The sound of waves echoed in the distance, sometimes near, sometimes far, resonating deep in his ears.
Ōshiro Kai slowly regained consciousness. His body felt heavy. His clothes were soaked, clinging uncomfortably to his skin. The scent of salt filled his nose, and his lips tasted briny. Beyond his blurred vision, a night sky stretched endlessly above.
"…Where am I?"
His foggy mind struggled to recall what had happened. The last thing he remembered was setting out to sea in a sabani—an old Okinawan wooden fishing boat. The ocean had been calm, but suddenly, dark clouds spread across the sky, and the wind grew violent. Before he knew it, the waves had swallowed the boat, flipping it over.
"Did I… fall into the sea?"
A warm breeze brushed against his skin. Behind him, the waves kept rolling in and retreating. He realized he had been washed up on the shore. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't move as he wanted. Then, he glanced down at what he was wearing.
"Wait… what?"
These weren't his usual fisherman's clothes. It was something unfamiliar—no, strangely familiar… Wasn't this modern clothing?
His confused mind was suddenly flooded with foreign memories.
"What is this…? I'm… I'm Ōshiro Kai, right?"
He was sure this was the Ryukyu Kingdom, and yet, in his heart, he carried memories of a completely different world—modern knowledge, modern senses… as if he had lived another life entirely.
"This… isn't a dream, is it?"
He scooped up a handful of sand and clenched it tightly. The coarse grains slipped through his fingers, damp and heavy. It felt far too real.
Meanwhile, in Urasoe—
Natsukawa was utterly exhausted.
After performing over a dozen surgeries, she had collapsed onto the sofa in the hospital's break room, still in her white coat.
"I can't do this anymore…"
Before she realized it, she was dreaming—a vivid dream where she was living as someone else in the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
It was strangely detailed. Events kept unfolding in the dream, and at the very end, she had slammed her head against a pillar in frustration.
"Like I'd die from something so trivial."
She let out a self-deprecating chuckle—when suddenly, the sound of someone sobbing reached her ears.
(…So noisy.)
Her head ached. Her body felt sluggish. And for some reason, the blanket covering her felt damp.
"…Huh?"
With great effort, she pried open her heavy eyelids, only to find a wrinkled old woman's face staring down at her.
"Ah!"
She jolted upright in shock—only to realize her body felt light.
No, more than that, her hands were slender and youthful. She was no longer wearing her white coat but rather a simple, rough cotton kimono.
"What… is this?"
Outside, the sound of cicadas buzzed in the humid summer air, mingling with the distant roar of the waves.
(Wait… that dream just now…?)
Was this a dream, or—
A new life was about to begin.