Lessons In Humanity (Komahina Mermaid AU) [REWRITE]

Fantasy

Hajime woke up late the next day, at a lazy 2 PM. When he checked his almost dead phone, he had a few texts from Kazuichi and Chiaki, both of them just telling him to take it easy and rest well.

Though, Kazuichi had another message after that.
_ _ _

"Also, u left ur bag in the car last night. I have it in my dorm, so whnever u wake up come on over"
"Idk when ur gonna wake up but if im not there when u do then ghe door shud just be unlocked,, jus lock it back when u leave pls"

_ _ _

'...you shouldn't leave your door unlocked like that, Kazuichi..' Hajime thought as he rolled over onto his back. Once he did that, he immediately remembered he needed to shower. After a few more minutes of simply laying there and stalling, he finally got up and dragged himself to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

When he was done, he got dressed and made the short trip to Kazuichi's room next door to grab his bag. It was unlocked as Kazuichi said, and he locked it back as he was asked to. He returned to his own room and sent Kazuichi a quick text,

_ _ _

"Got my bag, locked your door too. Don't leave your door unlocked like that. But thanks anyway kaz"

"how else would u get in??"

"I could've just waited"

"i mean ig u could"

"Whatever, thanks"

"np 👍"

_ _ _

Hajime plugged his phone up and set it on his nightstand since it was at low battery, and layed down on his bed. As he sighed, he noticed the sheets smelled like salt water, like the ocean. 'I'm gonna have to change and wash my sheets..'

The smell also brought back a memory from last night. How he swam down into the ocean, chasing after Ibuki's bracelet, and..

That.. thing.. that gave it to him.

That couldn't have been a human, right? There's absolutely no way. What kind of person is just.. In the ocean like that? Not to mention the weird lower half..

Hajime thought it was just some ugly pants at first, but the way it was shaped, it didn't even look like it were legs at all. Honestly, it reminded Hajime of.. a fish tail.

But it was dark, and Hajime was losing air. It could've just purely been his imagination, right?..

Wait, but.. he felt it grab his wrist. It felt like a human hand. There's no mistaking it, it was definitely real, whatever it even is.

What kind of creature is half human, half fish?.... Well, there's mermaids, but.. those are fictional creatures. Purely made for fantasy books and movies. If mermaids were really real, there would have to be some sort of proof, right? Like.. sightings, and such. Sort of like, aliens, right?

Hajime has seen those videos and pictures of people claiming to have spotted a mermaid, but they're all so obviously edited. If that thing he saw wasn't a mermaid.. then what the hell was it??