The woods is quiet this time of day, especially this deep inside of it. It's a gentle relief to get away from the hustle and bustle of other people, ones that usually don't talk to me. I'm a bit rough around the edges to say the least, and I do push probably more than I should. Silence is both an escape and something that I work hard to push against.
But today, it's good to escape, a relief to be where people aren't, until it isn't. The river rushes quickly, but there's a hint of a splash, not in time with the river's rushing. Someone's out here. Could he or she be drowning? Was someone hurt?
I step towards the river, but no one's in sight, "Hello? Is anyone there?" Maybe he or she will try to resurface just enough to let me know where to reach in and pull them out. I really don't want to just let someone die when I could help them out.
Yet, the river's rushing is all I hear. It's quieter here than I thought it was. I must have been hearing things, as I edge closer to the river, working to relax once more. It's nice to dip my feet into the cool water, that brushes up against them so steadily.
Water easily rushes and removes any lingering feelings of being unsettled, but then there are scales against my feet. A fish this close by? Normally they'd swim away in their bright arrays, rather than let someone touch them. Is it dead?
Yet, it felt slimier than fish normally feel. It felt almost as slippery as a snake, and so, I reached in, trying to grab this river creature. It tries to swim away; it must be alive then! Yet, it's heavier than I expect, and it pushes rather harshly against me, in it's attempts to get away.
It's strong, and then, I pull it from the water. It isn't an it; she's strange to look at. Dark green scales light up across her body; I'd grabbed her hip in order to pull her out. Her face would be human, except for the almost animalistic way she glowers at me. A pinprick of guilt rests over my chest. "Wha-Who are you?" She's not human, but it would likely be rude to ask her exactly what she is. She isn't the dainty mermaid of stories, nor do mermaids live in rivers as far as books tell of them. They love and thrive in salty oceans, not in freshwater streams. Besides, the river, here, is too shallow to live in.
It's a little awkward to hold her like this, so I scoop her up, close to my chest. Her dark green tail hangs over my arms, as I really look at her once more. It's hard to know what I should be thinking or even what exactly is going on. "Who are you?" I try again, gentler, politer.
"I am Yuki." She answers, just when I was beginning to think that maybe she did not speak the same language I do.
"I-I'm Souhei." I set her down, carefully. It feels nearly like I'm dreaming; if she's a mermaid, all of the stories about them that I've heard and mostly scoffed at are wrong.
She's human enough that despite her anger, her face smooths out, looking more and more human. As if her human features extend until about her hip and then suddenly cease to be. Yuki's fishy from the waist down, but her face couldn't have smoothed out like that, willingly became human like.
Is she not a mermaid, but something else entirely? Just what she could be eludes me as she relaxes on the river bank, and does not even attempt to turn herself fully human. Should I set her back into the water? Is she safer there?
She can talk, but can she breathe like I can? My eyes are drawn towards her, and her breath flows in even strides. She must be able to breathe. But will she have to half-crawl back into the river, as she doesn't grow legs at all.
"You can go now." She looks away, and something in my chest shifts at the motion. I turn and do walk away; she'll probably be fine, if she says so. Yet, how come I've never seen her here before? This isn't the first time that I've came to this river, and yet, it's the first time that I've seen a maybe mermaid within it.