MASG chapter 130

 

Too absurd—what kind of posture was this?

Xia Yu held his two hands tightly against his chest, lightly touching his forehead to Mo An’s. Time seemed to stop. They stood beside the timetable, no movement able to wake them.

It was the sound of waves that reminded them that time was moving forward.

“Brother?” After waiting for a while, Mo An finally called out to him, breaking the dreamlike state they were both immersed in.

Xia Yu’s face was red as if he had been drinking. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he immediately took on his big-brother persona and ordered, “Put me down right now!”

“Isn’t holding you fine?” Mo An pretended to be surprised. “Besides, we just hugged. We didn’t do anything else.”

“You—” Forget it. Xia Yu didn’t wait for Mo An to put him down. He jumped down on his own. Just now, it was like drinking alcohol. Now, it was like the alcohol had finally kicked in. Even someone with a high tolerance couldn’t handle this kind of tossing, let alone keep a straight face.

“Alright, alright, I won’t mess around anymore.” Mo An was afraid of pushing him too far. Things had to be done step by step. “Go on, say it. No one’s home—what are we going to do?”

“Of course not this.” Xia Yu said tactfully. “At a time like this, I’ll take you to the fish pond. There are lots of fresh fish in there; you can have a full meal.”

He guessed that Mo An definitely had a habit of eating fresh fish. After all, the night he followed Mo An, he saw with his own eyes that Mo An went into the fish pond. Mo An didn’t deny it or resist; he obediently followed behind Xia Yu, his footsteps closely trailing. Xia Yu could only brace himself and walk forward, unsure whether he was spoiling Mo An.

The fish pond was still clean. This was all Lao Gui’s work.

“Is Lao Gui not here?” When they reached the pond, Mo An looked around but didn’t see him.

“Oh, Lao Gui went next door to drink with a neighbor.” Xia Yu knew this for sure. “Have you seen that neighbor of his?”

Mo An thought of Wang Ming’s face. Though he didn’t really know him, Mo An felt an inexplicable sense of rejection around him, always feeling like Wang Ming was going to abduct Lao Gui. “I’ve seen him many times. Sometimes, when they’re drinking, I secretly follow along to mooch a couple sips. Lao Gui is close with him…”

“They get along well, so they’re close.” Xia Yu brought him to the edge of the pond. Right after that, he heard Mo An ask, “I get along well with you, too. Why don’t I see you being close with me?”

What kind of nonsense was this? Xia Yu’s eyelids twitched nonstop and his mouth moved as if he had eaten popping candy. Mo An walked from behind him to in front of him, bent down slightly, and smiled up at him. Xia Yu became even more uncomfortable because he had seen this posture before.

This kind of interaction shouldn’t happen between him and his younger brother, just like that muddled kiss earlier. At school, only dating couples acted like this—one person got upset, and the other coaxed them by reading their expression.

Now, he was the one being coaxed. Xia Yu felt angry, but he thought that getting angry would just confirm it. So he simply stopped being angry.

“Hurry up and go in to eat. Don’t waste time. I’m afraid Dad and Mom will be back later.” Xia Yu urged him a couple of times, also using it as a way to change the subject and dilute the ambiguous atmosphere between them. Wait—they were brothers. How could it be ambiguous? But, but…wasn’t this exactly ambiguous?

Xia Yu stood there without moving, his thoughts already hundreds of miles away. When he looked back at the fish pond, Mo An had already slid in. Only his holey clogs remained by the edge.

“Mo An? Mo An?” Where did he go? How did he disappear so quickly? Squatting by the edge, Xia Yu called out softly, as if summoning a spirit from the water.

First, the water’s surface gently stirred. Then, a streak of water appeared in Xia Yu’s field of vision as if a transparent line were moving beneath the surface with his gaze. Xia Yu was amused by this “clumsy and childish” game for a moment, unable to describe the joy in his heart.

He was secretly raising a little fish. It belonged only to him. Mo An was the secret of the whole world, but at that moment, they only had each other.

Small splashes replaced ripples. Mo An’s head broke the surface and appeared in front of Xia Yu like a gift. Xia Yu suddenly felt that this scene was somewhat familiar, as if a very small mermaid had appeared like this before, watching him from the water.

Could it be that he really… knew him?

“Don’t be afraid. I’m just playing in the water. I won’t drown.” Mo An was covered in water droplets and sunlight. He shook his head again, clearly doing it on purpose to splash water on Xia Yu’s face. Xia Yu could only wipe his face and push Mo An back with his hand. “Why haven’t you turned into a fish yet? What will you look like after you turn?”

“Wait a bit. In about ten minutes, I’ll change.” Mo An said calmly, continuing to dive under Xia Yu’s gaze as he waited for the time to come.

However, Mo An didn’t eat any fish. He didn’t want to scare Xia Yu. No mermaid in the world courted like that; he couldn’t possibly slaughter everything the first time he returned to his original form right in front of xla. Instead, he would chat with Xia Yu, make him laugh, and occasionally flick a few drops of water at him. He would also dive to the bottom of the pond and bring up fish to show Xia Yu. He didn’t want to do anything else. Making Xia Yu smile was already the greatest achievement.

Xia Yu watched his swimming posture and listened to the sounds he made moving through the water. At what minute did Mo An’s legs begin to change? He didn’t count. By the time he noticed, Mo An’s legs had already merged, and blood vessels had grown between them.

The scene was a bit frightening. Xia Yu didn’t quite dare to look, but he also didn’t want to miss the miracle. The blood vessels kept gathering; each one had its own awareness and knew where to converge and how to become fish scales. When the clear outline of the scales appeared on Mo An’s legs, Xia Yu didn’t dare blink.

A miracle—this was absolutely a miracle!

The fishtail was much larger than he had imagined, exceeding the length of both legs by far. He couldn’t figure out where Mo An’s ventral fins or that terrifying dorsal fin came from.

When Mo An arched his body and dived down, the dorsal fin sliced through the surface of the water, resembling the sea monsters in supernatural novels.

“All right, this is me. This is what a mermaid looks like.” After the surface of the water churned violently, Mo An floated back up, resting both hands on the edge of the fish pond. He pressed his hand down on Xia Yu’s fingers, locking him in a domineering grip. Xia Yu couldn’t escape. He looked at Mo An’s hand first—mermaids’ skin really was a bit paler.

Bluish blood vessels resembling little snakes were hidden beneath the skin. And there was still some webbing left between the fingers.

“This is a bit… unbelievable. I never imagined it would be like this. You’re too amazing.” Xia Yu touched the webbing and began to worry that Mo An would feel pain during the transformation.

“I’m a siren, a male siren, so I have elbow fins.” Mo An said softly, carefully displaying the fins on his elbows. It was just like their first meeting. “Since you don’t remember me anymore, I’ll introduce myself again.

“Elbow fins?” Xia Yu smiled. “Can I touch them?”

Mo An immediately nodded. “Of course. You can touch any part of me however you want. You don’t even need to ask. Everything of mine is yours. Just be especially careful around the sharp parts—those are bone spurs, or what you’d call fish bones.”

“Fish bones?” Xia Yu was dumbfounded.

“Our bones are fish bones.” Mo An didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he lifted his arm. The more detailed his explanation, the more helpful it would be for Xia Yu’s memory recovery. “Elbow fins are the weapons of sirens. We’re ocean fighters. We usually move in groups and live near the sea surface. We like ships and lighthouses. You might like lighthouses, too. You might have seen one before.”

“You’re a siren? That’s a really interesting name. I like it.” Xia Yu skipped over the hint about the lighthouse. Facing a mermaid for the first time, he wasn’t startled at all. Instead, he naturally and skillfully began stroking Mo An’s elbow fins. He was sure he liked mermaids—not just their fins, but even their dorsal fins fascinated him so much that he couldn’t look away.

Mo An nodded and looked back at Xia Yu, coaxing him again from below. “Then do you like my ear fins? You can touch them. I want you to.”

Xia Yu took a deep breath, put his hand behind Mo An’s ear, and gently stroked its half-transparent ear fin. “Very… very beautiful. You’re a beautiful little fish. Oh no, you’re a big fish.”

Mo An’s whole body trembled. He closed his eyes and pressed his ear fin into Xia Yu’s palm. Ear fins were a vulnerable and sensitive spot and the part mermaids used for intimate contact. As Xia Yu slowly rubbed it, Mo An felt like he had returned to childhood, once again experiencing the closeness he had with Xia Yu back then. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. As long as Xia Yu could remember everything, he could treat any risk as nothing.

“It’s a bit cool. Are all mermaids like this?” Xia Yu asked, petting Mo An as if he were a little dog—just that this dog lived in water.

“Yes.” Mo An reverently lifted his head and braced both arms on the edge of the pond. He kissed Xia Yu’s forehead childishly. “I think… I really like you. We should be together.”

“What?” Xia Yu could never understand where these romantic yet silly words came from nor how the two of them had gotten to this point.

“If you like someone, you should bravely pursue them. That way, you won’t waste time. Mermaids can like humans, too.” Mo An pressed his advantage, floating his fan-shaped tail fin on the water’s surface and trying to elicit Xia Yu’s sympathy. He understood Xia Yu all too well. When he saw sadness appear in Xia Yu’s eyes, he waited for him to ask.

“Why is your tail fin asymmetrical?” Xia Yu stepped straight into the mermaid’s trap.

Mo An stayed silent for a moment, then said regretfully, “When we met as children, I was already injured.”

“Injured?” Xia Yu couldn’t help but feel heartache.

“It was a tearing injury, so my tail fin would never be symmetrical again.” Mo An lifted his body higher, his tail gently slapping the seawater as he maintained a vertical position. The ventral fins on his abdomen extended out as well. He was now at eye level with Xia Yu, his wet hair slicked back and water droplets flowing down his muscular body.

“I think… I should kiss you now.” Mo An said it and did it, wrapping his arms around Xia Yu’s lower back at the moment Xia Yu felt the most empathy for him.

The instant their lips touched, countless shades of blue appeared before Xia Yu’s eyes, exactly as he had seen in the swimming pool. Their lips pressed together. The confusion of identities made Xia Yu tense and stiff. He was unable to move, not even a finger. What was he doing? Mo An was his younger brother. Yet deep down, a lack of resistance controlled him, preventing him from pushing Mo An away. He only widened his eyes, staring at the eyelashes so close to his own.

Mo An’s eyelashes.

Mo An hadn’t closed his eyes either, his pitch-black tear membrane covering Xia Yu entirely. Xia Yu trembled in his arms. In fact, they were both shaking, just one more obviously than the other. Xia Yu returned to his embrace once more. This realization shattered all of Mo An’s reason. In this illusory virtual world, he possessed this person once again.

He inhaled Xia Yu’s scent deeply and gently bit his lips.

Xia Yu was completely stunned. The mermaid’s cold tongue slid over his teeth, prying open his lips. The arms around his lower back felt like steel rebar or an abyssal python, tightening with each passing second and squeezing him harder and harder. If he wanted Mo An to loosen his grip even a little, he could only pat his back. His palm involuntarily touched the mermaid’s dorsal fin.

Because of their kiss, the dangerous dorsal fin softened, becoming a toy in Xia Yu’s hand.

Xia Yu liked this feeling of “being specially treated.” His head buzzed. He began to respond to his younger brother right there by the fish pond in his own courtyard. His younger brother wasn’t even human. His heartbeat was fiercer than the ripples on the water’s surface. He felt Mo An’s tongue tip slide across his palate as if trying to reclaim something. It desperately occupied every inch of space in his mouth—not wanting to leave even the slightest bit of air.

He was about to suffocate. Unknowingly, Xia Yu’s hand hooked around Mo An’s neck, his fingers slowly brushing past the edges of the gill slits. The moment he touched them, the strength in his lower back suddenly exploded, almost snapping him in two.

Of course, he knew Mo An wouldn’t do that, even though he had the power to do so. Xia Yu lifted his face and finally closed his eyes. The blue light in his vision suddenly changed again. He and Mo An stood in a vast, snowy landscape with a desolate, ancient castle behind them.

Snowflakes fell onto Mo An’s silver hair. He raised his hand to brush them away. More snowflakes fell onto his eyelashes. Xia Yu watched them turn into water droplets and then into ice crystals.

Had he and Mo An… once kissed in the snow? The noise in Xia Yu’s head grew louder and louder as if he were about to remember something.