There was nothing...
The old man's fingers met no resistance.
They moved smoothly through the water.
Really...
It was gone.
The old man's mouth fell slightly open.
Where was the goldfish?
Where was that little black-and-white goldfish?
Where had it gone?
Could it be...
A sudden thought flashed through the old man's mind.
He realized something.
He immediately took a few steps and crouched beside the basin.
Could it be...
That goldfish hadn't liked living alone...
And had jumped back into the basin.
The distance between the two containers was a bit of a challenge...
But it wasn't entirely impossible.
The old man carefully examined the goldfish in the basin.
Every goldfish in it was different.
Each had its own unique markings.
So there could be no mistake.
If there was a little black-and-white goldfish in the basin—
The red-based goldfish were a little harder to tell apart.
But the black-and-white one...
There really was only one.
He couldn't mistake it.
The old man widened his eyes.
He searched carefully for a long time.
The old man's legs grew tired from crouching.
He looked around.
Tsk.
The little stool was a bit too far away.
The old man slowly and laboriously pushed himself up, bracing his back...
He was getting old.
Crouching for too long was tiring.
Getting back up after crouching was hard.
The old man stood up carefully.
After living alone for so long, he had learned how to take care of himself.
Otherwise...
He'd be the one to suffer in the end.
The old man leaned against the wall and waited a while.
The dizziness gradually faded.
He walked over and picked up the stool.
Then the old man returned to the basin.
He sat down.
After a while,