Before him, lying on its side on the seabed, was a small, twelve-meter yacht.
The yacht had lain submerged in Wakasa Bay for several years, and a thick layer of sand and sediment had accumulated over the wreck.
Coastal shipwrecks like this often became havens for marine life. Barnacles and coral settled on the hull, attracting all sorts of small fish and marine predators and becoming part of the underwater ecosystem.
Yet strangely, the area for dozens of meters around the wreck was completely barren.
It stood in stark contrast to the colorful, thriving underwater world around it.
Hidden inside the Shop Toad's stomach, Uchiha Naruto took in everything outside.
"This yacht sank in Wakasa Bay during a storm in Heisei 30. One of the seven passengers aboard died in the disaster. It's been five years now."
Uchiha Naruto slowly leafed through a classified document he had copied from the Metropolitan Police Department.
"When the local government tried to recover the victim's remains, they discovered something horrifying. The divers sent down died unnatural deaths, one after another. After three consecutive deaths, panic spread, and rumors blamed a 'mermaid.' The recovery operation had to be suspended."
"Wakasa Bay was already famous for the Eight-Hundred-Year Nun, and belief in mermaids was deeply rooted there, making the uproar even worse. It drew the Metropolitan Police Department's attention. An investigation revealed that there was no mermaid in the wreck, but an evil spirit, later officially designated Type B-07!"
Uchiha Naruto took a profile with a color photograph attached out of the file envelope.
The deceased was a woman named Suzuki Kimie.
In the photograph, Suzuki Kimie had thick, beautiful, long black hair.
He merely glanced at it and paid it little further attention.
Once they became evil spirits, they had already lost their reason