By The Seaside [🤖🌟]

A Sweet Melody

The beach was always a place Tsukasa enjoyed.

As a child, he would often venture off to there, and build sand castles, swim it the shallow water, or just sit there until dusk, contemplating his life decisions. Simply put, Tsukasa loved the beach.

It was always a place where he could pour out all his bottled up emotions, and he could do it for hours, with the accompanying sounds of waves crashing.

In fact, Tsukasa adored the beach and its beauty so much, he would visit it every day after school. He felt heard and understood by the silence of the waves, and he couldn't help but smile every time he came.

One day, after a long and boring day, Tsukasa was pumped to finally go to the beach.

Upon arrival, was the sounds of someone singing a melody. One that was so mesmerizing and gentle, it sounded like a lullaby. Tsukasa, who was by now very intrigued and lured by the mysterious persons gentle singing, slowly approaches the noise.

As he crept closer, a mass of grayish greenish hair was spotted.. and so was a.. MERMAID TAIL!? Tsukasa squinted his eyes, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. A girl with desaturated green hair.. a mermaid tail.. sitting on a rock.. singing?

He was a bit too invested in seeing who the supposed "mermaid" was though, as he leaned forward too much, thus causing himself to trip forward, being barely able to catch himself.

The sudden sound caused the mermaid to shriek in fear, swaying her head in Tsukasas direction.

Upon seeing a human, aka Tsukasa, the mermaid quickly leapt into the sea, swimming underwater and out of Tsukasas vision.

Tsukasa angrily pouted to himself, he was immensely upset at himself. Primarily because he scared the mermaid off, but also due to the fact he scraped his knee.

He took a good look at it, although the scrapped knee was not on his mind. Rather, that mysterious mermaid was.

He stand on the same large rock the mermaid had sat on, throwing his head back, and staring at the orange and purple hues that were painted in the sky.

"who was that.." Tsukasa mumbled to himself, now redirecting his gaze to his injured knee.

He gave it a blank yet irritated look, running a finger over it as he winced.

"ouch!" He shrieked, it burnt like hell.

"..maybe I should go home." Tsukasa spoke to himself, now hopping off the rock and limply walking away from the sea.

Although Tsukasa had assumed the mermaid had left, he did not notice the small head of the mermaids peeking above the water.

As the mermaid watched Tsukasa leave the beaches premises, she stood in both excitement and worry.

As she was about to crawl her way back onto the rock again, a voice called out to her.

"Nene! Where are you?!"

Nene swung her head around, attempting to figure out who just called her so abruptly.

"Nene!!" A mass of pink hair popped up from within the surface of the water.

"..emu." Nene said blankly, she was a bit scared at first, but now she was slightly relieved.

Emu smiled brightly, now giving Nene a tight hug.

"You left me alone in the coral reefs again! Where did you go?" Emu said with a slur, as she pulled away from Nene and raised her eyebrows at her.

Nene stood in silence, what could she say to excuse herself?

"..uhm.. I got lost." Nene blurted out, her expression said otherwise though, as panicked as she looked.

Emu stood there, a bit surprised.

"You got.. lost?.. but you know the sea like the back of your hand.." Emu said with a doubtful face.

Nene began to squirm around a bit, fidgeting with her thumbs and avoiding eye contact.

"Well.. I.." She tried to find an excuse, but alas could not conjure up anything.

Emu noticed the nervousness in Nenes tone, not wanting to further invade her own reasons, she sighed before changing the topic.

"Nene.. it's okay.. I won't push you over it." Emu said with a gentle smile, now hugging Nene again tightly.

She was grateful Emu understood her boundaries, as she held Emu back just as tight.

———

Upon reaching his household, Tsukasa upsettingly kicked off his shoes and drowsily trudged his way up into his bedroom.

Tsukasa collapsed onto his bed, clearly exhausted and upset. He stuffed his face into his pillow, angrily groaning into it.

Although he was saddened, Tsukasa decided to try his luck the next day. Maybe then, he would see that peculiar mermaid again.
Maybe just another day he would hear that sweet melody again, maybe.