The first time she sees him, he is tossing pieces of colored glass into the water. He looks so pensive and handsome, a mortal—the first one she has ever seen. A full week passes before she sees him again, a week spent day dreaming, lost in thought, so uncharacteristic and yet, she hypothesizes, she is a girl in love. But mermaids and humans don't fraternize, she tells herself, so snap out of it.

The second time she sees him, he is holding a binoculars and laughing with another guy, occasionally looking through the glass and commenting letters. Later she realizes he is calling out bra sizes and seethes. Of course he is a pervert. But she can't forget the lost look on his face from when she first saw him and she wonders what makes a pervert sad.

The third time she sees him is a pure accident. She usually hides behind the rock to avoid meeting humans and observe them at the same time, but she is feeling adventurous so she ventures out and he sees her. Her tail is hidden, thankfully and he is alone so she feels a little calmer. (Which is stupid, she reminds herself, he is a pervert after all!)

"Good evening," he greets her, "I am Shuu. Maiko Shuu. You are always in this area, aren't you, Miss-"

"Miyamoto Ruri."

She is so busy admiring how much his name suits him and she hardly realizes that he has seen her before and she has given him her real name. When she does realize, she almost freaks out but instead tells him she has lost her clothes and if he could please get her a wrap of some sort. He needs no more persuasion, but when he comes back, she is gone.

Maiko Shuu. She repeats the name in her head all day till she almost hits her head on a coral and realizes how stupid she is being. Just a boy, Ruri, she reminds herself, and besides mermaids and humans don't fraternize. Much less with a pervert boy.

All this cannot stop her from going to the surface again and she can't help being elated and confused at seeing him again.

"Ruri-chan is not from here, is she?" he asks and she shakes her head.

He laughs then asks again, "What are you, a mermaid? With big breasts, combing her hair in the sun."

She is glad he is crouching at her level so she can cock a punch at him. Then stops, because she doesn't want to lie but she doesn't want to admit it either.

"Ruri-chan," he continues, his voice so soft like he understands. And the weirdest thing is that she wants him to understand, which is stupid because a mortal could never be able to understand a mermaid. And his face is so sad, just like the first day when she saw him, then says, "Can we be friends?"

"But..," she starts to tell him, mermaids and humans don't fraternize, then she stops, "Okay, we can."