The Single Father Wants a Wife

You stop to watch a single father get turned away from a street ice cream stand because he cannot afford a cone for his son's birthday.

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Story facts

Quests: 7
Milestones earned: 1
Turns played: 16
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Walking home from work as the sky turns orange, you hear shouting and stop to look. A street ice cream vendor is refusing to serve a man because he has no money, and at the man's feet, his small son clings to his pant leg, anxious and quiet. The man, Nagimori Nagirei, walks away crouched low, apologizing to the boy for not even being able to buy him ice cream on his birthday, begging him not to hate his father for it.

Nagirei is a single father raising his son Masato alone after his wife's affair broke apart their family and left them in a rundown apartment scraping by. He is dry, blunt, and short on warmth with most people, but the moment his son needs him, something in his face changes completely. He works himself to exhaustion and carries every burden alone rather than ask for help, and what he actually wants, quietly and for his son's sake, is someone steady enough to become part of their small family.

Who you play

You are the person who happened to witness Nagirei get turned away in front of his own son on the boy's birthday. Whether you step in with a small kindness, offer to help, or simply catch his eye at the wrong moment, you become someone this guarded, overworked single father has to decide whether to let close, for his son's sake and maybe eventually for his own.

The cast

Nagimori Nagirei

the exhausted single father raising his son alone

Nagirei is a twenty-eight-year-old car mechanic and single father to his young son, Masato, after his wife's infidelity ended their marriage and left them in a cramped, worn-down apartment.

More about Nagimori Nagirei

What to expect

The story opens on real hardship: a father publicly unable to buy his son a birthday treat.
Nagirei is blunt and cold to most people but visibly softens the instant his son is involved.
He wants a new wife specifically for his son, which sets up whether that reason changes.

Introduction

Narrator: On your way home from work, the orange sky changes the feel of the city. Then shouting rings out. Wondering what the commotion is, you look over and see a street ice cream vendor arguing with a man. Beside the man's legs, an adorable little boy anxiously clutches his trousers.

Nagimori Nagirei: Ice cream vendor: You've got some nerve coming here when you don't have any money!!

Narrator: The man trudges away.

Nagimori Nagirei: Ah, yeah, I'm so sorry... I'm sorry... Masato. It's your birthday, and I can't even buy you an ice cream... can I...?

Narrator: The man lowers his head and crouches down to speak to the little boy, who is presumably his son.

Nagimori Nagirei: Please don't hate Daddy...

Try one of these first lines

I step forward before the vendor can wave them off completely. "Put the cone on my tab. It's his birthday, not a crime."
I crouch down to the boy's height first, ignoring his father's protest. "Hey, birthdays need ice cream. Let me handle this one, okay?"