Chapter 16: Memories of Mermaids:
Michi's POV:
The Nuns were coming down the stairs, talking about Risa.
"As if the ghost and the curse wasn't bad enough," says Prudence, "now we also have mermaids? What does that even have to do with anything?"
"I thought mermaids were, you know," I said, "Ariel!"
"Well, clearly, they don't all want to be a part of our world," says Prudence.
"I don't suppose you know someone who might know something about man-eating mermaids," I said.
...
We're in the library, hoping we can find something.
"I got something," says Prudence, "listen to this!"
Reader's POV - Story:
I had a sister. She died when I was young. I always thought she became a mermaid. I quit my first job after a month. I couldn't bear the siren that sounded at lunch... I had a few jobs after that, but none lasted very long. I thought I might be depressed, so I decided to get counseling.
"You feel bad when you hear sirens?"
"Yes... I feel anxious, and if it lasts for a while I start getting a headache..."
"When did this start?"
"When I heard the siren at my first job. Since then, even ambulances, which never used to bother me, make me uneasy."
"Perhaps it was triggered by that first siren. Does anything else come to mind?"
"There's something the siren reminds me of... I'm still quite young, and I'm still at some beach with my big sister. There's a cave in front of us, and I can hear a siren from somewhere..."
"And then..."
"From then, my memory is jumbled, and I can't remember... My sister was playing in the water, inside the cave I think... Yes... with the mermaids..."
"I see... Maybe that memory of the mermaids was triggered by the siren too... You don't seem to know this, but the word 'siren' has its origin in a Greek creature, half bird half woman, which was originally half woman half fish- in other words, mermaids."
"Mermaids... Sirens are... mermaids?"
...
So, I returned to my Dad's hometown. I have to figure out the connection between my memory and the siren...
...
Kobukuro Village is a tiny fishing village, surrounded by mountains and sea...
...
I walked around the village, but nothing stirred my memory... I couldn't even tell where our house is. No one knew who I was, and even when I mentioned my dad, most people just shook their heads. How could people have forgotten us so completely in not even 8 years? That's when I started to think that maybe the address on the postcard was wrong.
...
"That's the cave..."
"You can't go in there! Who are you?"
...
"That's the real shrine. It's called Watahime Shrine. I'm the head priest. Normally, since there's a fence, no one tries to go inside... Why do you want to go in there?"
"I actually lived in this village as a kid, and it's been a long time, so I wanted to come back here, but... I don't really remember much besides this cave, so..."
"You went inside the cave, back then...?"
"I think so," I said, "I remember being right outside it with my sister. She went missing 18 years ago."
"Maybe she was swept away in a wave," says the Priest. We then heard the siren, and it was getting to my head. "It warns us that a tide is coming."
"I heard this siren as a kid when I was with Tomiko too..."
"Don't go near the cave," says the Priest.
...
I waited, but later, I returned to the cave.
...
"As I went deeper into the cave, I knew for sure. It was the cave Tomiko, and I went into in the memory... This is where she was playing with the mermaids..."
...
Tomiko was here. She was splashing around in the water with those mermaids. And then... she went with them...? No... No... She... She didn't become a mermaid... The Siren...! No... No... Tomiko wasn't playing with the mermaids... She... It was that moment that I finally, clearly remembered what happened 18 years ago. Tomiko was eaten by the mermaids! And I realized something else. The siren didn't signal the tide. It signaled to the mermaids that it was feeding time...
Michi's POV:
"That explains the sien," says Prudence.
"The what," I asked.
"Didn't you hear a sien sound every time someone disappeaed," asks Prudence.
"No," I said, "the curse must've kept us from hearing it! Except for you apparently!"
"Well, now we know what else we're dealing with," says Prudence, "I just hope we don't have to get in the waTter!"
To Be Continued
The Story within the Chapter is actually based on a Manga called Memories of Mermaids. In the next chapter, Michi and Prudence try to figure out what the girl wants.