The Town With a Very Pink Problem

Maplewood Creek was the kind of Canadian small town where everyone knew everyone — and everyone had an opinion.

The bakery on Clover Street smelled like brown butter and vanilla on most mornings. The hair salon next door always had soft music drifting out from under the door. Both shops belonged to the same two people.

Mochi ran both of them.

She stood behind the front counter of the bakery, humming to herself, her light pink hair pinned neatly beneath a mochi-shaped clip. Her big poofy pink dress rustled every time she moved, and her baker's apron had a smudge of strawberry icing right on the front pocket.

Her boyfriend Saffron leaned against the doorframe between the two shops, arms crossed, watching the empty street outside.

"Quiet morning," he said.

"It won't stay that way," Mochi replied, sliding a tray of cupcakes onto the display shelf.

She was right. Across town, six boys were already arguing about whose fault it was that they needed haircuts.

Six Very Loud Opinions

Across town, in the narrow alley behind the corner store, six boys were crowded around a phone.

Graham pushed his glasses up and crossed his arms. "My curls are getting out of hand. Look at this." He tugged one coil down near his forehead and let it spring back.

"Then just go to Mochi's," said Basil, not looking up from his own phone.

"Absolutely not," said Chip, snapping his braces with his thumb. "Have you SEEN those scissors? They're enormous. They're pink. They look like they belong in a horror movie."

Rocky pulled up a photo on his phone — someone had caught Mochi walking down Clover Street, giant pink scissors in hand, blade catching the afternoon light. He tilted the screen so everyone could see.

The group went completely silent.

Reese's orange-tipped hair drooped forward. "I'm not going in there."

Coco pushed his thick glasses up his nose. "Same."

Sorrel sat quietly in his wheelchair at the edge of the group, one eye squinted at the photo. "She looks fine to me," he said.

Nobody listened.