Schrödinger's Trevally. Or, Two Sages Met on a Dried-Up Sea

Scorched by the sun, I feel dazed, as if the heat has soaked into the very core of my head. Before I knew it, I had been casting lures into the sea for four hours.

I've given it my all. And, I am overwhelmingly exhausted from playing.

But, I love this feeling uncontrollably. Having entered the latter half of my thirties, "heave-ho" has become a habitual phrase in my daily life. I get out of breath climbing stairs, and yesterday's fatigue now comfortably lingers until the day after tomorrow. Yet, the moment I grip a fishing rod, the infinite stamina of my boyhood returns. My brain floods with endorphins, and the very concept of fatigue vanishes. It is a clear bug in the human body.

Today is a day of a "minus tide," where the tide recedes even further than during a spring tide.

What spreads out before me is not the sea I am accustomed to. The tide has receded endlessly, truly to the ends of the earth, and the ground that should have been the seabed is laid bare. Rocks that usually only poke their heads out of the water are today revealing their rugged entirety, giving me the illusion that I have descended onto another land. If I keep walking like this, I feel like I could eventually reach the horizon. That is the kind of feeling I get.

The scent of the tide carried on the breeze is also pleasant. It is not that thick, strong smell of the rocky shore common to the seas of Honshu. It is a clean scent, thin and somewhat refreshing, like mineral water, unique to the coral reef sea.

An old man from the island (hereafter referred to as Old Man A) walked across this dried-up, otherworldly landscape. Judging by the net in his hand, he must have come to gather shellfish or mozuku seaweed. His gait was extremely light.

As we passed each other, Old Man A asked me.

"Hey kid, what are you aiming for?"

"A trevally (giant trevally) or maybe an emperor (spangled emperor)."

I spoke the names of the strong, those that reign at the top of the hierarchy in these waters.

Then Old Man A said with a slightly pitying look.

"Ah, they aren't here. That end over there would definitely be better."

It was kind advice. Words from a local sage who has watched this sea for many years. The theory would be to follow it obediently.

However, I completely ignored that advice and continued fishing in the same spot without moving an inch. Why? There is one reason. It was a hassle to move. A fisherman's mysterious stubbornness and the stamina of a man in his late thirties suddenly teamed up here.

A few dozen minutes later.

This time, another old man (referred to as Old Man B) approached. Old Man B also exuded the aura of a veteran who had become one with the sea.

"What are you aiming for?"

It was déjà vu. The exact same line came flying at me.

"A trevally or an emperor."

“Oh, I see, I see! They are here, you know. Big trevally, they were swimming in a school right there just yesterday.”

…Wait a minute.

I had just been given the oracle that “they aren’t here” a moment ago.

Old Man A says they are “definitely not here,” and Old Man B says they are “definitely here (I saw them yesterday).” For the same sea and the same spot, two completely opposite truths were presented.

As I reeled in my lure, I quietly realized something.

Ah, they are just saying exactly what they think.

They are just speaking their own “truths” based on their experiences, yesterday’s memories, or perhaps just their mood for the day. In this modern age where people make a fuss about the information society, fact-checking, and evidence, such rigid concepts do not exist on this seashore.

Since no one has opened the box, the trevally are both there and not there.

Until observed, the fish are swimming in a state of “being there” and “not being there” simultaneously.
The cat in the box cannot be said to be alive or dead until you open it and check—there is a story like that in quantum mechanics.

It is truly “Schrödinger’s Trevally.”

And I also think that perhaps it’s not that the old men are being careless, but that the sea itself is just that kind of place. In a place with a depth that cannot be verified, people have no choice but to speak based on what they believe they have seen.

Without being swayed by the words of others, one should just believe what one wants to believe and face the sea right in front of them. Being casual is fine. I felt as though I had unexpectedly learned a deep truth about life from the old men.

So, did I catch anything in the end?

Of course, I didn’t catch a single fish I was aiming for.

But on my way home, I caught a glimpse of the shoreline, and I definitely saw the figure of an incredibly huge trevally swimming leisurely.

I knew it.

When I opened the box, it was really there.