Chapter 7
Watching the calendar, fall was just a fortnight away. The beach was still full of people during the day – for September was when the water was warmest, having had all summer to heat up in the sun. As the air cooled, the water felt all the warmer.
During one busy day when it was almost the fall equinox, Fujimoto was walking the beach scanning the tide lines for crabs caught in trash (they often got tangled in the hair of children's dolls and bits of netting), when a yell pierced his ears. A father was calling to the lifeguard – his 5 year old son and even younger sister were being sucked out by a sand-bar rip current.
Fujimoto watched from the waterline with the other onlookers as the lifeguard dove out to help them. He was almost to the children; using the rip tide itself to catch up to them (the children didn't know about swimming parallel to shore to escape it, nor were they good swimmers) when the lifeguard's leg got caught by something. It was a driftnet – and it tangled instantly around his leg, holding him back. He cursed and grumbled – he stupidly didn't have his leg-harness on for his diving knife. He was not in danger of drowning, but the children's heads were falling under the waves – and were so far out now a cargo ship coming into the port was in danger of hitting them.
Fujimoto brought the nails of one hand to his mouth – if someone didn't do something fast the children would drown. He heard the lifeguard yell to shore he was caught on something. I thought I just swept the underwater shore line, Fujimoto gritted his teeth, the tide must have brought it in this morning.
No one else was jumping out except the father, who was not a good swimmer himself and was not making any better progress. Fujimoto knew he had the power to help the children – he did hate humans but had a soft spot for children.
However, there were so many people around, if they saw, he wasn't sure if their reaction to seeing his magic would be positive, knowing how stupid humans were in groups. This time he had a glimmer of hope perhaps…this was his time – he would at last be recognized for doing good.
Closing his eyes with a face of confliction, Fujimoto finally darted past the crowd and out into the water.
Unable to swim fast enough to get to them in time, he brought up both hands mustering up every possible drop of magic in him. The water dripping through his fingers darkened with magic and came alive. He had used charged water before to do his bidding while diving, but this was as much as he'd ever put into it. The water indeed seemed to be a living thing this time, because he swore it looked at him. This shocked him, but he didn't have much time to think about it. He watched as the water dove like whales out for the children, catching them just in time before the ship hit them. They screamed in fear of the eyes in the water looking at them, thinking them evil spirits.
Rolling them in like surfers riding a giant wave, the children washed up on shore – a little worse for wear but alive. The water beings Fujimoto had conjured crashed into pieces on the sand, melting away into sea foam. The childrens' father ran to them. Everyone had backed away from the unnaturally large wave…and also the lifeguard coming up out of the sea next to a slightly waterlogged Fujimoto.
Shaking his hair and clothes (he had jumped in fully dressed in shirt and pants) some energy rushed back into him. They fluffed and dried unnaturally fast, his hair curling around his shoulders. The lifeguard jumped and stumbled away – but stopped and stared back at him. He was new, and had not known Fujimoto long – though everyone working there always warned him about the young man not being normal.
"What are you…?! Some kind of yōkai?" He backed away with a look of fear.
"Must humans think everything strange instantly evil?" he grumbled as he walked back up onto the beach, "I just saved all of your lives!" He pointed to the children and the lifeguard.
"Then what were those sea monsters? I saw you summon them!" A lady from the crowd called out.
"Whatever you did wasn't natural…"
The crowd mumbled amongst themselves.
"I'm not a yōkai," Fujimoto rolled his eyes. Although, now that he thought about it - with his magic abilities and how much he cursed humans, perhaps he was becoming one. Yōkai are demons that were once human, and though some kind of mishap became a monster. But they were mostly evil creatures, he didn't feel evil…nor did he feel not human.
The children were crying to their father about sea demons, and the crowd was making protective prayers, but some were getting more fueled with scared anger.
"We knew you were a freak before but- "
"Our shore is cursed by a demon suijin!"
"- you really are a demon aren't you?!"
"You were born cursed with that hair of yours!"
"Now wait just a moment…!" Fujimoto began backing away from their advancing. His heels soon hit the surf.
"Back to the ocean where you belong yōkai!"
"Get out of here!"
"You don't belong here!"
His teeth clenched in unbelieving. The crowd was getting dangerous; they threw things at him voicing cleansing rites to scare away demons. He held up his arms to shield his face. He turned finally and disappeared into the water, not coming up again.
Everyone stood in silence for a moment, an eerie calm coming over the shore. Then they cheered for warding off the 'evil spirit'.
They found his elixir bottles that were by the tide pools and shed - then smashed them…spilling the potions into the water. What the people didn't see was life spring from where they hit the water, new shiny fish and jellies born from the liquids.
Almost crying and seething with hate, Fujimoto swam off, grabbing an elixir bottle from where it sat underwater by the continental shelf off shore. He swam as fast as he could out of the bay, not looking back. He didn't know where he was going, he didn't care. He was sick of everything; he just wanted to get away.
On his way out to sea a fishing trawler crossed his path. Dredging up the ocean floor, practically raping life from the sea as it tore up everything in its path to get to schools of valuable fish. He was too drained of magic to do anything against it (he barely had enough to form his breathing bubble) but he took up the bottle in his hands. In his current state, he could have turned the elixir of life into one of death with how he was about to throw it at the ship in pure, irrational, incensed anger…
But before he could, a bright light came up behind him, and a large glowing hand blocked his path.
Fujimoto gasped – and realized the sea around was glowing with golden fish. All the hate had flown out of him and was replaced with fear and wonderment. He held the bottle up to his body timidly as if it was as security blanket, eyes widening with fear. Mustering up courage, he carefully turned around.
There in the water before him was a beautiful woman, a HUGE beautiful woman…and instantly made him think 'Suijin-sama' …the water goddess of the ocean - protector of fisherman , mothers, and childbirth…and of course overseer of ocean creatures.
He stared for a moment, in shock and awe. It - it has to be a goddess, he was thinking. But - she looks so…familiar.
His instincts to the supernatural had been growing keener over the years, so he trusted his heart in when he meekly said, "M…Mammare is that you?"
The large figure smiled brightly, and brought her hands up in the water under him. He fell against the water pressure of being pulled closer to her face, and was sitting cupped in her palms by the time he was in front of her eyes. She talked with a timeless, motherly calmness.
"You recognize me Fujimoto-san," She said, pleased.
"It really is you…!" He blinked, still stunned, "how…how can that be?"
"I disguised myself as a human girl, to be able to meet you. My full name is Granmammare – western for Great Mother Ocean. I am a goddess of the sea."
To think, he had known her name all those years and never thought to look up what it meant.
"…It's been over three years." He said in a tone of 'it's been a long time'.
She looked sad, "I am sorry, I did not mean to forget about our meetings – things have been difficult for my ocean. The times we spent in the summer on the beach were always a happy time for me, I did not forget them."
He smiled laughing with amazement at his situation, and an uncontrollable happiness that welled up in him to see his friend again…and to discover she indeed was a water spirit – a goddess even.
"Fujimoto," His name rang through the water; he liked hearing her say it…but this time she turned her tone to gentle authoritativeness, "I have been watching you – you have accepted the magic of the sea. Your heart is so tied to the ocean that the magic I have been giving you did not upset the balance of nature. However, you can't fully use magic and be human at the same time."
He stood up in her hands listening, absorbing every word.
She pointed to the bottle he held, "You even discovered the ancient elixir magic used by water suijin - the same power I wield but concentrated into physical form – and you were able to, with what little magic you had, control it. For you to have done these things alone is a showing of your heart's strength."
She continued, "You must make a choice – now that you are on the cusp between man and boy you must choose which world you want to be in. Once you make the choice you can not go back."
He breathed in deeply and asked, "What would I become?"
"Something not human. A creature of magic and of the ocean, a sea wizard if you will."
He blinked eyes wide under his locks of hair…such things he was hearing he could scarcely believe. Choose which world I want to be in?! What kind of question is that? The choice is more than obvious which I would prefer!
She continued talking seriously, "I could use your talents. You could help me with keeping the ocean's power in balance – with how things are today with the state of the world, I am having a hard time doing it all myself."
"I want to help you!" he blurted out smiling.
She smiled back at his young enthusiasm, "I am glad you want to, but please, know the seriousness of your decision. You can never go back to the human world, or the land. You would be tied to the sea as I am."
He was nervous but was just able to say "And what would become… of us? Would we still be friends," and he added more softly, "…and could we ever be any more than that?"
She was taken aback. Even after him finding out what she truly is he still wanted to be with her. She felt a welling up of emotion she had not felt in centuries, and replied practically blushing, "Yes we of course would be friends…and if you became a creature of the sea we could be more than that as well..."
He felt validated, "Would it be out of line to…declare that I love you Granmammare?" his heart raced.
"But Fujimoto-san," She smiled wisely, "Your heart was always with the ocean…however, you did not expect it to love you back…did you?"
He blushed deeply with wide eyes and a fluffing of hair.
"Fujimoto, would you be my king of the ocean? Knowing the terms, would you help me keep balance in this world offset by humans, and restore life to the seas?"
He paused only for a moment, and then nodded firmly, "I accept – with every fiber of my being I accept!"
She beamed, his heart was true, "…I will give you until sunrise to make your peace with the land. Come back here to me before the light of dawn breaks, my darling." She pressed her lips, as soft as manta ray wings, against the side of his head with the utmost gentleness. He felt weak from emotion, but was able to wave goodbye to her, her long trailing fishtail dress disappearing into the depths of the ocean.
