2. Power Play

Ever since Sousuke Yamazaki cornered him up against the vending machine, Haru disliked him but he never expected Sousuke to be the first one to have a bad experience with his recent developments.

It all started as a normal morning. Well, as normal it could be. Haru and Makoto woke up violently when Rei bowled inside their bedroom carrying a box filled with spray bottles. Nagisa and Rin followed then closed the door behind them.

"Haruka-senpai, we need to know how much percent of water it takes to do the job."

Before Haru had the chance to react, Rei squirted water from one of the spray bottles into his face. Rin leaned against the door with a wide smirk while Nagisa looked at Haru, anticipated.

Nothing happened.

Nagisa sighed sadly while Rei fixed his glasses then grabbed his notebook and pen and wrote down; "Mostly vegetable oil, no change. Interesting."

Makoto sighed. "Haru is not a test subject, Rei. Nor is he entertainment!" Makoto looked at Nagisa when he said that.

"Relax, Makoto," Rin said. "We do need to know what makes him changes, right?"

"It's the water that makes him changes!"

"Yes, and if you want him to be normal again by the time this holiday is over and we go back to Japan to train, we need to find out why the water makes him change. When we do, we can work on antidote or something."

Makoto sighed. "Really, Rin? Antidote? What if he always stays like this?"

"That would be awesome. I always wanted a mermaid as a friend," Nagisa smiled.

Rei rolled his eyes. "Nagisa-chan, the male form of this mythical creature is called merman, not mermaid."

"Though, he would look cute in a bikini top." Rin grinned widely.

Haru left the room without a word and decided to take a bath. Tail or no tail, he still loved the water and right now he wanted to be submerged in it. Well, that's what he first thought, but soon he was sitting in the warm bathwater and his tail appeared, he realized it wasn't so comfortable as it used to be.


Rei called Nagisa and told him he and the others had to meet up with him outside the public library.

"I have found some really great stuff!" Rei cried in glee as he sprinted outside the building to meet up with his friends then pulled out a bunch of papers from his backpack. "Did you know that merman myths have been around for like 3,000 years?"

Rin sighed. "Nope, but mainly because we didn't care about that kind of stuff until dolphin boy turned into one."

Rei rolled his eyes at Rin's snarky comment then says; "People actually believed in that kind of stuff. For example, in some stories mermaids lure men by singing."

"Would that automatically mean Haru-san will lure women when he starts to sing?" Nagisa asked with a pondering look.

Rin grinned. "I'd like to know how they managed to reproduce."

Four pair of eyes stared at him.

"What? Neither of you wonder how they do the job?"

Makoto sighed. "Can we please focus back onto how we fix this problem? I mean, we can't restrain Haru every time he sees water and wants to jump in. He might end up dissected, or they sell him to some marine park and we have to pay if we want to visit him."

"Actually, I don't think they would allow him to get visitors, Mako-chan."

Rin shrugged. "Maybe it's just a 24 hour thing."

"I think it has something to do with that place," Makoto gasped with frightened eyes. "Remember that spooky, bubbling water? I bet that pool did this to Haru."

"Then we should check it out, Mako-chan," Nagisa said.

Rei nods agreed.

Makoto's eyes grew even more then looked at Rin for help.

"Sorry, Makoto, I'm with them. If we want to find out what happened to Haru and fix it, we need to start there."

Makoto hanged his head down in defeat. "I was already afraid you would say that."

"Hey guys!"

Rin, Rei, Nagisa, and Makoto turned around to see Sousuke stroll towards them with his hands in his pockets.

"You guys do realize that Haru is stripping himself by the fountain over there, right?"

Sousuke already knew that Rin's friends always overreacted when they had to stop Haru from stripping, but seeing Rin join them was something new. Especially when his red haired friend (being the fastest runner of them all) tackled Haru to the ground before his toes even could touch the water, couldn't stop Sousuke from scratching his head.

"Haru, you can't do that anymore! You could end up in a circus!" Makoto cried anxiously when he grabbed Rin's arm and pulled him off of Haru.

Haru, obviously not liking it, bonks his head on Makoto's shoulder in a sulk.

"I want to swim!"

"You can't anymore, remember?" Makoto said then extends his hand to offer Haru to help him back on his feet. Haru takes it and stands up while Rin tosses his abandoned clothes towards him.

While Haru starts dress himself again, Sousuke saunters towards them in a lackadaisical manner.

"You do realize you caught more people's attention with that tackle then you would have if he had taken the dip, right?"

Rin turned towards his friend then chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah, well, the thing is…" Rin looked at his other friends who shook their head simultaneously. "He has swimmers ear. We have been up all night because Haru couldn't stop whining about how much it hurt."

Sousuke looked at Haru and noticed how he looked at Rin as if he wanted to throttle him then looked at the fountain with an even more angrier look.

"Okay…" Sousuke replied hesitant then shrugged it off and decided to change the subject. "I heard you camped a night on that creepy island. What was it like?"

Rei and Nagisa started to shift on their feet awkwardly. Makoto turned slightly pale, and Rin cleared his throat while Haru looked as if Sousuke wasn't even there.

"Yeah, it was..uhm… a very memorable experience," Rin finally chuckled.

Sousuke grins; "Don't tell me the old hermit lady is actually real."

Makoto turns even more pale then gasps; "Old hermit lady?"

Sousuke grin grows. "Yeah, they say an old hermit lady lives on Mako Island who likes to eat people during a full moon. That's why people usually avoid the island during a full moon."

"Stop make up stupid stories!" Haru growled, locking his eyes angrily onto Sousuke.

Sousuke takes no notice of Haru and smirks when he sees his story makes Makoto want to pee his pants. "Yeah, they say she's quite fond of green eyed boys. I don't know why that is, but it's what they say. Did you hear her cries, Makoto?"

Haru feels himself tense up in anger and wants nothing else than pummel Sousuke, but then his attention gets drawn away from the conversation when his ears pick up the soft sound of rumblings. He looks around then sees a nearby fire hydrant shake in its place. It's almost like something is building up inside it, ready to explode like a ticking time bomb.

"Sousuke, stop it. You're making him scared," Haru heard Rin say, somewhere in the background.

Sousuke simply grinned. "I think she prefers the taste of green eyed boys."

Haru darts his eyes from his anxious looking friend to Sousuke back to the fire hydrant. Then, when he extends his hand towards the thing, it starts to shake more violently. It's like the fire hydrant shakes on his command.

Sousuke, not aware of the danger he's about to enter, proceeds his scary story by telling Makoto that olive green haired and green eyed boys are the old hermit's favorite full moon snack.

Makoto yelps in fear then clings himself around Haru who had all of his mind focused onto the fire hydrant. At that moment, Haru turned his hand clockwise as if he opened a tap and the hydrant exploded, releasing all of the water in one strong water spout which hit Sousuke straight into his stomach.

"AAAGH!" Sousuke screamed, rather in surprise than pain, when he felt himself flung back due to the water spout's strength. His arms and legs swaying and kicking around.

Makoto nearly strangled Haru in fear while Nagisa, Rei, and Rin dropped their jaws in utter astonishment. Then their eyes slowly find Haru's extended hand and their mouths dropped even more, if that is even possible.

Haru simply shrugged then flicked his hand as if he closed a tap and the water spout became a more smaller one.

"WTF just happened?!" Sousuke roared and they find him a few meters away, lying soaked in the grass.

Four sheepishly grins and one angry scowl is the only reply Sousuke gets.


What did you think? English isn't my first language, so in case you spotted a few mistakes you can always let me know through review or pm and I will try change them.

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