Hakuba gasped as he saw the struggling Kaito underwater. Something was holding onto him but he couldn't quite make out what it was.
"Kuroba-kun!" he mouthed but suddenly the boy in front of him jerked and was pulled further, deeper, away from him and the surface. A long and blue tail was one thing Hakuba could make out before the creature was gone, together with Kuroba.

Hakuba swam back to the surface and shot up with a gasp for air, head turning towards Aoko.
"Something caught Kuroba-kun! He gets dragged further into the sea!"
Aoko shrieked and wanted to step into the floods but Hakuba stopped her.
"Don't! What if there are others?!"
Aoko froze on the spot and distanced herself from the water while Hakuba slowly followed behind.
"I... I-I can't dive this deep," he admitted quietly and lowered his gaze onto the golden sand.
"Kuroba-kun... is gone..."

***

Kaito sat up, coughing out water and gasping for air. The surface was hard and uncomfortable, the air smelled moldy and he heard the noise of water around him. His eyesight cleared soon enough and Kaito stared right into the face of the merman he had seen before.
"Kaito. Kuroba Kaito," he repeated with a monotonous voice. Kaito kept on staring. Then it hit him, all of a sudden.
"...Shinichi...? Shin-chan...?" he asked, unable to believe his eyes.
The boy started to smile the brighest smile he had ever seen and made an acknowledging click with his tongue which Kaito had seen him doing quite a lot when he talked with dolphins.
"Kaito... Kaito... Where were you? Why didn't you visit me anymore? All those years... I-I waited, Kaito. I waited every summer." His voice sounded bitter and Kaito swallowed, eyes fixated onto the bright blue tail moving left and right behind the boy. This was the tiny boy he used to play with, the tiny merman he came to love every single day.
How... how could he just forget him?

"I... I'm sorry, Shin-chan."
Kaito slid slowly into the shallow water Shinichi laid inside and sat down there. His Shinichi made a purring noise in the back of his throat as he nuzzled up against Kaito's chin, finny ears tickling gently his chest and Kaito chuckled, finally taking in his surroundings. A cave. Underwater? Kaito didn't know but he liked it, in a way.
"I almost drowned," he finally said, nose scrunching up, "And you probably scared the living daylights outta Hakuba and Aoko."
"Hakuba? Aoko?" Shinichi repeated slowly, tilting his head in the process, "That blond human who dived after you?"
"He dived after me?" Kaito parroted with surprise obvious in his tone. Honestly, he hadn't awaited Hakuba to actually notice him. For a while, a consented silence lasted on the pair.

"...I have to go back, Shin-chan."
Shinichi sat up, frowning.
"No."
"Aoko is- what?" Kaito cut himself off, surprise sprawled all over his face. What?
"I said no. I-I won't let you go again."
Kaito stared at the merman in utter disbelief. He couldn't be serious, could he?
"Shin-chan I have to go. I can't stay with you. I'm a human."
"But who guarantees me you'll visit me again? K-Kaito, I..." Shinichi lowered his head, voice cracking slightly, "I-I don't want to loose you again."
For a second, Kaito was quiet, something very unnatural for the hyperactive magician. He looked down onto the trembling and insecure merman, not sure what to answer on this. He had never known how painful this all was for Shinichi. Kaito didn't like to know he hurted his merman.
Finally, he decided what to do. In a graceful movement Kaito produced a sparkling piece of coral in his hand and tucked it behind Shinichi's ear with a sweet smile.
"Don't worry Shin-chan. I promise you I'll come back. Just a few weeks... and then I'll move close to the beach to be able to spend every day with you. I promise."
Shinichi smiled sadly, thin lips giving away the tips of his sharp teeth.
"What about your dreams as a stage magician...? N-no, I... I will wait for you. But then... I'm going to join you."

Kaito opened his mouth to protest but Shinichi placed a tiny peek onto his lips and promptly silenced him. How amusing, he should remember this way to shut the cheeky human up.
"Kaito, I know I won't be able to live without you anymore. But... other than you, the life inside the sea never really piqued my interest. I can visit my friends someday... But I'd love to join you on tours and performances. A life in one of those tanks or bathtubs can't be worse than staying here without you."
Kaito needed a moment to recover his voice but after a second his lips curled up into a similar toothy smile.
"Then that's a deal. I'll finish school in a few weeks and then I'll come to get you."
"Deal. But don't you dare forgetting me again."
"Never," Kaito murmured, lips capturing Shinichi's again, "Never in my entire life again..."

Shinichi led Kaito back out of the cave and showed him the way back to the spot the magician and his friends had occupied the entire time. Kaito was glad to see both Aoko and Hakuba were still there, however, Aoko was crying and Hakuba was packing everything together again. Not quite surprising for the prankster. With an evil smirk, Kaito slowly turned around to Shinichi who met his eyes with the same devilish sparkle.

Hakuba narrowed his eyebrows as he saw something lurking within the waters. Gasping, he dropped the bag and freaked out Aoko who instinctively stopped crying and turned her head into the direction Hakuba was staring into.
Slowly, a brunet mop of hair was visible within the water and soon after, a face and neck followed. Kuroba Kaito was dragging himself slowly out of the ocean, obviously exhausted (he hadn't even needed to act for that) and smiled as he saw the dumbfounded expressions of his friends.
Aoko was the first one who returned to reality.
"BAKAITO!!" she screamed, already on her way to tackle her childhood friend into the sand. Kaito snickered and wrapped his arms around her, earning another squeak, "EEEK you're cold!! Y-you have to warm up!"
"Kuroba-kun..." Hakuba finally breathed out and joined the two. He wasn't a fan of hugs but he was generous enough to help Kaito up again.
"I-I thought you are dead!" Aoko sobbed and clung onto Kaito's arm as if it had been her life on the line while Hakuba's golden eyes inspected the magician for any wounds, "What happened?"

Kaito smiled mysteriously and closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the warm sunrays on his skin and the sweet whispers of the ocean behind him.
"Oh... I just remembered what made this beach so special." This earned him two mildly angry reactions.
"You almost died, Bakaito!!!"
"Kuroba-kun, you cannot be serious!"
Kaito raised laughing his hands in defeat and skipped past them to the packed bags to fish out his towel and lay down on it to enjoy the sun.
"Sorry. But some things rather stay secret. Perhaps someday you'll get to know."
No matter how much Aoko and Hakuba drilled for information, Kaito kept his silence and flashed from time to time a glance to the sparkling ocean where he could just barely make out a small tip of a large fin poking out.

Suddenly, fish didn't disturb Kaito any longer, much to Aoko's disappointment.