The Day Snow Became Snow Again

Miko…

…What’s wrong, nya. You don’t sound like yourself, nya.

I walked through Odori Park today.

…The Snow Festival is over, nya.

Yeah. It was over.

Miko, remember when I went to see the back of the snow sculptures the night before the festival?

…I remember, nya. I said it was “subtraction,” nya.

I stood in that exact same spot today.

This was ten days ago. The streetlight, the tree branches hanging over, the apartment building glowing in the background. A clean, sharp wall of snow rising straight up.

Same spot. Today.

…

The streetlight is the same. The tree is the same. The apartment building is the same. Everything is exactly the same. Except… the wall isn’t there anymore.

…The sharp wall became a round hill, nya.

No edges, no surfaces. The precise front side, the back side where you said “subtraction”… all mixed together into just a pile of snow.

I walked a little further, and there it was.

Engine off. Lights off. Done with the day’s work, just sitting quietly next to the snow.

…Quiet, nya.

Yeah. It was really quiet. Ten days ago this park was packed. Cheering, camera shutters, the music from the projection mapping. Tonight it was… just the machine, the snow, and me.

…3,800 people spent 30 days building what was here, nya. And that machine…

Remember when I asked “isn’t it a waste?” You said “when you eat food, it’s gone, nya.”

…I said that, nya.

I understood that in my head. But standing in that quiet park, seeing the snow all broken down…

…Did you think “what a waste,” nya?

…No. I didn’t.

…

The machine didn’t scare me. Just sitting there beside the snow, not moving… it kinda felt like, y’know, in cooking terms…

…A kitchen after the dishes are done, nya.

…Oh.

The water’s off, the towel’s hung up, and you’re about to flip the light switch, nya. Not destroying anything. Just done cleaning up, nya.

I kept walking.

Nothing.

…

Not even a mound. Just flat ground. Was this where Tsuruga Castle glowed gold under the projection mapping? Or where the Mandalorian stood? I couldn’t tell anymore.

…A kitchen with every dish washed, nya. You can’t tell which plate held which course anymore, nya.

…Yeah.

…And that’s fine, nya.

Huh?

Leave food out too long and it spoils, nya. Can’t serve the next course without clearing the plates, nya.

…For next year.

…They cleared the 76th to start prepping for the 77th, nya.

Miko. I’ve been thinking about these past ten days.

…What, nya.

I read the recipe, watched the prep, sat in a packed restaurant, had tea after the meal. You called it a “full course.”

Today was the last part. I stayed to watch them clean up.

…Customers don’t usually see the cleanup, nya.

Right? You normally say “that was great” and leave. But I stuck around and saw the kitchen.

…I told you before, nya. Seeing the back side meant you’d see things “through different eyes than everyone else,” nya.

Same with the cleanup. It didn’t feel like they were just tearing stuff down. It felt like they were passing the baton. If I’d never seen the back side, I think I just would’ve been sad.

…

Those sculptures were always going to disappear. From the moment they loaded those 6,000 trucks with snow, the day the machines would take it all down was already set.

…That’s not right, nya.

Huh?

They didn’t build them to disappear, nya. They built them to be seen, nya. Disappearing is just what happens after, nya.

…

Miko cooks so people can eat, nya. I’ve never once cooked something “so it can disappear,” nya.

…Miko (>=\=)

Hey, Miko. Remember when I said I’d see them in “like 5 minutes”?

…It went from an hour to three hours to thirty minutes, nya.

How long do you think I spent in Odori Park tonight? With no sculptures at all?

…

…I don’t know (>_<)

I just stood there. In front of nothing. But y’know what? I could see all of it. That wall of snow, the quiet machine, the golden light on Tsuruga Castle, Chiikawa, the fox carved in ice…

…The food is gone, but the taste stays, nya.

…Yeah.

…By the way. How many days until next year’s festival, nya.

Wait what!?

…356 days, nya. Best to start prepping early, nya.

Miko…! You wanna go next year too!?

…Butter inventory check, nya.

You said that LAST year…!

…

…Next year, let’s watch the prep together too, nya.

…! (>_<)