Under the stars is the sparkling, heart pounding sound of the "sea beat"

Chapter 1

                  New(?) Discovery
         ____________________________

  "e ...llo?… Wake up!"

  Kasumi's eyes fluttered open.

  Huh… I was having that weird dream again, she thought as she slowly checked her surroundings. Looks like I'm in a cave... 

  The next thing that she noticed was another face above her own. She had blonde curly hair that was adorned with pearls and a weirdly shaped hair pin that looked like half a star. Then, Kasumi's eyes went further down and felt her cheeks flush red-hot. 

  The other girl noticed what Kasumi was staring at and quickly moved away, embarrassed. " Quit staring at me like that! " 

  Kasumi quickly sat up right, still red in the face. " S-sorry… I… Thanks for saving me. The storm was really bad last night…" She then realised something, no, a few things. 

  "How did you save me? The storm-Wait, when did you- it was… where are we? What time is it… ah! Where's Aa-chan? Who-

  "Slow down! I can't answer all of that at once!" The other girl yelled in exasperation. "Sheesh… So I was swimming around and then I saw you in the water-

  "But wasn't it really stormy last night? Like,how-

  "Could you just listen? Hmph. Look, you see this?" The blonde girl pointed to her tail half out of the water. "I am a-

  " Mermaid!!!" Kasumi shouted while pointing at her light pink tail.

  " Stop interrupting me!" The other girl was getting annoyed. She took a deep breath and attempted to regain her composure. "Yes, mermaids exist. But you must absolutely not tell anyone that! I saved you and brought you to this cave. Any other questions? And mind you, one at a time!"

  Kasumi felt compelled to answer but her thoughts mainly consisted of bewilderment at a mermaid casually sitting next to her. 

  When Kasumi was young, she liked to venture out to the ocean. There was one occasion that she found herself passed out on the beach with vague memories of a dream she never had. After explaining it with wide eyes to her sister, Asuka, she merely dismissed it as a dream. Telling others about her "dream" only brought shame and trouble. Thus, Kasumi never talked about meeting a mermaid again.

  Now she can finally prove them all wrong! "Umm, so.. are there others? Like one with blonde hair that was tied up like yours?" Kasumi turned to face the mermaid.

  " There are others, heck, one entire ocean filled with them. So there's a likely chance that there is another mermaid that looks like me. Why did you ask?" She replied, curious about Kasumi's sudden question. 

  Kasumi was ecstatic that she asked. " When I was young I met a mermaid and I felt the 'sea beat'! It made me tingle with excitement when I heard it! You know, it's really sparkling and heart-pounding? Oh wait!" Kasumi dangled her half-star shaped necklace in front of her face. 

  " Okay! I broke my necklace into half and passed half of it to her because we were friends. But then afterwards… I don't really remember. I sorta forgot her name too..."

  A hint of familiarity crossed the blonde mermaid's eyes. She then averted her gaze and spoke, "Oh, that seems nice... I hope you find her."

  Kasumi was oblivious to her reaction. " Hey, so what's your name? I'm Kasumi Toyama, I heard the 'sea beat' when I was a child and I've been searching for that ever since!"