None of us knew what to say. It was like this girl had materialized out of nowhere. Finally, Akino broke the silence.
"Hello! I'm Akino! It's nice to meet you!" she greeted with a big smile on her face. "These are my friends! Their names are Hana, Yuri, Mari, Suno, Yoko, Kiku, Shitai, Kosai, and Touwa!" she continued, pointing to each of us in turn.
"Akino, what brings you to this planet? Based on your conversation, I can tell you guys need help breathing underwater so you must be from another planet since everyone here can do it," Nami explained.
"We're here to find out what happened here! You see, we ran into this big old dragon that said his planet was taken over by some weirdos so we came to investigate!"
"Weirdos? We don't have any of those here, unless you count Uo, but he's a special case. You know how boys are, am I right?" she replied, winking at us.
"Sorry for asking, but how can you breathe underwater? Are you part fish or something?" I asked, trying to sound polite.
Nami started laughing like I had said the funniest thing ever. What's up with that?
"You really aren't from here! You're so silly! Of course I'm part fish! Look!"
She jumped out of the water, making a big splash. When I saw Nami, I gasped. I really shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. Nami is a mermaid. A real, flesh and blood mermaid! We all must have looked shocked because Nami giggled.
"Are you surprised? How else do you think we live underwater?"
"So, if you're a mermaid and can breathe underwater like it's second nature, how can you help us breathe underwater too?" I asked after regaining my composure.
"That's easy! All you have to do is eat a piece of kukikojo," Nami replied while digging through a bag that I hadn't noticed before. "Here it is!"
Nami held out a strange looking plant. It looked similar to coral, but didn't seem to be completely solid.
"Take a bite! It's really yummy! It'll help you breathe when you're underwater!"
Nami broke the kukikojo into ten little pieces. I tentatively grabbed a piece and looked at it in my hand. Surprisingly, it wasn't very heavy and I couldn't really feel it in my hand. After building up courage, I put it in my mouth. At first, I didn't taste anything, but suddenly, I was hit by the most refreshing taste imaginable. It was almost like I was eating fresh air!
"It really is amazing!" I gasped after the taste hit.
"I told you! Now you can breathe underwater! Try it out!"
I did as I was told and put my head under the water. I held my breath, afraid of breathing in a bunch of water. Finally, I took a deep breath. No water flooded into my mouth. I could breathe underwater! After a minute of reveling in this new experience, I lifted my head out of the water.
"That was incredible! It really works!" I exclaimed, giddy with excitement.
"What are we waiting for then? I'll take you to Kaiyo City! You can meet Uo and my friends! We'll have lots of fun!" Nami replied, bubbling with excitement.
"Really?! You'll take us?! I'm so excited! Let's go already!" Akino shouted, diving into the water.
Nami quickly followed. I dove down too so I wouldn't get left behind. The rest of the girls followed, even Mari, although she was pretty reluctant. Soon, we were all swimming side by side, following the blonde mermaid named Nami.
"This is absolutely incredible! I never thought I would experience something like this!" I said, still giddy.
"I have to agree. Even though I have control over water, I cannot breathe it. I feel like I'm one with the water!" Yuri agreed.
The others had similar sentiments, even Mari reluctantly agreed that it was cool. Finally, we closed in on a huge city made of what seemed like some type of coral. To say it was breathtaking was an understatement. The coral buildings seemed to glow. Some were pretty greens and others beautiful blues. Still others were cool teal colors. It was amazing, to say the least.
"Welcome to Kaiyo City, my home!" Nami announced when we got closer to the beautiful city of coral. "C'mon! I'll take you to my house!"
We followed her into the city. As we swam down the streets, I saw many mermaids and mermen as well as fish and other aquatic creatures. I noticed that some of the mermaids and mermen gave us strange looks. I guess that was to be expected as we were foreigners. Finally, Nami stopped in front of a small teal house.
"I'm home!" she said as she swam through the door.
We followed her, not wanting to stay outside because of the weird looks.
"What's up, Nami? Who are your friends?" a blond merman asked.
He had short hair and a mischievous look in his turquoise eyes. Once he got a better look at us, his eyes widened.
"Woah! You found some land dwellers! Where'd you find them?! You can tell me, Nami! I promise I won't tell anyone!" he begged.
"Calm down, Uo. They're not some exotic pets I found. I like you to meet Hana, Akino, Yuri, Mari, Suno, Yoko, Shitai, Kosai, Yoko, and Touwa. Guys, this is Uo, my younger brother," Nami said, introducing us to Uo.
"Brother?! That's so cool! I didn't know you had a brother Nami!" Akino exclaimed, swimming around Uo.
"So, what brings you all here to Kaiyo City? It's not every day that we get visitors that live on land," Uo asked, smiling like he already knew the answer.
"We're here to investigate. According to someone we know, he used to live here until some "strange beings" invaded and drove him out. Do you have any idea what this is about? I thought Kazan was a planet of fire, not water," I asked the two.
The siblings shared a dark look. Finally, one of them spoke.
"Let's go sit in the living room. We'll explain what happened there," Nami said, looking serious.