Chapter 10 - How to tell your friends that mermen are real

"Makoto, what are we all doing here?" Rin asked.

"I need your help with something," I answered.

Nagisa, Rei, Rin, Rin's childhood friend (now also boyfriend) Sousuke, Gou and Rin's friends from Highschool (which I had come to know while living next to Rin); Aiichiro and Momotarou were all gathered in my livingroom.

"What is it you want to talk about Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked me.

I didn't answer.

"You remember that thing that my father showed me a while ago?" I asked them.

"You mean the thing you were not allowed to talk about?" Rei asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"What about it?" Sousuke asked.

"Gou, you know that "wonder of the sea" that is going to be displayed at the Marine Park?" I asked Gou.

"Yes of course."

"That's what my father showed me," I said.

"Really!? What was it!? Momotarou asked in a exited voice.

"It's was a merman."

The room fell silent but the silence was soon broken by Rei's such-a-thing-isn't-logical laugh.

"That's not logical at all! Such a thing dosen't exist!" Rei said, half laughing.

"I'm not lying! It really was a merman and his name is Haruka," I told them.

"Rei is right, there's no way such a thing exists," Rin said.

"He was the one who saved me when I almost drowned 10 years ago!"

"You're talking crazy talk," Gou said.

"I think he's telling the truth," Aiichiro said.

"Why?" Rin asked him.

"Well, it would be kind of cool if it was real…" Aiichiro answered.

"Exacly! IF it was real!" Rei said.

"He IS real and he's in trouble! Dr Hamada is gonna sell him to the Marine Park! He lied to me and told me that he was gonna let Haru back into the ocean when he was finished with his research!"

"Come on Makoto! Get a grip!" Sousuke told me in a pretty irritated voice.

"Wait! There might acually be something to this!" Gou said suddenly.

"What do you mean Gou-chan?" Nagisa asked her.

"I overheard a conversation between my boss and Dr Hamada and now that I think about it they did mention "Haruka", or at least I think so…" After that they started talking about "finding the rest" but I have no idea what they were talking about," she answered.

"They were probably talking about finding the rest of Haru's kind," I told them.

"Okay, I'm saying this one last time; THERE IS NO AWAY SUCH A THING EXISTS!" Rei said once again with a really loud and determinedvoice.

"Rei-chan, maybe we should believe him?" Nagisa said looking up at Rei.

"Huh? Why?"

"You didn't believe true love exsisted either but didn't you tell me that you believed in it other day after we…"

"OKAY! I UNDERSTAND! Y-YOU D-D DON'T HAVE TO SAY IT!" Rei interrupted in a panicked voice.

"Oops, sorry! But seriously if Mako-chan says he's real, as his friends I think we should believe him. Mako-chan really seems to care about Haru-chan so we should support him."

"Haru-chan? Really Nagisa? You haven't even met him yet!" I told him.

"Hehe," Nagisa said and then he scratched the back of his head while sticking his tongue out.

"Okay so what does he look like?" Rei asked me.

"Well, he's got a fish tail as you can imagine. Which is blue by the way and his hair is sort of dark blue-ish and his eyes are really blue, like the ocean. They usually look quite sad though. He usually speaks in monotone without much emotion but you can tell how he's feeling and sort of what he's thinking too by looking into his eyes. At least I can. Like I said, his eyes usually look quite sad but when he's happy his eyes light up really beautifully and he get's super embarrassed when he's called cute and he blushes which makes him even more cute and…"

"Mako-chan… It sounds almost as if you're in love with him," Nagisa said.

I could feel my face getting red.

"You AREin love with him!" Gou shouted out.

"Fine! I am, okay!" I told them.

"HAHAHAHA!" Nagisa suddenly started laughing.

"What's so funny Nagisa?" I asked him.

"What's funny is that I'm dating Rei-chan, who's a guy, Rin-chan is going out with Sou-chan who's a guy and you are in love with Haru-chan who's also a guy! And I bet Ai-chan and Momo-chan are also in love and probably dating as well!"

Aiichiro and Momotarou looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Eww, no way!" They both screamed at the same time.

"Nagisa-kun! I'm going out with Momotarou!" Gou said and I could see her face getting red.

"Huh? I thought you were dating his older brother!" Nagisa said.

"We broke up over six months ago!"

"Oops, sorry!"

"Okay, everyone! Let's get back to what we were talking about!" Rin said.

"So have we all decided to believe what Makoto has told us?" Rin looked around and stopped to look at Rei.

"Okay, I'll believe in you Makoto-senpai," he said and turned to look at me.

"Alright," I said.

"I have a plan on how we are gonna get Haru out of the research facilily and back into the ocean before Dr Hamada sends him to the Marine Park. This is how we're gonna do it…"