“Indeed, these are trout hatchlings,” Mitani-sensei says, his eyes warm under his bushy, grey eyebrows. “You’re quite correct, Shintaro.”
A dozen of children from the village, Shintaro along with them, have gathered around him, all standing in the knee-high water by the Midorigawa riverside.
“They are so small,” Shintaro enthuses, careful to stand still so he doesn't scare the tiny little creatures away.
“Once they grow, they will be big,” Mitani-sensei says.
“And delicious!” one of the boys points out, and everyone bursts into laughter, even Mitani-sensei.
It’s always like that when the old men from the shrine come down to the village. They must be ancient, at least as old as Shintaro’s grandparents, but they really get children in a way that many grown-ups just don’t. Mitani-sensei often walks around by the riverside, and usually he lets children join him whenever he has time, glad to teach them whatever they want to know about the river.
The Midorigawa river streams from northeast between the Border forest and the Midorigawa village, until it meets the Southern river at the Rivercross. The Rivercross isn't too far from the village, but Shintaro’s mother still doesn’t like him to wander there alone. That’s why he’s always thrilled when Mitani-sensei agrees to accompany the children further along the stream. The Midorigawa river’s stream is slow and quite shallow, while the Rivercross is much more exciting. The two rivers coming together creates small underwater whirlpools that catch the boats he makes out of leaves and sticks, and the faster stream makes his water wheels spin much more swiftly.
And of course, there’s fish. Shintaro loves fish. He likes to fish as well, but mostly he prefers watching alive fish in the water along with crabs, frogs, and turtles, newts and salamanders, and water skippers and dragonflies. He loves land animals too of course, especially the new white-and-orange puppy dog his father just brought home from his latest trading trip, but there’s just something especially thrilling about aquatic creatures of all kinds. And the river never lets him down, instead providing something new and interesting to see every day.
Today, the interesting thing is a pretty, reddish-brown newt that languidly floats past Shintaro’s ankles. He slowly wades ahead to follow, carefully avoiding the wide growths of sharp-leaved reeds by the riverbank while keeping a constant eye on the newt so he doesn’t lose it. It’s a funny-looking little animal with its long tail and cute little toes, and Shintaro’s fingers are itching with a curious wish to catch it into his hands so he could get a better look.
But that’s one of the things Mitani-sensei taught him: while some creatures don’t mind being touched, he generally shouldn’t do so. It's better to leave wild animals be. So he just follows the newt until the water deepens to his knees and then to his thighs and the current starts to feel too strong, almost pressing him along. That’s when he grabs a good hold on a bunch of straws at the riverbank and pulls himself up to the dry ground. The bankface is steep, but he can just climb it up after one last gaze across his shoulder towards the funny little newt.
It takes a moment for him to find the newt again, but when he does, he frowns. The poor thing has been caught into a small whirlpool, spinning wildly around and unable to take hold on anything.
Without a second thought, Shintaro turns back, slipping back into the water and wading towards the newt. Deeper, the current is stronger than he expected, and the rocky bottom of the river is slimy and slippery with different kinds of algae.
Finally reaching the little newt’s little whirlpool, he leans ahead, cups his hand so he catches the newt, and tilts his palm so the newt suddenly has a way out of the whirlpool. With a brisk flicker of a tail, the newt dashes out of the trouble, and out of Shintaro’s eyes and reach. Shintaro smiles after the newt and turns back towards the riverbank, but his foot slips on the slimy rock he was standing on, and he splashes into the water.
The strong current immediately absorbs him in, pulling him deeper. He gasps in alarm and gets a full lungful of water, making him cough and pull in more water. He flails with his hands and kicks with his feet, but it's all in vain. The stream is too strong, and there's nothing around him to catch a hold on. He isn't even sure where the surface is anymore. He coughs still, though there is no air left in his lungs, and finally relaxes into the pull of the current, unable to fight it. He squeezes his eyes shut, knowing he is going to die.
One of the neighborhood toddlers drowned into the river two years ago. Shintaro never thought he would be the next.
His mother is going to be so sad. A sting of guilt hits Shintaro. He knew the river was dangerous, and he was being careful, he truly was. He just wanted to see the newt. And then he had to help it. His lower lip trembles. He just wanted to see.
How long dying will actually take? It feels awfully slow. He’s not dead yet, he’s sure about it. He’s seen dead people. They don’t move, but he does. He opens his eyes to check his hands are still moving, and the sight in front of him makes him gasp again.
The current is still strong, but now that the water is deeper, the water is calmer, and much clearer. There is sand on the bottom too, not just rocks, and the green bushes of algae looks like someone’s hair growing directly upwards, gently swaying with the current. Shintaro tries to put his feet to the bottom, but the pull of the stream is too much. He can’t stand, and just gets dragged along the bottom which creates a brown cloud of mud in the water. Not wanting to spoil the scenery, Shintaro keeps his feet off the bottom.
Some fish swim past him so closely he could almost touch them, and suddenly he is face-to-face with a turtle. It floats in the water with its four legs spread out like it’s flying, and it stares at him with its tiny black eyes. Maybe it's as surprised as Shintaro is.
“Hi,” he tries to say, but there’s no sound coming out of his throat, so he merely waves his hand at the turtle who still looks back at him.
The current carries on them both, and now that he knows to look, he notices new creatures everywhere. There are different kinds of shellfish in the bottom, and small crabs here and there. He startles when a huge salamander, bigger than Shintaro himself, swims past him. Shintaro fleetingly wonders what such giant salamanders eat, but this one doesn't seem interested in him at the slightest, simply passing by without a glance.
There’s so much to look and marvel. If only there was someone to enjoy it all with him! Shintaro looks back, looking for the turtle that followed him. Maybe it doesn’t understand him, but he wouldn’t mind sharing his experience with it at least.
To his disappointment, the turtle has floated away. Instead, he notices something else coming nearer. At first he can’t quite see what it is, but as the thing comes closer, he realizes it’s Mitani-sensei, swimming fast towards him, the sleeves and the lapels of his kimono floating around him like the fins of a huge, night sky blue goldfish.
Thrilled to actually get company just when he was longing for some, Shintaro grins and points at the big salamander that’s still swimming ahead of him. Surely Mitani-sensei will understand to appreciate such a marvelous animal like Shintaro does.
To his disappointment, Mitani-sensei only gives a cursory glance at the salamander before he points upwards. Shintaro nods meekly, allowing Mitani-sensei to grab his arm while swimming towards where the bottom starts to rise upward and the water gets shallower.
When their heads reach the surface, Shintaro is hit by another fit of coughing as he tries to empty his lungs of the water. Mitani-sensei drags him to the riverbank and kneels next to him, gently patting his back while he's coughing.
“Sensei!” he gasps as soon as he can actually breathe again, “Did you see that salamander! I’ve never seen one so closely, and there was this turtle-”
“Shintaro,” Mitani-sensei says, his voice sharp. Funny, how commanding he can sound even with his clothes hanging on him wet and heavy. “Haven’t you been told not to go into the water alone?”
Shintaro looks at his toes and the puddle that slowly gathers under him as the water in his clothes drips down to the ground. Of course he knows. “Yes, sir,” he sighs. Trust the adults not getting the important things. Not even Mitani-sensei, it seems.
The next question is weirder: “How long were you underwater?”
Shintaro looks up, frowning. “Uh… I don’t know? I saved the newt and I fell, and I thought I was going to die, but then I saw the turtle and the shellfish and the salamander and I….I guess I forgot to die after all?”
There is a hint of a smile playing at the corners of Mitani-sensei’s mouth, so Shintaro dares to smile, too. Maybe he won’t be punished very badly for not following the orders.
They start walking back towards the village, and Shintaro’s eyes widen when he realizes how far they are. Did the stream really take him this far so quickly?
It’s still a long way home when they see people running towards them on the riverside road. Mitani-sensei stops and takes a hold of Shintaro’s shoulder, looking steadily down into his eyes.
“So apparently you are very good at swimming. But the old rules still count. You’re not allowed to go near the Rivercross without any accompanying adults.”
Shintaro pouts, already missing the turtle and all the other interesting underwater things, but when Mitani-sensei won’t relent, he has to nod.
“Good. Now, I believe the other children have alarmed half the village, and your mother must be terrified of losing you. So be a good boy and stay home for the rest of the day. After that, you should come visit me at the shrine anytime you like. It’s not the proper time yet, but…”
Time for what? Shintaro is about to ask, but then the people running reach them, and the first of them is Shintaro’s father who grabs him into a big, crushing hug that makes him forget about Mitani-sensei.
“Dad! I saw a turtle! And a newt and a salamander!” he exclaims, and his father laughs out loud though his cheeks are wet with tears.