Under the silent watch of a group of Men in Black.
The people at the two tables remained oblivious and continued chatting. Hearing Hattori Heiji's words, the man in the blue vest asked in surprise, "How did you know?"
As soon as he asked, he figured it out himself and gave a helpless smile. "Right. Other than fishermen who went out to sea together, how could so many people have died on the same day?"
He took a sip of his drink and said sadly, "That's right. Just as you guessed, our fathers were all fishermen—they all died in a storm eight years ago."
"..."
They had been chatting perfectly well, yet several deaths had suddenly come up, making the atmosphere rather awkward.
Suzuki Sonoko looked around. Suddenly recalling that, in fishermen's culture, dying at sea seemed to be viewed as both fate and professional honor, she comforted them, "fishermen are born by the sea, depend on it their entire lives, and are ultimately buried in it. You could say they got what they wished for!"
Hearing this bright and cheerful attempt at consolation, Mouri Ran's heart skipped a beat. "Sonoko!"
But unexpectedly, the two fishermen across from them did not get angry at all. Instead, they burst out laughing.
Seeing Mouri Ran trying to stop her, Blue Vest waved a hand. "What this lady said isn't wrong either. When all's said and done, our dads knew there was a storm, yet insisted on going to sea. There was nothing to be done about how things ended up."
"Hmph, it had nothing to do with the weather." A voice cut in, and at the same time, a heavy shadow fell in from the doorway.
Everyone froze and slowly looked up. They saw a fisherman enter from the door, tall and