Eva took long, quick steps to the Hargeon docks. It had been a few days since she arrived at the famous port town and despite her job there being done, she was still sticking around for a while to go sight-seeing or just taking up some quests. The fact that she met someone she can talk to was an added boost. And, while they were in terms that people would normally consider as friends, Eva’s deep and troubled past kept throwing that feeling out the window whenever she found herself smiling at the thought of Alisa. She liked Alisa and that was the truth but not to an extent she would disclose everything.

And as she made her way to the docks that day, she felt the wind gently catch her loose hair while it fled past her. She wore the simplest black T shirt she could find along with some black, ripped jeans and converse shoes. It wasn’t her best attire but she guessed that for a day out in the sun and for a job, it would be a much better option than one of her frilly sundresses.

The request came from a familiar Fischer –fisher- who had a strange obsession to fishes, too. Eva first had the pleasure of knowing him when she accompanied him on a fishing trip where he –stubbornly, should she add- just had to use some magical baits to lure in dangerous –not to mention ugly- looking deep sea fishes. She actually had to hit one of them with a fishing rod to capture it.

Once she reached her destination, Eva quickly found Alisa before her eyes landed on the blue haired boy. They were standing next to each other beside a boat, the one she guessed they would be taking to the sea. It was the same boat they used for fishing the other day and Eva couldn’t help but silently shudder at the thought of ever finding ugly looking fishes like she did again.

“Hello!” Eva swiftly fell back into character as she approached them. “I’m really sorry I made you two wait for so long!” she bowed although she wasn’t really sorry about it. She couldn’t wake up at the time she wanted to and she had to spend a while going through her clothes to pick out some casual ones for a task like this.

Fischer gave her a familiar nod, “Oh! It’s you. I suppose I won’t have to explain much anymore”. He paused for a moment, looked around, cast some infuriated glances at other people, and leaned close to Evangeline and Alisa. “I’ll tell you what I discovered. Those dolts out here are going to flip if they ever saw what I did. There was a mermaid swimming close to the middle of the sea!” he exclaimed with great exaggeration but huffed angrily when one of the fishermen next to them snickered audibly at what he deemed to be just a lie. “We’ll see who is lying once I get proof,” Jacob sounded determined as he got on his boat. “Now what are you two waiting for? Get in!”

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Eva had to bite the inside of her lips for a moment to stop herself from laughing at what Alisa said. She could see that the joke was lost on Fischer which only made it funnier. But once she got a hold of herself, Eva climbed in after Alisa and Jacob followed behind her. The boat rocked a bit with unease but Eva managed to keep her balance by shifting her weight to one leg for a little before taking a step forward to stand towards the middle. Fischer took the end part where he could maneuver the boat better. Once they got their ship sailing, Jacob quickly thrust two cameras at Eva and Alisa; his over-excited self was already searching for a glimpse of the mysterious creature.

Eva had to wonder why people didn’t believe in mermaids while they lived in a world were dragons were widely accepted to not be a fable. Of course, she didn’t trust Jacob enough to say he saw something real but the attitude people had towards him irritated her a little. Each discovery had to have started from somewhere, right?

Eva’s eyes lazily fell over the blue water surface, looking for something different and unusual swimming through them. She caught the site of a few small fishes but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Jacob, on the other hand, was starting to take pictures of everything that moved. He kept making Eva –who did not want to move an inch from where she stood from the beginning- move around then and now to let him pass through whenever he thought he found something that looked like a mermaid which, most of the time was some sort of fish or another.

“Why don’t we stop?” Eva finally asked once she placed a comforting hand over Jacob’s shoulder. The sun was starting to kill her and she was starting to get bored from seeing nothing but blue for over two hours. “It doesn’t look like it’s here. Maybe it went away,” Eva tried to make as little damage to Jacob as possible but hoping that he would give up on his search soon enough. It wasn’t getting them anywhere and she was sure that Alisa was starting to get as bored as she was from having to deal with the sun and the wind that constantly kept tugging at their hair.

“But I saw it! It has to be around here somewhere. I told you about the magical lure and that turned out to be true, right?!” he argued. ‘Oh yes…’ Eva thought. The magical bait was a story that Eva would rather forget for the rest of her life but again, being what she was, she wouldn’t tell Jacob that. “Hahaha yeah, that was a wonderful experience. But this isn’t the same, Jacob-san. We have been here for a really long time and even with our three pair of eyes, we couldn’t find it. I think it’s safe to say that maybe you saw something else,” she tried to make him understand and smiled when she found a flicker of doubt pass through Jacob’s eyes.

“Maybe I did see something else…” Jacob sighed, his shoulders sagged, and while he was visibly disappointed, he moved to turn their boat back to the docks. Eva had to let out a sigh that she was holding in for a long time after that. She had other things to do once they got to land. Throwing her hands back to stretch her stiff body, she turned to where Alisa sat to throw a small smile at her when her eyes spotted, at a great distance, what seemed like a luminous tail disappearing just under the water.

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