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echantedtoon · 4 months ago

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Ocean Deep Ch16 Miscommunications And Escape Plans

(Warnings: Mentioning of Yn's wounds and Koyuki's illness.

I bring food to all you Tengen simps. Also a quick recap of the Mers fish tails because someone asked me to add them as they forgot. I also included the other boys so everyone's caught up.

Kyojuro is a lionfish mer such as the one drawn by yuki2sksksk linked below.

Tengen would be a white butterfly koi fish mer.

Makio is a Golden Dragon Koi mer

Suma is a (all blue) Halfmoon Betta Fish mer

Hinatsuru is a Strawberry Peacock Cichlid mer

Giyuu is a Demanson's Cichlid mer purely because I think the colors match him perfectly.

Sanemi and his family are bullshark mers and look like the link below. Same artist who drew the Mer Kyojuro.

Akaza is a Betta Fish mer also by the same artist linked below.

And Finally Obanai is a Coral Reef Snake mer specially the black and white version.

taglist: @six-eyed-samurai @lavenderdrxp @jjamsbangtan @camilo-uwu @hopefulworld1

@shadyd3ar @amypop122 @azuredragonstrike

@mimisweetz @chaoticoperatorduckhairdo @staarflowerr @aleee-386 @summrwalkr

@nicora04 @miniverse-zen

Remember if you want to be added to the tag list lemme know.

Your eyes widened.

A pair of puckered lips came at you-

And warmth hot your face as your hands quickly covered your mouth and Tengen ended up kissing the back of your hands. The feeling of something that wasn't your lips caused him to blink his eyes back open and blinked just inches away from your wife eyed red face.

He blinked before pulling away and giving you an annoyed pout. "Hey! What gives?! I caught you fair n's square!"

You could only stare up red faced and blushing. "W-What the heck is wrong with you?!" You stuttered out muffled by your hands still firmly clasped over your mouth.

"Me? You're the one who decided to tease me and ran away! Now I caught you and now you I kiss you then you chase me..Or I can just chase you again if you prefer.~" You did NOT find the playful smirk he wore handsome and you did not squeak when he growled out. Rubbing his nose into your hands and letting out a content sigh.

In the distance behind you somewhere, there was a loud splash like someone hit the water in anger before cursing. "FOR FUCKS SAKE!! FIRST THE BETTA THEN THE FLASHY FUCKER!! HOW THE HELL ARE THEY HAVING MORE LUCK THAN I AM?!"

You could barely make out the angry shouting. You couldn't see anything past the giant torso- HOLY SHIT HIS MUSCLES WERE HUGE!! You were terrified of his size and build before because of all the damage he proved he could do but now-

"My eyes are up here, Darling.~ My chest doesn't talk..Well not in same way my mouth does.~" You could've fainted right then and there when he intentionally made his muscles flex.

She gave the most attractive squeak as a strong hand found itself suddenly holding her hand, strong enough to pull it was Your mouth as his other arm had no problem holding you bridal style against him. A deep hum escaped the man as he pressed a closed eyed kiss to the delicate skin. Strong calloused fingers slipping between smaller delicate ones. Warm breath sending goosebumps along the soft flesh giving way to a shiver as he smiled wider against the flesh. Again. Again. His lips were pressed against the hand until eyes opened and found himself sighing in content. Goosebumps spread under his touch as a hand gently placed itself under her chin, claws gently dragging along the skin as he directed her head too him. A shiver from her body, warmth caressing her face as orbs shrouded by deepened desire and half lidded by a want.

Warmth spread across her face and a moment later lips melted into a kiss. He made no comment back. Embracing the woman against his chest tightly and deepening the kiss, his embrace increasing slightly. Smaller hands found themselves gripping the front of his haori. Everything blurring and unimportant, the only thing that mattered was this woman in his grip. Her everything. His everything.

T H E I R E V E R Y T H I N G.

Suma's. Hinatsuru's. Makio's. Kyojuro's. All thiers. Her sweet lips. Her beautiful smile. Her shining eyes. Her soft touch- A shiver ran through her under his hands when one hand found the side of her cheek, a rumble from his chest showed amusement much to her embarrassment. He had her right where she was supposed to be, in his arms and his own-

Until a distant woman's scream sounded out.

"UZUI!!"

You turned away from the warmth slightly to peer up startled at the surroundings although that didn't deter the merman who continued trailing kisses from the corner of your lips to the bottom of your left cheek, white hair tickling the left side of your face. The form of a highly concerned pink eyed woman rushing towards you both.

"K-Kanae-"

"Eh. Ignore her." A hand gently tugged your face back towards him and once again your lips met-

Until another scream pierced the air making you turn away from him again as he trailed after you but stopped when you placed a hand over his mouth. "S-S-STOP!!"

He blinked as you pushed his head away from his own flushed worse than a school girl getting kissed by her crush for the very first time. ..Until his free hand reached out to gently touch yours and kissed the inside of your palm gently. Making you jump.

"TENGEN, PUT HER DOWN!!", Kanae shouted almost panicked as she rushed over towards you both. Picking up the hem of her dress and kicking up sand as she skidded to a stop in front of you both. "BAD MERMAID!! PUT HER DOWN!!"

You squeaked out loudly when you were suddenly grabbed by Kanae and yanked free from Tengen's grasp and you stumbled onto your feet, nearly falling over on your stomach if Kanae hadn't pulled you back upright. Her face twisted to an angry scowl to Tengen before snapping a concerned look at you.

"Y/n, are you alright?," she asked as you clutched at your chest.

Your heart was hammering like a herd of wild horses stampeding, and your face burnt like a fire was lit under your skin. And you were pretty sure you were shaking because your legs felt like jelly you canned. "....I t-think m-m-my life flashed before my eyes."

"Ah! I'd expect nothing but that kinda reaction from my flamboyant kisses." Kanae shot the merman another scowl as he winked. "I'm a very well experienced lover- HEY!!" He sputtered and leaned back down on his belly to avoid the wave of sand cascading over his head from a woman's foot. "What gives?!"

"SHOO!! ALL OF YOU GET!!" Kanae shooed her arms at Tengen giving him another kick of sand when he didn't get moving. "Go on! You scared her half to death chasing her down the beach like that! Shoo!"

He gave a small cat like hiss when the sand hit his scales. "Hey! Lay off! She initiated courtship first- AH! ALRIGHT WOMAN!! You sure enjoy taking the fun outta love y'know that?"

Tengen gave another puppy dog kicked look at you..but turned and started dragging himself back across the sand and towards the water. She held her annoyed frown watching him until he slipped into the water his tail giving a few snacks to the surface before her gaze then turned towards the left and narrowed at the other mers around her.

"That goes for the rest of you too! I won't have anymore trouble from you today." More shooing motions from her hands were made towards. "Go on. Shoo, shoo, shoo! Back to the ocean with you."

You shakily looked up from where you stood, and froze as at least three other mers besides Tengen were staring at you all. THERE WAS MORE OF THEM!? You jumped as the long snake creature hisses lowly but turned and disappeared slithering behind the large rocks he laid on. The second one who had white hair and large pointed ears gave her a look of pure hurt, as if he actually was physically hurt by her words.

"But..Kanae, I-"

"Sanemi, just-..!" Her head turned away from him and her eyes closed refusing to look at him. "Just go home! Go away and leave me alone already! Y-You've done enough!"

There was a silence as the mer in the Water's eyes widened and.. became slightly watery. Before he let out a growl and with a loud THUNK disappeared back under the blue surface. You could vaguely make out his greyish form quickly swimming away towards the south before he vanished completely. Another splash made you look further away and saw Shinobu waving a hand at the water as ripples temporarily distorted the rolling waves. There was nothing but silence for a moment until something suddenly appeared in front of you making you jump as Kanae's frowning face appeared before you annoyed.

"Where were you this morning?", she demanded in a tone harsher than her soft face executed,arms crossed. "You worried Koyuki sick with pulling a stunt like that! It's very dangerous here if you aren't careful!" She gazed over your nightgown as you still clutched it. "And you're all soaked! Did Tengen do this?"

"N-No!" You quickly held up your hands in the merman's defense. "I fell in myself. I-It's a long story. A-Actually he's the one who helped me get back up. "

"Well don't you run off again! You're in enough trouble as it is-" She stopped noticing a familiar white haired jewel covered head bobbing in the water suddenly being joined by a head of firey hair and three ladies.. She grabbed you hand with a jump and pulled you quickly towards the large house. "Inside quickly."

"Y/N'S BETTER!! LOOK!! Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!," You heard Suma's unmistakable voice calling behind you but surprisingly Kanae was quite strong for a petite girl.

You were quickly pulled across the beach, up the few steps, and straight through the open door by Kanae as her sister calmly followed behind you both much slower. You were stopped only when you were pulled into the room Koyuki was still in, only this time Mitsuri and Kanao was there too. By their position you guessed they were watching the skirmish outside from the window.

"This is serious." Kanae let go of your hand matching back into the hallway muttering to herself as Shinobu finally walked in with her slow pace. Watching calmly as her sister walked by and stuck her head out the door to make sure no one was there before sliding the door back shut licking it in the process. "At this rate none of us will be able to go home, and all of our hard work will be jeopardized."

Her footfalls came back up towards the hallway and once again reappeared. Everyone watched as she stepped to the window and locked it as well before drawing the curtains dosing most of the light just as Shinobu walked in too.

"Kanae, calm yourself."

"I am calm. I'm also just really worried!", she frowned at Shinobu who hummed before looking towards you.

Her eyes looked you up and down raising a brow at how soaked and covered in sand you were. "Let me guess. She tried running off the island."

You blinked. "How'd you know?"

"We did that the first day we were brought here." Another hum. "..I think we should explain it to her. It's obvious she's involved like us so it'd save everyone else the headaches."

Kanae slowly sighed and nodded in agreement. "You're right but first let us get her cleaned up and into some warm clothes."

Twenty minutes later you were happily seated in a circle on the floor, in a normal dress, and had your hair wrapped up in a towel as everyone else sat still. Mitsuri was nice enough to make everyone some tea and handed you a cup after Shinobu looked over your wounds again to make sure you were still alright.

"Thank you." She smiled at you brightly as you took the cup of green tea from her. "I didn't know that tea leaves grew on the island."

"They don't. We just found a few sealed tins of it in the back," Mitsuri clarified.

"Well we should be getting back on topic." Kanae gave a glance from where she stood out into the hallway. It must've been noon by now. She closed the door and locked it too, nevermind the front door was also locked and turned back towards you all. "Alright. Straight to business then." Her look could cut diamonds as she looked at you. "How'd you come to be here?"

You blinked. "Didn't they already tell you? I was attacked by a crazy stalker and they apparently brought me here. I don't even know exactly where here is from the coast still."

"How'd you meet those mers out there?," she pressed harder.

You frowned now. Didn't they tell them that too? Maybe they just told Tengen? "I found them by accident in someone's barn except for Kyojuro. I found him washed up along the river while fishing."

Shinobu turned to her sister with a smile. "That matches up with what we were told. She's alright to talk to."

Kanae nodded still not looking away from you. Instead she slowly sat down by Kanao. "That's good. Then we won't bother you with anymore unnecessary questions." Thank goodness for that at least. "Y/n what happened between you and Tengen while you were gone?"

You paused raising the warm cup to your lips to blink at her. "Oh that?" You shrugged. "To be honest I don't exactly know. He kinda just went crazy and started chasing me down the beach like I was a full course meal or something! By the way-" You pointed at her giving a deadpanned look. "-nothing with a fish tail should be allowed to crawl that fast on land. It's a freak of nature!" Mitsuri giggled at your response and you shot her a frown.

"Well what were you doing before he did that? What did he say? It's important."

You hummed slowly removing your stink eye from Mitsuri who still looked amused. "Well, I fell in the water and he was nice enough to get me out. And then we mostly talked. He's very braggy that one."

"That definitely sounds like the fish. All glitter no brains."

You resisted laughing at Shinobu's description of Tengen and just nodded. "Yep. That's him. He said he just wanted to apologize and make sure I wasn't dead and thank me for helping them." You shrugged again making sure to take a long sip of your drink before continuing. "Oh. I also got him to promise not to sink anymore ships so that's something."

"What happened just before he started chasing you?" Shinobu rose a brow. "You must've done something to get him excited."

You thought about it for a long moment. "...Nothing really. He joked about me using CPR as kissing so I told him I'd never kiss him if he was going to be like that but im different words." It was then the five other girls gave each other wide eyed looks. "...What?"

"Y/n. Did you tell him that in a normal way ..or were you teasing him?"

You blinked. "We were joking around. He's the one that got in over his head."

"Oh..Ooh no."

"Oh no what? What's going on?"

They slowly looked at one another before Shinobu inhaled. "I'll just come right out and break the ice!" She clasped her hands and turned back to you with a strained smile. "Y/n. Mermaids play chase with each other when they're romantically interested."

There was silence in the air as everyone looked between Shinobu and you.

You stared widely. "...What?"

"And his teasing you was in actuality his way of flirting with you. In his point of view you were totally flirting back."

"WHAT?!" The cup nearly tumbled from your hands.

"Did any of the others try any certain behaviors when they were with you?" Shinobu continued casually as if you weren't in total shock. "Grooming behaviors such as combing hair? Or maybe they tried to feed you something?"

"I-...W-Wait! What the heck was that last bit you dumped on me?!"

"Answer the questions please."

"Y-Yeah..All of that actually but what has that have to do with me?!"

"Did any of them try giving you anything? Like maybe seashells or fish or even something valuable?"

"I-"...You paused. Eyes going wide when you remembered a certain fire haired merman and his ring. "Oh gods... Kyojuro tried proposing to me- B-BUT I GAVE HIM BACK THE RING AND TOLD HIM NO!!"

"Well good news! They don't think you're married! However they probably think you're most definitely interested."

"What? But how?! I clearly didn't want anything and I told them that!"

"You see that's the problem. They don't have the same understanding as we do. I think you should take a look at the book we found. It explains everything!"

"Book? What? You were so confused right now. First you were talking about Mermaid coupling and now a book?

You didn't get much of a say before you were just handed over a book. A blue covered book by Koyuki who practically waved it in front of your face. You blinked before leaning back to take in the faded words carved and then inked into the cover. ..'A Researcher's Guide To Magical Creatures And How To Avoid Them Vol. 1.' ... You rose a brow and turned to Koyuki and then back to the two sisters.

"We found it on one of the shelves while we were looking around. We think a researcher left it here on the island while studying them. It's been really helpful in guiding us around this trouble. Opening it to chapter five."

You still didn't know what to think about this, but decided that you had nothing to lose, so the half empty cup was slowly placed down onto the floor next to you and your hands slowly took the book from Koyuki giving her a small thanks. ..F/c eyes looked at the book, then at the girls, then back to the book.. Before hands slowly opened it and started flipping through the pages. Chapter one centaurs. Chapter two elves. Wow. This was a pretty thick book. Every chapter must've been at last a thousand pages each. Chapter three- Ah. Here we go. Mermaids and Sirens. Apparently there was a difference??

"Skip to like fifty pages in." Koyuki pointed out to you.

..Ok. If it'll get you answers faster. You flipped through about that much until bold words on top of one page in particular caught your eye. 'Courtships And Pod Units.' You gave another glance at Koyuki to confirm this was the page she wanted you to read, and began reading once her smile confirmed it.

'In all my years of studying these water dwelling beings and their habits and habitats, it was very difficult to study something that lived somewhere where no human could really go. Luckily the individuals of this isle were able to trade certain items for certain favors from the local population. Intrigued by this strange ordeal, I traveled to the smallest of these isles and brought gifts of simple jewelry and exotic foods such as jerkied elk meat and raw steak that usually they are unable to get their hands on.

I was extremely lucky and found a rather unpleasant large great white mer and his eight wives. Two of which seemed to be koi fish in origin with their tails while the others varied from other shark based mers to more tropical colorful coral reef fish. The male seemed rather hostile to me at first and refused contact until I offered the gifts in trade for info.

It seems like the rarity of the meats intrigued him enough to change his mind and agreed to answer some of my more difficulty answered questioned.'

EIGHT WIVES?! Wow. And you thought Uzui had a lot of partners. You briefly wondered if this merman was the one Tengen was referring to when he mentioned taking over this territory before reading more.

'While he himself was unpleasant, his wives were all very polite and sweet women who gladly answered my various inquiries while trying on the simple bronze jewelry and passed around the meat. I've noticed first in behavior between pods are different. The last pod I interacted with was a small pod of two husband and their wife whom was the pod leader and had at least two children present.

The female accepted my last gift of delicious ribs in exchange for a few of their lose scales to study. The order she fed her family was her children first, her husbands second, and then herself as leader last. I thought this order applied to all pods until I met this unpleasant fellow. Instead of feeding his wives first, he snapped and hugged most of it to himself. Gluttonous man to say the least. So it seems while the heirchy system is the same, not all pod leaders are generous to their spouses.'

Talk about rude and selfish!

'While not in depth I've managed to get a very good chunk of information that I'm sure will help future generations navigate the waters surrounding these fantastic creatures. The main bulletins are certainly good to keep in mind especially for wondering maidens getting close to the shoreline.

-If a mermaid/merman wishes to court another then they usually do things to show their worth. Example being bringing back big game like a seal or shark to prove they can provide food or gifts of polished shells or jewelry to show off wealth. Sometimes they'll even spare with a love interests' family member to show off strength.

-The type of courting habits depends on the type of mer or water creature they are. For example:

Seal mers, or selkies as they're called, will offer their potential partner an opportunity to touch their seal skin while in human form as a sign of trust and interest.

Shark mers will often show off scars and bring back large prey to present to a potential mate to show how fiercely they can protect.

Crustacean mers will offer dances being crab/lobster mers.

Sea dragons might offer a piece of their treasure hoard or recite poetry or knowledge.

However the most common signs of courting is offering valuable resources/objects. But again it varies from water creature to mer.

-Mers don't really have a concept of monogamy or polygamy. Some just prefer one life partner while others sometimes have multiple partners. It's not uncommon for them to have more than one partner. To them it's really just normal.'

Well that explains a lot about Tengen and his family of mers. And why Rengoku tried giving you a ring. And why Suma tried feeding you that catfish a long time ago.

'-It's more common for the women to take the last name of the males but again this isn't always the case.

-Pods are usually categorized by two: Family Pods and Neutral Pods.

FAMILY PODS: Usually the most common and very big varying on the mers. These are usually made up of just family members. Usually a pair of parents and their partners, and their children. Sometimes a family pod will be very big with grandparents, along with uncles and aunts and the main partners' siblings but it's less common.

-There is always one leader in every family pod, usually it's the father of the children. They are in charge of leading the pod and have the final say on things.

-The children are referred to as guppies or pups.

-Ever heard of sharks having a nursery for their pups? Well mers have a nursery for their children too. It's usually hidden and guarded to avoid predators or hostile mers.

-Usually a mer doesn't leave on their own until they're anywhere about sixteen to twenty years old.

NEUTRAL PODS: These are just pods made up of three or more random mers. Sometimes it's a trio or more of romantic partners but most commonly it's just a group of random mers. Neutral Pods can be made up of family members but more often than not it's just random mers who decided they liked each other enough to hunt together, partners without children, or they're made up of mers who just decided to hunt together as they live in the same area.

-If you encounter a neutral pod made up of romantic partners it'll be very easy to tell who's the leader of said partners. The leader will be decorated in the most jewelry. Usually this jewelry is made of home made seashells and stolen trinkets. However if they're in contact with a lot of valuables like gold, jewels, etc then they will have most of it decorating their body however they will also adore their partners in said jewelry as a form of wealthy status and it's sort of like their version of a wedding ring.

-The main leader of said partners is usually the one that gives out the jewelry or gifts amongst his or her partners.

-a neutral pod isn't considered a family pod unless made up of family members or if a neutral pod of partners has children.'

Actually...That explains why Tengen is absolutely covered in jewels and jewelry. WAY more than Kyojuro or the girls. Does that mean that Tengen was the one who gifted them all of that stuff?

'-Mers are highly territorial. Not that an area can't be shared by multiple mers but usually a lone mer or pod has a specific amount of territory they own over.

-Because of their highly territorial nature, male mers will often be covered in scars from fights over territory, fights over a mate, or fights over treasure. LOTS of times fights between them often result in scars, severe injuries, and even death.

-Physical grooming like combing each other's hair, helping to remove loose scales, or just physical touch in general is seen as an intimate act on the same level of a romantic kiss on the cheek so usually it's only reserved for romantic partners or family members.'

A very large glass sound went off in your mind. Eyes going wide open like an owl. ...Say what?

'-Mermaids mate for life like swans do. Unless the other partners/partner dies then they won't really take on another partner.

-THIS is why humans must be very careful when interacting with mermaids/men of any kind. If you do encounter one the following rules Must be kept in mind.

1. If you encounter one of these fantastic creatures be sure to mention a present partner casually. Even if you do not have a significant other, the mere mentions of a partner will detour most interest from yourself.

2. Keep your interactions platonic. You must never insinuate romantic interest to one. Even the slightest hint of possible interest will make them pursue.

3. Avoid talking about romance or future goals outside of mentioning your partner. Never mention children to them. Talking about children with them insinuates the interest of finding them potential parents to have children with.

4. Keep your distance. Allowing touch is a huge sign of trust and interest of physical contact. Keep as physical far away as possible if you can and do not allow contact to be initiated.

5. Absolutely above all else NEVER accept gifts. Gifts are usually only given out as a proposal of interest. If accepted then consider yourself doomed because any outside romantic interest will result in retaliation and usually does not end well.

-Mers who're able to keep a human partner are usually seen in higher regard as not everyone can keep one. This is why steps must be taken to ensure the human doesn't end up in hot water. And why many young mers are attracted to the aspects of having a human spouse, not really taking into consideration the blatant difficulties of a relationship like this.

-Mers will also play chase and fight with each other as a display of playful behavior. Reminds me of behavior I've also encountered when I spoke to the Beastmen tribe of the Southern Kokkori Forest. They display a similar playful behavior with their own mates and children.

All the information I gathered was limited but very useful! I'll try bringing back some gold and silver coins and more meats in two weeks time to see if I can get a better description of their underwater homes.'

The book was quickly closed with a loud thud sound and you just stared at nothing really. There was quiet for a long while before Shinobu bluntly asked-

"So how much did you mess up?" Both her sisters shot her a look but you groaned raising the book to your head.

"A lot! Kyojuro asked me about having kids once!" You felt so embarrassed pressing your blushing face deeper into the book. "How was I supposed to know that letting them brush my hair was flirting?!"

"Yep. She's screwed."

"You're not helping any!"

"Let's not argue right now." Kanae gave a worrying glance at the window looking for movement..but sighed when she saw nothing. "There's more serious matters to be dealt with right now. Like getting home."

Your body stiffened before you slowly looked up from the book to poke at eye at her. "Wait. You've actually been trying to get back?"

Kanae nodded. "For nearly the entire time we've been here. You see we weren't the first ones here." Kanae turned to the girl right next to you. "Koyuki was actually here the longest. Kanao was taken here as they've seen her gathering common healing herbs. When she couldn't help her, we were next."

"But why would they need three healers?"

"I get sick often." Koyuki looked embarrassed and shameful almost looking away from the others around her, shuffling deeper into the blanket around her shoulders. "That's why they're here."

"They promised they'd let us go once Koyuki's condition got better, but.."

"Let me guess. Those other mermen got attached and decided to change their minds?"

Kanae sighed. "Yes. Exactly. Unfortunately the only one who seems to understand that we don't want anything to do with them is Giyuu."

"Giyuu?"

"The merman you saw with Shinobu earlier. He's actually very understanding and let's my sister study him without trying to court her. He's the one who's tail looks like a demanson's cichlid fish. Unfortunately he's still unwilling to help Shinobu or ourselves off the isle."

"But if you two two can't leave-" You glanced at Kanao who blinked at you. "-then why hasn't she gone home? She doesn't have anything to do with them, and Mitsuri doesn't either."

"Because if she went back then she could just tell someone where we are, and unfortunately its Obanai who likes her. He's the sea snake you saw." Kanae shook her head. "But we've been coming up with an idea. You just happened to arrive just in time too."

You blinked and looked over at her. "You mean an escape plan?" She nodded. "What kind of plan?"

Before she even said a word, she made a 'shush' motion with her finger to her lips before getting up. Going to the already closed window to pull the curtains back just enough to peek out, sighing when she saw nothing. Then going to the door to quietly open it before peeking into the stil locked home before quietly closing and locking the door back.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure Obanai wasn't inside with us, or Tengen was still lurking about." She half whispered turning back to you. "Obanai can go on land and actually lives on the island with us, and Tengen has incredible hearing even more powerful than a normal mer's. Sometimes Obanai will come inside without telling us just to talk to Mitsuri."

"I don't mean to put out plans in trouble!," Mitsuri shuffled still holding onto the tray she brought the cups on. "H-He just likes to talk I-Is all."

"We're not taking any chances after what happened last time."

"Last time?" There was a last time? What happened last time?

"There's an old shed that was attached to one of the damaged homes that's still hear. Kanao found a boat that we could've used to escape with, but Obanai caught us talking about it. The boat not escaping with it." Her expression saddened. "The next night when we went to get it, we found it smashed to nothing but splinters." Your eyes widened. He smashed a whole boat to keep them here?! No wonder they were taking precautions. "But we have a plan! Can we trust you to help us?"

You blinked but nodded. "Anything! I want to go home too!"

She smiled widely. "There's a full moon at the end of the week. Every full moon there's a rapid power of a current right near where we currently are. It brings up a bunch of fish and so they all either go out hunting or sleep. If we can get a boat to that current, it'll take us near a piece of land we can leave through within a few hours."

"Uh. There's a problem. I thought you said the boat was destroyed."

She smiled wider. "It was but we found another perfectly usable under some old debry. It's big enough for all of us if we squeeze in. So what do you say? Will you help us?"

You nodded. "I'm in!"

She nodded. "Alright good. Here's what we still need. I found about three oars but we need to see if we can find some more, and a good bucket in case there's a sudden leak. Until then everyone needs to act as they usually do and don't mention anything about-"

"KANAE!!"

All six of you jumped up as a rather gruff and powerful voice called out the name of one of you. What was-?

"KOYUKI!! I'VE RETURNED! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" A different but still loud male voice called out to another one of you.

What the-?

"Y/N!!" "MITSURI!!" "SHINOBU!!"

What in the world?!

A whole chorus of voices were calling your names minus Kanao who got up and went to the very large window. Throwing the curtain open, unlocking it, and pushing it open to peer out.

"Kanao! Hey! Can you tell the girls to come out? By the way, have you met my brother?! He thinks you're really cute!!"

"SANEMI DON'T SAY STUFF LIKE THAT!!"

"It's true!"

"NO IT'S NOT!!"

You all looked at one another.. before slowly getting up and walking to the window too. The book forgotten about as you helped Koyuki up and along with everyone else gathered by the window. It was large enough for all six of you to stand there and look out only to pause at what you saw.

They were back!

All of the mermen you previously saw plus your friends and two new ones. One was right next to the shark mer. They looked similar enough to be related only his hair was more black and he looked young, around the same age as Kanao. He took one look at all the pretty ladies looking out- His face turned an immediate red before he dunked his head back underwater. Aw. He was actually adorable! The other one though-

Whoa.

He was actually very colorful and unusual looking compared to the others. Pink hair. Greyish skin. Weird blue stripes. He was certainly a strange looking one. He brightly absolutely happy at Koyuki and raised a hand to wave at her.

"Koyuki, we're all gonna practice spare! I'm so happy to see you again!," he called out making the girl pushed the bottom half of her face into the blanket.

"KANAE, WATCH ME KICK THIS LOSER'S ASS!! YOU'LL LOVE THIS MORE THAN THE JEWELS!!"

You all turned to Kanae who turned red and turned her head away from your prying eyes. You guessed that one was Sanemi.

"GO TENGEN!! GO KYOJURO!! GO TENGEN!! GO KYOJURO!!"

Hey. That voice you definitely knew! You leaned out more and looked up the beach towards the right. A cluster of rocks was there sticking out of the water and on those rocks were three female mermaids you knew all too well. Sitting aside and happily watching the spectacle their husbands made towards the pumped up males. Suma loudly waving and cheering on the two men sitting there.

"Been a while, Akaza! I thought you were never going to come visit again!," Kyojuro greeted the man before him.

"HA! You wish! Like I'd let you think I'd let you claim my winning streak!"

"Never the less, suggesting we all spare is a great idea! It's been so long since I tussled!"

A loud smack noise sounded off next to Kyojuro as Tengen smacked his fist into his other hand. "Kyo and I verses you and Obanai?! HA! Neither of you two stand a chance!"

Obanai hissed in response and Akaza shot an annoyed look at Tengen. "Big talk for a guy who can only fight puny humans and their ships!"

"Ooh! I'm so scared. You're still butthurt over Kyojuro rejecting your flirting to get with me instead. And can you blame him? Look at me!~" His muscles tensed making them flex and his wives give off a few loud squeals. Kyojuro not to subtly also turned his head toward his torso. "Who could resist this flamboyant body?~ Can't cry because my chest is bigger than yours.~"

"OH YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

You stared as Tengen sent a wink at you- Only to get tackled backwards onto the water by a pink blur and a loud splash. ....Well, no one could be more embarrassed that Tengen right now.

"Giyuu, don't be so mean to him!"

You looked over. A black haired merman was laying on top of the shark Merman, holding him in a choke hold while his upper half was under water. The shark guy thrashed about flailing his arms to try and get a hold on the one on top of him, bubbles cascading up around his head as it was held underneath the water screaming profanities you were sure shouldn't be said around Kanao.

"...Whelp. I stand corrected."

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