A/N: This second segment is based on the doujin Tears of Pearl by Kurokiri Misao.
P.S.: While the last segment was considerably the darkest and scariest of the four segments, this next segment will be the lightest and most heartfelt.
By The Bay
It is sometimes said that where there is magic, there is love.
Case in point: the locals at a nearby bay, where magic is just a memory.
But magic just checked in at the shore, sparked by fellow local Maki, who happened to be saved by a girl named Asuka who, unbeknownst to her, was a mermaid.
And it doesn't change the rumor that tears from mermaids at a certain bay would bring luck in love...
The girl Asuka said to Mari, who was panting, "Are you okay? You nearly drowned! Is your leg all right? Did you hurt it when you tripped?"
""Um... Is that...?", Mari noticed as she saw something in the water near the orange-haired girl.
Asuka looks back as she revealed something magical.
A purple tail rises from the water, surprising the glasses-wearing brunette.
The orange-haired girl replied, "Oh, it's my tail.", surprising the other girl as Asuka is revealed to be a mermaid.
"You- You're- You're a mermaid?! For real!?", exclaimed Mari.
"Yes. My name is Asuka. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mari."
"How did you know my..."
Asuka held out a backpack, "These slipped out of your bag when you fell in the water.", as Mari gasped.
"Oh no! All my papers...and my student ID...", said the brown-haired girl, who snatched her backpack in a worry.
The orange-haired mermaid pondered, "Where To Spot A Mermaid... Are you here because you believed that rumor about mermaids' tears?", smirking and imagining, "So, you have a crush on someone? You are in the prime of your youth."
"N-no... People at school won't shut up about it, that's all...", denied Mari much to the mermaid's surprise, "I do want to fall in love...but nobody really does it for me, I guess. Urgh!"
Asuka deduced, "So that's why you want a mermaid's tear... But...it's just a rumor after all, right? How should I put this... It would be easy to write it off as a mere rumor, but wouldn't it be fun to believe in it...and allow yourself to dream?", asking this to the other girl, smiling happily as Mari was in awe when hearing this.
"To be honest, I never seriously considered trusting the rumor.", thought the glasses-wearing brunette.
Mari had a feeling that any tears from this beautiful mermaid Asuka could harness a mysterious power.
Mari then saw the tears stream down Asuka's eyes.
The mermaid then said, "I don't think these will work."
"Huh? Why not? Who cares what causes the tears?!", Mari responded.
Asuka gathered the tears from her eyes and closes her hand, "This is what a mermaid's real tears look like.", opening her hands to reveal pearls.
"Wow... What pretty pearls. Eye drops and onions don't seem to produce those...", surprised the brown-haired girl.
The orange-haired mermaid explained, "Those are the tears my little sister cried when she was dying... She was very young.", as Mari felt concerned and interested by the story.
"...But you could just give me one of these, right?", wondered Mari.
Asuka answered, "If you like. You can keep it.", before she swam over to caress Mari's long brown hair, "There, there. You're a good girl, Mari..."
The next day after her encounter, Mari checked into the movie rental store back in her home beach town, looking for a movie that would be suitable for Asuka to cry more pearl-like tears.
"It's going to be hard to make her cry," thought the glasses-wearing brunette, "I don't want to be mean.", as she looks at some of the sad movies through the catalogue like The Green Mile and Old Yeller. Even Blu-Rays of Fena: Pirate Princess and Record of Ragnarok rentals were in the anime section.
Seeing the anime rental of Ride Your Wave on the shelf, Mari hatched an idea.
She thought, "Oh! How about a tearjerker? That's it!", as she grabbed the movie from the shelf, before eventually purchasing the rental and going off.
Later on in the bay, Mari and Asuka watch Ride Your Wave on the former's laptop together.
Unfortunately when the movie ended, Mari was the one that cried instead of Asuka.
"Why am I the only one crying?", woes Mari.
The mermaid shrugged, "You know, when you've lived over a century, tears don't come so easily."
"A century?!", the brunette surprised, "That long!?"
Asuka nodded, "Yes. A century ago, I laughed and cried every day. This bay was full of my kind back then. But...fishing and overpollution wiped out all of the others. I've been alone ever since... If there is nobody else, why would I feel loneliness or sorrow? I've forgotten how to cry...", while Mari was feeling bad for her.
All those years...longer than a human lifetime, even...Asuka has been alone.
"Oh, dear," worried the orange-haired mermaid as she saw her friend cry, "Are you still crying over Minato?"
Mari denies, "No! Maybe it doesn't bother you that you were alone for so long, you forgot how to cry...but it makes me sad!", as Asuka felt surprised, "I'm serious... Not that my tears are worth anything..."
"You do seem to be rather more success with your own tears than mine. Isn't that right?", asked Asuka as she cupped Mari's cheeks while comforting her, coming close to touch their foreheads, "Ah... The gleam of the rising sun on the morning waves. Did you know that's what your tears look like?"
The brunette turned red in embarassment.
Elsewhere nearby the two in the bay, the lilac-haired valkyrie Goll appears and peeks behind a big rock at the beach near them, observing the chemistry while keeping an eye on the environment around her.
Soon after their session, Mari goes to check a sign over at the beach as she read, "Huh... I never noticed that sign before. What does it say?", before reading (with Goll narrating at the same time);
This girl once aided a mermaid in the sea, and recieved a beautiful pearl in thanks. She used this pearl as her dowry in order to wed her love.
"Wait a minute...", realized the brown-haired girl, "Is this where the rumor comes from?! It was about money, not finding love! So...it was just a rumor after all..."
At the local high school the next day, Mari was going about her day.
Then she was approached by Shinji Ikari who asked, "Mari... I'm asking...if you want to go out...with me."
In the classroom later on that day, Mari was getting ready to go home as class was dismissed as her friend Sakura Suzuhara came over to talk.
"Mari! Just saw it all! Congratulations on your first boyfriend!", Sakura cheerfully congratulated.
Mari turned as she said, "But... I don't know if I even like him..."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Unless you hate his guts, you can just go out with him and see how you like it. You can get to know him while you're dating.", her friend said.
The glasses-wearing girl acknowledged this, but was uncertain of her decision.
Is that really how things work?
"A boy...is interested in you? My goodness. Congrats.", the mermaid said as Mari came back again.
The glasses-wearing teenager replied, "Oh. Yes."
"I guess...you won't be needing a tear from me anymore."
"Huh?"
"And to be honest, that rumor is not based on truth. I was so taken with your open nature that I didn't enlighten you... I was pulling your leg.", Asuka despondently told.
Mari's heart sank.
Later when the summer festival came into play during her first date with Shinji, Mari felt depressed as she thought, "I've been kind of down in the dumps lately ever since that day..."
"Is something wrong, Mari?", asked Sakura, bringing her back to reality, "You know, the three of us including me, you and Shinji, came together, but you've barely said two words to your date."
The brunette ensured, "Don't worry about me. I haven't figured out if I like him yet...", privately to her friend.
All of a sudden, someone bumps into the two by accident, causing Mari to stumble...
...right into Shinji's arms.
"Oh! Are you okay?", cautiously said Shinji, before he then kissed Mari's forehead.
She was utterly shocked.
Just then, she suddenly shoved Shinji to the ground, apologizing, "I'M SORRY!", before running off.
"Hey! Mari! Where are you going!?", carefully worried Sakura as she watched Mari run away from the summer festival.
Mari cannot date Shinji. Not even just to see if she likes him.
Because...
..she doesn't want to be with anyone but Asuka.
Mari cries out, "ASUKA!", as she reached the bay again, seeing the beautiful orange-haired mermaid sitting on the rocks, "Asuka..."
As she heard her name, the mermaid turns as she was now crying tears.
"Mari...", the orange-haired mermaid sorrows.
Mari saddened, "Asuka... Why are you crying? I thought you didn't even remember how!"
"I can't stop...", sobs Asuka, "Every time I think about you and that young man... I've fallen in love with you, Mari.", as her words surprised Mari, "So I can't give you a tear. I don't want you relationship to succeed. It is the one small cruelty I will permit myself. And that rumor isn't true...so why are you worrying about it?"
The glasses-wearing girl listens to this and she smiles contently, "It's all right...", embracing the mermaid, wiping her pearl-like tears with her thumb and collecting them with the palm of her hand, "I love you, Asuka."
Gasping in amazement, the beautiful mermaid smiled affectionately as she replies back, "I love you back... Mari."
With that, the two of them have their first kiss together, displaying a passionate love between the girl and the mermaid.
The teardrops that fell from her cheek turned to pearls in her palm.
It seems like this is the beginning of a wonderful romance.