Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1: SHIPWRECKED
He overheard sounds reaching him from afar. A mix of murmurs and gasps he could not comprehend. He didn’t understand any of the mumbling. Completely disorientated in his state, he decided to check whether Death would be interested in him after all. He kept his eyes closed but the throbbing pain that radiated through his body was enough of an indicator to him that he was, as a matter of fact, still alive.
Still breathing, yet every breath caused him an unimaginable amount of pain.
He didn’t move for some time, simply making a deal with Death in his hallucinations, promising that a favour of its embrace would be greeted quite warmly. He fully accepted that at this point, and it was rude that his wish wasn’t granted. The voices around him became clearer, more isolated, yet he couldn't make sense out of the overheard speech.
He did not speak the language of the people that surrounded him on the beach.
“Step away from the corpse!” Shouted a young lieutenant that was called at the scene where an Asian-looking man had washed ashore. As the unfortunate fate wanted, he was found by no other but the biggest gossip on the island, so of course a crowd had gathered around the body.
Lieutenant Jackson came up to it and examined it from each side. The man was of a slender but slightly muscular build, and it was clear to see since he was missing his upper garments – leaving him in nothing but steel-toe shoes, leather trousers and black leather gloves on his hands. Clearly something horrible happened to him to be found on such a small, remote island where absolutely nothing exciting ever happened. Jackson questioned why he even bothered with police academy – he guessed that this was his moment to shine. His big case to solve. To start his assessment, he poked the body with his shoe – no response. It seemed that the case would be extremely short-lived.
The crowd of gathered onlookers formed a circle around him. He hated the nosey little pricks that were ruining the crime scene and stepping over any potential evidence.
“He’s very clearly deceased” Jackson muttered in response to the endless repeat of questions. “What is it with you that you always have to fucking gather around?!”
“Always?? That’s the first time something like this had ever happened here!” One person scoffed.
“Are you sure he’s dead, lieutenant? He seems to be breathing…” Noah, a ten-year-old boy asked, curiously looking at the stranger. They never had this happen on the island before, so it was more than just morbid curiosity to witness a stranger washed ashore of an island they called home.
And as if on command, the unfortunate soul moved his face away from the sand and immediately started coughing and gasping for air. Positioned on all fours, he started violently vomiting the water he most evidently swallowed. He said something in a language nobody understood. But everyone curiously watched him.
“What kind of language is that?” Jackson frowned. They never had any exotic foreigners show up here and judging by the man’s appearance, he was not from around here.
Seeing the stranger coughing and gasping whilst constantly repeating the same term, Noah reached his hand out to the stranger, holding a bottle of water. The man very quickly accepted it and hungrily drank most of its contents.
“Huh, what do ya know! ‘Mizu’ means ‘water’ in Japanese!” Another onlooker confirmed by checking the stranger’s phrase in an online dictionary. John, a local fisherman, immediately took his phone out and hoped that the quality of online dictionaries improved since the last time he tried to use it – it did not perform too well on his trip to Europe 15 odd years ago.
‘Did your ship sink?’ He typed out. The stranger looked at the screen, narrowing his eye. He was still adjusting to the scorching heat and the blazing sun that welcomed him that morning. That’s when the group noticed he was missing an eye – there was a vertical slit scar on his left eyelid, but it seemed to be an old injury as the scar did not look fresh. Some people still grimaced in disgust seeing the empty eye socket. He mumbled a reply to John’s question but again – nobody understood. John hit ‘listen’ on the translator and gestured for the man to repeat his response.
The translator’s result was absolute gibberish.
“Fuck. Right…we need her.” John cursed and looked at Noah. “You. Go fetch the foreign girl.”
“You mean…”
“Yes, fetch [A]. NOW.”
The group smiled to the poorly stranger as he looked around the crowd, still laying down flat in the sand, very clearly exhausted by whatever happened to him.
Even though it was only six in the morning, it was already around twenty-eight degrees Celsius outside. The stranger mumbled something others assumed were mostly complaints. It all made sense in his situation. They just watched him silently and looked at the massive tattoo on his back and chest – showcasing what the group had assumed was a big demon face with snakes and flower patterns drawn in a very traditional Japanese style.
“So is he a killer then, sonny?” The woman who called the police on the scene whispered to lieutenant Jackson as if the man understood a word she said. She didn’t want him to overhear, just in case he was a dangerous degenerate.
“I’m not so sure…why?” They watched as the man hectically looked around his surroundings.
“Maybe…he’s a gangster?”
“Why would you even say that?”
“Don’t yakuza have big tattoos?”
“How would you know that word, Mrs. Smith?” Jackson frowned. He had no clue what Japanese mafia was called.
“Oh you know!” She blushed. “Been reading a few romance novels lately. The one I’m reading now focuses on a yakuza falling for a widow…” she looked at the man and sighed a little too lovingly to the young lieutenant’s comfort. Jackson had to admit – the guy was good looking. He looked like he was in his 40s, maybe early 50s. The hair at the back of his head was shortly cropped but the bowl cut that surrounded it, where the dried-up sea salt water fused his unruly locks, seemed like such a weird choice of a hairstyle of a man of the castaway’s posture. They curiously watched the stranger as he looked around the beach. They thought he may have been looking for something or someone that he travelled with, so they left him to it.
You heard loud banging on your door. You haven’t had the greatest rest. The whole night you struggled to fall asleep and only managed to shut your eyes about an hour ago, so to be woken up so abruptly, you felt like crying when the banging didn’t cease after a while of trying to ignore it. If anything, it got more persistent.
You got up, dressed in whatever you could grab – a white t-shirt and denim shorts – and sharply opened the door.
“What?!” You barked but your expression softened seeing Noah at your door. You often played with the boy. There was seriously nothing around the island, so the boy often found you quite entertaining – you had stories, you travelled around Europe, studied in Japan, and the boy eagerly came to your place to listen to what you had to say. “Noah…it’s six in the morning, what are you doing up? Is it your dad again?”
You knew Jason had a problem with alcohol. You often let Noah and his older sister Moana sleep at your place whenever the situation got out of hand.
“No, not this time…but a man washed ashore on the beach! He looks Asian…translator recognised his speech as Japanese but I don’t think he was asking for directions to the library…”
You didn’t feel so sleepy suddenly.
You were often the laughingstock of the island for your interests in languages – a foreigner that moved to this small island and decided after two years that this life wasn’t for her after experiencing the boredom of the mundane routine. You were seen as a spoiled city brat. When you decided to move to Japan, your move was taken as offence, but when you came crawling back after your plans didn’t work out, people mocked you for your hot temperament and out of the blue decisions. It was impossible to find a job in your field round here, so you mostly helped out local fishermen and you barely even spoke during those trips. Apart from your recent short jobs at the Nele Island where a certain Japanese “institution” was in charge of a toxic waste cleanup, this situation was the first time you’d use Japanese in a somewhat casual conversation ever since you got back from the country five years ago. You felt bad for the stranger, but you were so excited to actually use the language you learned to love so much.
“C’mon, [A]! Quickly before granny Smith rips him apart…”
“Why would she do that?” You still followed Noah, slightly amused by the rush.
“I dunno, [A]. She looked at him funny. We need to save him.”
The poorly stranger felt even more weirded out by the attention when something that looked like a tiger cub had settled its beady eyes on him. The animal wasn’t the only one though, everyone gathered on the beach stared at him, and the stranger seemed to be so very confused. He looked around and seemed to be anxiously looking at the crowd that gathered around him. They left him very little room, almost no personal space. He absolutely hated the attention and started backing away from them. His actions made sense to him – he had no clue about their intentions – whilst the people thought he simply startled by something he saw in the distance.
Granny Smith looked in the direction of where the stranger was staring and laughed.
“Oh sonny, this is [A]! She’s not a threat! She’ll help you!”
You saw the stranger in the distance and fully understood the old woman’s funny behaviour.
“Oh, god-fucking-damnit, he’s gorgeous…” You sighed and bit your tongue when Noah looked at you funny.
“[A], he needs our help…c’mon!”
Noah pushed you to approach him. His eye focused on you and you had never felt this much adrenaline rush in your life. He was quite tall, lean, incredibly good-looking, and you felt like a horny piece of shit the moment you spotted the injuries all over his body. You shook your urges away and chirped a happy sounding ‘ohaiyoo!’ his way and the stranger seemed to have relaxed.
“Do ya understand me?” His accent was thick, but your heart rejoiced recognising bits of the Kansai-ben you studied during your stay in Osaka.
“I do! So who…” he interrupted you when he pointed to the tiger cub by your side.
“The hell is a tiger doing here?”
“It’s a cat…Goro the cat. Noah’s pet.” You shrugged and your face cringed a little, because it was so clearly a tiger, but the boy insisted on calling it a cat, so you still answered the way Noah always explained Goro’s appearance.
“Looks like a fuckin’ tiger to me…”
“Let’s just say that we…agree to disagree.” You cleared your throat and changed the topic of conversation. “I was told a Japanese man washed ashore and that I needed to help him…so, you’re Japanese then?”
“I mean…I guess?” The stranger laughed helplessly. “Yer speakin’ Japanese? Whatever they’re speakin’, I have no fuckin’ clue what they’re sayin’ so I guess that’s a safe guess, sure…”
“How did you get here? What happened?”
“I dunno.”
“Did your ship sink?”
“Ya look like a clever thing. I think it’s obvious that it did?” He smiled softly and you scoffed at the cheek.
“Alright, so what’s your name then, Mr. Clever Castaway?”
“I…” The stranger thought about it for a bit and laughed when he couldn’t remember that. “I don’t actually know.”
“You don’t remember?” Your eyes went wide. “Oh, this is bad…”
“[A] what is he saying?” Noah approached you and gave the stranger a freshly refilled flask of water.
“Er, well…he’s Japanese, his ship sank and he has no memories of who he is…doesn’t even remember his name…” You switched to English and just watched the stranger in worry.
The interest in the stranger spiked: a most-likely Japanese man, of a slender build, who’s missing an eye and doesn’t speak a word of English, washes ashore on a little island, and doesn’t remember anything about himself? How curious. Cases of amnesia only ever happened in films, some people assumed this is just a fake condition used as an excuse to avoid the responsibilities of life. Perhaps the stranger was still in a state of shock, and his memories would come back to him soon?
Perhaps…but that could just be wishful thinking. You had no clue how long it could take to recover memories. It could take a day…a week…or several months.
Or if he had no luck on his side, the stranger might never regain his memories.
“Maybe this could help jog his memory? Found this stick in the sand when you were talking…” Noah gave you the ‘stick’ to examine and your face froze. You clocked the tattoos, and you recognised it was a weapon in your hands, a beautifully decorated tantō adorned with a flower pattern that almost matched the stranger’s tattoo. You remembered the stories men at Nele Island told you to keep you from asking questions. They mentioned highly skilled lieutenants amongst their ranks that were extremely dangerous. Looking at the stranger, you hoped he wasn’t one of them and that the story was only told to you as a way to keep you from snooping around, but when the stranger saw the ‘stick’ in your hands, the disaster victim gasped and pointed to the item.
He approached you slowly, took the weapon off your hands and dropped to his knees, closely examining the item.
“What is it?”
The crowd naturally didn’t get an answer to this question from the stranger. He did not understand them. And you didn’t know whether to tell them that you just accidentally armed a yakuza.
Flashbacks and small glimpses of his past ripped open the doors that the accident seemed to have shut for him. From what he had seen, he’d rather have stayed in the blissful state of his subconsciousness suppressing it all, yet his brain pulled at the strands and weaved him through partial memories of what he could only image was catastrophic in consequences. He remembered using the blade to defend himself from something…or was he the one attacking? He didn’t know. He remembered the clank of steel against another object and the memory of it made him grit his teeth in response. Clinging to hope that this was maybe a self-defence tool in his hands, he curiously looked at the item from all sides, examining the lacquered body of it, taking his time, and then, after a short while of quiet contemplation and ignoring the mumbling he heard in the background, he grabbed the other end of it and twisted it in a sharp motion, revealing the blade. ‘Quite elegant – might’ve used it fer self-defence…’ he thought.
The gathering immediately moved away from him, now that the stranger clutched a weapon in his hands and waited for their police to take care of the matter.
“Hey, you stop right there!! Freeze!!”
But the man had no interest in any of them, he simply examined the scabbard, the saya, of the dagger. He saw his own reflection in the shiny metal of the blade and touched his face. He looked awful. His face was all dirty and small cuts were present on almost every part of his body. His hair felt crusty to touch thanks to the salt water of the ocean; his lips were cracked. He put the blade back into its cover and put it over his belt loop – as if it was the most natural thing to do. The lieutenant screamed for him to ‘drop it’ but he had no fucking clue what was shouted in his direction, so he ignored the voices. He put his hands on the sides of his hips and looked around. What the hell was he meant to do now? He cringed seeing the old woman from the odd crowd gawking at him.
“[A] you help those freaks on Nele Island. Maybe he’s one of them?”
“Dad might know something, I say we take him to the bar and ask what he thinks?”
“No offence, Noah, but your dad is…quite a peculiar fella.” Lieutenant Jackson smiled, trying to cover up what he truly thought of Jason Rich.
“Nah, it makes sense, maybe Jason can think of a plan…he was a navigator, maybe we could use one of the fishing ships to get there and…” But the fishermen weren’t so keen to lend a boat to a possible criminal.
“Woah, lady, I ain’t giving him my ship for free! He’ll steal it and I’ll never see it again!” John screamed in protest.
“Oh, come on, he needs help! Before we send him on course to Nele Island, we first need to take him to the hospital!” You shouted at the group that was now ready to abandon the stranger, knowing that he was most likely a part of the yakuza.
“You help him, [A], since you want to so badly…” Mrs. Smith said. “…and since you’re the only one that can speak to him…but if you do need help…”
Before you could tell people off for the astonishing lack of compassion, the stranger approached and poked your shoulder.
“I don’t mean ta intrude but…er, can ya tell ‘em not to kill me? I honestly mean no harm…”
“Oh, that’s not what we’re…” You felt like a fool. Of course he assumed the worst hearing everyone argue. “We were just chatting. There are Japanese people at a nearby island…I often go there to translate for them…we suspect that you’re one of them, but got lost on the way…we’re coming up with a plan to help you!”
The stranger looked at the blade he just looped over his waist and sighed.
“I…I don’t think I’m a good person…ya don’t hafta help me…”
“No, no, we have to help you…we’ll go to a local barman, he’s a great navigator, we just need to find a ship that we could use to sail…and maybe a little trip to the hospital wouldn’t hurt…”
“Preciate it, girlie…do ya have a name?”
“[A]. This boy is Noah, his cat’s Goro…and we’re about to see his father, Jason.”
The man nodded appreciatively and followed you to Jason’s bar.
“Not a fucking chance in the world, [A], forget it!” Jason growled angrily. “And you drag my son into this?! Have you lost your goddamn mind?!”
“Dad, he needs help! [A] says that other Japanese are on Nele Island, we could help him get there and…”
“And [A] works with those people, and she knows just how fucking dangerous those degenerates are. They’re mafia, son, they’re no good men!”
“But [A] said they’re there on a cleanup mission…”
“Tsch! Don’t believe everything [A] tells ya, son. She’s got a few screws loose in her head.”
You ignored the comments and decided it’s best to focus on helping the stranger.
“Jason, that man washed ashore…he’s hurt…doesn’t remember anything…he needs help.”
“Doesn’t remember? Fucking convenient.” Jason focused more on the glass he was drying than on you. “Has it ever occurred to you that he could be pretending? Waiting for an opportunity to attack? Don’t come crying to me if he rapes you for your kindness, [A], and keep that freak away from my daughter.”
“Dad, please…” Noah begged.
“I said no!” He didn’t look at his son, he looked at you. “If this is your perverse fantasy, you take him. I don’t want the trouble.”
“Perverse fantasy?! That man is injured!”
“Bet you got wet just at the sight of a Japanese round here. Isn’t that why you went there to study? I’m sure you’ve been looking for a reason to fuck off the island again ever since you came back…he seems like a great opportunity, so you take it, [A], but count me out.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you cannot be serious right now! Look, I wouldn’t come begging, but the Japanese come collect me for jobs every few weeks. They told me my next job is expected in three to four weeks. He cannot wait this long!”
“Don’t give a shit. Leave my bar.”
You turned to the stranger and sighed, before you could say anything, he got off his seat and shrugged.
“No need ta translate, I assume he said no?”
“Yeah…but we’ll convince him, don’t worry.”
“Really? He seemed quite stern…a lil’ fuckin’ scary even.”
“That’s just…he’s always like this at first…”
“Can you tell him I’ll talk to my dad? We’ll help him.”
You translated his words and the stranger nodded to the boy.
“Good kid. Preciate it!”
The trip to the hospital wasn’t as helpful as you had hoped for it to be. Without any documents to prove his identity, and lack of insurance, the help was refused.
“He could be dying, for crying out loud!” The stranger listened to you – you shouted a lot. He assumed nothing was going the way you thought it’d go.
“Ma’am, apart from some bruises, he seems fine…” The doctor looked the dirty stranger up and down and shrugged. “Cases of amnesia could take months. Let him rest and see if he remembers anything. Maybe all he needs is a good night’s sleep?”
“Fine, whatever. Don’t help him. Thanks for nothing.”
You stormed out of the examination room and the stranger and Noah followed you back out of the building.
“I mean, I do feel fine…just smell like shit…” He tried to reassure you on the way back to the main square.
“I’m sorry, I really tried but…they just don’t want to help you without any documentation.”
“It’s alright, girlie, don’tcha worry about me!” He looked around and pointed to a spot under a tree. “I can crash there, and we’ll talk in the morning?”
“What?! Are you insane?!” You realised quickly you had to relearn to control your voice when speaking in surprise. “I mean, no, we’ll give you some food and provide shelter, you won’t sleep outside…”
As for accommodation, Moana and Noah first proposed for the stranger to stay in their barn, but looking at the stacks of hay and the rats running around, you couldn’t let that be how you welcome the misfortunate man. You sighed and told the group he’d just stay at your place…you could then try to talk to Jason again in the morning, and hopefully by day three you would be able to set sail to Nele Island.
On the way to your place, the castaway tried to focus on his past, just like you told him the doctor had suggested to do. He remembered glimpses of it, but it wasn’t enough. He thought of his home…but he had no idea where that home was exactly. Tokyo? Osaka? Hokkaido? Perhaps some rural out of place area? Maybe he wasn’t a part of the underworld at all? Maybe he was a fisherman that got lost at sea by an unfortunate coincidence? He only knew he was Japanese as the translator recognised his voice to be speaking this language, and considering he didn’t speak a word of English, or any other language for that matter, he assumed he lived in Japan. So, it had to be his home. He just had to figure out where that home was exactly.
“Where are we goin’ now?” It was a long day, and the exhaustion slowly creeped in. You could tell he was tired and probably couldn’t wait to get some rest.
“We’re going to my place. You’ll shower and eat, and tomorrow we’ll talk to Jason again. Is that okay?”
Stranger only nodded in response. At least the nodding was understandable through all language barriers but it showed just how tired he got.
The unfortunate man was given towels, some fresh clothes to change into that Noah nicked from his father, and you showed him how to use your shower. The stranger seemed to nod in appreciation. He must’ve been through hell. Nobody heard a thing about a ship sinking on the news. Where the hell did that stranger come from?
You waited for him to get out of the shower and served him food as soon as he got out of the guest room dressed. He didn’t even examine his plate before tucking in – he was clearly famished. He continued nodding to show his thanks to you.
“Do you have a family? Maybe we could contact them? Do you remember anything now?” You asked him. Now that he was clean, wearing a light cotton t-shirt and shorts, he looked even more mesmerising than before. You estimated he had to be around his forties, and whenever he smiled, your heart skipped a beat. “I’m sorry, I’m asking you a lot of questions you cannot answer…”
“Nah, t’s okay. Who knows, maybe wonderin’ and talkin’ about it will help me remember…”
Maybe it was the food, or the company, but once he ate, the stranger felt quite talkative. You gave him a bit of whisky, although you weren’t so sure it was such a great idea considering he was in a state of dehydration just a few hours ago, but he seemed to accept the drink with a smile on his face. You settled into the armchair and listened as he talked about the predictions he had for his life. He didn’t remember much. He just knew he needed to go back home. He could’ve been a family man, and his wife and kids were worried plenty about his whereabouts, and his subconsciousness was warning him about it this way? Perhaps it had something to do with the tantō and now without him around he was putting people in grave danger? He felt like he was missing something important being stuck on the island. He didn’t know what was waiting for him back home. He remembered having a woman in his life before, but he had no clue whether it was true or not. Or who it was. Or what sort of relation it could’ve been. Perhaps it wasn’t a wife, but a sibling? Maybe his elderly mother? He hoped he had a kid though – he felt like he always wanted to have kids. He felt awkward trying to figure it out in front of you, but you seemed to have curiously listened to all he managed to say in a waterfall of constant thoughts that circled his noggin. Perhaps he wasn’t a talkative type before and that’s why it felt so unnatural? Maybe he was saying something out loud that he had never dared to say in his life before. He shrugged and laughed. He was fucked either way, so he might as well talk when people offered to listen.
“Shit, I’m sorry. I’ve been blabberin’ on about a family ta ya, and it might not even be true…”
“It could be true…” You shifted in the armchair and tucked your legs underneath you. “So you don’t remember her?”
“Haw? Who?”
“The wife?” Remembering Jason’s words, you felt like your question was inappropriate in every way.
“Nah, not really…but she might be real…I remember that warm feelin’ in my heart when I looked at someone…it could’ve been my wife, I s’pose…”
“She must be worried sick about you…”
“And I left her alone with a kid! Maybe…fuck, it sucks ta forget, makes me feel like such a lousy father…if I am a father.”
“Gods, it hurts to even think you could ever forget about your little one…”
“Heh, yeah, it does hurt, I guess…ya got any kids?”
“Oh, I – no.” You wished you could forget, but you decided to save him the complicated story. You didn’t want him to know you were still grieving, five years later. “Maybe you’ll remember them in the morning…you just need a trigger, I s’pose…”
“I’m startin’ ta think I have nobody…cause seriously, do ya think I would forget her if I was truly in love?” You were surprised by the question. You tried your best not to offend him.
“I don’t know…I was never in love exactly, so I wouldn’t know. But maybe?”
“Never in love?” He pouted and frowned a little surprised. “Why? Surely men just throw themselves at yer feet?”
“Nah, I…I had someone once…but it ended poorly…and I moved back here and yeah, round here? No bachelors to choose from if I hafta be honest!” He giggled at your sudden use of Kansai-ben.
“Heh! Ya gotta explore the world, girlie, yer wastin’ away here…”
“Oh ya think so? Why, is my whisky not to yer likin’?”
“Nah, whisky’s good…but you seem more like me…like ya would suffer in a gilded cage…”
“And this is a gilded cage?”
The man looked around your place. It was cosy, but apart from necessities and a few things displaying your interest in travel, it looked more like a shell to him, as if your plan wasn’t to stay there for long.
“A cosy cage…or a prison ya put yerself in.”
“Oh and you know this how?”
“I dunno, ya seem a lil’ sad livin’ here, no?”
“Cause you bring up sad topics.”
“Sorry ‘bout that. Maybe my life is all dipped in sadness then, so I recognise familiarity when I see it?”
“I hope not. I hope you do have a family waiting for you, sir. And your reunion will be sweet.” You decided to stay on the cheery side of the talk. You weren’t ready to share anything serious with him. All he had shared with you were his hopeful predictions, that could potentially be something more deeply personal that he’d have never shared with anyone if it wasn’t for his accident, but it was hard to tell. What you almost shared with him was deeply personal and sad, and it surprised you that your sadness was so easy to see, even with the mask you thought was impenetrable.
“Why would ya sir me here? C’mon just call me…”
“By yer non-existent name?” You both laughed. Once the silence had settled you followed up with a question. “Still no memories of your name either, huh?”
“No…” The stranger sighed. “Thank you fer doin’ it all to me. Ya don’t even know how much I appreciate it. I promise I’ll repay ya fer yer kindness.”
“You don’t need to repay me. Once I know you're safe and reunited with your family, I’ll be happy.”
“There might not be a family, [A]…do ya think you’d wanna come back ta Japan? If I live there…I could prolly help ya…ya only got back cause it got expensive? Maybe I have a business out there? Could give ya a job!”
“And what kind of a business do you think you’re running?”
“I…have no clue.” Now he found his own offer ridiculous. “Well, still though, if yer not too sure, how about come fer a trip?” He pointed to the omamori amulet you had hanging by the door. “Ya could return this to the temple and get a new one. Yanno, the fortune comes with expiry date, gotta replace ‘em! And considerin’ I made it through the door, it ain’t workin’ no more.”
“It’s meant to keep the evil spirits away!” You laughed at his light comparison of his character to a demon.
“The thing on my back though…”
“The hannya? Well, I feel like I could be friends with that demon.”
He got lost in thoughts, you smiled when you recognised the struggle.
“Hannya didn’t remind you of anything, did it?”
“I think the amulet is still in power, demon memories ain’t makin’ it through here…” He very quickly added: “I’ll still take ya to Japan, as thanks fer savin’ me…”
“You honestly don’t have to. I’m not doing it for you to have a debt with me. Just a thanks and a smile is enough.”
“Nah, sorry. That’s not how I operate.”
“And ya remember this how?”
He smiled and bit down on his lower lip, shaking his head.
“Yer right, I don’t remember. But I have that feeling, yanno? Like I appreciate it when people step up and contribute when nobody else does…”
“And when they don’t?”
“They can get fucked.” He shrugged and laughed. Watching you smile, he couldn’t believe that a pretty girl like you didn’t have anyone. If a bastard like him had someone, because you almost convinced him that he had someone waiting for him, you must’ve just been unlucky in the love department. He sighed a little helplessly thinking about his situation. “So we try Jason tomorrow, eh?”
“Yeah…let’s go to bed, we’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
You showed him to the spare bedroom, and you didn’t understand why it was so hard to just close the door and stop talking to him. Maybe you felt bad…or maybe you longed for a connection, and you weirdly found it in the presence of a castaway stranger. His ‘g’nite’ sounded in your head like a soothing choir of angels and whenever you closed your eyes, you saw his smile. He felt like a breath of life in your meaningless existence. Maybe he was the necessary push you needed to do good things for yourself this once. He was right, a trip would do you some good…and thinking about what you left behind, you missed the beautiful sights of Japan and its culture. You missed your life there, and felt that you acted too fast, and your grief only got worse in a place you hated to your very core.
The man couldn’t help but feel that the accommodation you provided was absolutely top notch. It had to be better than what he had experienced lately, cause as soon as he rested on the bed, the softness of the mattress made him sigh…and he let out a long exhale in joy. Comfortable at last, after his whole body was rag dolled around the murky ocean, the reaction he gave to the base necessities he was offered was almost comical, but it was just a reaction of an exhausted body. Knowing he was safe, as soon as he shut his eye, he fell asleep almost instantly.
Noah came to your place round nine o’clock. This time around, you were also wide awake and preparing breakfast for the man that loudly snored in your spare room. You woke up much earlier too, feeling a slight bit of excitement for the things to come.
“Really, [A]?! You think you’ll go back to Japan?!” You often mentioned regretting coming back to Rich Island and Noah always told you that you should go back. He was just happy that the stranger helped you finally make up your mind about it.
“Well, if he wasn’t just joking…I might tag along…I’ll just need to get my visa sorted.”
“Ahh, that’s amazing! You’ll need to write and send me some postcards!”
“I will! I can then tell you if your prediction about him working a job at a supermarket is true!”
“I know it sounds unlikely, but it’d be so funny. We think he’s some big shot gangster, and then you go to Japan with him and he’s just a regular guy with a regular job!”
“Considering his looks, it’d be comical, you’re right.”
“Oh! I almost forgot.” He reached for something in his pocket. “I walked around the beach this morning and found it in the sand. Guess we’ll give it to him when he wakes up?” Noah slid his new finding across the table towards you.
“We sure will!”
“Is he still asleep?”
“Yep…” You giggled when Noah groaned. “I know. He’s the most exciting thing to happen here in ages and he plans to sleep till noon!”
“Right?! So inconsiderate!”
You served the boy some pancakes and cleaned the eyepatch he found in the sand. The silver snake pattern on it matched with the tattoo of the stranger, and considering he was missing an eye, this item just had to be his.
“I’ll go wake him up and give it to him…maybe that will jog his memory?”
You rushed upstairs and knocked on the door, putting your ear to the frame when you heard the snoring cease.
“Sir?” You didn’t know how else to refer to him – ‘sir’ felt polite enough. “Noah’s here, he found something that looks like it could belong to you?”
He opened the door and you had to take a few seconds to adjust to his presence again. You forgot just how stunning that man was in the couple of hours of not seeing him.
“Yer starin’, girlie…”
“Well, you’d be staring too, if a gigantic snake was hissing your way…” You blushed when you specified where you were staring. “Anyway…”
You opened your palm, and looked at his face, hoping he’d have a sudden realisation of his own identity. But he frowned.
“Aw shit…” He took the eyepatch from your hand and closed the door. You put your ear to the door again and this time light curses reached you from inside.
“Er, did you just remember something?”
“Yeah, I–I don’t think I usually let people see me without it.”
“Oh…” You frowned. “Why?”
“Girlie, I don’t have an eye in that socket…” He closely examined it in the mirror by the dresser. “Fuck, ya were lookin’ at me like this the whole time…”
“It–it’s really not that bad. It’s just an empty socket.” You heard a couple of groans coming from the room. “What? Did you just remember how you…lost it?”
“No, I’m embarrassed ya saw me like this!” He opened the door, looking so appalled by the fact you spent an entire day with him looking like this. He came out of the room, with the eyepatch secured over his left eye. “I swear I was a fuckin’ handsome devil with two eyeballs…”
“You’re not too bad with one either.” You tried to reassure him.
“That yer best flirtin’? Not too bad?” He groaned. “Yer already appalled.”
“No! As a matter of fact, I think you’re very attractive…” He grinned at you. “What? Oh goddamnit…” You groaned when he giggled at your confession. It seemed the handsome stranger was a great actor – you fully felt that you offended him with your ‘not too bad’ comment. He barely even knew you and played you like a fiddle almost instantly.
“Very attractive, ya say?”
“How’s the wife? Does she know you beg other women to flirt with you?” You crossed your arms.
“Tsch! Oi, that’s low!”
“And it ain’t no limbo, so don’t come down to meet me there!”
He joined you in the kitchen, wearing his leather trousers again. At least the leather was dry, you could only imagine how terrible it must’ve felt damp against the skin.
For your own sake, you decided to stop thinking about leather rubbing against his bare skin. It almost made you burn the pancakes.
You worked as their personal interpreter to allow them to have a conversation. Whatever Noah said to the man, you translated into Japanese and spat out the stranger’s reply in perfect English. They were both so impressed. You got into your translator flow and translated the words the Japanese man meant for you.
“Oh, I mean, yeah, we’ll go to Jason’s now…” You blurted out a response to his question, slightly taken aback by his compliment.
“Woah, girlie, I stand by my words, that’s hella impressive!” The man had never seen someone jumping back and forth between two languages so quickly.
“I mean, it’s…that’s just what I trained to do…” You blushed and didn’t know what else to say.
Noah chuckled.
“[A], you’re coming with, right? He seems to be interested in the treasure I told him about…”
“Noah, c’mon…next thing your father will talk about the Pirate Coliseum to him…”
“Omg, tell him!! I’d love to go there too!” The boy looked so excited, and once you explained the thing to the stranger, he looked almost just as giddy as the boy.
“Hot dang! We hafta go there fer a match!”
“No, no! No. We’re going to Nele Island first so that you can learn your own name.”
“And if they don’t know me? What if I’m just a randomer that crashed at yer front door?”
“Well then, we name you. We named the tiger, might as well name you as our new pet.” You smiled mockingly.
“Oi, it’s a cat, not a tiger, girlie!”
“[A] helped pick the name for Goro. I’m sure we’ll find you a good name too!” Noah laughed after you explained your playful idea of a name for the stranger.
“Wait, why is he laughin’? What do ya wanna call me?”
“I dunno…Soji suits ya, but I think we should be a little lazy with it and just name you Goro Two.”
Noah responded to your jab with a laugh when the stranger narrowed his eye at you once you explained your plan.
“Don’t look at me like that! Noah said it suits you.” You scrunched up your nose and graced him with a sarcastic smile.
“Seriously, Noah, you of all people? I thought we were friends here!”
Before you set course to Jason’s bar, you surprised the stranger by a sudden care in his skin. You applied sun cream on his back and arms, but when you moved to his chest, you spotted a slight upward curve on the corner of his lip, indicating the light amusement caused by your actions.
“It’s for the tattoo…” You blurted out. “Don’t those fade in the sun or something?”
“Sure. The tattoo. Admit it, ya can’t keep yer hands off me cause I’m so…very attractive?” He grabbed the bottle off your hands and applied the cream to his chest on his own.
“So very full of it too…” You whispered and had to stifle a laugh when he screamed after you:
“I heard that!!”
You still translated everything Noah was throwing his way but curiously watched as the man put his black leather gloves back on. You wondered what kind of music he was into…perhaps his style was a part of a subculture…or maybe he wore gloves as a part of his job? He had beautiful hands; his fingers were long, you couldn’t help but think that he could be a pianist…
You pondered on that, forgetting to translate their conversation.
“Girlie…ya okay there?” The man asked when the English phrases stopped making sense.
“Gosh, sorry, I just…zoned out a bit…”
“Fair!” He chuckled. “Right, no zoning out now. I don’t wanna be named Goro fucking two fer the rest of my life…”
Jason sighed as soon as he saw you.
“I said no.”
“Noah told him about the treasure you’ve been looking for…and the fucking coliseum…he seems intrigued.”
“Shit, really?” Jason cursed when a tint of excitement showed in his voice. “I mean, I don’t give a fuck. He needs a ship, [A]. No ship, no help.”
“Oh, so you’ll help now if there’s a ship? Really? For treasure hunting?”
“Your brain is too small to comprehend the riches we’re talking here…also, how is he gonna find a ship? So y’know. Good luck with that.” Jason sneered and came back to his afternoon whisky.
You walked around the beach, thinking of the next step. Your brainstorming session proved to be quite useless – there was no ship. None of the locals wanted to help. The rumours spread around quickly, and nobody wanted anything to do with a Japanese gangster.
“We don’t even know whether he really is a gangster…” You said in whisper to Noah. “People can be so judgemental…”
“He’s got the looks…”
“Looks aren’t everything!” You looked at the man who was looking out to the horizon.
“Guys, our lucky fuckin’ day! Maybe those guys can help us?”
You and Noah laughed; you laughed so hard tears streamed down your face and it seemed to have irritated your Japanese companion.
“What’s so funny?”
“Those…” You pointed to the flag. “…are pirates. They don’t help.”
“Isn’t that Jack the Collector’s ship too? He comes as awful as they make them!” Noah tilted his head as the ship docked at the port.
“Exactly, he’s not gonna…” Your eyes went wide and you ran behind the man who just started a casual stroll to the port. “Where do you think you’re going?!”
“We’ll ask fer help, c’mon!” He grabbed your hand. “I’ll need ya ta translate!”
“It’s a pirate ship!!” You yelped and tried to stop him, but the man was much stronger than your attempts at halting him.
You groaned at the way he announced his intentions. You really didn’t want to translate that to a crew of twenty pirates.
“The fuck did the yellow man just say?!”
“He wants to speak to the captain…”
“Speak up, bitch!”
“He ain’t gonna waste his breath for lousy deck rats, he wants to speak to the captain. Not you.” There. Angered by the racism and their way of address towards you, you translated his words almost exactly…excluding the swearing.
“Why are they lookin’ angry?”
“They…might want to fight you now…” You forgot to stay in line and politely strut away ‘like a good bitch’. Turns out pirates didn’t take kindly to being called names. “Erhm, do we…run now or…now??”
You suggested and questioned the man’s sanity when he got his tantō out.
“There are twenty of them…and two of us…we’re with a kid and a cat, and I don’t have a weapon…” Not that it’d help you if you had one either. You didn’t know how to fight at all.
“Step aside. I’ll be done in a few…”
“You cannot be serious! There are twenty of them!”
Your mouth opened agape in awe. He moved almost as if he was taking part in a dance. He even managed to steal the weapons from his opponents’ hands and discard them into the ocean. He should’ve used them, you thought, but it seemed he didn’t need gadgets to win the fight. The stretch of his muscle over his biceps as he packed punches made you feel things you had never felt before.
“Oh wow…” You sighed.
“Right?! Seems that our castaway friend is an incredible fighter!”
“Yeah…that too…” Noah recognised your glazed over stare and couldn’t wait to tell you that you looked exactly like granny Smith when she looked at the stranger yesterday. He had no time to tell you jokes though, when the door of the captain’s quarters flung open and two men emerged from there.
“What the hell did you do to my crew?! Who are ya?!”
You rolled your eyes but still translated.
“Having trouble remembering that myself, hence why I need yer help to get to Nele Island. Yer men were no help.”
Jack the Collector looked at you. He very carefully checked out the curve of your body, and you felt so uncomfortable when he did that, you crossed your arms to cover your cleavage.
“And what do we have here? Who are you to him?”
“…his translator?” You answered unsurely and winced when the man approached you.
“Just that? So you just go round places asking for help and then kill off crews one by one?”
“They’re not dead…” You looked at your feet, but he was standing so close to you, you could feel his breath over your neck. When his hand grazed your hair to move it out of the way to expose your skin, that’s when the stranger approached.
“Don’t fucking touch her.”
“Huh? What is it now?” But his actions explained his words quite well when the man punched the captain right in the face.
“Masaru, take care of the fucker!” The pirate captain stumbled and barked out an order.
Masaru’s presence felt frightening enough, he really had no need to wield a machete on top of that.
“Haw? Lil’ bitch won’t fight his fights? Fine. I’ll punch through ‘em all if that’s what it takes…”
You were not religious, but you still prayed when you felt that your end was imminent. The result of the fight wasn’t divine intervention. To say it was, it’d deny the skill of your Japanese friend, who seemed to be a magnificent fighter. You saw it yet couldn’t believe your eyes when he avoided the machete and didn’t even gain a single bruise or a graze. It was insane. He slowly moved on to fight the captain, but Jack the Collector fled the scene before the stranger could even warm up.
“Huh, what do ya know. The guy’s a coward.” He looked at you and Noah, holding each other close. “You guys alright?”
You nodded your head and what followed was the most unexpected result.
Proudly wearing his freshly won pirate hat the man celebrated…becoming a captain of the pirate ship. Jack’s crew decided to stay – a man that barely broke a sweat fighting an entire crew was a man worth following. You had to translate his first crew speech…
“Follow me, ya unworthy sea urchins or I’ll kill ya? Really?” You questioned his sanity when you recollected his words at the deck.
Now Masaru joined your stroll to Jason’s bar. He said he knew him, so he was totally going to convince him to join the good cause, and besides, he wanted to see the fight that may escalate – there was no way Jason would win a fight against that guy.
“Ah, well, just tryin’ to fit into my new role!”
“What about Nele Island? Y’know…since you have no name…”
“Call him captain for now.” Masaru shrugged. “He doesn’t need a name apart from that. We can go to Nele Island another time. I think Jason might join in when we mention the Esperanza treasure…”
“You cannot be serious. He needs to go back to his people, not captain a pirate ship on a hunt of a mythical treasure…”
“He’s free to do what he wants, if he wants to find pirate treasure with us first, he can…”
Masaru spoke a bit if Japanese, so it was another person who the captain could speak to.
“Well, the girlie’s right. We’ll go to that Nele Island and see what’s up…then we’ll see.”
“Then we’ll see? What about your wife? Last night you were eager to come home…” You tried to reason with him.
“I promised the boy an adventure for saving me and I promised ta help ya out too…don’t worry, I’ll keep my promise…” He stopped in his step. “Unless ya changed yer mind since this mornin’ and now ya wanna stay here and wait…somethin’ might just happen if ya wish upon a star…”
“You’re irresponsible…” You puffed up your cheeks and still followed him when he restarted his walk. “How are you going to communicate with everyone if I leave?!”
“With the swords? There were some cool ones left at the captain’s quarters on my new ship!”
“Oh for…I’ll stay and help…since you do need to repay me.”
“Fantastic! Glad ya made up yer mind!” The captain grinned and wrapped his arm around you. “And not to be rude, but I dunno if I can trust that guy yet…so I’d rather have ya translatin’ fer me…please? Come with but without that grudge-filled pout?” He added in whisper, said extremely close to your ear. Your skin flushed at the unexpected sensation.
“Well, alright…since you said please.”
The sight at the bar wasn’t pleasant. More pirates surrounded the grounds, and you heard a scream coming from inside.
“Moana!” Noah screamed for his distressed sister. He approached the captain and pulled his hand. “C’mon you’ve got to help her!!”
It seemed that the stranger wasn’t very good at avoiding fights, but when his defender instinct kicked in, there was no way to stop it.
“Fuckin’ Keith, seriously…” Masaru shook his head at the pirate that was now knocked unconscious in front of the bar. You were stunned – it seemed that your unfortunate stranger was more than just good at fighting…was he a professional boxer? You didn’t remember any of the men you met at Nele Island to be anything like this.
“I saved yer family, now will ya help me?” You translated and Jason cursed.
“I was doing fine…”
“Dad, c’mon, that’s the least you can do…”
“Also, y’know…we could re-route the ship afterwards and…check out some pointers on the map?” Masaru suggested a game for their old time’s sake.
“You’re honestly just going to use an amnesiac to help you find treasure?” You weren’t happy that this was used as a bargaining chip. “We first help him, and if he’s willing to help you after we know who he is, then sure…”
“He doesn’t mind.” Masaru smirked and asked the captain in Japanese. “Ya don’t mind joining in the treasure hunt, do ya, captain?”
“Sure, sounds like a blast!” Was the response.
Jason shook his head at you.
“You’re at it again, [A]?”
“Jason, it’s not funny, stop it…” You got serious instantly. “Please, don’t.”
“Don’t? What’s up?” Masaru was a little curious. He had no clue who you were, and it seemed Jason knew all about you.
“You’ve got to forgive her, [A] here thought she found herself another boyfriend and can’t stand the fact he doesn’t give two shits about her.”
“You know it’s not that…”
“What is it then?”
“I’m just worried about his family…what if they miss him…they might be looking for him…”
“Sure, cause you’re oh so caring.”
“What do you mean by that? You don’t give two shits about him, you just want his ship for treasure hunting!”
“You don’t give two shits about him either. You’re just mildly interested cause you made it up in your stupid lil’ head that he’s your last call opportunity to make it, isn’t he? You’re using him for your own benefit too. You’re not getting any younger and you’re a desperate lil’ bitch…” You slapped him before he could say anything else. The captain looked between everyone and waited for an explanation.
“Woah, what the…” You stormed off, saving your tears for when you were alone. They did not deserve to see you like this.
“Yeah, go right ahead, [A]! Hospital staff missed ya!” Jason whispered to Masaru. “She always does it. She’s on some kind of suicide watch after each rejection…basically happens annually…”
“Care to explain? Masaru?” The captain saw your distress and hated to be this clueless in the situation. He didn’t understand their whispers…he only knew they were talking about you when they refused to explain.
“The fuck do I tell him?”
“She’s not coming. We don’t need her anyway.”
The stranger wasn’t having it. He followed you to check what really happened. You wouldn’t react in such fashion to a joke – because that’s how your behaviour was explained to the captain: the usual overreaction to a joke, something you’d always done.
He followed your footsteps and that took him directly to the beach. He couldn‘t see you anywhere though but the footsteps stopped where the waves crashed…he looked out into the ocean, and that’s when he saw you.
“Oh what the fuck, [A]!!!” He rushed into the water to save you.
You didn’t want to be saved. You sat at the seabed and hoped for the nature to do its job. You expected to drown and fully intended to do it well this time. The stranger had a different plan for you though, and he jumped straight in to help you. His presence spooked you. You squirmed in his embrace and tried to get away from him, but the more you moved and fought, the tighter he held you.
“What are ya doin’?! What happened back there?!”
“Let go of me!”
“No!! Tell me what happened!!”
“Jason’s right. I’m just using you for my own benefit…can you go away now, please?” You hated how your pathetic body still struggled and tried to catch a breath.
“Fuck no!” He seemed angry…and concerned. “Yer not usin’ me in the slightest! Girlie, stop!”
You tried to kick in the water but it was all a futile attempt when you were held by him so tightly. “Mind telling me why yer tryin’ ta drown?! Please, calm down…”
“No.” You shook your head. “Please go. You have your crew waiting…”
“I ain’t leavin’ without ya. Yer a part of that crew, yanno? Tell me what happened back there…”
“No.” You sniffled. “I’m sorry. I can’t do anything right…I’m weak…”
“Yer not weak…” He settled you onto the seabed where it was shallow enough for the waves to crash below your waist. “Why would ya say that?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course…tell me…”
“Jason thinks I date, and that whenever I go to Nele Island, it’s my opportunity for easy hookups…and so he jokes that my suicide attempts are just my reaction to rejection…”
“Yer suicide attempts?” His face froze in horror.
“I mean, I dunno if I’d call it that…I just sit and see if the nature can take its course…”
“[A], that does sound a lot like attempted suicide ta me…why would ya do that? Jason’s an ass, but ya know his words ain’t true…so what is it?”
“Remember what I said last night? That I had someone once? And that it ended poorly? Well…”
You couldn’t believe you were going to tell a complete stranger about something this personal.
“About five years ago…I dated a guy I met on my trip around Europe. Like I told you, I don’t think I was in love, but I guess shit happens and my fate was cruel cause I got pregnant…and after fighting with my feelings, after I got weirdly attached to that bump, I told him, shared the news… he wasn’t too happy about it.”
The scars reopened and you stood bare right in the embrace of a stranger.
“He got angry and beat me up so badly I suffered a miscarriage and at the time I just felt like the greatest gift was taken away from me…fuck, I didn’t even know I wanted kids until I lost it…” You looked at his arms, he tightened his grip around you hearing your confession. “I left the fucker, went to Japan to work but I came back to Rich Island feeling that I didn’t deserve to be happy…but I’m just filled with regrets ever since…Jason always told me that I’m overdramatic, but he doesn’t know…why…I do this…” You choked up on tears, yet the stranger still waited for you to continue.
You looked at his face, and you couldn’t stand how deeply concerned it seemed.
“I honestly don’t do it often, but I still do that annual dip to see if the water could take me…but not because of rejection. Hell, I don’t even look for relationships at this point. Every year, same day, I try to kill myself on the anniversary of that mis…” Your lip quivered and you couldn’t finish your sentence. You abandoned all your dreams when your baby was taken away from you. “I’ve never been like this before…I used to be happy. I didn’t even realise that was something I wanted…but…something snapped within me when it happened and I can’t stop feeling terrible since…I’m sorry.”
“Loss does that to people, [A]…it’s nothin’ to be sorry for…” You appreciated that he came to your aid. Having this conversation with him made you realise you were stuck in a vicious circle that caused you nothing but hurt. You were digging yourself a deeper hole and made it harder to get out. “Does anyone else know you lost yer baby? Do they know why you came back?” He asked calmly.
“No…I didn’t tell anyone…I felt like such a loser coming back…and since I’m not originally from around here, the locals made it harder, saying to my face that it’s a shame my dream didn’t work out and that the island was probably the best I could do in life…” You laughed when you realised you just said that story out loud for the first time to a complete stranger. “You’re the first person to know.”
“It must’ve been terrible…I can’t even imagine how it feels…”
“Have you ever lost something you always wanted to have?” You hoped to move the attention from you. “Or realised you had it and lost it when it was too late?”
He frowned, trying his best to remember.
“I don’t know…” He whispered, still holding onto you. You laughed helplessly, of course he couldn’t answer your question without the memories of his past. That guy didn’t even know his name. Waves crashed against you and you hoped your sniffling was covered up by the sounds of nature that surrounded you.
“I’m sorry…I’m ruining your adventure…”
“Ya ruined nothin’, ya made it possible…” He still didn’t let go. “…if I lost a baby, I’d prolly do same as ya…”
“Run away and hurl yourself into the ocean?”
“Yeah. Feels reasonable if ya ask me…if I lost it, I’d do same as you.” You looked at his gloved hands for some time now, but you surprised yourself when you put your hand over his linked fingers. “I promise he won’t say a word ta ya about it fer as long as we’re travelling…anyone that does will walk the plank.”
He tried to make you laugh any means necessary.
“Please come with us to Nele Island?”
“What about your pirate treasure?”
“That’s the next stop. First, I wanna know my name.”
You nodded your head in agreement.
You didn’t speak, so he took over leading the conversation.
“I ain’t gonna tell ‘em if yer not comfortable with me tellin’ ‘em…”
“Don’t…I don’t care what they think of me…but I don’t want them to know about this…”
Just as he promised, he didn’t say a word, but he still warned Jason not to tease you about ‘the stupid shit’. Everyone looked at your wet clothing and suspected the usual had occurred and the captain had a chance to experience your insanity first hand, but they didn’t dare say anything. The captain was stern – any jokes about you, and he wasn’t keen on treasure hunting. Any further conversation was cut off. You mostly rejoined them to tell them the time you were going to meet by the ship the next morning.
To find the comfort in his presence felt oddly reassuring. Telling him about your experience lifted the weight off your heart that you carried around forever. You went to your place to rest, and just as last night, you talked with the stranger, and opened up to him a bit more.
“Seriously, why would ya give a fuck about what Jason thinks of ya? I can’t believe he spreads gossip like that!”
“He’s besties with that old lady that made you uncomfortable.”
“Shit, that explains a lot about him!”
“But you’re right…I shouldn’t have snapped like that. It’s just, it’s such a small island, there are not a lot of people to confide in…but you’re right, I might’ve overreacted a little…”
“A little…” The man took a sip of his whisky and watched you as you looked through your drawers in search of your passport. “Ya really do that annually?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what got into me today, it’s out of the turn!” You blushed when you noticed him drilling into you with his one good eye. He didn’t laugh at your attempt to make light of the situation. “I know…it’s pathetic…” You sighed. “Locals have that date circled in the calendar by now…they say it’s like a new season marker at this point. They usually just drag me out to the shore at the last minute and take me to the hospital…I’m a joke.”
“It’s not pathetic.”
“It is…there’s a whole plan surrounding it…”
“Which is?”
“So if you were going to look up the coordinates of the way I was facing…it’d point you in the direction of the town where I lost my baby…”
“That’s still not pathetic. Sad, yes, but it just sounds to me ya didn’t process yer grief one bit, or didn’t give yerself the time ta do it properly.”
“And I just got back to the one place that made me feel alone in the world…”
“Mhm, so ya agree with me now? I honestly think it’d do ya some good to move away from here.”
“I guess it’ll be healthier than just…drowning in the ambience of pure nothingness.”
“Ya could write some good songs ta cry to with vocab like that.”
“I can write one for you.”
“Nice! So yer joinin’ as my translator and my personal entertainment then?”
“Are you still trying to convince me to join your voyage? I said, I’m coming with!” You cracked a sad smile, and he looked nothing but reassuring.
“Thank you…I dunno what’s waitin’ there fer me…but if it’s anythin’ as deeply emotional, I’ll need someone with emotional intelligence fer support…I sure as shit don’t want Jason to comfort me after today, that’s fer sure…”
He sat in your armchair as you packed for the short trip you were about to take with him. You had your back turned to him, but could still tell that he watched your every move.
“Do you fear you’ll find something awful about yourself there?”
“A little…ya keep talkin’ about my wife, and if that woman ain’t real…I’ll need someone that won’t mock me fer it.”
“You’re way too attractive to be on your own at your age…”
“My age? Shit, I don’t even know how old I am…”
“You look about forty to me…” You gave him your estimation and when you turned to face him, you noticed he was looking at you this whole time, smiling your way. “I mean, you look alright as for a forty-year-old.”
He smiled that sincere smile that he used on you quite a few times during your late-night talk.
“Thanks. So, yer comin’ with me, right? I need a hype girl by my side…”
“I mean, I’m packed for it now!”
“Perfect! I can’t wait ta introduce myself to ya.”
“If they have your name there.”
“Exactly!” The stranger laughed and sighed. “And what if they don’t know me?”
“Goro Two?” You raised your brow, but he clicked his tongue, unhappy with the choice.
“How about Goro The Second, so it sounds a lil’ more noble at least?”
“Nah, Goro Two. Or Goro Two-Point-O.”
“Ahhh, they better fuckin’ know me there…”
During your three-day long sail, the captain chose a name for his ship. It was named after the cat – Goromaru sounded mighty, and you loved when he explained the linguistic meaning of the suffix of the word to everyone. The pirates couldn’t give two shits, but Noah seemed so curious and excited. It may have been a little awkward between you and Jason but you noticed he was much nicer to you after the captain had a chat with ‘just the men’. Masaru was also acting differently towards you. Whatever was said, you knew he didn’t reveal your deeply personal secret, because you knew how people reacted to such news – and it wasn’t that.
“I just told ‘em yer thing has nothin’ ta do with the dudes ya wanna bang. I didn’t share anythin’ too sensitive – I told ‘em I’ll bash their faces in if they ask ya…”
“Thank you, captain.” You chuckled and watched him at the helm. “You seem to know how to do this…maybe you are a sailor?”
“Or I just excel at everythin’ I do, dunno, I might be a bit of a do-it-all, yanno?”
“Mr. Full-of-It-Do-It-All that saves the day.”
“Tsch! Yer about ta see, girlie – I’ll find that lost treasure too. They prolly looked at the maps funny before.”
“I’m sure you will, captain! Their eyes are nothing compared to your one good eye.”
“Are ya mocking my disability?!” He gasped, pretending to be offended.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t realise you saw yourself as disabled.”
“I don’t. And ya know it!” He narrowed his eye. “Yer gonna feel so silly when I throw ya on top of a mountain of gold or whatever we’re looking fer…”
“Mhm, you’ll also be the first person to photograph the kappa and la chupacabra. I can’t wait to pose for snaps with those.”
“Mind taking yer sarcasm someplace else?”
“Ay, captain!!” You saluted and only made him laugh.
The Palekana Warrior’s welcome party at the Nele Island was less than friendly. It wasn’t the time of the month where any extra services were requested, so the guards were hostile towards your crew, especially after spotting the vessel you used to come here.
Shigaki Teruhiko was alerted about the newcomers and came to the scene as soon as he could – he couldn’t believe his eyes.
It was the fucking Mad Dog of Shimano wearing some weird pirate gear, who seemed to have won a fight against some of the strongest warriors he had seen in his life.
“Sir!” The man bowed. “I can’t believe it’s really you! We thought you were dead!”
“Oho, there ya go, girlie, they do know me, you were right…” The captain whispered your way and pointed to the man that had his mouth opened in shock. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost. “And who are ya?”
“Sir, you don’t remember me? It’s me…Shigaki!”
You looked at the captain’s face to see if that name reminded him of anything.
“This is useless…” The man laughed. “Sorry…I–I dunno who ya are…memory’s not really there, ya see.”
“What?”
“He washed ashore on our island…he doesn’t seem to remember anything, not even his name. We came here hoping you knew him?” You explained and Shigaki recognised you.
“You’re that translator girl…you come here every month” He pointed his finger at you and you confirmed that he remembered correctly. “You mean The Mad Dog just washed up ashore on your island? Really? This is a miracle…”
You weren’t so sure about Shigaki’s use of kyōken in this sentence.
“No, no mad dogs were found, just this guy…were you transporting a shipment of dogs here?”
“No, lady – that is the Mad Dog.” Shigaki pointed to the captain and ‘that’.
“That can’t be his name…” You scoffed in disbelief.
“Stupid name, did my parents hate me or somethin’?” The stranger frowned too and Shigaki couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Sir…you’re a legend amongst us…we heard you were going to arrive by boat some time ago, but that ship sank…some of your men were found drifting in the sea…they’re actually on the island right now. Some of your closest subordinates, so maybe they’ll jog your memory, sir. Hold up, I’m gonna call them…they won’t fuckin’ believe this.”
You just wanted to hear the name, but in his state, the man was simply too stunned and too busy calling people to let them know that ‘The Mad Dog’ was alive and well.
“Can’t be your name, surely…” Noah also wasn’t a fan.
“Kyōken…who does that to a baby…” You shook your head and waited for the other survivors of the tragic accident to join the reunion.
“Sir, I called your kyodai too, he’s going to come to the island in a few days!”
“My who now? I don’t recall havin’ a brother…”
“Or a name…” You reminded him.
“Fair point…so, I have a brother? An older siblin’ or…”
“It’s your oath brother…sir.” Shigaki explained and he felt like he had to be slapped in the face to really believe any of this was happening. “I cannot believe I’m here with Majima Goro and he has no recollection of anything…doesn’t even fuckin’ remember Saejima…”
“Wait, what did you just call him?!” Your ears perked up at the name. “Maji…”
“Majima Goro. The legendary yakuza boss?”