1337/Young Encounters of the Orange Kind

Young Encounters of the Orange Kind
Date of Scene:	24 March 2024
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	On an early morning walk, Coco and Yuuto surprisingly stumble upon Sara. An unexpected interaction gives them a first person view into Coco's and Sara's shared past.
Cast of Characters:	Coco Kiumi, Yuuto Shiraishi

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Coco Kiumi has posed:
It is a splendid March day, the sun high in the sky, warmly sharing its rays with the late winter weather. However, it is still too early for that gift to be appreciated, and the light falls on a rather solitary Penguin Park, the usually lively place almost completely bereft of people.

Not many people are present at this time of day, the sun having barely broken free of the horizon, which makes the lone dark-haired figure hanging in front of the pond leading to the Island Shrine all the more peculiar. She has been watching the small construction with a somber expression, as if reminishing something from years earlier.

Unberknownst to her, she is not the only one present, as Coco has invited Yuuto on a very early walk, just the two of them, and the blonde mermaid is currently smiling and leaning closely to her boyfriend, her arm intertwined with his.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"You don't think it makes me look like a giant banana, right? I mean, you make yellow look like a bright sunny day..." Yuuto is enjoying the closeness of his mermaid and the way she's pressed to his side as the cool morning makes them want to be a little closer to each other. He's looking down at the picture he took from his tuxedo fitting, letting Coco in on the pale yellow he's preparing for her.

"Also, if we..." a blush on his cheeks and a glance at the promise ring she wears, "...y'know... marry. I should get used to wearing yellow as your Prince Consort, hmm?" he asks her, a smile, warmth showing in his cheeks with a light blush as he imagines what it will be like next to her - and then as he realizes that she usually only wears a shell bra when mermaided, which means he'll probably be, well, shirtless, in his form, right?

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco playfully boops Yuuto when he brings himself down while simultaneously complimenting her - somehow he makes an art form out of it, and when he does Coco will be quick to remind him with a compliment he is just as great. "I don't think so, you will look like the most splendid of suns", she smiles at him.

The adorable blush Yuuto gets on his face when he speaks of their marriage? It is able to melt Coco's heart, knowing that special day with her elicits such a response in him. "The vast majority of accessories will be shades of yellow, yes", she confirms, "but at least, if we ever find a way to turn you into a merman, your tail's colour will be up to you. And you don't have to worries about being cold, merfolk bodies are sturdy in regards to that."

Then she notices the dark-haired figure that stands in front of the pond. "Sara? Is that you?" she exclaims: it is a figure she could never mistake for any other. The dark-haired orange princess turns around, gazing at the couple with a grimace. "Coco? What are you doing here? And who are you with?"

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Coco really has always had the advantage on flirting when it came to Yuuto and once again it's on display as she tries to raise his spirits and the gentle boop causes him to smile, even with his cheeks still rosy from his earlier thoughts of marrying Coco. "I don't have a problem with yellow." he admits to her shyly.

A glance up to Coco's blonde hair, and a little less shy and more playful. "No trouble with yellow at all, really?" She really does have her boyfriend wrapped around her little finger. Though when he feels her sudden, if subtle straightening at recognizing someone he does not.

However, when Coco says the name 'Sara', it's not an unknown name to Yuuto, it's one that Coco's brought up before - and usually not in the best of connotations when relaying the tragedy of her story. He feels a little defensive, but Coco is not transforming, so he only remains guarded. Even when Sara asks her question, he defers to his mermaid, because he doesn't want to mess up.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Sara, you are back", the blonde mermaid acknowledges, staring at the figure that despite everything is still her best friend. "I am just on a walk, and I don't know what you are doing here. Are you trying to get Mitsuki to come with you again? Or dragging me back?"

"Ah, Coco, neither of those things today", the orange mermaid smirks cruelly, though it doesn't reach her eyes. "I was just on a walk pondering things, not like you, though, right." A very melancholic frown appears on Sara's face. "He is your boyfriend, isn't he? That you too fell for a human. Isn't what happened to me enough of a warning? He will leave you too one day, just like Mitsuki had done to me."

"Yes, this is my boyfriend, Yuuto", Coco confirms. "But, please, Sara, Mitsuki was only trying to spare you the pain of their eventual forced separation. Let me help you heal from your grief." The black-haired mermaid shakes her head. "For all good that has done. Anyway, my spiral shell, Coco, I know you have it", Sara demands.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Now that Sara is making her presence known - and why, Yuuto becomes more defensive. "You have her shell, Coco?" he asks, but his eyes drift to Sara. "She's not looking for Mitsuki." he confirms to Sara, the young man slightly stepping forward, to protect Coco - even if she is far better ar defending herself.

"I am." Yuuto responds, and then shakes his head, a glance to the ring that Coco wears on her finger. "I've promised her my heart, Sara. I'm not going anywhere." he says reassuringly. "She is trying her best to help you, to try to be your friend." he offers reassuringly.

As for the spiral shell, he can't say anything on that - he has an idea it's what Coco used to get around the seafoam thing, but for now, it's Coco's decision on what to do with it.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Yes", Coco tells Yuuto. "Since Sara used it to keep her own memories inside, it started being dangerous, and in the wrong hands, the dark energy it contained as a result could have done great evil. But I purified it now."

Sara's head falls on Coco's bag. "And you have it with you, have you not? Hand it over. That's what I am looking for today, not Mitsuki." A snide is reserved to Yuuto. "That path isn't for me anymore, now my only path is next to Gaito, so he may get his revenge."

And a low laugh escapes from Sara's throat as she hears Yuuto's determination. "One day, you too will decide Coco's duties are too much for you to witness, and will leave her alone. And if not, the Fade will get you next."

But she is not there to play any longer. "Give it over, Coco", Sara says, reaching for the bag in which she senses the shell and starting to pull it. The other girl pushes back against her once and future friend, not intent to let go. "No. Not unless you tell me what you want to do with it", Coco replies, determined.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"Revenge is never the answer." Yuuto responds to Sara, even as she starts to make a move upon Coco. Though as the dark-haired mermaid seems determined to try to find ways to suggest that he will not be with Coco, the teenager becomes more and more firm in his ideas.

"No. I couldn't forget her or abandoned her if I wanted to." His hand rubs on the ring - the one that Coco placed on his finger as her promise to him and he firmly shakes his head. "I can't, and I won't..."

And when Sara goes for Coco's bag, that is when Yuuto's biggest difference from Mitsuki is made - as he henshins into his Steam Sentinel guides and when Coco pushes back, Yuuto moves, intent to keep the two seperate and defend his girlfriend. "She's trying to help you, Sara, can you not see that??"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Yuuto's own transformation in a Steam Sentinel leaves Sara to glare at the brunette. "Why don't you stay out of the way", she hisses with venom at him, quickly following suit and transforming into Orange Pearl Voice, magical energy of that colour rippling across her skin. "This isn't your business!"

And as a reaction, Coco answers back with her own henshin, yellow energy joining in and mixing and intermingling with Sara's own energy. "You have to let go of your grief, Sara. I know it isn't easy, but I am here to help, like I have always been. This is drawing out the worst in you, and you would have never done this. Can't you see it?" she exclaims almost desperately.

A fourth energy reactions emerges then, coming from inside Coco's bag, the white light starting to whisper of a story of two girls, who met a long time ago and instantly became friends, exchanging a gift representative of a bond that would emerge time and time again. The white light grows and grows, soon engulfing the three figures pushing and pulling. When it retires, Coco, Sara, and Yuuto have disappeared with it, the bag falling to the ground.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"It is my business, because I'm with Coco, and if Mitsuki was here, I'm sure he'd make it his business too!" Yuuto knows just enough of the story to realize that as everyone is escalating - not the result that he was looking for - but it's his fault in his attempt to defend Coco from danger.

And he doesn't realize that there is a fourth light that is involved in all of it - until it has engulfed the three of them. There's no chance for a warning or to escape - just the flash of light, and gone.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
When that white light disappears, Coco looks disoriented around herself. More importantly she is confused about now being underwater, and certainly not the pond. This is the sea, and they are quite deep for sure. She wouldn't be surprised if they were past the 2000m mark.

It is not surprising then that she is in mermaid form, that's not the matter at all here. Most importantly, she is feeling weirdly light, as if she had lost a lot of weight all of a sudden, even if oddly enough she doesn't really feel off-balance. Turning around, the first one she sees is Sara, but she is not the Sara she just left, she is very clearly younger, back to when they were kids, which is all the more disconcerting when she realises Sara doesn't look any shorter to Coco.

"What?", Coco says, and immediately stops talking, the unusual shrillness of her voice compelling her to look down. Oh, gosh, she looks like a kid too. "What is going on here?"

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"Whaaaaaaaat?!"

There's another shrill, young voice next to Coco. And when she turns, she's in for a sight.

You see, Yuuto didn't start working out for the track until a few years ago. Now, in his younger state? He's a little chubby, a rountound little boy with a pudgy yellow tail. The portly little merman is completely confused... and when he realizes what state that he's in?

His first thought is to swim and find a place to hide. This is why he never showed her pictures of him when he was younger. Or taken her to his home - there's pictures of him when he younger and larger all over the place - and now it's all out. It's embarassing and shows on his cheeks as a bright shade of red.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is indeed prompted to turn around at the source of the shout - though she would have done so anyway, given that Yuuto was the only one left to check anyway. So she is treated to the sight of a chubby merfolk for the first time in her life.

And she actually finds Yuuto cute with all that extra baby fat on him, which is more than she can say about herself since she is thin everywhere, even in the places she misses her older age for. She would actually find this new (old) body image she has kind of weird.

Coco's shrill voice squeaks at Yuuto as she goes after him, glomping him and saying "Is this really you? You were cute as a kid." The now young yellow mermaid encourages him to come out.

"Can you stop, you two?" Sara grunts in a voice that really doesn't help her sound at all imperious. "We need to fix this." That then does prompt Coco to look around, because both her and the orange mermaid recognise this place.

"Sara, this is...", Coco says, a slightly sad hue colouring her voice. "Yes, you remember well", Sara frowns, not really looking around all that much. "We first met here", she adds for Yuuto's benefit.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"I look terrible. I'm fat and ugly and..." Yuuto is so wanting to stay behind his rock, even as the lithe Coco pounces him and the two of them tumble about for a moment. "Even you look all thin!" he exclaims - even if he does appreciate modern Coco a little more.

There's a brief touch of Coco's hands before Sara speaks up, and she's looking around. "...so what would have caused this?" he asks, his hand trying not to grab Coco's to hold it, even if he may want to.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"You don't look terrible", Coco refuses to acknowledge. "It's baby fat, and it's quite normal and cute. What about me? Being thin does me no favours. I am too weird like this compared to before", she sighs at herself. "But nevermind that! All we have to do is get back to normal.

Though Yuuto has in fact raised an important question: what caused this, and how to fix it. "The spiral shell", Sara states plainly in response to the problem, as if that was enough to make it clear. Though, she does choose to proceed, and adds: "It probably reacted weirdly to our two magical energies mixing, since we were both involved with the memories it contained."

"Wait, you mean it actually contained memories of us two?" Coco asks, her hands still close to Yuuto to make him feel as reassured as she can. "Yes", she nods. "We can either try and play out this memory, or try to repeat what got us into this mess. What do you two suggest?"

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"You still look cute." Yuuto admits. Even if Coco is lithe, she looks adorable in his eyes. Even if she's pulling him back out into the open and before Sara, his hands clutched together in front of him.

"So... I don't know if it helps or hurts in this case." he comments as he floats next to Coco and then shows his left wrist - which is now bare. "I think I lost my henshin device somewhere in all of this magic." he admits with a small frown. "Playing out the memory may be the only way to get through this."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco smiles a little at that consolation, and it's actually odd, but she even blushes a little for circumstances beyond her. And as Yuuto know, she isn't really the blushing type.

But Yuuto bringing up he doesn't have his device with him is a more pressing matter to tackle, and she doesn't really get why that would be. After all if Yuuto made it here, why not his device?

"Maybe it's only letting in things that existed at that point?" Coco suggests. "We were 7 when we first met, so you of course pass, but your henshin device doesn't. You will probably get it back when we make it outside." At least she hopes so, but magic is usually consistent with itself at least.

"Let's stop wasting time, if we have to get through that day, I'd rather get it over with now", Sara urges them on, clearly not content with this being the only option. "What's wrong, Sara?" Coco leaves Yuuto's hand to take Sara's. The orange mermaid's hand twitches, but she doesn't retract it. "That was a happy memory, wasn't it?" Is the rift between them that wide, Coco sadly wonders.

"I just don't feel comfortable here, things weren't like this back then. I destroyed your kingdom, remember?", Sara bites her lips. But before anyone can say anything more, an adult mermaid comes towards then, clearly the memory acting itself out. "Princess Coco, Princess Sara, there you are", she says, grabbing the two mermaids' wrists, before her eyes fall on Yuuto inquisitively, trying to place him, but failing to come up with any info.

Nonetheless, she assumes he is some merfolk kid who lost his way, so she gives him a reassuring smile. "Who is this merboy? A new friend?"

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Okay, seeing Coco actually blush is adorable, considering how often he's on on the end of her flirting and he's the one blushing, it's a nice change of pace - but not one that he is eager to make permament. He actually likes Coco's shameless flrting with him, it makes him feel loved and wanted.

As the pair discuss the memory, Yuuto points out, "If it's a memory that was locked in the shell, and you were looking for it... does that mean it's a memory you treasure?" he asks, that is before Coco departs from him, and goes to Sara as she should. After all, among the Princesses, he's a nobody subject.

Which is made more clear when the older mermaid comes to claim the two girls - and when she smiles at him, he only offers a shy wave. "I lost my toy - it's a bracelet my parents gave me." he offers lamely, "They were helping me look. I'm sorry."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Neither Coco nor Sara is pleased with being treated so strongly, even if it was par for the course since from the memory's perspective they just ran away to who knows where. After all, they met because historically, their two kingdoms didn't have many contacts with each other, and this was an attempt at rectifying that. Which worked extremely well, as the two of them had hit it off almost immediately and continued seeing each other over the years.

"He is with me!" Coco squeals defensively at the adult mermaid, using her free hand to grab Yuuto's again. Which is apparently found to be very funny, because their keeper laughs and say "That's all right, your little boyfriend was coming with us anyway to find his toy, so don't worry."

She has obviously attributed this to a precocious crush on Coco's side, a deduction that Coco blush and smile with the yellow mermaid bringing Yuuto closer to her now she doesn't have to keep up pretenses. Assuming he lets her at least.

The three of them are led to a group of merfolks all talking animately among themselves, although they stop when they see the forced return of Coco and Sara. "No worries, they already met each other and were off playing!" A sigh of relief escapes another mermaid's lips, this one orange unlike the other's yellow. "Aqua Regina must have been watching over them. Who is the boy?"

The attention is now on Yuuto as the South Pacific attendant replies. "A kid who lost his toy. I will look for it while the Princesses stay with him. You keep a watch on the Princesses from afar, please." Turning to the Princesses, she adds "Stay here and be good, Princess Coco and Princess Sara."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Had he known what the memory really was? Yuuto would have kept his mouth closed and ran off without fanfare. Now, as he is being drawn into this shared memory, he offers a helpless shrug to the pair of princesses, his hand settled into Coco's. At least he's not telling them that he plans to marry the yellow Princess someday.

"Now what?" he whispers to the pair, hoping that they have some idea what to do now that he's accidentally derailed the whole memory - after all, there was no lost boy or toy in the past memory that he knew of. At least his tail matches Coco's, marking him as one of her subjects and making things a bit easier. Small things he got right.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Well, at this point in the memory, we talked for a bit", Sara explains to Yuuto, recalling that they didn't start playing immediately in favour to just trying out each other's reactions. What else was there to expect when they had been tactlessly thrown together just because of political baggage? It's a miracle things went as well as they did.

"Right, after that we started playing, which is going to be awkward, so let's hope it stops before then. Besides, I always wanted to reconnect with you, Sara", Coco points out to her old friends, her tone making it clear she isn't really intent on that not happening here.

"Why don't you begin, Yuuto?", Coco smiles, nudging him towards Sara. Perhaps he is gonna do better since he doesn't have to deal with a previous history. "You could tell her about what we have been doing."

Sara shakes her head and speaks up more first. "Well, he should know who exactly he is dealing with. Hi, I am Coco's childhood friend, and the one who sold her out to Gaito after freeing him." A contemptous smile appears on her face. Because why should she be otherwise, after all that has happened?

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
As Yuuto takes in the information, he bumps into Coco slightly. "Sorry!" he squeaks, because again, he forgot that he's a bit more pudgy in this form, as he listens to the pair as they talk. And he was more than willing to make an introduction -- just as Sara decides to make a move and try to intimidate the young one.

As she finishes her introduction full of vitriol, Yuuto's lips pull together thinly for a moment and he moves closer again to Coco to protect her. "Hello. I'm Shiraishi Yuuto, I met Princess Coco when she helped protect a concert I was at from a pair of Dark Lovers. I'm sure you're aware of them." he whispers.

"...after a few dates, I fell hard for her and she asked me to be her boyfriend. I agreed, and just recently..." a glance to Coco's left hand. The ring may not be there, but. "I asked her to accept my promise that I would be hers for as long as she wants me, which will hopefully be for the rest of my life." A pause. "I'm sorry Mitsuki could not make the same promise to you."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Of course I am aware of them", Sara snorts. "I tells them to do things for me every once in a while, when I don't act through Gaito, at least." She listens to Yuuto though as he explains himself. "That was probably them acting on their own. Gaito gives them free reign as long as they keep doing things to capture other princesses."

"I feel nothing towards you", Sara makes it clear to Yuuto. "My revenge is for Mitsuki and Mitsuki only. Anyway, feel free to treat Coco well while you still can, because Gaito is gathering all the mermaid princesses anyway, and that" - Sayaka remarks looking at Coco - "includes you."

"I don't care", Coco says. "You are still my best friend, you don't have to feel shackled by your past actions. You can still redeem yourself." She brings her and Yuuto into a hug, not wanting to make anyone feel excluded. "We can rebuild, Sara, you don't have to stay like this, please. Even the South Pacific is normal again. You just have to come back and we can rebuild your kingdom as well."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"You should give up on that - your powers could help so many others in the world." Yuuto responds as he looks to Sara. "You are much stronger than you give yourself up and can be more than Gaito's puppet." he offers to her.

"Mitsuki isn't worth getting revenge on. You need to let it and him go. You can do so much better..." he offers to the other mnermaid, intent on defending Coco with his life.

And that's when Coco is pulling them all into an awkward hug, and the chunky little merman is pressed against the two princesses. While he does hug Sara, more of his hug is for Coco - after all, that's where his heart is.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"You think I am Gaito's puppet?" Sara grins at Yuuto. "We have just been supporting each other, me for my revenge on Mitsuki and he for his revenge on Aqua Regina. We have just been supporting each other through our respective grief."

"We were literally the happiest, Shiraishi-san", Sara scowls. "And then he leaves me without a word and next time I meet him he dares to pretend he is doing it for my own good. Just because he didn't want to interfere with my duties. That's how I know that you are going to just be the same. It doesn't matter what you have promised Coco."

"Stop, Sara!", the yellow mermaid intervenes, her voice shaking from repressed pressure. "You don't know him, and the fact you aren't even giving him a chance... The Sara I know is still there would have never done this. You would like him if you gave him a chance." Coco doesn't undo the hug, on the contrary she clings to it even more.

"You have given up on everyone, even yourself! You can't just tell me you are happy thinking only of vengeance, with pain in your heart. Shake yourself out of it, Sara. If you only think of what you have done, of course you will think you have no other way out of this." Sara doesn't really look shaken however.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
"And you didn't press? You didn't try to find out why he had a change of heart?" Yuuto asks, a tilt of his head, frustration in his voice. "If Coco told me tomorrow she'd want to break up, I'd want to know why, and I wouldn't stop until I had a reason!" he protests.

Though as Coco presses harder, there's a small squeak from the currently small boy as he draws in a breath and hugs Coco back in return.

"There's more than one..." A pause, he stops himself, because that would be a very poorly timed saying, so he instead allows. "I'm sorry he broke your heart, Sara. But trying to destroy everything is not the answer."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"How about you try and press with someone who refuses to talk to you?" Sara glares at Yuuto. "But that doesn't matter anymore, love and hope are just illusions. Gaito and I have each other now, and he listens to me and actually does what I ask, so there is really nothing you can do here."

"Sara..." Coco sighs, letting out her displeasure in that action. "It may be just me here, but you know that the other princesses would do the same as me. That's something you can't deny", the yellow mermaid rebukes, her conviction unshakeable.

"And if my words won't reach you, then maybe my song will. Because love certainly isn't an illusion, nor hope is." Her Yuuto is right here with her, and she squeezes his hand before starting to sing.

"Birth of Love: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"
https://youtu.be/iRWXuFypySI?si=zfp0-Tp3fiKouPxG

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Yuuto is realizing that he cannot win this fight, Sara is so ensconced in Gaito, there's little chance that one meeting is going to change her mind about anything. But he doesn't give up. Why? Because his own love is speaking so openly and bravely - infusing her affections into him and she bolsters her thin frame with the love she feels from him.

And when Coco starts to sing, Yuuto moves. Sara will not interrupt her song, not if the chubby merboy can help it - he will defend the Yellow princess with all his heart and body can offer, a little knight willing to protect his princess as she starts to song, her song still touching his heart warmly, as it has every time before.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Sara doesn't move, though. In fact, she doesn't even seem affected by Coco's feelings, nor the song's calming influence. "Just because you say the others would do the same, doesn't make them actually here." A second's hesitation. Does she hate this place... "This is just a sweet illusion of the past, it won't happen ever again."

And it is just then that the memory seems to end, because their surroundings start dissolving in a white light, reaching the three merfolks slowly but surely, until eventually they find themselves at Penguin Park again, in their correct forms.

"Yes, what's in the past is in the past, but you can't tell me it doesn't affect you still, Sara! Why else would you remember it so fondly?" Coco exclaims at the orange mermaid. Because she knows she is right, and Sara needs to look past her grief before she is truly able to reconcile with herself. And that's Coco's duty, as her best friend.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
As the illusion fades, as the memory returns to where it is, the henshined form of the Steam Sentinel is revealed again as Yuuto remains between the pair "It was a memory, a pleasant one. I wish I could have seen it for what it truly was. And that you had done the same." he offers to her quietly.

He moves, back again next to Coco, as the yellow mermaid reaches out to Sara, and all Yuuto can do is support Coco, because that's his duty, as her heart's protector.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"We should have never gotten in there", Sara counters. "And now that we got out, I certainly don't intend on experiencing it again. I will come for what is mine at another time." And with that she disappears in a rainbow flash.

"Sorry you had to experience these things, Yuuto", Coco looks with concern at her love. "It is a difficult time for her, and as you can see, I am still trying to reach her. But one day, I am sure she will heal. How are you feeling?"

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
His response to how he is feeling is responded to when Yuuto turns and his arms engulf Coco in a warm and affectionate hug. "You did great, babe." he whispers in her ear, pressed close to her as he holds her tight. "Are //you// okay?" that is the more important question, in his opinion. It was her memory. Her best friend. He was just an interloper.

Releasing Coco, his hands fall to join hers to hold her, not wanting to break their contact, even as he returns to normal from his henshin'd form. "I'm so proud of you and to be yours, Coco."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Yes, I am ok, just a bit sad at seeing Sara like that, but like I said, we will save her", Coco exclaims, inviting Yuuto to walk back to the school with her. "Thank you", she adds, kissing him, and locking her arm with Yuuto's. This has been an unexpected early morning.