Haruka awoke to the gentle rocking of the platform. The sound of waves lapping against stilts was oddly soothing, like a lullaby sung by the sea itself. Above her stretched a sky so vast and blue it almost hurt to look at. Below, the ocean churned—deep, endless, unknowable.
She blinked, trying to push away the fog in her mind. The last thing she remembered was sitting in her cramped Tokyo apartment, reading a journal on cephalopod intelligence, a steaming mug of coffee growing cold beside her laptop. Then darkness… and now this.
Haruka pushed herself up. The wood beneath her palms was warm and polished, edged by rails of strange metal inlaid with glowing blue runes. Around her lay rods of alien design, their reels whispering with faint magical hums. Crates lined the floor, their labels flickering like holograms:
INVENTORY STORAGE – LV.1 ACCESS
Her breath caught when a translucent screen flickered to life in front of her.
WELCOME, PLAYER.
Class: Aqua-Arcanist (Lv.1)
Objective: Catch 5 Common Kelp Cod.
"Objective…?" she murmured. Her voice felt strange, muffled, as if underwater.
A sharp pang of panic gripped her chest. "This isn't real. This isn't real," she whispered. She slammed her eyes shut and counted—one, two, three—but when she opened them, the screen remained.
Another ding echoed.
Hint: Equip your starter rod from the crate.
Her fingers trembled as she reached into a glowing crate and pulled free a rod that shimmered with ocean-blue runes. It was impossibly light yet seemed to hum with latent power.
"Okay, fine," she said softly, mostly to herself. "If this is a dream… I'll play along."
She stepped cautiously to the edge of the platform. Below, a shoal of silvery fish flitted in and out of a tangled kelp forest, their scales glinting like tiny stars.
"Let's… cast, I guess?"
She flicked her wrist awkwardly, and the lure flew further than she expected. The line sliced the air, trailing faint blue sparks as it hit the water with a soft plop.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the rod jerked in her hands.
Her heart leapt.
She reeled, the rod vibrating in her grip as the unseen fish fought back. The line tensed, threatening to snap. Instinct took over—she angled the rod just as she had seen in fishing videos back in her old life.
The water churned as a modest fish surfaced—a shimmering Kelp Cod, glowing faintly green.
DING!
Kelp Cod caught. +10 XP. Inventory: Kelp Cod (x1).
Haruka froze. "No way…"
The fish dissolved into a stream of blue light and zipped into her inventory. A warmth bloomed in her chest. A smile tugged at her lips before she could stop it.
"Alright," she whispered. "Let's do this."
"Nice catch."
Haruka whirled around, nearly dropping her rod.
A man leaned casually against the railing. He was dressed in linen pants, boots, and a vest festooned with pouches. A wide-brimmed hat shaded his sharp, amused eyes.
"Soren," he said, tipping his hat. "That obvious?"
"I—I'm Haruka," she stammered. "First time?"
"First time I've seen someone reel without falling in," he said with a smirk. "Good form, newbie."
She blinked. "This… this is a game, right?"
His smile faltered slightly. "It was supposed to be. For some of us, it's more than that now."
Before she could ask what he meant, he offered her a hand. She hesitated, then took it. His grip was warm, grounding.
"Come with me," he said. "We're heading into the Kelp Maze for a dungeon run soon. You don't want to stick around schooling Cod forever."
"Kelp Maze? Dungeon?"
"Yeah," Soren said. "You dive into packs of dungeon fish—rare spawns, loot, boss trophies. Real adrenaline stuff. We raid tomorrow."
That night, Haruka lay on the platform, staring at the stars reflected in the water. For a moment, she forgot about Tokyo, her research papers, the faint ache in her chest from years of solitude.
Here, she was someone else.
Here, she could be… more.
But as she closed her eyes, a whisper brushed her mind.
"The line between hunter and prey blurs in the depths…"
She shivered and pulled the thin blanket tighter around her shoulders.
Tomorrow, she would follow Soren into the Kelp Maze.
And she would learn if she was the hunter… or the bait.