Summary: Suzune Yamamoto lives in modern day Japan. She is an average girl that loves water and happens to come across a book about the sea that changes her life! Who knows what will happen to her once she opens the book! Is this the chance for her to meet some pirates or will she suffer from something?!

The Sea's Song

- Chapter 1

Hello! My name is Suzune! Suzune Yamamoto. I'm just your average 18 year old girl that's at the last year of high school. I have mid-length wavy brown hair, light blue eyes, and my height is 5'4.
There's nothing really special about me sadly... But the only things I'm good at are swimming and singing! Also an exception of gymnastics but not as good. I live in Nagoya, Japan at the moment and stay with my parents and two brothers. I don't have many friends at school since I'm a little shy about making friends though, I can be quite energetic. Funny huh? That's just how I am even if I would like to change it... My best friend Mika is the only friend I have since she was the only person to approached me. She and I had a common passion for swimming so we both became good friends since elementary and even until now she's still with me. I also joined the swimming club with her and am the second best swimmer in the club, though not many people like that. I had been bullied quite a few times during my high school years since I was good at swimming and the older members didn't like it at all even my classmates, but school is almost over and I won't need to deal with those bullies anymore! Other than that I love reading anything with romance in it! It's a hobby I do when I have free time and do something other than sing. Even though I've read a lot of romance books that doesn't mean I had a boyfriend. I actually envy the couples around me, having a loved one is really nice. I wish to hopefully find someone out there to love me with their whole heart... *ahem* Anyways my other hobbies is to collect seashells when my family goes to the beach to visit my grandparents. Since I love the beach you can guess I love the fish and anything else related to water.
My life so far has been nice even if there were hardships here and there but everything turned out alright, afterall its life, there are always hardships. I was happy though I wished to be near the sea more than continuing my life but I am content as long as I make my family happy. At least, that was what I thought until I came across this weird book. Everything changed once I got my hands on that book...

It was Friday today and I always went to go take a nice swim in the pool after school was over. It was a wonderful weather outside, the sun was out, and no one was there to distract me from swimming peacefully this time. As I was enjoying my swim, Mika decided to come over and watch me swim.

"Hi Mika." I greeted her by splashing a bit of water on her.

"Hey Suzune! Don't get me wet.. How is your little swimming session going? Hehe." She laughs.

"It's going peacefully! Finally I get to swim without the other club members giving me a hard time." I say as I float on top of the water.

"Well that's good! By the way, did you hear about a new bookstore opening near the station?" Mika apparently seemed really excited about it.

"No, I didn't. Did you want to go?" I asked her knowing she really wanted to go.

"Definitely! We are going today right after you finish your swim." She said.

"Haha! Alright then. Give me another 30 minutes and I'll start heading out with you." I smiled at her. She nods and goes sits down on the edge of the pool.

Mika loves books even more than me since I only like romance while she loves EVERYTHING. She's read almost every book in the school library and in the bookstores near our neighborhood. Mika sure is intelligent, but a beauty with her long gorgeous straight black hair, hazel eyes, and height of 5'6. Even if she wears glasses, they match her completely. I envy her beauty.

-30 minutes later-

"Let's go Mika!" I excitedly run to her since I can't wait to find some good romance novels at this new bookstore.

She smiles at me and we continue to go down to the station. Mika starts talking about how small the bookstore is but seems to have a lot of old books that's sparking her interest. I laugh at her sparkly eyes since she rarely shows it unless she's really interested in something. The moment we get off the train I finally spy the little bookstore to my left and start running towards it with Mika on my heels. The appearance of it isn't bad. It seems to have unique atmosphere with the golden black sign and tan walls inside. Once we get inside we both notice that there isn't anyone around.

"Hmm.. I guess no one has noticed this bookstore yet?" I ask Mika.

"No, I'm sure they have but they didn't think it was worth the time to look since it's a small bookstore." Mika said while looking at some really think old books.

"Maybe that's true... Time to explore! I'm going to look at the romance section!" I tell her and walk over to the counter. Seeing no one there I call out.

"E-excuse me! Is anyone there?" I say staring at the door near the counter.

A few seconds later an elderly man comes out of the door and says,

"Ah! Welcome, young one. How may I be of service to you?" He smiles gently at me.

"O-oh h-hello, I'm looking for your romance books. Could you show me where they are?" I smile back at him. He seems nice.

The man seems to think for awhile then looks at me and notices something.

"Your hair seems to be wet a little! Was it raining outside?" The old man asks surprised at my appearance.

I take a look at the ends of my hair and only just now realize it really was still a little wet.

"Oh um.." I explain to him I was swimming at school.

"Oh! My, my, you must love water then!" He starts to laugh lightly.

"Would you like to look at the books I have about the ocean? I don't own many romance books, but I'm sure you will find something interesting from looking at my collection about the sea." His eyes start to beam as he starts telling me how he use to love the sea and how he loved to gather as many books he could get his hands on about the fish and the ocean.

'Hehe. This mister must really love water.' I thought to myself while listening to him talk about his life experenice.
Once he stopped speaking to me about his experience with the sea, he starts to show me the way to his ocean book collection. Once there, he starts explaining where he got each and every book. Just then, my attention has set on a book called "The Melody of the Sea". The elderly man happen to miss explaining where he got this book so I picked it off the shelf and interrupted his conversation.

"Um, mister? What about this book?" I look at the cover of the book and got enchanted by the cover. The picture was a drawing of the clear blue underwater sea with fish swimming about the sun's rays. It was really detailed as well. I never really read about the sea but I loved going to aquariums thinking it would be nice to be a mermaid and talk with the fish. It was a childish dream but I really did love water and everything in it. This was a beautiful cover, though this was the first time I actually wanted to know more about the sea and from hearing this man speak about his experience in the sea, it sparked a fire in my heart so I decided maybe reading something other than romance won't be bad.

The old man said, "That's odd. I don't remember having a book like this." He seemed confused when I gave him the book.

"You mean you opened your store and didn't realize you put a book you never seen on your shelves?" I look at him puzzled.

"I guess your right. Unless someone put it here without me knowing. It doesn't even have a price tag." The elderly man said sadly.

"I will need to find the owner of this book because I can't just sell something that's not of my own." He says as he starts walking away with the book in his hand but I stop him by clinging to his arm.

"Please wait! Will you let me borrow the book? I promise to give it back! Please let me read it! It looks like it would be very interesting!" I then bow my head to the hesitant old man. He starts scratching his head and takes a minute to think. I guess anyone would since he just met me today so there's no surprise that he's hesitating, but I really want that book!

"Well... Since you were interested in my stories of the sea unlike many girls your age... Then I guess it won't hurt to give it to you." He hands me the book with a small smile.

"Be sure to take extra care with that book and come back on Monday with it once school is over." He pats my head and starts to head over to where Mika is.

I happily jump up and think how lucky I am right now!

'I can't wait to start reading this book!' I think to myself. 'I will start reading the book once I get home, so for now I'll look around to see if there is anything else that would be interesting to read.'

After some time passes I find a romance book about a mermaid and another one about a pirate. I laugh at the fact this store has books mostly about the sea, whether it be fantasy or old life. I gather the books and check them out. The old man seemed happy that I got some more books. Once that was done I look at the clock and walk over to Mika.

"Mika! Mika? Are you done looking around yet? It's already 8:30. We should really start heading out." I ask her worriedly. She had been standing in the same place with the same book the whole time and not respond to anything the elderly man had said to her before. Surprisingly enough she wasn't responding to my voice either. She really can get glued to a book fast.

"Mika!" I shake her.

"H-huh?! What?!" Surprisied, she looks at me wide eyed.

"Is something wrong Suzune? You know you just needed to call out to me." She looked really confused now.

"I've calling your name for the past 5 minutes! It's getting late and we really should be getting home." I tell her.

"What really?" She looks at the clock then looks surprisied. "Wow! I've been reading longer than I had thought! Sorry Suzune!"

"It's fine but since you really like that book you should check it out then." I smiled.

Mika nods and we quickly go over to the counter to check out the books. Once we start heading off to our homes the weather changes and it starts to rain hard. Since we were just getting close enough to my house we ran full speed to my door and start laughing.

"It has been awhile since I ran in the rain! I'm soaking wet!" Mika swipes her glasses with the towel I give her.

"It sure has been awhile. Hehe, but it was fun." I start to head upstairs towards my room with my bag of books, but I don't notice that the mysterious book I got earlier today was slightly glowing as I set it down in my room and go downstairs to get a set of new clothes to share with Mika.

Once Mika and I dried up, my family decided that Mika should stay over the weekend since her parents called earlier today saying they were leaving for a trip. Mika's parents aren't home most the time so it's common that she stays over my house. As the evening passes, both me and Mika go off to bed. The rest of the weekend Mika distracts me from my books that I completely forget about them since she drags me off to watch some movies from some books she read in the past, takes me to the park, and all sorts of things. She really occupied my whole weekend that it was already Monday and time for school again.

I look around my room and find the book on my shelf, remembering I had to give it back today so I should try to read it during my breaks at school. As I go get the book I notice cover mysteriously changed a little.. It was not only an underwater picture but now you could see a ship on the water in the distance. I stare at it thinking maybe I didn't notice the ship was there when I first looked at it.

"Suzune! It's time for breakfast! Come on you must get ready faster!" Mother calls out to me from the kitchen.

"Coming!" I yell back and set the book in my backpack.
'I shouldn't think too much about it. I'm sure it was there when I got it.' I thought as I run downstairs and prepare for school.

-In scienice class-

It's been almost half the school day and I haven't been able to find the time to look at the book. Being a bit sad I look out the window and look at the pool. Then an idea pops in my head.
'I should just read it instead of swimming today!' I smile at the thought and gladly watch the teacher write notes on the board.

-Lunch break-

Mika and I sit at a table and happily eat our lunches. As I'm about to get my book from my bag, a boy from our swimming club comes over and starts talking to us.

"Hey midgets." He smirks.

"What do you want Kaito.." Mika says in a threating tone. Kaito would always come to bully me during lunch.. Not surprising to see him here.

"Tch. Watch your tone Ms. Nerdy-pants or I'll actually do something more than pranks." Kaito glares at Mika.
I stand quietly and walk over to him because I know I'm his target.

"Ah. How obedient you are today." He chuckles while taking my head and hitting it on the table.

'Ow, that hurt.. He really never does anything nice to me.' I think looking sadly to the side as he holds my head to the table and look at Mika telling her with my eyes that she should take my stuff and go like usual since I didn't want her to get hurt. She looks at me worriedly but knows she can't do anything and does what I tell her. Kaito now starts yelling at me about how useless I am, that I cheated the whole time in the swimming club with some tricks, how I shouldn't have existed, and how he is happy that I am moving away so he won't need to my face again. Same old usual day at school. I don't get bad bruises, but it's usually mostly my head that gets hit with something. I am thankful that he doesn't touch my legs because that would have been a whole new story. I don't care about his bullies anymore since school is going to be over in a week.
After Kaito's lecture was over my head hurt quite a bit. Holding my head I wait as classes went by I distracted myself by thinking how I was going to start reading the book after school and surely enough it was after school.

-At the pool-

"Finally the pool!" I say out loud as I take out a folded chair and bring it near the pool. I sit down and reach out for my book in my backpack. As I settle in my chair I try to open the book and notice it wasn't opening at all.
"What? Why aren't you opening?" I say sadly and lean up on the chair exhausted since I was really looking forward to reading the book only to know the book doesn't even open. 'Why wasn't the book opening?' I look at it once more and stare hard. I see the ship seems to look bigger than before. 'Ok, I am definitely imagining things here' as I look at the sky and before I even knew it, I fell asleep right then.
I was dreaming about the ocean and me being able to hold my breathe for a long time underwater. I looked around to see all sorts of fish swimming near me as I swam deeper and deeper. Then a whale came to push me up to the surface and I floated in the air laughing happily.

While I was dreaming I didn't sense a person come over to me and slowly pick me up. That person was Kaito thought I didn't know this and he had an evil smirk on his face. I loved my dream so much that I didn't wake up but I felt I was floating in the air for a moment then get plunged into water. I woke up only to know that I was already out of breathe and drowning in the pool! I was so scared and shocked at the same time that I couldn't even move my arms and legs anymore. I didn't understand how it turned out like this at all! As I was slowly sinking, losing consciousness, and terribly frightened, I saw a blinding white light before my eyes closed 'Am I dying?' was the last thought I had before my vision fell. I didn't know then that the time the mysterious book opened by itself and was the one creating that blinding light...