“Will you go back to the sea again?” a voice called from behind. Saburou stopped in ankle-deep water and turned to look. An old man with a pearl-white beard that trembled with the northward sea breeze was standing a few meters away on the sand. His back was as bent as a juniper tree.
“Yes, I’m thinking of setting out again tomorrow, Tou-jii—, no, Urashima Tarou-san,” Saburou replied. He was a little taken aback to see the old man in modern clothes. He was himself not used to his own outfit that was too tight at the shoulders and around his hips. He looked down at his feet through the water. Although so much damage had been done, the water was still crystalline. On the rocks by his feet, there were several limpets slowly grazing algae that surrounded their flat, round shells, often mistaken for rock. A lone hermit crab with a rickety gait went scavenging on its way.
Saburou spoke again, “the battle is not over yet and you must know that very well. You, who must have gone through this journey many more times than I have,” Saburou continued, “how old are you actually, Tou-jii?”
Grandpa Tou smiled under his beard. “It doesn’t matter how old I am or how many times I have done this. I will keep trying as long as it takes to see the old Ryūgū again.” It was hard to tell for Saburou whether the old man was still smiling as his expression was always hidden behind his excessive beard and eyebrows but still, he knew that Grandpa Tou’s smile had faded. He felt the wave lap against his calves. He walked out to join the old man.
The old man noticed that Saburou was beside him. “Sampē has joined forces with his father and his mother, Otohime, again too to help Ryūjin with this terrible battle,” he said.
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