RYOSHIN SUPREMACY

All Because I Needed Mushrooms | witch/mermaid au

Ryo's never been adventurous, or reckless.

So finding himself in the middle of the forest was kind of terrifying to him.

His broom had stopped working properly, no matter where he would tell the damn thing to go, it kept leading him towards the opposite way of the forest.

However, he was low on mushrooms, and he's been dying to get his hands on the rare glowing mushrooms that Saeki had told him about.

Haru was busy tonight with the Kambe's too, so he couldn't just command the reckless werewolf to do his dirty work anyway.

His familiar keeps insisting that he turn around and give up too, to just ask Saeki or another witch for some and pay them generously.

But he knows how stuck up some witches can be, and if these mushrooms were as rare as Saeki had said, there's no way any of the kind-hearted witches will have any in stock.

And asking Saeki?!

No fucking way.

He's already on her hit list for 'mistreating' his garden by using pesticide spells and enchanting them frequently, not to mention the time he ended up accidentally eating the cake she'd made for the Maniacal Mana Meeting...

She'd skin him alive and use his corpse as fertilizer!

But still, there is a small voice in the back of his head warning him from continuing.

Then there's a hum.

It's low, sweet, and melodious.

Curious to all hell, he decides to follow it.

Normally, we'd consider that a dumbass move, and hell, so would Ryo, but he knew that even if he didn't want to follow the noise, he doesn't have a say in it, because it feels like he's being pulled toward the noise.

He enters a clearing where a big lake is stood in the center of it, and he immediately recognizes it as the lake that leads to the ocean in the south part of the town.

The humming grows louder, and then it's suddenly an enchanting voice singing.

He stands on the edge of the shore, watching over the water. A figure is sat on a rock, a faint glow surrounds the water in certain spots.

He digs into his satchel, searching for the nocturnal charm he made sure to pack.

"You're going to regret this!" His familiar manifests on his shoulder, "it's a siren, you idiot! You're going to become fish food if you don't manage to escape now!"

He rolls his eyes at the dramatics of the cat spirit.

"As if," he scoffs quietly, "if it is a siren, at least then we'll have mermaid scales, right? There's no way in hell I'm dying to some girl with a fishtail for a butt."

"It's your damn funeral! Broom and I will just have to find new masters, I suppose."

He ignores the spirit, instead, he walks over to a small pier set up. He sits down on the edge, listening to the rest of the siren's song.

Nocturnal charm beginning to take effect, the shapeless figure begins to form into something more or less human.

He watches the water, and surely enough, there's a pale and scaly tail swishing through the calming water.

The siren turns around to face Ryo, a look of surprise adorning their face. They dip into the water, swimming up to the pier, emerging back up by where Ryo's boots were swinging in the air, just hovering over the water slightly.

"I didn't expect to have anyone near the lake at this hour, if I had known someone was going to be here, I wouldn't have started my singing," the siren says, pale pair of yellow-brown (although he couldn't be sure of the color, nocturnal charms discolor hues more often than not) eyes shine up at him, "you didn't seem too affected by it, perhaps you're not a human?"

"No, I'm a witch," Ryo answers, "I've never seen a mermaid-like you before?"

The siren tilts their head, "I'm surprised you've seen one at all, they typically don't go for witches, especially not natural-born ones," they point at the crescent moon on Ryo's forehead, a mark only given to witches of blood, "and I'm not a mermaid, I'm a merman, surely you're not stupid enough to mistake my devilish handsome charm for a lady." He wiggles his eyebrows with a cheeky grin.

"Men and can be mermaids?!" Ryo shouts.

The merman roles his eyes, "anyone can! All naturally-born merfolk are born as women, whether they feel like one is different and they can always change that, but merfolk like me- we can be anyone and get shoved off a ship, drown, and depending on your circumstance, you can be changed into a merperson like that."

"So you're-, are you dead?!" He shrieks, beginning to scramble away from the pier.

The merman sighs, "no, I was reborn into a mermaid. They took my body and did the ritual, gave me life, and gave me a tail and gills, other than that, I'm pretty much alive."

The merman heaves himself up on the pier, right beside Ryo, "merfolk reborn as merfolk can also walk on land, it's supposed to be to kill our killers, but I don't see a point in revenge."

Ryo, still a little nervous, hums in response.

The merman turns to him, he extends a hand, with slowly retreating sharp fins on the arm. Ryo takes it, albeit a little reluctant. The merman smiles, he says, "I'm Shinnosuke, I watch over the lake, just to make sure there's no accidental or purposeful drownings."

"Oh," Ryo dumbly responds, "OH, I'm Ryo, I-, uh-, potions."

Shinnosuke laughs at the response, "well Ryo, what're you doing here so late?"

"Well, I was trying to collect some mushrooms earlier in the evening," Ryo grumbles, "but my broom kept taking the opposite way to the forest, so I ended up going on foot over here, and, well, I heard humming and now I'm here."

Shinnosuke, sheepish, rubs the back of his neck, "yeah sorry about that, I guess your broom was trying to not get you possibly killed."

Ryo shrugs, "it's not like you were, right?"

He shakes his head.

"Then there's nothing that dumb piece of wood and hay should have had to worry about," Ryo states, he snaps his fingers, "and you! " He points an accusatory finger at the familiar that poofs into existence, on his lap, "I thought you said I was going to die?! Am I dead?!"

The cat, ever so full of life, thwacks him on the cheek, "I don't wanna hear it, dust for brains! You only got lucky that this shit-seaweed head's not into killing!"

Ryo glares at the cat, who stares right back.

Shinnosuke chuckles, he says, "you should go and collect your mushrooms soon, the feral werewolves come out soon to hunt, and yes, they will definitely attack you."

Ryo glances up at the moon, and sure enough, the moon is nearing its peak, he nods, standing up and dusting himself off, "it was nice meeting you, Shinnosuke."

Smiling sweetly, Shinnosuke nods, "you too! It's always nice to have people that aren't fishers or merfolk hunters visit the lake!"

"Are those the only people that come by?" Ryo asks, a little concerned.

"Yeah," Shinnosuke replies, "so having people stop by and having a nice chat with them is always pretty sweet!"

Ryo hums, "I'll come by tomorrow in the afternoon," he decides, "until then." He bows then summons his magic broom, which flies to his side.

Shinnosuke grins, "see you tomorrow!"

And Ryo flies off, smiling to himself.

"Jeez, you look stupid with that face, stop it before I claw it off you!"