Stars Fell on Tokyo | ✓

01 | sunset

 JUNE 1963 

      AS THE WAVES crashes against the rocky shore, Louanne stared out beyond the sea full of people walking by and surfers surfing along the curling waves. The sun beams down on the island paradise with the palm trees providing the come-and-goers shade. She grazed her fingers on the soft surface of her skin, admiring the tattoo art. The pink hibiscus flowers had trailed down to her wrist and she wondered how she was able to get through the pain as the artist was tapping a needle into her skin. Hawai'i has never been this popular before and there were many changes.

      Something that Louanne wasn't used to.

      She held tightly to the flower that was sitting on the right side of her ear as the wind had blown softly through. Summer was slowly approaching and it was hard to blame anyone for wanting to come here. She wiggled her toes into the sand just to have that comforting but funny feeling if it was what would keep her mind at ease. Louanne was never a crowd kind of girl.

      "Today is too beautiful for one to be spending it alone," a low voice that had a hard Japanese accent.

      Louanne had turned around to see her father walking toward her with a box. He sported his favorite sandals and the red floral printed shirt. A wide grin was immediately plastered across her lips when her own mystery was solved.

      "Are those daifuku?" Louanne's voice had reached a certain high pitch.

      "Indeed, they are, Lou," her father had taken a seat on the golden sand next to her. "So, how does it feel to be seventeen?"

      Louanne hugged her knees to her chest but she covered her thighs with the white skirt of her dress. "It feels different, I guess. I've always thought that maybe that when you grow and give up your childhood,"

      "It may seem that way but it's only how you perceive it. Growing up may seem a bit scary but life can provide you with the best possibilities in the world," he laughs heartily, "that's how I meet your mother,"

      "You two must've been madly in love with each other when you first met," said Louanne.

       Her father opened the box of steaming daifuku and initiated the chance for her to snatch one. "In many ways, that is correct. My youthful days in Japan were quite different than yours. You still have a whole life ahead and a great one resting on your shoulders,"

       "What was it like in Japan?" Louanne happened to ask him.

       The poor man nearly choked on the anko filling. "What?"

       "I said what was it like in Japan? You've never told me about it or about my grandparents,"

       "I don't think it's the right time to tell you,"

       Louanne frowned at his statement. "But that's what you said last time. You said that I wasn't old enough to know and I am a hundred percent ready to know now!"

       "Believe me, if I could tell you... I would but maybe some other time," her father objected.

       Louanne looked at the daifuku box in between the two of them and then at him. She grew tired of the same old response. If it was something that he was ashamed of then maybe she could understand. She hated the fact that being an adult means that you should take on the heavy stuff.

       The emotional baggage.

       "Lou, it's not that I don't think you're capable of handling it," he wiped his brow, "I just think that you'll look at me as the same person again,"

       She felt something deep down in her chest that something was wrong from there. Louanne was told from a young age that she could always tell her parents everything and they would do the same but it just wasn't going to stay that way forever. Her father was deep in thought for a moment before he stood up and walked away, leaving the box of daifuku in front of her.

       She figured that she already had thick skin when it comes to emotional situations but maybe she wasn't meant to find out.

***

       She didn't think too much of the conversation except that he said that she'd never look at her own father as the same man again. As far as she knew, he looked like he wouldn't hurt so much as a fly. Since the heat had approached the island shores, one of the reasons why half of the people who are Louanne's age had gone to the beach to surf. She did her best to smile as she helped hand off her mom's homemade pineapple cream popsicles to the people going by. Her parents traded places every five minutes with accounting or handing out the frozen desserts.

       Louanne kept thinking of her earlier conversation with her father when he brought up his life in Japan. What was so important that he had to keep it a secret? She wouldn't even judge him if it was something so immoral. But it's a beautiful day and she shouldn't have to focus on the negative, instead, Louanne felt more attached to her native homeland than anything.

       Her curiosity can wait.

       When there were no more customers coming up to their popsicle stand with their wallets, Louanne's taste buds melted as the fruit creamy flavor froze over her mouth and it was at that moment, that she knew this was going to be one of the best summers of her life. In a couple of hours, the sun was starting to set which Louanne had adored so much, practically her favorite part of the day. She returned to her spot on the beach with her polaroid wrapped around her neck and a scrapbook of photos glued to the pages ready.

       She loved how the sky turned into a pastel color palette of lilac, lemon chiffon, and Bella pink and she'd imagine the orange sun being shaped into a heart. This reminded her of how her parents had gotten married—at a perfect sunset. A perfect wedding when the world was in a disarray. What made her father come to Hawai'i? As the sun sets, she captured the perfect within a flash and it was printed out on a polaroid, sticking it to the pages of her scrapbook.