You hate going near the vent.
Sure, it’s warmer than your home, but so is the surface! Why would anyone go so deep into the ocean just to get to the vent, when you can go up instead, and splash around near the air, where it’s not dark and oppressive and creepy and now also eerily warm? Because you need some ingredients for Momoe, it turns out, is why. You asked if you could just get a regular crab (“Aren’t they s-similar…?” “They may be similar, but they are not the same. Do you or don’t you want human legs?! Do you want them to have extra toes, or not enough toes, or to have no hair, or a shell? What about if they’re orange or blue instead of leg-colored? No? Get me a kiwa.”) You shudder. Momoe is really scary when she’s mad. Luckily, you recently met Tajima Yuuichirou, and nothing in the entire ocean scares him. You wanted to tell him the whole story right away, because Tajima has always been honest with you in the short time you’ve known him and you’re a terrible liar and Tajima is not stupid, but Kanou convinced you not to, for now. So all he knows is you want some little white hairy-looking lobster-like creatures from near the vent, and he was overjoyed to go with you and help you get them, and didn’t ask any questions about it. You are very thankful for Tajima and his willingness to explore all the deep, dark corners of the ocean. “Hey, look, Ren! Is this it?” Tajima asks, pointing at a tiny, white crab scuttling along the ocean floor. “N-no, not that one. It h-has… um, a tail, and, bigger claws.” “Ooh, bigger claws? Cool! Hey, what do you want one for, anyway?” “Uhhhh,” you say, and stammer, and point, and try desperately to think of a reason you might want a tiny crustacean that would be remotely believable. “Oh look, Mihashi, this seaweed is super weird, I’ve never seen any like it, it’s not green! I’m grabbing some of this to show Azusa,” Tajima says, excited, and yanks some seaweed free to shove into the small bag tied around his tail, and you deflate in relief. Tajima Yuuichirou is also, thank Poseidon, very easily distracted. But Tajima’s excitement about plants gets you thinking, and you realize that the seaweed does look weird, and it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before, either, and you never would have, if it weren’t for Momoe. You’ve never been to this vent before, ever, or seen all the things living here, and you realize that it’s not quite as creepy or weird as you’d built it up to be in your head. By the time you and Tajima leave, you’d almost forgotten the reason you were even there, because you’d been so distracted by all the wonders of the ocean around you. It occurs to you, then, that there are a lot of places in the ocean you haven’t seen, and you’ll never be able to if you suddenly have legs and can no longer breathe under water. But there are probably lots of interesting places on land, too, right? And you’ll get to see those with Abe. |
As you swim home with Tajima, you realize you’re a little more tired than usual, and something about the water feels different, and when you look at your hands, you realize the thin webbing that used to connect your fingers is gone.
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