The warmth of the ocean

Encounter

Cold. This was the main thought that came to Tamio's mind whenever he went out from home and walked at the beach coast. Every day in his hometown was grayish. Clouds everywhere. This caused the ocean to look darker. It gave him a sense of coldness from the gray and black tone of the water. Not enough sunlight passed through the ocean. The sand was a little bit rough. Tamio had to walk by with shoes on, but he preferred to be barefoot. Even if it wasn't the best landscape to look and live at, he liked it. Feeling the cold breeze touching gently his face, arms and half legs made him feel nice. Tamio also enjoyed the sensation of his white shirt and blue short jeans moving from side to side. Little things like these were the reason why he was still living there.

It's been years since he last saw his parents. One day, they unexpectedly didn't arrive home. Tamio was 15 then. Now he's 21. They always used to tell him to get somewhere else. To live big. To go and explore what's outside that small town. But Tamio was a simple young man. Something told him that his place was that grayish town. He couldn't explain exactly what was it, but he had always felt a connection with the ocean. Tamio himself has never got into the ocean completely because of the low temperature it has. But Even if the water had always been cold enough to freeze him, he felt warmth when getting closer to it. It's ironic but he could only understand himself.

Tamio had been like this for a time now. He lived alone and had some friends as neighbors. However, he enjoyed spending time with himself only. Sitting on the same rock, placing his feet in the water, and just staring at the infinite depth from the dark ocean. He'd always been curious about what's inside that depth. Humans cannot go that deep in the ocean. Undiscovered creatures may be living there and no one knows how they look like, or what would they do if they ever came up to the surface. Either way, there wasn't a possibility Tamio could find it out. He's different from the others. He hated to admit it but he's fragile. Delicate. Getting inside the cold ocean would easily kill him in minutes. His body wouldn't withstand those temperatures as other human beings that would stand them. What the cold water from that ocean would be for others, it would be for him like an arctic one. But sometimes, he didn't care, and just getting his feet on the water surface and looking at the sky reflection from there, would help him to cool down his ideas and forget about his weaknesses.

...

Tamio was not mistaken. Indeed, different sea creatures were living in the depths. One of them especially has been on the ocean's surface several times, except that no one has ever seen him. If humans ever knew he existed, then he probably might have been murdered for scientific purposes or just for cowardness coming from them. This human-fish-looking being was the proof that weird and unknown sea creatures were real. This was not a myth after all. At least he and the species lived in some parts of the ocean. Even if it doesn't seem so, these creatures were extremely intelligent. And more surprisingly, they lived in society, just like human beings. This creature's name was Tsukihiko and he could be defined as a merman.
Tsukihiko was a popular male in between the other mermaids. Yet, he always preferred being alone. He didn't find the others interesting and got bored regularly. Life under the sea was not that impressive as many others would think so.

He could be defined as arrogant and reserved. Tsukihiko was a real beauty of the ocean. His pale skin with a light gray tone, dark black long hair, a 4'5 red and blue tail, and plum red penetrant eyes were his main physical attributes. Those could easily make him the best-looking sea creature ever. Some myths said that mermen were either horrendous or with impressive beauty. The second one was a fact. Also, it was said that they could live for hundreds of years and still look young. Physically they never got older. Tsukihiko's physical age could be 25-30 years old, but biologically it's an unknown number. Could go from 100 to 500. But age was not a relevant aspect for them.