Kensuke’s Kingdom

Storms come to the island, forcing Michael, Kensuke, and Stella to take shelter in the cave for many days. They use this time to paint together, and Kensuke paints scenes and people from his memories of Japan. Michael paints a picture of an orangutan, which Kensuke loves and keeps as a prized possession. Eventually, the rains stop and Kensuke and Michael resume life on the island.

Michael is concerned that Kensuke is once again acting as if they will be there forever, preparing food and tools for long-term use. He asks Kensuke about this, and Kensuke explains that waiting becomes easier with age. Kensuke has learned that he must continue to live life while he waits, and Michael accepts this but struggles to feel the same.

One morning, Stella’s barking wakes Michael up, and she directs his attention to a small boat on the horizon. Michael joyfully tells Kensuke, but Kensuke examines the boat and recognizes it as the same hunting vessel that visited the island years ago. He insists that they hide the orangutans in the cave, and Michael helps Kensuke heard the orangutans to safety. Kensuke keeps the orangutans calm by singing, but one is distressed, because her baby is not with the group. They listen to the hunters traverse the island, occasionally killing animals, until finally they leave.

After the hunters depart, Kensuke and Michael search for the missing baby orangutan. Kensuke is deeply distressed, and his despair only grows when he encounters two dead mother gibbons. Michael and Kensuke bury the gibbons. Their spirits are lifted when they finally find the missing orangutan, but Kensuke is clearly affected by the event. He spends the next few weeks preparing cautionary measures for if the hunters return, and he every day he is afraid they might come. One day, while he and Michael are gathering supplies, Kensuke spots a sailboat. Michael eagerly asks if he can light the beacon, and Kensuke tells him to do so.

Kensuke and Michael wait to see if the sailboat has noticed their bonfire. As they see that it is coming toward them, Michael notices the boat’s resemblance to the Peggy Sue, and as the sailboat draws closer, he realizes that this is his parents’ ship, and they are onboard. Kensuke, though, has returned to the cave. Michael finds him with the soccer ball. Kensuke tells Michael that the world he would return to is no longer his world, and that if his family survived, they would have thought he was dead for years.

Kensuke decides to stay on the island, which he dubs “Kensuke’s Kingdom,” and not abandon “his people” there. He makes Michael promise to continue painting, to remember Kensuke, and to keep Kensuke’s existence a secret for 10 years. Michael tearfully agrees and reunites with his parents. They have searched for him for almost a year, and though his father thought Michael was dead, Michael’s mother never doubted they would find him.