Ahhhh sorry this took so long! I suddenly got writers block and it stayed for a while! I finally finished this chapter though!


Shindou looked up to see Kirigi standing in the sand,
"Are you going swimming with Kirino-san!? I thought I told you that it wasn't a good idea to be around him. He seems kind of sketchy."
Shindou frowned, "He's perfectly fine, and not sketchy at all!"
Kirigi grabbed Shindou's shoulders, pulling him closer, she whispered in his ear, "Wouldn't you much rather spend a night with me!?"
Shindou pushed Kirigi away before she tried anything else, "I have to go." He said bluntly before to running to where Kirino and Akari were, leaving an angry Kirigi. If anyone was sketchy, then it would be HER.

"Ah, Shindou! What took you so long!?" Kirino asked when Shindou arrived,
"Never mind, just hurry!" Shindou replied quickly, putting the necklace around his neck, and he saw the shell emit a dim glow.
Kirino lifted the note with the spell on it, and muttered the words while moving his hands through the water with particular movements.
When he was done, Kirino hoped for the best and smiled when he saw his familiar orange scales running down his legs, binding them together. He looked over to Akari and her purple scales were doing the same. He was about to dive in when he heard someone call his name,
"Ranmaru!" He turned to see Kiria Nagina, no, his mother smiling at him from the boardwalk, "Good luck!"
Kirino smiled, before grabbing Shindou's hand and taking him underwater.
At first, Shindou held his breath. Kirino laughed,
"You can breathe you know, Shindou!"
Shindou gulped, letting out the rest of the air from his lungs and took in a breath of water.
"I-it worked!" Shindou exclaimed, "I-I'm talking...Underwater!" Kirino chuckled; Shindou's excited and surprised expression was so cute.
"I know it's amazing, but we must hurry! We have to get back before something happens!" Akari interrupted. Kirino nodded, holding Shindou's hand to guide him through the water.
They were swimming for about 2 hours or so before the three were showing signs of fatigue.
"Some fish told me that it would take 2 days to swim back, we'll have to stop for a while, swimming at night could be dangerous." Kirino said. Shindou glanced at him, he could talk to fish to?
Akari nodded, "Yes, but luckily the route we're taking has an ocean current we can ride and get back in only 1."
"Where is it?" Shindou asked.
"Here!" Akari replied, swimming over to a particular part of the water. It looked no different than the rest of the water, but the water flowed along a quick current. "If we just stay in it, it will move us while we rest." She made sure that Kirino and Shindou had entered before entering the current herself.
Somewhere along the way, Shindou had managed to doze off before all the others, even though Kirino and Akari were doing most of the swimming (since Kirino was just pulling him along.)
"-indou, Shindou, hey, the current we used ends here." Shindou heard Kirino say to his as he slowly opened his eyes. After registering what Kirino said he nodded, sat up and stretched. After that, Akari swam out, followed by Kirino who pulled Shindou along with him,
"How long were we on the current?" Shindou asked.
"A few hours. It should be sunrise now." Akari answered, "Ah, we're here!" she said pushing some seaweed to the side.

Shindou's eyes widened, the city looked magnificent! But, it was empty.
"Huh? Where is everyone?" Kirino asked before getting shushed by Akari,
"Shh, Kirino-sama, it's dangerous out right now, we have to get to the palace, quick!" Kirino was about to say something else, but was shushed even before he started speaking.

Akari led them to a huge palace via the city outskirts.
Shindou stared at it, this was where Kirino lived? His parent's mansion (his house in the anime) was a HUT compared to the castle in front of him.
When they were at the gates, Akari fumbled with the keys she had with her before opening the gate,
"We have to get inside, quickly!"
Once both boys were inside, she closed the gate and they approached the front door.
2 guards holding spears were at either side of the front door. They got into a fighting stance when they heard someone coming.
"Relax, Choro, it's just me. We're back." Akari said as they swam up to the door. The guards bowed to Kirino,
"Prince Kirino, you've returned." One said,
"We welcome you home."
Kirino blushed, embarrassed, "How many times have I told you that you don't need to be so formal…."
The guards didn't answer, they just opened the doors to inside the castle. When they entered, the 3 maids in the lobby bowed towards them, saying "Welcome home, Kirino-sama!" Before they swarmed the pink-haired merman.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you hurt?"
"Should we get you something to eat?"
"Maybe a pillow?"
They asked, in which Kirino said no to all questions.

"I'll inform your father that you've returned." Akari said, bowing before leaving the room.
Kirino took Shindou's hand again, pulling the brunette along with him, up the grand staircase* to a huge door.
"Follow me, I need to check something."
Shinodu nodded, not really paying attention. He was staring around in awe.
He, Shindou Takuto, was currently the royal palace of the Merfolk capital city. If you had told him that he'd be here now about 3 months ago, he would've thought it was a funny joke, but now it didn't seem to unlikely to him.
Kirino swung open the huge colorful coral doors to a huge room.
I was kind of a large T shape. The flooring was made of something that looked like marble, with a platform on the left side of the T shaped room. On top of the platform was a huge canopy bed. 2 tabled rested on either side of it and glowing yellow orbs floated over each table.
In the center of the room was a large centerpiece made of exotic plants. Shindou, who assumed this was Kirino's room, didn't think this was what his friends room would be like. His brown eyes finally reached the right side of the T in the strangely shaped room, and THAT looked like it would belong to Kirino. It was about the size of Shindou's actual room, and in it there was a dresser that was covered with clutter, a bookshelf stuffed with books with a comfy-looking chair beside it. There was a desk, a mirror, and all the other things you'd expect to find in a teenage boys room.
There was one door on each of the 2 walls on either side of the entrance that led off to who knows where.

Kirino swam over to his dresser, picking up a shell from his dresser. It was just a simple small conch shell, but it had a glowing center.
"I need to know what's going on, why the city is abandoned." The pink haired merman muttered something into the shell he held and waited for a moment. Soon, the glowing center went from green to pink, and Kirino held it up to his ear. From where he was, Shindou heard a faint 'hello?' from the shell. 'those must be those beaded shell things that he told me about' Shindou thought.
"Hikaru!" Kirino spoke into the shell, "What's going on!? Where is everyone!?"
"K-Kirino? You're back! When did you-" Hikaru replied from the other side.
"Sorry Hikaru, now's not a good time for a conversation! Can you please tell me what's going on outside! The city's abandoned!"
"I don't know!" Hikaru began, "I was with the others the day of Cora's party when the royal guards came into the town and told us all to stay inside! We haven't been allowed to leave our houses since!"
"How long has it been!?" Kirino asked.
The words, "It happened the day you disappeared, about 2 days ago the king said he sent someone to find you!"
Before the conversation could continue, Akari knocked on the door,
"Kirino-sama, your father wants to see you."
Kirino nodded, saying something before placing the shell back onto the table and swimming to the door, motioning for Shindou to follow him.


Poor Shindou spent most of this chapter confused!

Coming in next chapter:

-Shindou meets Kirino's dad

-'I'T' makes an appearance