“It’s so tasty,” she gushed. “Almost makes me wish I lived in Hokkaido…”
“You can say that again. The locals here have it good, that’s for sure.”
When we were originally deciding on what to have as our first lunch in Hokkaido during free time, we’d come up with several candidates: jingisukan, ramen, soup curry… But now I was one hundred percent confident that seafood had been the right decision. Not that any of the other candidates would have been the wrong decision, of course, but I could say with certainty that if I ever took a trip to Hokkaido again, I’d probably come straight back here and eat this exact same sashimi bowl.
Suddenly, I realized something: Hoshihara hadn’t made a single peep since we started eating, and she was the biggest foodie of us all. On closer inspection, I could see the fire of determination burning in her eyes as she stared down at the bowl in front of her—so intensely that it actually scared me a little. Perhaps this was what happened when she finally found a foe worthy of her discerning taste buds—she shut up and focused on eating in complete and total silence. I didn’t want to disturb her, so I dove back into my own bowl as well. It really was that good.
Slowly but surely, we finished our meals.
“Phew… Okay, I think I can die happy now,” said Hoshihara.
These were her first words since our food had arrived. She was rubbing her stomach with a look of total ecstasy painted across her face. I was glad to see she liked it just as much as I had.
“I think I might have to come to Hokkaido for my graduation trip,” she said.
“Planning for next year already, I see.”
After leaving the restaurant, we got on the train and headed for Shiroi Koibito Park as we’d originally planned. It was a relatively famous tourist attraction in Sapporo, a name that came up a bunch when we were researching things to do. Hoshihara was the one who’d ultimately insisted on going, though—mainly because there were all sorts of tasty sweets to try. She was nothing if not loyal to her stomach.
“Whoa! Look at that!”
Only about a five-minute walk from the station, the park came into view, its large brick facade standing out prominently amid the other buildings nearby. Sticking up from the roof was a large signboard that read “CHOCOLATE FACTORY.”
“Dang, it sure looks a lot like a theme park,” I said. “Here I was expecting it to be a tour of the actual factory where they make the cookies or something.”
“Oh, come on, Kamiki-kun!” said Hoshihara. “Did you really not even look into what the place was when we talked about it? Yes—and it’s a really popular place for couples to go on dates and stuff too.”
“Huh, no kidding…”
As we got closer to the building and eventually passed through the exterior gate, we were greeted by a scene that looked like it had been plucked right from the pages of a children’s book: a grand clock tower, some European-style buildings clustered around the perimeter, a gingerbread house, a tree house… It had been designed to look just like a quaint little fairy-tale village. The place was pretty packed too; there were a ton of families who’d come to visit the park with their kids, and I even spotted a couple other groups of students from Tsubakioka High here and there.
Before entering the park itself, we explored the courtyard for a while. There was a fountain, some snow sculptures, a telephone booth, a double-decker bus… Any of these would have made for a great photo op. In fact, there were so many of them that it felt like the park’s designers were literally begging us to take as many photos as we possibly could. There were pedestals to set your camera down when using a self-timer and plenty of mirrors all around for taking selfies. And like obedient little tourists, we did a full circuit of the entire courtyard, taking photos at every turn.
“Ushio-chan, Kamiki-kun!” said Hoshihara. “Go stand over there for a sec!”
“Hm? Sorry, where?” I asked.
I looked in the direction that Hoshihara was pointing to see a large, heart-shaped arch lined with flowers—an installation clearly devised for couples to stand beneath and take photos together.
“Come on, hurry up! Other people are gonna want a turn!”
Oh, man. Is she serious right now? This is gonna be a little embarrassing…
I glanced over to my side to see that Ushio seemed to be feeling awkward too.
“Well, we’re here now,” I said. “We might as well.”
“Yeah, okay. Since she’s offering, I guess.”
Ushio said this as if trying to convince herself, then walked over to stand beneath the arch. I followed suit and positioned myself beside her.
“Scoot in closer, you two!” Hoshihara shouted. “Smile like you mean it, will ya?!”
She sounded like an amateur photographer barking out orders. We did as we were told, closing the gap between us until we were standing shoulder to shoulder, and I tried my best to give a more natural smile.
“Okay, say ‘cheese’!”
Then came the first shutter snap—followed by a second, and then a third, before Hoshihara finally gave a satisfied nod.
“Sweet, looks good! I’ll send it to both of you later.”
“Yeah, thanks, ha ha…”
“I think I need a minute,” said Ushio, fanning her reddened face with her hand.
We’d explored the entire courtyard now, so it was time to head inside.
After paying the admission fee, we continued into the park proper. As we meandered through the main building, we stopped at various little exhibits to learn the history of chocolate-making and took advantage of several more photo ops. Once we reached the third floor, we came to a hallway lined with large glass windows that offered a view down into the cookie factory, where we could see all the different phases of the confectionery process. Several large pieces of machinery with conveyor belts running between them were letting out low, rumbling noises.
“Well, that doesn’t look very magical,” Hoshihara said bluntly.
“I know, right?” I said. “Needs more Oompa-Loompas.”
“Okay, Willy Wonka,” Ushio quipped. I was glad she got the reference.
There was little reason to linger here, so we took the elevator up to the lounge on the fourth floor. We’d seen most of what there was to see in the park at this point, so all that was left was to pay a visit to the dessert café Hoshihara was originally so enticed by. We were given a table by the window with sofa-style seating, where we had a great view of the entire park. Hoshihara ordered a Shiroi Koibito parfait, and Ushio and I each got a slice of a Shiroi Koibito flavored Swiss roll.
“Aren’t you full after eating that big sashimi bowl, Natsuki?” asked Ushio.
“Nope, I’ll be fine!” said Hoshihara. “I’ve always got room for dessert, and we’ve been walking around for a while now, so I’m actually kinda hungry.”
“I’m surprised you never seem to gain any weight. Are you on some special diet I don’t know about or something?”
“Mmm, not sure it qualifies as a diet, per se… But I do try to suck my stomach in at basically all times, since I heard that helps burn some extra calories.”
“Wow, really? Maybe I should give that a try.”
“Nah, I think you could use a little extra meat on your bones!”
Just then, our orders arrived. As soon as the waitress set the hefty parfait down on the table, Hoshihara grabbed her spoon and scooped up a big bite of ice cream. After allowing the flavor to sink in for a moment, she let out a moan of ecstasy and cupped her face in her hands with glee.
“Yeah, no,” she said. “Sweets are definitely where it’s at. That sashimi bowl was great and all, but the one thing that place was lacking was a good dessert!”