Everyone is sure that Kaito has given up on life when he volunteers to be the one to catch a mermaid.
"Why?", people would ask him, and he'd never give an answer.
When Christopher insists to come along, Kaito finally answers the question.
"Those whose desires can't be fulfilled can't fall prey to the allure of a mermaid."
Word has it that Haruto succumbed to the disease the day before.
Supposedly, said epidemic disease can be cured with the power of a mermaid. No one knows how exactly it's supposed to work, but it's not like they can just watch as people drop dead every day.
It's ironic, it's stupid, because they— well, Thomas— had in fact caught— actually, found— a mermaid before; an injured one.
Said mermaid herself caught the disease herself soon after, and she died only a few hours after Haruto did, not giving out any information despite having been subjected to torture by Faker.
(Kaito is pretty sure she would've survived longer if not for the torture.)
She'd offered them that she goes back to her homeland, fixes herself up and then helps Haruto, but Faker was distrustful and even when Haruto asked to let the mermaid go, he didn't listen.
Now both of them are dead, and Faker will be the next to go.
Kaito wonders why he didn't catch the disease when he was with Haruto the whole time, and he thinks it must be an incredibly sick joke.
"You're trying to commit suicide, aren't you?"
"That's something you would do if you were me, Chris. But I'm not you."
Actually, Kaito is just curious. He wants to see what song awaits a person whose desires will never be fulfilled.
Perhaps a lie?
As he paddles the fishing boat, he wonders if this might actually disprove the theory that mermaids know what you want the most.
After all, if he still gets a song, it means that it must be a lie.
It's one hour before sunrise— supposedly the time mermaids are the most active at— and it's silent, the water is calm and unmoving. Kaito sighs.
Maybe the mermaids know I have no desires?
He starts whistling Haruto's favourite melody, a habit that has come over the years.
It's calming, but in a way, it's also painful.
Suddenly, the water stirs, and Kaito braces himself for what's coming, because he's paddled too far out already and this could be anything from a mermaid to a regular fish.
Water splashes in Kaito's face and a boy's head emerges from the water. "Oi. Why are you here?"
Kaito eyes the person curiously. Blue eyes. Tentacle-like, violet hair. Pale skin. "You're—"
The boy opens his mouth slightly to reveal fang-like teeth. "A merman, yeah."
"Wait, you guys have—"
"Yes, we have males here. Why does no one ever have that in their records?"
Kaito shrugs because he'd like to know, too.
"I'm asking again. Why are you here?" The merman looks from left to right warily.
This isn't going as planned, Kaito thinks, because the original plan was to capture a mermaid or die trying and definitely not to talk to one.
No matter how much he thinks, no excuse will come to his mind, so he spills, "The cure."
"The cure," the boy repeats, and he glares. "The cure to the disease that the last mermaid you murderers captured had, huh? Didn't let her go back because you were distrustful and selfish?"
Kaito wants to disagree, but he can't, because that's precisely what Faker did, and Kaito wonders if he'd have done something else.
The boy sighs, and it sounds frustrated and sad at the same time. "What was it for? What did she die for?"
Something is off with the boy.
His hair color...
Kaito has never seen any merpeople other than the girl who's dead and the boy in front of him, so he can't tell if it's biological or a general merfolk thing.
Kaito answers anyway. "They tried to find the cure."
"I see. And you're here on the same mission?"
Kaito nods.
"You're pretty disgusting, you know that, right?" The boy tilts his head.
"I'm going to hell anyway."
Because I could've prevented all of this if I had been more careful.
"I noticed. You don't even have desires I could sing a song about if I wanted to."
"So the songs really are about what the prey desires the most?"
"Yeah. Usually we get a vision to work with, but for you I saw nothing. Like whatever you want is unreachable."
Once more, Kaito nods. "It is."
"So, what is it? Divinity? Immortality? Wings?" The boy's tone is mocking.
Kaito sighs. "Bringing back the dead."
"Let me guess. The disease?"
"Yeah."
The boy's eyes narrow. "Were you the one to capture her, bastard?!"
"No. But my father was the one to choose the methods of persuasion."
"That sure backfired, huh?" The boy laughs hollowly. "The torture, I mean."
"You heard—"
"I did. I also heard what she and that child sounded like when they were overpowered by the disease."
Kaito's breath gets caught in his throat.
"So, that kid. Let me guess, your brother?"
Kaito isn't surprised that the boy figured that out, because Haruto was screaming for him that night.
"...Yes. He wanted to let her go."
The boy relaxes by a small fraction. "...Can't we feed your father to the sharks?"
"He's gonna die from the disease. He caught it the same night."
"And you're still willing to save him? Despite him having killed both our siblings—" The boy scowls, having spilled the information by accident.
"I don't know," Kaito mutters.
In a sudden motion, the boy swings himself over boat's edge, his purplish grey fishtail (that Kaito can barely make out in the bad lantern lighting) immediately turning into slightly bruised-looking human legs as he does. He grabs Kaito by the collar, "What the fuck is wrong with you?! What kind of half-assed resolve is that, coming here to catch a mermaid because you don't know what to do with your life?"
Kaito can't look him in the eye, but he can't look downwards either, because the boy is naked. He ends up looking upwards, deciding to focus the big dipper for a bit. "I was curious. Of what awaits a person who doesn't have desires."
"Any other merpeople would've killed you by now. Perhaps they'd tell you lies to deceive you, charm you, and if that wouldn't work, they'd pull you down in the water, whether you struggle or not," the boy's cold fingers trace over Kaito's
neck. "And then they'd tear your throat open, and watch the life go out."
Kaito swallows. "So why don't you?"
"Humans aren't our main prey and I don't want to ever get a taste for them, either. I heard you guys are tasty, but seeing how everyone who gets a bite of you starts acting like mindless predators, I'll pass."
"So I can just go? Since I assume you won't—"
"I'll give you the cure. But you'll have to do something for me first."
"...What is it?"
"Her body. I want to give her a proper funeral."
Kaito is positive that her body is currently in Faker's room, with him still attempting to cure himself with her tears, like legends suggest. "...I'll bring her back here."
The boy nods— Kaito feels like he looks a lot less stressed— and sits down cross-legged. "So, what was that song you whistled earlier?"
Kaito raises an eyebrow. "Is that why you came?"
"Yeah."
"It's my brother's favourite. He'd listen to it whenever he had trouble falling asleep."
"Can you sing?"
"A bit." The situation is so casual. Kaito is here, talking with a merman like it's the most normal thing in the world.
He thinks it's better than anything that has happened in the last few days.
"I wanna hear it."
The boy likes Kaito's voice, a lot. Apparently, it's rare for him to hear humans singing in the first place, especially not singing well.
Before Kaito knows it, the boy's head is in Kaito's lap and he's listening to Kaito's singing, and Kaito isn't even sure if he's awake anymore.
Something about the boy is still off, Kaito knows, because he keeps looking from left to right occasionally, almost as if he's scared that someone finds him.
At some point, he starts to sing along with Kaito, having learnt the lyrics that fast.
Kaito feels like it's soothing; just being allowed to be here and think of nothing, to just listen to the boy's voice and maybe, for a moment, not feel like things are meaningless.
As their next song ends, the sun is slowly rising, and now in better lighting Kaito can see the bags under the boy's eyes; the clear signs of exhaustion—
"What happened to you?"
"Tch. I didn't get to sleep much, that's all."
Suddenly, they hear a loud cry.
Kaito looks around, confused.
"I gotta go," the boy jumps into the water, his head immediately emerging from it again. "My name is Ryouga."
Kaito leans over the edge of the boat. "I'm Kaito. What—"
"Good, that'll be enough." Ryouga bites into his own hand, the fang piercing the skin far too easily, and he licks over it before pulling Kaito into a kiss, shoving his tongue in hastily.
Right as Kaito is about to actually get into it as he's found a position in which he doesn't risk falling into the water, Ryouga breaks the kiss.
Kaito swallows, and he wonders if this is some merfolk ritual he should know about. "What was that?"
"A... sign of our promise. I'll meet you tomorrow night, right here."
Ryouga submerges, and then Kaito is alone.
It's not hard to get Ryouga's sister's body out of there, given that Faker can't even move out of bed at this point and all.
Once more, at the very same time as last night, Kaito paddles the fishing boat outside.
When the water stirs this time, he expects Ryouga to emerge, but what he gets instead is yet another merman, with orange hair and violet eyes; probably a little younger than Ryouga.
Kaito figures that asking can't hurt. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where—"
The guy interrupts him by starting to sing. A song of resurrection and hope.
Lies.
Somehow, it leaves Kaito cold, in a way that it shouldn't.
When he listened to Ryouga, it was like Ryouga was toning down the magic laced into his voice, and even then it pulled Kaito in just a little, no matter what lyrics, but never enough for Kaito to get uncomfortable.
But this? This leaves him cold— perhaps even scared, because the redhead is clearly attempting to murder him right here.
"I'm not in the mood for this," Kaito interrupts. "Can you leave me be?"
The guy scowls. "Are you deaf?"
Kaito shakes his head.
"And I thought I could do this the easy way. Usually, I'd tell you that you should find out what's wrong, but you know, you'll die here anyway~" The guy pulls hard at Kaito's arm, and Kaito barely manages to stay in the boat— with only the fact that he'd been prepared for this saving him.
"Tch, I can just bite your arm off, you—"
"VECTOR!" Ryouga's scream is loud and aggressive, and Kaito and Vector flinch simultaneously.
Ryouga restrains Vector with a bit of effort, and Kaito can see two approaching mermen in the distance.
"Nasch, you little—"
"Shut up," Ryouga hisses.
Kaito figures there's an explanation to the whole 'Nasch' thing, and now that Vector is restrained, he pulls his arm away and watches as Ryouga hands Vector over to the taller of the two mermen.
"Gilag, please take him back to prison."
Gilag nods and submerges with a loudly protesting Vector.
The other merman carefully lifts Ryouga's sister's body out of the boat, with Kaito helping him out after seeing that Ryouga doesn't protest.
"You know where to take her, right, Durbe?"
"I do." And gone he is.
Ryouga sighs. "Sorry about that. Vector just can't be left unattended."
"His singing is pretty ineffective though."
Ryouga laughs. "It actually isn't. You're just immune."
"I'm... what?"
"I made you swallow my blood, you know."
So that's why he kissed me.
Kaito feels his cheeks redden a little. From Ryouga's smirk, he can tell that Ryouga noticed.
"Then... what are the stories of sailors and mermaids falling in love, just for the sailor to be enchanted by a different mermaid about?"
Ryouga sighs. "This ability is reserved for those of royal blood and was originally meant to be used in case any king or queen would deem mating with a human a good idea."
King? That explains why he was so worried about getting caught yesterday.
"Wow, did you just imply that you—"
"That I didn't want Vector to try and kill you off, yes." Ryouga scowls, but his cheeks are tinged red. "Seems like it worked. Kind of."
"So, about the cure—"
Ryouga reaches underwater — Kaito supposes he must be wearing a bag— and hands Kaito a bottle filled with blue liquid. "Three drops each treatment. Not more. After it's cured, you're immune."
Kaito puts the bottle in the boat. "I suppose that concludes our trade?"
Ryouga nods. "So, what'll you do?"
"I think Haruto would want me to let our father live."
"Then that's the answer," Ryouga says a little more quietly. "Trust me, revenge leads nowhere. Sometimes, I try and take revenge anyway, but it's always hell."
Kaito nods, and he figures Ryouga has a history with that. "Wanna come along?"
Ryouga shakes his head. "Can't walk. Tried to learn it to save Rio. It didn't go well given that I swam for all my life."
So that's why he looked so exhausted.
"Want to learn it anyway? I mean, after I'm back."
"I'd rather postpone that until I can feel my legs properly again. We can sing though."
"Alright."
The nightly singing becomes a habit over the weeks, and soon it is followed by daytime walking practice.
Kaito's moved out of his home at this point, living even closer to the shore than before. He may have saved Faker's and many others' lives, but he can't truly forgive Faker.
Once, Ryouga took him underwater to witness Rio's funeral, saying he didn't want to be alone there.
(Ryouga looks ridiculous with a crown, and everyone keeps scolding Kaito for referring to Ryouga by his birth name instead of the one he took on when he became king.)
It's... distracting, and it kind of gets Kaito over the grief. It still hurts, but when he breaks down, there are people to help him, and that keeps him going.
Haruto wouldn't want me to be unhappy.
(And Kaito still has to deal with the fact that Ryouga keeps showing him his giant underwater kingdom almost every night like it's no big deal, and Kaito is pretty sure that Ryouga is using his royal magic for things it shouldn't be used for— such as, well, letting Kaito breathe underwater.)
They are in the process of teaching Ryouga how to walk again— he's making great progress— when Kaito decides to ask. "So, why do you insist on keeping me around even when everyone else thinks this is a bad idea?"
"You talk to me because I'm Ryouga, and not because I'm Nasch." Ryouga almost falls again, but he manages to regain his balance. "Besides, I choose my own path."
Kaito nods, kind of getting what Ryouga means given how overly polite everyone else— minus Vector— is.
Suddenly, Ryouga stops walking. "You're a fucking mess."
"Wha—"
Ryouga pulls Kaito in a kiss, a kiss that's a lot longer than the one they had a few weeks ago, and he buries his hands in Kaito's hair.
Kaito blinks twice, because he can't say he dislikes it— although he does wonder how Ryouga manages to not accidentally bite either of their tongues off. "Was that another spell?"
"No, damn it. I just felt like doing this."
"Wow, you—"
"You can't say you dislike it, can you?" Ryouga smirks.
Kaito returns the smirk. "No."