Kirino awoke early in the morning. He attempted to use the spell that he'd used the day before, his favorite spell that he took pride in preforming correctly, then, (with a lot of trouble) he finally discovered how to use a ladder with his new legs. Luckily, he'd been able the walk to the door without falling, he was getting used to his legs. When he got inside, Kirino checked the time, 8:36 AM. It was still kind of early. Kirino walked to the door that Shindou went into the night before and gently twisted the knob, opening the door slightly.
Kirino giggled at what he saw. Shindou was sleeping, all spread out on his bed. The blanket was tossed onto the floor, and the pillow was wedged between his shoulder and his head. Kirino had trouble holding back his laughs when he saw that Shindou was tightly hugging a fluffy grey stuffed bunny. He wasn't laughing at the fact that he slept with a stuffed animal (although it was kind of funny), he was laughing at the fact that Shindou looked like a little kid. He was about to turn away back into the main room when Kirino heard a groggy voice from behind him,
"Kririno?"
Kirino turned his head to face Shindou's bed. The brunette was sitting on his bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes, "You're already up?"
Kirino smiled and nodded, "I've only been up for a little while!"
Shindou smiled in return, "I'll be out in a second, you can wait in the main room!"
Kirino nodded, watching as Shindou walked into the bathroom attached to his room before the pink haired boy left the room and entered the main room.
The main room looked like a typical beach house. It had bright wood flooring and wood paneling on the walls. In the center of the room was a set of cabana themed living room furniture and a TV. To the left of it was a dark-wood arch into what he guesses was the kitchen (Human kitchens are different from merfolk kitchens so he thought it looked weird. The door to Shindou's room was on the back wall of the room, and on the same wall was the glass sliding door into the yard. Against the opposite wall from the kitchen door was a desk and some bookshelves. A laptop sat among the scattered books (not that Kirino knew what it was). There were also stairs up to who-knows-what to his left. Kirino jumped when he heard a knock at the door,
"Shindou-sama!" The door soon opened to reveal a girl with pale blonde hair tired up into a bun walked in. Shindou poked his head out of his room, "Ah, Kirigi-san, I'll be out in a sec!"
Kirino stared at the girl. She was the second human that Kirino had seen up-close. For some reason, her aura just made Kirino uncomfortable, and he took a step back from her. The girl eyed Kirino she had some kind of look in her eyes, Kirino wasn't sure if it was confusion, hate, anger or if it was just a very judgemental gaze. For some reason, her seeming to know Shindou very well made Kirino feel…kind of upset, not angry, but it felt weird to Kirino. He didn't know why he felt that. Kirino lost his train of thought when he heard Shindou's door open. The brunette was wearing a simple white shirt and trousers,
"Kirigi-san, you didn't have to come today. I already told you that!"
Kirigi giggled, "And (pass of a chance to see you) let this house get messy? Not a chance! Besides, the school years almost over and I still need 2 more hours."
Shindou sweatdropped, "Kirino this is my maid, Kirigi. She somehow convinced the principal that working as a maid counted at 'volunteering' and begged me to let her volunteer as my maid."
Kirino stared at Kirigi in awe, she must have a golden tongue if she could convince someone that having a job was volunteering. Shindou turned to Kirigi,
"Kirigi-san, this is Kirino, a friend of mine who'll be staying with me for a while."
Shindou smiled, "Anyway, Kirino, why don't we go into town and leave Kirigi to do her job?"
Kirino's eyes lit up, he was going to human town! He'd never been to a human town before (That's usually the case with merfolk)! Kirino nodded rapidly,
"Sure!"
Shindou chuckled at Kirino's eagerness when he blinked, "Oh, I forgot my phone, I'll be right back!" He said before going back to his room to get whatever a phone was (Kirino doesn't know what phones are)
The moment the brunette left, Kirigi stopped smiling and glared at Kirino, frowning,
"Look here, little girl, I don't know what you're planning, but stay away from Shindou-sama, he's mine."
Kirino looked confused for a moment until he realized what Kirigi meant, and his face reddened in a deep blush,
"I only met him yesterday and—WAIT did you just call me a girl, I'M A BOY!"
Kirigi continued to glare at Kirino, "WAIT, You're a BOY!?" She looked surprised for a moment before returning to the angry look she had before, "That just makes it worse. Don't even TRY anything with him. I know you're type. You bond with him for a day, then you'll just take his fortune and leave."
"Fortune? Shindou's rich?"
Kirigi looked angry with herself, "That doesn't matter! Just stay away from Shindou-sama."
Their conversation was cut short with Shindou's return though, "Okay, let's get going!"
Kirigi returned to her usual smiley self, "Shindou-sama, are you sure about leaving? The streets are very busy today!"
Shindou looked at Kirigi, confused, "There are always a lot of people on the streets." Shindou shrugged, "Well, let's get going Kirino, and leave Kirigi to her work!"
Kirino nodded, following Shindou out the door, but not without getting another glare from Kirigi.

Shindou kicked some sand forward on the beach as he walked, "kirino, I noticed that you haven't toppled over again!" He pointed out with a chuckle.
Kirino nodded, "Yeah! I think I'm getting used to these!" He replied, pointing to his legs.
"So Kirino, what's it like, y'know, having a tail?"
"Hmmm," Kirino thought, "Well it's definitely different! It's easier to move around with in water, and it feels more comfortable then these." He explained, lifting up his left foot slightly, "I don't know how you could always use these…"
"Ah! We're here!"Shindou said suddenly before helping Kirino onto the boardwalk (stairs aren't really his thing). Kirino stared excitedly at the town. It was a typical beach town covered in bright colors, and full of people.
Shindou gave a warm smile as he watched Kirino look around so eagerly, and wanting to look at everything. It reminded him of when he went on vacation when he was little, but for Kirino, this wasn't exactly a vacation…. Shindou felt something warm in his chest. He'd never felt it before, it confused him, but he easily shrugged it off.

Shindou noticed that Kirino had stopped and was staring at a particular store,
"Hey, Shindou, what's this?"
Shindou took a glance at the store, "A bookstore."
Kirino brightened, "Really! Let's go inside!"
Shindou smiled, "Sure," He rememered how Kirino said he knew magic. At the time, Shindou didn't question it because if merfolk exsisted, then why question magic? But he just wanted to make sure Kirino didn't do anything stupid, "But remember that magic is just a myth here, so they'll probably look at you like you were crazy if you asked them for their magic section!"
"Yeah yeah! Let's just go inside!" Kirino said quickly before grabbing Shindou's hand and pulling him inside.
Shindou slowly walked behind Kirino, making sure nothing happened, but he somehow lost him.
Meanwhile, Kirino was scanning the fiction section when he spotted a book…A familiar book...It was a magic book from his father's library! He reached for it, but his hand collided with another at the book's spine. Kirino pulled his hand back to look at the other person,
"S-sorry!" He said, it was his first time talking to someone other than Shindou or one of his friends. Kirino's eyes widened when he saw the lady. She was an adult woman with curly pink hair and bright blue eyes. She looked…Familiar, but Kirino couldn't place his finger in it…
"Oh, no, it's my fault!" She pulled the book from the shelf and handed it to Kirino, "I already have a copy, but I was in the store, so I thought I'd read it! It's my favorite book!" She said with a smile. The lady waved at Kirino before walking out of the store, leaving Kirino staring at her as she left. A bunch of people with Camera's crowded the lady as she walked out, calling things to her.
"There you are, Kirino!" Shindou said, giving a sigh of relief.
"Hey, Shindou, who's she?" Kirino asked, gesturing to the lady from before, who was trying to get through the crowd.
"That Kiria Nagina, she's a popular singer."
Kirino nodded.
"What book's that?" Shindou asked, looking at the book Kirino held.
Kirino lifted up the book so Shindou could see the cover, it said, 'Surface magic'
"A book from my father's library. One from the magic section, my favorite one."
Shindou smiled, "I'll buy it for you!"
"Oh, no, you don't need to do that!"
Shindou pulled his wallet from his pocket, "No, I insist."
Their conversation carried on much like this, but in the end, Shindou snatched the book from Kirino and bought it before Kirino could insist otherwise.
"Thanks…" Kirino said, looking into the plastic bag that was given to him with the book inside it, "But you really didn't have to…"
Shindou smiled, "I insist! Consider it to be a 'welcome to the surface' gift!"
Kirino's fingers flipped through the pages, "What's this made of, it feels really smooth…"
Shindou chuckled, "It's called paper, we write stuff on it!"
Kirino stopped to look at the sky, completely forget the amazing 'paper', "Wow! I'd never seen the sunset from her before! It's beautiful!"
Shindou stopped walking and stationed himself beside Kirino, "Yeah, it really is…" after a moment of silence, Shindou said, "We should start heading back before it gets dark!"
Kirino nodded, "Yeah!"

This chapter is longer then 2 for sure! Hope you like it!

Coming in next chapter:

-Tenma comes to visit!