Volume 3 - CH 1.9

It was already dark when I boarded the train with Mayuzumi. The salt water clinging to my hair felt disgusting. Dried salt remained on my skin. Mayuzumi had been silent for a while now. I looked out the dark windows of the rocking train, questions running in my mind.

Yamamura Misaki didn’t hold a grudge against anyone.

Then who was that mermaid?

We arrived at the city center and took the subway. It was around midnight when we hailed a taxi and returned to Makihara’s house. The first floor of the house should be filled with seawater. Bracing myself, I grabbed the doorknob. But the door would not budge. I pushed and pulled, to no avail.

“Out of the way, Odagiri-kun,” Mayuzumi said behind me.

I stepped away from the door. She brandished her parasol and opened it, forming a vivid crimson circle.

The doorknob turned. The door opened with the speed of a chrysalis cracking open.

Blue gushed from inside. Water filled with golden light spilled outward.

A beautiful, summer sea.

For just a moment, the ground was wet, then immediately dried up. I turned to the open door. Only a certain amount of water spilled out, while the rest stayed at chest level, as though blocked by glass. The surface of the sea swayed gently, the water a vivid blue that seemed to reflect the sky.

My breath seized in my throat. The sea was rising.

“Why is it rising so fast?” I mumbled.

There was no reply. Mayuzumi kicked me in the back of the knee, and I crumpled.

“Let’s go, Odagiri-kun,” she said, regarding the sea with a level gaze.

“If you want me to carry you, just say it!” I snapped.

I lifted her up, but not high enough. I ended up carrying her on my shoulders. Mayuzumi held on to my head tightly so she wouldn’t fall off.

“My skirt’s in the way,” she said. “Make sure you don’t drop me, okay?”

What would happen if I dropped her? The thought itself was terrifying.

I stepped into the blue. Water, warm as amniotic fluid, enveloped me from the chest down. Seawater splashed on my face as I moved against the waves. Even in the darkness, the sea was a midsummer blue. Each taste of the salty water reminded me of blood. The fear of drowning flashed through my mind. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to regain my footing if I slipped.

She drowned at sea and passed away.

Carefully, I lifted my feet off the floor. At that moment, something touched my skin. Cold, soft flesh passed between my legs. Something wrapped around my ankle and then detached itself.

Human fingers.

The moment my feet got tangled up, I was grabbed by the hair, yanking my head back. Mayuzumi was looking down at me with cold eyes. I nodded wordlessly and stared ahead.

There was something in the sea that looked different from a monster.

Something was swimming gracefully.

A white fish leapt out of the water, bathing in the light from the stairs. Its entire body was extremely bizarre. Human fingers were writhing through its soft abdomen. Eyeballs that had broken through the skin membrane jutted out. A huge mouth opened toward the ceiling, and human teeth glinted.

The monster had taken a form fit for the sea.

The bizarre shape dove underwater without a sound. Then it leapt up again. The fish leapt over and over, gracefully, as in a dance. As I watched it, I realized something.

Its white flesh was the color of the dead.

It was indeed a mermaid.

A monster that was man and fish combined.

The fish dove back into the sea. Then, the blue rose close to my throat. I looked fearfully to the side and saw Mayuzumi’s boots dipping into the water. Every time the fish danced on the surface, the volume of the water increased, and the color blue grew deeper.

The fish was calling the sea.

I moved fast. Now was not the time to be afraid of tripping. Mayuzumi almost fell, and she grabbed my hair tight. I stifled a cry of pain. The water level was rising fast. I jumped onto the stairs and grabbed the handrail. With water touching my chin, I used all the strength in my arms to pull my body up. Mayuzumi bent over and jumped forward. We then ran up the stairs. The moment I kicked open the door, my breath caught.

The floor was a pale blue.

It was wet like the ground after the rain.

“Lad! Mayuko! You’re back!” Higasa cried.

Akari was crouched at his feet. Her cherry-colored dress was wet and sticking to her body. Water dripped from her long hair. In the middle of the room, filled with the smell of the sea, Makihara was sitting down with his head in his hands.

“Misakimisakimisakimisakimisakimisakimisakimisaki,” he mumbled over and over like some supplication.

He wasn’t begging for forgiveness. Neither did he scream in horror.

The floor was dyed a pale blue, as though reflecting the blue sky. The sea seemed to have made its way up to the second floor. I looked at Higasa, and he nodded.

“After you left, the sea suddenly rose fast,” he said. “It even filled the second floor. Akari-sama’s beasts sent it back to the first floor, but she can’t keep it at bay anymore. I sincerely apologize.”

Wearing a bitter look, Higasa hung his head. He spoke in two different tones. It was hard to tell which was the real him. It was somewhat odd.

It felt like two completely different people speaking the same lines.

Akari opened her eyes a little. “It’s fine,” she mumbled. “I can… still…”

“Stop being stupid, you idiot!” Higasa barked. “Please, that’s enough, Akari-sama. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Higasa desperately held her back. Mayuzumi sat on the desk silently like she wasn’t interested in what was going on. She didn’t want to get wet. I stared blanklt at her as she munched on a piece of chocolate. I went out to the sea with her. But we found no answer. There was nothing there. We couldn’t see Misaki.

Misaki held no grudge against anyone. There was no mermaid in the sea where she died.

Then what was that mermaid?

And there was one more question: why?

“This is going way too fast. Until now, the sea only came to the first floor. Why did it rise all the way here today?”

Until yesterday, the sea was only a shallow expanse on the first floor. I didn’t expect this to happen while I was gone for half a day with Mayuzumi.

What the hell happened?

A dull thud came from behind me. Cautiously, I turned around to see a huge white mass of flesh jammed against the door. The bloated white flesh throbbed before my eyes. Bloodshot eyeballs spun furiously, and the hand that grew under its chin wriggled grotesquely. Huge teeth clattered. Seawater rushed through the gap between the door and the flesh.

Higasa embraced Akari with one arm. Mayuzumi silently held up her parasol and looked up at the ceiling, shielding herself from the sprays. She did not move.

“I think I know what’s happening!” Higasa shouted. He swallowed, hesitating. “This is happening because you told Makihara that he killed Misaki.”

Then it hit me.

What’s there in the sea is not a mermaid.

What’s there in the sea are only…

I dashed across the slippery floor. The fish twisted itself into the door. Flesh was squeezed and blood spilled. Still, the fish didn’t stop advancing. The sea rushed in, filling the room with knee-deep water. Clambering across the blue water, I reached Makihara. His smile was gone. I looked into his eyes and shuddered.

There was only emptiness in his dark, sunken eyes.