Asri softly groaned as she blinked awake, the sunlight shining into her eyes through the water. As she woke up, Asri became aware of something warm pressing against her back, side, and tail. 

Asri raised her head and turned it to find Alberto cuddling into her. His head was resting on the slight dip in her waist, his arms were wrapped around her hips, and his tail was curled once around Asri's. 

She blushed a bit as she lightly smiled, pushing herself up onto her elbow. Alberto did NOT like the sudden movement, and showed his displeasure by holding on tighter to Asri's hips and rubbing his face against Asri's side while giving a displeased grunt. 

Asri chuckled a bit, the vibrations making Alberto wake up. He hummed a bit as he let his chin rest on Asri's side. 

"Heh, good morning to you too. Come on, we gotta get your new collections up to your place" Asri said. 

Alberto made no signs to move, so Asri took matters into her own hands. With a bit of difficulty, she was able to get Alberto off of her. 

He automatically flipped into his back and assumed the most dramatically devastated pose Asri had ever seen. 

"Whyyyy won't you love meeee?!" Alberto whined. 

Asri sighed and shook her head. 

"Come on, let's go. A good swim and some food will do you some good" she said with a smile...

"Come on Asri! You slow ass fish! And I thought I was the lazy one this morning!" Alberto laughed. 

Asri rolled her eyes. 

"Oh just you wait mister!" She said to herself. 

She glanced up when Alberto suddenly stopped. It looked like he was watching something. 

"What is it?" Asri asked as she swam up to him. 

Alberto nodded towards something in front of him. There was Luca, who was trying to go up to the surface, but at the same time, it looked like he was also holding himself back. 

After he finally gave up, Alberto decided to reveal his and Asri's presence. 

"Wow. That was hard to watch" he said, making Luca spin around to face them. 

Asri gave her brother a comforting smile as she swam up to him. 

"Here, now come on" she said, handing off some of the things she was holding to Luca before swimming out of the ocean. 

Luca looked at Alberto uncertainly as he passed by, and the purple sea monster beckoned with his head before following Asri. Luca took a deep breath and left it out before he poked his head out of the water. 

He watched as Asri and the other sea monster walked up onto land. They both shook their bodies a bit to fling off the water, and the two turned into humans. 

Luca tried to walk onto land, but the weight of the things Asri had him carry proved to be a bit too much for him, so he ended up on his stomach. After getting himself on all fours, Luca watched as his scales and fins changed into human skin. 

"Whoa" he said before realizing something. 

"It still feels like it's there" he said, grabbing at where his tail once was. 

"Yeah, it's called Phantom Tail. You get used to it" said the boy beside Asri, who was now examining a small telescope. 

"Aw, that's cool!" She said once she realized she could see things up close through the object. 

She turned around towards Luca when he started flopping on the ground. She then slapped her forehead after a moment of confusion. 

"Right! Walking! Forgot about that" she said. 

"Well, your in luck. I basically invented it" said Alberto. 

Which earned him a strange look from Asri. 

"You did?" She asked as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. 

"Uh, yeah" Alberto deadpanned at her before turning his attention back to Luca. 

"So, to start, your gonna wanna stack everything up one on top of the other, like a pile of rocks" he said. 

Luca managed to get himself into a standing position, though he stumbled a bit, which Asri and Alberto let slide. 

"Viola, your now standing" said the female sea monster in disguise.

"Great! I mean, fine, whatever. Now, walking is just like swimming. But without fins. Or a tail. Also there's no water" Alberto said. 

"But otherwise, it's exactly the same" Asri cut in, giving Alberto another look before she turned her attention to her brother. 

"Well, give it a try" Alberto said. 

Luca, due to have been swimming all his life, did the same swimming motions that he was used to, but ended up falling flat on his stomach. 

"Nope, that's not it. Try again" Alberto said. 

Luca picked himself up, and this time, Alberto tried to give some advice. 

"Try to lead with your head...no, more stomach" 

Luca ended up falling onto his back. Asri bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from giggling, though a small smile did start to makes it's way to her lips. 

"That's, that's laying on the ground" she heard Alberto say as he tapped his chin in thought. 

He suddenly whirled around. 

"Okay, how about this. Just take a step without even thinking about it. Nonononono, DON'T think about it" he said while sitting down on a rock. 

"I don't know how to not think about something!" Luca argued, which made Alberto groan a bit in slight frustration. 

Asri put a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her. 

"How about you let me give this a try?" she said to him before walking over to her brother. 

"Alright, watch me. Point your feet to wherever it is that you want to go, and then just, catch yourself, before you fall" Asri said as she gave a physical demonstration to go with her words, walking in a circle around Luca. 

The young boy then angled his feet to where he wanted to go. 

"Yeah, there we go" Asri said as she went behind him. 

She gave Luca a light push forward, making him stumble. But, Luca caught himself each time he stumbled forward. 

He let out a little happy chuckle as he started walking, which quickly turned into a normal stride as he kept going. 

"Good, good, yes, yes!" Alberto cheered, getting louder with each word. 

"Ha! I'm doing it!" Luca said happily before he came to a stop. 

"I knew you could do it little brother" Asri said happily. 

"Yeah, not bad kid" Alberto said as he walked over to the two. 

Asri suddenly gasped. 

"What?" Alberto and Luca said at the same time, making the two look at each other for a moment before they turned their attention back to the female. 

"I just realized you two haven't introduced yourselves to each other yet!" Asri said. 

"Oh yeah! Whoops. Alberto Scorfano" Alberto said before holding out his hand to Luca. 

"Luca Paguro. Asri's little brother" Luca said as he put his hand on Alberto's. 

"Piacere, girolamo trombetta! It's a human thing. I'm kind of an expert" Alberto said as he did a weird handshake. 

"What does it mean? The thing you just said?" Luca asked while Alberto seemed to stare off into space, biting his bottom lip a bit. 

"Come on! I'll show you some more stuff!" Alberto finally said, completely ignoring the questions as he wrapped an arm around Luca's shoulders, guiding the boy off somewhere. 

Asri waited until they were out of earshot to start laughing, clutching her stomach as she did so. Once she calmed down, she picked up some things the boys had left behind, and then hurried to catch up to them...