistress's location?" "Yeah." "I?" "There's no one else I can ask." Yuki's parents were far away. He hadn't yet told Mai's mother where Mai was. He had trusted acquaintances, but no one he could ask to take a small child on a long trip during summer vacation. "I am a domestic support model. Long-distance travel guidance is not a primary design objective." "I know." "And you are all right with that?" "You know that child better than anyone." The robot paused again. "Understood." --- ## Four The next morning. By the time Yuto was woken, he had already packed. In his backpack: a water bottle, a bug net, three sheets of origami paper, a change of clothes, and a cat stuffed animal. The cat's name was Haru. Mai had bought it when Yuto was still two. "Hachi, can I bring Haru too?" "There is no issue in terms of luggage management." "Yay. Haru wants to see Mama too." The robot did not answer. The words to answer did not exist in its database. --- It had been two years since Yuto had ridden a shinkansen. When he sat by the window, he was immediately riveted by the scenery. "Hachi, is that Mount Fuji?" "We are near the Shizuoka border. Mount Fuji will come into view on the right shortly." "How long?" "At the current speed, approximately four minutes." For four minutes, Yuto didn't move a muscle, keeping watch out the right window. "There it is!!" His voice was loud. An elderly couple in the next seats turned around. The wife smiled. The husband was quickly drawn into smiling too. The robot bowed its head quietly and slightly toward the couple. For some reason that struck them as funny, and they chuckled again. --- At the transfer station, Yuto vanished. The moment they passed through the ticket gate, his hand had slipped free. He was swallowed by the flow of people, and disappeared from sight. Hachi froze for exactly one second. Then it ran. The manual said, "In crowded areas, move on foot." Even so, it ran. Thirty seconds later, it found Yuto crouching in front of a souvenir shop. He was looking at a daruma figurine. "Hachi, this one doesn't have eyes." "You nearly got lost." "I didn't though." "Next time, do not let go of my hand." "Okay. But this daruma really doesn't have eyes." Hachi did not reply. It stood there for a while. --- At the station where they transferred to a local line, they had lunch. A small diner in front of the station. An elderly proprietress ran it alone. When the two entered, her expression froze for just a moment. But she immediately said, "Welcome." Yuto ordered zaru soba. The robot stated, "I do not eat." The proprietress went to the back, then returned and asked the robot. "How far are you going?" "Toward Kamiina." "Going to see this child's mother?" The robot paused briefly. "Yes." "And the father?" "He is hospitalized." The proprietress narrowed her eyes, just slightly. Then she said to Yuto, "Wait a moment," and disappeared into the back again. Along with the soba came a small plate. Two inari sushi. "On the house." That's what she said. Yuto said "Yesss!!" and looked up at the robot. "Hachi, inari!" "Eat up." "Hachi, you're not eating?" "I cannot eat." "What a waste." The proprietress laughed out loud. Hachi processed the meaning of that reaction while quietly adjusting Yuto's chopsticks. --- ## Five After transferring buses, somewhere along the mountain road, Yuto fell asleep. He put his full weight on Hachi's arm, completely out. Outside the window was deep green. Through gaps in the trees, the mountainside appeared from time to time. With every curve, Yuto's head lolled. The robot gently supported his head with its hand. It was not a motion in the manual. It simply did so. There were only four people on the bus. The driver. An old man who looked like a farmer. A young woman. And the robot and Yuto. The young woman kept glancing at the robot. After a while, she spoke up. "Um... excuse me." "Yes." "Is that child really all right? Being brought here with just a robot." "Thank you for your concern. As the one entrusted with instructions, I bear the responsibility of delivering him safely." "But if something happens..." "If something happens, I will contact the nearest medical facility and report to the guardian. I have the procedures memorized." "But..." The woman was silent for a moment, then continued. "Doesn't it feel lonely? For that child." The robot stopped its answer for just a moment. "Whether he is lonely or not, I cannot know without asking him." Hearing that answer, the woman tilted her head slightly. Then she faced forward again. --- They arrived at the destination village a little past three in the afternoon. A wooden sign hung at the front gate of the closed school. Hand-painted: "House of Earth and Fire." Yuto stopped in front of the gate and looked up at the sign. "This is it?" "This is it." "Is Mama here?" "I will confirm." The robot pressed the intercom. After a brief pause, a woman's voice came through. "Yes." It was a voice it didn't know. "Is Morita Mai there?" There was a long silence. Eventually, from beyond the front gate, from the far end of the covered walkway, someone came walking. A white apron. Mud on her hands. The moment her face saw Yuto. She froze. --- "Yuto..." Mai's voice was hoarse. Yuto just stood there for a moment. Then he said. "Papa got in an accident. So

日本語

What is Novelia? →

Episode 1

What is Novelia?

Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.

Learn more about Novelia →New sign-ups get 5,000pt