Chapter 1. A Discovery
If I'm reborn, I'll seek you out again in the next world
I'll tell you how I feel, something I can't tell you enough
Even if you don't remember, I'm sure we'll meet again, under the cherry blossoms
Eternity will go on, the cherry blossoms will bloom and scatter
I want to make that person who laughs like the sun remember
In his two-bedroom apartment, Goku was sitting on the rug in the living room, his back leaning to his sofa bed. A hand over the mouse of his laptop on the coffee table, scrolling through YouTube channels to pass the time. He just passed an incredibly hectic season of photoshooting, his last job finished two weeks prior. Usually, Goku would find himself jobless for a month or two and while he believed it's good for himself to rest, he just couldn't stand being idle for too long.
Time flies real quick, he thought.
For the first dozens of years without his companions, Goku had stayed in the temple. But then, his curiosity got the better of him and he started to travel—and live— around the world. And after considering his unique circumstances, Goku decided to move and change jobs periodically, but he never changed his name. Goku was indeed a handy name almost everywhere at all times.
For the past 50 years, Goku had been a photographer. He was reluctant at first, but excitement never ceased once he grasped the concept. He started with analog cameras, and so even though he was good with the more advanced digital cameras as well, analog cameras had always been his favorite. Thus, becoming his unique business value. He wholeheartedly liked the job because he could capture moments, embracing the changing lives of people all around the world while he himself didn't age much. All the people that he asked guessed that he was in his late 20s or early 30s, mostly the first than the latter.
And Goku really explored the world, or maybe half of it by then, living here and there. He had been living in the northern part of the world until two centuries ago, and he loved the changes he felt once he travelled to explore the equator. For the last 5 years, Goku had been living in Singapore, though he occasionally accepted jobs from other countries since he owned some studios in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, where he lived before settling in Singapore.
Goku also maintained a job for quite a long period of time, usually for nearly a hundred years. He was once a gardener, a transporter, a chef, a painter, and some others before becoming a photographer. However, he constantly changed his business—he prefered to build his own rather to work for someone else— in a much shorter time, like starting Capturing Moments Photography over five years ago, after running Shared Memories Photo Agency for fifteen years in Malaysia.
Through hard experiences in the past, he learned that maintaining an identity and acquaintance for a longer time was hard as his body remained the same. So yes, sociable as he was, Goku learned to keep his distance with other people. Not becoming too close and too attached. Muichi motsu. He never imagined that the teaching to hold nothing had to become a way of living for him. Luckily, being a photographer had its own way to be close yet distanced with the clients. That way, Goku could still channel his never ending energy and be all too friendly with his clients yet keeping a distance at the same time. It was becoming almost too easy to break the relationship he had, saying that he would move to another country.
Remembering those blurry years made Goku kind of emotionless. He definitely had happy times, but he never had any close friends because of the circumstances, and he longed for a real company. And Sanzo?
Oh, Goku tried his very best to find the reincarnation of Sanzo in the early days. Skipping a beat each time he found a blond, or violet eyes, or droopy eyes, but he never found all the characteristics combined in one person. And at some point, he realized it was astonishingly hard and painful to do so, always expecting and never finding. He sometimes thought that Sanzo might have reincarnated a couple of times but the time or place might not be right. Until one day, hundreds of years ago, he decided to settle his feelings, to stop searching and start preparing himself for when the time comes.
Time flies real quick, he thought once more.
From the many recommended videos brought by YouTube, a video caught his attention. The cover was black and it was titled "I'll seek you out again in the next world." Curious, Goku clicked. And after knowing the whole video is black, Goku leaned back to his sofa bed and closed his eyes. It was instrumental music. Not his first choice of music, but it was still good. Some deep breaths and Goku came back to the laptop, shifting to his other tab as he continued his browsing.
Three minutes had passed and Goku couldn't concentrate because of the instrumental music he listened to. Goku wondered why he was so drawn to the music. He could not really tell, but the song was like calling to him. The music was not lively, nor was it sad. It was not catchy, but it was definitely not boring. If he could describe it in a word, he could feel the longing in it.
Goku went back to his YouTube tab and searched for the channel which he hoped would link him with the composer. And there it was, complete with the Goku Music Production website and gokumusic_sg Instagram profile. Goku raised an eyebrow. He took his phone and threw his body onto his sofa bed. He opened his Instagram app and within 30 seconds he was looking at the mentioned profile. No stories and highlights. All of the feed posts were black videos, to which he assumed link back to the black instrumental music videos in the Youtube Channel. He went to the tagged post section. Presented by lots of pictures of a certain individual, Goku's body abruptly sat up and stiffened, both eyes went wide.
All over the photos, was the same pale blond, long haired with a ponytail, and... almost too familiar droopy eyes. He could not figure out precisely, but he could swear those eyes were purple. Goku swallowed and he scrolled through the photos. He saw no pattern in the people this Goku person hung out with, all different people from probably different concerts. Still alone in your world, huh? popped up in his mind and Goku smirked as his body softened. He also did not miss the places of the tagged photos, most of them in Singapore while a few in Japan and Vienna. He… he might live here in Singapore. With a pounding heart Goku scrolled back up to find the email.
Goku had become very used to this. Contacting the person he wanted to meet, saying he's a photographer and very interested to take pictures, whether to build a portfolio or just to help. It was fairly easy with Goku's astounding portfolio. The 143K followers of capturingmomentsphotography proved Goku's effort in his work. He also worked with a wide range of requests, from extreme nature to family shots, vintage analogs to clear underwater styles, street gangsters to celebrity photos. Goku was hardly turned down by anyone when he requested to take pictures, moreover blooming artists who only had followers below 10K. He really hoped it would also go well with this Goku Music Production which only has just above 1K of Instagram followers.
Clicking the send button, Goku dropped his body to the sofa bed.
He stared at the ceiling for some time, and then one of his hands rose, as if trying to grasp something. "Is it really you, Sanzo?" came with a whimpering voice. How many years had he waited? Hundreds, or probably more than a thousand years, he lost count already. And even though Goku was always preparing himself to meet a reincarnated Sanzo, he was still nervous to actually stumble upon someone-who-potentially-might-be Sanzo. Pale and blond and distinct droopy eyes. Was it really him?
Goku decided that it would be a very nice meeting, whether Goku was Sanzo's reincarnation or not. One thing that bothered Goku was that this someone-who-potentially-might-be-Sanzo's name was also Goku. It would be an interesting encounter indeed, Goku giggled.
With a big smile, Goku stood up and went for dinner.