I left the office in Imaizumi and headed to the municipal subway in Akasaka Station. No sooner than I arrived, the train bound for Karatsu paused in front of the platform. After I boarded the car, the subway rocked me back and forth for fifteen minutes, the train eventually climbing a slope. We exited the underground, and light flooded in from the front of the car as the blue sky expanded overhead.
I’d arrived at Meinohama Station, the final stop on the line. The train was empty aside from seniors and families with children since we were traveling away from Hakata and Tenjin. Those few passengers and I transferred to the Chikuhi Line and resumed our race toward Karatsu. We passed through the pine forest Ikinomatsubara near Shimoyamato Station, and before long, I could faintly glimpse the cerulean shore to my right.
The view vanished when the train entered Nagatare Tunnel, the mountain above a rough boundary between the Itoshima and Fukuoka municipalities. As we exited the tunnel, the coastline’s sandy beach unfolded before me. Numerous yachts’ white sails dotted the blue sea like a flock of cabbage butterflies, and the scene, with Nokonoshima Island in the distance, captivated me.
For a moment, I forgot all about work. The scenery was so different from that of the Kaizuka Line in my home ward of Higashi. As the empty train sped down the unfamiliar route, I felt incredibly fortunate to experience such an adventure. My head was spinning with giddiness.
Eventually, the train stopped among fields of rice, the ocean far behind us, at Susenji Station.
I found a bright red car waiting for me.
“Hey there,” the driver said, leaning her head out of the open window. “Are you the newbie?” She was a dazzlingly beautiful woman; the contrast of her jet-black hair against her fair skin was breathtaking.
I lowered my head, my heart skipping a beat. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said. “My name is Kaede Kikui.”
“I’m Kiyone. Nice to meet you too, Kikui.”
“Um, were you on television this morning, by chance?”
The beautiful woman’s—Kiyone’s—eyes widened in delight. “You watched my interview? Thank you so much.” She accepted my business card then gestured to the passenger seat, her red lips curling into a smile. “Hop in.”
I circled around to climb into the car. “Th-Thanks for the ride.”
After exiting a roundabout, we drove through the metropolitan area toward Itoshima Peninsula. A pleasant breeze blew through the front door windows.
“We’re going to Keya Beach, and the streets around Chikuzen-Maebaru station are always busy,” Kiyone explained. “We’ll cut through the area around Kyushu University instead.”
We followed a national road that twisted between mountains and rice paddies, and I could hardly believe we were anywhere near a beach. I glanced at the beautiful driver. She seemed intimately familiar with our surrounds.
Based on my research, hamahime were stunningly attractive ayakashi that dwelled in the sea around the Hokuriku region. I stole another look at Kiyone. She was so gorgeous that I felt as though I were sharing a car with a celebrity. Yet she was indistinguishable from a human.
I could see Yoru’s and Shinozaki’s animal ears and tails. According to the latter, most people couldn’t, and I had the ability due to my spiritual energy. Even so, Kiyone looked like an ordinary human to me. Perhaps hamahime blended more easily into human society.
Finally leaving the university campus, we wove through the mountains until reaching a road along the coast. As the sea breeze washed over us, Kiyone’s commentary on the novel landscape tantalized me.
“You,” she said, turning the steering wheel, “have the look of someone seeing this place for the first time.”
“That’s right. My family home is in Higashi Ward.”
“How wonderful. You’re going to discover so many new aspects of the world from here on out.” She regarded me fondly. “I moved to Itoshima precisely to remember that feeling.”
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