I couldn't think of anything all day, but of course, now of all times, at 1 AM I get an idea.

So the real question is, does he live? does he die? Maybe a little of both? Zombie merman?


Tsurugi's eyes widened slightly, but he still retained a cool and collected expression with his hands in his pockets.
Tears were pretty much flowing down Shindou's face, enough to fill a pot to make pasta.
"No, no, it's not working…" he muttered to himself before standing up and looking to Tenma,
"Tenma, open the backyard gate." Tenma nodded, running over to the edge of the yard and opening a gate in the fence that led to the beach.
Shindou dived into the pool, lifting up Kirino, who was only at the bottom of the shallow end and removed him from the pool.
"What are you doing!?" Tenma exclaimed.
"Moving him to the Ocean. The water there is probably better for him." Shindou said as he ran, carrying Kirino through the open gate and to the shore.
Within a minute or two, Kirino was laying in the water of the cove where Shindou first found Kirino. Shindou let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Kirino's breathing was slowly getting better.
Shindou held the pink haired merman's hand tightly and eventually fell asleep while Tenma explained the situation to Tsurugi back at the house.

Blue eyes slowly opened as the sun rose, 'am I dead' he thought when he noticed something around his hand. When he looked over to his hand, he saw another tightly wrapped around it. He looked up to Shindou sitting up against the rocks, fast asleep. 'I'm not dead?' he thought, still tired. He observed his surroundings, 'The cove, by the ocean? When did I get here?' He noticed the tear stains on Shindou's cheeks, and how his eyes looked red and puffy. The last thing Kirino remembered was falling onto the floor, being unable to breathe, and then blackness. Did Shindou bring him here?
"Shindou?" Kirino said softly.
The brunettes eyes opened slightly. His vision was a little blurry from all the crying that he did, but he saw a blurry figure with pink hair. When his eyesight cleared up a few moments later, tears welled up in his eyes when he saw Kirino. He threw his arms around the pink-haired merman,
"Y-you're okay!" He said gleefully.
Kirino blinked before hugging Shindou back. Kirino felt that feeling that he had felt at times prior, like when Shindou hid from the spider behind him, that fizzy feeling in his chest. He still didn't know what that was. But Shindou knew. Thanks to Tenma, he was aware of his love for Kirino and 'overjoyed' wasn't even close to describing the happiness he felt when he discovered his friend wasn't dead.

"Kirino-Kun!" Kirino looked over to the rocks to see Tsurugi and Tenma climbing over them and making their way to the two boys, "You're alright!" Tenma said happily. Tsurugi gave Kirino a small smile and a nod, in which Kirino nodded in return.

Kirino felt drops of water fall onto his shoulders. That's when he realized that Shindou was still hugging him, but now he had started crying,
"Hey, hey, why are you crying? I'm alright." Kirino said softly.
"I-I'm just really happy y-you're okay!" Shindou said through his sobs.
Shindou smiled, wiping tears from his eyes, "Let's go home, Kirino."
Kirino gave Shindou a smile in return. Soon after, he let out a small squeal when Shindou suddenly picked him up (That's right, bridal style),
"Ah! Shindou, I can walk there on my own you know!"
Shindou grinned, "Not a chance. I'm not letting you pull off any sort of magic while you're still so tired. You just recovered."
Kirino smiled warmly, "I guess you're right."
The fin on the end of Kirino's tail unconsciously twitched, since it was an automatic action, although it hit Tsurugi in the face.
"What was that for!?" He yelled at Kirino, who was laughing so hard he almost fell out of Shindou's arms,
"I-I didn't do it on purpose! It's just an automatic action! That twitch helps us hover when we're underwater!" He managed to explain through his giggles. Tsurugi, on the other hand, just frowned, said, "Sure" and crossed his arms, but Tenma grabbed Tsurugi's hand, making him smile.

Shindou smiled warmly at the scene, he was happier than anyone—including Kirino himself that the pink-haired merman was alright.
"How do you want to be tossed in, Kirino?" Shindou asked with a joking tone as he walked through the gate into his yard. But Kirino didn't answer in time, and Shindou pretty much dropped him in. Once he re-surfaced, Kirino grabbed Shindou's ankle, pulling him into the water to!

"Hey!" Shindou exclaimed.
"Revenge." Kirino said playfully before swimming to the other side of the pool.
"Get back here you!" Shindou called, swimming over to where Kirino was.
Tenma winked at Tsurugi, "Let's go in to!" then before he could protest, Tenma grabbed his boyfriends hand and jumped into the pool, dragging Tsurugi along with him, and the two were soon engaged in a splash-fight.
Shindou and Kirino watched from the other side of the pool, and even though neither of them realized it, they were unconsciously holding each-others hands underwater.


Taa daa

I'm trying to write more but I'm debating on what happens next.

Coming in next chapter:

-Okay so I have 2 things I want to do I'm torn between starting the main plot and taking Kirino back into town keep checking back to see if I make a decision and update this chapter.

-Tenma and Tsurugi leave :(