Ke Xue: Shinichi and I are childhood friends

"It's still early, what should we do next?"

Hattori Heiji yawned and asked.

Toyama Kazuha said without hesitation: "Of course, we should go to the Mermaid Falls to watch the ceremony of awarding the Dugong Arrow, and there will be fireworks."

Hattori Heiji thought about it. There were no other activities besides the Mermaid Festival at this time, so why not go and take a look.

None of the friends objected.

Since we are here, even if we didn't draw the Dugong Arrow, it would be a loss if we don't even take a look.

But the awarding ceremony is still an hour away, and it's too early to go now, so several people decided to stroll around the celebration site first.

…

On the other side, the Mermaid Falls.

There is an open space under the waterfall, and next to the open space is a pool of water, surrounded by ropes. This is where the Dugong Arrow will be awarded later.

Shimabukuro Kimie left the shrine early, but she didn't come to the open space, but went to the mountain above the waterfall.

She and Sumi Ebihara made an appointment to meet here.

Shimabukuro Kimie was the shrine maiden who released the dugong arrows. Sumi Ebihara wanted the arrows just like the other two people, so it was not difficult to use this to make an appointment with her.

However, Shimabukuro Kimie, who was thinking about revenge, did not notice that a dark shadow was quietly lying by the river.

Sumi Ebihara came to the agreed place, but did not see Shimabukuro Kimie around. Thinking that she had not arrived yet, she walked to the river and waited for someone while kicking the stones at her feet.

Shimabukuro Kimie hid behind a tree, holding the taut rope in her hand, looking at her friend whom she had always thought of with a complicated expression.

After a long time, she took a deep breath, tightened the rope and raised her feet.

"Sala, Sala!" A slightly strange voice suddenly sounded.

Someone is coming? Shimabukuro Kimie was startled and quickly squatted down to hide herself.

When Sumi Ebihara heard the voice, she thought it was Shimabukuro Kimie who came. She turned around happily and stood there before she could finish her words. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

What did she see? Was it... a mermaid?

There was a figure squatting by the dim river - no, not squatting, because this person had no legs and was shorter than an ordinary person, so he looked a bit like squatting.

There was a black mass on the ground behind him, just like a mermaid's tail.

Sumi Ebihara, who was already convinced of the existence of mermaids, suddenly showed an incredible expression. She couldn't speak with her mouth wide open, and could only make meaningless "ah...ah..." sounds.

Shimabukuro Kimie covered her mouth to prevent herself from making any sound, and looked at the mermaid in shock.

Is that a mermaid? Is it really a mermaid? ! But how is it possible? Don't mermaids not exist?

In the darkness, the mermaid and Sumi Ebihara just stared at each other quietly.

Suddenly, the mermaid took a step forward - if dragging her tail forward a little can be considered walking.

"Salada!" A voice, exactly the same as the previous voice.

Ebihara Sumi was startled, and her body trembled uncontrollably in fear.

She had been muttering that mermaids really existed and that eating mermaid meat would make her immortal, but when the mermaid really appeared in front of her, she found that she was only afraid.

She took a step back subconsciously.

The mermaid seemed to find it a bit funny and took two more steps forward - Ebihara Sumi was so scared that she couldn't make a sound and could only take two steps back.

In this way, the mermaid moved forward and Ebihara Sumi followed and retreated, and soon she retreated to the shore.

Sumi Ebihara suddenly found that she had nowhere to retreat. She looked at the approaching mermaid and finally her instinct for survival overcame her fear. She opened her mouth and screamed sharply: "Ah————Help——"

However, this scream seemed to annoy the mermaid. It suddenly let out a strange roar and jumped up to pounce on Sumi Ebihara.

"Ah!" Sumi Ebihara's hands and feet were weak and she had no strength to dodge. She was directly thrown into the river by the mermaid.

Shimabukuro Kimie stared at this scene blankly, looking at the empty riverside and the splashing water, and suddenly realized... her target for revenge was gone.

What was even more incredible was that the person she wanted to kill was thrown into the river by a mermaid?

Shimabukuro Kimie quickly jumped out and ran to the riverside. When she arrived, she suddenly braked and walked closer cautiously. She looked into the river and was shocked and confused.

There were two black figures entangled in the water. One was undoubtedly Ebihara Sumi, and the other black figure had no legs, but the lower body was intact, which was completely different from humans!

It was very dark around, and Shimabukuro Kimie could barely see it with the help of some moonlight. It was a fish tail!? ? ? ! ! !

Shimabukuro Kimie was shocked, took several steps back, and fell to the ground.

What is that? Is it really a mermaid? Are there really mermaids in this world?

At the same time, she was even more confused. The river was not deep. As someone who grew up on an island, Ebihara Sumi must be able to swim, and she is quite good at swimming, but... why can't she get up?

Was it the mermaid who was pulling her in the water?

Why?

Was it a punishment from the mermaid?

But Ebihara Sumi didn't lose the dugong arrow. More importantly, the legend was made up by her and it couldn't exist at all!

In this way, Shimabukuro Kimie watched the person she wanted to kill "fighting" with the mermaid in the water, and then being washed by the current and flowing along the waterfall.

"Wait, that's..." Shimabukuro Kimie subconsciously stretched out her hand, and immediately realized that she was here to kill people, and immediately closed her mouth.

The man and the fish walked along the river, pulling off the protective rope on the shore. The rope tightly wrapped around Ebihara Sumi, then went down the river, fell from the waterfall and disappeared from Shimabukuro Kimie's sight.

She stared at this scene blankly, feeling like she was dreaming.

Shimabukuro Kimie looked into the water again, but it was too dark to see anything, and there was no other movement in the river except the sound of water.

"Splash!"

Suddenly, near the waterfall, a figure emerged from the water.

Shimabukuro Kimie looked at the man with trembling eyes, no, it should be the mermaid.

The mermaid seemed to notice Shimabukuro Kimie's gaze, turned half her head and looked at her.

Shimabukuro Kimie was stunned - she seemed to see the mermaid smiling at her? Was it an illusion?

The mermaid looked in the direction of the river again, and then jumped down the waterfall in Shimabukuro Kimie's shocked eyes!

What? Shimabukuro Kimie was surprised and just wanted to run over to check the situation when she heard shouts from afar.

"Over there, the sound came from over there!"

Along with the hurried footsteps, there were also the sounds of flashlights.

Shimabukuro Kimie quickly hid in the woods, avoided the crowd with her familiarity with the terrain, and left quickly.

"Why is there no one? Are you sure the screams came from here?"

"I'm sure, don't underestimate the detective's ears!"

"Hey, come here quickly, there are strange traces on the shore."

"What is this?"

"Traces of heavy objects being dragged?"

"Hey, what is this glowing thing?"

"It looks like fish scales?"

"Fish scales?"