Hatakeyama Natsuki ((exclusive)) (2024)

The humming stopped. In the silence, Natsuki heard something else: the distant, rhythmic crash of waves where no ocean should be.

The boy stepped forward. “You died at 8:47 AM. Your soul, however, refused to leave. You grabbed onto the first thing you touched in the moment of impact.” He nodded at the fish. “A kuro-sardine . A creature that swims between the living world and the Utsushimi —the Mirror Sea. By clinging to it, you’ve become a Sakana-Bito . A Fish-Person.”

And Hatakeyama Natsuki—the Ferry’s Keeper, the dead boy with the living name—had no choice but to follow. hatakeyama natsuki

“All right, Other Natsuki,” she said. “Lead the way to your Mirror Sea. But I’m not going there to return a fish. I’m going there to find out why a dead girl with my name is the only one who can help me.”

She blinked. “No. I’m Hatakeyama Natsuki.” The humming stopped

Natsuki looked down at her hands. They were still her hands—chapped from cold market water, nails short and practical. But a faint, silvery webbing had begun to grow between her fingers. “That’s disgusting,” she said calmly.

The last thing Natsuki Hatakeyama remembered was the wet slap of a fish tail against her cheek. Now she was standing in a silent, rain-slicked alley in Tokyo, holding a sardine. “You died at 8:47 AM

Natsuki spun. A boy her age—seventeen, maybe—leaned against a dumpster. He wore an immaculate navy school uniform, not a single crease out of place. His eyes, however, were not human. They were polished obsidian, reflecting the alley’s single flickering light like two dark moons.