A Merfolk's Tale

Chapter One

"Izuku-kun...! Let's go back already before we get caught,"

A green-haired boy carefully poked his head from behind the boulder he had been hiding as he silently watched a group of children playing around the beach.

"Ne, Ochako, what do you think they call those?" He asked, green eyes lighting up in wonder as the wind ruffled his green hair-- the freckles across his face like stars littering the sky at night and his smile full of innocence.

His friend, Ochako, shrugged her shoulders as she too took a peek. "What are they doing?"

Both observed the children that played with a circular object they have been kicking around with their tiny little human legs.

Eyeing the children's legs Izuku look down to see where his lower half was well hidden underwater. He was born a merman-- a half-human half-fish creature that lived in the depths of the sea. He and the rest of his kind had lived on the seas of the kingdom of Yuei, hidden from the tyrant king Enji.

"Ne, Izuku-kun what are they saying?" Ochako asked, causing him to look at the short-haired brunette mermaid he was with, her pink tail splashing underwater to keep her afloat.

Izuku looked at the direction of the children to see them still playing.

"Pass me the ball!" Izuku heard one of them and the child that had the object kicked it towards his playmate.

"A... ball?" Izuku mumbled.

"Is that what they said, Izuku-kun?" Ochako asked and Izuku nodded.

Ever since he was born, Izuku had been a peculiar child. He was always full of curiosity and wonder that often lead to trouble since carefulness doesn't seem to be in his vocabulary. But when he reached the age where he could talk, he and his mother accidentally ran into a human when he first when to the shore to observe them-- a fisherman, at least that was what Izuku knew they were called when he sees humans on boats and they were awfully a lot of them.

The fisherman was yelling at his comrade, barking orders to grab the net-- an object made of rope to capture fishes. His mother didn't understand what they were saying and was telling Izuku to follow her as she plans to swim away as fast as she could, but Izuku stopped her and told her the humans would be throwing a net to catch fishes and that if they tried to swim they would also get caught.

That night they found out that Izuku could understand the human language, unlike the other merfolk, and it had been called a blessing by his mother and friends. However... it was a curse and a freaky talent to most of his kind.

"Ah, they're leaving," Ochako pointed out, snapping Izuku out of his musings and saw that the children were starting to file out of the beach, thus ending their time to observe.

"Let's head back too, Ochako," Izuku said as he turned but froze when he saw the sun touching the line where the sky and sea met. It was already sunset and they should have been back hours before that, so as to not raise any suspicions.

"Oh no..."  Izuku mumbled then he and Ochako dived down the water and swam as fast as they can to return to their home, only to be stopped by a familiar blonde merman who had a sly smirk on his face.

"Well, well... if it isn't Deku and Round Face," the blonde merman said and Izuku instantly backed up. "Where have you two been, huh? Nothing interesting on that side of the ocean,"

Standing in front of them was Izuku's number one bully, Katsuki. He has blonde hair and a beautiful cream-colored tail Izuku had always found mesmerizing. But the beauty of his tail did not reach his rotten attitude-- as stated by Ochako one time.