“Evaaaaan, oh my goddess!!!” Ashura squealed once they were on board the Tiamat. Evan refused to look at anywhere but the deck floor, his ears hot with embarrassment. “You actually asked someone on a date!! ON IMPULSE!”

“Your Highness don’t say anything that’ll make him think twice about it! Our captain has great difficulty getting dates as it is!” Yuki’s tone was of concern. Like Ashura, he’d been around Evan long enough to know his reactions better than the man himself.

“It’s fine Yuki… there’s no way I’d back out on this one…” Evan said, finally raising his head. His cheeks were a little red as well as his chest.

“Boss, you don’t even know how much I’m trying to avoid acting like our Empress. Don’t make it so hard to hold it in.” Yuki whined.

Evan scratched the back of his head, looking away from his friends to stare at the shore. The reason he’d noticed Claris was the fact his hair was the color of the sea… a sea with brilliant stars in it. When their eyes met at the city for the first time, Evan felt his heart pang hard against his chest. He had traveled a lot, gone to war with many countries, sailed past many horizons… and he had never found anyone as attractive as that blue haired stranger. Their eye contact was brief before the mysterious man got lost in the crowd. Evan thought he’d never see him again. As such, he didn’t whisper a word to Ashura, especially before their first meeting with Wisteria Domain’s Head of State. He had a moment with June Ocean, but not as strong as the brief one he’d had with Claris.

It caught him off guard when he realized the feeling of being watched was due to his crush gazing at them, just a minute walk from the dock they’d been authorized to use. His mind had gone into autopilot. Before he realized what he was doing, he’d found himself sitting by the table with the handsomest man he’d ever met. Seeing his amethyst colored eyes up close, had knocked every reasonable thought out of him. Evan convinced himself he would NEVER figure out where the hell he’d gotten the courage or the balls to ask Claris out after a one-minute conversation. The man would also never understand how his crush had gone and said yes.

“I am bringing Touta with me to cover for you at noon. There’s no way on this world you’re missing that date.” Ashura was shining with happiness. Evan assumed she had already married him off to Claris in her imagination. “Ship will be anchored so neither of you will be necessary on board.”

“I don’t know what you three are fussing about, but I bring news, Your Highness, Captain.” Hikaru had walked up to meet them. The woman wore her doctor coat and underneath it she wore a pair of loose pants and an oversized men’s shirt.

“Hikaru, Evan’s got a date. He asked the guy out!” Ashura exclaimed, Hikaru only raised an eyebrow as she stared at Evan.

“Well I’ll be damned. I owe Touta some cash now.” Hikaru’s face remained otherwise unexpressive.

“Well if we’re done questioning and talking about my love life… what’s the news, doc?” Evan crossed his arms, his past embarrassment leaving and being replaced with curiosity.

“Our mer friend woke up, I’ve been able to translate properly using the crystallum you gave me. He still hasn’t given me his name, but apparently his home is a place called Luna and he hasn’t seen it in a couple years.” Hikaru explained.

“Can I see him?” Yuki asked, his mood had gone from excited to worried in a heartbeat.

“You may, although I’d rather it just be us who see him. He’s been wary of anyone else other than me until now, I think he’ll be at ease if he meets the two other people he saw last night.” The doctor crossed her own arms and bit her lip before following up. “I think he was a slave. The net he got caught in wasn’t made just to prevent movement, it was meant to kill him if no one got it off him. The more complex hooks had a toxin on them, an anticoagulant. As long as they remained in there, he would have bled out to death. Our friend found a chance to escape, got caught in the net, and still escaped knowing well what it would mean for him if he didn’t reach the shore in time.”

“There was no other ship at sea last night, not anywhere near us.” Evan added.

“How long was he out there?” Yuki’s voice was a mere whisper, his face had gone pale.

“Our friend’s smart, he used magic to counter the toxin. The amount of blood he was losing was diminished at the cost of lack of movement. Thus why we didn’t have a bloody mess when we got him on deck last night. If he’d spent a couple more hours, out there lying still without getting nourishment, his magic would have faltered, and he would have bled out in a matter of minutes.” Hikaru finished explaining, her gaze somber and cold. “We’re dealing with some cruel slave traders, boss.”

“If our new friend wants revenge, we can get it for him.” Ashura’s tone had turned serious and very cold. Her personality had done a total one eighty. “He can hire us at a very low price. Right, Evan?”

“I agree.” Evan’s eyes had gone dull, he was entering bloodlust mode alongside Yuki and Ashura. “We’d have to keep it discreet, if our friend does hire us.”

“That won’t be a problem, no one will ever find their bodies. I’ll make sure of that.” Yuki’s voice had gotten deeper, his face wearing a rather excited smile. “They’ll vanish like a grain of salt in the ocean.”

The four of them had already made plans. No words had to be spoken, just one look and they’d all know what to do. Such was the advantage of having fought together for years.

“Well, now that we’re all on the same page, you two need to meet our friend. Your Highness, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait longer to meet him.” Hikaru asked the men to follow her. In mere seconds, the heavy atmosphere was gone.

“That’s okay, I have to go see Touta and tell him where we can dock the Tiamat.” Ashura said as she waved goodbye.

While the woman made her way to the Tiamat’s bridge, the remaining three went down to the med bay. Inside the room, where he’d been resting previously, was the merman now wide awake and staring at his visitors with huge, bright, silver eyes.

He saw Evan and blushed… but he noticed Yuki and blinked a lot of times as if confused.

“Thank you…” The mystery merman mumbled as his visitors got closer. “I would have died if it weren’t for you. I am in your debt.”

Evan understood him perfectly, but Yuki had to wait till Hikaru used a crystallum, a gray crystal shard embed magically with a language. The doctor displayed the translations to herself and Yuki via her magic, green screen.

"It’s not something to feel in debt for. Please do not worry, you are our friend now."Evan replied. “My name is Evan Hoshigami, I’m the captain of this ship. If you need anything while you stay here, please feel free to ask for it.”

“Thank you, Evan Hoshigami.” The merman grinned, turning to gaze at Yuki who remained frozen by Hikaru’s side. “… you’re the one who remained with me last night. All through dawn…”

Yuki read the words on Hikaru’s screen and nodded. He came closer to the merman and looked at Evan with pleading eyes. Evan instinctively knew what his friend would like to do, so he scurried to his side and whispered a few things to his ear.

“Hi, my name is Yuki.” He half managed the pronunciation, the merman understood him very well despite the thick accent though.

“My name, Nemo.” The merman said, his accent very broad and pronounced. Yuki blushed, bright red. Hikaru was afraid the boy was having an attack even. “Happy to meet Yuki.”

“I keep getting damned,” Hikaru was surprised Nemo had learned a few words in their language in such a short time. Even more so, just to surprise Yuki. “Kid, I’ll leave you the crystallum. I need to get lunch and out of here.”

Hikaru left the crystal she’d been holding on her right hand to Yuki, who took it while holding Nemo’s gaze.

“…Alright then. Nemo, I’ll leave you with Yuki. Welcome to the Tiamat.” Evan patted the blond’s shoulder.

“Make sure you make him feel at home.” The captain added in their native tongue before getting out of the med bay.

Hikaru accompanied him out, wearing an actual smile on her face.

“Goddess, there is literally no way that kid’s happiness doesn’t stick on someone.” She commented, shaking her head and chuckling. “It’s good to see him that happy for a crush.”

“Yeah, I most definitely know.” Evan sighed. The blond kid was an orphan Ashura and he had rescued during the first war they ever got in together. Despite being all banged up, malnourished and on the brink of death, Yuki had always kept an optimistic outlook on things. A bright ray of sunshine, a miracle hidden amongst the ashes and corpses of a small border town. “I’m sure Nemo will love hanging out with him.”

“Great, now all I have to do is ask Priscilla out and maybe, just maybe, we can all go out on a group date.” Hikaru had returned to her deadpanned self, her sentence dripping with thick sarcasm.

“We both know you would die before having the guts to ask Priscilla.” Evan added his tone being somewhat mocking. “The army doctor can remain at a battlefield amongst the goriest of circumstances, but may the Goddess spare her from showing her actual feelings around the woman they love.”

Hikaru looked at Evan with the most annoyed expression she could physically pull off without straining her face into cramping.

“Says the man who until today couldn’t successfully hook up with anyone no matter how hard he tried. I’d rather be shy about it than be cursed with your luck.” The doctor smugly gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I’m off to get some lunch, cap. Call me if you need anything.”

Once Hikaru was on her way, Evan decided to head on over to the bridge and oversee the Tiamat’s docking. The rest of the evening he’d stay at the Tiamat, planning and discussing the details for tomorrow’s dealings with Ashura and Touta. The day tomorrow would bring for him was a packed one… and one he’d have a hard time sleeping over that very night.