# 589
**Chapter 590: Praying for Death**
Beneath the azure sky, surging waves crashed against the dark, jagged rocks, sending white foam into the air. The roar of the sea echoed like thunder, reverberating along the cliffside.
This was a lonely, narrow road winding around a green mountain, perched more than eighty meters above the sea. Just a few steps past the low guardrail along the road, one could stand at the edge of the cliff and gaze out at the deep blue horizon.
At this very edge stood a little girl in a tattered kimono.
One of her wooden sandals was broken, the other missing entirely. Her oil-stained black hair was tied into a messy bun, secured with a pale pink, glittering cherry blossom hairpin. Strands of hair fluttered in the wind around her temples.
She couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen—small and delicate. Her tear-streaked face stared out at the sea, her tiny hands clenched tightly around the hem of her kimono, her lips pressed together in a look of unspeakable sorrow and grievance.
After a long silence, she pulled out a flip phone with a faded Pikachu sticker on it.
She dialed a number.
“Hello…?” she said timidly.
“This is the Yokohama Police Department. How may we assist you?”
“Can you… help collect a body?”
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“A body.” The girl glanced at the turbulent waves below. “In five minutes, at the cliff near the Chōyama Line… can you come collect my body?”
There was a pause on the other end, followed by the faint sound of typing—likely a search in progress.
At the same time, a string of white numbers flickered to life on the girl’s shoulder.
The voice on the phone turned serious.
“Are you Yuzuri Nana, a fourth-generation citizen, ID number 42857494? Do you know that suicide is an unforgivable act of blasphemy? Please abandon this idea. Officers are being dispatched—”
*Beep—*
Yuzuri Nana hung up.
Her arm holding the phone slowly dropped. She bit her lip and muttered softly, “If you won’t help collect my body… then don’t.”
She tossed the phone aside, stepped forward, and walked toward the edge of the cliff against the sea wind. The black kimono she wore had a few scattered cherry blossoms on it, dancing wildly in the breeze.
She stood at the very edge—just one step away from falling. Below, the surging waves concealed sharp rocks. If she jumped, she would be shattered in an instant.
It probably… wouldn’t hurt too much, right?
She stood in silence for a long time, then raised her hands in a prayer gesture at her chest.
“Kind and mighty Daikokuten, god of fortune, this is my final prayer to you.
You are the war god from the other shore, the bane of all evil. You bring peace and happiness to the world, dispelling misfortune and calamity… Please forgive my sin of seeking death. Grant me release and hope.
May your blessings shine upon the earth.”
She gently lowered her hands and looked down at the vast sea. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to leap—
Suddenly, her body froze.
She rubbed her reddened eyes and stared at the sea not far below, shock spreading across her small face.
There, floating like driftwood on the waves, was a black figure. It looked like a corpse, but no matter how the waves battered it, it remained motionless, like a wax statue…
A dead man?
Yuzuri Nana blinked hard, trying to get a better look. But before she could see clearly, the body had drifted into the rocks at the base of the cliff, getting wedged among them.
Yuzuri Nana was annoyed.
Of all places, the corpse had to float to the exact spot she was about to jump from. What if she didn’t die instantly because she landed on it?
That would *hurt*!
And even if she died, she’d probably get tangled up with that strange man’s corpse in the rocks…
No. Absolutely not.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
She stomped her foot in frustration, tears welling up again.
Why was she so unlucky? She had finally worked up the courage to end her life, chosen what seemed like the most dignified spot—and someone had beaten her to it.
She couldn’t let him have it!
Yuzuri Nana made up her mind. She tossed her broken sandal into the sea and ran to a gentler slope further along the road. Barefoot, she carefully made her way down toward the water.
She stepped into the sea along the rocky shore. The water was freezing, but she clenched her teeth and swam determinedly toward the black figure wedged in the rocks.
The figure grew closer.
She finally reached the rocks and grabbed the man’s collar, yanking hard!
The body slid off the rock.
*Splash—!*
A wave crashed over them, sweeping the petite Yuzuri Nana and the man onto the nearby pebble beach. In the chaos, she was pulled underwater and swallowed mouthfuls of seawater.
She could swim, but not well. According to local laws, citizens were forbidden from entering the sea—swimming, boating, fishing, even flying over it was banned.
She had only learned to swim as a child in a small stream near her old home in Osaka.
Coughing and drenched, she struggled to her feet on the pebbles. Her kimono clung to her body as she bent over, hacking up seawater.
Once her lungs were clear, she exhaled deeply and stood, wobbling over to the corpse that had washed up beside her.
Now she had time to examine him properly.
Her brow furrowed.
He looked to be around twenty, quite handsome. Strangely, despite drifting in the sea, his body was completely dry—not a drop of water on him. His hair was dry too. His eyes were open, staring blankly ahead, as if thinking or on guard…
It was as if time had stopped for him.
“Weird corpse…” Yuzuri Nana muttered.
She stood up, ready to return to her spot and finish what she started.
She had called the police earlier, and they had tracked her location using her ID. Officers were likely on their way. If she didn’t kill herself before they arrived, she’d be thrown in prison—and never get out. Suicide in custody would be impossible.
Here, suicide was a serious crime.
Just as she turned to leave, the corpse blinked.
She froze, rubbed her eyes, and looked again.
The next moment, the black-clothed corpse sat bolt upright, eyes wide with terror, gasping for breath.