The Mermaid

a Original Fiction fanfiction by Nathan Warford

Ring! Ring!
Ring! Ring!

The cellular phone continued ringing without end. "Who the hell could be 
calling this early in the morning?" Shizuka thought to herself. It was 
not even 5:00 am yet; Shizuka was not supposed to be awake for another 2 
hours.

The 25-year-old reached toward her bedside desk and picked up the 
ringing cell phone. "This is Shizuka," she said groggily.

"Nakamura-Kun," said an older male voice.

"Reito," said Shizuka in an agitated voice, "do you have any idea what 
time it is?"

"I am sorry to awaken you so early," Reito said, "but something rather 
important has just come up."

"What is it?"

"A new form of marine life has been discovered. I think you'd better 
come down to the aquarium, you have to see it for yourself."

"Can't it wait a few hours?"

"Unfortunately, no. We need our best marine biologist on the job to make 
sense of this new life form."

Shizuka groaned and managed to reply, "I'm on my way." Shizuka hung up 
and sat up in bed. She brushed a lock of red hair away from her face 
before opening her soft brown eyes. Shizuka managed to drag herself out 
of bed and toward the bathroom to take her morning shower.

----------

Meanwhile, at Tokyo Bay Aquarium, many marine biologists and aquarium 
employees were observing their new specimen in the dolphin tank. 
Aquarium officials had moved all of the dolphins into the stadium to 
make room for the newcomer to be observed through the glass that housed 
the water. "Isn't this amazing, Adachi-San?" a female biologist asked a 
tall, gray-haired man.

"Indeed," said the man. "This could quite possibly be the greatest 
discovery of our time." As the biologist made notes about the specimen, 
Shizuka entered the scene, dressed in a formal, white blouse and blue 
overcoat, carrying her briefcase in her left hand and a cup of black 
coffee in her right. "Ah, Nakamura-Kun," said the man, seeing Shizuka 
enter.

"Spare me the pleasantries, Reito," said Shizuka, taking a large gulp of 
coffee. "What's so important that you had to wake me up before sunrise?"

"At two o'clock this morning," said Reito, "the fishing boat Kobayashi 
left Tokyo Harbor for its bi-weekly night fishing in Tokyo Bay. At 
approximately three o'clock, the Kobayashi, in an attempt to catch a 
school of mackerel, netted a creature that the crew was unable to make 
sense of. They aborted their mission for the sake of science and 
immediately brought the creature here for observation."

"I take it the creature has been transported to the dolphin tank," said 
Shizuka, noting the location that aquarium officials had told her that 
Adachi Reito was waiting for her.

"Yes," replied Reito. "The dolphins have been moved to the stadium to 
make sure that neither they nor the specimen interfere with one 
another's lives."

Reito brought Shizuka to the tank for her to observe the specimen. As 
they approached the tank, Shizuka heard something pounding against the 
glass in a similar manner as someone would pound against the doors of a 
cell. At first, she thought that it was some practical joke that her 
superiors at the aquarium were playing on her and that the sound was 
being produced by some scuba diver that was swimming in the dolphin 
tank.

However, when she laid eyes upon what it was that was making the sound, 
her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Despite being woken up so early, 
she was suddenly wide-awake. The creature had the upper body of a young 
woman with bluish hair, but everything below the waist resembled the 
body of a large fish! The fish-like lower body was covered in smooth 
scales that matched the blue of the creature's hair. The creature was 
what was pounding against the glass.

"Is this for real...?" Shizuka said, witnessing the creature before her.

"As the leading marine biologist of this facility," said Reito," we were 
hoping that you could make sense of this creature."

Shizuka walked up close to the glass to observe the specimen. The 
creature noticed Shizuka approaching it and backed away slightly. 
Shizuka slowed her approach, attempting to let the creature know that 
she meant her no harm. Shizuka looked through the glass and was met with 
large, aqua-colored eyes. The biologist was immediately enthralled by 
the creature's beauty. Judging by the height and build of the human part 
of the body, Shizuka estimated that the creature was about 16 years old 
if it aged like a human. She was slim and fit, which would make her a 
very good swimmer. Although the creature's breasts were smaller than 
average for a 16-year-old human, which would probably make the creature 
more streamlined, they were still very round and beautiful.

"Nakamura-Kun?" Reito asked, noticing Shizuka's transfixion on the 
specimen.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Shizuka said, snapping out of her trance. The creature 
gave Shizuka a thoughtful expression, as if examining her actions and 
reactions. Shizuka looked back at the creature staring at her and said, 
"This is truly a remarkable find. She looks...almost like a mermaid. But 
of course, we know that mermaids don't exist."

"If it is not a mermaid," Reito said with a smirk, "then what is it?" 
Shizuka looked at Reito with a surprised expression. How could Reito 
Adachi, senior supervisor of the biology department of Tokyo Bay 
Aquarium, believe that mermaids could possibly exist?

After a brief pause, Shizuka turned back to the creature and said, "I 
have to give her a more thorough examination before I can determine if 
she is, as you say, a mermaid."

----------

As the sun started to rise, Reito escorted Shizuka to above the tank 
where she would attempt to make contact with the creature. She was no 
longer pounding on the glass, but was hurriedly swimming back and forth 
across the glass, as if looking for someone or something on the other 
side. Shizuka dipped a finger into the water and wiggled it a bit, 
creating small ripples in the water. The creature obviously noticed the 
ripples as she suddenly stopped searching through the glass and looked 
up at Shizuka. She swam slowly toward Shizuka, but did not surface.

"She seems very cautious of us," said Shizuka to her superior. "She is 
obviously frightened."

"How do you suggest we get close to it?" asked Reito.

"In my experience with intelligent animals, land animals as well as 
marine, I find that approaching them slowly and in a non-threatening 
manner is the best way to make contact. If this creature has the 
intelligence of a human, acting friendly should make her less cautious 
of us. And judging by how she reacts to her surroundings and by the size 
of her head, I would guess that she has our intelligence."

"Approaching them slowly in a non-threatening manner," Reito repeated 
Shizuka's words. "Very well. Proceed." Reito started walking off, saying 
to himself, "This discovery is going to win me the Clarke Medal."

Shizuka watched Reito as he walked off and then looked back down into 
the water to see the creature looking at her intently. "What are you?" 
Shizuka asked, as if the creature could hear her despite them being on 
opposite sides of the surface of the water. "I wish that I could take a 
good look at you."

Shizuka dipped her hand into the water again, hoping to elicit more of a 
response from the creature. However, the response was greater than she 
had expected. The creature actually swam up to her and touched her hand! 
Shizuka quickly pulled her hand away, having not expected the creature's 
sudden friendliness.

At Shizuka's sudden movement, the creature quickly swam down, away from 
the surface. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Shizuka. "I didn't mean to startle 
you. Here." Again, Shizuka dipped her hand into the water. However, the 
creature would not move from her place at the bottom of the tank. "Come 
on," Shizuka said, wiggling her hand around, creating more ripples. 
"Don't hide down there," she continued talking as if the creature could 
hear her through the water.

As Shizuka continued her friendly gestures, the creature seemed to 
regain a bit of interest in Shizuka. Again, it slowly starting rising 
toward the surface. "That's it," Shizuka said. "Come to me. Let me look 
at you." Just as the creature was barely close enough to Shizuka to 
touch her hand, the creature stopped moving up. "I know you're 
cautious," said Shizuka. "Don't worry. I won't pull away again." Shizuka 
produced more ripples, letting her water-borne specimen know that she 
was trying to be friendly. The creature rose a bit more and touched 
Shizuka's hand again. This time, Shizuka was prepared for the contact 
and did not pull away.

As Shizuka and the creature touched, Shizuka saw an expression appear on 
the creature's face that she had not seen from her before then. She was 
smiling! As difficult as it was for Shizuka to believe, the creature had 
warmed up to her in only a matter of minutes! Shizuka could not help but 
smile back at her new friend. Shizuka started retracting her arm slowly, 
and the creature followed until it finally surfaced. "Hi there," said 
Shizuka, now happy that she could actually communicate to the creature 
through sound.

"Hehehe," the creature giggled. Although her voice was no different than 
that of a human's, Shizuka thought the voice was musical. It was 
high-pitched and friendly, giving an air of innocence about her. Shizuka 
was so happy that she was able to make contact with this mysterious, 
beautiful creature.

"Do you have a name?" Shizuka asked.

"Eh?" said the creature. Although seemingly unable to understand 
Shizuka's speech, she still had the same friendly smile on her face.

"I guess you can't speak Japanese," Shizuka said. She then laughed and 
said, "Of course you don't. How could you? You obviously haven't had 
much contact with humans. But don't worry. I'll do my best to 
communicate with you."

Shizuka opened her briefcase and took out a pad of notepaper and a pen. 
She was about to write down her progress when suddenly, the creature 
jumped out of the water toward Shizuka and grabbed the paper and pen 
from her. "What are you--?" Shizuka cried. She stopped talking as she 
saw the creature start writing. Again, the creature had surprised 
Shizuka. Despite living most of her life in the water, the creature 
seemed to have some sense of written language, which seemed highly 
unlikely as ink from a pen could not write very effectively under water.

But what was even more surprising was when the creature presented to 
Shizuka what she had written. She had written, 'Where am I?' in perfect 
Japanese!

"W--Where am I?" Shizuka said the words written on the page.

The creature started writing again. She showed the page to Shizuka. The 
creature had added, 'Who are you?'

"You can write Japanese..." Shizuka trailed off. Shizuka took the paper 
and pen from the girl in the water and wrote, 'I am Nakamura Shizuka. 
This is an aquarium, a place where we keep and domesticate sea-life.' 
Shizuka then wrote, 'How do you know Japanese?'

Shizuka gave the paper and pen back to the girl and she wrote, 'My 
people have found books on sunken ships. We have been studying your 
language for generations in the hopes that we could communicate with you 
some day.' She then wrote, 'Why are you keeping me here?'

Shizuka wrote, 'A fishing boat caught you by mistake. They wanted to 
know what you were, so they brought you to this aquarium so that our 
scientists could find out what you are.'

'From what we have read of your books,' the girl wrote, 'we are what you 
would call "mermaids".'

Shizuka stared in awe at what the girl had written. "No way," she said. 
"You can't be a mermaid."

"Eh?" the girl said.

Shizuka wrote, 'How can you write Japanese but can't speak it?'

'All that we have learned of your language is how it is written. We have 
never heard you speak, so we cannot tell what sounds your symbols mean.'

"Very interesting," said Shizuka to herself. She then wrote, 'Do you 
have a name?'

The mermaid looked at what Shizuka had written. Here eyebrows furrowed 
as if she was thinking about how to answer the question. Eventually, she 
nodded and said, "Eieruu."

"E-I-E-RU-U?" asked Shizuka. 'That's your name?' she wrote. The mermaid 
nodded. 'It sounds like the sound a whale makes.'

'Our language is very close to the language of whales and other animals 
of the sea,' Eieruu wrote. 'We communicate very well with them.' Eieruu 
then wrote, 'How do you say your name? "Nakamura Shizuka"?'

The biologist said, "NA-KA-MU-RA...SHI-ZU-KA," and wrote the name in 
hiragana.

"Nakamura Shizuka," Eieruu repeated.

"Yes," Shizuka said, nodding.

Suddenly, Eieruu's expression changed to one of apprehension and she 
darted back under the water. "Eieruu, what is it?" Shizuka asked. She 
then looked behind her to see that Reito had returned. "Oh, Adachi-San," 
she said.

"How is it going?" asked the man.

"It seems you were right," said Shizuka. "She believes that she is what 
we call a mermaid."

"What it believes?" asked Reito. "Are you saying that you can 
communicate with the creature?"

"Yes," Shizuka replied. "Her people have been reading books found on 
sunken ships, and have learned our written language."

"Have you found out anything else about them?"

"Only that their spoken language is similar to that of whales. This 
one's name is Eieruu."

"'Eieruu,' you say?"

"Yes."

Reito then looked at the girl in the water and said, "It doesn't look 
like it has moved since I last saw it."

"It seems that I'm the only one she will communicate with," Shizuka 
said. "I'm sorry, Reito, but I don't think she'll surface with anyone 
else but me around."

"Learn as much as you can," Reito said, turning to leave. "Inform me of 
your progress."

"Yes, sir," said Shizuka. She looked back at Eieruu and said, "It's 
okay. You can come up now."

As soon as Reito was out of sight, Eieruu surfaced. 'You do not like 
him,' wrote Shizuka.

'He frightens me,' wrote Eieruu.

'Why?' Shizuka asked.

'All humans frighten me,' the mermaid responded.

Shizuka gave Eiruu a quizzical expression and wrote, 'Then why are you 
being so friendly with me?'

Eieruu made a surprised expression, as if she had just realized that she 
had been acting differently around Shizuka than she did around other 
humans. She responded, 'I do not know why.' She paused for a moment, 
thinking about what to write. Eieruu continued, 'Maybe it is because you 
are being so kind to me.'

Shizuka smiled at Eieruu's response, happy that she was able to make the 
girl before her comfortable. 'Do you mind if I examine you?' she asked.

'How do you want to examine me? Eieruu asked.

'I just want to know everything about you,' Shizuka responded. 'It is 
what I am paid to do.' She then repeated her request, 'Would it be okay 
if I examined you?'

Eieruu considered the request and replied, 'Okay. But only you.'

Shizuka slowly reached toward Eieruu, very careful not to startle the 
mermaid. She touched Eieruu's cheek and felt her skin. "Your skin is so 
warm..." Shizuka exclaimed. The biologist guessed that Eieruu's people 
needed to maintain a high body temperature so that they would not suffer 
hypothermia from the cold water in which they lived. Shizuka moved her 
hand up to Eieruu's blue hair and ran her fingers through it. It was 
softer than Shizuka estimated was possible of a human's hair after 
spending a long time immersed in salty water.

Shizuka took Eieruu's cheeks in her hands again and turned the girl's 
head to one side. She brushed Eieruu's hair away from her ear and 
noticed three small slits behind her ear. "Gills..." Shizuka said to 
herself. "That's how you breathe under water. Amazing. You truly are a 
mermaid, aren't you?"

Shizuka moved her hands down Eieruu's body, using her sense of touch to 
help make sense of the creature's body. As her hands brushed Eieruu's 
side, Shizuka was surprised when the mermaid shuddered in response to 
her touch. 'Are you okay?' Shizuka wrote.

'Yes,' Eieruu responded. 'I do not know why I shook when you touched 
me,' She wrote, 'You may continue.'

Shizuka proceeded as Eieruu permitted. She felt Eieruu's body and sighed 
at the comfortable warmth that it gave off. She could hear Eieruu sigh 
as well. Shizuka's hands found their way to the seam at Eieruu's hips 
where her human skin merged into her fish-like scales. Unlike her warm, 
smooth skin, Eieruu's scales were cold and stiff. Eieruu's reactions 
became less noticeable as Shizuka touched her lower body. The scales 
must have been thick enough to obstruct Eieruu's sense of touch as well 
as insulate heat.

The scales of Eieruu's tail were not as thick and the young mermaid's 
reactions became noticeable again. Her tail twitched and she giggled. 
"Are you ticklish?" Shizuka asked with a smile. She rubbed Eieruu's tail 
fins quickly, making Eieruu jump about, laughing hysterically. Eieruu 
rubbed the sides of Shizuka's torso, causing the human to jump and laugh 
in the same way. "Stop that!" Shizuka laughed. The human and the mermaid 
playfully wrestled, laughing all the while.

Despite not having any feet to balance herself, Eieruu's brute strength 
was enough to tackle Shizuka, her hands pinning Shizuka's arms. Shizuka 
looked up into Eieruu's aqua-colored eyes and they both suddenly stopped 
laughing, their faces becoming very serious. Shizuka felt her heart 
pounding as Eieruu stared right through her.

After a moment of the two women staring into each other's eyes, Eieruu 
slowly removed her hands from Shizuka's arms and rolled off of her body. 
Shizuka sat up, her breath quick and ragged. Eieruu was breathing in the 
same way, seemingly just as nervous as Shizuka was. She looked back at 
Eieruu for a moment and then quickly jumped for the pen and paper. She 
hastily wrote, 'May I continue?'

'Yes,' Eieruu quickly responded. Shizuka continued her inspection.

Eieruu's backside was less than extraordinary. It was simply a human 
back that transformed at the waist into that of a fish. Because of the 
simplicity of the mermaid's back, it only took Shizuka a moment to 
assimilate all of the information she could from that angle. She grabbed 
Eieruu's hips and gently turned the girl onto her back so that she could 
inspect her front.

Again, Shizuka felt her breath catch. Her face turned red as she looked 
upon the full frontal nudity of the beautiful girl lying in front of 
her. Shizuka reached for the paper and pen again, only to notice that 
the page had been filled with writing. She reached back to her notebook 
and took out another piece of paper. 'Do you mind if I examine your 
front side?' Shizuka asked, her hands shaking as she wrote.

Shizuka handed the paper and pen to Eieruu and the mermaid responded, 
'Okay.'

Shizuka started at the end of Eieruu's tail and slowly moved her hands 
up, feeling the thick scales of the mermaid's lower body. Just as she 
was about to reach Eieruu's waist, she felt the girl move slightly. She 
looked closely at where her hands were and noticed a small orifice. "Is 
this...?" Shizuka wondered. She looked at Eieruu, inquiring as to 
whether or not she would allow Shizuka to examine the orifice. Eieruu's 
expression showed no resistance, letting Shizuka know that it was all 
right for her to continue. She gently touched the opening.

Eieruu inhaled sharply and arched her back. Shizuka hastily removed her 
hands, worried that she had gone too far. "I guess it IS a vagina," 
Shizuka said to herself. She looked back at the orifice and then said, 
"It's the only opening down there. Maybe it's more like a cloaca than a 
vagina." She lowered her hands toward Eieruu's body again and carefully 
observed the girl's reactions, making sure that she did not overstep her 
bounds. Eieruu continued to show no opposition to Shizuka's actions and 
the biologist's hands made contact with Shizuka's skin again.

Shizuka moved up Eieruu's body, over the mermaid's abdomen. Eieruu 
shuddered again as Shizuka's hands moved across her smooth stomach. The 
older woman's hands made contact with the soft mounds of Eieruu's small 
breasts, eliciting a nervous moan from the girl. Shizuka closed her eyes 
and said to herself, "You're not doing anything perverted. You're just 
examining a new life form. It's all for the sake of science, nothing 
more." As Shizuka's hands continued moving upward, her fingers grazed 
Eieruu's nipples, causing the younger girl to gasp. Shizuka's eyes shot 
open as she heard Eieruu's intake of air and she saw Eieruu's pink 
nipples harden in between her fingers. Several capillaries in Shizuka's 
nose ruptured and a small bit of blood oozed from her nostrils.

"Ah!" Eieruu cried at seeing Shizuka's nose bleeding.

Shizuka quickly turned away and wiped the blood from her nose. She put 
her hand to her chest and tried her best to take deep, regular breaths. 
"This is insane," she said to herself. "Why am I reacting like this? I'm 
only examining Eieruu. This is what I'm paid to do. Why am I getting so 
worked up about this?" She looked back at Eieruu, who was watching 
Shizuka intently with a worried expression on her face. Shizuka gave a 
deep sigh and looked back at Eieruu with a smile. "See?" she said. "I'm 
just fine. There's nothing to worry about."

Eieruu smiled and wrapped her arms around Shizuka. Shizuka was surprised 
again by Eieruu's friendliness, but could not help but melt into the 
girl's warmth. The warmth of Eieruu's body was so relaxing that Shizuka 
probably would have fallen asleep again were it not for the coffee that 
she had had earlier.

----------

Reito paced about the dolphin tank with an impatient expression. He 
looked at his watch; it was 11:46. "She's been with the mermaid for 
six-and-a-half hours," he said to himself. "Surely it doesn't take that 
long to perform a physical inspection."

"Adachi-San," a female voice said from the entrance to the exhibit. 
Reito turned to see Shizuka approaching him.

"Nakamura-Kun," he said. "You were up there for quite a while."

"I know," Shizuka replied. "I've been talking with Eieruu, getting to 
know her."

"For six-and-a-half hours?"

"Six-and-a-half hours?" Shizuka exclaimed. "What time is it?"

"It's eleven-forty-seven," Reito replied.

"I had no idea. I guess it took a while teaching her our spoken 
language."

"You've been teaching it how to speak Japanese?"

"Yes, Adachi-San. I've been teaching her hiragana and katakana. She 
knows what our written words mean, but she doesn't yet know how to 
pronounce them."

"I see. Have you examined the creature?"

"Yes, Adachi-San. Here." Shizuka handed Reito a piece of paper with her 
notes on it.

Reito read the notes, "'Three gill slits behind the ears, body 
temperature of thirty-nine-point-one degrees centigrade, muscular body 
and streamlined torso for swimming, cloaca for evacuation and mating, 
intelligence comparable to humans, humanoid responses to all physical 
and mental stimuli.'" Reito looked at Shizuka and said, "Good work, 
Nakamura-Kun. Excellent job."

"Thank you, Adachi-San," Shizuka replied.

"This discovery is going to make us famous, Shizuka," said Reito, 
putting his arm around Shizuka's back. "Reito Adachi and Shizuka 
Nakamura make the first examination of a real mermaid. I can see the 
papers now."

"You're right," Shizuka responded. "It would make us famous."

"We'll definitely win the Clarke Medal for this find!" Although she 
would not say anything to harm her professional relationship with her 
employer, Shizuka was beginning to wonder if Reito was more interested 
in Eieruu or in his own fortune.

----------

After Shizuka ate her lunch, she went back to above the tank with a 
bucket of soft-shell crabs, which Eieruu had requested before Shizuka 
had left. Having not eaten since she had been caught, Eieruu was 
obviously hungry, gobbling down the crabs in a matter of minutes. "Was 
that good?" Shizuka asked after Eieruu had finished her meal. Shizuka 
also wrote out the words that she spoke, using furigana for all of the 
kanji she wrote to help Eieruu learn spoken Japanese.

"Yes," Eieruu responded in both speech and text.

"You're learning quickly," Shizuka said and wrote.

"Yes," Eieruu responded. "Thank you, Shizuka-Chan."

"You're welcome, Eieruu."

"Shizuka-Chan?"

"What is it, Eieruu?"

Eieruu was about to speak, but stopped herself. She seemed unsure about 
how to say the words she wanted to communicate, so she wrote instead, 
'Where is the ocean?'

"'Where is the ocean?'" Shizuka spoke.

"Where is the ocean?" Eieruu repeated Shizuka.

Shizuka pointed south and replied, "About two-hundred meters in that 
direction."

"'Meter'?" Shizuka wondered. 'How long is that?'

Again, Shizuka spoke the words that Eieruu wrote and Eieruu repeated. 
Shizuka moved her hands approximately a meter apart and replied, "One 
meter is this long." Shizuka saw Eieruu staring intently in that 
direction, as if trying to see through the wall that separated her from 
the view of Tokyo Bay. "Are you lonely?" asked Shizuka, continuing to 
write what she spoke.

"Yes," Eieruu replied. "I am lonely. I want to be with my people."

"I can understand that."

"Shizuka-Chan," Eieruu asked with a very serious expression, "why am I 
here? Why am I not in the ocean?"

"I told you this morning," Shizuka answered. "You were found by a boat. 
They brought you here so that biologists could examine you."

"You have examined me," said Eieruu. "Is more examining needed?"

Shizuka felt like someone had run a dagger through her heart. She had 
learned everything she could about the mermaids' anatomy and behavior, 
but she knew that Reito would not willingly give the only mermaid 
specimen to date back to the sea. The woman was torn between her loyalty 
to her employer and Eieruu's future. She did not want to lie to the girl 
that she had befriended, but she could not bring herself to tell Eieruu 
about Reito's selfish intentions either. The only reply that Shizuka 
could give was, "Everything I do at this facility is dictated by my 
superiors. I have to ask them what to do."

"Okay," Eieruu replied with a forlorn face. Eieruu's expression broke 
Shizuka's heart. She could see that the creature before her was more 
than just a new species, Eieruu was a living, breathing person that 
simply wanted to return to her home and that the dolphin tank acted more 
like a cage than anything else. All that Shizuka could do was wrap her 
arms around Eieruu and try to comfort the frightened girl.

----------

Shizuka asked for a mattress so that she could spend the night at the 
aquarium. She was the only person that Eieruu was willing to communicate 
with, which meant that she was the only one that could keep her company. 
She could not bring herself to leave Eieruu's side, so she had to sleep 
above the dolphin tank so that Eieruu would have easy access to her 
company. She put her notebook and pen beside the mattress in case Eieruu 
wanted to communicate with her in the night.

Despite being able to lie under the stars with a beautiful, young girl 
only a short swim away, sleep did not come easily to Shizuka. There was 
a battle raging inside her. She had to make a decision: whether to 
continue her career and let Reito do whatever he wanted with the 
mermaid, or abandon everything she had worked her life for to let Eieruu 
go home. The decision was more difficult that the biologist had thought 
it would be. But she knew that if she did not make the decision soon, 
she would go insane from uncertainty.

Shizuka thought that a fresh mind would help her think more rationally, 
so she decided to get some sleep and think about the situation in the 
morning. The knowledge that she was trying her best to use good judgment 
eased Shizuka's mind and allowed her to fall asleep.

----------

"Shizuka-Chan..." a heavenly yet ghostly voice said. "Shizuka-Chan..." 
the voice repeated.

"Eh?" Shizuka said, her eyes slowly opening. As the sleepy haze lifted, 
Shizuka saw the face of a girl with blue hair and aqua eyes. The girl 
was on top of Shizuka, her hands on either side of her body with a 
fish-like tail in between Shizuka's legs. Slowly, the girl's eyes closed 
and she descended toward Shizuka. Shizuka's eyes began to widen as she 
felt the girl's warm breath on her mouth. Their lips touched and Shizuka 
gasped. The girl's lips were like fire on Shizuka's.

Shizuka wanted to break the passionate kiss, but her muscles would not 
respond. All that Shizuka could do was close her eyes and tell herself, 
"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real!" Again, Shizuka opened her 
eyes. What she saw in front of her was not a beautiful mermaid, but 
simply a clear blue sky. Shizuka blinked several times, trying to make 
sense of what was happening.

Shizuka then remembered that she had spent the night above the dolphin 
tank at the Tokyo Bay Aquarium to keep a mermaid named Eieruu company. 
She sat up and looked into the dolphin tank. Eieruu had her fish-like 
lower body in the water with her torso resting on the edge of the tank, 
her eyes closed in what looked like a peaceful sleep. Shizuka closed her 
eyes sighed heavily. "It was just a dream after all," she said to 
herself. She then looked back at the sleeping mermaid and said, "But 
what did it mean?"

"Mm..." Eieruu murmured. The girl opened her eyes and looked around 
herself a bit. She then noticed Shizuka looking at her and smiled. 
"Hello, Shizuka-Chan," she said.

"Good morning," Shizuka replied.

"'Good...morning'?" Eieruu asked.

"You must not know that phrase," Shizuka said. Shizuka picked up her 
notebook and wrote, 'Good morning.'

"I understand," said Eieruu. "Good morning, Shizuka-Chan." Eieruu then 
wrote, 'Did you sleep well?'

"'Did you sleep well?'" Shizuka spoke the words. She said and wrote, 
"Yes, I slept well. Did you?"

"Yes," Eieru replied.

"I'm glad," said Shizuka. Eieruu smiled and hugged Shizuka.

Feeling Eieruu with her arms around her reminded Shizuka of the dream 
that she had had. Shizuka gasped and Eieruu gave her a worried 
expression. "Is something wrong?" the girl asked.

"N--No," Shizuka said. "Nothing is wrong."

"Nothing is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

"Okay." Eieruu got off of Shizuka, allowing the older woman to stand up. 
Shizuka stretched her arms into the air and yawned. "Will you ask your 
superiors what to do?" Eieruu asked.

"Eh?" Shizuka asked.

"You said, 'Everything I do at this facility is dictated by my 
superiors. I have to ask them what to do.' Will you ask them?"

"That's right," Shizuka remembered. "I did say that. Yes Eieruu, I will 
ask them."

"Thank you."

Shizuka looked at her watch. "Eight-twenty-three. Reito should be here 
by now." She said to Eieruu, "I'm going to talk with my superiors now. 
Wait there, I'll be back soon."

"Okay," Eieruu replied. The mermaid jumped into the water and started 
swimming around the tank. Shizuka walked back down into the aquarium to 
find Reito.

----------

"Beautiful," Reito said as he watched Eieruu swimming on a monitor. 
There was a camera in the tank that Eieruu was unaware of that Reito was 
using to capture pictures of the specimen. "These images will prove that 
I'm not lying when I tell the Royal Society of New South Wales that I've 
discovered the mermaid."

"Good morning, Reito," said Shizuka as she entered the monitor room.

"Ah, Nakamura-Kun," said Reito. "You're awake. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," Shizuka answered. Shizuka looked at the monitor and said, "You're 
observing Eieruu."

"We need real footage if we are going to convince the Royal Society of 
New South Wales that we have actually discovered the mermaid."

"You certainly have your eye on the Clarke Medal, don't you Reito?"

"How could I not? This is one of the greatest discovers in the history 
of marine biology if not biology as a whole." Reito looked back at the 
monitor to see Eieruu doing somersaults and loops in the tank. "What is 
it doing?" he wondered.

"It looks like she's exercising," Shizuka said, looking at the monitor. 
She turned turned to her employer and said with a very serious tone of 
voice, "Adachi-San, I need to talk to you about Eieruu."

Reito leaned back and looked at Shizuka. "What is it?" he said, looking 
at Shizuka as if he was knew that she was going to say something 
insubordinate in nature."

"With all due respect Sir," Shizuka said, "I believe that it is wrong of 
us to keep Eieruu here."

"'Wrong,' you say?" said Reito.

"To you, she may be a rare and valuable specimen. I completely 
understand that view. But Eieruu is lonely. She wants to go back to her 
people. To her, this aquarium is a prison. She wants to go home."

"The Royal Society of New South Wales will not accept video footage as 
proof of the mermaid's existence. All that footage will do is get them 
interested enough to come to see the mermaid with their own eyes. If the 
members cannot see it with their own eyes, they will dismiss the video 
as a forgery, a computer-generated animation made simply for our own 
personal gain."

"I understand Sir, but keeping her against her will is morally and 
ethically wrong!"

"That will be enough out of you, Nakamura-San!" Reito yelled. "The 
mermaid will remain here for observation. Once we've received the Clarke 
Award, we will make it an attraction. This discovery is a great 
opportunity, much to great to pass up."

"You would harm an innocent person just to make some money?"

"I said that will be enough!"

The room fell silent Shizuka averted her eyes from Reito, desperately 
trying to figure out what she had to do. "I can't let him do this," she 
said softly to herself.

"What was that?" Reito asked.

"Nothing, Sir," replied Shizuka. "I apologize for the argument. It is 
not my place to disagree." Shizuka bowed slightly to Reito and then left 
the room.

"Damn him," said Shizuka under her breath as she walked up to the 
dolphin tank. "Damn that Reito. This is outrageous."

Eieruu surfaced as Shizuka got to the edge of the tank. "What did your 
superiors say?" the mermaid asked.

"Reito said that you will not leave," Shizuka answered

"I will not go back to the ocean?"

"All that Reito wants is to make you an attraction so that he can make 
money."

"'Attraction'?" asked Eieruu. Shizuka wrote the word and showed it to 
Eieruu. Eieruu looked at the word and her eyes widened. "Make me an 
attraction?!" she cried.

"That's what Reito wants."

"But it is not what I want."

"I know." Shizuka brought her mouth close to Eieruu's ear and whispered, 
"That's why I'm going to set you free."

"You will? Would Reito not be angry with you?"

"He will be furious with me. But I can't let him keep you here, not 
being able to see your family."

"Shizuka-Chan!" Eieruu jumped toward Shizuka and held her tightly.

"Don't worry, Eieruu," said Shizuka, wrapping her arms around the 
smaller girl. "I'll make sure you get back home safely."

----------

That day, Shizuka went home to get her wetsuit and a flashlight. She 
would need them later that night. After collecting her swimming 
equipment, Shizuka went into town to go shopping. However, she was not 
shopping for herself; she was shopping for a way to get Eieruu out of 
the aquarium. "Good afternoon, Ma'am," said the black-haired woman 
behind the counter of the Gap.

"Hello," Shizuka replied. "I'm looking for some casual clothes for a 
sixteen-year-old girl. My niece is turning sixteen next week and I'm 
looking for some nice clothes for her. What do you have that all the 
girls are wearing these days?"

"Right this way, Ma'am," said the woman, bringing Shizuka to the girls' 
department. "What does your niece like to wear?"

"She likes to fit in with the other kids at school. I'm looking for 
something stylish and hip, the latest trend."

"I see. We recently received a new shipment of the latest fashion line. 
Shall I present it to you?"

"Please."

----------

Shizuka ended up buying a black tank top and a pair of baggy, blue denim 
jeans. She just hoped that the jeans would be baggy enough for Eieruu to 
fit her tail into. As soon as she had finished her shopping, Shizuka 
bought several orders of assorted sushi for her and Eieruu to eat during 
their last night at the aquarium. Eieruu needed more food than the 
average human because of the high metabolism that she needed to maintain 
her body temperature of 39.1° Celsius.

Shizuka and Eieruu feasted on the sushi as they watched the sun set. 
"Eieruu," said Shizuka, "this will be your last night of captivity."

"Thank you so much, Shizuka-Chan," said Eieruu through a mouth-full of 
unagi.

"It's the least I can do for an innocent girl like you."

"Is that a way of saying, 'You are welcome'?"

Shizuka smiled as she wrote the words and said, "I guess it is."

----------

Even though Shizuka got into bed at 8:00 pm, she only pretended to be 
asleep until 10:00, a time at which she was sure that all of the 
employees of the aquarium had gone home. Eieruu was already asleep when 
the alarm on Shizuka's watch went off. Shizuka changed into her wet suit 
and gently shook Eieruu to wake her up. "Are you ready?" she asked the 
younger girl.

"Yes," Eieruu answered. Shizuka helped Eieruu put on the clothes that 
she had bought at the Gap. Eieruu's tail fit into on of the pant legs of 
the jeans, but just barely. The tight squeeze made Eieruu feel a bit 
uncomfortable, but her thick scales made it bearable, especially in 
light of the fact that it was necessary if she hoped to escape the 
confines of the aquarium.

Shizuka revealed the flashlight, turned it on and said, "Take this, 
Eieruu." Eieruu took the flashlight and Shizuka picked her up. Eieruu 
aimed the flashlight in the direction that Shizuka walked so that her 
savior could see where she was walking. Shizuka quietly walked through 
the dark halls of the aquarium. She had to be sure that she was not seen 
by the night watchman that patrolled the aquarium after closing time.

About half-way to the back exit, Shizuka heard footsteps coming their 
way. "Eieruu," she whispered, "turn off the light." Eieruu did as 
Shizuka said and turned off the flashlight that she was carrying. 
Shizuka poked her head around the corner to see the night watchman 
walking down the hall, holding a flashlight of his own. As quietly as 
she could, Shizuka walked down the corridor, away from the night 
watchman.

Shizuka turned a corner and looked back to see the beam of the night 
watchman's flashlight shine down the corridor. She held her breath, 
hoping that the night watchman would not start walking down the 
corridor.

Then, the beam turned away. Shizuka sighed in relief, knowing that the 
night watchman had simply continued down the hall and not gone down the 
corridor. "Okay, turn the light on," she whispered. Eieruu followed 
Shizuka's instructions and turned on the flashlight again, illuminating 
the path for Shizuka.

Finally, Shizuka and Eieruu made their way to the back entrance. "Eieru, 
when I open this door, there is going to be a very loud sound. The night 
watchman will know that we are here."

"'Night watchman'?"

"Just be ready for the sound, okay?"

"Okay."

Shizuka stepped toward the door. She prepared herself and pushed the 
door open. A loud, ringing alarm went off, resounding through the halls 
of the aquarium, and Shizuka made a mad dash through the door, into the 
parking lot.

"The alarm?" the night watchman said to himself. He instantly got on his 
walky-talky and said, "We have an intruder. Call the police and Adachi 
Reito-San. Inform them of the situation." He put his walky-talky away 
and ran toward the back entrance.

----------

Shizuka quickly opened the passenger-side door of her sedan, sat Eieruu 
down and fastened the seatbelt. She made her way to the driver-side door 
and jumped in. She started the ignition and drove off, driving straight 
through the wooden pike blocking the exit it the parking facility and 
drove straight toward the ocean.

After driving down the road a ways, Shizuka saw police lights flashing 
in her rear-view mirror. "Shit," she said. "It's the police."

"Pull your vehicle over," said a police officer on a megaphone.

"Up yours," said Shizuka as if the police officers were able to hear 
her.

"I repeat, pull your vehicle over."

Shizuka floored the accelerator and continued driving with the police on 
her tail. Shizuka heard frightened sobs coming from her left and saw 
Eieruu crying. "It's going to be okay, Eieruu," she said. "I know you're 
very scared, but I'll get you to the ocean. I promise I will." She put 
her hand on Eieruu's shoulder and said, "Trust me." Eieruu grabbed 
Shizuka's arm and held it tightly.

Down the road, Shizuka saw a police officer standing on the side of the 
road. Before she had time to react, the officer threw something into the 
road and she drove over it. She heard all four of her tired pop as she 
drove over the object. "Shit!" she cried. "It must have been a spike 
strip." Even on bare rims, Shizuka continued driving. The car fishtailed 
wildly without traction, but she still would not stop.

However, it was not long before the sedan could not take any more 
punishment. Sparks were flying from the back wheels and the car could 
not move. Shizuka managed to pull over into a turnout overlooking the 
ocean. She emerged from the vehicle, carrying Eieruu as the police 
emerged from their vehicles and surrounded her. Out from one of the 
vehicles emerged Reito. "I had a feeling you would try something like 
this, Shizuka," said Reito.

"I won't let you take Eieruu back," said Shizuka. "She needs to go back 
to her people."

"Shizuka," said Reito, moving closer to her, "let's make a deal. If you 
give the mermaid back, I'll drop the charges against you. I won't fire 
or demote you, and you won't go to jail. I'll even let you share in the 
fame of our discovery as I had planned all along. It isn't worth it."

Shizuka and Eieruu looked at each other for a moment. Shizuka looked 
over the guardrail to see a 10 meter vertical drop to the ocean. 
"Eieruu," Shizuka said softly, "get ready to swim." All that Eieruu 
could do was nod. The older woman turned back to Reito and said, "You're 
wrong, Reito. In my case, it is worth it." Shizuka held Eieruu tightly 
and dove over the guardrail.

The police and Reito ran to the edge to watch Shizuka and Eieruu fall 
into the ocean below. In the darkness of the night, all that they could 
see was the splash that was made when they impacted the water. "Holy 
shit!" Reito cried. "She actually did it!"

"Can anyone survive a fall from this high?" one of the police officers 
wondered.

"I've seen ten meter dives in the Olympics," said another officer, "but 
only the best athletes can pull off such a dive."

"Fuck!" Reito exclaimed, turning back toward the police vehicles. "The 
greatest discovery in the history of marine biology, and I lost it!"

"The greatest discovery in the history of marine biology?" asked one of 
the officers. "What was?"

"The mermaid," Reito said. The response resulted in a lot of blank 
stares from the officers. "The mermaid that Nakamura-San was carrying."

"She looked like an ordinary girl to me," said an officer.

"It might have been dressed in human girls' clothing, but it was not an 
ordinary girl!" Reito cried. "It was a mermaid!"

"Who could possibly believe that mermaids exist?"

"Others have seen it," Reito claimed. "Ask any of my staff and they will 
tell you what they saw. I've even made video footage of the creature!"

"What your staff says; video footage. You staff could say anything you 
wanted them to. Footage of the mermaid could be forged just as easily. 
It seems to me that this is an attempt simply to gain fame and fortune." 
The officer's words hit Reito like a freight train. Without the mermaid 
itself, he had absolutely no way to prove that the mermaid had ever 
existed at all.

----------

"Shizuka-Chan..." a heavenly yet ghostly voice said. "Shizuka-Chan..." 
the voice repeated.

"Eh?" Shizuka said, her eyes slowly opening. As the sleepy haze lifted, 
Shizuka saw the face of a girl with blue hair and aqua eyes. The girl 
was on top of Shizuka, her hands on either side of her body with a 
fish-like tail in between Shizuka's legs.

"Shizuka-Chan!" the girl cried in happiness, wrapping her arms around 
Shizuka.

"Eieruu?" Shizuka said.

"I was afraid for you," said Eieruu.

"What happened?" asked Shizuka.

"We fell. Hitting the ocean put you to sleep."

"You mean I fell unconscious."

"Yes."

Shizuka sat up to find that they were on a remote beach. "Where are we?" 
she asked.

"An island, south of Tokyo. I think it is called 'Izu Oshima'."

Shizuka's head jerked toward Eieruu. "'Izu Oshima'?" she cried. "How do 
you know how to say that?"

"Some books said, 'Izu Oshima,' in furigana. Because you taught me 
hiragana and katakana, I know to how say, 'Izu Oshima.'"

"You took me all the way here?" Shizuka asked.

"Yes."

"One-hundred-twenty kilometers..." said Shizuka, astounded by how far 
they had traveled.

"How long is a kilometer?" asked Shizuka

"Remember how long a meter is?" Shizuka said, again using her hands to 
measure the length of a meter. "A kilometer is one-thousand meters."

"Is that how far Izu Oshima is from Tokyo?"

"It must be because of your muscular body and streamlined torso that you 
were able to take me all the way here." Shizuka looked around herself. 
The sand was soft beneath her and the salty ocean air blew from the 
wide, open sea before her. "Well Eieruu," she said, "you're free."

"You said that you would get me back to the ocean," said Eieruu, 
wrapping her arms around Shizuka and resting her head on Shizuka's 
shoulder. "Thank you so much. What will happen when you go back to 
Tokyo?"

"I don't think I will go back?"

"Why not?"

"I disobeyed my superiors, so I don't have a job any more. I stole 
aquarium property and resisted the police, which means I'm a criminal. 
There's nothing for me back in Tokyo any more."

"You gave away everything just to set me free?!" Eieruu cried.

"It was worth it," said Shizuka, putting her arm around Eieruu. "I knew 
what I was getting into. And couldn't stand by and do nothing while an 
innocent girl was kept against her will. Even if it meant sacrificing 
everything I worked my life for, I had no choice but to set you free."

Suddenly, without any warning, Eieruu shifted her entire weight onto 
Shizuka, pinning her to the ground. Before Shizuka could react, Eieruu's 
lips her pressed against hers. The girl's lips were like fire on 
Shizuka's.

Shizuka wanted to break the passionate kiss, but her muscles would not 
respond. All that Shizuka could do was close her eyes and tell herself, 
"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real!" Again, Shizuka opened her 
eyes. Eieruu was still on top of her, the mermaid's warm breath on her 
face.

"You said the same thing last night," Eieruu said.

Shizuka's eyes became wider than they already were. "You mean..." she 
stammered, "that--that wasn't a dream either?!"

"No. I did kiss you last night. And I did kiss you just now."

"But--But why?"

"Because I love you."

There was silence between the two women. Shizuka's heart was pounding so 
hard that she thought it would burst. "You--You love me?" Shizuka 
managed to choke out."

"Yes," Eieruu replied. "I never thought that I could love a human, but 
you showed me so much kindness. Other humans captured me and put me in a 
tank. Other humans wanted to make me an attraction, but you wanted to 
save me and you did. There is nothing else that I can do to show you how 
thankful I am."

Eieruu pressed her lips to Shizuka's again. This time, Shizuka did not 
even want to resist. She knew how much she mattered to Eieruu and she 
knew how much Eieruu mattered to her. She wrapped her arms around the 
girl on top of her and returned the passionate kiss, letting Eieruu know 
that she reciprocated her feelings.

Eieruu pulled Shizuka up to a sitting position, but her lips did not 
leave Shizuka's for an instant. With their lips still mingling, Eieruu 
found the zipper on the back of Shizuka's wet suit and pulled it down as 
far as it would go, exposing Shizuka's back down to her waist.

With the back of her wetsuit opened, Shizuka pulled back slightly so 
that Eieruu could peel it off of her arms and away from her front side. 
Pulling away also gave Shizuka a chance to catch her breath after the 
long kiss. Eieruu probably did not need to catch her breath due to the 
fact that her people had gills just behind the ears.

As the wetsuit moved away from Shizuka's body, Eieruu marveled at the 
human's breasts. "My people do not have breasts as big as yours," Eieruu 
said.

"Small breasts make your people swim faster," said Shizuka.

Eieruu reached out and touched Shizuka's breasts. "You're breasts are 
soft," said Eieruu. The mermaid felt Shizuka's breasts a little more 
closely, slightly squeezing them, causing Shizuka to sigh in pleasure. 
"Is that good?" Eieruu asked.

"Yes," Shizuka answered. Eieruu continued caressing Shizuka's breasts, 
eliciting more soft moans from the human.

"Are human nipples just as sensitive as mermaids'?" Eieruu took 
Shizuka's nipples in between her index fingers and thumbs and pinched 
them a little, causing Shizuka to cry out in bliss. "I think they are."

"Eieruu," Shizuka laughed, "are you examining me?"

"Yes," answered Eieruu. "I want to know all about you, Shizuka-Chan. You 
know so much about me. But all that my people have seen of human bodies 
are pictures. This is the first time a mermaid has seen a human this 
close."

"Well, I did examine you," said Shizuka. "I guess it's only fair that 
you be allowed to examine me as well." Shizuka cried out again as Eieruu 
started sucking on her nipples with her mouth. The superhuman heat from 
Eieruu's mouth sent shivers down Shizuka's spine and the human could not 
help but push her chest forward into Eieruu's burning lips.

As Eieruu moved to Shizuka's other nipple, Shizuka knew that she could 
not wait any longer. Her hand fished its way into the crotch of her 
wetsuit and started fingering herself. Shizuka almost screamed at the 
combined stimulation on both her nipples and her vagina. Just then, 
Eieruu moved away from Shizuka's nipples, causing the human to grimace 
in disappointment. "Are you having sex with yourself?" Eieruu asked.

"I can't help it," Shizuka responded.

"I do not want you to have sex with yourself," said Eieruu. "I want you 
to have sex with me." Eieruu grabbed the crotch of Shizuka's wetsuit and 
peeled it off of her legs. Shizuka slowly moved her hand out of the way, 
giving Eieruu the view of what she wanted to see. The mermaid marveled 
at the sight. Shizuka had a neatly shaped triangle of red hair on her 
mound, situated just above a small slit, glistening with Shizuka's 
arousal, and a small extrusion of flesh from the top of the slit. "I 
have never seen a human vagina before."

"It is different from a mermaid's," Shizuka breathed.

"You have hair above your hole."

"Yes, most adult humans have that. But some women like to remove it. I 
only remove a small bit of it on the sides so you can see the vagina."

"Is this the vagina?" Eieruu asked, inserting a finger into Shizuka's 
hole.

"Oh," Shizuka moaned. "Yes, that's it."

"And what is this called?" asked Eieruu, softly touching the small 
extrusion at the top of the vagina.

"Ah!" cried Shizuka. Shizuka could barely speak, Eieruu's ministrations 
felt so good. "That's called the clitoris," Shizuka panted.

"Mermaids have clitorises," Eieruu said. "But they are inside the 
vagina. Mermen can make them come out when they want to have sex. Can 
human males make their clitorises come out also?"

Shizuka would have laughed hysterically were she not panting so much. 
"Human males don't have...clitorises," said Shizuka. "Human males have 
penises. Penises are like clitorises...but they are always on the 
outside. They don't come out from any hole."

"It is dangerous to have penises always on the outside. The water is 
cold and fishes can eat them."

"It would be hard for me...to carry around something as...big as a 
penis."

"I don't like the way penises look. I do not like males. I like only 
females."

"Eieruu, do mermaids use cunnilingus?"

"Do you mean this?" said Eieruu before bringing her mouth to Shizuka's 
vagina.

Shizuka moaned loudly as Eieruu licked up and down the length of her 
slit. "Oh, Eieruu!" she screamed.

"Mm," Eieruu moaned as she slurped up the juices from Shizuka's moist 
vagina.

Shizuka wrapped her legs around Eieruu's body and grabbed her head, 
pushing the mermaid's mouth deep into her mound. The intense heat from 
Eieruu's mouth made Shizuka come so fast that the human did not know 
what hit her. Shizuka screamed in ecstasy and her body trembled as 
Eieruu continued thrusting her tongue in and out of Shizuka's 
spasmodically contracting vagina.

When her orgasm ended, Shizuka was spent. She released her grip on 
Eieruu and collapsed onto the sand beneath her, panting heavily. Eieruu 
climbed up on top of Shizuka and kissed her again. Shizuka managed to 
wrap her arms around the smaller girl and kiss her back. After several 
moments of simply enjoying the kiss, Eieruu broke and the two women 
looked into each other's faces. Shizuka could see Eieruu's gills 
flapping. Even though Shizuka knew that it was simply because Eieruu was 
out of breath from not being able to breath through her mouth, she still 
thought that the action was cute.

"So that is what a human orgasm is like," Eieruu said.

"You seem to know...a lot about...the words that humans use...for sexual 
terms."

"We found books not long ago about human sexuality. They did not say a 
lot about the sexual organs, but it said what an orgasm was. I did not 
know that humans came so quickly."

"Humans usually don't come that quickly. Before now, the shortest time 
before I came from five minutes."

"How long is a minute?"

"A minute is sixty seconds. A second is like this:" Shizuka then said in 
1-second intervals, "Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick."

"A minute is sixty seconds, humans come in five minutes..." Eieruu 
thought for a moment. "That's about as long as it takes mermaids to come 
also. And the shaking that humans make when they come, mermaids do the 
same thing."

"If you don't mind, Eieruu, I would like to test that myself." Shizuka 
sat up and turned Eieruu around so that she was sitting on Shizuka's 
lap. Shizuka kissed the back of Eieruu's neck and wrapped her arms 
around the mermaid, fondling Eieruu's small but perfectly shaped breasts 
in her hands. Eieruu sighed in pleasure as Shizuka stimulated the soft 
mounds of her chest. Eieruu's nipples were erect and the girl moaned in 
bliss every time Shizuka pinches them in between her index fingers and 
thumbs.

After several moment of letting Shizuka play with her breasts, Eieruu 
said, "Let's move to the water. Mermaids do not make water in their 
vaginas when they have sex." Shizuka realized that because mermaids 
spent all of their time in the water, they never evolved to produce 
natural lubrication during mating. Shizuka picked up Eieruu and carried 
her to a shallow place in the ocean where she could sit Eieruu on her 
lap again and started moving her hand down Eieruu's body. The human 
loved the feeling of how warm and smooth Eieruu's abdomen was. The 
mermaid's stomach was very flat and Shizuka could feel the rigidity of 
Eieruu's abdominal muscles. Unlike other marine animals with mammalian 
characteristics, Eieruu did not seem to have much fat on her. Her people 
obviously made up for the lack of blubber with their body temperature of 
39.1° Celsius.

Shizuka's hand found its way to Eieruu's opening and felt around the 
edges of the slit. "This is not exactly a vagina, is it?" Shizuka asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Eieruu.

"Well, human males have two openings and females have three. Two are 
used for evacuating waste and one is used for having sex. You have only 
one opening. Is it used for both sex and evacuation?"

"Yes. All mermaids have only one opening. But I already evacuated before 
we got to Izu Oshima. So you don't have to worry about that."

"I would not have minded anyway." Shizuka continued kissing Eieruu's 
neck and stuck a finger into Eieruu's opening, causing the younger girl 
to sigh in pleasure. Shizuka quickly found a ridge on the front wall of 
the opening, running from the mouth and up into the body. Stroking the 
ridge elicited loud moans from Eieruu's mouth and Shizuka realized that 
the ridge was the mermaid equivalent of the human clitoris. She 
continued stroking the organ, making Eieruu continue to moan.

Eieruu's gills started flapping as Shizuka continued moving her finger 
in and out of the mermaid's folds. Eieruu always moaned, "Mma," when the 
gills opened, and the gills closed as she inhaled. It was very fish-like 
of Eieruu to breathe that way because Shizuka knew that fishes always 
took in water by opening their mouths and then closed their mouths and 
expelled the water through their gills, which allowed them to absorb 
oxygen. Shizuka found the flapping of Eieruu's gills cute and continued 
to stimulate the mermaid's clitoral ridge.

"Shizuka-Chan," Eieruu moaned. "It feels so good." Eieruu began rocking 
her body back and forth in time to Shizuka's thrusting fingers, 
increasing the contact against her clitoral shaft. Shizuka knew that 
Eieruu was getting close and decided to try something new. She brought 
the hand that was on Eieruu's breast down to where her other hand was 
working Eieruu's slit and inserted another finger. Instead of joining 
the finger that was rubbing the ridge, Shizuka moved her other finger 
toward the back wall of Eieruu's canal. She moved the finger around a 
bit and found a small hole that felt almost like a closed valve. She 
touched the closed hole and she felt Eieruu's body twitch slightly. "Oh, 
what are you doing?" Eieruu asked. "I sometimes like to be penetrated in 
my anus," Shizuka said. "Since your opening is used for both sex and 
evacuation, maybe there's something similar to an anus inside there." 
Shizuka pressed against the closed hole and her finger started going in. 
Eieruu cried out in bliss and started humping Shizuka's hands. "I think 
that's it," the woman said as she continued working the tight entrance.

"Shizuka-Chan! Shizuka-Chan!" Eieruu cried in ecstasy.

"It's okay," said Shizuka. "You can come, Eieruu. Go ahead, let it out."

"Shizuka-CHAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" Eieruu's gills opened wide and she let out 
a loud scream of ecstasy. Her body shook and her tail splashed about it 
the water. Shizuka could feel water being sucked in and out of Eieruu's 
hole, which was contracting powerfully around her fingers. What Eieruu 
had said was true; mermaids orgasmed in much the same way humans did.

As Eieruu came down from her orgasm and Shizuka removed her fingers from 
her opening, Eieruu turned herself around and faced Shizuka. The two 
women wrapped their arms around each other and kissed. Eieruu's tongue 
entered Shizuka's mouth and Shizuka reciprocated. Eieruu's gills were 
still flapping as she tried to catch her breath.

"That was amazing, Shizuka-Chan," Eieruu panted. "I've never been 
penetrated in that other hole. It felt so good."

"I'm so happy that I could make you feel good, Eieruu."

"Shizuka-Chan, you freed me from the aquarium, and you are the only 
human that ever cared about my feelings. Thank you for everything, 
Shizuka-Chan."

"I love you, Eieruu."

"I love you too." The two of them kissed and drifted off to sleep in 
each other's arms.

----------

Shizuka woke up feeling more rested that she had in a long time. As she 
came to her senses, she remembered the events that had occurred the 
night before. She looked around for Eieruu to find her jumping into the 
air from the water like a dolphin. Shizuka could not help but smile at 
seeing the young mermaid playing in her watery home like she used to 
before she was caught. "Eieruu," she said.

Eieruu turned to see Shizuka looking at her and smiled. "Good morning, 
Shizuka-Chan," she said.

"That looks like fun."

"It is because of you that I can play in the ocean again." Eieruu swam 
toward Shizuka and beached herself in front of the human. "Where will 
you go now?" asked the mermaid.

"Well I can't go back to Tokyo. At least not for very long. Maybe I'll 
go to Autralia or America. I'll find a job somewhere. There are plenty 
of other aquariums that need marine biologists like me."

"I will never forget you, Shizuka-Chan," Eieruu said, holding Shizuka's 
hands in her own.

"I will not forget you either, Eieruu," said Shizuka, kissing the hands 
that were holding hers.

"I hope to see you again some day."

"I'll come back to Izu Oshima some time in the future. I will need 
enough time to find a home and a job. It should probably not take more 
than three months. I will be waiting here on this beach ninety days from 
now."

"Ninety days is a long time."

"I know it is, Eieruu. But when I return, I can tell you where I've 
found a new home for myself. It will be a remote place by the beach 
where nobody has to learn about you. When that happens, you can visit me 
as often as you want."

Eieruu smiled and said, "I would like that." Eieruu kissed Shizuka's 
lips one last time before turning around and swimming into deeper water. 
"Iyowa, Shizuka-Chan," she called back.

"I-YO-WA?" Shizuka asked.

"It is my people's word for 'Thank you'."

"How do you say, 'You're welcome," in your language?"

"'Enariai'," Eieruu responded.

"E-NA-RI-A-I?" Shizuka asked.

"Yes," Eieruu replied. "Iyowa, Shizuka-Chan."

"Enariai, Eieruu."

"I will see you in ninety days."

"I look forward to it." Eieruu jumped up from the water one last time 
before diving into the waves.

Shizuka looked out at the ocean for a long time where Eieruu had 
disappeared into the water. Tears streamed from the woman's eyes, 
saddened that the beautiful mermaid was gone. But she knew that she 
would see Eieruu again. If she wanted to return to Izu Oshima, Shizuka 
knew that she needed to find a job somewhere. She got back into her 
wetsuit and started walking north. She knew that she would find a resort 
somewhere where should could catch a boat back to Hokkaido. She would 
quickly go home, collect her belongings, catch a flight to somewhere in 
Australia, and create a new life for herself, all the while looking 
forward to the day that she would see Eieruu again.

The end.

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