Chapter Text
“Come on, come on, before someone else sees him,” Ichimatsu said, directing the other four brothers up the path towards his cottage. Osomatsu and Jyushimatsu were supporting Karamatsu’s upper – human – half, his tail dragging limply along. Choromatsu and Todomatsu preoccupied themselves with hovering nervously, the youngest brother still holding Karamatsu’s human ensemble. They were at least proactive enough to flank either side of the mermaid’s tail, in order to provide some semblance of cover as they sought shelter. By some miracle, Ichimatsu couldn’t spot a single human soul on the path, and they managed to pile back inside his house without incident. At least one thing was capable of going right today, he thought.
Choromatsu shut the door behind them all. “What should we do now?”
Ichimatsu grimaced – he hated being the center of attention like this, but even Osomatsu was being quiet, so he assumed it was up to him to direct his everyone. “Put him in the tub.” Ichimatsu never claimed to be an expert in mermaid biology, but he would assume they needed to stay wet. Not to mention he still had blood spatter along his chest.
He looked away, staring instead at the small fishing knife he still had in his hand, the blood on the blade and his hand tacky and rust colored. He tossed it in the sink and quickly washed his hands as Karamatsu was submerged, lukewarm water running over his scales and filling the tub. Ichimatsu was more than a little surprised by the lack of infighting amoungst his brothers – usually they were never able to do anything without some fanfare attached. He went to the tub’s side, staring at Karamatsu’s face. His eyes were open, but they were out of focus, looking out into nothing.
He hesitated a moment before laying a hand on his wet shoulder. "Karamatsu, I'm going to check for injuries, okay?" He grabbed a washcloth hanging on the rim of the tub and dipped it in the water. When Karamatsu managed a weak nod, he started to dab away Totoko's blood. Karamatsu's skin was already starting to bruise - around his neck especially, some spots along his torso. It made Ichimatsu want to grimace, but he was careful to keep his face neutral. He could only guess what Karamatsu was feeling, but he didn't want to make it worse. "It's not so bad, just some bruising," he mumbled, not bothering to wring the cloth out lest it turn the water red. "Um... how are you feeling? Karamatsu?" He put his hand on the other's cheek, wanting him to at least look at him.
When he did that, Karamatsu turned and threw both arms around him. Ichimatsu wanted to pull away, but Karamatsu’s grip was stronger than usual in this form, and not a second later he heard a small, strangled noise coming from the back of the mermaid’s throat.
He couldn’t tell if he was crying – the second Karamatsu pushed his face against his shoulder his shirt was soaked with salt water from his impromptu swim. While Ichimatsu had no idea what happened underneath those waves, he could imagine it – another creature ardently trying to drag him down and do… what with him? He forgot his own awkwardness and held onto Karamatsu tightly, offering him words of comfort, promises that he would be safe – though he wasn’t sure how true it was. He even forgot his other brothers were there until Karamatsu slowly pulled his arms back, and huddled in the tub.
His shimmering tail wasn’t splayed out and moving in the current, instead it was folded up, like a human’s legs could be, enough so that the middle section of his fin was raised out of the water, his chin resting on it. He sighed, shakily, before rubbing at his reddened eyes.
“I-I’m sorry you all had to see that,” he mumbled. “I really didn’t think she’d… get that mad.”
“Karamatsu,” Ichimatsu spoke up – he had to glance behind him just to reaffirm that the brothers were still there. “Who was she?”
“Totoko. She’s my, uh, friend?”
“Jeez, if that’s what your friends do, I’d hate to meet someone that you considered an enemy,” Osomatsu mumbled.
“I’m… beginning to realize she wasn’t a very good one, but before I met Ichimatsu properly I never had anyone else to talk to.”
“Not even a family? No brothers or sisters – or even parents?” Choromatsu asked. Ichimatsu stiffened on the mermaid’s behalf, but Karamatsu merely shook his head, more interested in watching his scales in the water than the Matsuno brothers. “So as far as you know, you’re the only mermaid that exists.”
Karamatsu sniffed again. “It sounds so lonely when you say it like that. But then again, maybe I am. Even Totoko has family, I think. Sure, she could be, um, demanding –”
“Crazy,” Todomatsu said.
“Homicidal,” Choromatsu added.
“Not to mention she was somehow wearing a seashell bra, like how lame is that?” Osomatsu said with a sigh. Choromatsu smacked the back of his head.
“But that doesn’t explain why she tried to drag you back into the water! I know she looked like an octopus, but she was kind of acting like a loan shark, or something.” Todomatsu smiled. “At least you can turn into a human and she can’t! …Right?”
At this comment, Karamatsu perked up, and his previously pale face was awash with color. “U-Um…”
“Hey, maybe that’s where all the mermaid folks went – they just grew legs and went on land,” Osomatsu said with a smile.
“Well, actually –”
Choromatsu immediately turned to the eldest brother, trying to challenge him. “But why would Karamatsu be an orphan? Wouldn’t his parents just take him onto land as well?”
“Maybe even though they look human, they still lay fish eggs to hatch their young, so they had to keep him in water.”
“That’s ridiculous –”
“Guys,” Ichimatsu spoke up, by some miracle silencing the two eldest. “What were you saying, Karamatsu?”
“I, uh, can’t change forms. Naturally, at least.”
Ichimatsu started, followed by the rest of his brothers. “Wait, what?”
Karamatsu hung his head. “It’s true. I wanted to go on land and talk to you more, Ichimatsu, but I couldn’t do it by myself. So… I asked for some help.” Karamatsu winced at the continuous, surprised gasps the others were making. “Totoko’s a sea witch, so I knew she’d be able to help me.” He sighed. “It’s not a big deal, really,” he muttered, “People do it all the time, according to her.”
Ichimatsu furrowed his brow, the rest of his brothers deciding to jump into the conversation again:
Osomatsu spoke up first: “What did you have to give in return? Not your voice, obviously.”
“My voice?” Karamatsu put a hand to his throat in worry.
Then Todomatsu. “Or his eyebrows. What else would a sea witch want?”
“A soul?” Choromatsu suggested.
“His eyes!” cried Jyushimatsu.
“His liver,” Ichimatsu said, tone sinister as he wracked his brain, trying to determine what witches usually wanted in these sorts of scenarios.
Karamatsu looked more and more frightened and finally he shook his head, letting out a loud, “Stop! No, none of that. Where do you humans even get that sort of idea?”
“You mean… this Totoko lady really let you have legs for nothing?”
“Oh, no, of course not! What sort of witch does things for free? It’s just not my voice or my eyes or anything like that.” He smiled, closing his eyes. “It’s just my flesh.”
“You’re what?!”
“…I guess that makes sense,” Ichimatsu said at length. “According to legend, a mermaid’s flesh can make you live a very long time.”
“Still! Your flesh? That’s sick!” Osomatsu yelled, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
“Does she just… skin you? Or does she cook all of you?” Todomatsu wondered, tapping his phone against his chin in thought. Karamatsu turned pale.
“C-Cook?”
“Don’t act so surprised! That’s what she means when she traded you legs for your own flesh. She’s gonna eat you. Or part of you. Like your tail.”
“I… thought she just wanted me to exfoliate.”
“Oh my God,” Ichimatsu thunked his forehead against the rim of the tub. “I can’t believe I’m the reason you’re gonna get eaten.”
“Hey, hey, don’t talk like that!” Osomatsu said, kneeling next to Ichimatsu. “None of us want Karamatsu to get eaten, clearly. So tell us the exact outline of this deal you made with her. There’s probably some loophole or something we can do to cheat her out of getting a Karamatsu-flavored steak.”
“You sound like you’ve been in this exact sort of situation yourself, Osomatsu nii-san,” Choromatsu criticized.
“Do you want to help Karamatsu or not?”
Karamatsu clutched his hands together and frowned. “W-Well, I went to Totoko saying I wanted to be able to go on land to, um, see one of the fishermen that lived on the island. She… she said she would be able to make it so I had human legs on land, and a tail in the sea. I could stay a human for as long as I wanted, but the next time I went into the ocean, the next time I turned back into my original form, I would have to find her and uphold my part of the deal.”
Ichimatsu squinted at him. “So why did you go into the ocean if you knew that would end the deal?”
“Well, she said the spell she used was very powerful, so I don’t think it has a time limit, really. I thought she wouldn’t find out, and I could finish our deal some other time. But I guess she’s been waiting for me.” Karamatsu pushed the hair out of his eyes and crossed his arms. “When I saw her in the water, I just told her that I would come back soon, but she was insistent that I needed to come with her. I tried to barter and say that I would give her twice the amount of flesh to let me go, but she just laughed.” He blanched. “I guess now I know why.”
“But she’s still stuck in the water – so for now, you’re totally safe!” Jyushimatsu said, rubbing Karamatsu’s hair and mussing it up. Karamatsu relaxed at the words, looking up at the saccharine brother with relief.
Which Todomatsu swiftly crushed. “Yeah, but if she could make that sort of spell for him, she could probably just give herself legs and come up here.”
Osomatsu flopped onto his back. “Ugh! Don’t ruin the plan, Totty!”
“I’m just pointing it out! A-And it’s not just Karamatsu-san we have to worry about, Ichimatsu stabbed her, after all.”
Ichimatsu bristled. “She’s probably not super pleased with any of us right now.”
“I-If it’s any consolation,” Karamatsu said weakly, “The ingredients took at least a day for her to gather. So if she’s planning on, um, coming to us, it won’t be right away.”
The six of them absorbed everything in eerie silence, Ichimatsu included. There had to be some way they could keep Karamatsu from harm. Like Osomatsu had said, they just needed to find a loophole.
“O-Okay,” aforementioned elder brother began. “Let’s say she does come on land, she knows that you were on this island, but that’s it. So, what if you came with one of us? Y-Yeah! You just, don’t have to go into the ocean ever again, and that way she’ll never find you. I mean, it’s not like she can hire a detective to track you down – she has no records or money or known family, so she really couldn’t get very far, even if she was kind of cute.”
“I can’t believe the weird octo-girl that nearly cooked Karamatsu qualifies as ‘cute’ to you,” Ichimatsu said. He wasn’t an expert in women himself, but, you would think that was something of a deterrent.
“Well, she’d be more than cute if she lost that bikini top thing –”
This time Todomatsu slapped him on the back of the head. “Again! What is with you and the seashell bra?”
“L-Listen, mythological creatures aren’t supposed to care about that sort of thing, that’s all I’m saying,” Osomatsu defended, rubbing the back of his head. “But the point is, Karamatsu can come live with one of us, stay out of the ocean forever, and he’ll probably be okay!” Osomatsu clapped his hands together for emphasis, giving the mermaid a wide grin. “Of course, being the eldest, he should consider staying with me –”
“You don’t even have a proper job!” Choromatsu interjected. “How are you going to support him?”
Osomatsu tapped his chin in thought. “Well maybe I wouldn’t mind working so much if I had an actual mermaid waiting at home for me, with dinner and a bath and -”
“- Don't be disgusting!" Todomatsu protested. "Anyway, he’d get bored staying home all day, you can’t just leave him there. He needs to see exciting things! Meet new people – my business is perfect for that.”
“Wow, you really weren’t kidding about making him your slave, huh?” Todomatsu just giggled sheepishly at Choromatsu’s accusation. Ichimatsu was stuck watching in mute horror as three of his brothers went back to arguing over Karamatsu, his – no, not his, but, it still wasn’t right! He tried to get them to quiet down, but every time he opened his mouth, no words came out, as if he had reached his limit.
He felt Karamatsu wrap a still soaking wet arm around his chest. “C-Can you drain the tub?” he whispered. “It helped to calm me down, but I can’t really get my legs back without being dry.” Ichimatsu nodded absently, pulling the plug and getting a few large towels that Karamatsu could use to both dry off and cover himself from certain prying eyes. "Thank you. And, Ichimatsu?"
"What is it?"
Karamatsu looked up at the fisherman, expression strangely mysterious. "I'm... sorry that I caused all of this to happen. If I had known, I -"
"-Don't worry about it. We'll find some way to keep you safe. No matter which brother takes you in, I promise that I'll try to visit you whenever I can."
Karamatsu's gaze wavered, and he wrapped a towel around his shoulders. "O-oh. I see. That's... very kind of you,"
"I can ask if Jyushimatsu wants to - oh, where did he go?" Ichimatsu had noticed his absence from the asinine conversation the other three were having, but it wasn't until he looked around the room that he realized his younger brother had managed to slip away unnoticed. "I have to go find him, you stay there." Karamatsu made a weak, affirmative noise and Ichimatsu went to the door. He expected he would have to run across the whole island to try and find the other, but instead he saw him sitting a few scant meters from the front door, admiring the sun as it finally dipped below the horizon.
“It was noisy in there, wasn’t it, nii-san? You couldn’t even think!”
“Jyushimatsu…” Ichimatsu closed the door quietly behind him – definitely didn’t want anyone to walk by and see the chaos inside the house. He stepped closer to his younger brother.
“What are you going to do?” the other asked him.
Ichimatsu sat down next to the other with a huff. “Osomatsu or Choromatsu or Todomatsu seem pretty set on taking Karamatsu back to the mainland,” he admitted, trying not to sound upset about it.
“No, not that, what are you going to do about it? Karamatsu-san wouldn’t be happy with any of them.”
“Huh? What are you saying? He’ll be fine wherever he goes.” Jyushimatsu stubbornly shook his head.
“He wants you to think he’s happy, but just because he’s friendly with us doesn’t mean he wants to spend his entire life us, either!” Ichimatsu felt his stomach drop.
“You’re right. He’d want to go back into the ocean at some point.”
“Yes, exactly! W-wait, no that wasn’t what you were supposed to say,” Jyushimatsu put his hand to his mouth. “This is harder than I thought.” Ichimatsu just looked over at Jyushimatsu, scrutinizing him. Sometimes Jyushimatsu was easy for him to understand, other times he was completely obtuse and even he couldn’t guess what he meant. His younger brother sighed, exasperated. “Maybe you don’t see it, and our other brothers don’t want to see it, but Karamatsu-san is in love with you! He doesn’t want to go anywhere you won’t be.” Ichimatsu’s eyes went wide, though only for a moment.
“Jyushimatsu, it’s not nice to trick someone like that.”
“I’m not trying to trick you, it’s the truth! Why else would Karamatsu-san want to turn into a human?”
“He was curious, I guess.”
“And live with you,”
“Well, I was the only one he knew at the time.”
“And he sleeps next to you.”
Ichimatsu colored at that. “H-He just doesn’t understand human customs, that’s all.” It was bad enough when the whole family was interrogating him about this after dinner, but now that it was only Jyushimatsu – who, though most people didn’t believe it, could be extremely perceptive – it felt less like proverbial dogpile that so often happened in their family and more like, like, Jyushimatsu knew something. He shivered at the thought.
“Ichimatsu nii-san,” Jyushimatsu started, he was still looking out onto the horizon, a wide smile on his face like always. “We’re close, aren’t we?”
“We are twins,” he said dully.
“But, do you trust me when it comes to things like this? I mean, I’m the only one who’s really dated properly now.”
“Yes, but I don’t understand what that has to do with anything –” He shut up when Jyushimatsu turned towards him and held Ichimatsu's hands in his. Ever since they were little, the gesture meant Jyushimatsu was trying to be serious for once.
“You always look so happy when you look at Karamatsu-san. And, I know that whenever he thinks you’re not looking, he looks like how – how I look at Homura-chan! Or maybe how Homura-chan looks at me. I guess we have the same expression, though," he said, expression drifting away for a second as he thought of his girlfriend. He shook his head to concentrate. "The point is, nii-san, he loves you back. I know you can only admit you like him to yourself right now, and you're afraid, but you really shouldn't be! It's pretty obvious what his feelings are. The others wouldn't try so hard if they knew he didn't already like you, after all. And he wouldn’t have done and said everything he has if he didn't return your feelings.” Ichimatsu opened his mouth, felt his face flush scarlet, and shut it again. “So you can’t let our brothers take him away! He won’t be happy, and neither will you.”
“But, the curse…” Ichimatsu managed to choke out.
“There has to be other ways to keep Karamatsu safe. We just need to figure it out!”
Ichimatsu shook his head, sadly. “It’s... not like that, Jyushimatsu. It’s not like a fairy tale. We can’t just kiss in front of Totoko tomorrow and have a ship magically crash into her while she's distracted or something. Even if Karamatsu did lo – have feelings for me, it wouldn’t change the circumstances.” He straightened up, trying to compose himself in the now dark outside. "If anything, it's worse to tell him. Maybe it will be easier for him to live with one of the others if he thought his feelings were unrequited. He could move on faster, that way."
“Nii-san…”
“Come on, let’s go back inside.”
Ichimatsu tried to keep his head up and look perfectly normal when he walked back inside, Jyushimatsu following behind. Not that his other brothers would have noticed, anyway. He couldn’t quite make out what they were squabbling about, but it seemed to have carried on from trying to figure out who Karamatsu would live with into general namecalling.
Luckily, the trio were distracted enough that Karamatsu had managed to turn back into a human and dress unprovoked. He was just about to tug on a shirt when he caught sight of Ichimatsu, lowered his arms, and let a small smile appear on his face, dark eyes drooping a little from his tiredness and hair still dripping wet. He looked… soft. Lovely. Way too tempting.
Ichimatsu bit his lip and looked away, those few seconds too much for him already. He didn't think he could do everything Jyushimatsu was asking... But then Jyushimatsu put an arm across Ichimatsu's shoulders, offering him a wide, encouraging smile. And even if he couldn't... he had to at least try.
He marched into the center of his fighting brothers, cleared his throat, and waited the few seconds necessary for them to quiet down – Jyushimatsu had to poke Osomatsu in the side to get him to finally pay attention.
“Guys,” he began, eyes barely flickering over to Karamatsu’s figure on the other side of the cottage. “Jyushimatsu and I have a plan.”