Chapter Text
Yugi Amane had a dream, he was going to space. He knew he wouldn't be the first, the last or the most famous but that didn't matter to him. He just wanted to explore the vibrant universe outside the earth's atmosphere, he wanted to see the bright, burning stars up close, he wanted to look down at the Earth and think "it's so small in comparison to everything else out here" he wanted more and more, to see, to do and he wanted to do all of it thousands and thousands of miles away from the sturdy, boring ground. He was a glutton for space. Couldn't get enough, he was crazy, insane, in love and he was determined to see his dream through to the end.
However, he was in a slump. Even though he worked so hard, dreamed so hard, bled and spat and choked, was it enough? He was a 14 year old kid in a painfully average school, he might be one of the best performing students in science but he wasn't anything in comparison to the rich, geniuses who would flock the same institutes he would apply for. What would make him stand out? Would he even be considered? Was...was it even worth it?
Talking to Tsukasa wasn't any help, the airhead just started rambling about ghosts and mermaids and wishes, it was like he had just grabbed random supernatural creatures and blended them into a amalgamation smoothie. Mermaid ghost genie. It was an amusing idea, Tsukasa had an odd imagination.
But...it wasn't just Tsukasa.
Apparently it was a real superstition in the school, and, apparently, Tsukasa hadn't even got all the details, yeah, this wish granting mermaid ghost genie hybrid also had a ghost knight who created challenges for students trying to get a wish from his mermaid ghost genie...Queen? Why else would she have a knight? And, to top of the cake of crazy, you could find them in the abandoned girls bathroom on the third floor.
It...was a lot. Very detailed for something that was probably made by some girl at a sleepover to scare her gullible friends. Or maybe it started off as a simple "Hanako-Chan" legend that was added onto over time. Getting crazier and weirder with every new reiteration.
It was stupid, fake and...well he was frustrated enough to do it.
So, here he was, a 14 year old boy, in the girls bathroom -God, he hoped no one saw him, he would never live it down if he was labelled a perv for trying to summon a ghost-. Deciding between whether he'd prefer that the mermaid and her knight was a real legend or a fake story made to scare younger students.
Because, if it was real, it was really sad that they both died and then were tied to a bathroom for eternity.
He knocked on the door.
"Knight-san, please give me an audience with Mermaid-sama. Knight-san, please give me an audience with Mermaid-Sama. Knight-san, please-" this was so embarrassing, "give me an audience with Mermaid-sama."
Amane took a step back and waited. He waited for a solid minute when he decided it hadn't worked and he had just made a fool of himself when the door creaked open. He held his breath, felt his pulse quicken.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodoh-
It was empty.
Of course it was empty. Ghosts...ghosts aren't real. They can't grant wishes and he's an idiot who was going to cover Tsukasa's dinner in soy sauce as revenge for getting stupid ideas in his head, and-
"Okay, but you need to complete a challenge first."
Who-
He spun around and saw two people, taller than him, a boy and a girl. The girl stood behind the boy, she was several inches taller than him with pale blonde hair with green tips and she had bright, expressive pinkish-red eyes. The boy who positively towered over Amane had short orange hair and sparkling blue eyes, with a pair of long, swinging earrings. Looking down...neither of their feet touched the ground...hanging several inches of the ground, just, hovering. He looked up again, specifically at the girl, noticing the scales on her arms and neck specifically, a few barely noticable on her jaw.
The boy, who he assumed was the one who spoke the first time, opened his mouth.
"Do you think you can fight a mermaid?"