Welcome to Chapter 2 of The Lovely Little Mermaid. This chapter is where Megumi first meets Seiji and falls in love with him during a summer festival.

Author's Note: Since i'm including Hikaru, Lala, Elena, Madoka and Yuni in this story as a part of the main plot, they will appear as how they do in the 27th episode of Star Twinkle, which is entitled as "The Ocean Planet! Swim Your Way to Becoming a Mermaid! (海の星! 人魚になってスーイスイ!)".

I only own the story of this fanfiction. However, I don't own any of the Pretty Cure franchise or the movies and I probably never will. It currently belongs to TV Asahi / Asahi Broadcasting Corporation and Toei Animation Co, Ltd.

The Lovely Little Mermaid

Chapter 2: First Impressions, Making a Promise and Sunken Treasure

It took some time for Megumi to get used to using her new legs but after a few tries, she managed to get the hang of it. "Now then, as Yuuko said before she went back to Oceana, I only have until midnight and then i'll turn back into a mermaid. What should I do first as a human?" wondered Megumi as she stared out at the open sea when she saw a brown haired boy riding a surfboard through a big wave alongside a spiky red haired man who was riding another surfboard.

"Those must two of the humans out there, but I never expected for one of them to be so very... handsome." Megumi said as her cheeks started turning bright red. When the boy rode the wave back to the shore, he saw Megumi staring at him weirdly. "Oh, Hi there." the boy said.

Megumi's cheeks started turning bright red and she felt as if there were butterflies flying around in her stomach. She had never been this close to a merboy or even a human, especially to a human boy and she was worried about acting right in front of him, especially since he was shirtless.

"H-H-Hello. My name is Megumi Aino." Megumi introduced herself, but she still nervous and her cheeks started turning even redder when the boy got closer to her. "Nice to meet you, Megumi. My name is Seiji Sagara." said the boy as he introduced himself to Megumi. "What was that you were doing on the water with that?" Megumi asked, pointing at the surfboard Seiji is holding.

"You mean this? It's a surfboard. You use it to surf on the water whenever there's a wave, either big or small." Seiji explained as Megumi examined the surfboard.

"Say, I haven't seen you around Pikarigaoka before, just where exactly are you from?" Seiji asked which caused Megumi to come up with a lie quickly about where she came from instead of just telling him the truth directly that she is the mermaid princess of Oceana. "Me and my parents initally came from a far off town that is across the seas, but during a recent thunderstorm that happened on our way to your town a few days ago, our boat crashed into a bunch of rocks then fell apart and my parents both drowned in the chaos, but only I managed to survive through the entire storm and then I washed up here on the beach earlier today." Megumi said.

"Sorry to hear that, maybe you can accompany me to the summer festival tonight." Seiji said.

Megumi, who was clearly clueless about the human world's idea of a summer festival, which she heard from other merpeople was different and quite unlike the annual "Blue Shell Festival" held usually once a year during the summer in her kingdom, asked. "What's is a "summer festival"?"

"A summer festival is an event held during the summertime where people dress up in Yutaka and participate in various activities at the festival, such as goldfish scooping and shooting ranges while eating food such as candied apples and cotton candy." Seiji said as he explained the concept of what a summer festival is to Megumi as they walked back to the beach house to get ready for the upcoming festival happening later tonight.

"Do you live by yourself in this place?" Megumi asked as she and Seiji entered the beach house and he motioned her to sit down on the nearby couch.

"No, it turns out that I actually live here with my legal guardian, Hariham Harry. Usually, while I'm at school, he runs and is also the owner of a beauty salon called Beauty Harry." Seiji explained as he went to find a yutaka for Megumi to wear.

Back in Oceana, Homare was sitting on a rock on the outskirts of the kingdom listening only to her own thoughts about Megumi spending her birthday as a human being until she was broght back to reality by the calls of her two best friends Hana Nono and Saaya Yakushiji.

"Homare, Hana suggested earlier that we, along with Emiru and Lulu, should meet up with Hikaru as well as two of her friends Elena and Madoka then we all go into town to buy a special gift for Princess Megumi so we can give it at her birthday party tomorrow at the palace." Saaya said as she sat next to Homare on the rock.

"You guys go on ahead, I just need a few moments to myself." Homare said.

"You're worried about Princess Megumi spending all of her birthday as a human, aren't you?" Hana said, Homare nodded in agreement.

"Wait a minute, how did you guys already know about Megumi spending her birthday as a human?"

"The news has been spreading all around Oceana ever since she decided what her wish should be and later announced it to everyone in the kingdom at her last birthday party over a year ago. You must have been busy practicing your ice skating not to have been to the party or even know about her deciding what her wish would be." Saaya said.

"Well, I guess that I may have picked the wrong time to practice my ice skating during the party instead of just doing it either before or after when the time was right." Homare thoght as she regretted choosing to practice her ice skating instead of taking part in Princess Megumi's birthdap party.

"It'll be alright, Homare. I'm sure the Princess will be fine when she returns to Oceana after the time limit on her wish runs out and she'll tell us all what the surface world is really like at her birthday party tomorrow. Anyways, We'll see you later." Hana said as both she and Saaya swam all the way back to Oceana.

After they left, Homare went back to her thoughts about Princess Megumi.

"Maybe Hana's right, even though I missed her birthday last year because I chose to practise my ice skating rather than be with her, I'm sure Princess Megumi will be okay with spending all of her special day as one of the humans that live on the surface, even if it is for just one day." Homare thoght.

Just then, a huge splash coming from above the ocean suddenly caused Homare to snap from her inner thoughts about Princess Megumi as she saw a body sinking deep into the water.

"Is that..." Homare said as she swam up towards the surface of the ocean to help whoever or whatever was drowning.

Wnen she reached the body, Homare gasped at who she saw, it was a human! But it was not just any human, but a handsome man with spiky red hair. Seeing that he needed air to breathe (as with all other humans), Homare rushed to the surface as fast as her orange fins could carry her.

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Upon reaching the surface and setting him on the sands of the nearby beach, Homare set him down and pressed on his bare chest, trying to wake him up.

"Come on, please wake up! Wake up!" Homare said as she swished her tail fin in front of his face.

Just then, she heard a groan as the man began to wake up, but was then startled when he saw Homare's orange fish tail.

"Are you... a mermaid?" he said, Homare nodded in agreement.

"What is your name? My name is Homare Kagayaki"

"I'm Hariham Harry, owner of the Beauty Harry supply store in Pikarigaoka."

Meanwhile, upon her arrival back in Oceana, Yuuko swam straight to Perfect Tomorrow Agency. Ever since she was discovered while performing at Megumi's 13th birthday by the agency's founders, pretty boy Charaleet

"Sorry about that, Omori-san. We didn't know that you were in such a hurry." said one of the three young mermaids as the other two helped Yuuko get up off the ground.

"It's alright.

In the darkest depths of the ocean far away from the kingdom of Oceana, one of Megumi's friends, Iona Hikawa, as well as two of Hikaru's friends, Lala Hagoromo (who was hanging upside down) and Yuni, were all looking towards what looks to be a recently sunken ship being caught between some rocks after it went down.

"There it it, the Shipwreck Graveyard-lun. Iona-san, are you sure this is the right place to search for Princess Megumi's birthday present-lun." Lala asked.

"Of course, Megumi said to me yesterday that she wanted us to go towards one of the recently sunken ships here in the Shipwreck Graveyard and get her an artifact from the human world as a birthday present for when she returns to Oceana after her wish expires." Iona said.

"Wait up, everyone!" a voice called out from behind while swimming towards the trio, revealing that it came from another one of Megumi's friends, Hime Shirayuki.

"Hime., hurry up!" Iona said

"Please don't rush me, Iona. You know very well I can't swim that fast unlike you guys." Hime said.

"Come on, let's go towards that ship." Iona said as she and Yuni began to swim towards the ship.

"You do that, I'll be waiting right here for when the three of you get back." Hime said as she started backing away from the Shipwreck Graveyard but Lala grabbed one of her arms and started dragging Hime towards the ship.

"Come on-lun. You're not getting cold fins are you-lun?" Lala said.

"Maybe, but I have a bad feeling about this." Hime said as the four mermaids reached the ship.

Upon reaching the ship, Hime, Iona, Lala and Yuni each entered the open cargo hull of the ship, completely unaware of the giant mysterious eight-armed shadow that was briefly looming over them before then disappearing.

Inside, the four of them were seaching around the ship for the perfect gift to give Megumi as her birthday present until Yuni came across a strange looking bright rainbow colored treasure chest.

Upon opening it up, Yuni discovered what the chest contained: a bright pink heart-shaped crystal emitting powerful pure white energy.

"Everyone, look at this weird jewel I found-nya." Yuni said as she showed the strange looking pink jewel to Hime, Iona and Lala.

"But what does it do?" asked Hime.

"I'm not so sure-lun. But me and Yuni are sure that our friend Yanyan will know what this does-lun." Lala said as she put the jewel in her green kelp woven bag.

"Come on, let's go to the surface and see Yanyan." Iona said

But before they could leave the sunken ship, a huge and monstrous looking octopus broke through the ship.

"AN OCTOPUS! IT'S A GIANT OCTOPUS! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!" Hime yelled as the four mermaids began swimming away with the octopus in hot pursuit.

"Iona, I have an idea to lose that thing-nya." Yuni told Iona.

"What is it?"

"We'll swim up there and drop that giant boulder on him-nya." Yuni said, pointing to the boulder on top of the cliff.

While Iona and Yuni were swimming up towards the boulder, Hime swam straight into a rock wall, knocking her out unconscious. Upon seeing the unconscious Hime, the octopus started moving away from Iona and Yuni and towards the blue haired mermaid.

"OYO! Hime, hang on! I'm coming-lun!" Lala yelled as she swam fastly towards the sinking Hime with the octopus in hot pursuit. Seizing the opportunity, Iona and Yuni pushed the boulder onto the octopus' head just as Lala grabbed Hime (Who had later regained consciousness) by her shoulders while the monster sinked into the deep abyss, leaving only a trail of bubbles behind.

"Nice job! that takes care of that big bully!" said Hime as the four mermaids began swimming all the way up to the surface.

"Sometimes, Hime. You really are just a scared little guppy-lun." Lala said.

"I am not!"

Upon reaching the surface, the four mermaids swam to a nearby small island in the middle of the ocean.