Episode 6: Ningyo

[Hayate]

Power of Love

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~ Episode 6: Ningyo (Mermaid) ~[/u]

Act 1: An Aquatic Mystery

It’s a peaceful Thursday evening in the heart of Sapporo, and the stars shine brightly in the night sky. At the bank of the Toyohira River, a certain camera-toting astronomy club member is seen gazing up at the star-filled sky through her telescope. However, it isn’t the stars she was focused on. “Come on… Where are you, UFOs…?”, young Yuzu Haruhara mumbles to herself, clearly not having given up on her paranormal fixation. “I know you’re out there… You won’t escape my all-seeing eyes…” The over-imaginative Yuzu had been stargazing for hours on end, and would continue to do so for another 20 minutes before stepping away from her telescope. She even had a circular mark around her eye caused by pressing her face against the telescope’s eyepiece. Yuzu places her glasses back on her face and looks up at the sky. “Hmm… Guess tonight’s just not my night. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow-- Huh?” It’s at that moment that Yuzu would notice a small glimmer of light zooming across the sky. “Hey! A shooting star!”, she exclaims cheerfully. Immediately after spotting the star, Yuzu interlocks her fingers, closes her eyes, and makes a wish. “…There!” Deciding to call it a night, Yuzu folds up her telescope and places it inside of its case. Just as she’s doing so…

…a faint splashing sound is heard coming from the river.

“What was that!?” Rapidly spinning to her rear, Yuzu’s eyes dart about the water until she spots the source of the splash: a violent ripple of water seemingly caused by kicking feet. Whatever was kicking through the water looked to have been swimming away. “Sea monster!”, Yuzu spouts in excitement. She quickly ruffles through her equipment, takes out her favorite camera, and pursues the supposed sea monster. As she dashed along the bank of the river, Yuzu takes snapshots of the creature in the water. “I bet it’s a gangi-kozo! Or maybe even a kappa! Or maybe a-- Aah!” Yuzu’s over-enthusiasm is cut short, however, when she trips over a rock. The stumble’s suddenness causes her to fall headfirst into the river. “Aah! D-Dareka, tasukete kudasai! I c-can’t swim!”, Yuzu pleads at the top of her lungs, flailing her arms about. But due to her swimming inability, she ends up swallowing too much water to call for help for very long, and she eventually starts to sink below the waves…

…As she drowns, Yuzu begins to dream. She was in a space completely blanketed in white, and her body was floating as if she were submerged in water. ‘Nani…? Where am I…?’ She turns to her left and right to determine her location, but to no avail. ‘There’s no one here…’

However, Yuzu wouldn’t be alone for long, as a human-shaped silhouette begins to approach from the distance. The silhouette even called out to her. “…Yuzu-chan…”

‘Who… Who is it…? Who’s calling me…?’

“…Yuzu-chan…”

‘I can hear you…but who are you…?’

“…Yuzu-chan!!!”

Brought out of her fantasy and back to reality, Yuzu awakens and begins to cough violently. She sits up in the tall grass and coughs the rest of the seawater out of her lungs. “Ah… Ah…” After her aquatic experience, Yuzu was dangerously short of breath.

A voice nearby tends to her. “Take it easy, Yuzu-chan. You’re okay now.”

“H-Huh?” Glancing over to her right, Yuzu notices a familiar face standing next to her. “…Fukuda-sensei?”

Indeed, the face Yuzu saw belonged to P.E. instructor Naru Fukuda. “Are you okay, Yuzu-chan?”

“Uh… Y-Yeah… I fell into the water… I guess a lot was going on at once, I wasn’t paying attention… Did you… Did you save me, Fukuda-sensei?”

“Mm-hmm. You’re lucky I was nearby to hear you yell too, or else who knows what would’ve happened?”

“…Arigatou gozaimasu…”

“Don’t mention it… But, Yuzu-chan, what were you doing out here so late at night in the first place?”

“I was… Oh! That’s right! The sea monster!”

“Sea monster?”

Yuzu quickly returns to her feet and gazes out towards the Toyohira River. “…It’s gone.” Any traces of the creature she had spotted before were now long gone. “…Oh, wait! My camera!” Noticing her camera placed by her feet, Yuzu picks it up and examines it, followed by letting out a sigh of relief. “Good, it isn’t damaged.”

“Yuzu-chan, hold on.”, Fukuda-sensei calls out, as she was having a little trouble keeping up. “What’s going on? Did you see something in the water?”

“Sorry, Fukuda-sensei! Can’t talk! I’ve gotta get home!”, Yuzu spouts at high-speed, picking up her telescope case and running off into the night. “Thanks again for saving me, sensei!”

“…What the heck just happened? Tch! Sea monsters… Just when I think I’ve heard them all… Ugh, I’m soaking wet…”

The next day, Kyosuke is seen seating himself at his usual seat in Class 7-A. Moments later, he sees Emiri walking into the classroom, so he motions to her a short hand wave.

Noticing this wave as she walked in, Emiri motions a similar wave along with a smile. “Hey, Kyo-- Whoa!” Before the jolly redhead could complete her greeting, however, an unidentifiable arm reaches into the classroom and drags Emiri back into the hallway by her shirt.

“…Hmm?” A puzzled Kyosuke is left to wonder.

“Yuzu-chan?”, says Emiri, determining the eccentric 16-year-old to be the one who pulled her out of the classroom. “What’s the matter?”

“Hehehe! Nothing’s the matter, Emiri-senpai!”, Yuzu says, desperately trying to contain her excitement. “I wanted to show you something!” Yuzu takes several photographs out of her school bag, which she had developed the night before, and presents them to Emiri.

“Hmm? What’s this?”, Emiri queries as she takes the photos from her junior friend. “…Huh? It looks like something’s in the water…”

“I took these pictures by the Toyohira River last night, and I saw a mermaid in the water!”

“N-Nan desu de!? A mermaid!?”

“Hai! It was a little too dark to tell for sure, but I’m sure of it!”

“…Wow… Kakkoii…”

Moments later, the two would be joined by a still puzzled Kyosuke. “…Oh. So it was you, Yuzu-chan. What’s going on?”

“Kyosuke, take a look at this!”, Emiri suddenly exclaims, handing the photos to him.

Taking the photos, Kyosuke examines them swiftly. “…What’s this?”

“A mermaid! Isn’t that awesome!?”

“What? No way. There’s no such thing.”

“Emiri-senpai! Will you help me find it again?”, Yuzu suddenly requests.

“Of course I will, Yuzu-chan!”, Emiri replies, openly accepting. “And Kyosuke will help out too!”

Upon hearing Emiri’s acceptance, Kyosuke’s hands twitch, causing the photos to fall to the floor. “W-Wait, what!? I never agreed to that!”

“You will? That’s wonderful!”

“We’ll head over to the river after school today!”

“Yeah!”

Kyosuke’s left eyebrow twitches slightly by the fact that he was being ignored. “Hey! Are you two listening to me!?”

Just then, who should make her timely entrance other than Kozue-sensei? “Nanbara! Sakurai!”, she spouts as she approached. “The bell rang two minutes ago! Get your asses in class!”

In response to their teacher’s booming voice, Kyosuke and Emiri dash into the classroom, crying “Yes, Kozue-sensei!” in unison.

As the two scurry inside, Kozue-sensei turns to face Yuzu, and her stern expression instantly turns to one of good cheer. “…Ohayou, Yuzu-chan!”

“Y-Yes… Ohayou… Hehehe…”

Later that day, a little after the final bell had sounded, Kyosuke, Emiri, and Yuzu exit the school together. Yuzu suddenly walks a short distance ahead of the others and turns to face them. “Um… Kyosuke-senpai? Emiri-senpai? Would it be alright if I went home to get something before we go down to the riverbank?”

“Uh, sure, Yuzu-chan. Is it gonna take long?”

“Oh, no, not at all. I live near here. I’ll meet you at the riverbank in just minutes, okay?”

“Alright. Ki wo tsukete, ne?”

“I will! I’ll see you in a bit!” With that, Yuzu bid her friends a temporary farewell.

A short time later, Kyosuke and Emiri reach the bank of the Toyohira River before Yuzu. As they awaited her arrival, Emiri passed the time by skipping rocks across the water and Kyosuke lay in the shade with his back against a tree. “I still can’t believe I’m doing this…”, Kyosuke mutters to himself in frustration.

“Oh, don’t be such a killjoy, Kyosuke! It’s not like you had anything better to do!”

“And what about you, Emiri? You know as well as I do that mermaids aren’t real. You’re just setting Yuzu-chan up for disappointment. Why’d you have to go and egg her on like that?”

“…Because she’s still a little girl inside, that’s why.”

“Hmm?”

“There was a time when I was just like Yuzu: believing in aliens and mythical creatures and stuff. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that those things weren’t real, no matter how much I wanted to believe they were. But Yuzu truly believes they are. And it’s good that she does. It means that a part of her won’t let go of something that connects her to her childhood. After all…no one wants to grow up too fast. Right?”

“…I…never thought of it that way…”

During the course of the silence that followed, Yuzu finally arrived, carrying with her several pairs of binoculars, her trademark camera, and a small basket of snacks. “I’m here! I hope I didn’t keep you waiting!”

“…Nah…”

Setting down the basket and binoculars, Yuzu looks towards the river. “Okay! Nothing’s gonna escape my camera today! I vow that, before the day is over, I’ll have captured proof of the existence of mermaids!”

Emiri extends a fist to the air, moved by Yuzu’s optimism. “YEAH!!!”

Kyosuke wasn’t as enthused, but decided to play along for now. “…Yeah…”

~Ningyo: End of Act 1~

Act 2: The Unkind Truth

“Ahhh!”, Emiri noisily hums just before biting down into one of the sandwiches Yuzu had brought in her basket. “Mmm… Umai! These sandwiches are delicious, Yuzu-chan! Did you make them?”

“Mm-hmm.”, Yuzu answers with a wide smile. “I know how much you like umeboshi, Emiri-senpai, so I brought some of that too.”

“Yatta! Arigatou, Yuzu-chan!”

Biting down into one of the sandwiches as well, Kyosuke couldn’t help but notice Emiri and Yuzu’s high spirits. ‘Heh… Almost feels like we’re on a picnic…’

After downing a mouthful of juice, Yuzu grasps her binoculars and looks out towards the water. “This is the exact spot where I saw the mermaid last night! If we’re lucky, it might return again today!”

Picking up a second pair of binoculars, Emiri gazes out towards the river along with her.

Kyosuke, displaying his usual aloofness, continues to lie in the shade. He didn’t want to be there particularly, but it was as Emiri said: his afternoon schedule was indeed pretty much free.

An hour later, at about 4:00pm, the trio had barely moved from their positions in the grass. Yuzu downs another mouthful of juice.

By 5:00pm, nearly all of the snacks Yuzu had brought were gone.

By 6:00pm, the basket was completely empty. As Emiri and Yuzu continue to gaze out at the water, Kyosuke lets out another yawn of exhaustion.

At 7:00pm, the grass’s greenness began to blend with the orange-red light of the setting sun. Yuzu taps her foot in the grass repeatedly in impatience. “Come on… Where are you, mermaid?”, she asks in a low-volume whine.

Kyosuke, realizing Yuzu’s anxiety, addresses Emiri. “Emiri, it’s been hours. Don’t you think this charade’s gone on long enough?”

Too focused on the water, Emiri doesn’t reply to Kyosuke’s question. Perhaps she had gotten too much ‘into character’ at this point.

“…Alright, fine.”, Kyosuke says, suddenly rising to his feet and pocketing his hands. “…I’m going home.”

These words Emiri does hear however. Removing her binoculars from her face, she looks up at her black-haired friend. “You’re leaving? But we haven’t found the mermaid yet.”

“…Did you really just say that? It’s been 4 hours, Emiri! There’s nothing to find out here but rocks and a bunch of fish!”

“…”

“…Hey!”, Yuzu suddenly spouts. “There’s something in the water! Mite, mite!”

Hearing Yuzu’s outburst, Kyosuke and Emiri find themselves looking out towards the river, where a violent ripple of water similar to the one Yuzu had spotted the night before could be seen. “…What the!?”

“Quick! Catch it!”, Yuzu shouts as she rises to her feet and gives chase.

“Right behind you, Yuzu-chan!”, Emiri responds, jumping to her feet and following close behind. “Come on, Kyosuke!”

“…A…mermaid? No… That’s just crazy…”

“Come on, Kyosuke, let’s go!!!”

“O-Oh! Right!”

As the supposed mermaid swims away, Kyosuke, Emiri, and Yuzu pursue it along the edge of the river. “Come back!!!”, Yuzu continually calls out, hoping her shouts would reach the mermaid’s ears.

“Kyosuke, go catch it! You’re faster than Yuzu and I!”

“I can’t believe I’m about to do this…but here goes!”, As his running speed slightly increases, Kyosuke dashes ahead of Emiri and Yuzu until he was just behind the alleged mermaid. “…Yah!!!” He then leaps into the air and attempts to pounce onto the mermaid from above. “Gotcha!!!”

“What the hell?!?”

…A loud splash ensues.

“Did you get it, Kyo?”, Emiri calls out.

Moments after Kyosuke’s tussle with the ‘mermaid’, he finally manages to pull it onto dry land by its fin. “Whew… This would’ve been easier if I had a net or something… Don’t worry, guys! I got it! I got the mermaid!”

“…Uh, Kyosuke?”

“Yeah?”

“…That’s not a mermaid.”

“Hmm?” Looking down, Kyosuke comes to the realization that he was not holding a mermaid’s fin, but instead a human foot. And connected to that foot…

…was an infuriated Chiaki Fuyutsuki in her school swimsuit. “Grrrr… Kyosuke…”

An exaggerated drop of sweat falls down the side of Kyosuke’s head. “Uh… H-Hey, Chiaki…” Just then, in a display of anger, Chiaki pulls her foot out of Kyosuke’s grip and forcefully connects her heel with his face. The power behind the blow causes Kyosuke to fall headfirst into the dirt.

“Nani sunda yo, Kyosuke!?”, Chiaki roars at the downed Kyosuke. “What th’ big idea pullin’ me outta the water!?”

“Chiaki-senpai…you’re a mermaid?”

“Mermaid? What th’ heck are you talkin’ about?” In the several minutes that followed, Kyosuke and company had explained their situation to Chiaki. She was rather wide-eyed throughout the majority of the tale. “…Wow… That’s some pretty heavy stuff… Sorry about kickin’ ya in the face like that, Kyosuke.”

“It’s okay. I had it coming. Hehehe…ow…”

“So it was you in the water last night, Chiaki?”

“Yup. I’ve been trainin’ all week for the swim meet tomorrow.”

“Hold on! It still could’ve been a mermaid I saw last night! Did you encounter anything in the water while you were training, Chiaki-senpai?”

“Well… Nothin’ outta the ordinary. Sorry, Yuzu-chan.”

“…Oh… I see…” Her dream of finding the existence of mermaid crushed, Yuzu lowers her head in shame.

“…Yuzu-chan?”

Yuzu then turns to face Kyosuke and Emiri and forces a smile. “I’m…really sorry for taking up your time like this, Kyosuke-senpai, Emiri-senpai. But thank you for spending time with me today. I should…probably head home now. Ja mata.” With that, Yuzu runs over to the tree, rapidly picks up her belongings, and runs off in the direction of her house nearby.

Meanwhile, Kyosuke, Emiri, and Chiaki are left standing at the edge of the Toyohira River, catching Yuzu’s infectious depression. “Oh, man… Poor Yuzu-chan…”

“Yeah… I wish there was somethin’ we could do to cheer her up…”

“…Maybe there is…”, Kyosuke says forebodingly. He then looks towards Emiri with a wily expression.

“…Why are you looking at me like that, Kyo?”

…A short while later, at about 7:30pm, the doorbell at the Haruhara residence sounds. As she descends the stairs, Yuzu calls out, “Hai, hai! I’m coming!” Looking through the door’s peephole, she determines her houseguest to be Kyosuke. “Huh? Kyosuke-senpai?” Realizing this, she unlatches the locks and opens the door. “What brings you here, senpai?”, Yuzu asks her visitor in bewilderment.

“Yuzu-chan! Come quick! There’s something you have to see!”

“W-What? What is it?”

“Just come quick! And bring your camera!”

Soon after Yuzu fetches her camera, the two rush over to the bank of the Toyohira River, where Chiaki was waiting for them. “Chiaki-senpai’s here too?”

“Chiaki! Is it still around!?”

“Yeah! I just saw it upriver!”

“W-What’s going on, senpai? What are we looking for?”

“Just wait, Yuzu-chan. It should still be… Wait! There it is!”

Looking towards the mouth of the river, Yuzu squints her eyes in search of whatever it was that sent Kyosuke and Chiaki into a tizzy. Just then… “…!!!”…she sees something jump out of the water. The sunset’s glare made it somewhat hard to see clearly, but its silhouette indicated that it had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish. “It’s a…a…MERMAID!!!” Without hesitation, Yuzu excitedly grabs her camera and takes a seemingly endless series of pictures. She even dashed towards the river’s mouth to take a few at close range.

The mermaid, noticing Yuzu’s proximity, swims away.

But Yuzu didn’t mind. She now had the proof she needed. “…It’s true… They’re real… Mermaids are really real…” Unable to suppress her excitement any longer, Yuzu leaps into the air and shouts “YATTA[/b]!!!” at the top of her lungs. Upon returning to Earth, she spins around and dashes towards her house. “I’m going home to develop these right away! Ja ne, senpai!”

As Kyosuke watched Yuzu run off, he couldn’t help but smile. Moments later, he’s joined by Chiaki. “…So…you think we pulled it off?”, he asks his Osakan friend.

“Yup! Worked like a charm!”

“Okay, Emiri! You can come out of the water now!”

Indeed, the so-called mermaid Yuzu had seen jumping in the water was none other than Emiri in a mermaid costume. “Ah! Finally! I feel ridiculous wearing this thing!”

“Aw, don’t be so modest, Emi-chan! You make a cute mermaid! Hahaha!”

“Don’t make me clobber you, Chiaki!”, Emiri growls, shaking a fist at the laughing girl.

…Monday morning. Kyosuke is seen routinely seating himself at his usual seat in Class 7-A. Moments later, he sees Emiri walking into the classroom and motions to her a short hand wave.

As she walked in, Emiri motions a similar wave accompanied by a smile. “Hey, Kyo-- Whoa!” Just then, in the same fashion as the Friday that had passed, an unidentifiable arm reaches into the classroom and drags Emiri back into the hallway by her shirt.

“…Déjà-vu…”, a puzzled Kyosuke mutters to himself.

Once again, it was Yuzu who had pulled Emiri out into the hallway. “Yuzu-chan! H-Hey! Uh…h-how’s it going?”

“I wanted to show you something, Emiri-senpai.”, little Yuzu replies with a smirk. She takes several photographs out of her school bag and presents them to Emiri.

“…!!!” Looking over the photos, Emiri discovers a frightening fact: Yuzu had captured the redhead on film in perfect clarity. “Y-Yuzu-chan, I can explain!”

“You don’t need to explain yourself, Emiri-senpai. After I saw the photos, it became clear to me of what you and Kyosuke-senpai did. And for that…I want to thank you.”

“Huh? Thank me?”

“I know that my obsession with the extraterrestrial and supernatural is rather childish. But what was even more childish was the way I reacted when I found out that I was wrong about the mermaid in the Toyohira River. So I’m gonna keep on looking for proof of those things. But even if I find out that those things aren’t real in the end, I’m not gonna feel sorry for myself, and accept that. Thank you for helping me come to that decision.”

Emiri was quite surprised. In just a weekend’s time, Yuzu had grown up a little. “…My pleasure, Yuzu-chan. And if you do happen to find proof, can I be the first person you share it with?”

“Of course! …Well, I need to head to class now. See you later, senpai.”

As Emiri watches Yuzu walk away, she’s joined by Kyosuke. “…She totally found us out, didn’t she?”

“Yup. But…it’s alright. Yuzu’s gonna be okay. It all worked out.”

“Oh? That’s cool, I guess.” Just then, Emiri leans against Kyosuke, using him to support her weight. “E-Emiri?”

“…It was really nice of you to do all that for Yuzu-chan.”

“…I just… I-It’s no big deal…”

“…Hehehe…”

Just then… “Nanbara! Sakurai!”, Kozue-sensei spouts as she approaches. “Asses in class! NOW!”

Their teacher’s voice echoing in their ears, Kyosuke and Emiri dash into the classroom. “Y-Yes, Kozue-sensei!”

“…Ahhh…Such model students…”

~Ningyo: End of Act 2~

~Power of Love: End of Episode 6~

~ Power of Love: Next Episode ~

Emiri: What are you guys doing for the Cultural Festival?

Chiaki: Me and Misuzu are turnin’ homeroom into a maid café!

Rudy: Maid café, eh? Ooh-la-la…

Yuzu: I’m making a constellation show in the gym!

Emiri: Ooh, sounds like fun! …Oh, but there’s nothing for Kyosuke or me to do…

Rudy: The drama club’s putting on a play, y’know.

Emiri: A play? Hmm…

Kyosuke: …Oh, no…

Kozue-sensei: Next time on Power of Love! Episode 7, “Bunkasai (Cultural Festival)”!

Emiri: Oh, Kyosuke…

Kyosuke: Forget it![/font][/size][/color]