November 15th, 2019

London, England

It was a normal day in the Santander offices in Canary Wharf. Nobody was doing much, I was heavily engaged in trying to hack the office security camera system so I could get it to look down Miss Jacobs rather large cleavage. Nothing was bothering me, that is until I took THE CALL.

“Rob? Is that you?” I recognised John Hudson’s voice  “John, I haven’t seen you for years! Must be 2015, in … Kuwana! That was it we were working on that bank system. Boy ! Did we have some good times there”

“Mr Yamaguchi’s dead!”

My head spun. Mr Yamaguchi was a lovely old man I met through John, he loved his Nomihodai, his son and his Steel Dragons. “ How?” I managed to blurt out “One too many Nomihadi’s?”

“No …” Said John rather sadly “he committed Hari Kari”

Now I was really stunned. I didn’t know what to say. I just made weird noises down the telephone. John continued “ he never really recovered from the disappointment that Isei wasn’t drafted by Kuwana. He rarely went to any of his games, even when he made his LRS debut for Naha Shisathis year …”

“But that’s no reason to top yourself” I interjected “He could have always got a trade to the Steel Dragons?”

“That’s the final straw that pushed him over the top Rob, they’re taking his beloved Steel Dragons away ! The club he has followed all his life will soon be no more”

“What !!” I exclaimed in absolute disbelief “How can they take them away? I know they never were much good  but so many people invested so much of their lives in that club. Remember their Awards Ceremony & Beer Presentation? Boy, did we have fun there, we certainly kept the Kuwana station Chief of Police busy lol”

“There’s been a real big scandal over her. Loads of the LRS clubs have gone broke or have been implicated in some really dodgy dealings. They’re going to change the whole league and close four clubs down … and Kuwana’s going to be one of those that goes.”

I could hear the pain in his voice. I knew John was close to Mr Yamaguchi and went with him most times to the Steelfire Stadium. I didn’t know what to say & slowly hung up the phone without saying anything.

I leant back in my chair and remembered the good times. Meeting Mutsuhito Kumatani on the very first day he arrived in Kuwana, the hardness of the Kuwana police cell floor, hearing Mr Yamaguchi keeping on non-stop about his son, Isei’s scrapes at Tennoji High School ….

Suddenly I needed a very long, stiff drink. Kuwana might be going but they can’t take my memories away.