One day Nanase Haruka was at the beach admiring the love of his life, water. He would swim for hours on end and occasionally encounter the second most important thing to him, mackerel. Soon, it became late in the evening and he was the only one on the beach. He was reluctantly going to leave when some thing near the edge of the water caught his eye. There was a person on the sand lying face down. He usually could not care less, but if he let some one die in the tide, the water would not feel the same. As he approached he could notice details about the person. It seemed that he was a tall boy about his age, he had green hair under a green hat that pointed straight up, and he apparently had a silver staff stuck in the ground. Finally stopping in front of him he saw something that made his eyes widen. This guy had a tail.
The top half of the boy was obviously fit with his abundance of muscles. Around his waist emerald green scales covered him and led down into a massive tail. This person is a merman but why is he here? Haru thought silently. Just as he was about to reach out and touch his tail the boy started to stir. The merman rolled over before opening green eyes that matched the color of his scales. When he saw Haru near him he panicked and started to drag himself further from the water and Haru. Haru could easily keep up with the boy that was literally dragging half his body along. "You don't have to be afraid. I won't hurt you. My name is Nanase Haruka. What is yours?" The merman stopped and laughed with a gentle and pleasing voice." You have a girly name like me. I am Tachibana Makoto, Cardinal of Mizukami." "What is that?" Haru asked.
The merman smiled and explained "The city where the merfolk live is called Mizukami. The city is located about a mile from the edge of the shore and is divided in to four sections. Each cardinal direction gets a section and the ones appointed to lead each section is called a Cardinal. I am in charge of the citizens in the north of the city. The way the city is oriented, both the North and West border half the beach. Technically, I'm now on Nagisa's side. Can you carry me over a few feet over there?" He asked as he turned his head in embaressment. Haru shrugged and wrapped Makoto's arm over his shoulder and dragged him back to his territory in the water. After he got the staff, he asked "Why were you unconscious in the first place?" Makoto frowned and muttered "I wasn't paying attention and a rip tide got me. Thank you for reminding me Haru-chan." "Leave out the -chan" he replied.
"Thank you for your help! I won't forget this and I'll come back with a reward. I'll also send word to Nagisa, he will want to meet you too. Goodbye!" Makoto quickly left, swimming at break-neck speeds towards Mizukami. Haru sighed, seeing that his life was going to get complicated. He went back to his house, fixed dinner for himself as usual, and went to sleep. The next day he went out again to the beach to see if what happened yesterday was real or not. It was not like he was doing anything that day, or any day really because of summer break.
At the end of the day, he was going to leave when he heard someone call his name. In the water at the center of the beach he saw two figures in the water, one wearing green and the other one yellow. "Hello again, Haru-chan. This is Hazuki Nagisa, Cardinal of Mizukami. I wanted him to see you." Makoto said happily. Haruka saw that Nagisa wore the same type of hat as Makoto except golden yellow. His scales were also gold."Hi Haru-chan, I'm the Cardinal of the west. I guess that means the right side of the beach is for me and the left is for Mako-chan." "Do all merpeople have beutiful voices like you two have?" Haru asked after hearing them both speak. Makoto and Nagisa both started to blush and turn their heads away. "Do you think we sound beautiful Haru-chan?" Makoto asked and Nagisa started to get hyper "Who sounds better? Me? Mako-chan? Tell us Haru-chan." To be honest, Haruka couldn't choose between them.