Chapter 181: Is there a corpse in this bay?!!

Sunshine, beaches, the seabed—for several days in a row, Naoki Nagayama had been cycling through these keywords, feeling as though his skin had darkened by several shades, though this only made him look healthier and more vibrant.

"Luo Luo Bote, today's lesson is over. Want to go grab a drink?" Naoki asked. Over the past few days of interaction, he and Luo Luo Bote, an older kid at heart, had become good friends.

"Of course, just wait a moment." Luo Luo Bote put away the scuba gear and tidied up the few strands of hair on either side of his scalp. That's right, this guy had developed the symptom middle-aged men dread most—hair loss.

"Luo Luo Bote, why don't you just shave off those two strands... at least that would look more stylish."

Naoki watched as he tried to make those two strands cover more ground, but it only made the bald spot more prominent.

"I don't want to be a monk!" Luo Luo Bote finally gave up, sighed, put on a baseball cap, and walked out of the shop.

Back in the day, Luo Luo Bote had been a handsome young man with a thick head of golden hair.

Seeing Naoki's thick, layered hair, he couldn't help but say, "William, don't think that just because you have a lot of hair now, you won't end up like me in middle age."

Ah! What a vicious curse!

Naoki hurriedly recalled the hair of his father, Ken Nagayama, and his grandfather, Hayato Nagayama. Fortunately, there was no hereditary baldness in this body's bloodline.

"Luo Luo Bote, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my family all has thick, jet-black hair!" He then shook his head, leaving Luo Luo Bote looking incredibly jealous.

Laughing, the two arrived at a bar on the beach. They sat under a hall simply constructed from coconut trees, and amidst the sea breeze, they sipped cocktails.

As the alcohol entered his bloodstream, making his whole body feel warm, Naoki unbuttoned his floral shirt. In the intermittent breeze, his eight-pack abs were faintly visible, and his handsome Oriental face added a touch of mystery.

By afternoon, Santa Mo Nika Beach was becoming lively. Many people, after swimming in the ocean, chose to have a drink at this bar. The owner took out a guitar, let another employee take the shift, and sat in a small corner of the bar, beginning to play a passionate samba. It drew many people to dance along with the rhythm, forming a small dance floor in the bar.

Luo Luo Bote watched as Naoki once again politely declined a hot girl who had invited him to dance, and couldn't help but ask, "William, are you a monk?"

"Of course not~"

"With so many young hotties around, aren't you tempted? If it were me..." Luo Luo Bote said with some regret, "I'd be looking forward to a beautiful night tonight~"

"Haha, that's the difference between us, my friend," Naoki said. "You pursue physical pleasure; I pursue spiritual joy."

"And you say you're not a monk!" Luo Luo Bote felt more and more that this Oriental young man had some issues. Wait, he'd been hanging out with me all day—could it be that he's interested in me...?

But William seemed to be acting quite normal.

Although he didn't discriminate against that orientation, it didn't mean he accepted it. Luo Luo Bote decided to get to the bottom of it.

However, he figured it out right then and there: Naoki was definitely not interested in him, because a group of girls in bikinis—who seemed to be students from the same school—walked past them.

Naoki and Luo Luo Bote both stared.

After they had walked far away, Luo Luo Bote said,

"William, didn't you say you weren't interested in hotties?"

"What are you talking about? Just because I'm not interested in hotties doesn't mean I'm interested in you," Naoki said with disgust. "I just don't want to take things further."

"Alright." Luo Luo Bote breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that.

"William, if any more girls come to chat, introduce me to them!" Relaxed, Luo Luo Bote hooked his arm around Naoki's shoulder. "Be my wingman~"

"Uh..."

Naoki looked at Luo Luo Bote, his belly protruding, combined with that ridiculous hairstyle.

"Who gave you the courage?"

"Alright! I declare the recording session officially over!" Toshio Tomioka announced loudly to the staff in the recording studio.

"Great!" "Yeah!" "Time to clock out!"

After working together for several days, everyone was very familiar with each other, and they were all very relaxed.

Toshio Tomioka asked Akina Nakamori, "Akina-chan, are you holding up okay?"

Several days of recording from morning till night was indeed exhausting. Naturally, a singer who sang all day would be even more tired. If she hadn't learned the correct method of abdominal breathing, her throat might have been injured.

"Mm, daijoubu!" Akina had changed into a bright yellow sweatshirt again. It seemed she had only brought a few sets of clothes from Japan, so she had to rotate them.

However, the experienced Toshio Tomioka naturally understood the principles of moderation and combining work with rest. "Akina-chan, there's no recording tomorrow. We're shooting on location!"

"On location?"

"Yes, we'll go to a theme park in the morning, and then go to the beach in the afternoon," Toshio said, outlining the itinerary for tomorrow. "But remember, the main task is still filming."

"Hai!" Although there would be filming, being able to go out and play was much better than staying in the recording studio all the time.

Early the next morning, the group of four headed to the amusement park together.

However, before leaving, Toshio Tomioka said to Yuzo Shimada:

"Yuzo-kun, for some reason, I feel a bit uneasy."

"Don't worry, Nobuo-san. I'll keep a close eye on Akina-chan! I won't let anything happen to her!" Yuzo Shimada was full of confidence. It was just three adults accompanying a girl to play; they weren't going anywhere dangerous. What could possibly go wrong?

Not to mention himself, just looking at the cameramen, Nobuyasu Hondō and Yūta Kuroki, who were so strong—could anyone really take down all three of them at once?

"Alright, maybe it's just my imagination. If I didn't have to continue adjusting the record, I'd want to go too."

"Daijoubu, I'll bring Akina-chan back safely!"

"Hai, I'm counting on you!" Toshio added,

"But, if Akina-chan suffers any harm, well, it doesn't matter—Yuzo-kun can just commit seppuku!"

"Eh???!"

"!"

Having completed the entire training course, Naoki Nagayama finally received his entry-level diving certification.

"William, receiving this qualification means you can dive on your own!" Luo Luo Bote handed the certificate to Naoki. "I've told you about several good diving spots off the coast of Los Angeles. You can try most of them yourself now."

"Haha, really?"

Without a certificate, regular shops might not rent you scuba gear. Of course, if you had your own equipment, you could do whatever you wanted.

And now, Naoki could basically move freely at diving spots above 18 meters.

"Come back for two more days of training, and you can get your advanced diver qualification," Luo Luo Bote patted Naoki on the shoulder. "Now you can choose the diving spots you want to go to."

Naoki happily treated Luo Luo Bote to lunch.

In the afternoon, he rented scuba gear and a boat, and sailed to the address Luo Luo Bote had provided: a bay circled by two protruding cliffs. It was far from the main road, and climbing over from the shore was troublesome, so it had maintained a beautiful natural landscape.

This area no longer belonged to the regions tourists frequented, and it was far from the beach, but the water quality was clear, and the currents weren't too rapid.

Diving alone made one feel quite nervous, because there was no one else around. In the silent seabed, the deep seawater stretched out in the distance. It felt as if the whole world had been left with only you, which could even trigger claustrophobia in some patients.

However, once you adapted, you would discover the joy of diving. Every place you went might be a place only you had seen; every piece of beautiful scenery existed only for you; every wonderful discovery was something no one else had encountered. This sense of exploration made many diving enthusiasts addicted.

Meanwhile, Akina Nakamori, who had tried many activities at the theme park in the morning, had also arrived at Santa Mo Nika Beach.

"Yuzo-san, there are too many people here."

Yūta Kuroki held the camera. The Santa Mo Nika Beach in the afternoon was officially at its busiest. People were sunbathing on the beach in twos and threes, and some were surfing by the sea. It was completely unsuitable for filming.

"Then let's go a bit further away." Yuzo Shimada pointed to the shower rooms and Akina beside him. "Akina-chan, you can change into your swimsuit here. We'll go to a place with fewer people to film later~"

"Hai!"

Although she was a bit shy, this had already been arranged in advance. Besides, hadn't she been to the beach many times in Japan? Akina prepared herself mentally.

Well, although the swimsuits back then were more conservative...

After a while, Akina Nakamori came out of the shower room, having changed into her swimsuit, though she still had a sweatshirt on over her top.

Yuzo Shimada didn't say much, as it wasn't time for filming yet.

"Akina-chan, we might have to walk a bit~"

"Hai~"

As they got further and further away from the main road, the four of them climbed over a hill and arrived at a stretch of beach with very few people.

"Let's do it here, Akina-chan."

Yuzo Shimada looked at a small, drifting unmanned boat in the bay.

"It looks like no one will come to disturb us."

For this segment of filming, Yuzo Shimada actually had no requirements; he just let Akina play freely on the beach.

He had originally wanted to find a foreign model to act out a beach encounter, but it had been rejected by Toshio Tomioka during a discussion on the first night of recording.

"Yuzo-kun, Akina-chan doesn't need any more love lines, understand?!"

Although he didn't know why Toshio Tomioka was so resistant, seeing that look that could kill, Yuzo Shimada chose to submit.

"Hai, I understand!"

So this time, it completely turned into Akina's solo show.

After playing casually on the beach for over half an hour, Akina felt a bit tired and sat on a high slope, looking at the ocean.

Yūta Kuroki continued to hold the camera and film, muttering to himself in a low voice: "The lighting is perfect! Akina-chan is also great. This is a work of art!"

Suddenly, Akina seemed to have discovered something.

"Yūta-san, is that boat getting closer and closer to us?"

"Eh?" The lens turned toward the sea. Sure enough, the boat that had originally been parked further away had begun to drift toward the beach without them noticing, and it was now getting closer and closer.

"Omoshiroi, Akina-chan, let's go take a look!" Yuzo Shimada whispered instructions from the side. "Maybe it's a ghost ship!"

"Yuzo-san!

!" Akina was most afraid of ghosts.

"Haha, it's fine. At most, it's just an abandoned little boat."

As the group got closer and closer, they discovered that this boat was indeed just a small pleasure boat commonly seen by the seaside. It wasn't even a fishing boat. Judging from the equipment in the boat, it was a small boat rented to tourists.

Nobuyasu Hondō, who was taking photos, discovered a blind spot and pointed to the engine position. It was a boat that had just been filled with gas; it must have been rented out just today!

"But how could there be no one on this boat? We've been filming for so long, and we haven't seen anyone!"

Yūta Kuroki said something then: "Could something have happened?"

If something happened to someone, wouldn't that mean there was a corpse in this bay?!

"..." The group fell silent for a while.

"Yūta-san, what are you saying!" "Yūta, if you talk nonsense again, I'll throw you into the sea!" "Baka!"

Yūta Kuroki realized he had provoked public anger and hurriedly changed the subject: "I was just talking nonsense! With such clear seawater, if someone had really met with an accident, I would have filmed it long ago!"

As he said this, he symbolically held up the camera toward the sea. "Look, the seawater is very clear, you can even see the shadows of the reefs! The shadow over there is moving... it's moving..."

Yūta Kuroki stared at the recording device, his lens shaking slightly as he pointed it at the sea. He discovered a human-shaped shadow on the seabed moving toward them!

The group fell silent for a moment, looking over as he directed. Sure enough, a black shadow on the seabed was slowly drifting toward them. It wasn't clear through the rippling waves, but it was indeed a human-shaped figure.

It got closer and closer...

"Ah~~~~"

Unexpectedly, the first one to lose it was Nobuyasu Hondō, who had always been very calm. A tall man like him screamed like a little girl. Startled by this scream, the group hurriedly fled to the beach.

"Yuzo-san, we should hurry and call the police!" Akina stood far away on the beach, her legs feeling a bit weak.

"Right, right, call the police, call the police. The emergency number in the US is 911, right... but we don't have a phone!" Yuzo Shimada suddenly reacted.

"Let's hurry and leave!" Nobuyasu Hondō grabbed Yūta Kuroki's arm, his voice sounding a bit like he was crying.

And Yūta Kuroki maintained the instinct of a cameraman; he actually hadn't dropped the camera.

"Wait... that... seems to be a person."

"Of course it's a person!" Nobuyasu Hondō shouted excitedly.

"It seems... to be a living person."

The group looked over with suspicion and fear. As the waves receded, a head was slightly exposed, and then it slowly moved. Shoulders were also exposed. When the depth of the seawater was only at the waist, the whole person stood up!

It was a person wearing a waterproof mask, a breathing apparatus, and a black full-body diving suit.

That person slowly walked to the small boat, took off the equipment, looked toward the beach, and shouted: "Akina-chan? We meet again!"

Only then did Akina Nakamori walk out from behind the three adults.

"Naoki-san? Why are you here?!"

"I was diving, and I thought the boat had gone missing!"

Only then did Yuzo Shimada calm his mood, looking at Naoki Nagayama with a complicated expression: "Nagayama-san, are you human or a ghost?"

???

Nani?