Chapter Text
Long ago there was once a community of merpeople who had been blessed by the gods with the ability to walk on land. The legend goes that there was a young mermaid who was so in love with all creatures of the land that she prayed to the gods to grant her the ability to walk on land with them. Amused that a creature of the sea cared so deeply for those of the land, the gods granted her the ability to transform into any land creature she saw. The only catch was that she could not return to the sea. She eagerly accepted, and with her new found ability, she traveled the earth, discovering new creatures, transforming into every animal she met. For years, she discovered and learned all about the land creatures. Her favorite creatures were the humans. She loved how they played and learned and laughed. Eventually even falling in love with a human. Even though she loved the land creatures, she began to long for the sea, and prayed to the gods to allow her to return to the sea.
The gods were aghast someone would want to return their gift. The elder gods decided that they would allow her to return to the sea, but since she was ungrateful for their gift, she would be forced to give up her ability entirely. The young mermaid wept, for she could not imagine never seeing all her land dwelling friends, and lover ever again. A young god, moved by her tears and love for her friends, spoke up and he convinced the elder gods to grant her mercy. They would allow for the young mermaid to return to the sea, and keep her ability, but she would not be able to hold her transformations for longer than one day before she would be forced to return to the sea, or else turn into sea foam.
The mermaid accepted the agreement. She went on to have several children who inherited her ability. As generations passed, the ability to transform became limited. Individuals could no longer call upon the ability to transform into any land creature they encountered, but instead, their transformation was predetermined by the gods at birth, resulting in merpeople with the ability to change into anything from birds, to snakes, to tigers. The agreement that the mermaid had with the gods still stood, as no merperson could stay on land longer than one day.
It became a rite of passage for young merpeople on the eve of their 20th year to climb upon the shore and discover their transformation, which was always cause for celebration. It was also a practice to have the village elders present at these celebrations, as a person’s transformation could lead to them playing an important role in protecting the village.
It was also strictly forbidden for anyone under the age of 20 to leave the sea. While the mermaid of legend had befriended humans, they soon forgot their friend, and many a merperson had been killed by the hand of man, having been mistaken for a wild animal.
Of course, this rule did nothing to deter the future village head, Gojo Satoru.
“Alright men,” the young boy of twelve floated right below the ocean’s surface, his snow white hair glowing orange from the distorted rays of the setting sun, “Today, is an important day in history. We're gonna learn what our transformations are!” He boasted with hands on his hips. “Now, who’s gonna go first?”
The two other young boys were silent. Nanami Kento, the blond of the group, spoke up. “We thought you were going first. It was your idea after all.” His slate blue tail twitched as it kept him floating in place. The other boy, Haibara Yu, nodded in agreement, his deep green tail seemed to shake with excitement. Satoru looked at the small group and rolled his eyes.
“That's exactly why I can't go first. What fun would that be?” He observed the group again, “Hold on! I’ve got it! Last one to find a conch shell goes first. Ready, set, go!” Satoru took off, before the other children had time to react. Quickly, the other boys took note and began their frantic search.
“Found one!” Satoru shouted.
“I’ve got one too!” Kento stated.
“Yes! Got one here!” Yu swam up to the other boys only to realize he’d been last, “Aw what? No fair…”
“Okay, Yu goes first!” Satoru shouted. The trio swam up to the surface, heads now bobbing on the water. They hung back away from where the waves were breaking, “Well, what are you waiting for? Go on, Yu.”
“I’m going! I just… was making sure there’s no humans. Their village is pretty close.” The young boy pointed quite a bit ways down the shore. There in the distance was a large castle. “Grandma said the village was near the south side of the island so we gotta be careful.”
“Well, they are over there, and we’re over here. So go!” Satoru gave Yu a shove, getting him caught in the next swell of waves heading into shore. The brunette shot their leader a dirty look, but continued swimming toward the shore. The two merchildren bobbing in the water watched with bated breath, as their friend slowly dragged himself out of the water. They watched in fascination as seafoam began appearing around their friend who shouted in surprise. The foam fully coated the boy so they could no longer see the shape of him. Suddenly, a brown dog burst forth from the seafoam.
“Yu! You’re a dog!” Satoru whooped. The dog barked at the boys and ran around the beach excitedly before running into the water. Again, seafoam covered the creature and this time Yu emerged from the foam.
“That was crazy! What was it like?” Satoru gripped Yu’s arm tightly, bursting with excitement. Yu was all smiles as he was greeted by his friends.
“It was so weird! I felt this tingling all across my skin, and then I couldn’t see through the seafoam and all of a sudden, it just happened!”
“Okay! Kento’s turn!” The blond rolled his eyes, but his friends could tell he was just as excited as them. Kento pulled himself up onto the beach, and the process repeated. This time, a beautiful sandy blond colt emerged from the seafoam. Looking to the sea, the young horse whinnied and reared, and his friends hollered and cheered from their watery location. The colt ran back into the water and Kento appeared next to them a moment later.
“How do you feel!?” Yu’s eyes were bright.
“I… that felt so weird! It felt so normal, but also not-normal? But at the same time.” Kento explained. The two boys turned their attention to Satoru.
“Okay Satoru! Your turn!” Yu stated.
“Oh man! I hope I change into a bear! Or a wolf!” Satoru shouted as he quickly dove through the waves excited at the prospect of his changed form. He pulled himself up through the shallows to lay in the sun. He started to feel the tingling feeling the other boys had mentioned, and he was covered in seafoam.
Satoru closed his eyes, feeling his body change. Just as quickly as it started, the feeling vanished. His eyes snapped open and he crawled out of the foam. The first thing he noticed was that he still had hands. Looking below his waist, gone were the rough scales of his deep blue tail, in their place were a pair of long pale legs. Sitting in the sand, he reached down, touching the two new appendages. He almost couldn’t believe it; he could change into a human! He quickly pushed himself up off the beach, standing on unsteady human legs. Wobbling, he looked down, observing himself. Gravity on land was an odd feeling; always having a part of his body constantly pressing against something solid wasn’t uncomfortable exactly, but he was surprised human feet were more sensitive than he thought. He rubbed his hands on his thighs, not used to the feeling of soft skin, when he suddenly noticed there was something different… Well, there was something missing.
“Holy crabs, Satoru! You’re a girl!” Yu’s voice could barely be heard over the crashing of the waves. Embarrassment immediately flushed Satoru’s cheeks. He scowled angrily at his friends who were falling over themselves with laughter. This discovery was a low blow to his already sensitive self image. His whole life everyone had described him as beautiful, with his striking aquamarine colored eyes, sand white hair, and deep navy blue tail that always shimmered too much for his liking. Though he was only twelve, he could tell that he was built differently from the other meremen; his thin frame was built more for speed than it was to fight off danger. All of that paired with the knowledge that he could transform into a girl… It was embarrassing. Part of him was glad he found out with only these two present; gods forbid if he had actually waited until his 20th birthday to be exposed to the whole village. He was just about to tell his friends to eat sand, when he noticed that they were no longer bobbing along the surface.
“Oh! Hello…” Satoru jumped as he spun around to face the new voice. A young human boy in a green yukata appeared out of the forest that lined the beach. He looked to be about Satoru’s age, his dark onyx hair was tied back in a tight top knot, a few strands hung loose, framing one side of his blushing face. But what caught Satoru’s attention was the boy’s sparkling violet eyes. Even in the fading sunlight, they seemed to shine from within. Satoru felt his heart skip a beat when their eyes met. The young boy suddenly blushed deeply and averted his gaze. “Um… I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
Satoru’s face flushed anew, as he realized that he was fully exposed. He didn’t know too much about the human world, but he knew enough that his nakedness was something to be embarrassed about. His hands quickly covered his lower region as he dashed back into the waves.
“Wait!” The human boy shouted as Satoru ran clumsily into the ocean. He felt the tingling feeling again as the seafoam quickly covered him, transforming him back to his normal finned self. He sped away from the shore into the deeper open water.
Satoru let out a deep breath of relief once he was fully submerged in the water, his face flushed and heart pounding in his chest.
“Satoru!” Yu’s voice cried through the water. Satoru winced, as the brunette boy tackled him into a hug from behind, sending them tumbling under the waves. “Are you okay? What happened? We saw the human, and dove right away!” Kento swam up meeting them.
“Nothing happened.” Satoru said roughly, shoving the frantic young merboy off himself.
“Did that boy see you?” Kento eyed him, causing Satoru to squirm.
“No! Well… Maybe. It’s getting dark anyway, so it’s fine. Besides he only saw…” Satoru trailed off, embarrassed to finish his sentence. He was so angry at the gods. He was a boy! Why had they cursed him with this transformation? His friends' transformations had both been male; why was he different? Was it because he turned into a human? That had to be the reason. He had never heard of any merperson with the ability to turn into a human. It had to be some sort of cruel joke. The first merman in history who could change into a human, could change into a woman.
“What did he see, Satoru?” Yu’s question brought him back to the present, and he couldn’t hold back the way he snapped at the brunette.
“He saw a girl! And he will never see that girl again, because she’s dead!” Satoru’s sky blue eyes darkened with a furry that the two merboys had never seen before. “She died today, because I’m never going back on land again. And if either of you say anything about what we did today, I’ll… I’ll banish you both!” He spun back around and took off.
Satoru ignored his friends as they called out to him. He torpedoed his way through the hidden tunnels, sneaking back into his family’s cavern, where he curled into himself. As he let the calming currents of the water rock him to sleep, Satoru silently vowed that he would never step foot on land again.