So now, Charo was on board a boat full of Japanese decorations.
Dread and Margherita were barking goodbye.
Charo silently thanked them from the bottom of his heart.
It was a painful separation.
"I'm really going to miss him. You too, right?"
"Humph, it'll be nice and quiet again. The way it should be."
"You know, you're really something. All you have to do is say 'I'll miss him'. Why do you always have to hide your feelings so much?"
Just then, the boat gave another long whistle.
"Anyway, he's gone."
Meanwhile, Charo decided to explore of it.
It was the first time to be on a boat, so everything was new to him.
"わー、すごいや。"
The boat was quite big.
There were staircases and many sections were so many people talking and laughing.
He peeked around but was very careful not to be noticed.
Suddenly, he thought he heard some Japanese.
"今の日本語かな。"
He went to where the voices came from.
He looked in and saw a Japanese cook explaining something to another cook.
"Okay. This is daikon. Japanese radish. This one is shoga. It's pickled ginger. Some people called it, gari."
"Okay, chief. This is daikon and this is shoga or gari."
"Oh, some Japanese customers might say 'Ocha kudasai'. It means 'Tea please'. You'd better remember it."
"O-cha..."
"Ocha kudasai. Here, I'll write it down for you."
"O-cha-ku-dasai."
Charo was happy just to hear Japanese again.
"やっぱり日本の船だったんだ。すごいや。"
He continued to explore.
At another section of the boat, he saw many passengers gathered around a sushi bar.
It was an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet.
"Wow! I've never eaten so much sushi in all my life."
"Me, neither! With the beautiful New York view and all this sushi."
"This is just awesome!"
The two were talking in very loud voices.
Charo couldn't help himself.
He peeped out a little too much.
"Look! What a cute dog!"
The young woman came over to Charo and picked him up.
"He's still a puppy."
"Maybe he belongs to one of the crew members."
"Hey, little puppy. Do you want to go out to the deck with us?"
"I think we are just about to pass by the Statue of Liberty."
With that, the two women went out to the deck carrying Charo.
The boat had already traveled far.
At least, that's what Charo thought.
"That's it! That's the Statue of Liberty!"
"I'll take a picture of you and this puppy with the statue in the back."
"Thanks. That'll be nice. Look, pup, look at the camera. Oh, he's so
adorable."
The boat was getting closer and closer to the famous Statue of Liberty.
Many people came out to take pictures and shoot videos.
Just then, Charo had a strange feeling.
The boat wasn't going out to the ocean at all.
"あれ、変だな。なんか戻っていくぞ。"
"Okay, Sweetie. I'll let you go."
The young woman put Charo down.
"Now, why don't we go and get some more sushi? How many minutes have we got before the boat return to the pier?"
"Um, about 45 minutes."
"Then we'd better hurry."
"Yes. Let's go!"
"So bye-bye, little pup. Don't get into mischief."
The two women waved their hands to Charo and headed for the sushi bar.
Charo however, was in shock.
"港に戻るって..."
This boat is not going to Japan?
He's not going back to Shota?
At that moment, Charo thought everything around him go round and round in circles.
"なんか気持ち悪い。"
Charo barely managed to find some shade and lie down.
He was shocked, but actually, he was also seasick.
Terribly seasick.
He had never felt this bad before.
Meanwhile, Dread and Margherita were still at the pier.
They were too empty-hearted to leave the place.
Needless to say, they were more than surprised to see Charo's boat coming back.
"Oh, no. Look!"
"What? What is it?"
"The boat! It's coming back."
As soon as the boat parked, a crewman dumped Charo on to the pier.
"Charo."
"Now don't you smuggle in again, you dog!"
Dread and Margherita dashed towards Charo.
All the other passengers were getting off the boat.
They were watching the three dogs, wondering what they were up to.
But Dread and Margherita didn't care.
"Charo! Charo! What happen to you? Open your eyes. Wake up!"
"Mmm."
"Are you all right? Are you hurt?"
Charo was completely done in.
He wasn't really the sailor type, and there he was, back in New York.
It seemed that Dread and Margherita would have to take care of Charo, for just a little bit longer.
