The sound of the waves could be heard even in my sleep, so gradually, I was roused from my slumber.
It was freezing. For some reason, my clothes were drenched in water. It’s no wonder my warmth was gone.
As I laid on my stomach and sneezed, I noticed something strange touching my cheeks. It was not the smooth silk of my dear pillows but a coarse and grainy texture just like that of sand.
…I knew then that something was off. This was not my room, and this was not my bed.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, and there I beheld white sand everywhere in front of me. It didn’t make sense. I lifted my head, and only then did I realize that I was in a beach.
“…Huh?”
Shocked, I raised my body to a kneel and observed my surroundings. There was a sandy beach right in front of me, and a forest further beyond. As for what lay past that, there was no way to tell. Behind me was the blue sea glittering under the morning sun, and above was – of course – the sun raised up high.
But none of this was familiar to me. Just what in the world could have happened to me?
I held my head and commanded myself to remember. A hazy memory surfaced to mind, and as the images became clearer, I shuddered.
“…I remember now.”
I was stunned for a moment as the memories came pouring back in, then I realized just how fortunate I was to have survived.
I coughed and spat. My mouth was salty, must have drank some seawater. Wish I could I rinse my mouth with some fresh water right about now, and I’m terribly thirsty.
I tried to stand up, but my legs tottered, and I found myself back on my back. Looks like I’m a lot more tired than I thought. All of my muscles ached, and it was hard to move. It felt like the day after a full marathon.
Sighing, I looked in front of me and noticed a boy in the forest, peeking at me from the shadows of the trees.
“…It’s a person.” I sighed in relief and called out to the boy. “Hey! Can you help me out here for a bit? I got caught in the storm while on a sailboat and fell into the sea. Before I knew it, I’d washed out here.”
But the boy remained quiet and just kept looking at me from the shade of the tree. He was looking at me as though I were someone suspicious.
“Don’t worry! I’m not a suspicious person!” I raised both of my hands. “Really! I’m just a castaway who got lost in the sea and washed up here! I’m not dangerous!”
But the boy just pulled his body closer to the tree. He was being really cautious.
“There’s no need to be scared of me. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to know where I am. And please lend me a phone if you can.”
But the boy continued to look at me with a somber gaze. He wasn’t letting his guard down at all.
This is just too much. Do I really look that suspicious?
“Hey, can you hear me?” I was starting to get a little angry. “If you can, can you say something?”
But the boy refused to say anything. He just continued to ignore my words. This is just too weird.
“Are you deaf?”
But as expected, the boy didn’t respond. He just looked away from me and became thoughtful.
The way he kept ignoring me got on my nerves.
“Will you say something!” And I found myself yelling at him, startling him and causing him to turn away. That at least made it clear whether he could hear me or not, but he still refused to say anything. What is wrong with this kid? Is there a reason why he won’t talk?
Sighing in resignation, I clumsily stood up and dusted the sand off of my body, then I walked to where the boy was, but he just bolted for it.
“Hey! Wait a sec!”
I could only dumbly watch him as he vanished into the depths of the forest. With my muscles aching all over, it was just too much to ask me to give chase, so I just dropped my soldiers and complained, “This is the worst…”
Tl Note:
New series. A murder mystery novel. I checked in NU and didn’t see anything, so hopefully this hasn’t been translated yet. Will update at least once a day.
The synopsis on the page is a bit lacking now, but I’ll provide a better one later. There’s a synopsis in the raw page but it’s a bit too detailed.
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