Chapter Text
Mamoru blew some bubbles underwater as he prepared himself outside a large underwater sea cavern hidden deep in the depths surrounded by colorful coral. He was quite surprised when two pink sea serpents came looking for him with a message written on a coral pink shell. Mamoru knew whenever these sea serpents brought him a coral pink shell, it was a sign that the magic sea witch, Ryota, summoned Mamoru to visit him for something.
Usually it was to give him a list of treasures or ingredients Ryota wanted for particular reasons. But when Mamoru received the pink shell, it didn’t come with any kind of list. The only words written on it was ‘we need to talk’.
The pink sea serpents urged Mamoru forward, guiding him inside to the center of the inner cavern where Ryota usually was organizing his collection.
Ryota heard Mamoru enter and saw him half hidden with his purple tail fin sticking out.
“Don’t hide behind the coral pillar, Mamoru, you know you can come in like always,” Ryota said as he finished putting away some vials.
“Y-You wanted to see me, Ryo-kun?” Mamoru nervously swam over to Ryota.
“Yes. It’s about the seashell wish you sent me with Niwa and Sakura,” Ryota brought up, as his two coral pink sea serpents swam back to rest in their shell shaped beds.
“Oh, phew, I was worried you called me because of the incident when I accidentally knocked over some of your bottled ingredients with my tailfin,” Mamoru said with relief.
“THAT is a completely different matter we’ll discuss another time,” Ryota didn’t forget.
“I’m sorry!” Mamoru stiffened up.
Ryota sighed as he pulled out the wish that Mamoru had written on a flat purple colored seashell. “Seriously, of all the wishes I’ve seen and granted, what makes you want to become HUMAN of all things?”
Mamoru played with the end of his tail fin to calm his nerves. “I-I know you don’t like humans, Ryo-kun–”
“I hate humans.”
“--right, but see um, there’s a place I want to go that can only be seen on land,” Mamoru continued. “I only want to see it once, and then I’ll come back and never go on the surface again!”
Ryota sighed. If it were any other merfolk, he would’ve rejected the wish outright. But since it was Mamoru, who had never made any seashell wishes before for as long as Ryota has known him since they met as little seafolk, Ryota decided to think about it.
Mamoru had the most beautiful singing voice that Ryota ever heard, and he could write songs with as much alluring beauty and charm. Almost every day, Mamoru would barge into Ryota’s cavern with a new melody for Ryota to hear. Mamoru’s music and songs were treasures worth more than sunken gold and jewels.
But lately, Mamoru hasn't been singing or writing songs as much as he used to. Ryota thought it was a temporary mood swing at first, but the more he watched Mamoru, he could see it was something deeper that affected Mamoru.
That is, until one day when Mamoru was out looking for trinkets for Ryota from sunken ships, Mamoru found a picture protected in a glass frame of something he had never seen before.
“Ryo-kun! Ryo-kun! What is this?” Mamoru asked him after he found the picture.
“Huh? Oh, it looks like a picture of a piano,” Ryota answered.
“A piano? What’s a piano?” Mamoru questioned, curiosity bubbling in his eyes.
“It’s a large instrument that humans play on the surface,” Ryota described. “You press on the black and white keys and it creates a range of sounds.”
“A piano…I wonder what it sounds like?” Mamoru wondered.
“I’ve never seen one among sunken ships, and even if I did, it would be too heavy to bring here, not to mention the sound wouldn’t play underwater,” Ryota said. “You’d probably have to go up on land to see one.”
“Up on the surface?”
“Yes, but I wouldn’t dare go up there even if someone gives me treasures for it,” Ryota commented.
“Oh…”
Ryota had thought that Mamoru had given up or forgotten about the conversation they had before, but Mamoru’s wish gave him the hint.
Ryota sighed and looked straight at Mamoru. “Is it because of the picture of the piano?”
“Y-Yeah! I want to see and hear what a piano sounds like!” Mamoru answered.
“Do you even know where to search for a piano?” Ryota questioned.
“Well…Sora-kun told me that he heard from someone that humans play pianos inside large castles for parties…”
Ryota clicked his tongue. “Of course Sora would tell you that.”
Sora was another merman who loved music, and his voice was equally as good as Mamoru’s. He often liked to explore both underwater and also around the surface wherever the water could carry him. It often got him in deeper trouble and danger when he got close to where humans were out, but Ryota and Mamoru were around to pull him back to the sea in time before they were spotted.
“Seven days, that’s the most I can estimate the spell will last,” Ryota told Mamoru seriously. “Magic doesn’t last forever, even magic as powerful as mine. You can go search for the piano in a temporary human form, but you’ll have to come back to the sea before time is up.”
“I understand, Ryo-kun.”
Ryota swam over to his bookcase and pulled out one of his spellbooks. After flipping through the pages, he found a spell to give a merman a human form.
“In order for the spell to work successfully, I’m going to need you to seal your voice.”
“My voice? Does it have to be my voice?”
“Well, it has to be something that’s part of you. Obviously I can’t take your heart or fin. If you don’t want to seal your voice, I could take an eye or ear–”
“No, no, no! Please, let’s go with sealing my voice!”
“Alright.” Ryota picked up a round purple gradient colored shell. He waved his fingers over it while murmuring the enchantment spell and the shell glowed pink for a moment before the light disappeared. “Sing into this shell.”
Mamoru took the shell in his palm. After taking a deep breath, Mamoru began to sing.
“La laa~ la la la laaa~.”
As he sang, he could see golden streams of light flow from his lips into the shell. After Mamoru finished singing, Ryota took the shell back and connected it on a woven string.
“This pendant won’t break so easily even if you try to cut or burn it, but please make sure you don’t lose it. Once I tie this shell pendant around your neck, you’ll transform into a human,” Ryota said.
Mamoru opened his mouth to speak, but then he remembered that his voice was now sealed inside the purple shell when only bubbles came out of his mouth, so he nodded in understanding.
“Let’s go up near the surface. My cavern is quite deep, and even with Saku and Niwa’s help it would be difficult for me to bring you up to the surface if you transformed here.”
Together they swam from the deep cavern up towards the surface. During one of their previous adventures with Sora, they had found a beach where they could see a human town in the distance.
“This should be close enough.” They stopped right underneath the surface of the water. “Remember, Mamoru, you have seven days to find the piano. Even though you’ll look human, be careful around other humans,” Ryota advised strongly.
Mamoru nodded.
“One more thing…” Ryota held out his hand and summoned something small inside a bubble. It looked like a tiny orange baby squid. “Since I can’t go with you, I’m sending one of my ocean familiars. He can float around in his bubble even on the surface, and humans can’t see him with their eyesight. This way I can see what’s going on from my cavern and also communicate with you.”
Mamoru smiled at the tiny baby squid as it floated around him.
“If you feel at danger, come back to the sea. Good luck, Mamoru.”
Ryota kissed Mamoru’s cheek as he tied the purple seashell pendant around Mamoru’s neck. As he floated back, Mamoru glowed with a golden light and bubbles surrounded around his fin with a fast current. Mamoru saw his purple gradient fin transform into two separate legs. Ryota pushed Mamoru up and let the current carry him up to the surface.
Mamoru gasped as he breathed the air above when he surfaced. He tried to make his way to the beach, but unfortunately he didn’t know how to swim with his legs. Mamoru splashed around trying to find a way to move his body forward, but he found himself sinking instead.
“!!!” Mamoru was about to drop underwater, but then a hand reached out and grabbed one of his flailing hands.
“Hang on, I got you!” A voice shouted.
Mamoru felt himself being pulled up and towards the beach until he was brought out of the water onto the rough coarse sand.
“*cough cough*” Mamoru spat out sea water and laid on his back. The sun was so bright in the sky that Mamoru almost wanted to shut his eyes, but then a tall figure blocked the sunlight.
“Hey, are you okay?” A young man with short dark blue hair and eyes green like seagrass in the sun asked.
Only air came out of Mamoru’s mouth, but he quickly nodded as he tried to get up.
The man helped Mamoru sit upright as Mamoru blinked and looked at himself. Thankfully, his legs were covered in what appeared to be long white boots and pants that covered up to his waist. His upper half didn’t look too much different, except he didn’t have his extra fins on his hands. He wore a simple oversized white shirt with long wide sleeves decorated with golden patterns. Around his neck was a frilly collar tied with a long purple ribbon and Mamoru’s purple shell pendant was kept secure underneath.
“Good, it doesn’t look like you got hurt anywhere.” The young man had a bright smile like the sun.
Mamoru looked at the man who had helped him out of the water and tilted his head to the side. The man was dressed in a blue and white striped shirt that was tied at the hem, with dark pants secured with a belt and long black boots. He wore a long orange fabric that was tied around his head to keep his bangs out of his eyes.
Mamoru certainly hadn’t expected to run into a human so soon, but the young man looked friendly enough.
Mamoru opened his mouth, but his voice wouldn’t come out. He could only make a humming noise. “Ahh…ahh…”
“You can’t talk?” The young man guessed from Mamoru’s expression.
Mamoru held his throat and shook his head.
“I wonder if you drank too much seawater. Well don’t worry, I’m sure your voice will come to you after resting!” The young man encouraged Mamoru. “Where did you come from? Do you live around here?”
Mamoru certainly couldn’t tell the human he was from the ocean, so he simply shook his head to the side.
“Maybe…did you get shipwrecked? There was a pretty bad storm the night before last,” the young man mentioned.
Mamoru decided to use that as his story, so he nodded his head.
“Oh man, that really sucks, but good thing you’re alive! Perhaps we could walk around town to see if anybody knows you.” The young man held out his hand. “I’m Kensuke, but my friends call me Ken. I would ask for your name–ah, but you lost your voice, huh?”
Mamoru looked around for something to write with, but the only thing he saw was a stick. He quickly picked up the stick and drew in the sand. Normally merfolk communicated in their own language and Mamoru didn’t know the human language very well, but Ryota did teach Mamoru how to write his name at least since he was curious.
“Ma…Mamo…ru? Mamoru?” Kensuke read the squiggly lines on the sand. “Is your name Mamoru?”
“Mm! Mm!” Mamoru nodded.
“I see, that’s a nice name! Okay, nice to meet you, Mamoru!”
Kensuke tried to help Mamoru stand up, but Mamoru was still wobbly on his human legs and nearly fell back on the sand.
“Whoa there, I guess you still have sea legs, haha,” Kensuke laughed as he helped Mamoru keep his balance. “Hm, if it’s hard to walk, I could carry you!”
Mamoru looked worried, since he wasn’t exactly sure if he was considered a heavy weight since he always floated around underwater, but Kensuke didn’t seem to mind.
“Up we go!” Kensuke lifted Mamoru onto his back. “Don’t worry, I’m used to lifting heavy weights! Ah, make sure to lean forward a bit and hold your arms in front of me. It’ll help the balance.”
Mamoru tried and felt more comfortable on Kensuke’s back as Kensuke started walking to the human town. He looked back over his shoulder at the sea one last time before he faced forward.
Before heading into town, Kensuke mentioned the two of them should stop by his house first. Kensuke’s house was located on the outskirts of town up a large hill that was near the cliffside that overlooked the ocean.
“Feel free to make yourself at home while I brew up some tea,” Kensuke said as he helped set Mamoru down on a chair.
Mamoru looked curiously around Kensuke’s house at the simple decorations while Kensuke started boiling a tea kettle. There were various flowers and plants that were kept in decorated pots, a small bookshelf with a few books on fishing, camping, and wood carving, tools kept on a shelf or hanging on the wall, and boxes with miscellaneous trinkets. The first floor had a small kitchen and living room combined, with a glass door that appeared to lead to a small garden outside. There was a ladder on the other side of the house that led up to a small loft.
“Here you go. It’s a little hot, but this should help clear your throat from all the seawater.” Kensuke came over and handed Mamoru a cup of tea.
Mamoru took the cup and simply stared at it. He never drank anything before except the medicinal potions that Ryota brewed, which tasted horrible.
“It’s safe to drink, don’t worry! I don’t think it tastes bad!” Kensuke said as Mamoru watched him drink some from his own cup. “See?”
Mamoru looked at the tea again and brought it to his lips. He slowly let the liquid flow down his throat, and was surprised to taste a warm, sweet flavor.
The enjoyment must have been obvious on Mamoru’s face since Kensuke laughed. “Looks like you enjoy it! Well? Does it help your throat?”
Mamoru blinked and opened his mouth to make a rough sound before coughing.
“Ah–sorry, guess it’s too early for your throat to recover,” Kensuke figured out. “Hopefully you didn’t catch a cold.”
Mamoru nodded, but deep down he knew that the tea that Kensuke made wouldn’t bring back his voice. His voice was sealed with Ryota’s magic after all in order to grant Mamoru his human form.
After Mamoru finished his tea, he looked around and noticed various pictures on the wall. Most of them had pictures of Kensuke with other humans, his family perhaps, but there was one picture in particular that immediately caught Mamoru’s attention.
Mamoru jumped up and wobbled over to look at the picture closer.
“What’s up?” Kensuke walked over to see what Mamoru was staring at. Mamoru pointed at the picture. “Oh, that’s me sitting at a piano as a kid.”
Mamoru tried to mouth words and point more excitedly at the picture of the piano.
“Do you know how to play, Mamoru?” Kensuke asked.
Mamoru looked at Kensuke as his excitement dropped a little when he sadly shook his head.
“Oh I see. I would try to teach you, but I was terrible at it too. You can see it on my face in this picture haha.” Kensuke laughed, but then he noticed that Mamoru looked longing at the picture of the piano. “Hum, if you’re curious about the piano, unfortunately I don’t have one here. The picture was taken at my parent’s house, and they live in another village a couple ways away from here.”
Mamoru tried not to look too disappointed.
“Hmmm, piano…where have I seen one around here?” Kensuke crossed his arms and tried to think. “Oh! I know! There’s probably one at the royal palace!”
Mamoru tilted his head to the side in confusion.
“Ah, past the town city, there’s a huge castle up on a hill! That’s where the royal family who rules over the city lives!” Kensuke explained. “I think they have a piano in their grand hall since they play music for royal parties!”
Mamoru perked up at the mention of music.
“The only problem is, they don’t allow visitors in the palace unless they're hosting a special party for the entire kingdom. But maybe if we’re lucky, they’ll host one while you’re here until you manage to find your way back to where you’re from!” Kensuke said optimistically.
Mamoru looked hopeful and also worried. Ryota said he only had seven days at most for him to keep his human form.
“Ah, but before I forget, we should focus on figuring out where you’re from first so I can help get you home!” Kensuke remembered their original plan. “So let’s try going into town first and seeing if you know anyone–”
Mamoru tightly gripped Kensuke’s sleeve. He was nervous about going into town. Kensuke was friendly and kind, but Mamoru wasn’t sure what other humans would be like.
Kensuke watched Mamoru’s expression and patted him on the head. “Oh right, you’re probably tired, so we can take it easy the rest of the day and try going out tomorrow. Would that be okay?”
Mamoru nodded in agreement.
“If you want to rest for a bit, you can use my bed that is up in the loft. There’s also a small balcony up there with a perfect view of the ocean! I’ll show you!”
Kensuke helped Mamoru climb up the ladder to the loft where there was enough space for a bed and a small table beside it. There was a small round window with a cushioned window seat, and next to it was a door that led outside to the balcony.
Kensuke opened the door and led Mamoru outside onto the balcony. Mamoru’s eyes opened wide as he saw the ocean in the distance right in front of him. The passing breeze brought a salty scent in the air. Since it was near sunset, they could see the sun beginning to chart its course to set in the horizon.
“See? Isn’t it beautiful–Mamoru?” Kensuke looked at Mamoru.
Mamoru felt something wet in his eyes and on his cheeks even though he wasn’t near the water. He wondered why, but his heart hurt a little when he stared at the ocean.
Kensuke quickly patted his pockets and found an orange handkerchief in his pocket that was kept clean thankfully.
“Here,” Kensuke handed the handkerchief towards Mamoru. Mamoru stared at it in confusion, unsure what to do with it. Kensuke smiled gently and used the handkerchief to dry the tiny tears that slipped down Mamoru’s cheeks. “You must be homesick, huh?”
When Mamoru tilted his head again, Kensuke reworded his question, “Ah, I mean, perhaps you miss home where you’re from? It must be hard to wake up in an unfamiliar place.”
Mamoru wasn’t sure what he was feeling, since he didn’t feel sick physically.
“Don’t worry, I know we’ve only met, but I’ll do what I can to help you out,” Kensuke said. “I work as a sailor, so I’ve traveled a lot on the sea before, so I have lots of connections with people!”
Mamoru looked at Kensuke and managed to smile again.
“Glad you’ve cheered up! Ah, here, you can keep this.” Kensuke handed Mamoru the orange handkerchief. “In case you feel homesick again, you can use it to wipe your tears!”
Mamoru looked at the handkerchief and accepted it. Listening to Kensuke’s voice seemed to soothe the ache in his chest.
After eating a tasty meal, which thankfully did not consist of any fish much to Mamoru’s relief. Mamoru struggled a lot at first trying to use a metal fork and knife, which the fork almost smacked Kensuke in the face if he didn’t catch it when it flung out of Mamoru’s hand. Mamoru felt really embarrassed about it, but Kensuke laughed cheerfully and helped him out by feeding Mamoru himself with the fork.
After the meal, Mamoru laid down on the soft bed in the loft. He was starting to feel the drowsiness pull him under to sleep, but then a familiar voice echoed in his ears.
“Mamoru…oi, Mamoru!”
Mamoru blinked his drowsy eyes awake and noticed the baby squid in the bubble floating in front of his vision.
Mamoru gasped, but he quickly hushed himself to not draw attention. Kensuke was still downstairs in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes while whistling a random tune.
“So? Have you found the piano yet?” Ryota’s voice could be heard from the baby squid. Mamoru figured that Ryota was using his magic to connect his voice through the squid familiar.
Mamoru shook his head side to side.
“I see, I suppose it’s barely even been a day since you turned human. So? Are you doing okay?”
Mamoru nodded positively. He wanted to tell Ryota everything he experienced, but his voice was sealed.
Ryota could probably tell what Mamoru was thinking since he mentioned, “Ah, you don’t need to say anything. I’ve actually been watching you since you got picked up by that guy, Kensuke was it?”
Mamoru nodded in confirmation.
“From what I’ve seen, he seems pretty decent for a human despite picking up a stranger out of the water, I give him that much. I can only see bits and pieces since the connection is a bit weak given the distance you are from the ocean.”
Mamoru wondered to himself what Ryota had seen, and hoped that he didn’t see him crying earlier.
“The connection is about to be cut out again, so I’ll leave you be for now. Don’t push yourself too hard, and remember even if humans are nice to you, don’t trust them fully,” Ryota advised strictly.
Mamoru nodded, although he felt Kensuke was the nicest human he had met so far–well, Kensuke was the only human Mamoru had met.
As Mamoru laid in bed, he stared at his purple shell kept safely around his neck and tried to hum a quiet song until he fell asleep.
There were seven days to find the piano.