"Hey Mao, I don't think it's a good idea to go any farther than this…remember what the elders told us?" Takkun warned his friend as he swam behind him with hesitation.

"Aw c'mon, we've barely passed the Kingdom borders yet. Besides, if we listen to everything the elders tell us, we'll never have any fun!" Mao retorted, observing a rather large coral species he had never seen before.

Takkun remained skeptical, "I don't know…" he mumbled.

"Hey, what's that?!" Mao exclaimed all of a sudden, managing to startle his friend who had already been on edge after venturing far away from their territory.

"Good Neptune, can you please not do that!" he reprimanded. He noticed his mischievous friend's eyes were sparkling and his gut feeling told him that whatever caught his attention wasn't going to be good. He slowly looked over to where Mao was pointing, and a feeling of dread immediately came over him.

In the far distance, at least a few thousand meters away, there was what looked like a massive shipwreck that they had never been aware of before.

"It must've sank pretty recently," Mao speculated. "I wonder why nobody's mentioned anything about it before…"

"Probably because it's none of our business. Listen, Mao, I think we should go back now, it's getting really late. If anybody finds out that we left the Kingdom we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Mao ignored Takkun's voice of reason and decided to follow his instincts instead. "I want to see it," he proclaimed, referring to the sunken ship. "Who knows what cool treasures we can find in there…"

"What?! Are you out of your mind?! Who knows what kind of danger could lie in store for us there, there're probably sharks and eels and Neptune knows what else!"

"Oh, c'mon Takkun…you need to loosen up, take risks. We've already come this far and I haven't seen anything worth your worry at all. I'm gonna go."

"Mao, no. I refuse to swim out any further than this. I'm going back home and you better come back with me," Takkun insisted.

"Fine. You go home, and I'll see the ship by myself," Mao said with determination.

"But what if something happens to you? You can't just go alone, it's not safe."

Mao heaved a breath, annoyed of his friend's pestering. "Takkun, I made my decision and if you don't want to come with me, I'm not gonna force you, but stop nagging me. The sooner I go, the sooner I can get back. At this rate, it's going to get dark and I'll still be here arguing with you."

"I really hate how stubborn you are," Takkun sighed, "just…do whatever. I'm not going to bother with you anymore. If you wanna go, then go. But you better be back before dark or you'll give me no choice but to report to the elders."

"Deal. I'll be back soon enough, just don't tell anybody where I am, alright?"

"What if Takigawa-san asks me about you, what am I going to tell him?"

Mao rolled his eyes, "You can start by telling him it's none of his business…"

"Um, I hate to remind you, but he is your future husband so technically he does have a right to know where you are, in case you've forgotten," Takkun returned wittily.

Mao's face scrunched up with disgust, "Ugh don't say that, we're not even officially betrothed yet—"

"Yet… you said it yourself. Just accept your fate, Mao. I don't know why you hate him so much anyways, he's handsome and strong, and he really loves you. Not everyone is fortunate enough to marry an alpha either, so you should consider yourself lucky," Takkun said almost dreamily.

"You know what buddy, it's getting pretty late, I think you should leave now," Mao exclaimed as he shooed the other merman away.

"Fine, fine, I get it, sheesh. I'm leaving…"

"And remember, don't tell anyone where I am, got it? Especially Takigawa-san."

"Okay, I won't. But please be careful out there and hurry back. Don't make me worry about you," Takkun begged.

Mao laughed good-naturedly. He knew his friend only bothered him so much because he cared about him. "I'll be fine. Promise."

And with that, the mermen went their separate ways.

….

Mao swam swiftly toward his destination, enjoying the free field of the ocean wild. He had never been this far from the Kingdom in his entire life, and the experience was exhilarating. Thankfully, he didn't see any merpeople on the way, since he wasn't in the mood to be bombarded with questions like 'where did you come from?' and 'why aren't you in your territory?' He did see a couple schools of fish go by him, though, and he waved at them cheerfully as he continued on his way.

It didn't take Mao long to finally approach the shipwreck, and as he came closer, he was in awe, marveling at the sheer size of it. It was a beautiful ship indeed, and judging by the amount of corrosion on the body, the merman deciphered it could not have been under water for very long. If he had to guess, he would say the wreck happened about five or six years ago, pretty recent considering most known shipwrecks he had heard about were at least a few decades old.

Mao was a bit hesitant at first, but decided to go in and check it out. After all, he hadn't come all this way for nothing, and his curiosity had definitely gotten the better of him. He swam in slowly from the stern and began to explore. As the merman tried descending into the depths of the ship to search for souvenirs, his tail snagged on a sharp nail and he began to bleed.

"Ouch," he hissed in pain, grabbing his tail to observe the damage. Right above his fin there was a large gash, and clouds of red dissolved in the water around him. "Dammit, I should've paid more attention," he said to himself. "I guess I should just go home and get this taken care of. I can always come back some other day…"

"Leaving already?" a sinister voice came from behind him. The merman abruptly turned around, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach when he saw a large hammerhead smirking at him. "And here I thought we could have dinner together. The smell of blood is quite tantalizing, you really must stay and join me," the shark insinuated.

Mao started panicking, his heart doing backflips in his chest. If he didn't do something quick, he was going to be some over-sized fish's main course. Literally.

"I s-should really get going now," the merman said, trembling. "M-my parents are going to be worried about me. I'll just come back some other time and we can get to know each other, hehe."

Mao's reasoning did nothing to faze the shark, judging by the way it was looking at him as it approached, and soon, the young merman was backed into a corner.

"Mr. Shark, believe me, you wouldn't want t-to eat someone like me, I'm too skinny! See, just skin and bones," he exclaimed, gesturing to his thin frame in an effort to convince the predator.

"Oh, don't worry about me," the shark rasped ferally, baring its teeth, "I think I'll enjoy you all the same. I'm hungry…"

All of a sudden, the beast charged toward his prey, and Mao's sympathetic response kicked in immediately as he darted up and out of the ship at full speed. Any pain he felt in his tail as a result of his injury had long vanished, and he swam for his life as fast as he could.

As the shark trailed him closely, trying to bite at his tail, Mao hurried toward a large coral reef he spotted in the distance. If he could just reach the reef, he would be able to hide in its narrow crevices, and the shark would not be able to get him then.

If only he could hold on a little bit longer…

Mao picked up the pace, his determination to stay alive driving him forward at the fastest speed he'd ever swam. If he had been in the Sealympics right then he would have set a record for sure. The problem, however, was that the shark, motivated forward by the scent of Mao's blood, also increased its speed, and managed to trail only inches away from him.

The reef was close, Mao was almost there…

But by a streak of bad luck, two other sharks appeared out of nowhere and blocked his path to safety. Mao didn't have time to think, he quickly changed his direction and swam as fast as his tail could carry him.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" He really wished he had listened to Takkun for once.

Mao kept swimming for his life as the three large sharks pursued him viciously. He didn't know how long he swam for, too afraid to look back and see if he was still being followed, but before he knew it, he had swam himself onto a deserted shore.

Mao did not know where he was, and the dry land was certainly not a homely environment for a merman, but boy was he relieved when he realized that the sharks had stopped following him.

Exhausted, Mao fell back on the sandy beach underneath the glaring sun. Sure, he didn't get eaten by sharks, but the merman was certain that at this point, the end of his life was certainly at hand.

As Mao's eyes drifted shut, the last thing he remembered was a vision of his parents and his best friend, Takkun.