Song Waves || A Ruinene Mermaid AU Story

Chapter 1: The Night Everything Changed

The bright lights, once shining in my face, slowly fade out. The scene of Tsukasa and Emu kissing at the end of our performance, due to the play we just put on for everyone. The loud cries of applause from the audience; both children and adults alike. It's all beautiful.
"Rui, what are you doing?", Tsukasa asks, a concern look clouding his face. I snap back into reality—back from my memory of earlier this exact night. "Ah, sorry Tsukasa-kun, I was wrapped in my own thoughts", I reply, a bit embarrassed, wondering how long I was just standing there for. He swims over to me, his golden tail gleaming in the backstage lights as he does. He grabs the box from my arms, and puts it up on the shelf for me. "You need to stop doing that when you are carrying heavy objects, you're gonna hurt yourself one day..", he says, shaking his head at me. I chuckle and apologize again.
Suddenly, I catch a pink blur from the corner of my eyes. I look up slightly, and see Emu swimming to the top of the shelf located where me and Tsukasa are standing. Once she gets to the top and sees me looking at her, she smiles and shushes me with her finger. I cover my mouth and giggle silently.
She readies herself to jump onto Tsukasa, her tail swishing back and forth, like a cat getting ready to pounce. "Rui, what are you looking a-", Tsukasa starts, turning around and looking up. Just before he can finish his sentence, Emu pushes herself off of the shelf, landing on him, knocking him to the floor.
"AUUGH-", Tsukasa lets out a cry for help. I laugh at their nonsense, watching Tsukasa squirm around underneath her, and Emu hugging him. After a couple of minutes, Emu's lets go on him and allows him to sit up a bit, still sitting on his chest. She smiles innocently at him, a small blush forming on her cheeks. Tsukasa gives her a look of playful annoyance. He ruffles her hair and gives her a small kiss on her forehead.
"Ahem.." I interrupt. They turn to look at me. While digging through my bag, I continue, "I trust that you two will lock up back here? I'm going to check the stage and make sure the audience hasn't left anything behind". Tsukasa nods, agreeing to lock the backstage door as he leaves. "Alright, make sure to give me the key tomorrow at school-", I start. As I say that, my hand lands on a small, cold, metal object. I pull it out and hand it to Tsukasa, knowing it's my key. "Farewell, you two, I'll see you tomorrow". "Bye-Bye ☆ Rui-kun~!!", Emu shouts enthusiastically. "See you later, Rui-, hey, Emu, wait!", Tsukasa starts, but is soon cut off.
Emu has taken the key from Tsukasa and swims off towards the door with it. Tsukasa quickly follows after her, cursing playfully under his breath. I laugh, clearly enjoying their silliness. I'm happy to see both of them were able to find happiness in each other.
I close up my bag and swim over to the curtains, entering the stage for the second time tonight. I look around, making sure there's no lost items, or lost children where the audience is located. Suddenly, I notice an unfamiliar mermaid. Under the moonlight, her blue and light green tail shimmers with a small rainbow glow. Curiously, she's low to the ground, moving the rocks and plants around, obviously looking for something.
"Miss, did you lose something?", I call over to her. However, there's no response. Nothing verbal, no notation with her body language, or even a head turn at the sound of my voice. Puzzled, I get down from the stage and swim over to her, still continuing to talk to her. "I wonder if she's deaf..", I thought. Once I reach her, I tap her with my tail fins. She jumps a little and then swims upright, facing me.
I clear my throat and start to sign to her. "Miss, did you lose something?" She rolls her eyes at me. "Just talk to me normally, I understand", she says, her voice quiet. I'm a bit taken aback, as I didn't expect her to hear me. "My apologies, I've been calling out to you but you never gave any notion of hearing me", I reply, confused. The mermaid sighs and continues, "Sorry, I probably didn't hear you, I'm hard of hearing".
"Ohhh", I say. "So, are you able to hear me now, or are you just reading my lips?", I ask her, a bit curious. She looks at the ground, as if avoiding the question. "It's complicated..", she says, still looking at the ground. It's clear she's not really wanting to talk about it, especially with a stranger.
"Ah, I'm sorry miss, I did not mean to pry", I say, a bit ashamed of myself, "The more important question is, what were you looking for down here?" She perks up a bit, probably from the fact that I could possibly help her. "I lost my city map..I just moved here and I'm having trouble locating places", she replies. Not surprised at all I reply, "Ah, I see". I look around and notice there's no crumbs on dropped drinks anywhere on the ground. "I'm sorry, but the park custodian must have came by and cleaned the floor". She pauses, and looks a bit annoyed. "I knew I should have just stayed here to look first..", she says under her breath. I study her face, and she looks disappointed that she's lost her map.
Suddenly, an idea strikes me. "I know this is sudden but, how would you like it if I gave you a tour tomorrow? And maybe we could get coffee or something.", I say. She pauses, giving me a weary look. "Oh! You don't have to if you don't want, that's okay too. I'm just trying to be friendly". I squirm a little bit, nervous that I made her uncomfortable. After a couple minutes of silence, she finally answers, "Thank you, I would like that.." I smile warmly at her. "Wonderful! How about we meet up here tomorrow at 4 PM?" I say, hoping it's a good time for her. She nods. "Let me write you a note so the park staff will let you in". I swim away from her, towards the side curtains, where my desk is. I grab a sticky note pad and an ink pen. "This young mermaid has permission to be at the stage when someone isn't here. Signed, Stage Director Rui".
I swim back to her, and hand her the sticky note. She looks it over and gives me a puzzled look. "Ah, one of our actors' brothers installed security during the day to make sure no one destroys our stage or steals anything", I reply matter-of-factly. She nods, seeming to understand. "Do you know how to get home from here?", I ask her. "This place to my home is the only thing I really know in this city", she answers. I nod, smiling warmly at her. "Well, farewell. Be safe, and I'll see you tomorrow", I say softly.
She bows to me, and I return it to her. Clutching the note in her hand, she swims off, glancing back at me every once in a while. I sigh, a bit exhausted from today. "What an interesting mermaid..." I say to myself. And with that, I swim to the side of the stage, turn the lights off, and head home.

Author's Note: help I hope this doesn't seem rushed. I don't wanna drag this story out as much as I did with the last one.