HINATA SUZUKI

The Uncertainty of Whether Hina Survives or Dies Remained, only to be cleared of by Sunset.

25 years ago.

Hinata Suzuki was born into a legacy, one carved by the winds and waves that carried her ancestors to this island centuries ago. Her family was among the twelve that descended from the legendary sailors, warriors who tamed the ocean and claimed this land as their home. As a mark of their honor, each family owned one of the twelve sacred ships Hakudo Maru passed down from father to eldest son for generations. But in the Suzuki family, there was no son, only Hinata.

She was a striking young girl, with hair like moonlight, cascading in waves down her back, and eyes the color of the ocean at dawn, a mixture of blue and silver, reflecting both the serenity and the storm that lived within her. Her skin was fair, kissed by the sun yet untouched by hardship, at least in her early years. Her lips, full and naturally pink, carried both her silent sorrows and her unspoken defiance.

Yet, despite her beauty, Hinata was seen as a curse upon her family. Her father, Hiroshi Suzuki, had spent years praying for a son, hoping for a rightful heir to inherit the sacred Hakudo Maru, named after the great celestial beings who possesses refined wisdom of the sea.

When his wife, Asami, gave birth to a daughter instead, his disappointment turned to resentment. As the years passed and Asami bore no other children, his resentment hardened into cruelty.

Hinata grew up under the shadow of her father's anger. He refused to acknowledge her as his child, treating both her and her mother as burdens. No matter how hard Asami tried to please him, nothing was enough. He wanted a son, a warrior, an heir to the great ship. And when it became clear that fate would not grant him one, he cast them both out, declaring them no longer part of his household.

"Leave," he spat, his voice like a storm crashing against the shore. "You have no place here."

Left with nothing, Hinata and her mother were forced to live in the outskirts of the village, in a small, crumbling hut near the forest. Asami, once a proud wife of a sacred ship's owner, was now referred to as "the widow who bore no son.".

The villagers shunned them, whispering behind their backs, pitying their misfortune yet unwilling to help.

Years passed, and Asami's love for her daughter soured into bitterness. She began to blame Hinata for their suffering.

"Why weren't you a boy?" she would cry. "If you had been a son, we would still have a home! We would still have honor!"

Hinata endured her mother's words in silence, her heart aching, yet she never wished to be anything other than herself. She refused to see herself as a mistake, even if the entire village did.

At sixteen, Hinata reached the age where most girls were expected to marry. But while others dreamed of husbands and children, Hinata preferred the callouses of hard work over the softness of romance. She worked tirelessly, fishing, mending nets, gathering firewood, anything to survive.

One afternoon with the sun basking hot, as she returned from the river, carrying a bundle of fish, she found herself surrounded by a group of men, scoundrels who had long since lost their place in the village but still lurked around, controlled by lust.

"Where are you going, beautiful?" one of them sneered.

Hinata tensed, gripping the knife she always carried. She was no stranger to danger, but she knew she was outnumbered. Just as one of them lunged toward her, a figure stepped between them.

Jigoro.

Tall and strong, with sharp brown eyes and a warrior's stance, he was unlike anyone Hinata had met before. With swift and precise movements, he sent the scoundrels fleeing into the river.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, turning to her.

Hinata shook her head, speechless for the first time in her life. She had never needed saving before, yet something about Jigoro's presence made her feel safe in a way she had never known.

Their connection was instant, yet neither rushed to define it. Over the next six months, they met often, speaking of the world, of dreams, of pain. Jigoro saw beyond the girl the village shunned, he saw her strength, her fire. And in turn, Hinata saw in him a man who valued her, not for what she lacked, but for who she was.

When the time came, they chose each other, not out of duty, but out of love.

Years passed, and Hinata found happiness in her new life as Jigoro's wife. When she became pregnant, she felt a joy she had never known before, dreaming of a future where her child would never suffer as she had.

But fate was cruel.

On the night she went into labor, another woman was also giving birth, the chief's wife. In the village, where medical professionals were few, the chief's family always took priority. Every available midwife, every skilled hand, was sent to ensure the safe delivery of the chief's child.

Hinata was left alone.

The pain was unbearable, but she endured it, as she had endured everything in her life. With only Jigoro by her side, she brought their son, Yami, into the world. But the birth had taken its toll. The bleeding would not stop. By the time a doctor arrived, it was too late to save her womb.

Hinata would never bear another child.

The news broke her. She had finally found love, a family, a home, and now, she could never give Jigoro another child. She feared he would see her as broken, as her father had seen her mother. But Jigoro did not waver.

"You are my wife," he said. "And Yami is our son. That is enough."

And so, Hinata devoted herself to her child with fierce, unwavering love. Yami was everything to her, the proof that she had not been defeated by the world. If she could not be a warrior, if she could not inherit a ship, she would be something greater. She would be a mother who protected her son from the cruelty she had known.

No harm would ever come to Yami.

She would make sure of it.