That day, when he hung up the phone, Hiroyuki was so surprised that he was stunned for a moment.

"I'll come over there next time!" the words of his wife, whom he had left behind in Brazil, rang in his ears. At first he thought she was joking, but Maria do Rosario was serious. "I told you before! I'd follow you to Japan! The time has come."

Hiroyuki was confused. Until now, his wife had only called for one reason. It was to ask him to send more money. But this time, she didn't mention anything about money. She said, "It's so much fun. I didn't know there was such a fun job," and laughed as she told him she had found a new job. On the other end of the phone, he could hear the rhythm of samba and the voices of many women.

"When exactly are you coming?" he wanted to ask, but Maria do Rosario replied, "At the end of the year, I think. Anyway, during the Fiesta. The Fiesta!"

After that, there was no contact. Hiroyuki spent each day feeling uneasy. It was fine when he was at work, but when he returned home, for some reason, he felt uneasy.

One day, I confided in a colleague who I get along well with, and he was surprised and asked, "What? Are you serious?" "So, what will happen to Sanae-san?"

That was the problem.

Hiroyuki came to Japan to work as a dekasegi worker at the age of 21. He had become a father at the age of 19 and was living in a small apartment with his wife, young son, and sick mother-in-law. One day, his mother-in-law said to him, "If things continue like this, we won't be able to feed our family of four."

I worked hard in Japan and planned to take some time off after five years to return to Brazil to celebrate my only son's start of elementary school.

However, that opportunity vanished in an instant when, while at work, she received news that her son had been hit by a bus and died, just before his sixth birthday.

Although he was unable to attend the funeral, he visited the grave as a father and mourned the death of his only son. He never returned to Brazil after that.

Returning to Japan, he worked harder than before, not only at work but also at studying. In Brazil, after graduating from high school, he met Maria do Rosario while studying for his entrance exams, and soon after, she became pregnant and was unable to go to university. He worked, but it was difficult to support his family. So he went to Japan, earned a lot of money and continued to send money back to Brazil. "Okay! From now on, I'll do something for myself!" he thought, and first of all, he started learning Japanese.

The teacher at the Japanese language school was Sanae Inoue. At first, Hiroyuki was so nervous that he couldn't speak a word. There were students from Italy, America, and Korea in the class, but they all spoke much better Japanese than Hiroyuki, who was Japanese.

However, Ms. Sanae was patient with him and gave him guidance, and six months later, Hiroyuki successfully advanced to the next grade.

I was sad to think that I would never see Professor Sanae again, but I told myself that people would likely forget about a Brazilian worker who hadn't even graduated from college.

Hiroyuki was part of a soccer team made up of fellow workers. One Sunday, a little boy came to watch practice for the first time. After a while, a woman came and tried to talk to the little boy, but the boy didn't respond and just watched the practice intently.

After practice, Hiroyuki called out to a woman who was taking her child home, saying, "If you'd like, please continue to come and watch our practice."

"Thank you. The child is crazy about soccer," the woman said.

Hiroyuki was surprised to hear that voice and asked, "You're Sanae-sensei, right? Do you remember me?"

Since then, Farid has come to watch Hiroyuki and his friends practice every day. He joined the children's team and began saying that he wanted to become a soccer player when he grew up.

Farid was born to Sanae and her Iranian husband, and since he lost his father at a young age, he quickly became attached to Hiroyuki. They seemed like father and son.

Hiroyuki started dating Sanae and had promised to marry her. However, he had been hiding the fact that he had a wife in Brazil. The time for a test had come.

Note

1. Holidays, Celebrations

Laura Honda-Hasegawa