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“Hey! Don’t go too far!”
You swam out onto the expanding sea, ignoring your mother’s half-hearted call, knowing that she trusted you enough to not get lost in the ocean.
You were at a small beach next to the cottage your family owned and sometimes camped at during the summer. The beach opened up to an expanse of blue that you loved, so you always spent your time swimming in the shore.
That day, there was a growing fog, but that didn’t deter you from swimming at the beach anyway. You quickly kicked your legs as much as you could for an eleven year old —travelling far, far into the cold ocean. After a while, your legs tired, and you stopped and trod. You looked around you and saw virtually nothing but the blue of the ocean and the gray sky contrasting with each other.
You looked down, and you could only see your thighs through the water. The rest of your legs disappeared inside the blackness of the ocean. You could’ve sworn the shore was right there. The waves pushed you lightly and bobbed you up and down.
You panicked. Where were you? Were you going to drown? What if you got tired and couldn’t swim anymore? You spun around frantically trying to remember which direction the shore was.
You had to calm down. Spinning around in circles wasn’t going to help anything. You closed your eyes and breathed in and out. Settled yourself.
When you opened them back up, you saw two brown eyes staring at you, right up close.
You yelped and fell back, just as the boy in front of you did the same, startled by your sudden sound.
He looked about your age, comparing him to how the boys your age looked. Most notable of all, he had pink hair. And a little bit of brown on the sides, too.
“Woah!” he said, eyes wide and full of wonder. “Are you a human?”
“Umm… yes?” You answer, eyeing his unusual hair, still wary of the random boy that popped up in the middle of the sea.
“Wow! That’s cool!” He said again, clearly not registering the suspicion on your face. “Two legs, right? Are they unstable when you walk? Can you go on land?”
Pelted by the sudden but obvious questions, you couldn’t help but get confused. Why was there a boy out here? And why was he asking questions about being a human?
“Uh– no, they’re not that unstable… and yeah, we can go on land…”
“So cool!” the boy repeated, not knowing much more vocabulary.
“Wait– how are you here?” You asked, “And how is your hair pink? Your parents let you dye it?”
He laughed brightly. “No! I was actually born with it! Crazy, right?!” He looked at you again with those curious brown eyes, full of energy. “And I’m here because you’re here. I think I saw something moving around here, and it turns out it was you. A human at that!”
Huh? What was he talking about? Why was he still going on about the human stuff? Was he… not one?
“How did you see me?” you asked, still confused.
The boy grins. “From the water, of course!”
“The water?” Now you were probably more confused than before.
He rambles on. “I live there! Wow, I’ve never seen a human before. My dad said that they didn’t really go out too far where we lived, but here you are! But then again, I guess I did swim pretty far away. I’ve only ever seen fishtails in my life, so I was like, super surprised when I saw something that looked like fingers but not quite, and–”
You started to put two and two together. A boy, talking about people like you as some foreign creature. And a boy who also appeared out of nowhere from within the water. Was he a—
You cut him off. “Fishtails?”
He laughed. “Yeah, fishtails! I’m a merman!”
“A merman?! They exist?!” You blurt out.
“Humans exist?!” He says back.
You both look at each other, with the same dumbfounded expression on your faces. And then he laughs. Just a little. A nose exhale. And soon, both of you were laughing out loud in the sea, marveling at each other’s existence.
“Have you seen the Little Mermaid?!” You asked, still laughing.
“No! Have you seen Legs on the Sand?!” He excitedly shares back.
“What?”
“What?!”
You both smile at each other, the wonder of discovering a myth in both your worlds amazing to your young minds.
Your legs, still treading, cramped up a little, reminding you of your situation. You grimace and look at him, wondering if he knew how to get back.
“Uh,” you start, suddenly realizing you never got his name.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know how to get back to the shore? I kinda got lost, and that’s how I ended up here in the first place,” you explained.
The pink-haired boy blinks twice and suddenly perks up, having found the answer to your request.
He points to your left.
“I’d say follow where the waves are heading. The fog is heavy today, but I’m pretty sure there’s land over there.”
You look towards the direction he was pointing, feeling unsure. Nevertheless, you trusted him.
“Thanks,” you smiled at him. “What’s your name?”
“Yuji Itadori! Merman from the ocean! What’s yours?”
“(name). Uh, human from the…land I guess? Nice meeting you!”
As you started to kick your legs up to swim in the direction Yuji pointed you at, you felt his hand grab your wrist.
“Wait– don’t go yet!”
You turned around, looking at him in his brown eyes.
“We should see each other again!” he smiled. It seemed like he never stopped smiling. “It’s my first time seeing a human, I don’t want it to be my last too!”
You nodded, silently agreeing with him. You also wanted to see more mermaids or mermen, especially after figuring out they were real.
“Sure, but where should we meet..?” You trail off. You were still in the middle of the ocean, the fog covering up any sort of landmark that could serve as a checkpoint for your meeting spot with Yuji.
Luckily, he had already thought of a solution. “Just swim until you can’t anymore! I’ll definitely see you and come right over!”
Not reassuring, but still a plan. You smile back at him, and he lets go of your wrist, getting what he wanted.
“I’ll see you around, Yuji!”
“You too, (name)!”
And so was your very first meeting with Yuji, the merman.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
The next year, you begged your mom to take you back to the oceanside cottage. Taken aback by how enthusiastic you were, she agreed.
You rushed over to the beach once you got there, quickly changing into your swimsuit and zipping away from the cottage before your parents could stop you from going out alone.
You faced the ocean, where you met your unusual friend and felt a pang of uncertainty. You haven’t visited Yuji in around a year. Would he even remember you? What if he never came looking?
The sky was clear, with no sign of anything that could dim your eyesight. You couldn’t have swum that far when you were nine, so you were fairly certain that you wouldn’t get lost in the ocean.
Taking a deep breath, you dove in. And swam. Pulling from the memories of the past year, you were pretty sure you just swam straight ahead from the shore when you found Yuji.
You continued swimming out, sometimes checking if the beach was at an okay-enough distance where you could still see it.
After some time, you stopped and trod. You looked around yourself, then down into the ocean, anxiety nibbling at your edges. There was no sign of life anywhere. What if that one time you saw him was the first and last? And you swam all the way here for nothing?
Intrusive thoughts swarmed your mind, threatening to drown you in the metaphorical water.
Then, suddenly, you heard a splash of water coming from in front of you. You looked up and saw a flash of pink before you got tackled by the hyper boy. You yelped as he laughed as you both splashed into the water.
“You came back!” Yuji exclaims, overjoyed at the sight of you.
“You remember me?” You say, smiling back.
He lets go of you, and you both float up to the surface.
“Of course I do! I’ve always been hanging around this area to see if you would come back!”
“Really?” You stammer, suddenly feeling guilty. You were only around this cottage during the summer. Was he here waiting for you during the entire year?
“I couldn’t pass up the chance that my favorite human would come back and see me, right?!”
You gulp and look at him, his energy blinding. You seemed dull around him.
“Favorite? I can’t be your favorite…”
He blinks at you. “Well. I don’t know any other humans. So you’re my favorite!”
You avert your eyes. “Thanks… I guess you’re my favorite merperson too.”
He grins as bright as the sun overhead.
Year after year, you continue to visit Yuji on the shore. Your parents were already tired of returning to this cottage every year, but you didn’t mind, as it was an excuse to see him.
He teaches you about merman culture, and in turn, you tell him about human culture. The food, the clothes, and the technology. You had cars, airplanes, and whatnot.
Yuji tells you about how they use currents and maybe the occasional dolphin as transportation. He becomes amazed by the wide selection of food you have and makes it his life goal to try a pizza one day.
He teaches you how to properly swim, and it surprisingly helped a lot even if you didn’t have a tail replacing your legs. Wanting to not tire you all the time, Yuji personally took it upon himself to find a nice spot, and he did. A small place hidden behind a large rock, where you could sit and talk while Yuji waded in the water.
You, personally, thought Yuji had so much energy and really couldn’t believe that he was always this excited to see you. You seemed dull around him.
What you loved most about him was that he never let you go quiet in a conversation and always made a point to ask you questions so that it wasn’t just a one-sided dialogue of him just talking and talking. You always felt that he genuinely cared, which warmed your heart to the bone.
You both grew up alongside each other. Learned new things and learned new feelings. You couldn’t deny that you liked him a little. He was your little secret, one that you kept from all your friends. No one would believe you if you said you were friends with a merperson.
So you never mentioned it to anybody. He was something only for you to enjoy, to pine in secret. A reason for you to count down the days to go to your family cottage.
However, a part of you still feels sad.
He was a merman, and you were a human. You were from two separate worlds. How could you ever date?
So you kept that little crush deep inside your heart, focusing on enjoying the limited time you could have.
Despite being older, Yuji always kept that same energy you loved. You were scared you would get too boring for him, a concern you always had since you two had regularly started to see each other.
One summer, you were packing as usual for your yearly trip to the cottage.
When you were finished, you went to the kitchen, trying to find a bite of food while your mom was there washing the dishes.
“Oh, yeah, (name,) I wanted to tell you that this year will be the last year we’ll be going to our cottage.” Your mom says casually, as if not dropping the biggest bombshell ever.
At first, you don’t even register her words. Just stood there, looking at her.
Then it sinks in. “What..? Why?”
Your mother looks up at you. “Well, we’ve already been going there for so many years now, and your father and I both sold it already. Don’t you think we’ve spent our time there well enough?”
You stare at her, eyes wide as you try to process her words.
Your last time at the cottage. Your last time seeing Yuji.
The cottage really wasn’t too important for you, but he was. You couldn’t bear the thought of losing him, someone that you looked forward to every summer, slugging through the school year waiting for it to end.
“Oh,” you mutter. Your mom smiles at you, pleased that you didn’t make any protest.
You make your way back into your room. You knew it was pointless to beg your parents to stay at the cottage. And yes, they were right. The cottage had served its purpose for your family, and it was a nice way to get a little extra cash back. It’s rational. It’s reasonable.
However, you didn’t want to lose it, purely out of your own selfish desire of not getting to see Yuji again.
You breathe in, trying to hold back your irrational tears from falling.
Guess you’d just have to make this one a lot more memorable with him.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
As your parents pulled into the driveway of the cottage, you stared solemnly out the window, contemplating on how to explain your situation to Yuji. It felt like pain to leave him, after all those years of friendship you had. He was the most special secret you ever kept, and now because of a decision you had no say in, you would have to lose him.
Once you unpacked and got changed, you headed over to the beach as always. Your parents were already used to you spending hours at a time at the beach, so they never worried or questioned. You always came back, after all.
You saw Yuji again, and he was always there, always waiting for you. You felt guilty for leaving him. Every time you looked at him, your heart pangs. Just a little. As if the tiny crush you hid inside there throbbed.
He noticed your hesitance, the guilty look on your face. Of course he did; he always paid attention to you no matter what. Since the day you first met.
“(name), why aren’t you looking at me?” he asks, clearly worried.
The question only makes you divert your gaze even further. You didn’t want to spill the truth to him just yet.
“Nothing, actually it’s just…”
You take a deep breath.
But your voice failed you; the words stuck in the back of your throat.
“I-I’ll tell you on my last day,” you sputter out, your mouth subconsciously hiding the truth.
He nods and doesn’t push it any further. He was just so understanding. It really did make you want to ugly cry at the world for not being able to have him. He continues the conversation, a year’s worth of memories to catch up on and share. You smile. He smiles back.
On the last day, you walked into the cold water, the warmth of the summer sun contrasting it nicely. You looked around you, taking in everything as it was your last time.
You swim towards the spot he found for you two all those years ago. Today would be your last day with it, however.
You sat on the rock, thinking about how you would deliver the truth while you were waiting for Yuji. You wanted to be blunt and straightforward and not waste anyone’s time. But you were scared of hurting his feelings, of making it feel like you never cared at all. You cared. You cared a little too much.
Lost in your thoughts, the splash of his head popping out from the water pulled you back in. He smiled at you with those warm brown eyes again.
“Hey, (name)! What’s up!”
You smiled weakly, returning his enthusiastic greeting with your listless one. He immediately gauges your mood and drops to a more serious demeanor. You loved that about him. How he could light up your day but always know when you were sad to comfort you or drop to a more serious tone whenever the conversation called for it. It felt so refreshing after being around so many people who never understood your emotions, thinking that you were being rude for being tired all the time and not putting effort into your responses.
He understood you like no other human did, and maybe that was because he wasn’t. And you would have to leave him today.
You take a deep breath in.
“Today will be the last time I’m here.”
Silence stretched between the two of you, Yuji letting the words sink in.
“You’re…not coming back next year? Or at all?” he says tentatively.
You nod solemnly, not finding it in you to talk.
“Oh,” he says, after a bit. Just oh.
The only thing both of you could hear was the waves crashing onto the rocks.
“I’m sorry.”
“No,” he replies almost instantly, finally looking at you again. “Don’t apologize, please! I just…”
He exhales. “Why?”
At least you can give an answer to that question.
“My parents sold the cottage that we stay in during each trip and said that I already had my fun here. Said it was boring to go back each year again and again.”
He nodded, pretending to understand even if he didn’t. Even he couldn’t hide the sorrow on his face.
“I’m sorry,” you say again, hoping that it fixes the wounds you just caused.
He doesn’t reply. Why should he? Tears were beginning to form, burning the back of your eyes.
You felt a hand grab yours. His hand. It took you by surprise, but you didn’t want to look at him, even if he was holding your hand.
Then, he yanked you into the water. Hard.
You yelped, the coldness of the water shocking you as you splashed into the sea with him. He laughed as he helped you up above the water.
“Yuji, what’s this about?” You say, finally looking at him for answers.
“Well,” he smiled. “If this is gonna be my last time seeing you, I want to at least show you something.”
His gaze dropped to his own chest, and you can see his face pale just a little. “Shoot! I forgot it!” He panicked. It was your turn to subtly laugh at him.
“Wait here! I’ll be back in five—no, three!” He hurriedly swam away, leaving you in the dust and pretty confused.
After two minutes and fifty-three seconds, Yuji returns, breathless but with a necklace with a tiny bottle as the sole decoration for it.
Before you could ask what it was, he undid the cork of the small bottle and handed it to you.
“Drink,” he pants, still out of breath.
You take the bottle out of his hands while eyeing him suspiciously. “Uhh, what even is it?”
“It’s a potion to breathe underwater. Drink it.”
You eye the contents of the bottle. There was about 5 mL of clear liquid inside the bottle. Deciding to trust Yuji that it won’t automatically kill you, you swallow it down. It didn’t taste like anything, but it still made a nasty impression on your lungs.
“Blegh,” you cough out, handing the bottle back to Yuji. “What now?”
“Follow me!”
He dives into the water, tail flicking upwards and propelling his body forward. You didn’t want to get left behind nor lose sight of where he was going, so you rushed in afterwards, your legs kicking as hard as they could. You held your breath as instinct, but soon after realized that the potion had worked, and you really were breathing underwater. It felt just as normal as breathing in regular air.
Before you even realized that you lost sight of him, Yuji appeared right next to you, having swum back to check on you.
“Gosh, humans really are slow underwater,” he says, grabbing your arm and dragging you along faster than what your legs could kick.
“My legs were made for walking, not swimming,” you retort back playfully. “And you’re not even a good comparison—didn’t you win mermaid track and field?”
“It’s called tide and glide, actually. And it rhymes, so it’s automatically better than your sport for it.”
You roll your eyes. Banter like this wasn’t too out of the ordinary for both of you.
Your stomach drops suddenly, reminding you that this was the last time you could banter with him again. Really? At a time like this?
You decided to focus on Yuji’s arm around yours, dragging you through the sea, his body exuding warmth. Yuji pointed at structures, showing off the architecture that really was as pretty as he described it to be. Long, stable arches that resemble the ones you saw in pictures stood towering above the coral, vines of seaweed decorating the pillar. Schools of colorful fish you have never even seen before swim in the vicinity. You two were deep in the ocean. He showed you around his own world, wanting to at least give you a view before you left.
Finally, Yuji stops right before a ruin. You could see the once majestic pillars crumbling away from forgetfulness, the cracks in the stone never filled in by negligence. You wonder why Yuji brought you here. He detaches himself from you and floats in front of you so that you two are now face to face.
“(name), I know this sounds super, super sudden and weird, but,” he pauses. “Since this is your last day, I guess I have to do it…”
“Do what?” you ask.
He clears his throat. He obviously felt just as awkward as the situation he brought the two of you in, a hint of red creeping up on his cheeks.
“So, in my mind, when the time came, I would bring you underwater and show you everything and what the merfolk world looked like, blah blah blah,” he rambles on. “But, I didn’t know that the time would come so soon, so I never really planned what I would do fully, and now it’s awkward because I don’t know how to transition from idea A to idea B, so really this whole time I’ve been basically winging it, and—”
You cut him off and put your hands on his shoulders. “Yuji, slow down. What are you talking about?”
“Can I kiss you?”
You stop breathing momentarily, his question throwing you off. Very off. Even if it was a quiet desire you buried within yourself for years.
You can see his face flood with panic when you don’t respond, and he starts rambling again as he does when he gets nervous.
“Of course—well, if you want to—Oh my gosh, (name), I’m so sorry if you don’t like me—I—sorry, I’m just super lame, but I always kinda maybe wanted to kiss you a little, but—”
His words get muffled by your mouth as you move forward, cup his cheeks inside your hands, and kiss him, shutting him up before he self-destructs again.
Although he was initially surprised at first, he leaned into the kiss, putting his hands on your waist to pull you an inch closer, his whole body buzzing, as if his cells knew that yes, this was the right person.
Your heartbeat was thudding in your ears, going so fast, but all you could think of was his lips between yours.
When you both pulled away, breathless, you looked at him again. Really took him in.
And Yuji, red in the cheeks, flashed you the brightest smile you had ever seen from him.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
When you both returned to your usual hangout spot, cheeks flushed, you knew it was time for your goodbye.
Even if you wanted to cry, wanted to hold onto him until the ocean dried up, and wanted to beg no one in particular to stay in the water for one more minute, you couldn’t. You weren’t a child anymore.
“We’ll see each other again one day, yeah?” Yuji whispered as you hugged him tight. You weren’t sure if he was being serious, but dear god, you hoped that he would be right. That you really could feel him around your arms, feel his lips within yours again.
You left the beach, not daring to look back. If you did, you would’ve seen his hand waving goodbye to you as the sun set.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
Three decades later, when you have your own house, your own job, and your own car, living a rather steady life, you remember something strange from your young adult years.
Of course, years of pouring yourself into academic success and hard work dulled some of the old memories, but you still couldn’t shake off the feeling of missing something. It was just in your grasp, but you couldn’t reach for it, since you didn’t know what it was.
The answer came to you in a dream.
An oceanside cottage. A beach. The cold water and a boy with pink hair he said he was born with. A small corner between two rocks that hid the two of you. A fishtail. His laugh, your tears. The majestic white pillars and the colorful corals and fish straight out of books swimming around the two of you. The ruins and the kiss you shared underwater.
It was all coming back to you. What was his name now? Where was he? Would he remember you?
You woke up after the dream on a Saturday morning, determined to find answers.
Looking through your old camera roll filled with pictures from back when your parents still took photos of you, a cottage that looked familiar kept on appearing every summer. You saw a photo of you on the exact beach that appeared in your dreams, and it clicked.
You got up, changed, and set your GPS for the address of the old cottage resort in old pictures. Luckily, the picture came with the location attached to it.
During the drive, you wondered about the cottage or the beach. A lot can change in thirty years. Maybe the cottage got demolished or renovated. Maybe that small area got bought out, and it turned into a huge apartment complex. Or maybe it stayed the same, the owners still using it each year.
Thankfully, the cottage was still there, as was the resort.
As you parked your car along the edge of each property, you took the whole scene in, nostalgia hitting you everywhere you looked. The cottage you visited every year felt more used, proof that the people your parents sold it to really did take the cottage to your advantage.
But the building wasn’t your focus.
You walked around the gravel route, trying to remember where the beach that you had always visited was. Where was the boy that you remember yourself loving but couldn’t remember his name or face?
You stopped. A clearing that felt strangely too familiar presented itself in front of you. The sky was cloudy. You remembered sunnier days and maybe cleaner waters and a prettier beach.
But you trusted your gut, not your eyes.
You dipped your toe in the tide, the cold water greeting you. It felt almost like a welcome. Welcome back, it said. We haven’t felt you for a long time. But we remember.
You walked deeper into the water until your feet could no longer reach the ground. So, you swam. You spotted a bundle of rocks together and decided to swim to them. A checkpoint.
You swam over to the rocks, which were in fact the hangout spot that you and the boy had agreed upon. Now, the stone had eroded, leaving it softer to sit on but shorter and weaker. It wouldn’t hide the two of you anymore.
It was peaceful. Hidden away from society was this tiny sanctuary. The waves were gentle, and the sun was lowering into a burst of color for those with the appreciation to stop and see.
But no matter how pinterest-worthy the scene looked, it felt like it was missing something.
The bright laugh. His toothy smile. And the pink hair.
You sighed. The sun was only continuing to lower, and you didn’t even know what you were waiting for. Maybe your dream was imagining the boy, and it only brought you here to relive your childhood. Who was born with pink hair?
By now, your body had completely dried from swimming, and you were reluctant to go back in the water.
Closing your eyes and gritting your teeth, you put both your legs inside the water, preparing to hop off, just as—
“(name)?”
The sudden call of your name startled you, and you gasped, slipped, and plunged completely into the water.
But before you could float up yourself, strong hands grabbed your waist and lifted you out of the water.
And the one holding you was a man—not a boy anymore—with pink hair and brown eyes and a few scars on his face.
Waves of memories suddenly flooded through your brain, like a broken dam. The talks, the secret crush, the jokes, everything.
“Yuji?” you asked, voice shaking.
It takes a lot for a man like Yuji to cry. He’d endured hardships, a full-blown war, and a demon living inside of him, but this, having you in his arms again, even he couldn’t stop—didn’t want to stop—the tears that filled his eyes.
“You’re back,” he says, voice filled with the longing he hid for decades.
And you, the human he randomly met when he was still a child, when he was naive and helpless. The human that left him but promised she’d return. Left him wishing that he was a human so he could be together with her at all times.
Here she was, in his arms.
“I’m back.”