Chapter Text
Water Reflected Starlight
By: Blood Rose Knight
Chapter 1
If you could wish for anything, what would you wish for?
Yugi Amane woke with a start at the sound of his alarm going off. He was sweaty so he was sure he had some kind of weird dream but he couldn’t remember what the dream was for the life of him. He glanced over at the clock and felt himself let out a groan. It was time for him to get up for school. Normally he didn’t mind that it was school time, he liked school and getting to play soccer with his friends outside. But he was starting at a new school so he felt more than a little reluctant to get out of bed.
“Kid you better not be trying to oversleep on the first day!” His uncle and guardian, Tsuchigamori called to him from downstairs. Amane could picture him standing at the base of the steps in his “do not kiss the cook” apron as he finished making breakfast for the two of them.
Amane considered staying in bed a little longer just to mess with his uncle. It was his fault they had to move anyway since he got a new job as a junior high homeroom teacher. Maybe if Amane was still in middle school he wouldn’t have minded so much but he was in high school now. They wouldn’t even be in the same half of the building.
Despite the idea of mischief being appealing, he didn’t have the energy and motivation to be up to his usual tricks today. Instead, he pulled himself out of bed and got ready with the scratchy new uniform that he was forced to wear. It wasn’t bad by any means: a pair of black slacks, a white button-up shirt, and a tie. Still, he missed the military-style uniform of his old school. It looked way cooler than this one.
Still, he finished getting ready—brushing his short, black hair and teeth—before he went downstairs where a plate of breakfast was waiting for him. It wasn’t anything too crazy. Some egg rolls and miso soup. Still, his stomach growled at the promise of food and so he sat down and began eating.
“You took your time getting ready,” Tsuchigamori commented from where he was sitting at his own spot—likely already done with dishes and clean up since he was now only reading a newspaper instead of eating.
“What can I say perfection takes time,” Amane replied with little hesitation. His uncle let out a snort.
“Yeah, I can tell with your messy hair,” His uncle let back in a quick quip making Amane snicker as well. The two of them were always close like this. Probably because his uncle had a telescope and Amane used to always sneak over to his house at night to use it and look up at the stars.
“Better eat quick, school is going to be starting soon.”
“By starting soon, you mean you have to be there and I’m going to be there way too early.”
“Would you rather walk to school?” They lived a good half-mile away from school. Amane most definitely did not want to walk to school. “That’s what I thought,” his uncle replied after a moment of silence taking that as the answer.
Despite their bickering and getting to school yearly and waking up before most other students. Amane preferred this to the living situation he used to have before his second year of middle school. It took almost a year before he finally wasn’t wearing bandages anymore.
Maybe the move would be for the best. No one would see him bruised and beaten up at this new school. No one would spread rumors or avoid him. Maybe he could have a fresh start. With that in mind, he began to perk up at the optimistic view of things.
And something told him that whatever happened next, good or bad, it was going to be an adventure.
…
Amane had hidden in Tsuchigamori’s office until it was time for school to begin and students began to flood the halls. At that point, his uncle walked him to the faculty office of the high school and formally introduced him to his new homeroom teacher, a man that Amane couldn’t remember the name of. Still, he seemed nice enough and now Amane was waiting outside the classroom doors while the homeroom teacher prepared the class to introduce him.
He could feel his stomach flutter a little. He wasn’t one to get nervous usually. Typically, he was the class clown always doing something to get in trouble. But this felt strange. He didn’t have everyone looking at him with intense curiosity before. It was sort of exciting.
“I hope you give him a warm welcome,” the teacher finished and Amane knew that was his queue. He opened the door and stepped into the classroom. His name was already written on the board and he did his best to ignore the kanji in his first name. “plain/normal” is what it read and he hated it. It made him sound boring.
Still, he had mentally rehearsed the line he would say to himself in the hallway and he stood in front of his same and smiled in a way that may have been akin to a kitten playing with a mouse. “I’m Yugi Amane, Happy to meet all of you and I promise I’ll make sure it's not boring with me around.”
He had his hands behind his head as he smiled. It was a cheesy play on his name but it got a few laughs from his classmates. It was a good sign. Though, now that he was in the classroom, he could see the other students and where they all sat and how they all looked. Most of them didn’t stand out. A few cute girls and some guys that radiated popular energy. But nothing super special.
Well, except for one girl. She had large ruby red eyes and long blonde hair that faded into a minty green color. She looked almost like a rag doll where she sat, even from under her desk he could still see she had unusually large legs, particularly her ankles. It kind of reminded him of a Daikon radish but in a cute way… if that made any sense at all. Still, she blinded at him with nothing but pure curiosity. It made his face heat up a little with how closely she was studying him. And yet, he hoped he would get to talk to her. Since he found himself just as curious about her as well.
“Yugi would you mind taking a seat behind Yashiro?”
“Who?” Amane asked before his gaze was ripped from the girl to ask the teacher. The teacher happened to be pointing straight back at the girl. It got another snicker from the class. Amane once more looked at the girl and she gave a shy smile and waved at him. With a nod, he walked and took the seat behind the girl.
“Yashiro Nene, nice to meet you,” she said softly as an introduction before the class began to settle down and lessons start.
“Yeah, you too,” Amane replied but she was already facing the front of the classroom.
…
He wouldn’t talk to her then for the rest of the day. Well, most of the day. When lunch came around a guy named Lemon grabbed him and dragged him to have lunch with him and his friends while Yashiro went and had lunch with a girl he learned was named Aoi.
It wouldn’t be until club time started that he would really see her again. He noticed she was in the gardening club and how she would walk around with Aoi and begin watering the plants around the school. Well, sort of. When that happened some of the guys thought it would be a good idea to splash Yashiro. The girl ran off then in a panic as Aoi began to lecture them on how they should treat a girl.
Amane didn’t know why he followed her. But he did. He followed her all the way to… a storage closet? It seemed like a weird place for her to go, especially when the girl's bathroom made more sense to help her dry off. Cautiously he knocked.
“Yashiro are you ok?”
“Yu-Yugi? What are you doing here?” She asked panic creeping into her voice. Was she changing clothes in there over a little water? He didn’t see her grab a bag or anything. Did this happen so often that she kept clothes in there?
“You ran off pretty quick I just wanted to make sure you were ok,” Amane replied.
“I’m fine, thank you. You can go back to class.” He frowned.
“Yashiro are you changing clothes in a public space?” Amane goaded with a cheeky grin on his face.
“No! Why would you ask that you pervert?” Yashiro yelled at him from inside. He could almost picture her red face. It was probably adorable. And he kind of wanted to see it. And since she just admitted she wasn’t changing… well, why not.
“Then I’m coming in.”
“No don’t!”
But it was too late. Amane had opened the door to the dingy supply closet and the sight before him was definitely not one he expected to see. Sitting on the floor wasn’t the Yashiro Nene he expected to see. But rather it looked like her and sounded like her. But instead of her daikon legs, a beautiful coral color tail was in its place peeking out from under her school uniform. The flowy and shimmering fluke slapped against the ground and Amane noticed how the color faded from coral to silver to mint on her tail in a way that matched her hair.
He blinked and looked at her. Her face reminded him of the tomatoes that grew in the practice garden. He watched as she bit her lip and he could see the wheels in her brain turn as she tried to figure out some way to explain the tail.
After a moment she puffed out air and looked at him, her expression changing to serious.
“So, you’ve captured a mermaid. And I am in your capture until I can grant you a wish.” She said speaking in a voice that reminded him of angels. “If you could wish for anything, what would you wish for?”