Chapter Text
Yuu laid on the sea floor, looking up at the evening sun glittering on the surface. It was her favorite spot to relax, near the coast, close to the surface. The sun made beautiful patterns on the sea, and she liked watching them. The waves and the calmness of the ocean soon began to take her, drowning out her thoughts and worries.
Someone’s voice came from the beach above, and Yuu perked up. She’d known of humans, and came by other beaches with them on occasion, but no one had ever come to this one before. It was one of the reasons why she liked it so much. Curiosity soon got the better of her and she swam upwards in the water to hear better.
“...be like you.” A girl’s voice became clearer as Yuu swam up. “I wish--” The girl paused. “I wish you could still show me what to do.”
That voice sounded so sad, so lost. Yuu felt a pain in her heart, wanted to comfort her, and looked up at the ocean’s surface sadly. Ripples spread across the surface, and Yuu could tell the other girl had skipped a stone across the water. She swam after it, catching it before it descended into the depths. Yuu turned the rock over in her hands.
Swimming back up to the coast, the voice had become quiet. Yuu paused a moment, waiting for the other girl to keep speaking, but she only heard a sigh, followed by the girl getting up to walk away.
For a split second, Yuu felt her heart take over, wanting to extend kindness to the girl. And no one else was around, right? It would be fine. Her parents wouldn’t have to know that she showed herself to a human.
“Are you okay?” Yuu broke the water’s surface, and the words left her mouth before she’d had the chance to realize what she was doing. Now that she could see her properly, Yuu noticed that the other girl was really quite pretty. Long black hair and grey eyes to complement, and young, perhaps not much older than Yuu was herself.
The girl yelped and nearly jumped out of her skin. The sudden voice appearing out of the ocean breaking her moment of peace rattled her, and Yuu swam back slightly, still above the water. Yuu’s face reddened, and she heavily considered diving back down into the water and never returning to this beach again. Something kept her there, watching the other girl. I want to make sure she’s okay, she told herself.
The other girl’s panic slowly subsided and turned into confusion and intrigue.
“Who are you?” The girl tilted her head at Yuu. “How did you get here?”
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on you!” Yuu stammered, face turning redder by the minute. She wanted to go back and hide, but she didn’t hear any anger in the girl’s voice.
“Oh. Right.” The other girl’s voice turned cold and distant. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Just- just the ending, I swear!” Yuu began to panic, trying to explain herself. “Just that. You said you wanted someone to show you what to do. I was worried about you. You sounded so sad.” Yuu’s voice turned soft, and her eyes met the other girl’s.
She paused. “I’m alright. Really. I’d like you to forget about that. I promise, it’s nothing.”
Didn’t sound like nothing to Yuu. But if that’s what she wanted, then that was easy enough. She nodded. The other girl continued.
“But what about you? More importantly, what are you doing here and who are you?” The tone in her voice shifted back to being what it was before, light and cheery. Yuu noticed it, and it hurt her heart a little. What secrets is this girl hiding…
“My name is Koito Yuu.” Yuu’s voice stabilized from the panic she had earlier. “I usually come to this beach to relax. I didn’t know anyone would be here, honest. I’m…” Her voice caught. “I’m a mermaid.”
The other girl’s eyes began to sparkle. “A… mermaid? Really?” She leaned in towards the beach. Yuu blushed.
“Yeah, a… a mermaid. You can’t tell anyone though!” Yuu pushed herself forward through the water, towards the girl, more panic rising in her light voice. The girl only smiled back at her playfully.
“Alright, alright, if it’s really so important to you. I won’t tell.”
“I’m serious! You can’t tell anyone about me!!” Yuu splashed the water a bit. “Mom and dad would kill me…” she pouted.
“Okay, I get it!” The girl smiled at her, and Yuu smiled back. “I won’t tell.” Then she looked up to the horizon, and the smile faded from her face as the sun began to vanish below the horizon.
“I should get going. But it was really nice talking to you.” She paused. “Could I… come see you again tomorrow? I like talking to you.” Her voice was serious once again.
“Sure.” Yuu grinned. “I like laying here most afternoons. Maybe… an hour before sundown, so we don’t get cut off again?”
“Perfect.” She smiled another time, and picked up her bag laying beside her in the sand and turned to leave, smile still lingering on her face.
“Wait!” Yuu called out to the girl.
“Hmm?”
“You never told me your name, silly.”
She laughed. “You can call me Touko. Nanami Touko.”
—
Yuu sat on the sea floor, turning the stone over in her hands. Sure, she was a bit early, but she hadn’t ever communicated with a human before! Maybe they liked being early! And… she still was a bit worried about parts of their conversation yesterday. Touko… she was hiding something. But if she wasn’t going to share, it wasn’t Yuu’s place to pry. All she could do was be a good friend for her. She did like the girl, after all.
A ripple ran through the water, and Yuu could hear Touko calling her name from the beach. She looked up to find the other girl’s fingers dipping into the water, and swam up to meet her.
When Yuu poked her head out of the water, the first thing she noticed was that Touko was wearing a swimsuit, with goggles around her neck. A rather nice swimsuit, at that. She brought her eyes to meet Touko’s and smiled.
“I figured, what’s the use in me just standing up here and talking with you? I wanted to go swimming together, if that’s alright with you, of course,” Touko said.
“Yeah, if you want,” Yuu said, and then went into a frenzy. “But wait, you can’t breathe underwater! And you can’t swim well!”
“Relax, Yuu, I swim fine! I’ve been swimming my whole life.”
Touko waded into the water, and Yuu, still uneasy about a human swimming, watched her closely. Touko caught her gaze and laughed.
“Don’t worry so much! Might not be as good as you, but I can swim fine,” Touko said with a smile. She splashed Yuu and dove into the water.
Yuu panicked again slightly, and dove into the water after her. The two came face to face under the waves and froze, looking at each other. Yuu relaxed. Touko wasn’t lying, she really was a natural swimmer, perfectly at ease in the water. Touko tensed. Yuu wasn’t lying when she said she was a mermaid. Where her legs should’ve been, a long, beautiful peach-colored tail was, matching her hair. It glittered in the sunlight shining through the water, and Touko couldn’t take her eyes off of it.
Yuu swam a circle around Touko and emerged on the other side of her. Touko surfaced too.
“You really weren’t lying about being a mermaid,” Touko said.
“Why would I?” Yuu tilted her head at her. “What, you thought I was spying on you like some sort of perv?”
“I-- well, maybe. I didn’t know mermaids were real until I met you. To be honest, I kind of couldn’t believe it until now.”
Yuu smiled again. “You believe me now?” She lifted her tail up above the water, splashing Touko with it.
“Stooooop!” Touko cried, splashing her back. The two collapsed into giggles in the water. For a moment, just a moment, Yuu wanted to freeze that moment in time with the two of them there, playing and having fun together in the water. Then the moment passed, and she remembered she was swimming, breathing, staying upright, and the magic of the moment had gone.
The two played in the water together, letting go of their own separate lives and living in the moment. For a while, they forgot about the world, their differences, and were friends, perhaps a bit childish, but enjoyable. Yuu enjoyed it. And it seemed Touko did too.
Some time later, the two were resting in a shallower section closer to the beach. Touko was an excellent swimmer, but she couldn’t swim nearly as well as Yuu could. The two looked out to the horizon where the sun crept closer, closer to that time where Touko would have to leave again.
“Hey, Touko?” Yuu turned to the girl sitting beside her.
“Hmm? What’s up?”
“I… I want you to have this.” Yuu held out a stone to her, the same stone Touko had skipped across the water the day before. It now had an x carved into each side of it, markings she had made the night before.
“A rock? Sure, but why, Yuu?”
“Don’t make fun of me!!” Yuu blushed. She really was trying to do something kind, but the other girl always made it so difficult. This girl really was unfair.
“Okay, okay, I promise, I’m not making fun of you. So what’s the rock for?”
“It’s the same one you tossed into the river yesterday. I kept it. When you come out to look for me, you can skip it across the water. I’ll feel the ripples, if I’m near you, and I’ll come.”
Touko turned the rock over in her hands. “What happens if you’re not nearby?”
“Then I’ll be back here eventually, I’m sure. I’ll be able to find the rock pretty easily. Rocks on the beach are pretty different than the ones found on the sea floor, so even if this one wasn’t marked, chances are I’d notice something different here. Mermaids are also pretty sensitive to things in the ocean in general, and I like this beach and I come here a lot so I know it pretty well…” Yuu trailed off. “You’re probably not interested in this sort of thing like I am…”
Touko laughed. “Of course I’m interested in mermaids! I’m not some grumpy old woman yet, you know.” And at that, Yuu felt herself relax a little.
The two talked a bit more of trivial things, letting the time pass by once more. When sundown came, Yuu also felt a little said to see her new friend go. She’d love to get to spend more time with the girl. When the two of them were talking, she could almost forget Touko was a human - they talked so easily together, she felt like it was another one of her mermaid friends, perhaps not similar to people like Akari or Kuyomi, but it felt like someone she could meet. Maybe mermaids and humans aren’t so different… maybe you are the same as me.