Dusting Up
By Jo-Ryan Salazar
The month of April was meant to do rounds upon rounds of golf on Pink Wind, a course that was sacred to many people who swung for the stars under the cherry blossoms that fluttered. Hana was a golfer that had played nearly 1,000 games on Pink Wind, and before she did a round, shw wanted to enjoy some sakura mochi ice cream, made with Ventus Vanilla and infused with the essence of the petals as well as strawberries. Mochi ice cream was one of Hana's addictions, and she couldn't get enough of it.
Elly and Tory Fenne were her caddies, with Ember being her mascot. "You seem to be on a roll with your form on this map, Hana," Elly said, digging into some green tea mochi ice cream balls that were as big as the croissant sandwiches served on Sepia Wind at the clubhouse.
"Striving for improvement is the essence of the noble golfer," Hana said, taking a bite out of her mochi ball, filled with the sakura ice cream that melted in her mouth. "Mmmmm, this tastes so good."
"You should try the Ventus Mint and Chip," Tory replied, swallowing his ball whole. "It's really strong, the mint, but it's invigorating."
"Did you just swallow that whole?" asked Elly, stunned.
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
"There have been cases of people choking to death from eating mochi. Be careful."
"Right, right."
"Anyway, April is a great month to play on this map," said Hana, watching the petals fall down, one landing tableside. She picked it up and ate it. "These petals are also edible, too. So yummy!"
"Hey, you're right," Elly replied, snacking on a few petals. "I feel enlightened by the flavor." Tory grabbed a handful of petals and swallowed it whole. "Tory, stop that!"
"Sorry, Elly," he replied, doing a dojikko pose.
"Good grief."
"Anyway, I will go ahead and head back inside to rest for a bit before doing some more practice rounds," Hana said. She was dressed in a Pink Bunny Training Hood, Pants and Sneakers, and was donning a WT-PEP-100S, Angel Wings and a pink PMR-BEAT Hairband. She decided to ditch her hair ribbon and let her hair down with a side tail bangs haircut. Finally, she wore Pink Lace Umbrella Earrings, an Animal Ring and a Crimson Ring for extra distance.
A young boy wearing beatnik-like clothes, a beret, a Kaiser Mustache and loafer went over. "Excuse me, are you Hana?" he asked in English with a thick, pronounced, almost comical French accent.
Naturally, Hana was fluent in English and spoke it like an American from Pebble Beach. "Yes, I am."
"Good morning to you, mademoiselle. Bonjour. I am known as Le Super Loveur. Raised in Paris, a native of La France, I am proud to now be a citizen of La Ile de Pangya."
"I'm Hana, nice to meet you." They shook hands.
"Shall we have a walk? You caddies and the mascot seem to be keen on ordering more ice cream."
"I guess so. I gotta go for a walk, Elly and Tory, I'll be back," Hana said.
"See you," the two said in unison as they went to the cashier to order more mochi ice cream.
"Let's go," said Le Super Loveur as he and Hana took a walk.
"So, tell me a bit about yourself, whoever you are," said Hana.
"Ah, well oui, oui, so I shall. Anyway, I was born in North Korea but I was evacuated by two foster parents raised in Africa. I was given the name Lille Bangui Ouagadougou. I lost my foster parents while they were kidnapped by militants at the age of two but I was rescued by a couple of French girls in their teens who were lesbians and they adopted me and we moved to Paris, where I grew up."
"Why would you be named after a French city and a couple of places in Africa?" asked Hana.
"That is my birth name, by the way, and people made fun of it, oui."
"And I'm sorry about your lost. You lost your biological parents and your first set of foster parents. That must have been tough, no?"
"I am glad that I was able to live to tell about this to you. War is evil. Seek peace and live for peace. Anyway, as the story goes, I was in primary school, and while my friends didn't like to call me Lille Bangui Ouagadougou, they decided to call me by a different name. Le Super Loveur."
Hana laughed. "That is an unusual name, how did you get that?"
"Well, the thing is, I believe that men and women should be free to choose who they want to love without being punished for it. That is Super Love, and my parents are lesbians. I have two mothers, and those reasons are why I am called...Le Super Loveur."
Hana had to laugh. "So, Le Super Loveur...how did you end up here?"
"Years ago, I was at an internet cafe in Bordeaux when I overheard some talk about being spirited away to La Ile de Pangya, Pangya Island, where the people are wonderful and beautiful, the magic is alive and well, and the people love their golf. One person said that you could end up being spirited away just by having a good night sleep. So I retired to my chateau room in the city, and I decided to sleep because I had some field work to do. When I wake up, I realized that I am in a completely different place. I was in Ile de Pangya."
"Oh my..."
"I decided to head to this place called, I believe you call this, Blue Lagoon, buy some clubs, do some training with this caddie named Pippin and then do a few rounds. After a while I decided to do some exploration."
"So where did you go first?"
"There was this placed called Le Grand Zodiac, where you could practice your chipping skills. I asked some of the condor-faced guards if there was some curios they were giving away or something of that sort, and one of them gave me a box with a certain person's face on it. I have it here, for you."
Le Super Loveur produced the box, and Hana opened it. "Oh my, this is..."
"Behold! Les Knuckle Rings. Forged from some of the most raw elements of the Abbot Mine and Le Grand Zodiac, Les Knuckle Rings improve your spin, while some also improve your curve. And others stop the wind to 1m for one shot."
"And it has my face on it, so it my be for me. Oh dear, what should I choose...?" Hana chose to pick one with the three stars and wore it on her right hand. "This one!"
"Nice choice! That is Le Star Scream Knuckle Ring, which improved your curve by three and spin by three. Allow me to evaluate your current statistics with my patented Le Super Stat Checkeur! Now let's here, hmmm..."
"?"
"It says here you have a Power of 34, a Control of 30, an Accuracy of 25, a Spin of 29, and a Curve of 29. Oh my goodness, you have the stats of a professional. Maximum power drive of 298 yards, default drive of 272 yards. You must have played on this island for quite some time, eh?"
"I'll take this as my reward for achieving in all of those Grand Prix Tournaments. Merci, Le Super Loveur."
"No problem, Mademoiselle Hana. Now if you'll excuse me, I will have to take my leave. Some lonely heart in Blue Moon needs my services before it breaks and is left for desd. Au revoir, adieu, adios!"
But as he was about to run itno the distance, Le Super Loveur tripped on a stone and his shirt exploded. His beret fell and his Kaiser Mustache turned into cherry blossom petals.
"Hold on here," Hana said, walking over to him. "You are..." She turned him over. "NURI!?"
"Heheheheh! Gacha!" Nuri said, revealing himself, a hand behind his head.
"You played a dirty trick on me, thinking you were from France and had a rough childhood. So you didn't get this from Grand Zodiac at all, is that it?"
"I actually got this from Cadie, she wanted me to give this to you. Like it?"
"I do, but does it really work?"
"It sure does, and it even does something better."
"Uhhh, eh?" The Star Scream Knuckle Ring glowed. Her clothes exploded, revealing the Heart Slit Bikini Top and Bottom underneath. "HYAAAAAAAAAH!" Overwhelmed with embarassment, Hana found herself lying on top of Nuri, blushing.
"Sometimes, you just gotta enjoy the power of Super Love," Nuri whispered as Hana began to shed tears. "Shhhhh."
"Nuri..." The two of them shared a long and deep kiss and proceeded to consummate under a cherry blossom tree, the petals covering them as they made love without anyone to think worse of them for it.
Elly looked in the distance and laid a smug smile. "Tory."
"Yeah?"
"I love spring."
"Me too." The two of them continued to enjoy their mochi ice cream as the day continued to pass over the whole of Pangya Island.
DUSTING UP
THE END