Etsusa Bridge

Volume 2, Snake Legs: The Man Playing Tricks

“Mr. Inui, was it?”

The Japanese-looking man asked his new rainbow-haired acquaintance, who was going on at length about legends.

“Have you ever heard of the legend over all legends?”

“Sounds interesting. What is it?”

“The legend of the one who ends a legend. You know how legends about dragons are overshadowed by legends of the knights who slay them? The more legends you finish off, the more legendary you become. Like Hercules, for example.”

Rainbow-head thought for a moment. He soon nodded and took another sip.

“Ah, true. …Anyway, what’re you doing here in Thailand?”

The Japanese man did not seem irritated at the sudden change of topic.

“I happened to lose all my wares and came back to restock.”

“Huh… You a soldier or something? Those badass scars on your neck and arm, I mean. And you got a prosthetic right hand, too.”

The Japanese man smiled affably.

“Hah hah. I toyed with a cat and got scratched.”

“Hah! What kinda Smilodon did you tussle with?”

They spoke for some time at length afterwards, but eventually the Japanese man rose to leave.

“Oh, right. Let me give you a bit of info to thank you for the stories.”

He left an unusual comment as he departed.

“It’d be best if you stayed away from that island this winter.”

“Say what now?”

“This time, I plan to wrestle a dog. No more holding back like with the kitten.”

The sky in Thailand that summer day was endlessly blue.

The man with the rainbow-colored hair remembered the nostalgic blue sky he used to see from the island.

“Winter, huh.”

Certain that the Japanese man was not a law-abiding one, Rainbow-head quietly emptied his glass.

“Damn. Now he’s makin’ me wanna go.”

And, unable to contain his excitement, he muttered to himself.

“No. Now I have to go… right?”

His gaze fell on the blue sea.

And he clearly sensed the island that could not possibly have been on that horizon.