Hatakeyama Natsuki !free! (2024)

She tucked the sardine into the pocket of her apron.

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

“All right, Other Natsuki,” she said. “Lead the way to your Mirror Sea. But I’m not going there to return a fish. I’m going there to find out why a dead girl with my name is the only one who can help me.” She tucked the sardine into the pocket of her apron

“We share a name,” he said, straightening. “A rare resonance. That’s why I was sent. I am the Fune no Mono —the Ferry’s Keeper. My duty is to guide souls like you to the Mirror Sea. But you… you’re not a soul anymore. You’re a hybrid. And you have exactly eighteen hours.” But the fish was wrong