Beneath the azure sky, surging waves crashed against the surface of dark black reefs, spraying snowy-white foam. The droning roar of the sea was like thunder, echoing along the sheer cliffs.
This was a secluded, narrow road winding around green mountains, more than eighty meters above the sea below. Beyond the low guardrail beside the road, a few more steps would bring one to the cliff's edge, where the deep blue horizon stretched into the distance.
At that moment, a little girl in a tattered kimono stood at the edge of the cliff.
One of her feet wore a wooden sandal with its heel broken off, while the shoe on her other foot had disappeared somewhere. Her black hair, greasy with grime, was gathered into a bun and pinned with a sparkling pale-pink cherry blossom hairpin. Loose strands at her temples fluttered wildly in the wind.
The girl was only twelve or thirteen, small and delicate. Her tear-streaked face stared out at the distant sea, her tiny hands clutching the hem of her kimono tightly, her lips pressed together in indescribable sorrow and grievance.
After a long while, she took out a flip phone with a yellowed Pikachu sticker on it.
She dialed a number.
"Hello..." she said timidly.
"This is the Yokohama City Police Department. How may we assist you?"
"Can you... help people collect bodies?"
"Excuse me, what did you say?"
"Collect bodies." The little girl glanced at the raging waves below her feet. "The cliff beside the Machiyama Line, five minutes from now... can you come collect my body?"
The voice on the other end paused. Faint keyboard tapping could be heard, as though they were looking something up.
At the same time, a string of white numbers on the little girl's shoulder faintly lit up.
The