染河

Sex: Female Occupation: Taishima Descendant Age: 40 years old A woman living in Toba. Although she occasionally does work as an ama diver, it is unclear who she is and where she came from. She apparently showed up in Toba about five years ago with nothing but a grubby wooden box to her name, and has been living there ever since. * * * As Mare Minakuchi's younger sister, Azusa is also descendant of the sole survivor of Taishima. Following the destruction of Taishima, the Somekawa line hid themselves away, living for generations in a small village within the city of Shima. The book "The Little Mermaid" was a constant fixture in the household —a decision made so that the children of the family would grow up with a familiarity with mermaids— and Azusa read it repeatedly as she grew up, the tale fueling a fervent admiration for mermaids within her. Upon realizing that she could never be a mermaid herself, she instead decided to become an ama diver, thinking that it would at least allow her swim freely through the sea like the beings she so admired. Thus resolved, she left her hometown behind, leaving the family duty —nothing more than a troublesome burden to Azusa— to be handled by her elder sister alone. For all intents and purposes, it appeared that Azusa's wish had been granted. However, upon returning home following her parents' deaths, she was taken aback to learn that the family duty inherited by Mare was in itself deeply connected to mermaids. Forgetting how she had pushed the duty onto Mare to follow her own desires, Azusa grew deeply resentful of her sister, accusing her of keeping the mermaid to herself and asserting her right to take up the family duty, but it was too late. Mare and the mermaid had already forged an unbreakable bond that no amount of words or deeds could undo. Following Mare's death, she was finally able to meet the being that had enchanted her for so long. However, her desperate plea for the mermaid to take her back to Ryugu with her was met with staunch refusal, and the mermaid left shortly after, never to return. With her opportunity to fulfill the family duty gone and her chance at connecting with mermaids lost, Azusa sank into despondency, spending her days in an empty haze. Amidst this despair, the Curse of the Forsaken Fish that appeared before her seemed to be a final chance to have her wish granted. Driven by regret over what she perceived as a life of wrong choices and consumed by her obsession, she threw herself into Ise Bay and surrendered herself to the curse, ultimately dying due to its effects. Her form, writhing in the agony brought on by her sudden transformation, bore no resemblance to the mermaids she had once so admired as a child, yet it is said that the expression on her face when her body was discovered a day later in Futamigaura seemed somehow content. [From in-game profile]