Epilogue: Us & The Ocean, Always and Forever

8 years later…

“Delivery for Soraji Hana!”

A delivery man rang the doorbell of our humble establishment.

“Coming!” I heard my wife’s voice, as she trotted off to the door, to sign the documents.

“Dad!” My son called out to me, from the front of the store.

“What’s wrong, pal?” I turned to him, and patted his head.

That was Umi, our 4 year old son. He had the same brown hair as me, but his face and eyes were the same as Hana’s, his mother.

“Can we go walk?” He asked, eager to go play outside.

“Thank you!” Hana waved the delivery guy goodbye, as she closed the door and turned to the two of us.

In her arms she was holding the youngest member of our family. Our 8 month old daughter, Aoi.

“Yep. Let’s go.” I said, as I grabbed my son’s hand.

“Hana, can you call Hiro to watch the shop?”

“Heh, already did.”

I smiled at her chuckle.

As you can already guess, we were now in charge of the diving shop Hana’s family owned.

As soon as we finished high school, we opted to get the highest degree that would enable us to run the shop.

For a while we had to move away from Ryusejima, and of course, it wasn’t easy, but we never gave up on what we wanted to do..

Thankfully, business was thriving.

As for our family, well as you can see, Hana wanted to start early. Specifically, we got married right after she got pregnant with Umi.

We were now both 25, and we had both a steady financial income, and a steady life.

After my grandma passed away, 3 years ago, we also had to manage the café.

We managed to renovate it, and bring a lot more people in every single day.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

“Wait, I gotta get this…” I said, taking my flip phone out of my pocket.

I still had the same flip-phone as back then. I didn’t need a smartphone here on this island, so I saw no point in buying a new one.

“Who is it?” Hana chimed, walking closer to me.

“Hey, dad.”

“No, we can’t…”

“Maybe, after September, when the tourist period is over.”

“Come on, you’re gonna see her, be patient!”

“Yeah, okay, bye.”

And the phone call concluded just like that.

“What did he say?” My wife chuckled, as both my kids looked at me inquisitively.

“He said he wanted to see little Aoi and that we should come to Tokyo. I told him we couldn’t cause of work, and he straight up started crying!”

“Grandpa?” Umi asked, listening in our conversation.

“Yes, your grandpa…” I voiced with a sigh, as Hana chuckled.

That was when Aoi complained with a cry.

“Okay, okay, let’s go!” Heeding the warning, we made for the door.

Just before we left, I snatched a baseball cap sitting on the counter, and fastened it around my head.

The hair that had grown significantly longer from when I was still a teenager, was too messy for me to ignore.

“Bye, Terryy!”

“Bye Terry!”

Umi and Hana waved at the overgrown fish, swimming in his tank like usual.

He had grown twice the size he used to be when we caught him, and he was still going strong.

I never found out what type of fish he is, but he was no normal fish that was for sure.

It was right around 5, and both Umi and Aoi had woken up from their naps, meaning it was the perfect time for a walk out in the island.

“Onii-sama, Hana!” Then, not-so-little Chinatsu, walked up to us from down the road, as we closed up the shop.

Chinatsu was now 17, and was about to finish school in 6 months. She had grown to be every bit like I imagined. Her resemblance to Hana in terms of appearance was uncanny.

“Hey, Chinatsu-chan, what’s up?” I asked, as Umi left my grasp and hugged his aunt.

“Auntie!” He said, making Chinatsu laugh.

“Hello, Umi-kun!” She hugged him back.

“Chinatsu, back to the topic, please.” Hana brought her back to reality.

“Oh yeah! Onii-sama these tourists started hitting on me!” She pointed to a pair of tourists that were already talking with a familiar face.

“Oh, Daichi’s taking care of it, I see.” I pointed out, making Hana gasp.

“Oh no…” We looked at each other, crossing the road and walking over to the commotion.

“Whooop!” And that was when the still brawny as ever dude, now in his late 20s, tossed the pair of tourists over the shore and onto the water next to them.

“Daichi!” I scolded him, as he dusted off his hands.

“What? They said they weren’t gonna apologize!”

“Big fish!” Umi pointed at the two men struggling for their lives in the water, while Aoi gave a hearty, adorable laugh.

“Hello Umi-kun! How are you?” Daichi gave my son a big smile.

“Great, uncle Daichi!”

“And you, Aoi?” He then turned to the youngest of the two, still in her mom’s arms.

“Daichi…” Hana gave him a disapproving look.

“Please, man, help them…” I pleaded.

“But…”

“Do I NEED to call Emi…?” Hana raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh please no…” Daichi sighed, as he soon went about hurling the tourists over the shore.

To everyone’s surprise, Daichi and Emi had gotten together over those last 8 years. Although Emi had constant business at Tokyo, showcasing her paintings at famous galleries, she never left Ryusejima for a long period of time.

She had made it as an artist, after graduating from art school.

Daichi was, as you remember, a fisherman through and through, so they made for a really odd pair.

At first we thought they got together just because they couldn’t find anyone else, but it turned out they were actually into each other for a LONG time.

Talk about a surprise…

“Thanks, Daichi!” Chinatsu smiled, as she walked behind me and Hana.

“So what now?” I asked, as we waved at Daichi and continued our walk.

“Fishes!” Umi continued to point at the sea, a big smile on his face.

“Do you like the sea, Umi-kun?” Chinatsu asked, as she held his free hand.

“Yes!” He replied with a smile.

“He is OUR son after all!” Hana joked, earning a smile from me.

“Waahhh!”

Suddenly Aoi cried out, and we all stopped walking.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Hana asked, as the little girl pointed to the ocean.

I found myself smiling at the two girls, that had stolen my heart. Not that I was complaining…

“You wanna enjoy the view?” Her mom asked, with a smile as goofy as mine.

To my surprise, Hana had matured greatly after she became a mother. But deep inside, she was still the same energetic, and cheerful girl. Not to mention that, to me, she was still the most beautiful woman in this whole wide world.

As we stood there, looking at the ocean, I noticed another family of three were walking opposite from us.

They had a little girl, that looked around Umi’s age.

I noticed how intently both of them looked at the sea. They basically couldn’t tear their eyes off of it.

“Hey.” I greeted the familiar family, and they stopped to greet us back.

They were a pair of classmates me and Hana knew from high school.

“Out on a walk too?”

“Yep.” I replied, looking over to the little girl.

“What’s your name?”

“S-Saki…” She replied, somewhat bashfully.

“Do you like the sea, Saki?” Hana asked, as if she had read my thoughts..

“The sea!” Umi perked up with a smile.

“Yes!” The little girl finally peeled off her shy exterior, and smiled brightly.

“This is Umi. He loves the sea too.” I introduced my son.

“Oh, what a beautiful name!” The former female classmate of ours exclaimed.

(Umi = in Japanese, Umi means “ocean”)

“Nice to meet you…” The little girl said as she turned to Umi, who hid behind my leg, clearly embarrassed.

“Why don’t we go somewhere, where they can hang out together?” Hana proposed with a smile.

Umi still hadn’t had any friends his age, so Hana’s proposal made perfect sense.

Plus, that meeting, and the love for the ocean, reminded us of something…

Something, in the past.

A happy, little, blue memory.

The couple agreed, and we made for a nearby playground, as we waved at Chinatsu whose shift would start at Natsu Café, shortly.

As me and Hana watched over our son, and his new female friend played, we couldn’t help but smile.

I can’t wait to see what your adventures in the blue will look like, Umi.

“Ey!” My wife suddenly snatched the hat that I was wearing, while I was lost in thought.

“Hey!” I exclaimed as she stood up from the bench we were resting on, and ran around a nearby tree.

“Catch me if you can!” She wore the hat she stole and challenged me, like she used to do when we were teenagers, still holding little Aoi in her arms.

“Oh I will!” I accepted the challenge, as we chased each other around the tree, and both our laughs, as well as little Aoi’s giggle mixed together.

…

I was never the type to pray, but this time, I silently tendered up my wish.

May these peaceful, and happy days, last forever.

THANK YOU FOR READING!