Umi no Soko

Wakashio, the youngest child of the chieftain in a quiet seaside village, has always lived under the weight of rigid expectations and suffocating traditions. His only respite from the confines of his birthright is found in the stolen moments he shares with Yakaze, a free-spirited soul from the neighboring forest tribe. Their secret bond becomes the very air Wakashio breathes—a fragile, hidden sanctuary in a life dictated by duty. But their forbidden love is discovered, and the consequence is swift and brutal: Yakaze is slain at the hands of Wakashio’s own elder brother, shattering Wakashio’s world and leaving him to drown in grief. Yet death is not the end. In a twisted turn of fate, Wakashio is reunited with his beloved, but Yakaze has returned from the grave irrevocably changed. His once-familiar form now bears an unsettling pallor, and his eyes burn with an unnatural crimson glow, marking him as something monstrous in the eyes of others. Though his body has been deformed by whatever dark force dragged him back, his heart remains achingly human—still carrying the same warmth and devotion he held in life. Now, the two lovers must navigate a world that sees only a monster and a chieftain’s son, grappling with the profound question of whether their bond can endure this new, cursed reality. Together, they search for a path forward, determined to forge a life for the grotesque and the grieving, clinging to the hope that love can transcend even the most horrifying of transformations.