A few days had passed since King Akira scolded his little sister for her behavior. Aoi was swimming throughout the sea with a dolphin that was a friend of hers, feeling both excited and nervous.

This was it. She was finally free from her cage as if she was a wild animal captured. It had been pretty risky and Aoi was plenty impatient as well, since she had to wait a few days to make sure that the incident was over them and that her brother had moved on, but it was worth it.

She did all her lessons and listened to what her brother said to make sure that he thought she wasn't planning anything that would go against him. She had to wait until all the maids retired to their rooms and her brother to sleep. Once she was sure that they were fast asleep, she opened the window in her room and called out her best friend, which was the dolphin and she was out like that.

But Aoi wasn't done yet.

She needed to find the witch and help her with her plan to become human. She and the dolphin had been searching for the destination for a long time now and If she didn't find her soon, she would have to go back to the palace and Akira would move her wedding to a earlier date when he would learn of her failed escape.

The thought of her brother at that moment made her shiver. He had become a monster because of his job and put her through a ton of hell. The thought of her future fiance also repulsed her.

The dolphin stopped swimming and squeaked at Aoi to tell her that this was the destination.

"Thank you." Aoi hugged the underwater animal and kissed it. "I'll miss you a whole lot."

The dolphin smiled at her and swam away, leaving the young mermaid alone in front of a dark cave.

Aoi took a deep breath and began to swim. Here I go.

As the brown-haired girl was in the dark cave, she had encountered a lot of creepy creatures and even a grimy merman, who offered her some money in exchange for having sex with her, which she politely declined and moved on.

Aoi finally saw a bright light at the end and continued, until she realized she was standing in what seemed to be a laboratory.

"Come in." A familiar voice greeted.

"H-Hi." Aoi stammered. She started to fidget with her fingers and wondered if this was a good idea. Emma did warn her that this woman wasn't a person of good after all.

The same old woman that Aoi had encountered in town swam to her, with a smile on her face.

"Well well, if it isn't Princess Aoi. Have a seat." The woman led her to a wooden stool.

"Thank you." The brown-haired mermaid sat down and watched as the old woman sat in her very own rocking chair. The room was not too eerie, but it had something with threw Aoi off, even though she didn't know what it was.

"So what brings you here in the late night my dear?"

"I actually have a request for you to make. I even brought some money with me as payment." Aoi pointed to her bag.

"Tell me you request. You didn't have to bring money my dear." The old woman smiled. "The royal family always gets to do things free by me."

"I want to become a human." Aoi told her. "Please. Can you do it?"

"Of course I can do that for you. Is there a certain reason for why you want to become a human?"

"I want to get away from here. I can't stand my brother at all." Aoi answered, leaving out the part where she wanted to meet that human boy.

"I see. Are you sure it's not also because you want to meet a certain boy?" The witch asked.

"How do you know that?" Aoi asked.

"I'm a fortune-telling witch. I know all about the merfolk here. Even the royals. I can read people's minds you see."

"Is that why you are so popular?"

"Of course! I can even read the future." The witch smiled and stood up. "Now let's transform you into a human." She swam to the lab section and Aoi followed behind her.

As the witch was swimming, Aoi took the opportunity to look around and notice that she had bottles and bottles of unknown substances stacked on top of each other. She also had a large pot sitting in a corner of the room.

"I got all the ingredients needed to make the potion dear." The witch said, pushing a small cart full of bottles.

"A potion? I thought you were going to zap me and turn me into a human." Aoi said.

"How silly, witches don't do that." The white haired woman cackled and swam to the large black pot, where she had begun to pour all the liquids in as well as a couple of spicy herbs and dead animals.

"Done!" The witch said and took a empty bottle, filling it with that potion that was now colored dark green. "Go up to the surface and once you are completely on the sand, drink it."

"Why can't I drink it here?"

"Because once you become human, you lose the ability to breathe underwater. The potion changes the structure of your lungs." The old woman explained, handing her the bottle.

"Thank you." Aoi said politely.

"My pleasure. Now go. Daylight is approaching soon." The old woman warned. "If you stay underwater any longer, you will eventually be caught."

"I understand. Thank you once again!" Aoi said and was on her way out. She swam out as fast as she could, feeling very excited.

I can't wait to see you! Aoi thought with excitement.

As she was reaching closer and closer to the surface, her smile grew.

When she was out of the water, the first thing she noticed was that there was no one around and she was completely alone on the sand.

She looked west of her and noticed that the sky on that end was warm colored and the sun was starting to rise.

Aoi looked at the bottle that the witch gave her. The potion was green and Aoi was having second thoughts.

Was this potion really going to work on her? Or was it going to harm her? If the potion wasn't harmless, was she going to still be Aoi after that? Or was she going to become someone, or something else?

As Aoi was thinking, she could feel her breathing hitch. She had to drink the potion. Now.

"Here goes." Aoi mumbled as she opened the bottle. The smell of the bottle had a strange floral smell but Aoi dismissed the smell and swallowed all the liquid that was available in the bottle.

At first, she didn't feel any different, but then she felt a sharp pang of pain go throughout her body. It was the harshest pain that Aoi had ever felt in her life.

"Augh!" Aoi shrieked and her face hit the sand, convulsing in pain. As she screamed, her tail started to fade away and Aoi could finally breathe air.

After a few minutes, the pain disappeared and Aoi fainted. She was naked and no longer did she have her pretty tail, but two slim, beautiful legs in exchange.


"Morning Yusaku!" Naoki greeted, being loud and obnoxious, as always.

"Morning." Yusaku groaned. Out of all the people to greet him in the morning, why Naoki? Why couldn't it have been Takeru instead? Takeru wasn't so loud as this chubby one was.

"Can I go hunting with you? Huh? Huh?" Naoki was prancing around Yusaku, squealing like a fangirl.

"Maybe, you can be my bait for my next catch." Yusaku snickered. Nothing like some sick humor to wake him up.

"So is it a yes?" Naoki asked.

"NO." Yusaku darkly answered, his eyes turned into slits.

"Ok then!" Naoki cheerfully replied, completely oblivious to Yusaku's dark face.

"That guy is so dense." Ai sighed. The creature was sitting on Yusaku's shoulder.

"I agree, and he's a stupid one too." Yusaku said as he was walking. He arrived at the beach and sat down at the sand, inhaling the fresh air that was provided.

"Yusaku, over there!" AI pointed to his left.

"What is it?" Yusaku looked in AI's direction and saw a girl lying unconscious on the sand. Her head was thrown back and she had no article of clothing on.

"Are you blind? It's a girl!" AI exclaimed. "You're even denser than Naoki."

"No I'm not." Yusaku said and walked over to the girl. "What is she doing here?"

"Doesn't look like she's from our village. I'm assuming she was washed up on here by accident." AI assumed, but quickly changed that when it looked up at the girl closer.

"It's the girl that rescued you!"

"Stop joking around AI." Yusaku grumbled.

"It's not a joke. It really is her!" AI flailed its arms. "I think she might be dead."

"And how do you know if she is dead?"

"I don't know actually, but maybe you can do mouth to mouth..."

AI didn't get to finish his sentence because Yusaku grabbed the ignis off of his shoulder and begun to bury him in the sand. "Don't you dare suggest anything like that to me ever again!" He hissed angrily.

"I won't say it again, please let me out!" AI begged. "Please forgive me."

As AI was wailing, Aoi's body was starting to stir and she was opening her eyes. Once they were open, she was staring at the clear blue sky.

"Where am I?" Aoi mumbled quietly. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, noticing that she was on the beach.

Oh, that's right. The brown-haired female thought. I drank the potion that the witch gave me and I became...She looked down at where her tail used to be and saw that she had legs instead.

Human.

She placed her palm on her thigh and her palm traveled down to her calves, feeling the smoothness of her new legs. They're so beautiful. Aoi thought. The brunette also noticed that she could breathe just fine, and she wasn't choking anymore.

So the potion did work. She thought again, but with a surge of happiness. Her only problem now was; what was she going to wear?

Looking around, Aoi noticed that there was another person on the beach and he was down on his knees. It looked like he was yelling at something but what?

Maybe this guy could help her around here.

"Excuse me!" Aoi yelled out.

Yusaku stopped yelling at AI and turned around. When he turned around, Aoi's brown eyes widened. She immediately recognized his face.

It was him. It was the boy that she had rescued not long ago.

"It's you..." Aoi started

"Who are you and where are you from?" Yusaku asked her, trying to focus on her face and not her naked body.

"Um...I'm..." Aoi trailed off. She felt embarassed now. His emerald eyes were now looking at her face.

"My name is Aoi. I was formally a mermaid." She answered.

There was no response from Yusaku and it was silent between them for a few minutes. Only the sound of the waves could be heard and the light wind blowing against their skin.

"Your brain must be jumbled from the storm last night." Yusaku finally broke the silence with that statement.

Aoi got a little offended when he said that. "But I really was a mermaid! Do you even remember me? I saved you!" Aoi claimed. Was this guy really dumb or did he forget?

"I don't know what you were talking about. Mermaids are just part of those childish fairy tales. They don't exist. I know nothing about you either."

Aoi's heart fell a little. He doesn't remember me and he seems to dismiss the existence of us.

"Do you remember drowning in the sea?" Aoi pressed. He must have remembered that.

"I did drown a few days ago and mysteriously landed up on shore, but that's all I remember. And how did you rescue me from the sea? You could have drowned yourself."

"I..." Aoi stopped talking when she was about to say that she was given a potion by the witch but she wasn't sure of Yusaku's reaction to that. Did humans think witches were evil too? She decided not to say it, fearing that Yusaku would abandon her.

"You're right." The brown-haired girl sadly sighed. "I don't remember anything. I lost my memory."

She put her head down and felt sadness well up inside her. She bit her lip, trying not to cry. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Why didn't he remember her? Didn't he see her face? This was the worst day of her entire life.

Yusaku started to feel bad for her as watched her put her head down. He even heard a sniffle coming out of her, so he decided that he could help her for a while, until she knew what was around here. He walked over to her and knelt down.

He touched her chin with his hand and brought her face up. He noticed that her eyes were closed and there were several tears streaming down her face.

"Don't cry." He wiped the tears off of her face. Aoi looked at his eyes and could tell that he looked a little sad as well. "You can come in and live with me for a while since you're not from here."

Aoi stopped crying and looked at him. "Really?" She asked.

Yusaku nodded.

"Thank you." Aoi whispered.

"Come on." The blue and pink-haired boy stood up and offered his hand to her. "I'll show you around our village."

"Yes." Aoi touched his hand and tried to stand up but she fell back down. A dull pain went through her legs.

"Do your legs hurt?" Yusaku asked.

"Yeah. I actually don't know how to walk." Aoi whimpered. Since she spent all of her life underwater, she used her tail as a form of traveling and walking on legs was something new for her.

Yusaku bent down and picked her up. "I'll teach you how to walk." He told her.

"Yeah." Aoi's face flushed. He was holding her naked and she could feel the touch of her hands on her bare skin. It was very embarrassing and Aoi wanted him to get to his house as soon as possible, hopefully with no one around.

"What is your name?" Yusaku then asked her.

"My name is Aoi." The brunette replied and asked Yusaku the same question.

"My name is Yusaku."

"Yusaku is a nice name." Aoi smiled. She held on tight.

Before Yusaku took his first step, he heard muffles from his ignis.

"What's that sound coming from?" The brunette asked.

"It's my Ai."

Now Aoi was curious. "What's an AI?"

Yusaku bent down, still holding Aoi, and picked up his ignis and put it on his shoulder.

"I demand an apology for you burying me in the sand!" Ai angrily yelled.

"I don't need to apologize for anything." Yusaku answered and began walking.

Ai then noticed Aoi in Yusaku's arms and gasped.

"It's you!"

"You know me?" Aoi asked. Her heart jumped a little.

The ignis nodded. "You were the one that rescued..."

"What was that?" Yusaku interrupted the conversation and stopped walking.

"Nothing nothing!" Ai sweated.

Yusaku went back to walking and Ai winked at Aoi.

"I'll tell you later."


Thank you for the reviews that were given. It really does mean a lot to me and to that guest that wrote to me that this is a very good story. Is it really? I have a lot of self doubt in myself so I'm kind of finding that as false. and if you find mistakes or have criticism, please tell me. I want to improve.