Winter Breezes in Hokkaidō

8 hours later, around 5 in the morning.

“Teresa-chan, Teresa-chan…”

A soft voice was calling to Teresa, her slightly muffled voice getting clearer and clearer each second she tried opening her eyes. At the same time, she felt someone shaking her right shoulder as gently as a parent would. When she fully came to, and after she had rubbed her eyes to get rid of potential early morning dust, she saw Ayane standing there smiling, repeatedly calling out her name.

Teresa maneuvered her hand to tap Ayane’s shoulder, and she immediately stopped her nearly everlasting Teresa-chan callouts. Teresa wondered for a moment if she were a humanoid alarm clock; but also pondered why someone younger than her is using the honorific -chan to her? Was it because she’s cute? Or was it out of pity-

Her trail of thought quickly shattered when she heard Ayane’s normally loud voice.

“Wake up, Teresa-c- Teresa-san, you sleepyhead! We’ve arrived at Hokuto!”

“It seems that we certainly ha- wait, Hokuto?” Teresa paused, confused at what she meant. “I thought we were bound for Sapporo, you and I.”

“True,” Ayane replied. “However, the JR train lines aren’t exactly connected to Sapporo in one straight line…”

“Really?” How interesting, Teresa pondered.

However, she gasped at the thought. If the JR train line that they had taken doesn’t go directly to Sapporo, why did she buy the ticket going straight to Sapporo? Teresa quickly worriedly wondered if she had used up all her first transportation expenses to this one shinkansen. That is, until the schoolgirl brought out her pass.

“Woah, so you’re using the same pass as I do!” Ayane exclaimed in surprise. Teresa gave an oh of shock, albeit not to the same degree as Ayane’s exclamation.

“That means we can go to the other train without having to pay any more, Teresa-san!”

Teresa sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear.”

Ayane, meanwhile, stared at her, confused. “Didn’t you know this before you left, Teresa-san?”

Teresa was so overjoyed and relieved that Ayane’s question was left unanswered, for she did not know that Ayane was asking her a question.

“Hmm? Did you say something, Ayane?”

“Oh, nothing…”

“She’s really really weird,” the schoolgirl muttered under her breath in Japanese.

After they had stepped out of the train, Teresa bowed to Ayane. “Thank you so much for helping me, Ayane, but I think this is where we part ways.” Teresa couldn’t help but feel sentimental. Even though it was just about eight hours of traveling, Teresa had already felt accomplished, making a Japanese friend on board a train with a destination she had only seen on the internet. However, Teresa still had her goal of finding her grandmother’s friend and finishing the stories she had told her when she was younger. She still wanted to find the stories of the past, and therefore she would have to let her go.

However, it looked like the schoolgirl was not parting ways with her any time soon, as she burst into laughter.

This feels all too familiar, Teresa thought, remembering the embarrassment she had felt 8 hours earlier.

“Are you kidding me, Teresa-san?” Ayane replied. “I am not going anywhere.” Ayane took out something from her bag. “As a matter of fact,” she started.

She pulled out a distinct notebook with a pen and photo attached, as Teresa yelped in surprise.

“I know exactly who you are looking for, Teresa.”

Teresa’s eyes widened. Now that Ayane had mentioned it, she looked like a youthful version of the woman in the photo clasped inside the notebook. She might be the key to finding the person, and ultimately, the stories of the past she seeks to record.

Ayane gave the notebook back to Teresa, who returned it inside her bag.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” the schoolgirl said, extending her hand out to her.

Teresa smiled. 

She may be a peculiar young girl, but she means well in all that she does.

-----

Teresa and Ayane headed towards the main terminal of the Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station. The inside was spacious, as with most JR shinkansen terminals. The crowds are fewer in the station itself than those in the Tokyo JR lines. Several food stalls are situated in the terminal, and there is a distinct installation art of wing-like structures, colored in tints of red and blue, alternating from descending curves to ascending straight lines.

As the pair approached a window, Ayane pointed out to the foggy colored sky outside. “Teresa-san, look!”

Approaching the window, Teresa couldn’t believe her eyes.

Outside of the Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station, in the quaint little town of Hokuto, southernmost of Hokkaidō, snowflakes were gracefully falling down. Children inside the station were mesmerized by the sight of snow trickling down and bursting into little waterworks, appearing like it is from some ancient folktale or its counterpart Disney fairy tale.

“It’s beautiful.” Teresa, like the children in the station, was astonished by the fantasy-like setting.

“It truly is, Teresa-san.”

Teresa turned to her left, to see Ayane, wistfully looking towards the winter wonderland scenery. “I grew up here, so I know exactly how you feel every single time the snow first falls every season. Every nook and corner, I would touch the snow and it would thaw like mist in the morning. Every time I caught a snowflake, it would melt, like a mysterious creature hiding itself from creatures of another realm. It was magical, Teresa-san… truly magical.”

All that Teresa could do was look in awe at how much this energetic schoolgirl was wistfully remembering her childhood. At that moment, Teresa looked at her somberly, thinking in the manner of her remembrance, she definitely missed this scenery. 

Perhaps, Teresa thought, she may have wished for her childhood joy to come back to her.

You’re just like me. Just like my gran.

The schoolgirl’s stomach churned.

“Whoops,” Ayane began. “I’m hungry, I’ll look for something to eat for the both of us, okay?”

“Alright,” Teresa replied.

Ayane nodded as she approached the section of the terminal with little stalls of food. Teresa, meanwhile, stayed, still looking at the town of Hokuto engrossed in the spirit of winter with the snowflakes falling continuously.

With time to spare, Teresa brought out her notebook, plopped it on the luggage she had been bringing, and began to write.

The 4th of January.

Today, I met a peculiar schoolgirl named Ayane Fujioka. She was energetic, loud, boisterous sometimes, and she had a case of chuunibyou, the delusions of grandeur case.

However, she was my first Japanese friend. Nay not just that… but my first international friend. I may have traveled around the world as a profession, but she was the first friend overseas that I have ever genuinely befriended.

Even though her English was not the most clean, she carried on a real conversation and she really did want to talk to people. Unlike what I’ve read, where Japanese people are usually in their own circles especially in Tokyo, she is like the wildflower among them.

I am thoroughly interested in what she’ll bring on this journey with me.

Thank you for making this journey to find stories of the past wonderful, Ayane.

With that last line, she closed her notebook and pondered on the schoolgirl she had just defined in her entry.

Miss Ayane Fujioka, Teresa pondered.

That young lass has a lot of stories to tell inside those wistful eyes of hers. Even with the lot she had said, there is still more to her own story than meets the eye. Her expressions speak louder than the words she utter, and her actions have more meaning than the verbal processes she had done.

At that moment, Teresa saw Ayane walking briskly towards her.

“Teresa-san, sorry to keep you waiting!”

Teresa smiled at the schoolgirl. Noticing the wistful expression of the young woman, Ayane became concerned.

“Hm? Is something the matter, Teresa-san?”

Teresa smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Ayane.”

Ayane pouted for a second, then put the worry aside. “I got you vanilla ice cream! I hope you like it!”

Teresa received the ice cream from Ayane. “Thank you very much, young lass.”

“Thank me later,” Ayane said, looking at her watch. “Our next train is coming! We have to go, Teresa-san!”

Teresa slightly chuckled. “Okay, okay, Madam Fujioka, I can carry my bag!”

Teresa continued her trail of thought.

I sometimes wonder, if I were here looking not for the stories of the past, but for the stories of the present.