Mermaid

There is a bright moon at sea.

Fishing boats parked.

The waves on the sea are gentle, the sea breeze is cool, but the atmosphere is quite lively.

"I'm sure we'll catch some more tuna tonight."

Grandpa's voice is loud.

"Grandpa, you have said this sentence many times." Nino fiddled with his fishing line, and complained, "We don't catch one every year."

Itsuki whispered into Naoki's ear.

"When Grandpa was young, his family was very poor. One night he went fishing alone, Grandpa was very lucky. He catches bluefin tuna and sells them for a lot of money…Grandpa says it every year, but unfortunately he never gets another tuna."

"I see."

Naoki expressed his understanding.

People used to catch bluefin tuna, which is a significant moment in life and one can be proud of for a lifetime.

"Will Asakawa-san swing it staff?" Yotsuba asked.

Ocean fishing is different from ordinary river fishing and requires stronger skills and experience.

The quintuplets have gone out to sea with their Grandpa before, and have experience in deep sea fishing, and Naoki may be one of them.

"I really can't." Hearing this, Naoki put down the bait in his hand, and said seriously, "Please Yotsuba, teach me by hand."

"Actually, this is almost the same as regular fishing…" Yotsuba pretended not to understand, "Watch my move, do it again."

"Eyes can understand, but hands cannot." Naoki said without changing his expression "Of course, Yotsuba still need to teach by hand."

Yotsuba puffed out her cheeks slightly: "... Bullying me."

"That's right." Naoki confessed shamelessly, "I like bullying Yotsuba the most."

"Keep your voice down, if Nino hears it, she will talk about you again."

Yotsuba blushed slightly, looked left and right, saw that everyone was busy, walked to Naoki with small steps, and helped with the fishing gear.

"Tuna is very strong, the fish weighs hundreds of kilograms, so you need to use a special fishing rod, otherwise it will break..."

"There is also the bait. Tuna is a carnivorous fish and likes to eat flying fish, so we need to use flying fish as live bait…"

Yotsuba gently explained the knowledge of sea fishing, while teaching how to spin the rod and hang live bait: "However, tuna is very difficult to catch. I went fishing with grandpa last year, and I've never caught tuna, so don't have too much preoccupation with it."

Sea breeze blows.

The green hair ornament on Yotsuba's head fluttered gently, looking like rabbit ears, making people want to catch and play with it.

"...Is there something on my face?"

Yotsuba tilted her head and looked up.

"Not."

"Then what did you see?"

"Because I like Yotsuba so much that I can't look away."

Yotsuba was taken aback, then her face turned red rapidly.

When did Naoki learn these words to trick girls!

But... She wanted to hear more.

"Asakawa-kun is too one-sided."

A voice sounded faintly behind the two of them.

"Eh? Ichika?"

Yotsuba was shocked, like a child who had been caught stealing candy, and hastily rid herself of the guilt.

"Too partial." Ichika said in an irritated tone "Obviously I'm right behind you, but Asakawa-kun just looked at Yotsuba, how about treating everyone the same?"

There are no eyes on the back, so being unable to see is normal!

"I like Ichika." Naoki said quickly.

Until now, things like faces had long been abandoned.

"Do not listen." Ichika covered one ear "If you are not sincere, you should say it at least 99 times."

"If you don't want to hear it, please cover your ears."

"What are you doing?" Nino raised his voice, "Hurry and eat."

...

Fishing is a very Buddhist thing. After casting the rod, it's the fish's business whether to bite the hook or not. An unlucky fisherman may end up with nothing all day.

Except for grandpa who wants to catch tuna again, the quintuplets just come to play, and no one really wants to catch tuna.

The long night was long, so eating, drinking and having fun was naturally indispensable.

Eating while admiring the beauty of the bright moon and the ebb and flow of the sea, it must be said, is indeed a great joy in life.

Too bad there's no barbecue, only seafood bento, abalone, crab, sea urchin, lobster, oyster... all cold and no temperature.

"Asakawa-san." Yotsuba handed over the bento, "I have abalone sashimi here, do you want to try it?"

"Want to."

Naoki nodded, and asked Yotsuba to hand over the abalone. The way to eat abalone sashimi is similar to ordinary sashimi. After it is cut into thin slices, squeeze out the wasabi balls and eat with soy sauce.

Taste... slightly salty.

Other than the meat being tender, there isn't much flavor on its own, and the main sources of flavor are soy sauce and wasabi.

"Speaking of which, why is it called an abalone by this name?"

Nino suddenly asked a question, "It doesn't look like a fish, it looks more like a shell."

"According to the division of biology, abalones are indeed clams." Naoki said casually, "The ancients didn't have a strict species classification, and there were many creatures living in the sea, so they were collectively called fish. For example, whales are not fish."

Itsuki raised his right hand: "And an octopus isn't a fish."

Ichika: "Seahorses are not horses."

Miku winked: "That gecko isn't a tiger... It has nothing to do with tigers, so I don't know why it's called a gecko."

That's because in the eyes of the ancients, all insects that harm things can also be called tigers, so there are geckos and so on.

"Even so, why are they called abalone instead of shellfish?"

Nino still didn't get it.

Naoki took a bite of the sushi: "This thing used to be called a shieldfish, but it was changed because of one person."

The fishing boat drifted gently, and the faint smell of wine wafted through the sea breeze.

Maruo and grandpa were sitting drinking together.

"Naoki, come and have a drink." Grandpa says hello.

"He is still underage." Maruo said coldly, "The law stipulates that minors cannot drink alcohol."

"Too bad." Grandpa sighed, "This is the red wine that I have cherished for decades, and you won't be able to drink it today."

Naoki smiled and said: "My family has also had red wine for many years. When I return to Tokyo, I will send it to grandpa."

"Grandpa is getting old and can't drink too much wine." Nino said. "There are a lot of high-quality imitation red wines on the market now, and I don't know if they are real or not."

Yotsuba pressed her brows together and recalled:

"I remember in certain movies, there seemed to be a way to judge the authenticity of red wine. It looks like measuring several elements..."

"Is that a radioactive isotope of cesium?" Naoki reminded.

Cesium 137, the radioactive isotope of cesium, which does not occur in nature, spread around the world after the first atomic bomb exploded in 1945.

Therefore, there is no cesium 137 in unopened red wine before 1945, which is often used to identify the authenticity of dark red wines.

"Right, that's it." Yotsuba's eyes lit up, "Of course I still think, as long as the red wine is good, why bother."

The matter is not important, what matters is that hundreds of years ago, the more high-end red wine, the more ancient methods used to process.

Simply put, people have to keep their feet on their toes to squeeze the juice out of the grapes.

Do you think it's a beautiful woman who steps on the grapes?

Big mistake!

Stepping on grapes is very hard physical work, so almost always men step on grapes.

That precious red wine with hundreds of years of history was most likely the work of the great man who stepped on his foot a hundred years ago!

"The fish hooked."

While chatting, Itsuki's exclamation suddenly rang in the ears.

Several people who had nothing to do for a long time gathered together.

"Come on Itsuki!"

"Don't panic, take your time."

"Could it be tuna?"

"Probably not." Yotsuba shook her head, "Mayatsu shouldn't be able to pull tuna."

Naoki said in a low tone "Don't underestimate Itsuki's strength, my ribs still hurt."

"What!" Itsuki couldn't help but scream, gripping the fishing rod tightly with both hands, "I didn't use so much strength!"

Sea fishing is actually a sport that requires a lot of physical strength.

Fish are very strong in the sea, and it is impossible to catch slightly bigger fish all at once. The fish need to walk continuously by the tug of war method, and the process can even last for several hours.

Not knowing what kind of fish Itsuki caught, however, she was very strong and couldn't lift it for a while, so she had to pull it slowly.

Itsuki was in good spirits at first, but it wasn't long before she started to feel tired, and then Yotsuba, Nino, and Ichika took over to help.

As for Miku... a mascot who doesn't have the strength to hold down a chicken, let's not mention it.

20 minutes passed in the blink of an eye, Itsuki finally caught the fish.

A fat fish landed in the boat, slapping limply on the deck.

"That's a grouper." Grandpa commented on the side, "Small."

"The bigger the fish, the rod will break." Itsuki waved his hand, "I'm so tired, my arm hurts so much."

The quality of the rod is very good, and it is more likely to fall overboard than to break.

After that, people caught fish one by one, but they were all ordinary sea fish, and there was no trace of tuna.

In the twinkling of an eye, the moon was in the sky.

The wind and waves on the sea are quietly increasing, the moon is gradually becoming hazier, and the fishing boats are gently crashing and tossing in the waves.

"It feels a bit cold."

Miku tightened her scarf tightly.

Naoki holds Miku's hand: "It's cold."

"Grandpa, it looks like the wind is blowing," Shouted Nino.

"Don't worry, Grandpa drank a bottle of wine, ate edamame boiled with salt, and caught fish. Grandpa is quite comfortable. However, grandpa caught a big fish in the end, but unfortunately it was eaten by a shark. On the way back… Hahahah."

"The wind and waves are getting bigger and bigger," Maruo said calmly, "It looks like the wind is about to blow. Just to be safe, we'll be back in a bit."

Grandpa took a sip of wine regretfully, "Then go fishing for a bit, but unfortunately no tuna was caught today."

A cold wind blew from the sea.

As the wind and waves intensified, the boat fluttered up and down, and gradually it felt like a roller coaster.

The moon disappeared quietly at some point, there was even a drizzle of rain falling from the sky.

"Grandpa, it looks like it's raining." Itsuki raised his hand to cover his head and said loudly, "Shall we head back?"

Ichika nodded: "We might catch a cold if the clothes get wet."

"Come back." Grandpa put down the wine bottle, and his voice was loud, "Everyone take the fishing rods back."

Naoki didn't ask Yotsuba for help, and skillfully put away his fishing rod.

He only caught one black sea bream the whole night, and his yield was the same as Nino, Ichika and Miku even with their bare hands, catching none.

Miku was packing a fishing rod when she suddenly felt the fishing rod in her hand suddenly sink, and couldn't help but say:

"Looks like I caught a fish..."

Before she finished speaking, a wave came crashing over, and the ship suddenly tilted. Miku screamed softly, and with the pull of the fishing rod, her body suddenly lost its balance and fell into the sea from the side of the ship.

"Miku!!" Nino shouted anxiously.

"Miku fell into the sea." Yotsuba's face turned pale, and she dashed forward swiftly, about to jump into the sea to save her.

Maruo's face darkened, he dropped the rod in his hand, and was about to jump into the water.

"I'm going down."

Naoki pressed Yotsuba's shoulder, then jumped into the sea without hesitation.

Water splash.

The wind and rain gradually increased, the waves started to get big, and the glistening sea started to turn black at some point. The two of them jumped into the water and disappeared in an instant.

"I will also come down."

Itsuki bit his lower lip and was about to jump in to help.

"Itsuki, don't make trouble." Ichika's expression was serious, showing the aura of the eldest daughter at a critical moment, "Just trust Asakawa-san at a time like this."

"I see."

Itsuki was clinging to the railing, and with his swimming skills, jumping into the sea would only do her a disservice.

"Where are the others?" Yotsuba was nervous, "Why haven't Asakawa-san and Miku been seen?"

Ichika frowned: "How did Miku fall earlier?"

"I don't know." Nino bit his lower lip tightly, "I heard Miku say that a fish seems to be biting the hook."

...

At the same time.

After Naoki jumped into the sea, he immediately found Miku's figure. His right hand was accidentally entangled by the half-received fishing line, and she couldn't escape at all. Her whole body was directly dragged into the sea.

Naoki swam to Miku's side as fast as an arrow leaving the string, hugged Miku, and immediately kissed her.

Sharing abilities, underwater breathing.

"Cough cough cough..."

Miku suddenly felt a breath of fresh air rushing in, and then saw Naoki in front of her. The panic and fear suddenly turned into grievances, and wanted to speak, but only spat out a series of bubbles.

Can she breathe?