mizuxfem!oc
The Ningyo (人魚, "human fish") is a creature with both human and fish-like features.
Many fishermen who find these creatures caught in their nets throw them back into the ocean.
For if a ningyo is caught, she will bring misfortune and cal...
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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: SHORTCOMINGS
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I'll know you inside and out, too.
And it won't be anything like that fool Mikio.
Mizu was rendered speechless. Such beautiful words, ones she didn't think she'd ever hear again or deserve. A fast tear slid down her face and she turned away.
"Mizu..."
"I'm fine," she forced her voice down. "I-I just need a second. Don't look at me when I'm like this—it's a sorry sight."
"When you cry, it's not a sorry sight. It's a release you really need. It's okay..."
She tore her eyes dry. "It's not okay, not for me."
Sogo shook her head with a delicate, gentle smile. She lifted her bottom off the floor and crawled on her knees closer to her. She plopped directly before her, and Mizu turned her head away. Her cheeks were flushed from crying, and the tip of her nose was bright pink.
"Not in front of you. I look pathetic..."
"What a silly thing to say."
Mizu shut her eyes tight, unwilling to budge. Sogo gently cupped her face to turn her just a bit.
She obliged and turned her face. Her brows twitched in nervousness. In shyness. She opened her watercolor eyes at the woman she loved. Who gazed at her like she was a treasure.
"Don't ever say you look pathetic. I'll never feel that way about you, even when you cry. You're my entire heart."
A ball of tears clogged up her throat to be called such a thing. I love you, Sogo. It swelled in her chest until it hurt her and she thought her ribs would break. How could she say those same words that her mother had not once said to her?
"I... I..."
She released a deeply frustrated sigh.
"I-I'm sorry. I know it's not easy to be with me."
She held Sogo's hands as her own trembled. She grasped them like they were the most precious thing in the world. She bent forward and pressed her forehead onto them as if asking for forgiveness. Apologizing for all her shortcomings involving love and emotion.
"Please continue to be patient with me, Sogo..."
It was the best she could do.
They walked back to Mizu's lodging where the door was left ajar. The little bunny hopped before them, and it pushed its fluffy body through the crack. In the narrow hallway, their hands bumped into each other, and Mizu's finger twitched with the desire to grab hers. Suddenly, Sogo stopped walking and Mizu stopped an extra step ahead of her.
