Haikyuu Creature Collection

Don't Be Scared (Kenji Futakuchi)

I let out a slow sigh. This situation is not a good one to be in.

I glanced at the small, water-filled hole next to me... and my little companion swimming around in it. He's only a little guy and aside from me, the shark has no one to look out for him.

It's actually because of him that we're in this mess... but that doesn't mean that it was his fault... not entirely. He didn't do anything wrong... he was just guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He's out of danger now, but the minute we set fin back in the ocean, we might as well kiss that safety goodbye.

What am I going to do? I cradled my injured arm against my chest. My tail wasn't in any better shape either. There was no way that I could swim like this... and if I can't swim, then I'm trapped here.

Even worse, the baby shark in the pool beside me is trapped too. It's not a pretty scenario.

"Well now, didn't think I'd be seeing a pretty little mermaid today." At the sound of the voice, I moved to push myself to the water but only ended up letting out a cry of pain and clutching my arm tighter. Right. Can't do that...

Panicking, I looked toward the source of the voice while using my one good arm to try and shift myself away from the male standing there.

If I were a creature with a stronger sense of smell, I would have been able to tell what he was, but I wasn't. The best that I could do was assume that he was as he looked and that meant treating him as a human. He can't be trusted.

The male held up his hands in defense. "Calm down... I'm not gonna hurt you..." He eyed me, gaze lingering on my injured arm. "Looks like you've hurt yourself enough as it is..."

He moved closer... too close for my liking. "Stay away!" I tried to move backward more, but with only a single arm that I can rely on, at best I could only make myself look pathetic.

"No need to freak out," he laughed at me. This certainly wasn't funny! "I just want to help. You sit right there. Couple friends of mine will be able to help you."

He wandered off, but I wasn't about to just sit around and wait for him to come back. The guy was human, so he couldn't be trusted. Simple as that.

Still, getting away was a lot easier said than done. Crawling away was my only option and with only one arm that was functional, I wasn't getting far. Not to mention that sand can be really hard to move around on. When the stranger returned with his friends, I'd barely gotten anywhere.

The first to approach me was a man. He wasn't the one who had found me, but he looked older than him. What caught my attention was a bracelet of shells on his wrist. They were a fleshy pink color, like human skin.

A girl came up beside him. "It's okay... we're on your side." The girl held up her wrist, showing off another bracelet, this one being a deep jade. She then pointed to the male who had found me. "Kenji might be an incubus, but I promise he's a friend... you don't have to be scared." She waved a younger boy forward. With a lovely pair of wings, he seemed pretty harmless. "This is Kousuke. He can heal you if you'll let him."

The four of them seemed to be okay, I supposed. If they're nonhumans, then I doubted that they would do me any harm. Well, I still wasn't sure about the incubus, but the other three were definitely alright.

After figuring out just what the injuries were, it was easy for the angel to heal them. Being young though, he wasn't quite able to heal them fully. That was alright though. I could at least move around now. Still, the older male, Takehito as the girl called him, advised against any sort of swimming or moving around for a while. Seeing as he was a merman, I wasn't going to argue with him.

It wasn't like I wanted to go back into the ocean anyways. Sighing, I leaned against a large rock next to the little pool with my shark friend. Back where I started, but this time I'm not completely helpless. I'm also not alone.

The incubus decided to hang around. Maybe he was bored. "So how did you get so beat up anyway?" Kenji asked, sitting down on the sand beside me.

It's a fair enough question, but I doubt he'd like the answer. "Dolphins."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Dolphins?"

"Yes."

Most wouldn't know, but the playful creatures that people admired so much weren't as sweet and innocent as they believed.

"Dolphins are bullies... That little guy down there..." I pointed to the shark. "A few dolphins were smacking him around... I tried to save him... and they didn't like that."

Kenji didn't seem like he believed me, but it wasn't like I had any reason to lie. "Wouldn't have imagined that... Ocean must be a scary place to live."

I don't bother to respond to that. Obviously, the ocean was scary. There was a reason humans don't go very deep into it. Not that that even mattered right now.

Kenji eyed me, not even trying to be subtle about it. I don't know why he was even sticking around. It wasn't like I wanted him to stay.

As I let myself get distracted by my thoughts, I find myself being pushed down onto the sand... the incubus climbing over me.

"You're really cute." He had a smirk on his face that I didn't like. "Always wondered what it was like to have a little fun with a mermaid..."

Kenji backed away very quickly when my palm collided with his face. His eyes were wide and he brought his hand up to the red mark left on his cheek. "I was just messing around!"

"It wasn't funny." I sat myself back up and scooted away from him. "Go away."

Kenji didn't like it, but he eventually gave in and left me alone. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the only time I'd encounter that incubus... no, that encounter was merely the beginning.