Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The early morning chill crept up over his arms and raised goosebumps in its wake. Kaito jogged in place to keep himself warm as he ran through a mental checklist to make sure he had everything. Phone? Check. Keys? Check. Water bottle, despite the chilly air blowing in from the ocean? Check.

Shirt and shorts covering his body? Check. Not that he’d ever forgotten them, but the amount of nightmares around the subject kept him vigilant against it. Some things didn’t need a first-time experience.

With that, however, he was all set for his morning run. He blew on his hands to warm them up, then set off at a brisk pace down the his grandparents’ driveway and up the street. As he reached the end, he turned left around the corner and the view before him opened up to the beach, his usual destination. He enjoyed jogging along the coastline, kicking up sand with his heels and attempting to outrun the early lingering nighttime chill that hadn’t yet been chased away by the morning sun.  The cold air filled his lungs and invigorated him, the exhaustion of waking up so early falling away so that he felt energized and ready for the coming day.

He enjoyed the stillness of the coast at this time, when tourists hadn’t yet risen and very few people wandered the beach. The near silence save for the natural sounds of wind and waves brought peace to his heart as he run his usual route, down the long strip of sand at the water’s edge and past the pier. As he made to pass it by, however, movement caught his eye. He slowed to a stop, jogging in place to glance down toward the end of the pier.

Two fishermen stood at the very edge, not unusual in and of itself. He’d seen plenty of them both early in the morning and late at night, getting some fishing done before the sun rose too high or the beach-goers swarmed the pier and sand. Yet he could make out a large netted mass through the fog that hadn’t yet dissipated for the day, wriggling on the pier floor between them. He’d never seen such a huge fish before, at least in person although he knew theoretically that they could get pretty damn big depending on the species. He’d always figured that was something seen only in deep-sea fishing, not something a person could catch at a pier close to land. Curiosity burned inside of his chest; he had to investigate, and probably congratulate the two men on their catch. He started down the pier, his interest growing with each step.

As he drew within earshot, he opened his mouth to call out his questions and announce his arrival before he actually got to them. Yet as he did so, he got a better look at their catch, and it stopped him in his tracks, one foot still hovering in the air. His breath caught in his throat in disbelief. ‘What the hell’, he wanted to say, but he couldn’t form words. He opened his mouth, and no sound came out except for a quiet exhale.

“I eat people like you for breakfast, ya know! So you better not touch me if you know what’s good for you!” Upon drawing close enough to make out the details, Kaito saw that although it had a fish-like tail, the scales crept up over the skin of a strikingly human-shaped torso. It turned swiveled its head between the two men as it spoke, a wicked grin fixed onto its face. “I may look cute, but you know creatures like me are super strong and I could murder you without breaking a sweat.”

“It talks way too much; no one’s going to want a yapper. There’s probably a way to cut its vocal cords without killing it, and I know a guy who can do that,” one of the fisherman said, ignoring the half-fish person.

“No way. If the buyer wants it quiet, they can do it themselves. I don’t want to have to barter with someone over ‘damaged goods’. Put a gag on it. That’ll work well enough,” the other said, shaking his head with hands resting on his hips.

“Holy shit,” Kaito breathed out. Neither of the men had noticed him yet, and he was glad for it.

He couldn’t believe the shit the fisherman talked about. Even if the thing looked like something of myths or legends, the sort that lurked in the oceans and dragged sailors down to their watery deaths, the fishermen sounded downright insane talking about it. Although obviously intelligent enough to make speech, it might as well be mute for all the good it did. The fishermen didn’t acknowledge anything it said, casually talking about maiming and selling it as if discussing everyday business. Kaito vaguely wondered if they’d done this before. Found a creature like this… mermaid? It had to be a mermaid, but Kaito could hardly wrap his mind around the impossible idea of it.

Yes, impossible, such a thing couldn’t be real. Yet despite that, one lay right before him at the end of the pier.

“Geez, I’m not an ‘it’ you know, I’m a ‘he’,” the mermaid—mer man ?—said. He spoke with a childish tone, as if the fishermen were nothing more than an annoyance to him, but Kaito could detect a hint of fear in the waver of his voice. “I should kill you guys just for that. My friends will be here any moment you know and they’ll drag both of you down and murder you if you don’t let me go.”

The fishermen laughed at that. For the first time they addressed the merman himself, both wearing matching expressions of cruel amusement. One said, “We both know you creatures go solo. You’ll kill us if you get a chance, sure, but…” The speaker nudged him with the tip of his boot, withdrawing his leg the moment the merman took a swipe at it. “We’re not going to give you that.”

Kaito couldn’t just stand there watching this happen, but he also couldn’t just turn and continue his way down the beach. Real or not, human or weird fish person, he refused to let someone get tormented and sold and their vocal cords potentially ripped out. Not when he had the opportunity to save them, a chance encounter that had brought him across these two fishermen and a captured merman.

Did mermen truly kill humans like the fishermen claimed? Hell, did that even really matter? Kaito knew that the truth wouldn’t stop him from doing the right thing according to his gut.

So he made his decision. His very stupid, dumbass decision.

Feet thudding against the pier, Kaito bulled forward toward the figures. The sound of shoes thudding against the wood startled the fishermen. They spun in his direction, mouths parted as if to shout something at the intruder on their business, but too late. Bending down, his hands collided with the cold, smooth scales the merman’s tail and the rough-spun net entangling him. He shoved, hard. Something stung his hands as they slipped over the tail, making him hiss, but he didn’t have time to think about it.

The merman let out a sharp cry of alarm as he tipped and tumbled over the lip of the pier. Kaito grinned at the splash he made when he hit the water. Mission accomplished.

“Hey!”

“What the hell, kid, what’s your problem!”

Oops, no time to celebrate yet. He still had to move. Kaito jogged back a few steps, putting distance between the fishermen and preparing to make his quick escape. He offered an insincere grin of apology in response to their faces, equal parts shocked and enraged. “Sorry, just wanted to see what was going on, guess my hand slipped!” He laughed and spun on his heel. He hoped that the net somehow came loose when he pushed the merman, but he had no way to check and make sure now. “Sorry about that, but I gotta go, I’m running late!”

Propelled by the adrenaline coursing through him, he took off at a sprint back down the pier. The men shouted after him, but he didn’t look over his shoulder to see if they pursued him. He kept his eyes straight ahead and ran and ran , assuming that they were after him. He kept running until their voices were nothing but faint whispers swallowed up by the wind, until the sand beneath his feet turned into hard concrete. Even then, he refused to slow down.

By the time he returned to his grandparents’ house, he was gasping for air. His heart pounded harder than it ever had before, his limbs trembling with the excitement over what just happened. He stopped at the end of the driveway to catch his breath. Only then did he investigate his stinging palms. He winced.

Apparently, despite their smoothness when he’d first touched them, the merman’s scales were sharp as well. Both of his hands sported several cuts, the blood crusted over his palms from his mad dash from pier to house. They probably weren’t as bad as they looked for all the blood present, but he should probably get them cleaned up before his grandparents saw and made a big deal over it. He just needed to avoid letting his grandma see them. She normally rose shortly after Kaito left for his morning run. She liked to brew a pot of tea and sit at the rear-facing window to greet the morning sun with a steaming mug in her hands.

Normally he welcomed the sight. Something about seeing her, a blanket placed over her lap and the worn fluffy slippers on her feet that Kaito had gotten her for Christmas years ago, helped him wind down after a hard run. Right now, however, he didn’t want to have to try and make up an excuse for the cuts. Maybe he could say that he had fallen.

But looking at the cuts, they didn’t look like the sort of scrapes that someone would get in a fall. Maybe his grandma wouldn’t look too closely at them. It’d be best for her not to see them at all, he decided before slipping into the house.

He closed the door softly behind him and made a beeline for the bathroom. As he passed by the living room, he caught sight of those familiar fuzzy slippers and he sped up, disappearing into the hall.

Just as he did so, he heard his grandma’s amused voice call out after him, “Kaito? Where’s the fire?”

His heart thudded in his chest. Backing up a few steps, he poked his head just far out enough into the entryway so that he could grin into the living room at his grandma and keep his hands out of sight. “Hey! Just gotta… piss real bad is all. I don’t think I’ve run so fast in my life I needed to get home so bad,” he lied through his teeth. The accompanying laugh he gave sounded strained, but he hoped that could be explained by a desperate need to use the toilet.

His grandma shook her head. “No wonder you got home so quickly. You’re usually out until later,” she said, voice gently exasperated, yet a tiny smile formed on her lips. “Well, don’t let me keep you then, but I’d welcome your company out here if you’ve got some time to sit with an old woman after you finish your business.”

“Yeah of course! I’ll be out in just a sec!” he said, and ducked back down the hall.

Once the bathroom door locked behind him, he let out a sigh of relief. Now then. He turned on the bathroom sink, and ignored the pain when he stuck his hands under the running water. As he washed the blood away, he examined the cuts lining his palms. Not bad, but he hadn’t expected to get injured at all just from pushing some half-fish-mermaid creature into the water. At least he’d gotten away, and the mermaid had too. Probably. The netting might not unravel, and would leave him just as trapped as he’d been on the docks. At least he’d be in the ocean, though. Maybe some friends of his would come by and help him out.

Then Kaito remembered what one of those men had said. Mermaids were supposedly solitary creatures, according to them. In that case, he’d be on his own and no one would come to help him. Did Kaito just make things a whole lot worse? Did he knock him into the water and solidify his fate to starve to death without a way to swim free?

Not that he could do anything to help now. He just had to accept that he’d done all that he could and move on. Ignoring the guilt that still churned his insides, Kaito patted his hands dry and put some ointment on the cuts. A few adhesive bandages would work fine, he figured, and after that he’d be able to say that he fell and scraped his hands trying to catch himself with no problem. No one would question him if they couldn’t see the cuts themselves. Accidents happened.

Remembering the excuse he’d given his grandma, Kaito flushed the toilet. He let the water run and splashed it on his sweaty face. Once his reflection looked presentable enough, he shut off the sink and nodded to himself. Alright. All he had to do was not look like he was distracted with thinking about something fantastical that he’d witnessed on his run, and not worry his grandma about things that she didn’t have to. It was just any other day, any other morning spent chatting the hour before he had to get running to school away with her. He didn’t mess with some fishermen’s catch of a creature straight from a fairy tale.

Right, he had this.

…easier said than done.

He left the bathroom and, as promised, joined his grandma in the living room. As he spent time with her, she didn’t question him much nor did she seem to notice the bandages on his hands. At one point, she did remark that he seemed more distracted than usual, but Kaito lied and claimed that he hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. It was a believable enough excuse, and she nodded in understanding and warned him not to stay up too late, to which he assured her that he wouldn’t. After having some tea, he got up again to get ready and head off to school. The trip there felt more like a dream, and he had no memory of the commute. Once in class, school droned on as he sat feeling trapped at his desk. He needed to get up and run or do something to exert some of the restless energy building up inside of it, but there was nothing to do for it but wait until the next break.

The boredom set in quickly, and the teacher’s words became a background track as his thoughts once again turned to his fantastical morning encounter.

Kaito had seen a mermaid. A real live mermaid, caught by fishermen and about to be dragged away and sold. Probably on a secret market he guessed, considering he’d never heard of such a thing and those men seemed to know what they were doing. Solo creatures likely, potential killers, something he should probably be grateful that he hadn’t met on his own in the middle of the ocean. Yet he couldn’t help but feel the bitter disappointment that he hadn’t been able to speak to it—to him, rather. It wasn’t every day that a highschool student saw a mermaid.

Yet he knew that there hadn’t been time for words. He’d had to act quickly, and either shove it into the water or scoop him up to run away from the pier with a sizable fish-tail-person combo floundering in his arms. With how the latter would slow him down and his palms still stung from the cuts he’d wrapped up that morning, the former seemed to be the wiser option. He didn’t even know whether the fishermen had chased him at all, but if he’d grabbed their catch then they surely would’ve pursued him in order to get it back.

He sighed, and tried to return his attention to class. The teacher was talking about some math problem written on the board, and a single glance told him that the lesson was a waste of his time. He’d learned about it on his own months ago. So knowing that he wasn’t missing anything important, Kaito allowed himself to zone out again, eyes absently traveling between the board ahead of him and the notebook pretending to take notes in.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that mermaid, and his ‘notes’ were a testament to that, filled with absent-minded doodles of mermaids filling the page. If only he had someone that he could talk to about it, just to get it out in the open. Maybe then he wouldn’t get so distracted as he’d been all day so far. Yet even if he did decide to confide in someone, there was no way that they’d ever believe him.

What was his name? Did mermaids even have names?

Classes continued to flit by, and Kaito didn’t remember any of it. By the time school began to reach its end, his doodles filled the pages of his notebook, and he still continued staring out into the space in front of him. He didn’t even register that the class had long since emptied out, leaving him alone to his relentless thoughts.

“Earth to Kaito Momota.”

The voice spoken right at his ear made him jump in his seat so hard that he banged his knees against the underside of his desk. He grunted, hunching over to rub at his knees as he shot an offended look at the person who’d startled him from his thoughts.

His expression softened immediately.

“Maki Roll, hey! What’s up?”

The only response he received initially was a sigh as the dark-haired girl straightened up from where she’d had her hands planted on his desk. She fixed him with a cold glare, as if he’d somehow inconvenienced her. He didn’t need to guess why she seemed annoyed; she’d likely tell him the exact reason in mere moments.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s up’? Are you planning on going home anytime soon, or are you just going to sit here staring at the board all night? You know I’m not going to wait for you if you decide to space out forever,” she scolded him, just as Kaito predicted she would.

Kaito glanced up at the clock. Shit, he couldn’t believe the school day had already ended. He didn’t even remember lunch. Did he have homework to do that night? The board had already been wiped clean; he’d have to call up a couple classmates later just to make sure. He laughed at himself, turning his sheepish grin back up at the glowering girl.

“Sorry, didn’t realize what time it was! Didn’t even hear the bell, I guess, maybe I should get my ears checked,” he said, sticking his little finger into his ear to dig around as if to clear some blockage away. “Didn’t mean to make you wait Maki Roll, thanks for coming to get me.”

Maki puffed out her cheeks, averting her gaze and playing with one of her extremely long ponytails. Kaito remembered more the one occasion where he’d told her how pretty her hair was. She’d called him an idiot for it each time, but he always caught the hint of a pleased smile afterward. It pleased him to see her secret smiles, although he never called her out on the lie. If he did, she’d deny it vehemently, and he’d be hard pressed to get a positive reaction again after that. He refrained from calling her cute now, though, with how irritated she looked.

“Like I said, I don’t wait for you,” she said, refusing to look at him. “I just happened to come by here anyway, so I don’t know what you’re thanking me for. Stop smiling at me like that!”

Kaito’s smile turned into a beaming grin as she insisted that she hadn’t been waiting around for him. He couldn’t help it. It was a poor lie at best, with Maki covering up for her actual concern for him. When she chanced a glance at his face and snapped upon seeing the smile stretched across his face, he could only laugh. Shaking his head, his grin fixed onto his lips.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. He stood from his desk, grabbing his backpack from the floor to sling it over his back with one strap hanging off his shoulder. “Thanks for snapping me out of it anyway. Now, let’s get going!”

“You’re such a dumbass.” She seemed mildly amused as she said it, however, and the insult lacked its usual frosty bite.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they left the school. Such quiet suited Kaito just fine. He knew that Maki preferred to listen more than talk, and Kaito normally enjoyed filling the spaces between her sparse responses and rolled eyes with his own words. He talked about anything that came to mind—the day, his classes, tennis club—but inevitably the conversation rolled into his love for space. Kaito could talk endlessly about the universe, and stars, and planets, and his dream of one day blazing a trail across them all. One day he’d pioneer the way for commercial space travel, so that artists of all kinds could reach alien cultures that they hadn’t even discovered yet.

He half Maki to tell him to shut up with how frequently he talked about space sometimes. It was practically all he was interested in, and so he talked about it in great length, for as long as she allowed it. She never said anything about it though, and listened to him speak with sideways glances that told him he still had her attention.

Today, however, he didn’t say anything. As Maki fell quiet and they began their walk home together, Kaito was content to allow the silence to remain. His encounter with that merman still buzzed around his head, his thoughts allowing for nothing else to enter them. So many regrets. Should he have gotten a picture? No, he’d been too busy shoving the merman into the water and then running away from the angry fishermen. A picture from afar would’ve been too fuzzy and look fake, and a picture close up was just impossible.

Shit, Kaito hoped that he’d never see the fishermen again. He doubted it, but the possibility was still there. It’d probably be smart to delay his early-morning run or take it in the evening, just to ensure that their schedules never crossed for the next few weeks or so.

Not that he was afraid of them. No way, he could take those wimps with one had tied behind his back. He just preferred not to bother with it to begin with. Explaining bruised knuckles and a bloody lip was more trouble than simply changing up his schedule for a short while.

“You sure are quiet,” Maki remarked after they’d been walking for a few minutes.

“Huh, am I?” Kaito shrugged off her comment. “Guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“Like what?”

Of course Maki would choose now of all times to ask him questions. In her defense, Kaito supposed that he’d been acting strange since he first came into school, zoning out through lunch and spacing out so hard in class that she’d had to come find him after it was over. Now he didn’t talk as he usually did on his way home. Anyone would be curious about what had his mind so occupied.

But he couldn’t exactly tell her what happened, right? She wouldn’t believe him. Kaito wouldn’t believe him either, listening to him tell his tale. Yet she was his friend, and he should be able to be honest with her no matter how ridiculous the story was. And she might actually believe him after all, he figured.

It wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Well, this morning when I was on my morning run, I saw this thing between two fishermen on the pier. I thought it was a huge fish but it was actually a mermaid! And the dudes were talking about taking it and selling it and cutting its vocal cords, and I couldn’t take hearing that, so I rescued it and shoved it into the water!”

Then he ran as fast as he could back home, but she didn’t need to hear that.

Maki gave him a look. “Where do you come up with things like this?”

Yeah, he figured that she wouldn’t believe him. Still, he held his bandaged palms up to her, trying to convince her. “No way, it’s true! I cut myself on its scales and everything!”

She rolled her eyes and pushed his hands away. “I hope you really didn’t shove some poor fisherman’s catch into the water this morning. You could at least make up a believable story if you’re going to lie.”

Kaito didn’t answer that right away, staring at his hands. He knew what he saw, and that had been a mermaid. He’d heard him talk, too, even if he had no proof now. No proof except for the cuts on his hands, of course. Maki would never believe him though, just as he figured. So he dropped it with a shrug. It wasn’t worth the effort, he decided, and it was probably better that she didn’t believe in his story.

“Right, sorry. I think it’s a pretty interesting story though,” he said. He couldn’t say he blamed her for not believing something like finding a mermaid, but damn he would’ve liked to be able to get his persistent thoughts out into the open with his best friend.

“You’ve had better stories.” Maki turned her eyes back to the street ahead of them. They were nearing the orphanage she lived in now, and Kaito could see the reluctance building in her expression. “You better make your next story a good one, or else.”

“Yeah. Yeah, gotcha… Did you want to come over to my place for a while?” he asked, ignoring her threat.

Gratitude flashed across her eyes, but when she turned her face to look up at him it had already vanished. Even so, the tiniest smile remained on her lips. “Yes. That’d be nice, thank you.”

They crossed the street together, and Kaito pushed his thoughts away to fill the silence between them with his voice again. He had a life to live, and couldn’t spend it with his head preoccupied with impossible regrets.

So he told himself, at least. A few days later he found himself worse off than ever. No matter what he did, he couldn’t put the memory of his encounter out from his mind. By the time the weekend rolled around, Kaito couldn’t resist anymore. He went down to the beach, to the pier where he’d first seen the merman. At the edge of the wood he paused, staring at the far end where he’d seen the captured merman.

This was a stupid idea. It wasn’t like the creature would be lurking around the very spot that he’d been captured the first time, even if the pier was utterly devoid of people now. Yet Kaito still went around to go beneath the pier, walking down closer to the water until he stood with the waves lapping against his knees in the shadow of the dock above. He rested a hand against one of the thick support beams, scanning the blue ahead of him.

He didn’t know what to expect, but a sudden large shadow appearing from around one of the beams wasn’t one of them.

It moved swiftly, bending the water with its size and speed. Kaito stepped back, splashing as he attempted to retreat before the coming shape. Too slow. Before he’d made it back even a couple of feet, the shadow reached him.

A hand broke the surface of the water. It caught his, and jerked downward.

He shouted. The sound echoed off the underside of the pier and choked off with a splash as Kaito hit the water. He sat up, brushing wet hair from his eyes and sputtering in the shock of the freezing water. He blinked rapidly and swiped the back of his hands across his eyes, trying to get his bearings as his heart thudded frantically against the back of his ribcage. Then, the sight in front of him made it freeze in his chest.

“ You !”

Thin lips curled up in a playful grin, purple eyes sparkling with mischief. “You know, normally people think of something a little more eloquent to say than that when they see a super rare creature. And I do have a name you know.”

Right in front of him was the very merman who’d been running through his head for the past few days. Kaito’s jaw dropped open and he could only gape in silent shock. The merman giggled, clearly amused by his reaction. The sound brought him back to his senses; he struggled to say anything more substantial.

“You—. You’re that—.” His thoughts were like live wire, electric and jumping back and forth before he could get a handle on them. Finally he pounced on the only words he could grasp. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Huh? Whaddya mean?” The merman tilted his head to one side. Kaito saw that the water was shallow enough for him to prop himself up on his hands to raise his head above the surface. His tail was stretched out behind him, resting against the sand. “I sort of live here. The question is, what are you doing here?”

“I was just… wait, you’re still here even after you got caught by those guys?”

“Well duh, they can’t do anything to me. The only reason why they caught me that first time was because I made a teensy mistake. Won’t happen again. ‘sides, they don’t know that I make my home around here, so it’s all good. Unless someone tells on me, but you wouldn’t do that to poor widdle me, riiight?” he asked, once again flashing him those needle-sharp teeth. “Now answer my question. What’re you doing here, knowing that there was an evil merman hanging out right here?”

Evil? Kaito didn’t understand that descriptor. He shook his head, more to get the water out of his ears than in response to anything. “I was just curious. I… wanted to see you again, if I could.”

The merman laughed at him, and his ears burned in embarrassment from his reaction. “That’s so stupid . Didn’t you know? Merpeople are evil and ruthless. I could kill you with one hand tied behind my back.” He dragged himself along the bottom of the water, closer to him, and he rested a scaly cheek against one of Kaito’s raised knees. “But actually , it’s a good thing you did come here. You wanna know why?”

Kaito was too stunned to do more than ask, “Why?”

The creature moved again, closer, slinking around Kaito’s knees. He curled his fingers into the front of Kaito’s shirt and hoisted himself up, directly into his lap. Kaito had no idea how to react. A merman sat right in his lap and smiling almost sweetly right up at him directly after laughing at him and threatening him. He opened his mouth, about to say something even if he didn’t know what the hell kind of words to even voice, but the merman cut him off by leaning his face in so close that Kaito could feel his breath on his face.

“I wanted to thank you for saving my life. Even though I totally didn’t need the help, it’s still sweet in a stupid kind of way.”

“I—that’s kind of a shitty way to say thanks,” he said finally, unsure whether to frown or to just continue staring. He should probably shove the merman off of him, but his hands stung with the reminder of the last time he put them on this guy.

“Is it? Sorryyyy. Here, how ‘bout this?” He spoke with honey in his voice, and a playful lilt to his tone. Kaito didn’t know what to make of it, or of anything that was happening for that matter. “As thanks, I’ll give you a kiss. For my knight in shining armor, nee-heehee.”

What?

“What?” he echoed his thought out loud, stunned and bewildered. “…I mean. What ?”

The merman laughed again. He pulled his head back again, leaning back against Kaito’s raised knees. “Oh man, you should see your face right now! You’re too easy to mess with!”

Kaito responded by dropping his legs. The merman let out a yelp, splashing back into the water. He pushed himself up quick enough though, and the amusement in his expression hadn’t faded a bit.

“Wow you’re so mean,” he said, not looking put out at all. “But I’m really bored and you’re kinda fun! So how about this: let’s play together some more. I want to know all about the dumb heroic idiot who saved my life, and I’ll even let you look at my cute little self as well. It’s win-win for both of us.”

“What? What makes you think that I’ll want to come back here, you little shit?” He couldn’t believe how obnoxious this merman was. Part of him regretted coming back here.

“Because!” he chimed out, grinning wide. “What human doesn’t want the privilege of hanging out with something from one of his fantasies!”

Alright, he had a point. Disregarding his wording, he did have a point.

Though Kaito didn’t respond, his face must have said plenty, because the merman gave a satisfied nod. “Alright then, it’s settled! I can’t wait to mess with you lots more in the future! It’ll be sooo much fun. For me, of course.”

Kaito had no idea what he was getting himself into. He cleared his throat, too baffled about this turn of events to make a good coherent response. “…sure. Ok then.”

Evidently it was enough of an answer for the merman. The end of his fin splashed lightly in the water before him, similar to the way a puppy might wag his tail. It was almost adorable, how delighted he seemed just from Kaito’s agreement to meet up with him again in the future. Almost so, if scales and the lingering smell of fish could be considered cute in any way.

“ Perfect ! Oh, and by the way, I’ll even tell you my name since I like you so much. It’s Kokichi. You should feel honored—you’re the only human I’ve ever told it too.”