His First Snowfall

When he was a child, he remembered seeing snow fall softly onto the frozen earth on television. He remembered how everyone looked so happy as they gathered around the window, watching snow descend to the earth from the night's sky. How he longed to see such things and feel the sense of warm security the winter's chill brings.

And now, he was older, he was now the lead singer of one of Japan's most successful bands, L'Arc~en~Ciel. Even with all the success his new band brought to him, there was still a longing desire to feel a snowflake melt on his cheek that he could not shake. Hyde dared not tell anybody about his wish, not even his fellow band members. They would have laughed at his childish wish to see snow. But it was this so called "childish" desire that made Hyde the perfect lyricist.

There was something, his band members concluded, in the way he saw things that was different from everyone else. Maybe it was because he knew how to describe the essence of the feeling when experiencing a light breeze of wind better than anyone else. Is that what makes a perfect lyricist? Or is it how attuned he was to any melody his band members presented him? Like how he knew the atmosphere of the song, following its flow as if it were a road map into the composer's mind. It was a gift. A gift that he was never fully aware of.

At dawn, Hyde set out on his own. A day ago, L'Arc~en~Ciel had played a live concert in Hokkaido. But to Hyde's dismay, there was no snow on the ground. He had come all this way to find Hokkaido shrouded in greenery. He kept this disappointment to himself as he drove outside of the city of Sapporo paying very little attention to the road.

He drove and drove. He was alone on the road now. What did I hope to see? He thought. If I drove a little further, I thought I would see snow. Just once, please, just once. I want to see snow. Hyde pleaded silently in his mind. Driving felt useless now. He pulled over to the side of the road and began to eat a snack that he had packed for his fruitless journey. He savoured every bite. When he was nearly finished eating, he regretted that he hadn't packed a second snack – Hyde was always hungry.

Then suddenly, he looked out of his car. A stray cat was watching him from a distance. There was something about cats that he always liked. The silky warmth emitting from a cat's fur, the soft reassuring purr, the tilt of their ears, and of course, their smell. Although no one else would agree with him, Hyde always believed that cats smelt wonderful.

Taking the remnant of his snack, Hyde slowly opened the door of his car. The cat looked suspiciously at Hyde. Hyde slowly tossed the leftover of his snack towards the cat. The cat smelt the food and slowly walked towards the food. The cat ate gratefully and sauntered towards Hyde. Hyde lifted his hand to brush the back of the cat's head. The cat enjoyed it very much.

It had been a while since he had found himself in nature. The call of the wilderness was beginning to stir inside him. But he had to resist. He could not be like the cat, a stray feline wandering through the woods. He was a Rockstar, he reminded himself, a Rockstar's climate was always under the glistening lights of a stage under the gaze of adoring fans. Hyde felt as if he were caught in between two worlds.

"I wish I could take you with me," he told the cat while scratching its belly. "But, your place is here, you wouldn't like living in the city."

A bird began to chirp loudly as it flew swiftly across a grey sky. Hyde looked up.

"I wish I could be a bird," he said and sighed.

Just then, snowflakes began to fall. Hyde gasped. A snowflake glided onto his cheek. And another. And another. He laughed and stuck out his tongue as he saw children in movies do the same thing. A snowflake appeared on his tongue and quickly melted into water. It was a dream come true.

Hyde stood there with the cat at his side for a long time watching snow fall to the ground. It didn't take long before snow covered the surface of the ground around him.

"It looks like... white feathers!" He exclaimed. "It's so graceful."

He understood now how the children felt when snow covered their town in the dramas he watched. If only he could have seen this as a child. But, he had gotten a chance to see it now. He scooped up snow in his hand and saw the intricacies of each snowflake. They were all unique. Each one of them could have been designed by a master artist and handcrafted before floating down to the earth. They glistened in his hand like diamonds.

"Ah, but it is so cold! Well, of course it is!" Hyde laughed. The cat beside him was pawing at the ground before rolling in the snow as if it were a soft white blanket.

And then it stopped snowing. The spectacle was over, but Hyde's face was brimming with tears of joy. He began to applaud in the direction of the sky as if to say bravo! Bravo! He said a long goodbye to the cat, and the cat gave a small purring sound and quickly departed out of Hyde's sight. Hyde got back into his car and began to drive back to Sapporo, his thoughts were fixated on snow. He decided to keep the memory for himself. No one would understand, he thought, but I could write about it.

"I can't wait. I can't wait to come here again," he said.

The End.