The Town of Supposed Treasures

The brothers wandered through the enclosed island, looking around to find whatever the mysterious man set up for them. They held hands again, as Yuto was especially cautious. They reached the other end, and an old man was sitting on a bench facing the sun. The wind gently made his white beard wave as he stared into the glittering ocean. Yuto and Sota stopped holding hands and stepped near the elderly man. “Congratulations, boys. You solved it all. Did you have fun?”

The two boys looked at each other, and then at the mysterious old man in front of them. Yuto narrowed his eyes. “Wait a second! You’re that old man that I got sand on!” he shouted. The old man laughed. “Indeed you did. I had quite a time getting those grains of sand out of my beard. I’m also glad you figured out the clue to the toy soldier and didn’t ruin my bonsai tree.”

“Who are you anyway? Why did you have a photo of my family?” The old man smiled, turning his head to look at them directly. “I was the one who took the photo.”

“HUH?!” both boys exclaimed.

“It’s true. I was an old neighbor of your father. I actually made a game of finding treasure for him and his brother years ago. You both being the same age, I wanted to try doing it again. Hopefully you aren’t too annoyed. I’m glad you decided to humor this old man. Hohoho!” He laughed again.

“I-” Yuto was about to say something, but Sota yelled, “It was awesome, old man!”

The elderly man smiled. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. But please. Call me Hiroshi. I’m getting a little sick of just being called old man.”

“Sure thing, old man Hiroshi!” Sota smiled.

“That’s not funny.” Hiroshi sighed.

“Welcome to my life,” Yuto said. “By the way…” Yuto trailed off as he reached into the backpack and pulled out the ‘wand’. “Here’s your ‘wand’ back,” he said, tossing it to the old man.

“EWW! GET THAT POOP STICK AWAY FROM ME!”

Yuto chuckled. “I thought it was a wand.”

“It is a wand,” Sota added in a serious tone.

The old man sighed and put the stick at the end of the bench and slid to the side, making space for Sota and Yuto. “Come on, no need to keep standing there.”

The two boys sat down with Hiroshi and gazed into the calm, glittering sea with him. Yuto reached down into the backpack and handed both his brother and Hiroshi a bottle of water. They each took off the cap and drank the refreshing water. Well, almost refreshing.

“...Did this touch the poop sti- I mean, wand?” Hiroshi asked.

“...I can take the water away if you want.”

“No, no! Never mind.”

The three sat in silence some more before Sota turned to Hiroshi. “So what was our dad like? And what made you start these treasure quests?”

Hiroshi finished taking another sip of water. “He was a lot like your brother Yuto. Very honest, while his younger brother was a lot like you, full of life. As for me, my own father made adventures for me. It’s a tradition for me that I enjoy passing on to others. And each of those objects had a purpose too.”

“Oh yeah? What purpose did they have?”

Hiroshi smiled. “The buried soldier was my oldest toy. It’s a symbol of my youth, and I always had it on my shelf. For me, he was my guardian who always kept a watchful eye while I slept. My father and I would sometimes pretend to be soldiers, fighting off monsters in all kinds of places. We traveled around and took lunches, enjoying different sights like this one. I always loved cherry blossoms, so I wanted to put the soldier there.”

Sota smiled. “Hey! I have an action figure that keeps an eye on me too! And before we started this adventure, my brother and I were a knight and a mage who needed to defeat the demon king. But we faced one last obstacle, which was a giant shadow wolf with evil powers, and Yuto got caught in the blast!”

“Your dog, I’m guessing?”

Yuto let out a slight chuckle. “Yeah. Basically. Until Yuto blew me up.”

“I told you to get out of the way!” Sota yelled.

“The wolf- I mean, Kuro pinned me down and started licking my face!” Yuto yelled back.

Hiroshi let out a hearty laugh, and the brothers did as well.

“Okay. What about the wand?” Yuto asked.

“Oh, that was just a stick I found in a pile of dog poop. I just thought it would be funny if either of you took that one seriously.”

“I would punch you if you weren’t elderly.”

“Well, lucky for me then!” Hiroshi laughed again.

“You sure do laugh a lot, old man Hiroshi,” Sota said.

“Okay, both of you, stop commenting on my age.”

“And the marble?” Asked Sota.

“Ahhh, right. Well, my father gave me a marble when I was young, saying it was a dragon’s eye. That object is close to my heart, so I got a spare for you two. Interestingly enough, my father always claimed he once saw a real dragon’s eye when he was younger near the Ryujin Bridge. But he said it scared him and he ran away. But he could never find it again. He bought a marble and passed it down to me as a way to never forget.

Hiroshi finished his water and stood up, letting out a stretch. “Well, the sun is setting, and it’s about time I head home. You two should probably do the same.”

“Wait a second…” Sota mumbled. He reached into the backpack and showed it to Hiroshi. “I will admit, though, it's pretty cool you found a marble that actually looked like a dragon’s eye.”

Hiroshi froze in place. “What did you say?”

He turned back to Yuto and stared at the marble before his face turned white as a ghost, and he fell back onto the bench. “Th-that’s not the marble I got for you two…”

Yuto widened his eyes in shock, and Sota looked at both of them in surprise, before smiling. He held the marble towards the setting sun and looked through it. As he stared through it at the sun, the slit in the middle made it seem as if a giant dragon’s eye was staring back at him.