Choir class had ended, and Krystal was still following Serah, who was growing increasingly uncomfortable under the mysterious girl’s gaze. But Serah quietly kept these emotions to herself and made her way down the hall. Luhan had not appeared yet, and Serah wrinkled her face unpleasantly for she wanted to be as far away from Krystal as possible.

“Teacher Chen was right.” Krystal broke the silence, her cutting voice piercing the atmosphere.

“You are really good at singing.”

Serah briefly looked at Krystal and slightly dipped her head in response. She then turned her head around and didn’t look at Krystal again.

Both had approached the entranceway of the school and waited. Serah gradually forgot that Krystal was still by her side and delved into her daydreams.

“You can’t die..Please..”

The prince’s face was vividly portrayed in Serah’s mind, and she remembered his every features in striking detail. The memory of the girl from the temple appeared, and Serah’s heart felt tense as she remembered watching in envy, hiding behind the rock.

“…If..only..I could see him..” Serah mumbled off to herself, totally unaware that Krystal was listening to everything she was saying.

“Who’s him?” Krystal asked, breaking Serah’s daydream.

“I…um..no-one..” Serah stammered and shook her head repeatedly. Krystal raised her eyebrow in incredibility at Serah’s response and crossed her arms.

“Really. Are you sure?”

Serah ignored Krystal’s pestering question and turned her head to see Luhan rushing over to her side.

“Sorry, Serah. I was running late.” Luhan chuckled and was returned with a slight nod from his sister. He noticed that there was another girl with his sister and bit the inside of his cheek nervously.

Who was she? She wasn’t a mermaid..

“Luhan, let’s go home now.” Serah blankly said, and Luhan responded with a small smile. “Who’s your new friend?” He asked, certainly troubled by the aura the girl swimming next to Serah was giving off.

“Oh. She’s the new student.” Serah answered, her voice slightly monotone with a shade of unease.

“Krystal.” Krystal answered politely and smiled.

Luhan nodded his head and hooked his arm around Serah’s.

“Are you two..” Krystal began but wasn instantly cut off by a shocked Serah. “No.No. He’s my brother…just being overprotective.” Serah stuck her tongue out at Luhan, and he rolled his eyes at his sister.

“Hmm?” Krystal placed her index finger against the tip of her chin and shifted her eyes from Luhan to Serah.

“Yeah. Well I’ll see you tomorrow.” Serah quickly ended the conversation and turned around, swimming away with Luhan who looked back curiously at Krystal. She caught him staring at her and gave him a sharp look. Luhan quickly turned back around, biting his lip as anxiety flooded over him.

Krystal's ice-cold blue eyes watched the back figures of Luhan and Serah as they left the passageway out of the school. Her mind was wrapped around Serah's daydream, and Krystal tapped her lip as she thought.

I've wanted her voice for quite a while.

So how can I be sure that I will be able to obtain it? Krystal laughed silently to herself and swam her way out of the school's main door, her mind circulating over a well-introduced plan.

The next couple of days, classes passed by quickly, and Serah was soon sitting in the school's cafeteria, quietly eating her sandwich. After completely swallowing her first bite, she sighed and had a look of despondency across her face. 

She had drifted off in class multiple times today and was scolded by every one of her teachers. In fact, she had to stand outside and reflect upon her actions. 

But Serah couldn't help it. 

Her mind was still caught off in a different setting..more like a different world. 

"Oh why..." Serah laid her face on the table and silently mumbled to herself. She couldn't bear it any longer. Luhan watched her like a hawk after school, and she was left with nothing else but to go home with him. Serah wasn't even able to see Sehun much anymore. Occassionally, he did drop by her window and say hi, but other than that, she never saw him.

And the increased amount of chores and busywork she had to do at home was just overbearing for her. Her mother had promised that her punishment would lighten up in a few days, but Serah was still sulking about it all. 

"When can I be free?" She whined and took another bite out of her sandwich. 

Everything that she was being punished for was all because of that one thing: resurfacing without permission. How could her parents have made such a big deal of it all? She had made it back safely, and she had not been involved in any conflicts with the humans. 

Just why were her parents and brother so cranky?

Serah rolled her face to the side and thought of the prince again. Everytime she thought about him, she did not regret her actions for resurfacing. For she had seen him, such a beautiful, gentle being, with her own eyes. 

"I..want to see him again." She mumbled off and traced the table with her index finger. A tear almost dripped from her eyelids. 

"I miss him." She softly said and closed her eyes briefly.

Suddenly a loud clang was heard outside, and many of the mermen students, including Serah, were aroused by the disturbance. "What the hell is that?" One student cried out loudly and pointed toward the massive stone that had collided with their school's outside walls.

Soon, everyone was rushing out of the cafeteria, and Serah decided to follow along, her curiosity peaking. 

When Serah had arrived outside, she noticed a statue lying on the side of her school. She squinted her eyes and gasped in disbelief.

It was a statue of the prince. But how did it get here?

"I think it's been here for quite a while.." A student named Kai approached the statue and observed it. "It must have lost balance and knocked on our school's walls." Kai swam around the statue and gazed at it closely. "It's a crafted stone of a human." He spoke.

The mermen shrugged with apathy. Some of the mermaids squealed briefly at the mention of "human", but soon enough their excitement died down as they realized that their lunch hour was being wasted on a useless rock. None of the students knew who this human who had been sculpted on the statue was, and they chose to leave those matters aside.

Everyone quickly swam back into the school, but Serah remained outside.

She approached the statue and giggled cheerfully to herself. She first swam around it and noticed that the artist had done an excellent job at sculpting the prince's face. But the statue would never be able to match up to the prince's true beauty.

Serah was still amazed by the artifact, and her mind rolled off into space. 

She gathered underwater flora and carefully formed a crown-like structure. Smiling at her work, she placed the crown of flowers on the statue's head and stood back to admire her addition.

She clasped her hands against each other and slowly approached the statue. Her heart, full of love and adoration, caused her to break out into a sweet, soft melody. Her euphonious notes lightened her mood, and she swam around the statue of the prince. 

~If I could see you..let me be the one to love you~

~For as long as these leagues stretch, my heart will always dwell along your side~

~Let me be with you~

~For every passing day without you shed tears I cry~

Serah carressed the statue and looked into the eyes of it, the vision of her prince appearing before her again. She softly sighed and smiled with her eyes closed.

"So she is in love with a human?" Krystal whispered to herself as she spied behind a wall.

She smiled smuggly to herself. "But if she is in that form, she can never be with him.." Krystal continued to watch Serah who was hopelessly lost in her infatuation with the statue. 

A plan was executed in Krystal's mind.

"Oh but if she wishes to be human, she may." 

"For a beautiful pair of legs, she must give me her voice." Krystal laughed darkly to herself and turned the corner back into the school building again.