The wave that rose before them was unlike any Riku had ever seen.
Not water.Not shadow.Something in between—like liquid night shaped into a colossal hand, reaching straight for him.
Aya clutched his arm."Riku—don't say anything! No matter what you hear!"
The shrine's light still pulsed, but it dimmed with every second as the Umibōzu gathered its strength. Aya's confession had weakened it—but not destroyed it.
The monster wanted balance.
She gave her fear.It wanted his name.
The sea roared:
"YOU ARE KNOWN."
Riku felt a pressure in his skull—sharp, invasive—like fingers prying through memories he didn't even realize he still carried.
Aya stepped between him and the sea, trembling but defiant.
"You can't have him."
The Umibōzu's towering silhouette leaned closer, its pale eyes opening wide enough to reflect the shrine's light. Its voice rolled across the water, too powerful to be resisted:
"HE WAS MARKED AT BIRTH."
Riku froze.
Aya's breath caught. "Marked…? What does that mean?"
The monster continued:
"THE SEA TOOK HIS FATHER.""THE DEBT REMAINS."
Riku's knees weakened, the cold cutting deeper.
He hadn't heard those words—not since childhood.
Aya turned to him, stunned. "Your father…?"
Riku shook his head."He drowned when I was six. His boat vanished in a storm—no wreckage. They said it was an accident."
The Umibōzu's form thickened, waves curling around it like armor.
"THE DEEP DOES NOT FORGET.THE DEBT OF A LIFE FALLS TO THE BLOODLINE."
Aya's face went pale.
"It wants you because of your father…"
"No," Riku whispered. "It wants me instead of him."
The ocean churned, rising higher.
Riku felt something far worse than fear stirring inside him—a memory he had buried so deeply he never thought it would return.
A memory of that stormy night.
Of standing at the shore as a child, calling his father's name into the roaring tide.
Of something answering back.
The voice had been faint, distant—but he remembered it now.
A whisper shaped like a wave:
"A name for a name."
Riku staggered back, gripping the shrine's pillar.
"I… I did this," he whispered.
Aya grabbed him. "Riku, no—don't let it twist the truth. You were a child. You didn't owe the ocean anything."
But the Umibōzu rose taller, its form spreading until it covered the sky like a living eclipse.
"YOU SPOKE YOUR NAME TO THE DEEP."
Riku's chest caved inward.
Aya's eyes widened.
"No… Riku… that's why it can find you."
Riku remembered it fully now.
That terrified six-year-old boy yelling into the wind—
"My name is Riku Takeda! Bring my father back!"
A childish plea.
A binding contract.
And the sea had listened.
The Umibōzu leaned forward, water cascading from its massive shoulders.
"YOUR NAME WAS GIVEN FREELY."
Aya stepped in front of Riku again, shaking her head violently.
"You can't have him. He didn't know what he was doing!"
The monster's reply was cold:
"THE SEA DOES NOT CARE FOR INTENT."
The waves surged upward. The shrine trembled. The charm's light flickered again.
Aya grabbed both sides of Riku's face, forcing him to look at her.
"Listen to me," she said urgently. "You didn't choose this. Fate didn't choose this. The sea didn't choose this."
Her voice softened.
"You choose what happens now."
The Umibōzu extended its enormous hand-shaped wave toward Riku again, reaching—
"SPEAK YOUR NAME.""SEAL THE DEBT."
Riku inhaled sharply.
And stepped forward.
Aya grabbed his arm."Riku—NO!"
He turned to her.
"I'm not giving it my name," he said quietly."I'm taking it back."
The sea howled.
Aya stared at him, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Riku stepped to the edge of the shrine, facing the monster directly, trembling but resolute.
At six years old, he had given his name to the ocean.
But he had never taken it back.
Until now.
He shouted into the roaring wind:
"My name is Riku Takeda—and I take my name from the sea!"
The shrine exploded with light.
The Umibōzu recoiled, its form splintering like shattered darkness.
The ocean itself convulsed.
Aya shielded her eyes as the light intensified, burning through the fog, the waves, the shadows.
The Black Tide screamed.
Riku felt the pressure in his mind snap—like a knot finally cut loose.
The sea roared, retreating violently from the shrine.
The Umibōzu's voice shattered into a thousand echoes:
"THE DEBT—IS NOT—BROKEN—"
Its form collapsed into the water.
But not in defeat.
In rage.
The ocean went deathly still.
Aya lowered her hands, eyes wide.
"Riku… what did you do?"
Riku stared into the black horizon, chest still heaving.
"I didn't end it," he said."I challenged it."
The water behind them trembled—slowly forming a new shape.
Bigger.
Darker.
Angrier.
To be continued…