Hometown Hokkaido Hockey
There is a small town on the coast of Hokkaido, home to a combination kindergarten-elementary-middle-and-high school and a hockey rink. They say the town was once a penal colony for Canadian criminals. But that’s just a rumour. To all appearances, the town is much like any other municipality with a population just north of three digits. Were it not for the nearby Sea of Japan and the noticeably absent grain harvesters, no one would blame you if you mistook this place for Letterkenny, Saskatchewan.
In this town, there is a WcDonalds restaurant that serves milkshakes. It sits next to the boat launch. It is the frequent haunt of the local youth. Right now, in fact, there are two teenage girls staring over their milkshakes at one another, arguing in hushed tones. One of the girls is named Kaede, and this is her story.
It is a tale of friendship, hockey, and demonic summoning rituals. And it all starts with a conversation between her and her best friend, Yuno.
Chapter One
‘Some friend you are.’
‘Kaede, don’t.’
‘Don’t what?’
‘Don’t take it badly like you always do.’
‘Oh, do I take things badly? Well, gee, forgive me. I suppose I should take the dagger you’ve stabbed me in the back with and preserve it in chloroform so I can cherish it forever. Rest assured, you will receive a handwritten thank-you letter in the mail in a few days’ time, signed “Sincerely, The Best Friend You Stabbed in the Back”.’
‘It’s formaldehyde.’
‘What?’
‘Formaldehyde is what you preserve stuff in.’
‘Maybe you do. I don’t. It’s chlorophyll or nothing as far as preserving stuff is concerned. Don’t pretend like you don’t know this about me.’
Yuno drew her mouth into a flat, thin line. She looked out at the sea through the WcDonald’s window and thought it looked grey and dead.
Kaede followed her gaze and looked out at the same sea and saw the waters where she had spent her childhood fishing with her dad and the beaches she had combed with her mom. ‘You’re really leaving?’
‘Yeah.’
‘For Sapporo?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘But, what’s wrong with here? What does Sapporo have that we don’t?’
Yuno answered with a look so expressive it would’ve taken several written volumes to accurately describe it.
‘Okay, okay. You don’t have to rub it in,’ said Kaede. She sighed. ‘But what about the team?’
‘What team?’
‘Our hockey team.’
‘We don’t have a hockey team.’
‘We would if you’d stay.’
‘But I’m not. And, besides, whoever heard of a two-person hockey team?’
‘There’s a first for everything. And you’re good enough to count for two, maybe even three people.’
Yuno looked down at her milkshake. ‘That’s why I’m leaving.’
‘Huh?’
‘I want to have a chance to play on a real team. Get a sports scholarship. Go to university and eventually make something of myself.’ Yuno looked away, through the window. The sea was as lifeless as it had ever been. ‘I want to get out of here.’
‘But what about what I want? If you were any kind of friend, you would’ve stopped and at least asked before you went all Great Expectations on me.’
‘What do you want, Kaede?’
‘I want you to stay.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You mean it?’
‘I do.’
The two sat in silence. They watched droplets of condensation drip down the sides of their paper milkshake cups.
‘Fine,’ said Kaede, at last. ‘I wish you all the best. I hope you make the cut and get put on the first line of the Sapporo Suckfish, or whatever their team is called. I hope you’ll get that scholarship. I hope you’ll hold your head high as you look back at all the people who laid down in the muck so you could step on them on your march to self-realization. I know I’m proud to have been a steppingstone in your path to success.’
Kaede took a long and noisy drag on her straw. She slammed her half-full milkshake down on the table and tried to pretend like she wasn’t suffering the world’s worst brain freeze.
Yuno raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you finished?’
‘You know what? Much like my milkshake, I am not finished. And do you know why?’
‘No.’
‘Because I am just getting started, that’s why.’ Kaede picked up her milkshake and chugged a few gallons of strawberry sludge. She slammed the now nearly empty cup back on the table, popping the lid off and spraying a pinkish-white froth all over her own face.
Yuno handed her a napkin.
‘So, Little Miss Big Shot’s going to Sapporo to be a hockey star, huh?’ said Kaede, wiping her face. ‘Well, lemme tell you something. True talent is homegrown. Everyone knows the best players are like ducks. They grow up on the pond in their backyard. While you’re hobnobbing with those Sapporo saps, trying to get ahead in life, guess where I’ll be?’
‘Down at the rink?’
‘Down at the rink, ripping fat slappers by my lonesome.’ Kaede guzzled her shake once more and nearly fell off her seat before crushing the empty paper cup in her gorilla-like grip. ‘Imma start my own hockey team, hic! And I’m gonna be the CAPTAIN! Captain Kaede, they’ll call me. Whaddya think about that?’
‘I think there was something more than milk in that milkshake.’
‘The hell there was!’ roared Kaede. ‘Mark my words, Yuno. Next time we meet, it’ll be on the ice. And don’t bother wearing gloves.’ Kaede stood, turned, and wound up like a pitcher preparing to throw a fastball. She whipped her crushed paper milkshake cup in the vicinity of the garbage can. She turned back to Yuno. ‘Now, much like my milkshake, I am finished.’
Kaede moved to strut off and tripped over her school bag and hit the floor, hard. She blinked as the ceiling whirled above her. Yuno’s face, passing from pity to resolution, briefly passed into view.
‘Goodbye, Kaede.’
The sound of footsteps. The jingle of the chime above the door, followed by the soft click of the door gently closing.
‘Yeah, go on. Get out of here. This is my town and you’re not welcome in it!’ The thick layer of tears that had slid over Kaede’s eyes made it seem like she was lying on the bottom of the ocean looking up at the fluorescent lights of the WcDonald’s ceiling.
Kaede grit her teeth. ‘You’re dead to me.’