A Merfolk's Tale

Chapter Thirteen

"Eijiro..." the blonde has called and the moment his deep husky voice reached Eiji's ears, his cheeks started heating up for no reason.

"It's just Eiji, but... you..." Eiji said, trying to keep eye contact but couldn't handle it. "Should you even be talking? If I remember it right the barkeeper told me you were mute and couldn't understand our language,"

It was the blonde's turn to avert his eyes. "I lied, I guess..." he said.

"I'm not following the conversation," Tenya said then looked at Eiji. "You know him?"

For a short period, Eiji and the blonde met eyes before the redhead felt his cheeks heat for the nth time and averted his eyes. "Y-yeah, just weeks ago... at the usual pub," he answered.

Tenya looked at the blonde this time. "You know him, and yet have the audacity to not pay your respect before your prince?" he said.

"Hah? What prince?" The blonde said, annoyed at Tenya.

"S-sorry..." Ochako said, "Forgive him, my brother is a prideful man but he did not mean to disrespect his highness,"

"It's fine," Eiji said, "He did save me earlier so I guess I could let it slip,"

"That was supposed to be payback for saving my ass back then," the blonde answered. "Now I have to repay you,"

"Well then," Eiji said then held out his hand. "You can return the handshake you didn't take that night and tell me your name,"

the blonde glared at Eiji's hand before huffing and taking it, his grip firm and the moment they touched Eiji felt something flutter inside his stomach. "My name is Katsuki," the blonde muttered before letting go of Eiji's hand.

Eiji kept his attention to the blonde as the latter hurried back to his sister where they talked in hushed voices, but at the corner of his eye, he could see Shoto looking at him a smirk on his face.

Love will always find a way

"I hate it that women are always right," Eiji mumbled, turning his back on the siblings and going straight to his quarters.

***

"We take this route first so we'll be able to arrive at our first stop by dawn tomorrow," Shoto said, as he, Eiji and Tenya looked at the map laid down on the table in front of them along with the other crew of the ship. "Then we gather supplies and fix the dents on the ship before carrying on to our second and third stop, before finally going back to Yuei."

"Err... your highness," The captain of the ship said, looking a bit unease. "That voyage would extend our trip to four more days. Should the King find out about this, we might--"

"I'll talk to my father as soon as we get back," Shoto said, "I assure you that you will not be fired from your jobs and that we will also give you extra support for having to force you to leave your families a few days more. I know this is a sacrifice for some of you but these people have families too and have been separated from them longer than you have, so... this is the least that we can do to them,"

"U-understood, your highness," The captain said followed by a few nods from some of the crew.

Their short meeting was dismissed and the crew went back to work, leaving the royal trio in the quarters as Shoto continued to look down on the map.

"You're in a hurry to go back to Yuei," Eiji teased, "Why don't we just dump the people on the first island and have them take care of them? Izuku might be worried sick about you,"

Shoto shot him a glare and Eiji snickered. "Relax, it's just the three of us here," he said.

"You're too noble, Shoto," Tenya said, "To risk your voyage so these people could return back to their homes... no wonder your father is starting to pressure you to take the throne. You'd be a great king,"