I'm engaged to a Mermaid Now!?
Chapter 1
A group of five are walking from school towards home; a boy, with spiky orange hair, and three girls with pick hair of different lengths and styles are walking together from school, and the four of them are wearing school uniforms, "Summer break starts tomorrow." The girl with short wavy hair says to the boy while holding a little girl with long green hair and on top of her head is a pink flower.
"Hey, it's about time." The girl in pigtails says, "After all the events that have happened up till now, we deserve to have some fun." She says with her hands behind her head.
"What are you saying Nana?" The former girl asks looking over at her twin, "I've had plenty of fun between those 'events'." She says.
"Momo, your idea of fun is messed up." Nana says folding her arms. She then turns and glares at the boy, "I'm keeping my eye on you Rito so you better not try anything during the break." She tells him coldly.
Rito looks at the ground, "Yeah, I know. Man, I really need this vacation." He wines.
"Hey Rito, can we go to the beach or the water park?" The girl with long hair that goes halfway down her back asks.
"We'll see Lala." He says.
"If we do either of those, let's invite Haruna and the others." Momo says looking over at Rito with a smile.
"No can do." Rito says sounding a little sad.
Momo looks at him in shock, "Why not?" She asks.
"Haruna and her sister are spending their summer with their parents." Lala answers, looking over at her younger sister. She then looks ahead placing her index finger on her chin, "And I think everyone else has plans as well." She says.
"Oh, I see." Momo then looks down in disappointment, I was hoping to advance the Harem Plan this summer. She thinks.
They then walk the rest of the way home in silence, "We're home." They shout as they enter.
Rito then notices three suitcases lying by the wall, "What are these about?" He asks removing his shoes.
A girl with long brown hair drawn back into a ponytail comes down the stairs with two suitcases in her hands, "Oh good you're home." She says as she steps off the stairs and sets the suitcases down. The little girl in Momo's arms jumps down and runs towards the brunette, "Hi Celine, you want to go to the beach with us?" She asks picking up the little flower girl.
"Mau!" Celine says excitedly.
"Mikan, what's going on?" Rito asks.
Mikan looks over at him, "Oh that's right, after you guys left this morning a postcard arrived." She says pulling it out, "It's from Grandma." She says handing it to Rito.
Rito takes it and looks it over; the front shows a picture of an inland sea, "Wow, beautiful beach." Lala says looking over Rito's shoulder.
"She's inviting us to come and stay with her for the summer and I've already got everyone packed." She explains.
"So, we're going to meet your grandmother?" Momo asks Rito.
Rito turns to her, "It seems so." He then turns back and heads for the stairs, "Let's change out of our uniforms so we can get going." He says walking up.
Later in the day after a long train ride, Rito and the girls exit the train station to the countryside town of Seto Bay, "So, where's the beach?" Lala asks looking around.
"The beach is about a mile away from where grandma lives." Rito answers, looking around.
Mikan also looks around, "We'll have to take a bus to get there." She says. "There it is Rito." She says pointing at a bus stop down the road.
They walk to it and have a look, "What, the buses here only come once an hour?" Nana asks.
"Yeah, unlike back home they don't have buses driving around too often, with it being a countryside town and all." Rito says. He then looks at the schedule, "Hmm, looks like the next bus is the last one of the day." He says.
A bus ride later they arrive at the Yuuki siblings' grandmother's house, "We're finally here." Mikan says as they walk up the short road to the front door.
When they reach the door it opens revealing an elderly woman with a heartwarming smile, "Rito, Mikan, welcome." She says as her grandchildren come up to her, hugging her. She then sees the others, "Are you going to introduce your friends to me, dears?" She asks letting go.
"Grandma, these are… Hmm, our roommates; Lala and her younger twin sisters, Nana and Momo." Rito says gesturing to each girl.
Celine than jumps from Momo's arms and rushes to grandma and jumps to her, "Oh!" She catches the girl and holds her close.
"And this is Celine." Mikan says.
Grandma looks at the little girl in her arms, then at Rito, then to the sisters then back at Rito, "So, who's the lucky girl?" She asks with a smile.
Rito blushes, "Grandma!" He shouts.
She turns around facing the inside of her home, "I'm only making a funny, silly boy." She says, "Now, come in come in, I have tea ready for all of you." She says walking in followed by the Yuuki siblings and the Devilukean sisters.
The next day, Rito and the girls arrive at a nearby beach in there swimsuits. "Wow, the ocean is so blue." Lala says in amazement, her tail swishing back and forth in excitement.
"Of course, it's the ocean." He says looking out to sea, Most of this beach is pretty crowded, we're lucky we found a less populated spot. He thinks looking around. He sees Mikan and Celine building a sand castle, Lala and Nana playing in the waves, and Momo laying on she stomach on a towel under an umbrella topless, "Wha- Momo!?"
The third princess looks up at him and smiles, "Rito-san, can you rub some sun screen on me?" She asks pulling up a bottle.
Rito turns slightly red, "C-ca-can-can't you do that yourself?" He asks stepping back.
"I could, but you need to practice skin ship if the harem plan is to move forward." She says with a smile. She then pulls out her D-dialer, summons a small multi-vined plant with a rose as a head.
The plant then grabs Rito by his wrists and starts dragging him towards Momo, "Wha..." Rito tries to resist but fails becoming too exhausted and is dragged all the way to Momo.
The plant makes Rito take the sun screen from Momo and starts applying it to her back, "Oh Rito-san, that's it." She says with a moan as Rito, involuntarily rubs her back.
"Momo, please stop." Rito says with a deep blush and his eyes closed.
Nana then walks out of the water with a smile on her face while looking back at her older sister, "I'm going to go get some water." She says then looks ahead and sees Rito rubbing Momo's back, "That Beast!" She growls as she stomps over to them, "What do you think you're doing!?" She yells startling the plant holding onto Rito's wrists. It then throws Rito at Nana planting both of his hands on her chest, what little of it there is, and runs off in the opposite direction.
"Oh dear, I forgot that Roji-san is terrified of Nana." Momo says sitting up covering her chest with her arm.
Rito, realizing that he is touching something else opens his eyes and sees Nana glaring at him, he then notices where his hands are.
Nana then grabs his wrists, "Sorry I'm flat chested, Beast!" She yells, she then starts swinging Rito around then throwns him up into the air.
"Nana, why are you so mean to Rito-san?" Momo asks walking up to her.
The second princess turns away and crosses her arms, "He had it comin'." She says coldly.
"Where are we, Chicago? I mean, really Nana. When are you going to grow out of that tsundere phase of your's?" Momo asks.
Nana turns to face her and lowers her arms, "I'm not a tsundere!" She yells.
"Whatever you say." Momo then walks away picking her top as she goes, "I got to go look for Roji-san after you scared him off, be back in a bit." She says waving as she walks in the direction Roji-san went.
Several hours later as the sun is setting Momo returns to where the others are, "How bothersome, I can't believe how long it took me to track Roji-san and calm him down." She says coming to a stop, she then looks around. Mikan and Celine are still making sand castles and they've made a large amount, Nana and Lala are sitting under the umbrella looking out to sea, "Hey Onee-sama, where's Rito-san?" She asks.
Lala looks up at her younger sister, "Rito hasn't returned yet." She tells her.
"What!? Shouldn't we go looking for him, it's getting late." Momo says.
Lala stands up and pulls out her D-dialer, "Right! I know just what to do." She says pushing several buttons.
Rito is floating in a sea of darkness, Where am I?... The last thing I remember... I was forced to rub Momo's back with sun screen and then... that's right, Nana got mad at me again and sent me flying. He thinks remembering what transpired, Oh, my head hurts. What happened after that? He asks himself. He then hears a deep man's voice.
"You know the law, what where you thinking!?" He yells.
"I know Dad but..." A voice of a young girl says, "...he fell from the sky into the sea. I couldn't just let him drown, it would stein my honor as a Seto mermaid."
What did she say? Rito asks himself, ...I remember now, I fell into the ocean and I sank and then... I was... saved by a girl with long light brown hair and a red fish tail... wait, fish tail?
"Boss! The boy is regaining consciousness!" A man with a deep yet pleasant voice says.
"He is!? About time!" The first man says, "Kid, hey kid, you okay, can you hear me?" He asks.
Rito slowly opens his eyes and the first thing he sees is a tough looking man with two scars on his face, one on the left side of his face going from above his eye past the edge of his lip and the other going across his face crossing the other scar. He is wearing a blue robe.
Rito stares at the man, sits up and backs away, "Wh-what's going on?" He asks, he then looks around seeing that he is surrounded by at least thirty men in various robes/suits, These people look like they're Yakuzas! "Where am I?" He asks looking back at the man as he sits between a lovely woman with silky, smooth blue hair and wearing a light purple robe and a girl Rito's age with light brown hair wearing a reddish dress.
"You're in my home at the bottom of the Seto Inland Sea." The man tells him, "I'm Gozabura Seto, the boss of the Seto outfit of the Seto Fish Commission." He says, "The gentleman standing beside you is my right hand man, Masa." He says gesturing to the man next to Rito. Rito looks to his left and sees a tall man in a suit with a dark tan, glasses and a fine Afro. Gozabura then gestures to the woman next to him, "This is my wife, Ren Seto." He says and she waves at Rito with a smile. "And this is my daughter, Sun Seto." He gestures to the girl on his other side, "She's the one who brought you here after saving you from drowning." He tells Rito.
Rito looks at Sun, "You're the one who saved me?" He asks to which she nods.
"Alright, enough of the small talk. I'm going to cut to the chase here." Gozabura says, "I want you to listen close to what I'm going to tell you, kid." He says in a serous voice, "You probable already know this by now, but we're not ordinary humans, we're merfolk." He tells the boy in front of him.
Rito looks at the man eyes wide, "Merfolk? You mean like mermaids and mermen?" He asks.
"Yes and as such we live by the code of the mermaid law and according to it any mermaid who lets a human see their true form... is sentenced to death by execution!" He says glaring at Rito.
"What!?"
"We send them off to sleep with the fishes see and there is nothing we can do about it." He continues as his voice cracks and he covers his eyes with his left arm, "It has to be done. Ain't it a pity? Ain't it a pity my daughter has to die?" He sobs.
"Yeah, no one deserves to die for something like that."
"And it's all your fault you little punk!" He yells standing up, "Why does my daughter have to die because you fell from the sky!? It makes no sense!"
"Now dear." His wife says sternly.
Gozabura looks at his wife, "So, now this got me thinking, why should a mermaid have to die just for being seen." He then looks at Rito, "When I can solve the problem by killing the human that saw her instead." He says pulling out a sword.
Masa steps up and holds Gozabura back, "Calm down boss, take it easy." He says trying to keep him away from Rito while Gozabura yells at the top of his lungs.
"Knock it off Dad!" Sun yells standing up, "You can't kill him, I saved him so he wouldn't die, and killing him for no reason is just as bad as me saving him according to the mob code." She says glaring at her father.
Gozabura looks back at his daughter, "But Sun, the code says you have to die for saving him."
"Yeah, and I can except that, I meant to save his life, it's my choice." She then lays on the ground, "So go on, go ahead. Boil me, grill me or whatever I don't care."
"How can you say that Sun!?" He yells and slashes out as two more of his men try holding him back.
"He's right Sun, you shouldn't throw your life away for someone like me." Rito tells his savior.
Ren looks at Rito and smiles, she then stands up and walks over to him. She then kneels in front of him, "I must apologize, once my husband's blood starts to boil there's no stopping him." She tells Rito.
"Hmm, that's understandable." Rito says leaning back a bit.
"And my daughter is usually very respectful, but she's got this stubborn streak about her." She tells him.
"R-really? Th-that just means she has character." Rito says with an awkward smile.
Ren smiles and leans towards him, "That's true. We have to adhere to the mermaid code, but there is one solution that doesn't involve any of this killing nonsense." She tells him still smiling.
"Noooo, don't tell him!" Gozabura yells behind her causing her to turn and glare at him.
I don't like where this is heading. Rito thinks.
Ren turns back to Rito, "Well, all you have to do young man, is marry our daughter." She tells him with a smile.
Rito looks at her eyes wide, "M-marry her?"
They hear grumbling behind Ren and they turn to see Gozabura sitting back down, "Well kid, I'd hate to say it, but there you have it. You can marry my precious, wonderful, beautiful daughter, you'll take her as your bride, other wise I'll kill you here and now." He grumbles glaring at Rito.
Rito looks at the ground, "I'm being forced into a marry again, why do these thing keep happening to me?" He mutters to himself, "At least it's only my life at risk and not the entire planet."
Ren being the closes one to him hears it, Hmm, that's interesting.
"Something the matter punk..." Gozabura says running out of patience, "...you think my daughter isn't good enough for you or something?" He asks standing up, sword in hand.
"N-no no no, it's more complicated than that and besides doesn't Sun get a say in this?" The boys says scooting back in fear, "We don't know each other that well, she might not even like me and forcing her into a marriage is just not right, she should choose weather or not she wants to get married to me or not, you want her to be happy don't you?" As Rito is saying this Sun sits up and looks at him and her mother smiles at him as he's taking her daughter's feeling into consideration.
"Don't give me that crap, you..." He yells but is cut off.
"Gozabura, sit down and shut up!" Ren yells glaring at her husband.
Gozabura sees the look his wife is giving him, "Yes mama." He says softly and he sits back down.
Ren then looks back at Rito and smiles, "Young man, it just dawned on me that we don't even know you name, please tell us." She says.
"It Rito Yuuki." He tells her.
"Rito Yuuki, that sounds familiar for some reason." Masa says looking up at the ceiling.
Rito Yuuki, just as I thought. Ren says to herself.
"Never heard of you." Gozabura says laying back board, "Can I kill him now?" He asks glaring at the boy.
Ren turns to him, "No, he's..." She starts but is cut off by the sound of barking.
Everyone looks around for the source when a small metal dog jumps through the paper door in the back, "Rito Yuuki found, Rito Yuuki found." The dog says running towards Rito, "Rito Yuuki..." The dog then stops a few feet away from Rito and looks at Ren, "Pretty lady discovered must investigate." It says now heading for Ren.
"Oh no!" Rito says recognizing the dog, he then grabs as it jumps at Ren just before it landed and pulls it to him holding it tight, "Gotcha! If you're here they shouldn't be far behind." He says looking at the thing as it tries getting free.
The door it came through opens and Lala walks in, she looks around the room and sees Rito, "Rito!" She shouts tackling him.
"Lala, you're crushing me!"
"Oh, sorry." She says letting go of him as the others walk in.
"There you are Rito-san, we where getting worried." Momo says walking up the them with Celine in her arms.
"Hey, who are all of you and what are you doing here!?" Gozabura yells standing up.
Masa walks over to him, "Boss, I believe the pink haired girls are the three princess' of Deviluke." He tells his boss.
Gozabura looks at Masa shocked, "What!?" He then looks at them again and sees their tails, "Then that must mean..." He looks at Rito.
"Yes, Rito is Gid Deviluke's successor." Ren says standing up and looking at her husband who is in a state of shock.
Momo looks a them, "So, what's Rito doing down here?" She asks Ren.
Ren looks at her and smiles as she explains the situation to them.
"I see." Momo says with a finger on her shin after she hands Celine over to her twin, "Can I have a word with you and your husband in private?" She asks.
"Alright." She then drags Gozabura out of the room and Momo follows them.
After they leave Sun stands up and walks over to Rito and the others, "Hey, Lala-san it's been a while."
Lala looks at her, "Sun-chan!" She then hugs the mermaid, "I haven't seen you in two years, how have you been?" She asks letting go.
"I'm fine, but I didn't think we'd meet again like this." Sun says moving some hair behind her ear, "So, this is your fiance." She says looking at Rito.
"Yeah, isn't he great?" Lala asks.
"I don't see what's so great about him." Nana says looking away from them with her hands behind her head.
Mikan looks at Nana and shakes her head.
"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO." They here Gozabura yell from the other side of the house. The next second it's dead silent.
The next minute Momo and Ren walk into the room, "I'm sorry for all the trouble Rito, you may leave now." She says bowing as Momo walks over to Rito and offers her hand to help him up.
Rito stands up, "But what about..."
"We can work it out another time." Ren says cutting him off, "For now, just head home and get some rest. We'll be seeing you soon." She says giving him a warm smile.
"Hmm, alright." He says then turns and leaves with the girls, "Hey Lala."
"Yeah?"
"Have you and Sun met before?" He asks as they walk down the hall.
"Yes, about two years ago I think. Papa went around getting acquainted to potential business partners." Lala tells him.
"I see." Rito says with a sigh, If it wasn't for Gid I'd be sleeping with the fishes right now. Rito thinks as they head for the door, I wonder what'll happen now?