I became Hokage in Tokyo

Chapters 222 and 223: The Mermaid's Revenge

"Okubo?"

Maika Suzuki frowned, as if recalling something, a shadow falling over her face.

"Uncle? Isn't he supposed to be a man in his late twenties?"

"No, he's not that young. That man is definitely over fifty," the waiter said confidently, giving an address.

"Uchiha-kun, could you please take this drunkard back to his room by yourself? I have some things to take care of."

Suzuki Maika's eyes flashed with a hint of doubt, but she still decided to meet the strange visitor. After parting ways with Uchiha Naruto, she left the fisherman's inn and went to a restaurant called Sea House not far away.

Inside, a middle-aged man in his fifties, with a stubble beard and looking somewhat haggard, was waiting for her.

"You must be Suzuki Kimie's younger sister, Maika. I heard someone saw you return to Kohama City today. Excuse me for calling you here."

"Sir, do you know what your relationship is with Okubo Ryo?" Suzuki Maika asked bluntly.

"I am Ryoya's father," the middle-aged man said.

Suzuki Maika's expression turned cold, and she made a move to get up and leave.

"Then I have nothing to talk to you about."

"Ryoya passed away half a year ago," the middle-aged fisherman said, his eyes closed and his face full of pain.

Suzuki Maika was stunned.

"Ryoya committed suicide."

How dare he commit suicide?

Although Suzuki Maika didn't have a good impression of the six people who were in the same yacht club as her sister but survived the storm years ago, those six people's lives were still built on her sister's precious sacrifice.

One of them, Okubo, actually chose to end his own life. What was the point of his sister's sacrifice then?

If Okubo was going to commit suicide, he might as well have died in the shipwreck back then and made room for a life raft. That way, his sister wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself and drown in Wakasa Bay, and her remains have never been recovered.

"Why, why did you commit suicide?" Suzuki Maika asked in a dry voice.

"sorry!"

The middle-aged fisherman suddenly bent down, braced his hands on the corners of the table, rested his head on the tabletop, and confessed to Suzuki Maika.

"What are you doing? Okubo committed suicide, why are you apologizing to me?" Suzuki Maika's feelings were extremely complicated.

Suzuki Maika deeply disliked those six people, to the point of leaving her home, but she didn't hate them to the point of wishing them dead. Her sister sacrificed herself for their sake, and in a way, those six should live well to repay her sacrifice.

"I just can't bring myself to say it."

The middle-aged fisherman hesitated for a moment, then finally pulled out a notebook and placed it on the table.

"I found this while cleaning Ryoya's room recently. It's a diary he wrote five years ago, from the time of the accident until his suicide. I've already read it..."

Suzuki Maika sensed something and her face turned pale.

Five years ago, the shipwreck occurred when seven members of my older sister Suzuki Kimie's university yacht club were on a yacht trip to an uninhabited island in Wakasa Bay.

On the way back, they encountered a sudden storm that capsized the yacht, and the survivors drifted on life rafts for several hours before being rescued.

That small life raft could only carry a maximum of six people.

Kimie Suzuki was the only survivor of that shipwreck.

According to the unanimous account of the survivors at the time, Suzuki Kimie, as the initiator of this club activity, felt guilty and voluntarily gave up her seat, allowing the other six people to survive.

Although Suzuki Maika had her doubts, she remembered her kind and responsible older sister as someone who wouldn't be incapable of making such a noble self-sacrifice.

Unable to investigate due to her limited resources, Suzuki Maika had no choice but to accept the official investigation results.

To avoid being reminded of painful memories, he left Obama City, a place that caused him heartache, and stayed in Tokyo for five years without returning to his hometown.

Could it be that there was more to the story behind my sister's sacrifice back then?

With trembling hands, Suzuki Maika opened the diary. The more she read, the more distorted her expression became, and her knuckles, gripping the pages, turned white from the excessive force.

"According to Okubo, the person who initiated that club activity on the deserted island back then was not my sister." Suzuki Maika said expressionlessly, her tone carrying an inexplicable murderous intent.

"Besides, my sister didn't give up her spot on the life raft willingly. She was abandoned by everyone and left to die." Tears welled up in Suzuki Maika's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ryoya was actually a good kid. For so many years, he always felt guilty, which is why he ultimately chose the path of no return."

The middle-aged fisherman choked up as he spoke.

"Ryoya kept apologizing to Suzuki in his diary. He also wanted to apologize to Suzuki's only relative, Miss Suzuki. But before he could, he..."

"This was also Yoshiya's last wish, and only I, as his father, can apologize on his behalf. Miss Suzuki, can you forgive Yoshiya?" The middle-aged fisherman looked up at Suzuki Maika with hope.

"Why should I forgive him? Okubo committed suicide, will my sister come back?! My sister is still all alone, at the bottom of the cold, desolate Wakasa Bay!"

Suzuki Maika said through gritted teeth, her emotions running high.

"And did Okubo really commit suicide out of guilt? He felt guilty and was afraid that his sister had turned into a mermaid and was tormented by her, so he took his own life."

Okubo Yoshiya's diary contains a lot of crazy talk, such as Suzuki Maika becoming a mermaid in Wakasa Bay and killing several people.

Of the six people in the gang, none of them will escape! He's next!

Suzuki Maika, of course, did not believe the absurd claim that her sister had turned into a mermaid.

It is also clear that Okubo Ryosuke's mental state deteriorated five years ago, and he became increasingly insane, even writing incoherently in his diary, before finally committing suicide to seek relief.

"Miss Suzuki, how can you be so heartless? Ryoya is already dead, can't you forgive him?"

"I won't forgive them, absolutely not! Not only will I not forgive Okubo, but I won't forgive the others either!"

With a ferocious expression, Suzuki Maika grabbed the diary and clutched it tightly to her chest before storming out the door.

Having rushed out of the seaside house, Suzuki Maika wandered aimlessly along the beach in Obama City.

Because tomorrow is the Mermaid Festival, Kohama City is teeming with tourists, and even the beach is crowded with people as evening approaches.

Suzuki Maika, burdened with worries, felt increasingly irritated as she watched the tourists laughing and joking.

She avoided the crowded coastal tourist areas and came to a more secluded section of beach with complex terrain, known only to locals, wanting to be alone and have some peace and quiet.

"elder sister……"

Suzuki Maika's tears welled up and streamed down her cheeks, becoming even saltier with the sea breeze.

Their parents were fishermen who tragically died in a shipwreck before they could attend high school. The two sisters have been each other's only support ever since.

Unexpectedly, upon revisiting the place five years later, Suzuki Maika learned the truth about her sister's death, causing her heart to break and tears to stream down her face.

Wiping away her tears, Suzuki Maika began to consider what to do.

Call the police?

However, this diary, with its bizarre and nonsensical content and illogical sentence structure, cannot be considered evidence at all.

Even if this is used as a breakthrough to get the other five people to confess, under Japanese criminal law, they would at most be sentenced to three to five years, or even probation, and would not have to go to jail.

How can I face my sister's spirit in heaven if I do this!

Maika Suzuki frowned, trying hard to remember.

She knew a bit about the members of her sister's yacht club. After all, they lived in a small city like Xiaobin with a population of tens of thousands, so it wasn't a problem to become familiar with people of similar age.

Of the couple I met today, the one named Shimazaki is the president of the yacht club, and his father is the chief of the local police station in Kohama City.

No, we can't call the police!

That might be walking right into a trap; they might even destroy the diary.

Just as Suzuki Maika was overwhelmed with a thousand thoughts and her mind was in turmoil, she saw a short-haired woman standing on the beach not far away.

It's Yukako!

She was one of the six survivors from that year.

Yukako stood on the beach, seemingly waiting for someone, but she looked somewhat impatient.

Because of the angle, Yukako hadn't noticed Suzuki Maika yet, so Suzuki Maika quickly lowered her head and hid.

Looking at Yukako, Suzuki Maika's eyes turned bloodshot, and a strong hatred burst forth from the depths of her heart.

From childhood to adulthood, people have always said that she and her sister look alike, especially their thick, beautiful, seaweed-like long hair, which is proof that the two sisters are related by blood.

No wonder the woman and Shimazaki were so frightened by me today that their legs went weak, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

I initially thought it was because he felt guilty about something that happened five years ago, but now it seems like he has something to hide!

Right here, when no one was around, I...

The murderous intent in Suzuki Maika's eyes grew stronger, but then a flash of calmness suddenly appeared.

Wait, is everything that Ryoya Okubo said in his diary necessarily true?

If it's really just his own wild ramblings, isn't that indiscriminate killing?

Recalling Yukako's terrified reaction to her earlier, Suzuki Maika had a sudden inspiration and came up with an idea to test her.

She tiptoed back quietly.

The sun was setting in the west, the sea and sky blended into one, dyed a dim yellow by the sunset, the light dimmed, and the air was filled with the chill of the night.

"Why hasn't Shimazaki arrived yet?"

Yukako impatiently kicked a clump of sand, her mind elsewhere.

After encountering Suzuki's sister at the mackerel specialty store, both she and Shimazaki were shocked and couldn't help but recall what happened five years ago.

It wasn't that they were afraid of the truth coming out, but rather that Suzuki Kimie, who had sunk into Wakasa Bay, might actually become a mermaid and come back for revenge.

The younger generation, who were born and raised in Obama City, are not as superstitious about mermaids as the older generation, but Yukako firmly believes in it.

After all, the people involved in their yacht club knew that something terrible had happened in the area where the yacht sank, and that the salvage crew had one accident after another.

Suddenly, the idea that mermaids were causing trouble became rampant.

At the time, a group of mysterious men in black forced the yacht club's survivors to sign confidentiality agreements.

That area of ​​water remains blocked to this day.

After the shipwreck, the paranoid Yukako even went to a remote and impoverished area in the inland region of Iwate Prefecture and hid for several years.

However, the mermaid's curse ultimately did not befall anyone in the yacht club.

Yu Jiazi then mustered her courage and returned to Xiaobin City.

Unexpectedly, not long after, Okubo mysteriously drowned in the bathtub at home, and today she unexpectedly encountered Suzuki's sister, who had left Kohama City many years ago. A sense of impending doom enveloped her heart.

Or should we hurry up and leave Xiaobin City and return to an inland county where we can't see the sea?

"Shimazaki is too slow. If he doesn't come soon, I'm going back."

Because there were too many tourists and too much noise, Yukako and Shimazaki Sai agreed to come to this beach, which only locals knew about, to discuss countermeasures.

I never expected that Shimazaki, a grown man, would be so fussy!

As the evening chill gradually spread, a sea breeze blew, and Yukako couldn't help but shiver, hugging her shoulders.

Looking at the quiet and empty Wakasa Bay, where no one knows what might lurk beneath the seabed, Yukako couldn't help but shudder. How could she have been so blinded by greed to agree to come to such a place so close to the sea with Shimazaki for a discussion!

"Yukako."

Suddenly, a woman's voice called out drifted over.

Yu Jiazi's heart pounded wildly!

"Who is it!?"

Still shaken, Yukako quickly looked in the direction of the sound and saw an endless sea that appeared even more mysterious and profound in the gradually darkening night.

The tide surged slowly, and the waves lapped against the beach, making a soft rustling sound.

There was no one there, only the sound of the waves, as if the calls heard earlier were just an illusion.

"Who's playing tricks on us!?"

Yukako, her face pale, kept turning her head towards the sea, looking around as if searching for something.

"Yukako."

Another call came from the sea, and Yukako felt a chill run down her spine.

This time, she finally realized that the voice sounded somewhat familiar...

It seems to be... a bell...

Yu Jiazi's neck was stuck as if it were a gear that had never been lubricated, and she turned her face stiffly.

On the surface of Wakasa Bay, a thick, seaweed-like patch of black hair emerged, followed by a fish-scale-covered face!

It really was a mermaid!

Her wet, jet-black hair was disheveled and draped over her face, and her cheeks were adorned with a few blue scales. Despite this, Suzuki Kimie's features were still clearly visible.

The mermaid's eyes were azure blue, reflecting a faint blue light. She stretched out her arms, covered in blue fish scales, towards Yukako, calling out repeatedly:

"Yukako."

"Yukako."

Yu Jiazi was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground, and a foul stench filled the air.

The mermaid drew closer, her face deathly pale, and asked in a low, eerie voice:

"Yukako, why did you abandon me?"

(End of this chapter)