Liquid Voice

When she looked at the caged young girl’s eyes filled with despair, Sawatami Rei knew she was living the wrong life. She stepped away from the truck as her partners closed the back before handing her a wad of cash. The dark of the moonless night provided them plenty of cover in the shipyard.

“Four girls in one night,” said the man in the tiger-striped shirt as he lit a cigarette in his mouth. “Not bad, but not great. Gon

na need you to pull your weight more, Sawatami-san. Get more girls down here; middle school girls are in big demand, you know.”

Rei didn’t bother counting the money, choosing to give it back to her partner. She frowned.

“Nah, that’s it, I’m out,” Rei said as she stepped towards her motorbike. “This whole thing is wrong. I’m out for good.”

The tiger-striped shirt man snapped his fingers, and soon Rei saw herself face to face with two men wielding knives.

“Sawatami-san, you seem to be under the wrong impression,” the man in the tiger-striped shirt said as he grinned. “Once you’re in, you’re in for life. How long that is depends on you; right now, it could either be years or seconds. Choice is yours.”

Sawatami Rei clenched her fists, looking at the two thugs brandishing knives at her. She gulped, and without a second thought, she rushed towards the sea, jumping into the cold, dark water. The two thugs ran after her, but stopped once they reached the end of the pier. They took out their phones and turned on their flashlight modes, to no avail.

Rei was nowhere to be found...

“Dumb bitch,” the tiger stripe shirt man said as he ran a hand through his pompadour. He spat out his cigarette and angrily stepped on it. “If she lives, she WILL go to the cops! That’s it; I’m putting out a hit on her!”

Meanwhile, beneath the waves, Rei’s body slowly drifted towards the sea bottom. She could not have seen the wave that pushed her towards the pier’s pillar, knocking her out cold. A life in poverty, an adult life dedicated to crime, all ended by the night’s unforgiving dark and the sea’s might. A fitting end, some would say.

But the gods of luck must have loved her, for a ningyo, a fish person, found her! This ningyo had the tail of a mackerel, but the torso and head of a woman. The ningyo had long, flowing black hair, pink lips, a round face, and almond-shaped eyes. She grabbed Rei and pulled her out of the water. Then she swam away from the pier, taking Rei to one of the rocks jutting out of the sea.

The ningyo caressed Rei’s face. Rei had sharp features, looking more like a handsome young man than a woman. She bound her chest with tape, and her arms were strong. The ningyo blushed as she ran her hands across Rei’s abs. She reached down to kiss her when a dragon burst out of the sea.

“Naomi!” The dragon shouted, shocked. “What are you doing to that human!?”

“She was drowning, Honda,” the ningyo, Naomi, replied. “I couldn’t leave her.”

“Foolish fool!” The dragon, Honda, exclaimed as he nervously fiddled with his claws. “Contact with humans is FORBIDDEN! Oh, what would Father say of this!?”

Naomi had no answer. She looked at Rei’s unconscious form with tears forming in her eyes. Honda quickly wiped her tears away.

“No, no crying!” Honda said as he quickly grabbed Rei. “Well, now we have to take him to Father for judgment. Be a good girl and follow, Naomi!”

“That’s a woman,” Naomi shyly said, to which Honda seemed surprised.

“How can he be a woman!?” Honda exclaimed. “Isn’t his face unpainted, as a man’s!? Isn’t his hair short, as a man’s!? Does he not possess a-”

And upon peering down Rei’s pants, Honda’s eyes widened.

“This is a woman,” Honda said as he carried Rei in his arms. “Well... come now, Naomi.”

The underwater kingdom of Elysium was teeming with Ningyo of all classes and shapes. Underwater sea dragons such as Honda, and a myriad of supernatural creatures ranging from a nine-tailed fox to a Kappa. Naomi only had eyes for Rei and hoped her brother remembered they were dealing with a human. Elysium castle was made of bright white coral with pink and gold striations upon its surface. The doors were large enough to let dragons through.

They swam to the grand audio hall where her father King Kay was reposing against his long back chair resting his wings. He wasn’t two thousand anymore as he said. He glanced from the paper he was reading encased in a similar air bubble as Rei. Honda bowed and set Rei down in front of his father.

“Da? Neomi has come in contact with this creature. What should we do with it?”

King Kay sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Naomi, again?”

“I couldn’t bear to see her drown,” she sniffed, swimming forward. “Please I won’t do so again, but please spare her!”

The King humphed and shook his head. “You know I can’t. Our laws are set to protect our kind.” He raised his hand and gestured to Honda. “Get rid of her. Gently.”

Honda nodded and carried her away while Naomi followed sullenly. She held no power for which to help the human but she knew someone who did. She veered right and followed the wall scones to the water witch’s and her stepmother’s abode. Swimming past the ornate golden doors, light poured from the windows. A supernatural glow, where her stepmother was currently stirring her latest brew.

The slim ningyo with a goldfish’s tail in golds and russets turned to face Naomi and smiled.

“Daughter, I know why you came and yes I can help you, but it will cost you as all spells of this sort do,” she said, stirring the ladle counter clockwise.

“I–I have nothing I can give. I am untalented in the arts and rather broke,” whispered Naomi.

“The magic always finds something,” said the stepmom as she stirred clockwise three times the counter clockwise once. “Ah, your potion is done.”

She scooped some of the gold liquid into a bottle and handed it to her. “You may use this three times. Each time the potion will take something from you.”

She handed the potion to Naomi and grasped her arms tightly. “Believe in yourself, daughter. “You have my magic within. I adopted you and Honda. You’ll see all is well if you only believe more in your talents.”

Naomi nodded and turned around swimming through the doors. She had a human to save. She’d believe in her talents if she even had any.