AHAHAHA
I have to say that there is some fluff and hopefully I'll be done the chapter soon~
For now, Enjoy~!
About a day after announcing that they would be leaving for Cuttlefish gorge, Shindou was following Kirino around as he grabbed some things before leaving.
Kirino came out of his room holding a bag around his shoulder.
Shindou giggled, "Kirino, is that a purse?"
Kirino glanced up at Shindou a confused expression, "Yeah, why?" He had no idea why Shindou thought carrying around a purse was funny. It wasn't abnormal or anything for mermen to carry purses as well mermaids.
Shindou smiled and turned down the hall, "Oh, nothing"
Kirino slipped the book they needed translated in his bag as he swam down the hall with Shindou, "We should get going before it gets too late. It's already the middle of the afternoon."
Shindou thought for a moment before speaking, "But isn't Cuttlefish gorge near Atlantis? A major city? I would think you'd have water currents directing there…"
Kirino nodded, "Yeah, there usually is, an artificial one made for quick travel, but it's kind of dangerous to use right now. It hasn't gotten any upkeep recently so it's very unstable. Luckily, there's another natural current we can take but we can't just ride in it. It's much faster than the one we took before. We have to use a current carver."
Shindou tilted his head slightly, "What's a current carver?"
"They're kind of like…what are they called again…" Kirino paused, "Oh, yes! They're kind of like those car things! They're large shells re-enforced and equipped to drive right through quick currents!"
Shindou smiled, "Wow, I can't wait to see one of those!"
Kirino motioned for his friend to follow him, "Come on, my dad had one we could use!"
Within a few minutes, they entered a small room at the end of a long hallway. It had something that looked like a garage door on one wall, and in the center, tied to a post was the bottom of a clam. But it had skis or something resembling them on the bottom as well as a series of other meachanisms, and there was a glassy-looking shade attached to front, presumably to keep water from splashing in the drivers face. Tied across the frontal area was a black rope, probably for driving it since any other steering mechanism couldn't be seen.
"We'll leave as soon as Akari gets here with the food for the trip and some camping supplies, since the route we're taking is split into two and the worker that was helping me work out the details told me that we'd probably stop for the night in the middle of two if we made good time!" Kirino informed Shindou, who was examining the current carver.
? P.O.V.
I tapped my black inky fingers against the hard cave rock. I've waited long enough for our little helper! My brother came up to me and told me to wait a little longer. She was taking an awful long time to get here. I needed to give her orders. I paused my thoughts for a moment, what if she quit helping us. No, she wouldn't do that! She knows what's on the line here.
a blonde mermaid finally entered the cave,
"I'm sorry I took so long!" She huffed, trying to catch her breath, "They're leaving to cuttlefish gorge soon. Do you have any requests?"
I smirked, "Well, they're going to die anyways because of the gorge, but make sure that they aren't given enough food for the journey, so if the gorge doesn't kill them, the hunger will."
The blonde mermaid nodded and bowed me before leaving. Finally. Soon that Merfolk prince will be gone, and if his little friend isn't killed by the gorge to, then he'll no doubt be escaping to the surface, afraid of what would come next.
Kirino/Shindou P.O.V.
The door to the garage(?) opened, causing both boys to turn and see who was entering.
Akari had swam in holding a bag of food and supplies for them.
Kirino looked at the bag with concern when he took it from Akari, "It feels a little light, are you are there's enough food?"
Akari smiled, "Well, the royal chef prepared it, and I'm sure he knows what he's doing!" She replied with a smiled before swimming out with the words, "Have a nice trip Kirino-sama!"
Kirino tossed the bag into the current carver and untied it from the post it was attached to, "Since all the currents in the city are down, we'll have to pull it out. Don't worry, it's not too far!"
After about 30 minutes of pushing half of a tricked-out shell through the deserted city, they had finally arrived at the current. Kirino told Shindou to get in and then he's push it into the current and hop on.
Shindou did as he was told and Kirino soon joined him the shell. Kirino took hold of the black rope (which was used for steering) but before they started moving, Kirino turned to Shindou, "Oh, and one more thing before leave."
Shindou nodded, waiting for the pink-haired merman to continue, "I have no idea how to drive."
Without waiting for Shindou's reaction (which was him screaming the word 'what!'
Kirino pushed the current carver into the current and Shindou was terrified.
"Why didn't you say that sooner!" He screeched, as the shell was going incredibly fast.
Kirino responded after he finally found out how to slow down a bit, "It didn't really seem relevant."
"How is you not knowing how to drive not relevant!?"
Kirino giggled at Shindou's reaction and just shrugged.
After about 10 minutes of moving along in silence, Kirino spoke up,
"So, Shindou, how are you liking it down here?"
Shindou looked over to Kirino, who (I think) started to get how to drive, and smiled, "Well I never expected to be down here when I first met you that's for sure!" He said with a chuckle I didn't know that I'd fall in love with you, either! He added on in his mind, but didn't dare say out loud! "What I was really surprised about," He continued, "Is when I found out that you were the Merfolk prince! Seriously though, why didn't you tell me?"
Kirino sighed, "Well, at first, the topic didn't seem to come up, but then after I started becoming friends with you…Well, let's just say that I'm really lucky to have the friends that I have because all throughout my life I've always had other Merfolk just trying to be my friend because I was the prince. To be honest, I was kind of afraid to tell you…"
Shindou just smiled in return, "I know what it's like, trust me! When I started going to Raimon jr. high, I didn't really have any friends for a long time."
Kirino gave a quick shocked glance at Shindou, "How!? You're so kind, and generous, and-" He was going to say something else, but cut himself off, "Everyone must've wanted to be friends with you!"
Shindou gave a small smile, "Well, it's true that everyone did want to be my friend, but not for the right reasons. You see, my family is one of the wealthiest in Japan, so I hard time finding any real friends…"
"Ah, yes, Kirigi mentioned something about that once, but then after that I never really thought about it…"
"But I have to say, based off what I've seen, you're way richer then me!"
Kirino chuckled, "Well, I admit, the fortune of the Merfolk royal family has had years to build up, and we do have a lot of money…"
Shindou nodded, "It's funny how the both of us, who both have trouble making friends, are now best friends!"
"And off to go on an adventure in a deep, dangerous gorge!" Kirino added on.
The current carver came to a sudden stop, and Kirino exclaimed, "Hey I found the brakes! And just in time to! Looks like the current ends here!"
Shindou and Kirino both left the shell and tied to a rock. The area was already starting to get dark. There was a coral overhang that they decided it would be best to sleep under instead of setting something up. Kirino yawned, "Well, I'm pretty tired, so how about we have a quick snack before heading to sleep! We're probably going to arrive at the gorge tomorrow!"
Shindou nodded and Kirino grabbed some things from the bag of food,
"I hope you like it, It's a type of seaweed." Kirino said with a nervous voice, handing Shindou a strand of teal seaweed.
Shindou eyed it for a moment before eating it. He blinked in surprise, "It's…actually not that bad!"
Kirino sighed in relief, "Thank goodness! I was scared you wouldn't like it!"
Shindou laughed, "I remember whenever I went to get something for us to eat I wasn't sure what to get because I didn't know what you liked!"
Kirino nodded with a smile, remembering hearing Shindou mutter to himself in the kitchen, wondering what to give him.
Kirino turned to the camping tarp they had laid out under the coral overhang," anyways, we should get some sleep!"
Shindou nodded and followed Kirino over to the coral.
Shindou awoke to Kirino shaking him awake,
"Hey, it's morning We should get going!"
Shindou yawned and stretched, "Yeah, in a sec!"
Kirino smiled and grabbed Shindou's wrist, dragging him through the water to the Current Carver,
"Second day driving, let's see how this goes!" Kirino said with an optimistic voice as he sat himself down in front of the black rope used to steer.
"Are you sure that's a good I-" Shindou didn't have time to finish his sentence before Kirino shot into the second current at a high speed.
Kirino was smiling with a look of adrenaline on his face, while Shindou was holding for dear life!
Kirino finally slowed down before exclaiming, "That…was…AWESOME!"
"Are you crazy!" Shindou said loudly, "That was insane!"
Kirino shrugged with a smile as the shell was now moving at a slower pace.
The trip was mostly smalltalk back and forth, but it sure did end with a bang.
And by bang,
I mean crash.
"Maybe driving was such a good idea!" Kirino screeched as they smacked right into a piece of coral, sending them flying!
After they had both landed somewhere, Shindou felt something soft on his lips. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Kirino, who had also just opened his eyes.
They both had tomato-red blushed on their faces as they pretty much flew apart as if they were on fire.
"T-the gorge is only a few minutes away. W-we have to swim the rest of the way…" Kirino stammered, both of them silently agreeing to forget about it, although both of them enjoyed it.
The rest of the trip was taken in awkward silence, until they approached a pile of pink-ish fish. Kirino gulped,
"Here it is…Cuttlefish gorge."
AHAHHA
I spent all day thinking up the cuttlefish gorge scene and now I can finally write it!