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Sua had never been good with people, nor had she ever allowed that fact to bother her. She had been quiet and reserved even since her earliest childhood, never building friendships with her peers, always keeping herself to a desolate corner; it was calmer that way, allowing her to read in peace, or zoning out as the hours went by and it was time for her to leave school and return her house. Eventual, brief-lasting friendships built on mutual silence had been built—still, she had never cared too much about those either. Loneliness was fitting to her, comfortable, unlike many adults made it out to be. Still, upon moving into her new town, starting anew in a new middle school, for whatever reason it might be, Sua found herself breaking that cycle.
Till and Ivan were a curious pair, an odd mixture between enemies, friends, rivals, and a quarreling couple at the brink of divorce. They were noisy, but Sua guessed there was a certain entertainment to be found whenever they ran their mouths off, bickering with each other, until Till eventually ran away at the brink of tears. Sua was a third wheel, looking at them silently as they bounced mocking and angry words amidst each other like a tennis match. The role of an spectator to their disastrous pair was a welcomed change, though (but if she were to be honest, she was quite sure that her presence was often forgotten).
“Sua,” Till had said, on one of the rare occasions they turned to talk to her. “Do you miss Tokyo?” he asked.
They had been sitting on the floor at the end of the classroom, Sua quietly sipping on her orange juice box as she listened to them go off on another argument—it was about some anime plot this time; Sua had not watched it, nor had she any particular interest in doing so.
“Not really,” she answered honestly in a quiet voice as she looked at him with a blank expression.
“For real?!” Till continued to ask, seemingly bewildered by her response. “But Tokyo’s so cool! Everyone always talks about Shibuya having everything! Don’t you find this place boring when compared to that?”
Sua shook her head. “It’s noisy there, and I don’t leave my house much anyways.”
“But don’t you at the very least miss your friends?”
She didn’t even bother answering that last question; she gave him a deadpan glance. From his tense reaction, Sua could guess that he had understood the message. Ivan, who had been unusually quiet until that point, chuckled.
“Then you like this place, don’t you, Sua?” he asked, his tone a bit too cheeky; perhaps using the question to prove a point to Till.
“I like it enough,” she, once again, answered honestly. “The beach is nice.”
“Really?!” Till butted in, scowling, eager to keep on fighting for whatever posture he was defending. Sua didn’t quite know what the questions were about anyways. “But the waves are so strong! It’s very rocky too! You can’t even swim there!”
“I don’t like swimming,” Sua explained. “But the view is pretty enough, and it's a nice place to go for a walk on.”
Ivan laughed once more, a bit louder this time. “It is, isn’t it? It’s pretty nice there, as long as you don’t walk into the caves.”
Ivan’s tone lowered upon that last statement, a darker glint shining in his eyes. Sua frowned. For the first time in the entirety of the conversation, her interest had been piqued. She frowned, giving them an inquisitive look. “What’s wrong with the caves?”
A mischievous, witty glint took over Ivan’s eyes, although it was not he who would come to answer Sua’s question. “That’s where the mermaid appears!” Till hurriedly exclaimed, eyes wide like two circles, in a fascinated expression.
Without even noticing, a small, surprised hum escaped Sua’s lips, her own eyes widening slightly as well. “The mermaid?” she wondered, taken aback.
“It’s a local tale,” Ivan answered with a smirk. “A vengeful mermaid hiding in the waters, seeking incautious humans to lure into her trap… and eat them! ”
“Cut it Ivan!” Till shouted, his usual scowl returning to his brows. “The mermaid does not eat people!”
“And what about the children gone missing?” Ivan pointed in return.
Sua froze, her body tensing for less than an instant. She felt her blood growing cold. Her reaction, however, appeared to go unnoticed by her two companions.
“Well, they were found in one piece, weren’t they? That means she couldn’t have eaten them!”
“Children gone missing?” Sua interrupted, making an active effort to be part of the conversation perhaps for the first time since they had met.
“Every few decades a child goes missing at the beach,” Ivan provided. “They vanish from everyone’s sight for a few days, and then are found in the cave, drowned .”
Sua broke eye contact, allowing herself to sink in deep thought as a small gap formed between her lips. She had never been the scaredy type, neither was she one to engage in urban legends. For an instant she even scolded herself for allowing this one in particular to capture her attention—middle school boys were hardly a trustable source when it came to collecting facts. However, there was an odd feeling in her chest that time, an intuition, perhaps, that forced her to listen.
“Well, we don’t know if she’s the one that kills them!” Till argued in the mermaid’s defense, clearly displeased with Ivan’s description. “What if she’s the one that finds them and brings them back home?”
As usual, Till’s temperament only seem to amuse Ivan further. He ignored him, turning to Sua instead. “Till claims to have seen the mermaid once. He swallowed too much sea water.”
“I did see her, though!” Till broke in, cheeks red in what Sua presumed to be a mixture of shame and rage. “She was there! In the water! She had very pink hair, and a pink tail and went underwater as soon as she saw me!”
But Till’s arguments were for naught, for they only seemed to elicit Ivan’s laughter. “Sounds like your face was so ugly she didn’t even want to eat you!”
“I’m telling you she doesn’t eat people!”
With lots to think about, Sua zoned out of the conversation.
***
Out of the few things her new town had to offer, the beach had been the one that got Sua’s attention the fastest. She had been to beaches before, whenever her parents felt like making the most of the summer and going outside the city to sit on towels under the scorching sun seemed like the best decision. She didn’t like those beaches, though; lots of people had the same idea, and the place became noisy and crowded with children and music, stopping Sua from getting her much desired peace.
This beach, however, was small and empty, allowing only the sound of the waves crushing and the seagulls crying to be heard. Sua could walk through for hours on end, getting lost in the sounds, allowing her mind to drift as she took in the salty scent of the air.
It was on her very first walk that she reached the caves, ventured inside of them, and found the mermaid. She had been singing to herself when Sua walked in—her voice was beautiful, and it echoed through the stone walls in a way that made it feel almost ethereal. For a moment, Sua feared that stories about mermaids out in the ocean could be true, and that she’d be charmed into an imminent death once the song’s spell took over her will. Still, no such thing happened, and Sua remained quiet and still atop a rock, watching the mermaid’s long, pink hair as it flowed atop the water’s currents.
About a minute later, the mermaid noticed her presence with wide eyes and a surprised expression. Sua, too, looked at her with a similar face. “I–I’m sorry,” she immediately blurted. I didn’t mean to pry, I just—“
She fell quiet, stumbling on her own words until there were no more of those to say within her nervous mind—had she had any quicker reflexes, perhaps she would have run away, more in embarrassment than in fear. Before she could even think about it, though, the mermaid smiled at her.
“Hello! Were you listening?” she asked, her tone friendly, kind. Surprising, although Sua was not too sure what she had been expecting anyways.
Sua shied out, shrinking in place as she lowered her face to hide her gaze from the mermaid, then nodded.
“Did you like it?” the mermaid then asked, beaming in expectation.
According to the tales she had read, mermaids were treacherous and deadly. This one, however, struck Sua as more of a puppy; gazing up at her as if her appearance was the best thing in the whole world. For an instant, she wondered if she should just turn around and leave. However, she could not quite bring herself to turn away from such a bright smile.
She ended up nodding again. “It was—Uhm… Your voice is very pretty.”
The mermaid’s gaze lit up and her smile widen, visibly elated by Sua’s positive commentary, before leaning in closer against the rocky surface. “My name is Mizi!” she exclaimed enthusiastically.
“Sua…” the human girl sheepishly responded.
“Well, nice to meet you, Sua!” the mermaid continued. “I hope that we can become good friends!”
***
The day after her conversation with Till and Ivan, Sua hesitated about walking into the cave. Never had Sua caught in Mizi’s behavior any signs of treachery; her gaze was always filled with genuine affection and excitement whenever Sua came near. She had thought the mermaid to be like an open book, her face a crystal clear reflection of everything she thought and felt. After hearing the stories, however, Sua began to wonder if she was being played on. Ancient sailor tales described mermaids as cunning, dangerous beings, capable of fooling human senses and luring them into their demise. Was Mizi’s innocence nothing but an act? Was she just waiting for an opportunity to strike?
Feeling too bad about leaving the mermaid standing, even with fear and doubts in her mind, Sua walked into the cave—she was more careful this time. Her steps were slow, hesitant, and avoided coming too close to the water surface, choosing to stay on higher rocks, closer to the exit.
Mizi’s eyes met her face with the usual excitement. “Sua!” her voice rang, as energetic and melodic as ever. “I was waiting for you! You took longer than usual today, were you busy?”
A pang of guilt struck Sua’s heart at the sight of Mizi’s happiness. She had not yet said a word about the rumors she’d heard, and yet, even the fact that they were present in her head was enough to make Sua feel like a foul being. She briefly considered letting go of her apprehensions and walk closer to Mizi, closer to the water; although, in the end, she remained on her spot, keeping her distance, just in case.
“Yeah, I had homework,” she lied.
“Oh! Homework!” Mizi repeated. “That’s the thing they give you at school, right? Was it long? Or too difficult? What did you have to do?”
Questions came fire one after the other like shot by a machine gun, making Sua slightly uneasy. Then again, it made sense for Mizi not to understand the concept of homework—did mermaids even have schools in the first place?
“Math,” Sua answered briefly, lowering her gaze. She had never been the most talkative amidst the two, but that day, she found it especially harder to hold a proper conversation.
“Oh, I don’t know anything about that,” Mizi commented, her expression not changing in the slightest. “I hope it’s fun, though.”
Sua did not even try to provide an answer to that, and instead kept to herself. There was an uncomfortable weight in her chest as she curled onto herself at the top of a rock, looking at the seafoam floating atop the water instead of the mermaid. Her thoughts were loud, persistent, frightening. She had questions, endless of them, but was afraid of asking them—she was not sure whether it was the Mizi’s reaction she feared, or the answers she might have gotten.
“You look sad today,” Mizi eventually said, forcing Sua’s head to snap up before she could even realize it. Her eyes met Mizi’s softened gaze, her brows arching in concern as she pouted slightly. “Is it because of your homework?”
Had it been another time, Sua would perhaps have laughed at her theory. “No, Mizi, it's not—” she stopped, going silent once again as she thought over her next words. “Nevermind, don’t worry about it. How have you been?”
That simple question had appeared to be enough to lure Mizi’s attention out of the gloomier topic. She perked up, eyes sparkling, as her torso practically sprung atop the water’s surface and onto the rocky cavern floor. “I’ve been looking at the jellyfishes!” she exclaimed, bursting with enthusiasm.
For a few seconds, Sua found herself out of words.
“Jellyfishes?” she managed to ask.
“Yes!” Mizi proceeded, her tail now out of the water, fins swinging from side to side—far too much like a puppy. “They come near this area around this time. There’s lots of them! They are pink! And shiny! Swimming with them feels like entering another world! Would you like to see them?”
Sua tensed upon hearing that last question, unsure as to how to reject her proposal. “I, uhm— No thanks,” she managed, stuttering as she withdrew her gaze to the side. “Maybe some other time. I’m… I’m kind of tired today.”
“Oh,” Mizi responded, deflating at the negative answer. “Right. Humans sleep a lot, right?”
“Do we?” Sua asked curiously. Coming to think of it, she had never seen Mizi doing so much as yawning. She took another small pause as yet another question dawned in on her. “Do you not need to sleep, Mizi?”
“Oh, I do sleep. But humans sleep a lot more. I wonder if you find it fun.”
Sua tilted her head in thought. Fun. Mizi’s life appeared to revolve around the concept of fun. It must have been a nice existence. Was sleeping fun, though? Sua could not quite tell. It was nice, she guessed, to turn off your mind and surrender into exhaustion. Still, she didn’t know if it was the kind of thing she’d call fun. “I guess,” she then said, quietly.
***
Sua kept on visiting Mizi on a daily basis, but never again did she approach the water surface when in her presence. Doubt had been ingrained in her mind, and everyday as she walked into the cave, a small part of her wondered if it was about to become the last.
Mizi, however, made it hard for Sua to be able to stop visiting. Her cheerfulness and enthusiasm were contagious, her conversations fun and interesting. Sua had found herself more attached to Mizi than to any human she had ever met. It was easy to follow Mizi’s words, to laugh at her innocent ignorance. Whenever Sua walked in and Mizi’s golden eyes rose up to hers shining like the sun, it became impossible for her to think of the creature before her as a potential murderer—Mizi was just too pure to have any evil intent.
Day after day was spent with Sua counting the hours until she could walk through the beach and into the caves to meet Mizi. It was as if her sole existence had made Sua’s world brighter—she could be careful around her, but could not bring herself to cut her out of her life completely. Mizi felt far too ingrained to her routine by then, to part from her would be to deny herself of the best part of her day.
Throughout the following week, Mizi did not stop talking about the jellyfishes. It appeared to be all she could possibly think about. She went on endlessly about how wonderful it was to swim around them, or allow their soothing movements to lull her mind into a state of quiet. Sua, personally, found the whole thing mildly concerning. Jellyfish stings were a dangerous thing as far as she was aware, was Mizi being careful enough? Or was her mermaid skin immune to them? She had guessed that Mizi probably knew the dangers of underwater creatures better than she did, but as the worrisome girl she was, Sua couldn’t help but grow a little anxious.
Her heartbeat spiked the day she walked into the cave hearing sobs echoing through the rocky walls. She immediately dropped her bag as she dashed towards the sound faster than she ever had, until her eyes met the curled up figure of Mizi, crying loudly against one of the rocks as she hugged her own torso tightly between her arms..
“Mizi!” she screamed, speedily marching towards her until she reached her side; her shoes were swallowed in by a wave of water, the sudden rush of cold sending shivers up her spine. She didn’t move, though, her attention fixed on Mizi’s unusual state.
“Sua?” Mizi asked, ceasing her crying for a second as she rose her head and unveiled her face from the bright, pink curtain of her hair. Her eyes were red and swollen with tears, her chin quivering.
“Mizi, what happened?!”
The mermaid’s golden gaze shied away in fear. It was out of character for her; she usually kept eye contact for eternity, her eyes wide and eager to catch every twitch and turn of Sua’s face. It gave Sua an unpleasant feeling, it made her feel sick.
“I tried bringing a jellyfish for you to see…” Mizi said a sniffle interrupting her statement. “But then my arm started hurting so much I had to let go, and it floated away… I’m sorry…”
“What— You said your arm hurt?”
Sua did not even wait for a response before she was grabbing Mizi’s wrists and yanking her arms towards her. That’s when she saw what the mermaid had meant. Her left forearm was red all over, hives and marks covering from her elbow all the way to the lower half of her palm. Mizi whined at Sua’s grip, biting her lip as her eyes shut closed and her muscles tensed, visibly in pain. Sua let go.
“Did the jellyfish sting you?” she continued to interrogate.
“Sua… I’m sorry…” she whimpered, “I really wanted to show it to you…”
“You—!” Sua almost burst, grabbing Mizi’s cold cheeks within her hands as tears of her own began forming at the corners of her eyes. “I don’t need you to bring me anything! Much less if it’s going to harm you!”
“Sua…” Mizi repeated, face contorting again right before digging into the crook of Sua’s neck. She cried, moaning and screaming loudly as her healthy arm clung onto the girl like a lifeline. Sua felt as the water dripping from Mizi’s dampened her school uniform, soaking into her skin, but she ignored the cold, instead holding Mizi tightly in her arms as she whispered in her ears.
“It’s alright… It’s alright, Mizi… I’ll be here… You’ll be fine…”
Only later that day, once Mizi’s sobs had subsided and she was left lying limp and calm within her hold, did Sua realize she had broken her own rule of not approaching the water’s surface.
***
Sua was never cautious around Mizi after that day. She walked into the cave and sat as close as she could without getting wet. Mizi was not dangerous, after all—Sua had officially decided that. The topic of jellyfishes, too, was left behind. Instead, Mizi listened to Sua talk about her school life, or waited patiently to be shown new songs that they could learn to sing. Then, they harmonized; it was incredibly easy to make their voices tune in with one another in perfect coordination, as if they had always meant to be that way. Sua had started to think that if she were to find a soulmate in her life, it would be Mizi.
“The jellyfishes will be leaving soon,” Mizi murmured one day.
She had not been looking at Sua the time she said that, instead keeping her gaze lost somewhere in the horizon, leaving the human girl unable to see what kind of expression she had made. Her fingers played around with the tips of her hair, shoulders hunched forward. Sua wondered if the reason why she didn’t talk about jellyfishes anymore was because she was embarrassed.
“Oh,” Sua muttered, hugging her own knees. “That’s a shame. You really like them, don’t you?”
Mizi nodded, timidly. “They’re very pretty.”
“You sure make them sound that way,” Sua commented in a sigh. “I kind of wish I had seen them.”
It took less than an instant for Sua to realize that saying that had been a mistake. “You don’t have to bring one to me,” she rushed to clarify, firmly and loudly. She had interrupted Mizi, who had already turned to her, with her mouth open to speak.
The mermaid immediately pouted at the statement, evidently disappointed. Still, she recovered quickly, perking up and smiling widely as her face came dangerously close to her. “Oh, I know, then! I can show them to you myself!”
“What? What do you me—” This time around, Mizi did not even wait enough for Sua to finish her question. She wrapped her hands around her arm and pulled from it with astounding strength. Sua tried to protest—a scream came out of her mouth as she tried to stop her, but it soon drowned as her body was pulled into the ocean and her mouth filled with salty water. Her instincts betrayed her as her nose attempted to breathe, only making herself hurt when no air came in.
“Y… L…ve th… m…” she could hear Mizi speak, her voice reverberating strangely through the water, far too muffled for Sua’s ears to understand. The mermaid ignored her struggling—or rather, remained oblivious to it; Sua could feel her pulling her body deeper into the water, her pink hair filling her sight as it swayed from side to side as she swam.
Sua’s chest hurt. Her head felt like it was being torn in half. A dark cloud began to cover the edges of her view. She wanted to cry, to yell at Mizi to stop— you’re killing me, she would have said, but there was no air for her words to come out, no strength to try to make it evident either.
The last thing she saw before the world went dark was the sight of white and pink dancing around her.
Jellyfishes truly were beautiful.
***
“Sua, did you like the jellyfishes?”
The only answer Mizi got to her question was the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the rocky cavern. Sua lied still and unmoving, her body resting peacefully atop the floor. Mizi sat by her side, watching her intently, awaiting for any form of reaction.
After a couple minutes, however, she turned her face away. “I see. Swimming is very tiring for humans, isn’t it? You probably need some sleep.”
She jumped onto the water, sinking into it, before allowing her head to emerge back up, right by Sua’s. “Sweet dreams, Sua. Let’s hang out again when you wake up.”
With that being said, Mizi dived into the water. She still had a few more days to swim amidst the jellyfishes.