"By My Side"
The merman gracefully swims up.
He presses his palm against the frozen surface.
Above the surface... stood an enchanting woman.
Her hair was crystal white, beaming with snowflakes.
She looked down with emotionless and empty eyes.
The merman noticed her shadow moving from below.
She, having her ice touched by someone living,
noticed the presence of the merman prince.
She looked down, the ice slowly melts away,
opening the surface for the merman himself.
"A deity?" The merman wondered as he
reached out for the surface.
"A merman?" The ice princess wondered
in return.
Exchanging empty glares, cold stares,
the ice princess stood there calmly
as the merman watches her silently.
"Ice princess" the merman calls out to her.
She does not respond and only keeps on
giving back empty glares to the merman.
"You can't freeze the oceans forever."
He says.
"I've been lonely lately."
She randomly said out of the blue.
"What?" He asked.
"Let's keep all the feelings frozen in ice."
She continues to speak emotionlessly.
"What is feelings?" The merman asked again.
"Feelings sucks." She finally let out a smile,
but it showed pain instead of happiness.
"I wanted to freeze them." The princess dropped
her painful smile.
"Foolish princess." The merman rose a bit more
from the water. "You can't freeze your feelings."
Her eyes widens, "What did you say, merman?!"
"They just fall asleep. Some fall into a deep slumber
that lasts for eternity... feelings are immortal."
The merman stares at the ice at it slowly cracks.
"My feelings are only sleeping?" She asked.
"Yes." The merman slowly reaches out his hand to her,
water dripping down from his shoulder and hand. Ignoring
the cold of the frosty place he says, "Come. Allow me to wake
up your heart."
A moment of silence lasted for a while...
They remained looking at each other.
Finally, she decided to take a step forward.
She stares at his hand as she walks up to him...
Slowly, she hesitatingly reaches out her hand in return..
The princess stood in front of the merman who was
reaching out his hand to her while floating in water.
She was just about to take his hand when the merman
took it out of the blue so suddenly and pulled her into the water.
Her eyes widened as she panicked with his sudden action.
They floated unter water, holding each other's hand.
"I will wake up your heart"
The merman whispered.
"So wake up mine."
He said before stealing her first kiss.
They kissed underwater.
The princess being defenseless...
Shocked and speechless.
The ice melted and the mist vanished,
the sun finally returned, the sky's been cleared.
"We can't remain in cold water for forever."
The merman talked to her once again.
"You may be the ice princess,
but the warmth in your soul is genuine."
"You dare steal a kiss from me!"
The princess pushed him away.
"I'll be waiting for you to wake up mine."
The merman's face remained expressionless
just like hers as he let the princess go.
"There will be no such thing as hearts and
feelings! I will keep them frozen in time forever."
The ice princess was maddened.
"May this bliss last for an eternal"
The merman once again kissed her, on her forehead
this time as he went back deep down the oceans.
"The ocean was once again completely frozen.
The mermaids and mermans that have gone endangered.
The humans whose race have always suffered.
The curse of the ice princess, the heart of the merman prince.
Will it all end in through an eternal slumber as their
two sleeping hearts awake? Having their lives at stake...
They gamble against fate to battle against hate.
She intends to erase all feeling while he wants the opposite thing.
I love Crystal and Ai-kun together they must---"
"CUUUUUT!!!"
The director yelled, cutting off the
failed script of the narrator.
"We were almost there!"
One of the staffs snapped his fingers.
"Still, watching it was beautiful."
The staffs continues to say out their thoughts.
"Great work, Mikaze-kun!" Crystal/Lily
happily said to Ai.
"Same to you, Crystal." Ai said
to her in return.
"Alright, y'all made a fantastic job! But that's
all for today! You can now go pack up and
go rest at home!" The director clapped his
hands as he decided.
"Are you doing something else?"
Lily asked Ai.
"No, I'm not." Ai answers as he
puts on his top.
"Is it okay if I ask for your company?"
She smiles as she volunteers to assist
Ai in buttoning his shirt.
"Oh? Yeah. Sure, it's okay."
Ai nodded as he agreed to her idea.
"Okay, I'll see you later." Lily nodded
as she turned around and walked away,
thinking, "(I finally asked him. I want to
have dinner with him..)"
Lily/Crystal then next goes to her other job
and that is the other film/show she is working
with Aine Kisaragi. For that reason, she is obligated
to see him every afternoon right after the morning work
with Ai Mikaze. As usual, she communicates with other
people with her common cold aura... although Aine keeps
treating her warmly. She goes on doing her usual work
and stuff... and goes home excited for the evening.
Evening
She's finally free and about to spend time
with her beloved Ai Mikaze who has forgotten
about her. Even so, she refuses to give him up.
She decided to stop holding herself back.
"Good evening, Mikaze-kun!"
Lily smiled and greeted him as she arrived.
"Good evening, Crystal."
Ai stood up and let her sit first.
"Thank you... did I make you wait long?"
Lily asked him with a worried face.
"No, I don't mind. It's alright."
Ai tells her, taking her worries away.
"That's a relief..." She sighed.
"So.. how have you been lately?"
Lily asks her.
"Lately, I'm having this... something....
I don't really know what it is...
but it's making me insane for sure."
Ai talks with eyes showing annoyance.
"Oh..?" Lily was silenced.
"That kiss..." She brings it up.
"It wasn't real, right? They made up some
effects and stuff. Why would they do that?
My system fails to understand." Ai rests his
cheek on his palm as he tries to think.
"Well.. we don't know." She fakes a laugh
"But it's alright, it looked realistic anyway."
"Yeah." Ai just simply nodded.
They spent the night that way...
and Ai decided to send her home.
"Thanks, Crystal. I had a fine time."
Ai said as the car stopped in front of
Crystal's house.
"Thank you too, Mikaze-kun!"
Lily smiled happily as she gets out
of the car, she waves at him, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." He calmly greeted her in return.
She gets inside her house...
Her stupid smile won't get off her face.
She was really happy...
To spend time with him...
Even if it felt like being with someone different for a moment...
Lily held on to the thought that Ai is Ai and the only one she'll love.
The very next morning...
She's having a day-off from her usual work-routine.
Today, she's expecting STARISH in her house but...
an unexpected visitor beat them to her house first.
The doorbell rung. Lily stands up and calmly
walks up to the door to answer the visitor.
She wore a smile right before opening the
door with an excited expression as she was
expecting to see STARISH, "Come in----"
She suddenly dropped her smile, "..WHAT?"
"Good morning, Emily. How are you?"
The professor stood out to her.
She suddenly felt her strength drained
and shivered for a second. "W-Why?"
She asked with a shaky voice.
"'Why?' You ask? You surely have no idea?"
The professor smiles at her.
"No.. I do but... why... why can't you just---"
Lily couldn't speak well.
"Ai came home last night, feeling ill.
He's starting to have those strange things
again. His system detects it as a malicious
object but fails to exterminate them. It's now
considered as a virus and a major threat to his
artificial life... that thing called 'feelings'. Or should
I say... "feelings of love". Please, Ai is my precious
invention and my most successful one. Other than
that, I consider him as a dear son to me. Anyone of
my creations... are my children. So may I request
your kindest cooperation and understandings to
stay away from him for you are a threat to him.
You understand it, right? Emily. He is a thing,
a robot. He is not meant to feel or love.
I don't get why you feel 'attracted' or 'in love'
with him but I'll let you pass with that.
However, consider yourselves.
If he feels again, he gets hurt again.
You will get hurt again.
You will be both in pain again.
Do you want that?
Of course not.
You love him.
So surely you don't.
That is all.
This is just a friendly reminder, Emily.
Thank you for everything you've done as help back then."
The professor wasted no second and didn't allow her to say
a single word. He turns around and leaves the moment he finished.
She was left there, devastated.
Remembering it all once again.
The pain felt real again.
She was broken once again.
She slowly dropped on her knees while
holding her head, her expression shows
complete frustration, "How could I forget?
I was the reason why he almost died.
What am I even doing?
I'm selfish. I'm not worthy of living.
I'm not... at all.. No... he needs to live...
But... but I want to be with him.
I don't understand anymore!!!!"
She slams the door close as she buries
her face on her knees while holding her
head as she screams and cries.
Lily was reminded of the horror and the heartbreak
she felt when she once lost him and she doesn't want
that to happen again.
Her doorbell rung once again and she screamed,
"Please leave!"
"Eh? Crystal-chan?! What's going on?!"
Reiji worried as he heard her shaky voice.
"What happened? Are you okay senpai?"
Tokiya asks out of curiosity.
STARISH and Quartet Night was there.
Lily stops crying for a second, "Please,
just leave! I'm begging you." She says
as she continues to cry again.
"Open the door, Crystal." Ai suddenly
walked up and spoke.
"A-Ai-kun...?" She muttered.
"No, please go. I want to be alone for now."
"I see." Ai turned around.
"Ai-Ai?! You're giving up already?!"
Reiji questioned him.
"No, I'm not. She asked for it, give her to it.
In the end, she will be the one regretting it."
Ai pays no more attention to them and decides
to leave.
"Ai-Ai! Wait up!!!" Reiji chases after Ai.
STARISH and Quartet Night both didn't know
what to do nor say to her and left. But once
more... her doorbell rung again.
"Please stop already!!!" Lily bursts out.
"Crystal? It's me, Aine. What's wrong?"
Aine asked her with a worried face on the
other side of the door.
"Aine?! No.. not you this time.." She mutters,
"Please, LEAVE." She said in an angry tone
of voice.
"I won't." Aine refused.
"She told you to leave, didn't she?"
Ai suddenly came back and told Aine.
"Ai-kun?!" Lily gasped as she heard
his voice.
"Oh, Ai. Well, I refuse to leave her side."
Aine calmly responds to him.
"Even so, she told you to leave. Then LEAVE.
Can't human brain process simple tasks or
orders like that? What a pathetic race."
Ai seemed angered.
"Yes... please listen to him, Aine.
I want to be alone." Lily sobbed
as she forced herself to speak.
"...Fine. But give me a call if you need me, okay?"
Aine gives her one last reminder before leaving.
"Okay. Thank you."
Lily sighed.
There was silence once again.
Aine and the others has already left.
Lily finally stopped crying and got back
up on her feet. She decided to chill herself
out outside... but the moment she opened the door..
she jawdropped again.
"A-Ai-kun?!" Lily exclaimed.
"It's the first time you called me 'Ai-kun'.
I'll remember that. Should I call you 'Crystal-ojousama'
from now on?" Ai seemed calm.
"No.. no.. that's not the point.. um, Mikaze-kun..
Um.. how long have you been there?" Lily shook
her head to recover from the surprise and asked.
"2 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds."
Ai saved his data to perfectly record the time.
"2 HOURS?! That's so long! But why?!"
Lily is holding back herself from exploding
all the feelings she's been hiding.
"I don't know" Ai answered right away.
"What...?" She felt herself weaken.
"Still..." Lily started to feel the tears
coming again. "I'm glad you stayed"
She hugged him as her tears finally
started rolling.
Ai stood there, not saying anything.
Still his usual cold self... but still
the same Ai-kun she loved.
Chapter 33
"By My Side"