Before leaving the underwater cave, Hasegawa Yu was still a little worried. "Brother Ling, do you have a fear of the deep sea or something? If you really can't help it, you can close your eyes."

"No need," Furuya Rei insisted. "I can accept creatures from the sea."

Hasegawa Yu tentatively suggested, "If you don't mind, Rei-san, I'd like to catch an anglerfish for you."

At least there is some brightness.

Since there is no light in the deep sea, except for the mermaids, all other fish are free to move freely, and their appearances are strange and weird, which can easily scare humans.

Hasegawa Yuu was worried, "Unfortunately, most bioluminescent jellyfish live in shallow waters."

At least jellyfish are more beautiful in the eyes of humans.

"Isn't Xiaoyou by my side?"

Fūya Rei's brow twitched, signaling to the mermaid that he, a human, wasn't that fragile. "Xiaoyou's... fish tail is a light source to me. That's enough."

“…it’s beautiful.”

"Oh, yeah."

Hasegawa Yu, who never stuttered when someone complimented his looks, looked away, placed his hands on the transparent bubble, and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Rei-san. I'll take Rei-san with me now~"

Although the vision was not very clear, at such a distance, Fūya Rei could still see the slightly uncomfortable posture of the orange-haired mermaid.

It's rare to see Xiaoyou shy.

He was surprised that one had to praise the tail.

Fūya Rei averted his gaze and pretended not to notice.

The transparent bubble blocked a series of problems caused by the pressure on the seabed. Without any worries, Hasegawa Yu pushed the bubble, swung his tail, and swam upstream quickly.

There was no conversation along the way, and soon Hasegawa Yu led his men to the shallow sea area near Tokyo Port.

He stopped behind a reef, "Brother Ling, I'm going to pop the bubble."

"Um."

The next second, the transparent bubble disappeared, and the blond, dark-skinned man fell into the sea. His originally dry clothes were instantly soaked by sea water.

After stabilizing his body in the sea, Furuya Ling couldn't help but feel lucky that he could swim. "Xiaoyou, wait for me here, I..."

He estimated the fastest time he could return, "...it will probably take about two hours to pick you up."

Hasegawa Yu nodded obediently.

It had just rained in Tokyo, so the night sky was starless and moonless. The only light on the dark streets came from the aging, flickering street lamps and a few shops along the street.

Compared to Yokohama Port, where official rescue workers were still finishing up their work and members of the organization were secretly searching, Tokyo Port, where nothing happened today, was much quieter. In the early hours of the morning, when port operations had long ceased, there was no sign of anyone.

Well... except for a certain human who is so bright that he almost blends into the night.

After successfully returning within two hours, Furuya Rei stepped onto the reef where he had separated from the mermaid. After confirming that there was no one around, he called out, "Xiaoyou?"

A few seconds after the words fell, ripples appeared on the calm sea surface. Then, a mermaid with long orange hair broke out of the water and jumped onto the reef, "Brother Ling~"

Fūya Rei's eyes moved slightly.

Unlike when they were in the deep sea where visibility was extremely low, at this moment, Rei Furuya was able to see Hasegawa Yu's appearance more clearly.

The long orange hair, which had been soaked in sea water but miraculously retained its fluffy texture, drooped obediently behind Hasegawa Yuu, with the ends slightly curled, and as it swayed, it looked as if golden threads were flowing through it;

Because she was not wearing a shirt, every muscle line of her body was perfectly shaped. It was a feast for the eyes to describe her body as beautiful.

The line of sight extends from Hasegawa Yu's mermaid line at her waist down to her fishtail, the same color as her hair, also exposed to the air. The scales on her tail fit tightly together, each one perfectly round, small, and adorable. In the night, they seem to emit a lustrous glow, making it impossible to look away.

"Brother Ling, did you contact Brother Jingguang and the others just now?"

After sitting down on the reef, Hasegawa Yu asked, "They asked us where we are."

Fūya Rei blinked slowly, silently soaked the large towels hanging in his arms with sea water, and wrapped them around the mermaid tightly, leaving no skin or tail exposed.

He cooperated subconsciously, but in the blink of an eye, he was wrapped like a mermaid. Hasegawa Yu: "?"

After doing all this, Furuya Ling said, "I've told them I'm safe."

It's just empty reporting.

The organization has not been able to find any clues about the person who attacked Gin, which proves that the situation is not serious for the time being.

There is no problem at the moment = no need to rush to contact us.

In that case, he will definitely give priority to Xiaoyou's affairs, Fūya Ling thought without any guilt.

"What did Xiaoyou tell them?"

"I haven't returned yet." Hasegawa Yu confessed honestly.

While speaking, he tried to free his arms from the towel, "Hey."

Rescue successful!

Fūya Rei took the opportunity to put a long coat on the mermaid who stretched out her arms, and took out an empty spray bottle from his pocket. He squatted down and filled it with sea water.

"Xiaoyou said she was with me, so just report that she was safe. Let them ask me about the rest, and I'll be responsible for coming up with excuses."

Seeing the blond man's actions, Hasegawa Yu was amazed at how Rei had prepared everything in such a short time. He blinked and said, "Okay~"

He thought for a moment and said, "It's okay for my fish tail to be out of the sea for a while, as long as I'm not short of water and the environment isn't too dry."

"With a humidifier nearby, sleeping in bed at night is no problem!"

Hearing this, Furuya Rei paused for a moment, screwed on the cap of the spray bottle filled with seawater, and put it into the mermaid's hand. "Okay, got it."

He leaned over, picked up the mermaid and walked to the shore. "I happen to have two humidifiers at home."

"That's enough."

Hasegawa Yu, who had been held like this when her foot was injured, naturally put her hand on the blond man's shoulder and suddenly let out an "ah".

Thinking something was wrong with the mermaid, Furuya Rei stopped and asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell?"

“You can use a wheelchair!”

Hasegawa Yuu realized this belatedly, "Electric wheelchairs are very convenient nowadays. Why didn't I think of this when I injured my foot?"

"..." Furuya Rei started walking again, not knowing how to comment on his extremely long reaction time.

Finally, the blond, dark-skinned man chimed in, "Indeed, we never expected that."

This overly calm tone made Hasegawa Yu look at him suspiciously.

"It was late, and the businesses that could rent wheelchairs had closed early in the morning."

Fūya Rei remained calm and collected, "If Xiaoyou wants it this time, I'll go borrow it tomorrow?"

Thinking that even in a wheelchair, she couldn't go out in her mermaid form, and that it was only for two or three days, Hasegawa Yu refused, "Don't bother."

Jianggu Ling: "Okay."

More than forty minutes later, the man and the fish avoided everyone and returned to Furuya Rei's apartment safely.

After letting Furuya Rei put him on the bed, Hasegawa Yu urged him to take a shower and change clothes, "Brother Rei, don't catch a cold."

He turned on two humidifiers, took a bottle of mineral water, inserted a straw into the bottle cap and placed it on the bedside table. Without worrying about catching a cold at all, Jiang Gu Ling went to take a shower leisurely.

Hasegawa Yu, who stayed in the room, untied the bath towel tightly wrapped around the fishtail and simply covered the fishtail instead.

After the whole fish relaxed, he yawned.

Seeing this, Noah's Ark couldn't help but remind the mermaid to be wary of Bourbon's ill intentions. [Little one, go to sleep. Good night.]

Hasegawa Yu, who had been tense all day, began to droop his eyelids. "Good night, Noah. Say good night to Zero for me too."

When Rei Fūya came out of the shower, the air in the bedroom had become much more humid thanks to the combined efforts of two humidifiers, which was just right for the orange-haired mermaid on the bed to fall into a deep sleep.

"Xiaoyou asked me to say goodnight to you."

Noah's Ark spoke through his cell phone, secretly indicating that he was still there.

“…”

Standing by the bed, Fōtani Ling, who really wanted to touch the fish's tail for a second, coughed lightly a few times, wet the bath towel for the mermaid a little more, and then left the room.

He returned to his bedroom, ignoring his previous thoughts, and asked the business smoothly, "Do you remember the contents of the contract, Noah?"

When the man and the fish were talking on the seabed, Noah's Ark was naturally listening in on the whole conversation.

I never expected that this black-hearted human being would be an undercover police officer!

"I don't."

Suppressing his dissatisfaction with the black-hearted humans, Noah's Ark spoke calmly from his phone, "My memory is synchronized with Xiaoyou's."

Fūya Rei raised his eyebrows. It was a rare opportunity to communicate calmly with artificial intelligence. When he wanted to say something else, his cell phone rang.

"It's Scotland." Noah's Ark retreated decisively. "You two can chat slowly."

Fūya Rei couldn't help but glance at the time. It was 2:24 in the morning.

"Hiro, aren't you going to sleep?"

"Because I thought you weren't asleep either."

Zhu Fujingguang called in the middle of the night and said with a hint of meaning, "Is this okay to disturb Zero?"

"Of course not." Furuya Rei's eyes wandered, "What's the matter, Hiro?"

Zhu Fujingguang: "I should be the one asking you this. What are you and Xiaoyou hiding from us?"

"secret."

Furuya Rei's voice rose slightly at the end of his voice. "Anyway, we're doing fine. I can still go to work at the National Diet tomorrow."

Unfortunately, in order to avoid arousing the organization's suspicion, he could not ask for leave.

"Hagiwara and Matsuda don't know Zero's real address, but I do."

Zhu Fu Jingguang changed the subject and said, "Do you mind if I come to visit Xiaoyou?"

The bad thing about dating from childhood is that there are basically not many secrets that can be hidden between each other.

Thinking of the mermaid in the bedroom, Furuya Rei's tone remained unchanged, "If Xiaoyou agrees, I have no objection."

Zhu Fujingguang on the other end of the phone seemed to be thinking about something.

The next day, after getting enough sleep and feeling full of energy, Hasegawa Yu decisively rejected Morobushi Kagemitsu's request to visit him.

He held his phone and typed: Brother Jingguang, you really don’t have to come. I’m in great shape and will be able to go back in two or three days!

Fathead fish patting chest.jpg

【Zhufushi Kagemitsu: All right.】

Guiltily replying to this sentence with another fathead fish emoji, Hasegawa Yu put down his phone, picked up the washed strawberry on the plate in front of him and took a bite, "So sweet, brother Ling wants to eat too~"

"By the way, what did Brother Ling want to tell me?"

Wearing a mouse-gray suit, Furuya Rei said seriously, "I was thinking about how to repay Xiaoyou for saving my life."

He slowly picked up a strawberry and said, "As the saying goes, if someone saves your life, you should repay them with your own life."

Hasegawa Yu, who didn't think much about this, quickly waved his hand and said, "No need, Brother Ling. Isn't this a very normal thing? If it were Brother Ling, he would also choose to save people."

Fūya Rei's purple-gray eyes flickered as he casually took a bite of the tip of a strawberry. "But I still want to do something for Xiaoyou."

Thanks to his habit of looking at others during conversations, Hasegawa Yu clearly saw the blond man bite a ripe strawberry between his white teeth, and his soft and flexible tongue appeared and disappeared between his lips and teeth, putting the strawberry flesh into his mouth to chew.

After chewing, the blond man's lips, stained with a little strawberry juice, opened and closed, "Hmm, the strawberries are indeed very sweet."

Hasegawa Yu was stunned for a moment, and responded slowly, "Then, then Brother Zero, just help me keep the mermaid's secret."

Something seems a little strange.

He subconsciously took a bite of the strawberry.

Um, but strawberries are really sweet.