Connecting Seas Chapter 1: Sea

~Synopsis~
Nagisa Yuki, a thirty-year-old working in nursing care on the Noto Peninsula.
She lost her father to a disaster-related death in the Noto Peninsula earthquake the previous year. One day, Nagisa is swallowed by a mysterious whirlpool at the seaside and wanders into the "afterlife." There, she meets a parent and child who were swept away by the tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
While reuniting with her late father and friends, Nagisa takes on the role of connecting a girl and a woman who lost their lives in the Noto Peninsula torrential rains.
It is a world where "trying to know someone" binds souls together. Having witnessed many partings in the field of nursing care, Nagisa faces the "meaning of living and returning" through her interactions with the dead.
A story of rebirth and prayer that connects the present and the future, this world and the next. A tale of requiem and hope, dedicated to those who have lost their loved ones.

I was gazing at the sea surface.

Near the horizon, it was faintly murky and brown.
Just before that, within the regular flow of the waves, there was one spot that was swaying unnaturally.

A dolphin? A whale?

Sometimes, something would poke its head out of the water.
But it didn't jump. It looked more like drifting debris than a living creature.
It might have been a large piece of timber.

Suddenly, I imagined a house that had been swept away.

I couldn't take my eyes off that spot for a while.

I was on my way to work. I parked my car in the usual parking lot.
On days when I have a late shift, I kill some time here.

There are days when I can't get into the mood for the nursing facility unless I clear my head by looking at the sea.

The physical condition of the residents. The atmosphere among the staff. End-of-life care. Dealing with families.

Even if I think I'm not tired, some part of my heart is worn thin.

That's why I sometimes look at the sea here.
The sea that day was different from usual.

Before I knew it, I had gotten out of the car.

I crossed the national highway, which didn't even have a crosswalk, and headed toward the breakwater.
As I got closer, my vision started to go strange.

It wasn't the waves.

The scenery itself was swirling.
The sky. The horizon. The distant rocky shore.
Everything was spinning around and being sucked into the center.

Huh...?

My feet stumbled.
The moment I gasped, my vision distorted violently.
I was being dragged in.

The next moment, my body was floating in mid-air.
The scenery shattered within the whirlpool.
The outlines of the world fell apart.

Just like that, my consciousness faded.

When I came to, I was lying on a tatami mat.
Soft sunlight was shining through the shoji screens.

It was a ceiling I didn't recognize.

Where am I...?

I slowly sat up.
My head felt a little fuzzy, but I knew who I was.

Nagisa Yuki.
Thirty years old.
Nursing care worker.

That much was clear.

When I turned my gaze to the side, a large dog was looking at me.

Black, slender, and long-legged.
A large, short-haired dog.

The dog stood up quietly and...
barked just once.

"Suzu, what's wrong?"

The sliding door opened.

The person who entered was a girl about middle-school age.