"Found them! They're here!"
A Dolphin helicopter with a conspicuous orange paint job circled low over the sea. It was a light helicopter used by the Japan Coast Guard for routine rescue operations.
A searchlight shone down from the helicopter onto Hirota Tulio and the others, dazzling them so badly they could not open their eyes.
Once his eyes had barely adjusted to the blinding beam, Hirota Tulio saw two steel warships majestically plowing through the waves toward their wooden boat, the Stars and Stripes fluttering above their decks.
"Help!" The foreign woman grew so excited at the sight of the two warships that she waved her arms and shouted for help.
The smaller warship stopped in front of the wooden boat. A sailor leaned over the deck, shouting something in English.
The other vessel, a landing ship, cut through the waves past the wooden boat without hesitation, moving with astonishing speed and momentum.
The waves raised by the towering steel warship rocked the wooden boat for a while.
Where was that landing ship going?
Hirota Tulio gripped the gunwale to steady himself and looked back in bewilderment.
Just then, a ladder was lowered from the warship, and an Asian-looking officer climbed down and boarded the wooden boat.
"It really is you! We've been searching these waters for a full twenty-four hours. Where on earth have you been all this time?"
"We were on that island the whole time. Didn't you notice an island that big?" the foreign woman asked, her eyes wide with confusion.
"You mean the 'Ghost Island' that mysteriously appeared and disappeared, the one the passenger ship's captain and passengers spotted?"
The Asian officer frowned in thought for a moment before realization dawned on him.
"After your lifeboat capsized, that Ghost Island vanished mysteriously into the fog.