PROLOGUE
Miyuki Kurezawa thought she was drowning.
But she, above anyone, should know how drowning feels like. She had swimming lessons before she can even speak. Water is her element and it had become her source of peace and distraction following her parents' divorce while she was in junior high and the home she once knew crumbled before her eyes. For the past ten years, especially after her mother died three years later after the divorce, she focused herself to be the best in what she likes to do.
Water doesn't scare her. She'd nearly drowned several times during practice and school tournaments. Not once did she feel any fear nor even pain.
She slammed her locker shut, the sound reverberating inside the shower room. It took her a moment to realize that she's the only one left. Briefly, Miyuki touched her throat where the pain is originating, a throbbing, pulsating sensation that would soon lead to something more terrifying. She'd had nights where she woke up out of breath, as if an intruder has somehow broke inside her apartment and decided to strangulate her in her sleep. She could feel hands closing around her neck, squeezing tighter and tighter no matter how much she begs…
"Kurezawa!" Her coach's deep voice echoed inside the tiled room, her thoughts vanishing at once. "It's time. Are you ready?"
Miyuki tightened her towel around her and gave her coach a decisive nod. Now's not the time to dwell on strange thoughts, especially that she has a race to win. Her coach's voice somehow brought her back to reality as she soon becomes aware of the faint cheering of the crowd outside, the shrill cries of whistles. The sound of now.
The nightmares and the pain have to wait.
"Didn't you say your brother is here today to watch?" Her coach asked as the two of them walked to the long corridor leading to the swimming pool.
At that, Miyuki brightened. "Yes. He just emailed me that he boarded the train from Fukui this morning." The thought of seeing her younger brother again slightly put her mind at ease. Maybe after the game, she can talk about the things she wouldn't, couldn't say to just anybody, not even her Coach, not even her bestfriend and roommate Rumi who's also sitting among the crowd to watch her take a shot to being a member of the Japan's National Swimming team.
"And your father?" Her coach prompted.
"Don't hold your breath on that one." Miyuki joked as they finally emerged to the cheering crowd. Immediately, she spots Rumi sitting on the front row, some of their college friends with her. They quickly erupted to a cheer as soon as they saw her, waving their colorful banners and fans with her name on it. She waved at them excitedly, but the same time searching the crowd for that familiar face.
Immediately, she caught the eyes of her brother standing on the back. Satoshi has grown a foot over the year, so it seems. Right after high school, he decided to stay with their Grandpa in his small farm at Fukui and pursue his dream to become a landscape photographer. His pictures were already published in small-time magazines in the countryside and he even earned clients from the city. Miyuki would always try to persuade him to try his luck in Tokyo or Osaka but not even their grandfather could change his mind to move to the city.
Sato's dark hair remains disheveled as ever and his skin is a healthy tan due to long hours spending under the sun. Even as a kid, he'd always been fond with hiking and the great outdoors, a total opposite of Miyuki who prefers the soothing calm of the pool water and sea.
He flashes her a small smile, eyes twinkling with boyish charm, as he gestures to the camera he's holding. No matter how tall he gets, he will always be her little brother. The only family that matters.
An invisible hand suddenly slithered across her throat and squeezed. Miyuki instinctively put her hand on her throat and felt it burning as she gulps down the cold air.
"Are you okay?" Her coach asked worriedly, noticing how pale she suddenly looked
"I just need some water." Miyuki managed to gasp out, frantically searching for her jug. Her coach quickly gave her his own water jug, seeing how she badly needs one.
Miyuki doesn't mind and gulps it down like a thirsty man lost in the desert for days. The burning sensation in her neck intensified and she almost dropped the jug. Some people are already crowding around her, their arms reaching to her, distorting into terrifying shadows coming out of her nightmares. Miyuki's vision swam and she blindly hobbles away, unaware she's stepping back into the pool.
She plunged to the cold water accompanied by screams and shouts of surprise. Miyuki could barely hear or care. Her head, her body feels weightless and a sense of numbness is slowly replacing the pain. Surrounded by the peaceful water, she is tempted to succumb to it with each passing second.
Her mind flashed an image of her brother from the stand. Sato's smiling face, his camera ready to shoot her dive at any moment.
"Satoshi…" she whispered into her mind as her hands around her neck loosened. She tried to fight off unconsciousness by opening her eyes, but as soon as she did, an image in front of a slender woman begins to form. Snow-white hair surround her, like a fast-spinning silk that covers her like a cocoon. She desperately tries to fight off the tendrils, but they her body seems to resist her. The invisible hand around her neck tightens painfully, squeezing out the life in her.
Satoshi.
She feels herself being pulled upward but she couldn't muster the energy to open her eyes to see what's happening. All she know is she's fading. Fading away.
"Come home." Suddenly, she hears her mother's voice whispering to her ear. It couldn't be. Her mother had been dead for years now. Unless...unless she herself is dying and her mother has come to comfort her in her last moments.
"Come home with me." Her mother's voice crooned. "Come home to the village."
"Miyuki!" A voice pierced through the darkness. It was her coach. No, it must be Satoshi. She tried to open her eyes but the woman's voice makes it so hard for her to stay awake.
Her name was the last thing she heard before darkness finally takes over.
She's going home to the village now