"You might be able to hear it someday too. Someone's voice..."

...that so-called monster, was staring at me with a very dumb look on his face...

xxx

A month ago...

Genjo picked up his satchel and straw hat before walking out of his office. Almost immediately he was spotted by the assistant abbot who happened to be walking toward his office.

"Are you going out somewhere, Master Sanzo?"

Genzo made a face at the man as he nodded half-heartedly. "How long will you be away?" the assistant asked some more as Genjo ignored the man. Yet the assistant abbot kept on following him towards the exit and it was getting on his nerves!

"Ah, enough already... I'm heading out and that's it! If you're always this persistent in badgering me over these little things then why hadn't you done the same with the previous abbot?" he shouted as the assistant abbot stopped following him. Genjo put on his straw hat and tied the strings securely under his chin.

"I'm going out on personal matters," he said finally. "I don't know how long I'll be away, but once I'm done I'll return back here."

And somehow that was enough to appease the assistant abbot. So bothersome. If the guy was this persistent in the past as he did now, how did Jikaku manage to slip out of the temple all these times?

"Ah... and I thought I could find an accomplice in you..."

Was that what the old fart meant at that time? So that means that the other senior monks here should know already about that old fart's favourite hobby. Yet, why did they do nothing about it? Was it because the old fart could cast some spells by himself?

"Ah, I wish I could do that too..."

Damn that old fart! It's because of them that these monks were also suspicious of him when he tried to go out somewhere...

xxx

"Anyone out there? Can you hear my voice?"

He started hearing that pesky voice not long after he decided to stay at Keiun temple. (Well, more like he was ordered to by Sanbutsushin but that was just semantics.) That voice kept calling for him almost every hour of the day, he thought he was going to start losing his mind! No one else seemed to be hearing that voice, so it was just him. He heard that voice so often in his head, that he started to even dream about looking for the source of the voice! It was so annoying! He couldn't do any single task at hand because that voice was so distracting!

.

Genjo stopped in his tracks as he looked up at the mountain in front of him. This felt like the right direction, and the voice seemed to become a lot clearer the more he got nearer to the mountain. And the scenery around him matched the ones he had been seeing inside his dreams lately.

He bit his lips as he started marching towards the mountain.

"Are you trying to climb Mount Gogyo by yourself? I wouldn't advise doing that if I were you, Mr Monk."

Genjo turned around to find an old travelling peddler standing behind him.

"What did you mean?" he asked as another man—probably a villager from a village nearby—stopped in front of him as well.

The peddler just shrugged at him. "Even the people who lived near here wouldn't dare to brave those treacherous peaks!"

"Besides, there was that legend—" said the other man as Genjo turned his attention to him.

"Legend?"

The man nodded. "It was said that there was a monster that lived on top of that mountain. According to legends, the monster was cast down from Heaven and was sealed there for 500 years..."

xxx

The monkey suddenly collapsed on the ground like a puppet that had its string cut off. Genjo frowned as he looked at the boy closer to see if the boy have gotten himself hurt. After all, the kid did smash his arm against an axe and kicked those random thugs despite it being so tiny.

But then he was greeted by the loudest sound an empty stomach could make!

The monkey started to chuckle aloud.

"I'm hungry..."

The boy glanced up at him as Genjo noticed that the kid had been crying.

"Isn't it weird? I was so happy that my stomach growled." The boy's body shook. "All those times inside there... I have never felt hungry—"

Genjo blinked at the kid in surprise. Wait, all those 500 years... and the kid never felt the slightest bit hungry? Until now?

"You—!"

The boy glanced back at him. "Earlier, I did say that I hadn't been calling for anyone. But the truth is, perhaps I have been calling for someone."

The boy shrugged.

"I was really lonely. But before I could call for anyone, I realized I didn't have any names to call. So I called out for 'someone'. I tried to call out for a person... who was in my heart."

The boy raised his head at him again. "—And then you came."

Genjo felt his heart clench as the boy's stare seemed to pierce into his soul. So innocent... so sincere. It made his heart feel like breaking.

The boy smiled, and it felt as if his stomach had turned to jelly. "Hey, can you tell me? I want to know what's your name. Next time, I'll be sure to call it out loud."

What's he doing? Didn't he tell himself that he'd put a stop to this pesky voice from ever calling out for him again? But now, instead of doing that he was about to...

Even then, could he even deny this boy's simple request? Those large, round, golden eyes... and those chubby, adorable, rosy cheeks...

There's no way he could win against those eyes and adorable face, could he?

Genjo turned his glance away, trying hard to ignore the butterflies that started to form inside his chest or the warmth that started to rush up to his face.

"It's T-Toa's 31st... Genjo Sanzo..."

xxx

"Stay here first... I'll get you something to eat after this."

Sanzo leaned his back against the door after he shut it behind him once telling Goku to get inside the storage room. What was he doing right now? He's not a little kid anymore, so why was he hiding Goku like this—sneaking into the temple secretively like this—as if he was afraid to be found out and get scolded for taking in strays without permission?

The things he was doing for that silly little monkey...

.

"I guess it couldn't be helped."

"I'll take you home with me..."