#minori x laura

[merryfortune]

Thrown Over the Horizon

Written for Femslash February 2025

Day 2. Horizon

Series: Glitter Puffs

Title: Thrown Over the Horizon

Ship: Laura/Minori

Fandom: Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure 

Word Count: 2,060

Rating: T

Warning: None

Tags: Angst, Open/Ambiguous Ending, Amnesia, Crushes, Referenced Bullying

   Mermaids aren’t real and Minori was a fool for ever thinking otherwise, especially at her big age.

   She was fourteen after all, going on fifteen next year but where had the past twelve months gone, on that note? Minori felt vexed and defeated as she stared at the horizon and allowed the sunset to burn into her retinas. The irritation in her eyes was nothing compared to how she felt inside.

   Her shoulders slumped, her hands balled into fists that sent tremors up her arms. She was beside herself with rage: all of it aimed at herself. 

   She had been laughed at today. Merciless mocked, looked down upon. That’s what she got for piping up, for trying to stand on equal footing to her more sociable peers. She should stick to being the nerdy wallflower in the corner. Her head was too up in the clouds for her classmates down on Earth.

   Or, more accurately, too down in the depths of the ocean with the flotsam. 

   The incident had occurred during the last period of the day, during a free study as their regular literature teacher had been feeling unwell. So, the students were entrusted with doing their own reading and note making. Easy enough. Especially when they were studying Hans Christen Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, of all things.

   An eclectic choice as part of a greater unit on fairy tales, folk tales, and mythology. Last week they had been reading Momotaro, after all. Minori, however, much preferred The Little Mermaid. It made her heart soar - and her mouth run.

   Somehow the topic came up: do you believe in mermaids?

   The class had grown unsettled. Chatter had broken out over the sound of pages turning in books or pen against paper. People grouped together, sat on desks and started to goof off. Minori did her best to ignore such immaturity but school was almost over, her ears pricked up.

   She had opinions.

   Opinions she had to voice as her blood began to inexplicably boil as she heard some of her classmates’ baseless speculation on mermaids. 

   So, she spoke up. It wasn’t a fight that she was picking but it was certainly one she was anyway. She couldn’t help herself. The way she spoke, her sneering demeanour. For too long, Minori had been a soured nerd even now as she had only the best intentions.

   She corrected people, replaced them with her own information - equally as baseless. Minori didn’t even know where some of this was coming from. She was an obsessive for mermaids, their mythology and lore, but some of the things coming out of her mouth as she found her courage to share her passion with her classmates… She didn’t remember which books or websites they had come from a source.

   Instead of web links and page numbers, there was a blurry silhouette on her mind. Of a girl. With a fish’s tail instead of legs. A face she couldn’t place and feelings that burgeoned ever so peculiar. Her heart began to race.

   Minori couldn’t explain it. The unwavering faith and belief in magic that had suddenly welled up inside of her. It turned to a liquid courage and so, she ran her mouth. She spoke with all the confidence of a scientist, telling her peers exactly what she knew about mermaids - and her certainty in their existence.

   It was the first snicker that hurt her the most.

   The noise was stifled and pricked on Minori’s ears. She had to glance through the classroom to confirm it had occurred at all, unable to put a face to the noise. Her movements only caused ripples. As soon as her head was turned, more snickering. Soon, all out laughter, and teasing questions that pierced her heart as she was made to feel small for her outburst.

   As she should. Believing in mermaids was something she should have grown out of when she was as young as eight. Honestly, Minori thought she had and yet. Her own words, spoken with a full chest of belief, now disintegrated. Turned to dust.

   Turned to pen ink.

   Humiliated by this incident, Minori turned to the only one who would listen to her and listen to her vent without judgement: her journal. 

   Minori had nowhere to be after school. Tropical Club? What’s that. She belonged to the losers walking home alone club and was a seething member of it. Especially this afternoon as she marched off in any direction but her route home. She wanted to be gone, to get away, somewhere she could curl and up die with her journal in her lap.

   For some reason, she ended up on the beach.

   Dear diary, her teenage angst bullshit was about to have a body count if she wasn’t careful and it was going to be hers, too, by the way. Minori couldn’t stand it. Was it the hormones? Why was it the hormones? Something was making her feel so intense and it wasn’t just the fact she had just committed social suicide. 

   Minori tucked herself away on a sandy ledge. She hid her eyes under her fluffy bangs, to reduce the glare of the sun as it slowly set over the horizon. There was a salty breeze but its tang had nothing on her frustration. She hunched down over her journal and began to write. Her latest entry, the emotions that she felt. Tears streamed down from underneath her thick, circular glasses and smudged freshly written words. They just flowed out of her from a deep well of repression and humiliation. 

   Once Minori started, she couldn’t stop.

   She just had so much to say. An entire year’s worth of words that she couldn’t explain. At some point, it stopped being a journal entry to her and it started to become a conversation, a letter to someone incredibly specific. She could think of all their traits.

   The self-absorption and the self sacrifice. Her confidence left little to be desired as it turned into the determination that she needed to make her dreams come true. Her strange, fantastical dreams. And the curiosity towards life itself, life outside of her norm… 

   Her abandonment of Minori.

   The complete redaction of her name, face, and memory associated with her.

   Minori couldn’t think of a single person in her life who was missing - nor someone who would even fit the gap if they were. She was just so, so angry at this person, this girl, who had abandoned her and left her wanting more.

   More of what?

   Minori wasn’t sure. Her hand ached pretty bad but her heart ached worse. At least she felt better, kind of? At the very least, she had emptied all of her thoughts, her feelings, onto these pages but as she read them back, straining her eyes in the lowlight, Minori realised something.

   None of this shit made any fucking sense.

   Her irritation wound right back up. She could feel it in the molecules of her sweat, the way her hairs rose on the back of her neck. She clicked her tongue. Trash, rubbish, garbage. It was all for naught and as it was all for naught, she didn’t want this in her journal.

   These soppy pages upon pages of teenage angst. Her rage and lust towards this missing person: the one who had convinced her that mermaids were real. As if.

   Minori tore the pages out. It was tough, she had to tug at them hard, to rip the paper but it was worth it in the end. She balled them up and tried to throw them away. It was like she was holding a baseball as a pitcher, her arm lurched forward without thinking but she stopped herself before the release. Her fingers slotted in between the crumpled folds, getting paper cuts. 

   If she threw away her feelings now, they would end up in the sand. How useless. But there was something she remembered now, through the taste of the salt she had shed in her tears: the taste of papaya juice out of a glass bottle. A glass bottle she had enjoyed over lunch and kept, inexplicably, in her bag.

   Minori found it in her middle school randoseru and admired the glass momentarily. Traces of juice still lurked at the bottom, that was why she kept it, she finished it before she had a chance to wash it out before she tossed it in the recycling. The base of the bottle was thick and reflected the twilight beautifully. Minori swallowed and briefly, she tasted those sweet fruit juices from earlier and it brought her comfort.

   Confirming in her mind, this coincidence had been on purpose on the grander scale. So, she stuffed her papers into the bottle. She unfurled them and folded them so they would fit through the nozzle and pass by the lip. She screwed the cap on tight and removed the orange branding around the midsection of the bottle so only her torn out pages could be seen.

   Her heart pounded in her chest.

   She stood up. Stiff, awkward, and determined. She kicked off her loafers and shimmied out of her socks. Minori scrunched her toes through the hot hands and took a breath. She was ready to fully purge herself of her foolishness now and so, she walked, confident, towards the shoreline.

   Minori stared out over the horizon and drank in the scenery of the water. The way it turned wine dark with the encroaching night and yet, scorchingly bright with the blazing sunset. She watched the water, how the waves collected themselves and crashed in entropy. The foam ebbed and flowed and sometimes, the water would reach her.

   It felt cold on her ankles but she liked it. A devilish tickle that reminded her: people drowned here, everyday. The ocean was a grave for many, many things: people and animals, wrecked ships and sunken treasures. Now, it would become the final resting place for her snivelling past self, so stupid to think mermaids were real and somewhere in these beguiling fathoms.

   Minori focused her eyes. She finished watching the enchanting rhythm of the ocean and turned inward. She wasn’t the sporty type and it would be embarrassing to have to repeat herself until she did it right, so Minori resolved to do it right and thus, only once. She wound herself up and got lost in how limber she became as she loosened up.

   Once ready, Minori counted herself down, “A-one, and a-two, and.. Three!”

   Then, she lobbed that bottle as far as she could. 

   Minori surprised herself with her strength as she threw it as hard as she could. She watched it fly to the air, somersaulting. She held her breath as it soared. It glinted against the mix of inky darkness and intense vermillion of the sunset and then.

   Plonk.

   It hit the waves at their furthest point on the immediate shores. She could hardly see it as it landed bottom first, its neck akin to a flagpole as the water accepted it as one of her own.

   Such an impressive throw took a lot out of Minori as she huffed and puffed. She to squint just to watch the bottle sink into the water. It disappeared  quickly beneath crashing waves that foamed and frothed. She had put all her heart and effort into that lob and got it a fair way out over the immediate shore where she stood. The water lapped at her ankles, tugged on her dress, and there was now no more proof of Minori’s foolishness.

   Of her feelings.

   That felt good. To be rid of them, let the mermaids find it.

   Yet little did she know… exactly that would happen.

   The bottle continued to sink and sink. Its spiral sent bubbles in its graceful wake and a mermaid with eyes of the clearest blue and fingernails painted an immaculate, opalescent pink would find it. She shouldn’t have ventured out but as soon as she had, she was rewarded with Minori’s bounty.

  With just a touch, an admiration of the smooth glass, that mermaid would be reminded of a certain human girl who wore coke bottle spectacles - and why her own belief in the goodness in humans was true. 

   But until then…

   Minori would stand on the beach and stand her ground in turn. She was a fool for believing in mermaids. 

[baileypie-writes]

~Masterlist~

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

Guide:

💜 - Gender Neutral Reader

🩷 - Female Reader

🩵 - Male Reader

💛 - Pretty Cure Reader

🖤 - Villain Reader

💕 - Platonic Relationship

💞 - Familial Relationship

☁️ - Fluff

⛅️ - Hurt/Comfort

🌧️ - Minor Angst

‼️ - Minor Violence

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

~Manatsu Natsuumi/Cure Summer~

(💞/💕 Only)

Headcanons

• Her With a Teammate Who Insults the Villains💞💜💛

Oneshots

(nothing yet!)

~~~~

~Sango Suzumura/Cure Coral~

(💞/💕 Only)

Headcanons

• Her With a Teammate Who Insults the Villains💞💜💛

Oneshots

• Not on my Watch💕🩷☁️

Synopsis: You just found out Sango is a Pretty Cure. Despite this, your big sister instincts are still intact.

~~~~

~Minori Ichinose/Cure Papaya~

(💞/💕 Only)

Headcanons

• Her With a Teammate Who Insults the Villains💞💜💛

Oneshots

(nothing yet!)

~~~~

~Asuka Takizawa/Cure Flamingo~

Headcanons

• Her With a Teammate Who Insults the Villains💞💜💛

Oneshots

• Hot to Cold💖🩵☁️

Synopsis: You and the Tropical Club were going to watch a firework show. And you wanted to use the opportunity to confess your love to the coolest girl you know, Asuka.

~~~~

~Laura La Mer/Cure La Mer~

(💞/💕 Only)

Headcanons

• Her With a Teammate Who Insults the Villains💞💜💛

Oneshots

(nothing yet!)

~~~~

~Numeri~

Headcanons

(nothing yet!)

Oneshots

(nothing yet!)

~~~~

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[cure-mango]

Precure x MLP

What I think the characters would be (only doing the seasons I've watched)

Nagisa/Cure Black - Pegasus

Honoka/Cure White - Unicorn

Hikari/Shiny Luminous - Earth Pony

Saki/Cure Bloom - Earth Pony

Mai/Cure Egret - Pegasus

Hibiki/Cure Melody - Unicorn

Kanade/Cure Rhythm - Earth Pony

Ellen/Cure Beat - Changling

Ako/Cure Muse - Alicorn (wears clothes that hide wings so everybody thinks she's a unicorn)

Miyuki/Cure Happy - Earth Pony

Akane/Cure Rouge - Pegasus

Yayoi/Cure Peace - Pegasus

Nao/Cure March - Earth Pony

Reika/Cure Beauty - Unicorn

Ayumi/Cure Echo - Earth Pony

Megumi/Cure Lovely - Earth Pony

Hime/Cure Princess - Alicorn

Yuuko/Cure Honey - Earth Pony

Iona/Cure Fortune - Pegasus

Seiji - Earth Pony

Haruka/Cure Flora - Earth Pony (Turns into Alicorn when transformed)

Minami/Cure Mermaid - Unicorn (Turns into Alicorn when transformed)

Kirara/Cure Twinkle - Pegasus (Turns into Alicorn when transformed)

Towa/Cure Scarlet - Alicorn

Mirai/Cure Miracle - Earth Pony

Riko/Cure Magical - Unicorn

Kotoha/Cure Felice - Breezie

Ichika/Cure Whip - Earth Pony

Himari/Cure Custard - Earth Pony

Aoi/Cure Gelato - Earth Pony

Yukari/Cure Macaron - Unicorn

Akira/Cure Chocolat - Pegasus

Ciel/Cure Parfait - Pegasus

Rio/Pikario - Unicorn

Bibury - Pegasus

Hana/Cure Yell - Unicorn

Saaya/Cure Ange - Earth Pony

Homare/Cure Etoile - Pegasus

Emiru/Cure MaCherie - Unicorn

Ruru/Cure Amour - Earth Pony shaped Android

Henri/Cure Infini - Pegasus

Hikaru/Cure Star - Earth Pony

Elena/Cure Soleil - Kirin

Madoka/Cure Selene - Unicorn

Lala/Cure Milky & Yuni/Cure Cosmo - still aliens but more pony shaped aliens

Nodoka/Cure Grace - Earth Pony

Chiyu/Cure Fontaine - Pegasus

Hinata/Cure Sparkle - Earth Pony

Asumi/Cure Earth - Pegasus (Was Alicorn when born but gave up her horn)

Manatsu/Cure Summer - Pegasus

Sango/Cure Coral - Unicorn

Minori/Cure Papaya - Earth Pony

Asuka/Cure Flamingo - Pegasus

Laura/Cure La Mer - Seapony/Hippogriff

Yui/Cure Precious - Earth Pony

Kokone/Cure Spicy - Unicorn

Ran/Cure Yum Yum - Pegasus

Amane/Cure Finale - Unicorn

Takumi/Black Pepper - Earth Pony

Sora/Cure Sky - Pegasus

Mashiro/Cure Prism - Unicorn

Tsubasa/Cure Wing - Disabled Pegasus

Ageha/Cure Butterfly - Earth Pony

Ellee/Cure Majesty - Alicorn

Preme/Cure Supreme - Earth Pony (Alicorn as Supreme)

Cure Puca - Alicorn

Komugi/Cure Wonderful - Dog/Earth Pony

Iroha/Cure Friendy - Earth Pony

Yuki/Cure Nyammy - Cat/Unicorn

Mayu/Cure Lillian - Unicorn

Satoru - Pegasus

[vulpixidoodles]

an old laura/minori that i had in my wips for a while but i dont really want to work on it anymore (this isnt the bodyswap, laura is just being mischievous)

[blogyogawp]

Here’s the images of Precure Sisters with Shield Sunglasses (Doki Doki x Star Twinkle (Akira Takahashi), Go! Princess x Tropical-Rouge! (Yukiko Nakatani), Part 2)

Mana Aida & Hikaru Hoshina

Rikka Hishikawa & Yuni

Alice Yotsuba & Elena Amamiya

Makoto Kenzaki & Madoka Kaguya

Regina & Lala Hagoromo

Haruka Haruno & Manatsu Natsuumi

Minami Kaidou & Laura La Mer

Kirara Amanogawa & Minori Ichinose

Towa Akagi & Asuka Takizawa

Yui Nanase & Sango Suzumura

The illustrations number 1 to 5 are credited to Pixiv user licht (Pixiv ID  31108704), while the illustrations number 6 to 10 are credited to Pixiv user Romantic Utopic/Romauto (Pixiv ID 33586646)

[bottom-of-everything]

Thoughts on Episodes 1-6 of Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure

Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure is my first precure, and it has completely hooked me on the series. A couple months ago I endeavored to become more knowledgeable on the magical girl genre, because it housed some of my favorite works like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Puella Magia Madoka Magica. I started off by watching some classic, but once I head that a new precure season was starting up I endeavored to watch it week by week to educate myself more on the modern magical girl genre rather than solely consuming the classics. So after watching the first 6 episodes of this iteration of precure I have some observations (in short it is fantastic).

***Spoilers Below***

This iteration of precure seems to be about fighting against the urge to procrastinate, since the big bad is the Procrastination Witch and the Manatsu family motto is “Do whatever you think is the most important thing right this moment!” While this motto is a bit of a mouthful I feel like it will play into the main theme of this season quite well. I do love how the theme of procrastination plays into the cast of villains being terminally lazy; it makes them much more endearing characters that I almost want to root for. All in all though, the main theme is not particularly interesting because of how simplistic, but this seems in line for precure since it is a show for preteens.

One of the biggest and most obvious sub-themes of Tropical-Rouge seems to be makeup; this theme is so prevalent it is literally in the name, since rouge is a type of makeup used for adding color to your cheeks or lips. Manatsu describes makeup by saying, “Whenever you find it hard to summon your courage, you can use makeup to psyche yourself up.” She constantly espouses the empowering feeling of wearing makeup to her friends in order to get them hyped up to do what they need to do. The idea that makeup is able to summon courage likely comes from the idea that makeup allows women and girls to project a more confident exterior, which can allow people to build more confidence in themselves. This is then further reinforced when the cures’ transformation sequences has them putting on makeup to literally become more powerful. The cures even use their lipstick as their finishing weapons against the Dontwanna’s. It is going to be interesting to see if this theme is explored more, since it seems so essentially to the show’s visual language.

Tropical-Rogue also seems like it will draw a lot on the story of the little mermaid considering its prevalence in the episode that Minori was introduced. Due to this Little Mermaid theme, I assume Laura is going to end up having to make a deal with either her mother or the Procrastination Witch in order to become a human so she can become a precure to protect her friends. My guess is that the cost of her wish is that she’ll never be able to be the queen, but she is willing to sacrifice that for her friends. Then in the finale she’ll sacrifice herself and turn to sea foam, but she’ll be reincarnated (like at the end of the original Little Mermaid) so that she can become queen and remain friends with the other precure. Additionally, they definitely seem be be teasing a Manatsu x Laura romance due to how they met at a rock with a heart carved into it. This romance can help make Laura’s sacrifice to save the precures have that much more meaning.

Tropical-Rogue has also been able to hook me into a number of the character plotlines. The one I’m most interested in at the moment is Asuka’s plot with the student council president that made her disillusioned with the concept of allies. I always love seeing people learning to trust again after their trust has been broken. Minori’s plot also seems pretty interesting with her losing her passion for fiction after having one of her works rejected by someone she respects. As someone who is recently getting into writing it would be pretty disheartening for that I respect to call my writing shit, and I would love to see that explored.

TL;DR As any one who has read this can tell, I am loving this show. It has very interesting themes that I am excited to see explored more. All of the characters are so incredibly endearing and I already care about each and everyone of them immensely, so I am thrilled to see their character arc progress.  

[merryfortune]

dispelling seafoam

Written for the 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth

Prompt #91 Seafoam

Ship: Minori/Laura

Fandom: Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure

Word Count: 2,013

Rating: T

Warnings: No Warnings Apply 

Tags: Alternate Character Interpretation, Mortality, Cannibalism Play, Blood, Hand and Finger Kink, Ambiguous Ending

   The library was serene. 

   Late in the afternoon, likely mere minutes away from the final bell tolling, it was doused in dappled colours of the sunset. Orange, red, pink, mostly but sometimes, when the weather was poor, it was more grey and violet. Today it had been raining and so, the window panes fogged with condensation and the courtyards and gardens the windows looked out on glistened with puddles. It might yet rain again. The skies were certainly threatening another murky, wintry downpour, perhaps even hail this time.

   The library had become a place, as of late, where Laura and Minori could both escape the Tropical Club for a moment of peace and quiet. It was not because they did not love their fellow club members, but sometimes it was nice to get away and recharge. Minori appreciated it and Laura… Laura wasn’t quite an introvert but she liked the library as well. 

   She had a fascination recently for perspectives not quite her own. And to her, a mermaid, there was none a perspective more alien than that of a human's and she could always probe Minori for opinions even more eclectic than most as she was knowledgeable in ways Laura would consider arcane. To her, at least. And possibly to her peers as well as she was just that little bit strange. Even for a human.

   And so, they read together. Minori was seated at the table, shoes together underneath it as she kept her elbows to herself like she was dining but no, she was only eating the pages of a book ravenously. Reverse engineering them for what made them good for the sake of her own craft.

   Laura, meanwhile, was perched on top of the table and in constant motion. She was swinging her legs to and fro, humming to herself as she reread The Little Mermaid. She was going to give Minori a good run for her money in numbers of rereads of that particular fairy tale. 

   But it made Minori curious. She couldn’t get Laura out of her head. She had become a dear companion, one who was so treasured she could bypass Minori’s precious solitude. Even and especially in her inner sanctum but this afternoon, which was so heavy and cold, Minori felt particularly curious. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe she was having a bad day, maybe she was having an extraordinarily good one: either way she felt that curiosity on a trail from the bottom of her spine upwards.

   So, she asked.

   “Laura, does the ending of that book ever scare you?” Minori asked. She looked up from her book and her glasses shone as her curiosity had reached its fever pitch.

   “What do you mean?” Laura asked idly. She hummed casually, as though she didn’t really get Minori’s point or what she was implying towards.

   “It's just…” Minori mumbled and she shuffled herself. She wasn’t getting cold feet, it was just an uncomfortable topic to broach. 

   “It's just what?” Laura prompted her.

   “The protagonist turns into seafoam at the end, wouldn’t the same fate befall you as well when you pass?” Minori asked. Her words were tumbling out. She felt flushed, like she wasn’t making sense.

   Laura turned her head and her expression was irate but puzzled, “Huh?” she snarled. “This is fiction, not fact. Mermaids do not turn into seafoam under any circumstance.”

   “Oh.” Minori mumbled, disappointed.

   Laura shrugged, “You can’t believe everything you read about mermaids, especially from humans who don’t know better.”

   “I suppose you're right.” Minori replied in a tiny voice.

   Laura bent dramatically over the table, so she was practically flat to it. She sighed and huffed, enjoying her little moment of attention where she got to refute the great and powerful mind of Ichinose Minori. It was absolutely going to her already big head and she was savouring it. She was literally rolling around in it, mildly annoying Minori but it was best not to disrupt Laura when she was having a moment or else she got worse.

   Fortunately, Laura finished up her theatrics soon enough. She pulled herself back upright onto the table. She flicked her hair about, almost hitting Minori in the face and when she felt all ruffled out in a good way, she smacked her lips together. Satisfied. And now it was Laura’s turn to take curiosity in Minori. She peered closer to Minori and the book she was reading. Laura blinked, she looked perplexed. That could not be right but this book was undeniably in Minori’s hands.

   “You don’t normally read books with quite so many pictures.” Laura commented.

   “It's good to get out of your comfort zone occasionally.” Minori replied.

   “Yes, that’s true, I suppose.” Laura agreed, she began kicking her feet again.

   “And I want to read anything with mermaids in it.” Minori added.

   Laura’s eyes went wide and bright, “Mermaids? Of course a mermaid nerd like you would want to know more but why go to those silly books when I’m right here?” she asked.

   “I’m too embarrassed, I guess.” Minori admitted.

   Laura nodded her head. That sounded like Minori as well.

   “So what’s that book about? More myths of seafoam for me to dispel?” Laura asked.

   “Not quite but it does deal with mortality again. This manga is inspired by an old myth that eating the flesh of a mermaid will grant you immortality and longevity.” Minori said and her eyes flicked up to Laura from behind her glasses, “Is that true?” She asked most pertinently.

   Laura hummed, “I’m not sure actually.” she confessed.

   “Truly?” Minori was taken aback.

   “Well, mermaids are very good at evading capture, we never leave the depths of the Grand Ocean so reports of missing mermaids are uncommon. It's weirdos like the Witch and her servants we ought to be wary of when it comes to population displaced by the kingdom which is very, very rare. So if a mermaid, or any magical creature of the sea, goes missing and is captured… Who knows? It could very well be true.” Laura explained.

   “Interesting.” Minori mumbled.

   “Funnily enough,” Laura added, “there’s a myth that we have about humans. That eating them will grant us eternity but why do we need it? We already live for hundreds of years, anything more would be greedy, without a legacy.”

   Minori’s nose wrinkled with laughter. Her manga posited the same thing of mermaids, that eating human flesh could be beneficial to them. She didn’t say it aloud, though. Laura turned her head, her eyes were manic and dazzling. Inhuman. Minori was suddenly very aware that though she looked human, Laura was not human.

   There was a way her eyes glistened that looked like it could cut through the dark. Her skin and her hair was supernaturally beautiful. There was a flare to her ears, ever so slightly, which hinted back to the fins that she would don in her true form. Laura stared and Minori stared back, enraptured.

   “Would you be interested in that? Because truth be told, I would, in a heartbeat.” Laura asked and she sounded nigh bloodthirsty. “Immortality? Longevity?” She sounded as though she were really, truly offering her body for the experiment and for human greed. She liked that. The mystique that she now had over Minori.

   “No.” Minori answered though she did take her time.

   “I think I would.” Laura mused. “Being Queen for all eternity… That sounds like a dream in a dream.”

   “It sounds like tyranny to me. Misery, as well.” Minori said. “Watching all your friends grow old and pass away without you.”

   “All the new and exciting developments that could take place beyond your natural lifespan.” Laura countered.

   Minori shook her head, “There’s already too much to experience from what came before me.”

   “Yet more time to catch up then.” Laura giggled.

   “I would want to know what comes after the end. I believe that I already have enough time to accomplish what I want in life, you may be greedy but I know my limits.” Minori explained.

   “The big mystery, huh…?” Laura mused. She was curious too, actually. She shrugged. “Fair enough.”

   Minori was quietly pleased with herself that she had managed to match and even overturn Laura in this debate. Usually, the exercise was most like trying to debate with a brick wall but lately, Laura had been expanding herself. Minori had noted it most obviously from when she had cancelled her bid for School President.

   Laura chuckled cheekily to herself and her gaze slid back to her side, down to Minori, “But there’s only one true way to discover the nature of these myths, don’t you think?” Laura taunted her.

   Minori blinked. She wasn’t sure if she knew what Laura was talking about and so she stayed quiet.

   “Don’t you remember?” Laura sounded as though she were boasting because she had gotten yet another one-up on the wide and interesting mind of Ichinose Minori. “Weren’t you taught in science class the correct way of hypothesising and testing, you literature geek? I was.”

   “Oh, I was.” Minori murmured.

   “Then why not try?” Laura asked. She held out her hand to Minori. “Why not just a taste?”

   “And doom myself to an eternity wandering the earth until everything I love is-” Minori almost found herself finishing that sentence with dust but her eyes glimmered, there was a more poetic word choice, she realised, “-is seafoam.”

   “Perhaps, only one way to find out.” Laura teased her, waggling her fingers in a wave pattern. She had de-transformed and now, it was her tail that she kicked, the pink, translucent fins of it glittering in the late afternoon sun.

   “Fine.” Minori replied. “But you are aware that the average human can bite through your bone like it is a carrot, right?”

   “Oh, please, I have swam with sharks and much scarier, toothier threats than you lot.” Laura casually retorted. She bared her teeth and Minori had never noticed just how unusual looking they were. They were fearsome and sharp.

   “If you say so.” Minori said.

   She felt awkward but she leaned in. Laura’s hands were truly her charm point. Her nails were immaculate, her cuticles were all pushed back. They looked nothing like Minori’s picked and chewed nails. Not to mention her hands themselves were gorgeous and delicate. There was a smattering of scales of her arms and her fins dangled, catching light which had begun to darken with either twilight or a storm.

   Minori kissed the back of Laura’s hand. She smelt of sea salt and kelp. It was a cold, organic smell that intrigued Minori. She drew back, licked her lips and tried to convince herself that she was hungry for fish sticks - as what else were the fingers of a mermaid if not those?

   She sucked Laura’s fingers. Just her index, as an entree, a main, and even a dessert, and she tasted fishy. Minori closed her eyes and she suckled. Laura laughed. Minori’s tongue was velvet soft on her finger and when Minori bit down, ever so slightly, just enough to prick her and taste her blood. Minori forced herself to swallow. 

   She pulled back and hid her mouth. The taste could not be described as coppery or like iron, like how she had read. It tasted like something else. It tasted savoury and like umami. In the simplest terms, she liked it.

   “Did you like it?” Laura asked, she tilted her head to the left slightly. “How do I taste?” 

   She held her hand out and let droplet after droplet of blood drip from her finger, she cared not for her injury and Minori was mesmerised by the effect of it. It then began to rain, they could both hear the sound of hitting the roof and the windowpane. Laura’s finger still dripped as well and now her blood pooled on the table unclean.

   “Delicious.” Minori stated in reply and the final school bell tolled. She wondered if her own bells would one day chime to commemorate her passing after consuming even just a morsel of mermaid flesh.