Chapter Text
It’s cold.
Seishirou shouldn’t feel this way, because he’s wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. These things are protecting him from the stinging cold of the beach-brewed wind. There’s really no reason to feel so numb. Maybe it’s the cool cloudy grey of the sky or the rowdy waves of the ocean. It doesn’t really matter. He’s just here to play games on his phone and slip out of existence– the beach is empty at night. No one is here, and it’s close to his place. No one is here, and no one will bother him. No one is here.
Seishirou wonders how much of a person he is.
The sound of waves is loud, blending with the volume of the game he’s playing. The moon rises. Seishirou doesn’t know how long he sits there, dangling his feet at the edge of the dock, but he does know his phone eventually runs out of battery. He apathetically pockets the thing in his front hoodie pocket so he can charge it at home. All he has to do is get up, and walk home.
It’s a pain. Now that he’s no longer focused on a game, Seishirou is forced to feel cold again. The sensation is annoying, and Seishirou finds himself lingering– well, less lingering, and more staying still. Less actively staying still, and more embodying the absence of movement. He lets the sounds of the ocean bury him under the night’s cover.
Seishirou’s grip on the edge of the dock is loose. He looks down at his dangling feet against the darkness of the ocean. One of his shoes is slipping off. He does nothing to fix it; watches it slide off and drop into the water. It just kinda happens, and Seishirou doesn’t do anything to stop it; which is basically him letting it happen. His socks aren’t thick enough to stop him from feeling the powerful wind; it’s a funny feeling, his body below the knees hanging off the dock, suspended in the air. As if he’s on the threshold between worlds.
It would be so easy…
The shine of the moon reflects off the sea. Glimmering.
Being alive is tiring…
I’m tired.
It’s a common thought of his.
Living is tiring.
Nagi Seishirou, 18 years old. He graduated in March a couple months ago, he was still living in the student dorms because he has nowhere else to go, and living was still a pain. Seeing absolutely no reason for him to go, he skipped the graduation ceremony: it was like one day, he was in high school, and the next, he never had to go back. On that last day of class, Seishirou indifferently had to push his way through students clumping together to exchange sentimental farewells. He felt nothing; never really understood the motivations or passions or strong feelings of others anyway. School was a boring slog. Day after day after day, of pure nothing. Let it happen – again, and again, and again.
I’m so tired.
Why are his classmates so sad about leaving it behind? There’s objectively nothing to cry over. They would all be moving on; it wasn’t like this was a final goodbye for those who would remain friends. So why were they acting like it was the end of the world? That it would be so bittersweet to not see each other in class the next day?
I don’t wanna move.
There was something that his homeroom teacher said in his first year that Seishirou kinda remembers. Blah blah blah three years may seem long, but it’s actually short, something something, the job of high school students is to find their dreams… He had said that if you didn’t do anything with your time, it would be over in a blink of an eye. Seishirou can now safely deem it true– though it felt like a super long pain while going through it, at the end, Seishirou just felt like he woke up from a long nap. It was a pain, but it was over now, so; whatever.
On the last day of class, a group of girls were locked in a hug, rocking back and forth on their feet as they wailed about how much they would miss each other. Much like a ghostly spectator, Seishirou curiously floated by, wondering what pushed people to such extreme (messy) displays of emotion. Was human connection that strong? Strong enough to force tears and snot and choked creaky sounds from the holes of the human body. Maybe a weird way of putting it, but Seishirou thinks that’s accurate. Salty water running from eyes, sticky viscous substances from the nose, and words like I’m going to miss you so much pouring out of the throat… weird. Real weird.
Could I ever look like that?
Feelings look gross… and troublesome…
Seishirou just thought about going home to his bed as he walked past scenes similar to that, until he actually did get home and did exactly that. He had walked by proud parents taking many, many pictures of their diligent children. They smiled so much; basically radiating pride, which just served to bounce off and multiply off their kids and loved ones. So emotional and dramatic, the whole ordeal.... It would just be another day for Seishirou. He would start up his online courses for university so he could get that boring office job, retire early, and live an easy life– and that would be that, and Seishirou would be satisfied forever. Let it happen.
(A couple days later, Seishirou’s parents texted him congratulations. Seishirou only remembered to respond a few days later.)
Seishirou’s thoughts drift towards this life of his as he stares at rolling waves.
He would be okay with anything; he would be okay with nothing. It was a dull kind of pain. So it was basically nothing.
If only he could just sleep forever. Sleep, and never wake up. Sleep, and never have to take care of himself. Never have to feel hungry, so he would never have to eat. He’d never have to eat, so he’d never have to leave his bed. He’d never have to leave his bed. He’d never have to wake up. He’d never have to do anything ever again.
I wanna lie down…
When Nagi Seishirou falls into the ocean, he feels cold. A little more cold than earlier. He couldn’t tell you how it happened– if he made the choice to move or if the wind pushed him over or whatever. It was just that one moment, he was cold and numb, and the next; he was falling but still just cold and numb. Even in the icy water, Seishirou couldn’t bring himself to thrash about or anything. He just sinks; deeper and deeper. Doesn't fight it. Let it happen.
What a hassle, Seishirou thinks as his lungs get heavier. But it’s whatever.
His skin dances frantically with a prickling, warning, kind of sensation. It’s probably bad. It doesn’t feel good. It’s bad. It’s really bad. Sure… okay…
It hurts, like heavy stones are pushed onto his chest. Seishirou doesn’t fight it. Seishirou lets it happen. Seishirou might just close his eyes, and hope he doesn’t open them again– so he doesn’t have to return to the pain of the real world. He’ll take the heavy pain in his lungs, instead– breathe it in. Just let it happen, like everything else in his life. Let it happen…
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
Mikage Reo is pissed off at his parents. It’s not worth getting into– typical royal family merfolk business– because he’s just mad right now. He’s hot and blazing, and he wants to punch a hole into the seafloor and make a submarine volcano, and, and, and– man, he just wants to see something that will make him feel better. And what other place besides up could that be?
He’s tearing up the sea with how fast he swims– up, up, and up, desperately wanting to break through the surface of the water and experience that incredible world above, even if he can just only look at it. And by incredible world , he means the beautiful game. Don’t get him wrong! Everything else is pretty great! Like, um, land trees and flowers or whatever. But like, well… that game! The ones that humans play, with that ball thing. Reo’s obsessed with it. And no , he’s not talking about THAT ball game, the one where they hit the white ball into the air over that net– they usually play that one by the beach, to Reo’s annoyance. He’s trying to see the OTHER ball game, not this… this weird one, that wasn’t the other one. Reo didn’t really care about that one. He’s talking about the ball game where humans kick with their feet legs. Now that’s where it’s at. That was the beautiful game!! That one!!
Unfortunately, considering their tails and water physics, this was not exactly something Reo could bring into the local merfolk population. He’s tried. It wasn’t really working out. At least Zantetsu was nice enough to play along (or maybe just that stupid?), but it just wasn’t the same. Maybe that’s what made it so fascinating– Reo couldn’t really play this game like how the humans do. Their techniques, the footwork, the teamwork, the everything. It was so cool…
Just thinking about it has him feeling excited already! See? That was the power of the beautiful game.
So forgive him if Reo doesn’t see the sinking mass floating a few meters below the surface, and crashes right into it.
“-- Sweet mother of pearl – sorry! Didn’t see ya… there…”
Reo pokes at the mass, decidedly a living creature. “Uh… hello? Hellooooo? You good there?” Reo looks down at the fabric covered limbs on the lower half of this thing, a shoe covering one of its feet, while the other is just socked. Reo knows these terms because he is THAT smart, and definitely not obsessed with human culture or anything. Those are legs, aren’t they? Weird. Eh, probably just a human.
“...Hold on. A human?!” Reo realizes. He quickly swims over and grabs its face to look at him– it’s a boy his age, his eyes devoid of light, with no gills or anything at all. Looks pretty human. Smells pretty human. Tastes pretty human. Feels pretty human. He makes no sound, but this… was a human.
“...Humans can’t breathe underwater. Oh my cod, humans can’t breathe underwater!! ”
Reo doesn’t waste any second more. He grabs the boy, and takes him up there with him. The guy’s surprisingly light, but Reo doesn’t think much about it, more focused on saving whoever this is.
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
Seishirou wakes up suddenly, hacking water out of his lungs. He doesn’t feel so good. His limbs and clothes are too wet and heavy and he might be shivering and he might be dead, or dying, or something. It sucks. A lot. The whole coughing up water thing had made him tense up to do so, but now that that whole ordeal was over, he went back to laying down on the… ground. Huh. The ground? The shore. Sure. Shore. Sure…
There’s someone lying by him, Seishirou realizes with a squint. Moonlight caught in shades of iridescent violet. Scales. Gills. And stuff. Teeth? Sharp teeth. Predator teeth. Webbed hands, greenish purple, carefully hovering over him, eyes creased in a way that looks caring. The way he’s looking at Seishirou is unfamiliar. He looks… fascinated, worried, and awed– all in one.
I guess I made it to heaven?
But everything feels so uncomfortable.
What a hassle…
Seishirou closes his eyes again. He breathes, because he can now. Nobody says anything. You’d think the ocean would have a piece to contribute to this conversation, but no. It just waved.
Seishirou looks up at the sky; it’s clear now. It’s a dark, dark blue; and the moon is high. His body gives up on him; he couldn’t move even if he wanted to.
“Uh…” Oh. The angel can speak. Yeah, sure, okay. What’s up. Seishirou forgot to say that out loud. Oops.
“What, I don’t get a thank you ?” he jokes, and his voice sounds nice. It makes Seishirou wonder if he should look at him properly. Maybe open his eyes again. He almost does. Almost . “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
Seishirou answers because the other guy sounds like he’s going to panic. Is he alive? “I guess.”
“Oh, good. Wait, what do you mean you guess?!”
“Ehhhh.”
“What…?” He sounds flabbergasted. Hmm. “Hey– hey, you know, I just– I just saved you, you know? You know that, right?”
“...Why?” Seishirou asks, instead of saying something like thank you.
“Are you kidding? You were drowning. I wasn’t gonna let that happen– not on my watch.”
“Oh.”
“...”
“...”
“...Wow, you’re weird,” says the creature, sounding like he’s speaking more to himself despite the fact the sentence is addressed to Seishirou. Unless he is speaking to himself? Seishirou doesn’t know.
Seishirou opens his eyes. He exchanges a look with the fish humanoid before him. And he’s the weird one?
“You know what I mean,” fish guy snorts.
Seishirou looks at him.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Seishirou looks at him.
“...”
Seishirou looks at him.
“ This is getting a little embarrassing… ” the guy mumbles to no one in particular.
Seishirou looks at him.
“Okay, human!” he exclaims suddenly, grinning brightly and balling his hands into happy little fists. “Since I saved your life, you owe me now!”
“Are you a mermaid or something?”
“Are you just noticing that?” he scoffs in amusement. “Yes. There’s your answer.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, right. Wow. ”
“Wow…”
“Right.”
“Are you sure I’m not dead?”
“Like I said, I saved your life. So.”
“Hmm.”
Surprisingly, the fish guy’s enthusiasm doesn’t falter in the face of Seishirou’s indifference. “My name is Reo! I get the feeling you won’t tell me if I don’t ask, so, what’s your name?”
Seishirou doesn’t like how fast this guy caught on to his mindset. “...Nagi Seishirou.”
“Nagi. It’s nice to meet you.”
If you say so, Seishirou thinks. He doesn’t really know what he’s supposed to do now.
“Now,” Reo says, a mischievous glint in his eye. Uh oh. That couldn’t be good. “About that favor…”
“No.”
“No– I haven’t even said it yet!”
“Already sounds like a hassle…”
“Is everyone up here like this, or is this just a you thing?”
Seishirou shrugs.
Reo crosses his arms. “As I was saying… in exchange for saving your life, I want you to bring me a ball!”
“Oh… a fetch quest… those are annoying…”
“Did you hear what I said?”
Yes. “No.”
“I want you,” Reo says. “To bring me a– a ball. The– you know. I think you guys call it a truncated icosahedron?”
“What.”
“For– for the game that you play. With your feet legs. That you… kick.”
“...soccer?”
“Football?”
“Football.”
“Soccer.”
“Mm.”
“Okay, we’ll go with soccer. A soccer ball! Bring me one! Please!”
“ Why? ”
“Because I love soccer!”
Seishirou curls up on his side; he glances down at Reo’s tail, that of which the waves of the shore lap at. “You can’t even play soccer, can you? Why do you say that you love it?”
“Gee, I dunno,” Reo rolls his eyes. “Maybe ‘cause it’s like, the coolest thing ever?”
“So weird…”
“So then we’re both weird. Guess we’re even there,” Reo chuckles. “So? About it? Will you do it?”
“I don’t really wanna… it sounds like a pain.”
“What!? But I saved you!”
“You’re making it sound like you saved me just so you could do this…”
“I didn’t!” protests Reo. “I would’ve saved you anyway. I’m just taking advantage of the opportunity. It’s not everyday I see a human without being in a dangerous position. Whenever I go to the surface, it’s because I have to sneak away– and whenever I watch human activity, it has to be at a distance, otherwise… y’know.”
“How bothersome.”
“You could say that,” Reo huffs.
A moment passes. Seishirou is still laying down. Reo is still watching him curiously, like Seishirou’s a shellfish he found crawling around in the sand. Five minutes. It just might be the longest that anyone willingly stayed with Seishirou in a long time.
Reo breaks the silence; which was already broken by the conversation (crashing water sounds) the waves were having with itself. “What’s it like?”
Seishirou makes a slight sound of acknowledgement. Still lying down. Still drenched in a sopping wet hoodie. Still pathetic.
“Being human. What’s it like?”
Seishirou answers honestly. “I don’t know.”