Of Course He Loves Me

The mermaid princess of the North Atlantic Ocean sat on the sand near the ocean, twirling a box of chocolate in her hands. “Kaito…” she whispered under her breath. She threw the box to the side and put her head in between her knees, willing the sadness and despair to go away.

While Luchia was a mermaid princess, she had gone and fallen in love with a human. Of course, said human had fallen in love with her mermaid self. Others said they could see Kaito loved Luchia as a human, but sometimes she wasn’t so sure. Sometimes, Kaito would start thinking about “his mermaid,” and how beautiful she looked and how she saved him time and time again. Luchia wanted to scream “IT’S ME!! WE’RE THE SAME PERSON!” and point to herself and dive into the ocean and point to herself again, but that was against the rules; she’d turn into bubbles if that happened. And even if Kaito found out for himself, would he be happy or disappointed? Luchia couldn’t risk taking away Kaito’s dream girl.

Luchia huffed. Why does life have to be so hard?! Why can’t Kaito just be a merman and then fall in love with me for real? Why?! Luchia sighed and stretched her legs out, wiggling her bare toes in the sand.

“I don’t think he truly likes me…” she mumbled. And she didn’t. She began to think Kaito was just with Luchia because she looked like “his mermaid.” Was the truth? Luchia couldn’t bare it if was. If she just asked him then he might tell her he didn’t really like her. Of course, Kaito wouldn’t care about human Luchia, but mermaid Luchia was someone he wanted to find again and be with.

Another reason Kaito didn’t care for human Luchia: he never told her he was going to Hawaii! At first she was sad about the news, then indignant that one of Kaito’s friends had told her first, not Kaito himself. So he must not have cared what Luchia thought about his leaving.

Luchia shook her head furiously. All the thinking and pondering was making her head hurt. She needed to ask Kaito himself.

“Oi! Luchia!” Luchia heard running along with the voice. Speak of an angel, and an angel shall appear. Luchia slowly stood up and – with her head down – turned to face Kaito.

“Luchia, there you are!” Kaito stopped in front of the girl. Luchia just stared at Kaito’s shoes as if they were the most wonderful thing in the world.

“Luchia?” he asked. He squatted on his knees so he could see Luchia’s face, but she blushed and brought her head up. Kaito stood up straight and stared Luchia in the eye, waiting for her to explain why she was avoiding him the whole day. Luchia stared back evenly, a passive expression on her usually hyper face. Kaito frowned and looked to the waves and sunset.

“Are you really going to Hawaii?” her voice asked quietly. Kaito breathed deeply before replying.

“Yes, yes I am.” He turned toward Luchia, examining her. The girl was always easy to read and expressed her emotions, but now she was staring out at the ocean passively. He ran his hands through his hands nervously, wondering what she was thinking. “I was planning on telling you before, but somehow word spread, and I guess you found out through everyone talking about it, huh?” He paused a moment, waiting for a reply. When none came he continued.

“I’m really sorry, Luchia. I meant to tell you face to face. But during the day I couldn’t find you and there were all these girls…” Kaito trailed off, remembering what day it was. Valentine’s Day, when girls give guys they like chocolate. He didn’t take anyone’s chocolate because he was waiting for Luchia’s. He was sure that she liked him back, so why wouldn’t she have made chocolate?

Kaito stealthily spotted a pink box in the sand and smiled inwardly. Maybe she did make him chocolate, so she did like him. He turned back to Luchia as she spoke.

“It’s okay, really,” she said in monotone. She moved so she was a few steps away from Kaito but facing him nonetheless. He frowned at the loss of her body close to his.

Luchia, too, missed having Kaito next to her. But she thought he didn’t care, that he was frowning at something he remembered from his day, so she inwardly sighed and spoke again.

“Um, I’ve been thinking, Kaito-kun…” she bit her lip, wondering if she should continue. To say or not to say?

Kaito nodded for her to resume speaking, for he craved her voice after being away from her for a day. Man, how will I make it in Hawaii?

“Um, I’ve been thinking, about…well, about us.” She gestured to the space in between the two as Kaito furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I’m just, I mean, I’m really confused now. I…I don’t think I can handle this anymore, Kaito-kun,” she ended in a whisper, looking down at her feet.

Kaito walked up to her and shook his head sadly as tears dropped from Luchia’s face. He put a finger under Luchia’s chin and tilted it upward, smiling a sad smile as Luchia cried silently. He placed his hands on her cheeks and wiped away her tears as he spoke.

“Luchia, please stop crying. I don’t like it when you do that. And you do it a lot, too,” he laughed lightly, trying to lighten the mood. Luchia didn’t find it funny, and tried to pull away from his grasp. Kaito just pulled her into a hug, burying his head in his hair.

“I’m going to miss you terribly, Luchia. But I have to do this. I have to go to Hawaii. Maybe there I’ll find out some details about my parents.” He pulled away but held onto Luchia’s shoulders in case she decided to run away; Luchia rather liked her position, though. “My parents aren’t my biological ones.” Kaito shook his head as Luchia gasped slightly. “I have to do this. I have to see if I can find out where I came from. You understand, don’t you Luchia?” He looked into her eyes once again.

And Luchia did understand. She knew what it was like, wondering who your true parents were. Nikora was like a mother to her, but she never knew if she truly came from a pearl or if she was chosen and taken away from her parents. But that didn’t matter to Luchia right now. Luchia wanted to know why Kaito would miss her. But she didn’t have the heart to ask.

“I’m not leaving any time soon, don’t worry,” he said after a long silence. He leaned his forehead against Luchia’s, and held her shoulders as she squirmed yet again. “I will miss you a lot, you know.”

Luchia stopped trying to break free and looked into his eyes. They were shining with sincerity, loyalty, and love. She couldn’t doubt him now. How did she doubt him the first place?

“Kaito!” she exclaimed, and hugged him. She buried her head in his chest as he sighed in content. The tears wouldn’t stop, but she knew there was nothing to fear. Kaito would always be here for her, no matter what.

Maybe if he knew the truth, “his mermaid” wouldn’t be such a disappointment to him after all. Luchia smiled as Kaito pulled her away and kissed her. I don’t think he’d mind.