It was a midsummer afternoon when Mr. T and some friends landed on a beach in the Kinki region.
The beach was bathed in blazing sunlight, and since it was a weekday, there were few swimmers around, so T and his friends ran into the sea, cheering.
"Let's swim to the buoy offshore."
Someone called out. We continued on through the calm sea with almost no waves, heading for the buoy at the edge of the swimming area.
However, at a certain point in the water as the buoy approached, Mr. T felt an inexplicable chill. The air around him felt strangely heavy, and an unpleasant sense of tension ran through his body. His friend, who was standing next to him at the same spot, asked, "Did something just now seem strange?" However, when he looked around, he could not see anything strange.
"Well, that's fine..."
The two somehow came to an understanding and continued swimming. After a while, they heard an ominous sound of water behind them. They turned around and saw another friend, A, struggling desperately. At first they thought he was joking, but no matter how much they called out to him, there was no response. Eventually, his head sank into the sea, then resurfaced. A was in the same place that Mr. T and his friends had felt something was wrong earlier.
He should be able to swim better than anyone...
Driven by fear, they all swam towards A. A struggled and reached out with a desperate look on his face. A's body felt strangely heavy. If he clung to them, he would sink into the sea too. Mr. T had never imagined that saving someone drowning in the ocean would be so difficult. Before he knew it, they, who were supposed to be saving A, were also drowning. At that moment, a lifeguard on the beach sensed something was wrong and swam over, pulling a rescue tube.
"Grab onto this!"
Heeding the voice, A and several others grabbed onto the inflatable ring. The lifeguards returned to the beach and pulled with all their might on the rope attached to the ring. However, the ring they were holding on to wouldn't budge. Other lifeguards and strangers also began to pull on the rope, but the ring remained stationary, like a giant rock. It took about ten people to finally get it moving, and by the time they finally reached the shore, the skin on the palms of the lifeguard's hands was raw and bleeding. The people pulling the rope were all breathing heavily. It was with a renewed sense that something extraordinary had happened. On his way home, T took out his camera, wondering if there was something in the place where he had felt that strange sense of discomfort. The waves visible through the viewfinder looked as calm as ever.
A few days later, when Mr. T saw the developed photo, he couldn't help but cry out.
A huge white arm was sticking out from the sea, which was shining in the sunlight, as if trying to grab us.
