Prologue 2: The Fish King that hunts humans.

"It is called, 'Tsurihito's Bride'." The name that she told about the taboo was a bit confusing. I mean, what does someone's bride have to do anything with not going to the sea for two whole weeks? But those thoughts made me even more excited to hear the full story.

"Underneath the depths of the ocean, there lives a strange 'thing'. He is the fish king, Tsurihito. Some say he had golden eyes, some say blue. Some say he is tall and some say he is short. Everyone who claimed to have seen him all gave different opinions about his appearance, but his real appearance was only seen by his dead victims...", her tone set a strong enough environment for a horror story. It was even more compelling to hear the full story then. Because, I thought it was about someone's bride, but it seems like it wasn't? It made my little mind then to use its full power to comprehend the situation.

"The fish king sleeps all the year round, he has nothing to do... until its time for the blood moon... the time for him to slaughter humans. One week before and week after the blood moon, he and his pals go out to search the seas. They search for two things... one is a human bride for Tsurihito, the fish king. The other one is..."

"And the other one is?", I enquired. I forgot that I was snacking on biscuits. My mouth was half filled.

"Human meat. They hold a huge wedding ceremony underwater for the fish king and the human bride, and in that wedding, their food and drinks are human meat and blood..."

"But how will they find a human bride in the sea? Humans live in land, and they live in the water."

"Humans have always used the waters for their own benefits. They always travel through it, catch fishes and many more. In those two weeks of the blood moon, the fish king and his pals attack those ships and boats. That's why each and every ship that goes out at the sea during that time disappears without a trace..."

Then I understood why the people of our village acted that way during that time. The 'wedding' time, I can say. But this Tsurihito guy was somewhat interesting to me.

"I wish I could meet with Tsurihito.", I blurted out. I looked at grandma, she was giving me a strange face.

"Don't say that you fool!", she scolded me lightly.

"Just joking", I laughed. She laughed with me too.

"You are a clever fool!", she said before she hugged me with her wrinkled hands.

But that part was not completely true. A part of me really wanted to meet with him. I wanted to know how he looked like, what kind of a guy he is and why he did these stuffs. Maybe it can be said that I was just curious. Maybe thats the reason, maybe not.

It was until ten years after that that I stopped believing in those stories. I mean, I really was a fool, taking in those superstitions and believing them. I enrolled into a pretty well known high school in Tokyo at sixteen, where I started to change my perspective about these.

The fish king Tsurihito? That hunts humans? Pfft, those weird stories can't be true. Anyone who is in their right mind wouldn't believe in those.

Tokyo really changed my perspective. It has widened my view of the tiny world that I lived in. High school was the first time I left my hometown, I haven't returned there since. Not because I don't like that place— I like that place a lot— but because of workload. Besides during high school I had to do a few part-time jobs then, which took away my only free time. I have no parents, they died pretty long ago. I only have my grandparents, and I know they are in no shape to earn and send me money. I don't want them to do that too. They are old, they should rest without worrying for a third person.

"But what if its true? Those stories?", sometimes, this phrase would knock in my mind at random times, at school, during work or at night. I would shake them off like it was nothing.

"Those things are not true", I would say to myself. This kind of fictional stories are real only in movies, not in real life.

But those phrases came to me only during the first year of high school, then it disappeared too. I didn't mind it. I even like its disappearance. It felt calm without a scary thought bothering me.