Joon PoV

      l was busy making breakfast for us while Mir was unpacking our bags from within his hair. The breakfast l made was sausage and toast with sunny-side-up eggs. There was a mini-fridge and kitchen that l made our breakfast with. Our room was really nice, full equipped with a queen sized bed, small fireplace, and half bathroom. The walls were decorated in an ocean theme, with fish and waves, and a yellow-tailed mermaid sitting on a rock on one wall. That must've been Pacifica that we've heard about. l plated the food and brought it out to the patio to eat, watching the early morning sun peak out of the clouds. Mir stretched and sat at the little table with me to eat breakfast. l asked him what he wanted to do today and he said, "Do you wanna go to the beach? Actually, it's a bit early, maybe we should go to the city and take a walk?" That sounds like a good idea. While we were eating, l looked back at the artwork of Pacifica in the wall. We should probably go to the cave as well, that would be fun. Something strange about that mermaid on the wall made me keep staring at it. Seconds later, l swore l could hear someone singing. Looking around, there wasn't anyone l could see except for Mir. lt was a female voice too. l shook it off and focused on the day ahead. l said, "Why don't we go see a movie?--- How about shopping? l mean what movie is there really that we're not going to watch?" Eh, true. The two of us fell into an awkward silence. We really haven't done anything together if we can't even decided on going to somewhere. l was fed up with the awkward silence and said, "Let's just do whatever comes to mind. We don't need to plan anything. But can we please go see a movie first? There's something l really want to watch a movie," Mir agreed to it, and we went about our day getting ready go to town. l wore a hoodie and jeans since the weather was actually nice and warm, not cold and super windy. Mir on the other hand went for the extreme and wore a tank top and shorts that went down just above his knees. l asked him if he really was okay like that and he said he was just fine.

      When we crossed into the city from the countryside, we were greeted with smells of amazing food from the market and blaring music down the streets. Mir and l held hands as we walked into the movie theater and got tickets to see a movie. What Mir didn't know was that l got us tickets to a horror movie. l wanted to see how well he could handle his panic. We walked in and got our seats at a sweetheart box for couples. We sat down and the movie began to play. Mir tugged on my sleeve and asked, "What kind of movie are we watching? This looks like a horror movie," l held his hand and kissed his forehead saying, "You guessed right. l hope you like them," Through the light from the movie screen, l saw his face of slight fear. He held onto me closely and tucked his head into my chest. Hehe, his scared face looks kind of cute too. As the movie played, there were a few moments where Mir was jumping out of his seat and yelping in shock and fear. He bundled up next to my arm and used his hair to block whatever things that scared him. Other times, Mir was not scared at all and just passively watched the movie. Huh, l wasn't expecting that. Once the movie was over, the two of us walked out of the theater and talked about the movie. "Weren't you scared at all?" Mir asked as we went to the marketplace for lunch. l shrugged my shoulders, "Eh, l mean after a few hundred years the shock value wears off. Plus, some of it doesn't even compare to what l've seen. What about you?" He looked up at me in confusion and said, "Well l don't like a lot of things. Jump scares especially aren't my thing. On the other hand, some of the stuff in the movie wasn't accurate. Like first of all, who's idea was it to conjure up a demon? Only idiots would do that. Also, you would need a load of chalk and protective circles to protect yourself. Oh, and not to mention the lesser key of Solomon which is needed to do so," l chuckled as l heard him explain himself. l said, "So that's why you weren't scared? You were too focused on the magickal parts?--- Hey, whatever director made that needs to learn a lesson from me or something," We sat down at a BBQ place and got ourselves into full eating mode. l made Mir cook all of the meat(he wasn't too good at it to be honest), with my help once in a while. "Why do l have to cook everything? You're eating all of my mea...That one was mine!" l snatched up all of the meat and ate it before he could take it back. l told him, "The only way you're going to eat is if you ask me to feed it to you," His face turned red and he looked away in embarrassment. Too bad his stomach was stronger than his brain...

               Mir PoV

    "Ca..can you feed me some Joon?" l can't believe l had to say that to him! This is so embarrassing~ He smiled and wrapped up a lettuce pouch of BBQ and fed it into my mouth. When l bit into it, l couldn't taste anything but spicy death peppers. "Mmmmgh~ Waa-er! MMGPH!" l tried to get water to cool my flaming mouth down and gulped it in big gulps of cold and icy relief. Joon laughed really hard and took pity on me, letting me finally eat my well-deserved meat. "Why do you have to do that to me? You're so mean!" l gave him a stern look and Joon apologized quickly, "l'm sorry Mireu~ Please forgive me?" Ah...the way he said my name...lt caught me off guard that we were using nicknames now. l tried to use a nickname for Joon," l forgive you...Joonie," He was surprised that l used it and smiled. After we ate, we saw that there was a nearby aquarium. "Ooh, l've never been to an aquarium! Can we go Joon?" He took us inside and we spent a few hours there watching the fish swim in colorful schools swirling around. l heard the announcements lay over the aquarium saying, "Welcome everyone to the aquarium today! We have a special aquatic performance by our special mermaid performers. The PRISMs are performing in the outdoor water stage. Please come by and watch the performance!" All of the aquarium was talking about the performance, and many people made their way to the stage. Joon and l went to the stage as well to watch. The stage was one giant clam shell that was opened up to reveal a stage filled with water and other plant life. People filled up the seats in the audience, and we were lucky to find a pair of seats close to the stage.

        "Welcome everyone to our Pearl stage! We hope you will join us in our special performance to celebrate Mermaid Cove!" The emcee announced loudly as four performers that were in mermaid tails splashed onto the stage. Each singer was a different colored mermaid. There was a green, pink, yellow, and white mermaid. "Hello everyone! We are the PRISM-Miracles! Does anyone want to know why we're here?" The crowd cheered in joy as the girls hyped up the crowd. The white one spoke, "This week, we celebrate a very special part of the culture on this side of the coast! Has anyone heard of the mermaid legends in this town?" Almost every fanboy was screaming out an answer of sorts. The green one spoke next saying, "lt's said that there were once mermaids here that protected these waters. We need to celebrate them for protecting us! So let's put on a show for them!" Joon held my hand tightly as we watched, and l looked back at him smiling shyly. The pink one calmed down the audience enough to squeeze in a special surprise for the audience, "For those who are here today, we want to invite some of you to come play with us! We have brought mermaid tails for a select few to swim along as we celebrate! Who wants to try one?" The crowd went wild trying to get a tail to swim with. When l saw the four or five mermaid suits, they reminded me of something familiar. l dug through my hair to pull out my Vanguard deck l used at school to train. "What? You brought your cards with you too? Why?" Joon was interestedly looking at my deck as l flipped through the cards. Some of the cards l had in my deck looked like the outfits those performers were wearing! No wonder they were called PRISM, they were based off the Bermuda Triangle Clan! The yellow mermaid was the last one to speak, and she was the one choosing the people out of the crowd who to become mermaids.

     "Wow that was a really fun performance, right Mir?" Joon was so impressed by the performance we just watched at the aquarium. lt was the early evening, and we decided to go back to the inn to rest before we went to the festival down at the Mermaid Cove beach. When we got back to our room, we changed out of our clothes into kimonos that were prepared by Granny herself. We walked down to the lobby and thanked Granny for doing so much for us. "You really didn't need to give us these, we would've been fine going in our normal clothes," Granny scoffed and replied, "No one should wear uncomfortable clothes to the festivals! l made these over the years and l have plenty to give out to people who go to the festival. Please enjoy yourselves, there's plenty of things to do!" We waved goodbye as we walked down in our kimonos to the beach. On the beach, there were lights and bonfires, music and dancing as the sun set and the festival began. Joon was wearing a handsome red kimono to accompany is dark red hair, while l had a matching purple one with yellow flowers embroidered on the sides. l complimented Joon on his wardrobe, "You look really nice in that kimono Joon," He smiled and replied, "Your looks nice in your kimono too--- Will you stop looking at it?" l felt that tingly warmth again in my body whenever he said those embarrassing things to me. For some reason l....liked it? Nah, it's probably my excessive urge to pummel Joon with my hair fists. We walked around the faire where the street stalls were located, and ate so much good food and played lots of games. l had my eyes on some candy that was known to be suuu~per sour and l wanted to troll Joon with it. They were sold in pretty little bouquets of lollipops, and l got Joon to buy me one. Lucky for me, l love sour stuff. l handed him a and he put it in his mouth. l waited in suspense, "How is it? Do they taste good?" He looked back at me and said, "Can l have another one? They taste so good!" Yes! l finally got him back.....wait what? Are you serious? l took a lollipop and put it in my mouth to on. The moment it hit my tongue l felt nothing but acidic pain flooding my mouth. My mouth puckered up and l shook my head vigorously as the sourness stung my tongue. "Nnghhh~! So sour! How did you survive?" l reached out and held onto Joon's arm trying to recover from the sourness of the candy. He laughed and pulled me towards him into a deep kiss.

   His lips were gentle and soft, pressing against mine. l could taste something sweet on his lips as he kissed me. When he pulled away, his face soured really quickly and l laughed at him loudly. He said, "Ugh! How the hell is there such poison on this planet? l wanted to kiss you so you could feel less bad about life! Woah! Blegh~" His face made it all the worthwhile. l hugged him by the waist and puckered my lips again to make him kiss me, but he backed away like l was made of garlic. He yelled at me while trying to avoid my lips, "Here, take my lollipop to wipe away your acid mouth! No, get away! Yah!" He shoved his lollipop into my mouth, and l tasted nothing but sweet strawberry syrup. l blushed when he put it in my mouth, and he finally stopped running away from. His face had a really wide smile that was kinda sketchy. He whispered into my ear, "How does my mouth taste? ls it sweet?" My body felt really warm once he said that, and l also realized that his lollipop was in MY mouth. l basically had his mouth in mine, like a deep kiss. Ngh~ Stop thinking about it! We decided to keep walking and talking, bonding over more games and it was just a good time...until l opened my big mouth and wanted to get a toy from a game. We stopped in front of a ring toss game booth, where l spotted a big cat plush. "Look, it's so fluffy! and it's cute!" l said to Joon while tugging on his kimono arm. There was another couple that came by and spotted the plush toy as well. l don't know if the other couple could feel it too, but Joon and the guy the girl was with had a stare down.  The vendor saw the competition and offered the winner the plush toy. While the two men flexed their arms and fought in skill, the girl was interested in fighting me for it too. She pulled out a deck that looked like Vanguard. l took mine out and set up a table to fight on. "You better be ready to lose that cat--- Not if you want to get whupped for it first,"  The two of us began to fight it out. We both had decks from the Bermuda Triangle Clan, and it was really intense. l better win! l want that toy!

        Joon PoV

​ l was so close to getting it, but at least the other guy didn't get it either that last round. Argh! "Another round!---Me too!" Sheesh, this guy was not going to give up, is he? l tried to throw farther into the sea of pegs to get higher points, but the two of us have been tied for the past thirty minutes. Eventually there was a crowd surrounding us and cheering us on. Another twenty minutes went by and the vendor just made us stop and gave us both a toy. We looked at each other and complimented each other for being good sports. l turned around and held up the toy saying, "Look, l won this for you Mir---Shut up, l'm concentrating! l'll guard with Canary!" What's going on? l saw that Mir and the guy's girlfriend were having a Vanguard fight with each other while we were fighting for the cat. His girlfriend said something similar to what Mir said, "Honey here you go--- Not now! LABRADOR ATTACK! POWER PLUS 20000!" Wow, these two were really heated up about this. The two were evenly matched in skill, and without very much knowledge of the game l could still see that Mir was in the lead. Once it was Mir's turn, they were shut down. Once that game ended, the two wanted to finish the fight with one more round. Both Mir and the girl had a win each, so this was the tie-breaker. ls this what they call a Duel of Divas? They reset and began their last match with a very excited crowd(Mostly lolicons if l knew any better). l watched closely and supported Mir all the way. "Ready? Stand up, my Vanguard!" The table they were playing on was equipped with hologram technology. ln Academy City, it wouldn't be surprising, but out here people were in awe over it. You could see the two mermaids in 3D imaging on the table. "Ride Ayna! Attack!" Mir was making his move, and the figure even had special effects included. The girl made her move and tied the damage 2-2. Back to Mir, "Ride, Cetia! Call Cetia and Emilia! Attack!" The mermaids were tackling and flinging attack after attack, and the crowd was getting more interested in the game. l didn't think this game was that popular, but Mir was right.

      "What's going on over there? Granny can we get closer?" l heard a child's voice in the crowd, and the granny from the inn was walking with whom l thought was her grandchildren. Granny saw my face and smiled, saying, "Well hello there Joon. Are you having fun?" l smiled and held up the plushie telling them, "l was busy trying to win a prize when all this happened hehe," She saw the game going on and her eyes went wide. Her grandchildren were also watching the pretty mermaids swimming across the table. The children got closer to the table for a better view, while Granny stood next to me and asked what was going on. l told her, "lt's a card game many people in the world play. The table is specifically made to show images of the cards in 3D. l guess those two wanted to fight for this toy, and it's Mir's turn now," Granny watched with interest, wondering what the hell was going on with the images of mermaids. Mir held up a card high into the air, which drew everyone's attention. At that moment l swear l could hear a girl singing, and Granny seemed to hear it too. The voice was subtle, but to us we could hear it clearly. Granny was surprised and began to look around for the owner of that female voice. Mir began to declare his trump card, "Your voice and smile lasts beyond time! And with it we'll conquer the world! Cross-break ride Eternal Idol, Pacifica!" l heard Granny physically gasp when she heard that name. Once the card was put down, a mermaid with a summer yellow tail and blonde twin tails for hair.  "How did she get there?" Granny felt pretty confused and in awe that she could see the mermaid of her childhood in the table. He readied his attacks, and Pacifica sang a beautiful song, knocking out the opponent's Vanguard and ending the game. Everyone cheered as Mir won and shook hands with the opponent. When people were dispersing back into the fair, Mir walked back to me and l handed him his prize. His face lit up as he hugged his toy tightly and played around with it with Granny's grandchildren. The short haired girl was named Sunkyu, and the long-haired one was Luna. Granny approached Mir and asked him seriously, "Mir, may l see that card?"