Boyfriend.

BOYFRIEND!

Still a little confused, I pulled away from Kazune slowly, glancing over at the angry, pretty girl again. Her bright ruby eyes were practically on fire as she glared daggers at me.

I sucked in a breath, a little afraid.

"Humph." she folded her arms over her large chest and narrowed her eyes at Kazune, who seemed confused and searching for the right words.

"Rika-chan, what are you... I... huh...?"
"I can't believe it!" Rika sighed, "Even someone as sweet as you is into dating behind others backs? I'm so surprised. You know, my friends kept saying you were probably hiding something. I thought they were jealous, so I was like ' Kazune wouldn't do something like that! He's so gentle and kiiiiind,' but noooooo-" she rolled her eyes before glaring at him – "-they were right!"

"Huh? But..."

"Shut up," Rika looked like she was about to explode, "Just SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Kazune held his hands up in front of his face, "I don't know what's going on! Why are you angry?"

Rika laughed like he'd told her the funniest joke, "You really are dumb, aren't you?"

"But, I- we're not-"

"We are dating! Why would you date me in the first place if you didn't actually love me? Was our entire relationship fake? Huh? Trying to prove something to your friends? Maybe that you can date anyone you want? Because I can make you look worse than you already are! No one messes with Rika Karasuma and gets a simple break up! I'll put you through hell for the rest of your high school days and you'll wish you never attempted to break my heart made of STEEL, you ass!"

Kazune stood up, standing in front of me protectively.

"You're my childhood friend! I've told you dozens of times when we first started high school that I had no intention of changing our friendly relationship! How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going to date you! Don't just make stuff up like this on your own and go tell everyone about it!"

Rika scowled, "I can tell by the way you look at me that you want me! Don't try and deny it, I know! Now who the hell is she?"
"I was trying to tell you on the way home since you barge into the house anyway, but you were too busy going on and on about some guy you rejected from the football team."
"Whatever. Just tell me!"

"She's... she's..." Kazune looked down at me, a helpless expression on his face. I thought very carefully about this before coming up with an excuse to cover our secret.

"I'm his cousin. From America." I said cheerfully. Rika's eyelids lowered to add on to her bored expression. I looked up at Kazune, giving him a thumbs up and proud of myself for coming up with a good save.

Kazune looked at me in confusion and frustration.

"What a total lie," Rika sniffed, "I would know you because I'm his cousin."

My smile disappeared and Kazune sighed in defeat.

"She's... she's just a friend."

"Just a friend? What kind of friend, you pervert?" Rika walked across the kitchen floor, pushed Kazune out of the way, and bent down so we were face to face and just inches apart.

Rika and I stared at each other a moment before looking over her profile made me realize how much she reminded me of some one.

Our eyes widened at the same time.

"You..."

"You..."
We both turned to Kazune, wide eyed and trying to process words as we pointed frantically at each other.

"She... She... SHEEEE...!"

Kazune frowned at us, "Well...? She what?"

"She's mermaid Princess Athena!"

"She's the lost mermaid Princess Luna!"

~ Later...

"Please," Kazune looked frustrated as he set down the tray of tea, "Could you try and explain this whole thing in the simplest way? I'm stilltrying to process the fact that there are mermaids in an ocean I've surfed in for half of my life."

Rika took a cup of tea Kazune had poured and took a sip, "Fine, I guess I'll be telling my story first..."
Kazune handed me a cup of tea and I drank the entire thing in a few seconds – it tasted so good – I knew there was water, but I hadn't had any all day!

Rika and Kazune stared at me for a few seconds before Kazune cleared his throat.

"Go on."

"Whatever." Rika glared at him, probably still upset from what happened earlier. "About a year ago, my parents sat down with me and my brother Jin to tell us about arranged marriages. I was the oldest, so I was going to take the kingdom and be the Queen. I hated the idea of getting married to someone I would see for the first time only on our wedding day. They told me he was about twice my age – the thought was just disgusting. All my life, I wanted to be like a regular girl. I knew I wasn't going to be a good Queen – my heart wasn't in it. I was tired of my home and my selfish parents picking out every thing – from the places I would go to what I would wear during the day. You could say I was trapped for almost 17 years. It was like hell in that castle."
I could understand what Rika was saying – princesses or princes were kept inside of their castle all their lives unless there was a kingdom event, like their birthday or a party.

"And then one day, about a week before I was to wed Prince Uranus-" she grimaced. I did, too. I met him at a Royal party once, he's like, 54 "-my parents announced to the kingdom, without even telling me or my brother, that they had arranged for Princess Athena to marry Jin."

I sighed. My father had done the same thing. We hadn't even talked about it. He just told me I needed to hurry and marry someone.

Another reason why I left.

"I couldn't take it anymore." Rika continued, "I yelled at my parents for making decisions on their own and they tried to lock me away. So I packed my things and left. I would find something better in the human world. They're so free, you know?"

"But you left so suddenly," I told her, "The mermaids were searching everywhere. How did you leave without them knowing? My father found me because I tried to escape on my wedding day."
Rika smiled softly, "I left on the night of a full moon."
I blinked, "A full moon?"

"Right. A mermaid's powers are multiplied. I was able to sing a melody that would hide me."

"Wow. My father never told me about the full moon..." I was fascinated.

"Because he knows. We teenagers are pretty smart. If we have the knowledge of the full moon's power, we could do anything with it."

I pulled my knees to my chest on the couch, thinking hard about the full moon. I wondered what I could do if my powers were intensified.

"But, Athena..."

I turned to look at Rika. She was staring at me seriously, a grave look on her pretty face.

"Since you're closer to the moon, being on land and transformed into a human, the effects could be different."

"Different? What do you mean?"
"Uh... you'll find out soon. I can't really tell you...they vary."

"Vary?" I was too curious to not know immediately, "What do you mean? Tell me. Please."

Rika and I had a stare down for a long moment before she blushed and burst into laughter, grabbing her red cheeks and shaking her head.

"I just can't tell you! You're too young to know!" she snickered for another minute before clearing her throat and straightening up.

"Ahem. Let's talk about something else, shall we?"
We both looked over at Kazune. He was frowning and had his face in his hands, muttering something.

Poor guy. He was probably so confused right now.

"What's up with you?"Rika raised an eyebrow, "Is this really so hard to follow? This is, like, a fairy tale."
Kazune glared up at her, "I'm just trying to get this all in my head. MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND AND MY SO CALLED COUSIN I'VE ONLY KNOWN FOR 1 YEAR IS SUDDENLY TELLING ME SHE'S A MERMAID, TOO?! WHAT THE HELL, RIKA!"

Rika tossed her cup at his face, "It's not like it's easy to tell you. You're a human, you idiot. Our secret is a SECRET."

Kazune threw a pillow at her, "Stop calling me an idiot! I make better grades than you!"

"That's it!" Rika jumped out of her seat and pinched his cheeks, pulling them.

"Ah!" Kazune grabbed her cheeks, too, and pulled.

"Rika-san, how did you become Kazune's cousin?" I asked.

Rika glanced over at me, "I met his aumph amb she tolsh me I could shtay with her. Sshe knowsh all about mermaids."

I cocked my head to the side, thinking about what she said until I could finally get it.

"Oh. I see." I laughed.

Rika glared back at Kazune, pulling his cheeks extra hard, "But, knowing that my dumb cousin is going to be taking care of a girl, I'll need to stay in this house."

I cheered and Kazune pulled away from her, " What?! You can't just decide stuff like that on your own!"

"Yeah, I can! What if something goes wrong? What if she has her period?! You won't know what to do! And what if she goes through a break up!? You won't be any help at all! You'll just feed her and not take proper care of her! So I'm moving in!"

"I'm not taking care of two mermaids!"

"You won't have to take care of us! Just feed us and go to work!"

"What the hell kind of deal is that?!"

"It's Rika's kind of deal~!"

I giggled, "Yay! Rika-san's going to be staying with us!"

Life in the human world just keeps getting even more fun, it's so full of surprises. Maybe soon I'll get to go to Kazune's school!