Hatakeyama Natsuki «2027»

She smiled. It was the same smile she used when a customer tried to haggle her down to half price.

“You’re dead,” said a voice.

It was the same sardine. The one she’d been trying to sell at the Tsukiji outer market before a rogue delivery truck had introduced her to the hood of a Honda. But the fish was wrong. Its scales shimmered with a deep, auroral blue, and when she tilted her head, she could hear a faint humming from inside its silver body. hatakeyama natsuki

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

“And who exactly are you?” Natsuki asked. It was the same sardine

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.”