𝑶𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. (ᴄ.ꜱʜᴜɴᴛᴀʀᴏ)

** COMPLETED **

58,366 words <3 (including all a/n's and intro chapters.)

IMPRESSIVE RANKS!!:

1 in #aib
1 in #chishiya
9 in #majorcharacterdeath
31 in #ocean
27 in #comfort

Although Emi had spent her entire life lingering in the spaces between, slipping through the cracks where no one thought to look, a quiet part of her had always longed for more. Not to be in the light, not to be known, but to exist-not just as a passing shadow, but as something real, something unshaken by the world around her.

The sea had always been her solace, the rhythmic pull of the waves whispering secrets only she could understand. The tide welcomed her, cradled her in its embrace, reminding her that even the quietest things had power. The ocean did not beg to be noticed-it simply was. A force, a presence, something that could both heal and destroy.

Maybe that was why she found herself drawn to it, why the beach felt like home.

But even still, the question lingered at the edge of her thoughts.

What if I could be something more?

It wasn't too late, was it?

She had spent years reading people like open books, seeing through their polished exteriors to the raw, unspoken truths beneath. And yet, when a silver-haired man wove his way into her life-calculated, unreadable, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips-she found herself pausing.

Chishiya was different.

He was a man who wore his manipulation like a second skin, his every move precise, deliberate. He was someone who thought he could twist people to his will, someone who believed he was untouchable.

But Emi knew better.

She had seen him before, drifting through the same shadows, always watching. Yet, standing before him now, she realized they were not the same.

She observed people to understand them.

He observed them to use them.

And for the first time in her life, Emi wondered-was her ability to see through others a gift?

Or a curse?