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Motoya had been there when the prophecy was revealed. It had marked the late king’s descent into madness. No one quite knew what exactly had happened, but within a year, Kyoomi’s older brother was thrust onto the throne, and Kiyoomi became the crown prince.
It had been a few months since Kiyoomi became the crown prince, and Motoya was running towards his cousin’s room on one of the few free days he had.
“Kiyoomi!!” He cried as he flung open the door. He didn’t wait for a response before diving onto the bed and making himself comfortable. “You’d never believe what I’ve been doing while you’ve been in all your classes and training things.”
He could feel Kiyoomi staring disapprovingly at him, but he made no move to kick him out. “I believe your mother’s decision to find you a separate tutor has kept you busy.”
“I mean, I guess, but it’s boring spending all my time studying.” He climbed off the bed to move over to where Kiyoomi was sitting. “I’ve discovered that reading can be fun.”
Kiyoomi looked up from what he had been reading. “You only now figured that out?” He said incredulously.
Motoya looked at the book Kiyoomi held and pretended to throw up, “I mean, yeah, the books you read are the most boring things ever.”
“No, they’re not.”
“Yes, they are,” He said quickly before carrying on. “I found some books that aren’t boring; they’re called romance novels. You always have a pretty girl as the main character, and then either a knight or a prince will come rescue her from a dangerous threat, and then they live happily ever after!”
“Sounds like a waste of time,” Kiyoomi said, but he closed the book he had been reading to look at Motoya, so maybe his words weren’t quite as true as he wished they were.
“I actually just started one that has a prophecy in it like the one about you!” He paused to try and remember more he could tell about it. “...I just started it, so I don’t know how exactly it will play out, but I’m sure it will be an epic adventure. Maybe you’ll have a pretty princess to save as part of fulfilling your prophecy, too!”
“The prophecy says nothing about there being a princess to save.”
“That doesn’t mean there can’t be one,” Motoya stated.
Kiyoomi froze as if thinking about the statement, “Is that how all the fairytales you read go?”
“Of course!” Motoya nodded his head enthusiastically, “It’s practically a requirement.”
“Oh. Maybe I will find a princess to save then.”
Motoya smiled gleefully. His cousin needed more people to talk to. If he refused to talk to most people, then how was he supposed to find a wife one day unless he saved a pretty princess as part of his quest?
The rest of their time spent together was spent talking about the ultimate adventure they were going to go on once they grew up a bit. He was sad to leave once his maid called him away, but that was forgotten once he got back to reading his book.
The book was full of twists and turns, and the more he read, the less the story seemed to follow the prophecy it started with… until he realized maybe he had misinterpreted the prophecy at the start. Once he finished the book, he sought out another book that followed a similar storyline. He slowly got hooked on novels with prophecies guiding the main characters. After finishing a few of the,m he decided he wanted to revisit the prophecy about Kiyoomi.
It was hard to misinterpret the first line. The late king had gained the title “fate-slayer” after his last conquest, which had driven him mad, and Kiyoomi was his youngest son. The second line led him to believe it was far away, but maybe the shallow surrounding waters fit the description. The Ocean’s strayer probably referred to the threat that would be faced. But after that, he got confused. Just reading it made it seem like the monster would need to be killed, and then the kingdom would celebrate… but the prophecy never actually mentioned killing it, just something about Kiyoomi’s choice. Could the monster’s arrow be referring to something else?
Motoya sat for a long time pondering until his mind was drawn to one of the books he had read, which mentioned Eros and shooting an arrow to make someone fall in love. Could that be what was happening? Did that mean Kiyoomi would leave the kingdom to run off with his princess?
The thought made Motoya sad. His cousin wasn’t supposed to leave him like that. To distract his mind, he pulled out the paints his mother had gifted him. The painting that surfaced was of an older Kiyoomi embracing a beautiful mermaid. He liked the picture. Maybe that’s who he would run off with.
He decided that if Kiyoomi thought his goal was to kill the mermaid, then it would be his job to help Kiyoomi realize his love for the beautiful maiden.
So for the next few years, he set about his goal. When Kiyoko was introduced to the picture, he didn’t pay her much mind because he was convinced Kiyoomi had to fall in love with someone while on the quest as part of the prophecy.
Around their fourteenth birthdays, a wrench was thrown in his plans.
“Motoya, I am gay.” This was the first time he had seen his cousin look close to tears since his father had passed away.
“Gay? As in you like men?” Motoya asked.
“Yes.”
Motoya thought for a moment. “What about Kiyoko then?”
Kiyoomi paused to think about his next words, “She is the same. We have agreed that for our nations it would be best to carry through with the wedding even if there is no love between us.”
“Oh. Ok.”
“Ok? That’s it?” Kiyoomi’s eyebrows furrowed.
“No, no,” he waved his hands frantically, “I just mean I guess that makes sense now that I think about it. You were never really one for all the talk about wives and everything.”
“Please do not spread word of this,” Kiyoomi begged.
“I won’t, I promise.”
Kiyoomi relaxed at his words. He had always envisioned the threat as a female, but maybe it was a man. He could’ve made a mistake in assuming the gender.
In their fifteenth year of living, a Siren began terrorizing the strait that led into the bay the kingdom was situated on. Kiyoomi figured this was the threat he was supposed to face. Kormori was slightly troubled by all the reports coming back about hearing a woman’s voice. He had spent a year expecting a male to fit Kiyoomi’s tastes.
Since the reports were close to the kingdom, Kiyoomi decided he wanted to learn how to sail to try to make the short journey easier. Motoya got to teach him how to sneak out of the castle to make that idea happen.
The next few years were spent sneaking out during free time to go fishing together.
When Kiyoomi turned twenty, he finally set out for his mission with Motoya right beside him. Kiyoomi kept a cool head on his shoulders, expecting to know exactly how everything would turn out. Motoya, on the other hand, tried to hide his excitement to see how his predictions about differences in interpretation of the prophecy would play out.
As their boat reached the strait, he was sad to admit he was enraptured by the song of the siren that became audible as they approached. When he came back to it, Kiyoomi had stopped the ship from crashing. Then all of a sudden the voice changed to sound like a male voice, causing Motoya to pause. The ship began jerking once more before coming to a stop.
That was all the confirmation he needed; his interpretation of the prophecy was the correct one, and since the siren was male, the bet of Kyoomi falling head over heels was back on.
The songs had stopped, but the siren must have still been nearby. Bored and wanting to get things moving, he decided he wanted to try to convince his cousin to recreate a stupid scene from one of his books.
“Kiyoomi! Kiyoomi!” He ran up to his cousin. “Since we just survived the first attack by the siren, you should help me recreate one of my favorite scenes from a book I read!”
“What do you want me to do?” Kiyoomi sighed.
Motoya grinned, “Go up to the bow and hold your arms out like this.” He held his arms straight out to each side, perpendicular to his body.
He gave a confused look, but had already agreed, so Motoya knew he would follow through. He followed behind as his cousin approached the bow. When he stopped at the very front and held his arms out, Motoya wrapped his arms around his midriff. Then he leaned to the side and sent Kiyoomi overboard; he didn’t stop to think too hard about how it was almost too easy to do. All that was left to do was wait for the earful he was going to get once his cousin managed to get back on board.
It was about half an hour later when Kiyoomi stormed into their shared quarters, still soaking wet. He looked almost unharmed, until upon closer inspection, he found a small amount of blood on his arm forming an almost ring shape.
“Did you get bit?!” Motoya tried not to scream his question.
Kiyoomi briefly hid his arm behind his back and grabbed a towel to begin drying off. “Why would you make me do such an idiotic thing? I could have drowned.”
“But you didn’t,” Motoya smiled.
Motoya didn’t catch what he muttered under his breath, but he spoke up again, “I ran into the siren; I almost did not escape from him.”
Motoya paused at the comment, debating how to respond without letting his cousin know he had assumed the siren was male since the singing. “Him?”
Kiyoomi nodded.
“But…” He paused again. “I heard a woman’s voice earlier, and all reports coming back have stated it was a woman’s voice as well.”
Kiyoomi nodded again, “I fear we may be dealing with two sirens, but I was unable to see another shape in the water; the man was the only one to make themselves present.”
Motoya smiled, “What if it’s just the siren who rescued you?”
“That would be the best outcome, but we should prepare for the worst.”
He could recognize the thoughtful look on his cousin’s face, so Motoya snuck out of the room, leaving him with a rare moment of peace.
He roamed the ship looking for entertainment for far too long when, suddenly, a voice began echoing across the rocks. He attempted to hide his jump of excitement as he rushed to his cousin’s quarters.
“Hey Kiyooooimiii…” he placed his hands on Kiyoomi’s shoulders to ensure he had his attention; he hid a laugh at the noticeable jump. “You should take a break, you’ve been sitting here for far too long.”
“Hmm.” Kiyoomi made no moves to get up.
Unsatisfied, Motoya grabbed his arms to force him to his feet, “Come on!”
His cousin gave way and stood up to follow after him. As they neared the deck, the song grew louder. He almost felt bad as he watched his cousin seem to zone out before grabbing a knife and jumping overboard. Too bad there wasn’t time to think that much; he was truly doing his cousin a favor. One day, his efforts would be appreciated.
It didn’t take as long as he would’ve liked for his cousin to reappear on deck; he had been hoping for at least an hour, but Kiyoomi had only been gone about half an hour.
Not wanting to push his luck too far, Motoya waited for his cousin to finish and come find him to most likely yell at him. That had been the plan, but then he got bored with waiting, and two hours was probably enough time for him to not be shooting steam out of his ears.
“Kiyoomi!” He knocked on the door and waited a few moments.
“Kiyyyooooommmiiii”
He knew his cousin was in his room, just refusing to respond, so he opened the door and forced his way in, “Kiyo.”
“Omi-omi.” He moved towards the bed.
“Stop ignoring me. I know you can hear me.”
He tamped down a grin as a thought popped into his head, “Fine, ignore me then, I’ll jump in myself and ask this siren for answers.” It wasn’t like he hadn’t been debating jumping in himself to see what the illustrious siren looked like anyway.
His cousin’s head whipped up so fast that Motoya worried for his neck. “Do it, I will find a way to skip your funeral.”
“You wound me, cousin,” Motoya gripped his chest in faux pain, but something about his expression was different from other threats made to skip his funeral. He almost laughed when he realized why, “You don’t think he would actually kill me, you’re worried I would learn something embarrassing from him.”
He could tell by the way Kiyoomi’s cheeks flushed that he was spot on. “There’s nothing embarrassing for you to hear about,” he said just barely above a mumble.
“If nothing embarrassing happened, then you can tell me how your recent dive into the ocean went.”
“If you want to know about that, you should tell me why you brought me to the deck knowing full well the siren was singing.” Kiyoomi clearly didn’t even try to hide his redirect.
Motoya grinned. He would tell this story at the wedding, but now was not the time. “Why would I do that cousin? I’m not looking to see you die at sea.”
Kiyoomi glared at him, but as he was used to his antics, Motoya simply widened his smile.
Deciding to see how far he could push, “Now, dear cousin, after hearing the beautiful song – because I thought you needed air and didn’t realize we were getting a concert – how was your swim?”
Kiyoomi sighed, “After you convened with the siren to drag me overboard, I found the siren singing on the shore.”
“Aaannnndddd…” Motoya drug the word out longer than needed, “Give me a story, I need something interesting.”
He knew something interesting was beginning to happen; he just needed a little more information.
“Jump into the ocean. The siren can entertain you for all I care,” Kiyoomi spat.
“What a change of mind. I thought you didn’t want me meeting the siren.”
“I changed my mind. I hope he eats you alive.”
Motoya stood up to move towards the door.
“The siren is strong; you wouldn’t be able to take him in the water, possibly not even on land.”
“Aww, so you do care about me!”
He giggled as he left the room to leave Kiyoomi stewing in his thoughts.
He almost went back to his room, but when he thought about it, jumping in to meet the siren wasn’t too bad an idea. He didn’t seem to show any intention of killing for some reason. He just hoped that courtesy extended past Kiyoomi.
He did not think about the decision long before throwing himself overboard. He did at least have the foresight to warn a crew member to be ready to pull him back over when he called for it.
The siren surfaced quicker than Motoya had been expecting.
The most intelligent first thought he had left his mouth, “So you’re the infamous Siren.”
The siren grinned, “I am, ya make a bold move tryin’ ta speak ta me.”
“Maybe so, but you’ve yet to harm my dear cousin, so I thought I’d risk my chances.” He said, then he awkwardly extended his arm above the water, “Komori Motoya.”
He hadn’t thought that he might not know the greeting ritual, but it became clear when his hand was swatted instead of shaken.
“Atsumu.” The siren said.
Motoya laughed at his stupidity. “Hold out your hand,” he said before grasping it and shaking his arm slightly.
“What an odd greeting.” Atsumu grinned, “What brings ya here to me?”
Motoya grinned. “I was jealous of my cousin, so I figured it was my time to finally see you.”
“Ah, ya flatter me, Toya, but yer not really my type.”
Atsumu was growing on him already. “Oho, but Kiyoomi is?”
“Kiyoomi?” Atsumu asked, confused.
Motoya grinned, “My cousin, Sakusa Kiyoomi.”
He watched as Atsumu’s face went slightly red, “so that’s his name…” His voice trailed off.
Motoya grinned, jackpot. “How superfluous of you. Is that why you’ve yet to kill him?”
The siren glared at him. “Ya make some bold claims fer a man who would go down far easier.”
Motoya shrugged, or gave as much of one as he could in the current situation. “A deflection, a confession, same difference.”
“Take it as ya please, but ya could never hope ta come close ta understanding the genius of my head.”
“Whatever you say, now as lovely as this has been, I'd best get back to the ship before my cousin comes looking for me. We should do this again sometime.” He called up to a crew member who threw a rope down the side of the ship.
As he pulled himself over the railing, he glanced around the ship, only to be greeted by the sight of his cousin stomping over, clearly aware of what he had done.
“You didn't,” Kiyoomi whisper-yelled.
“I didn’t do a lot of things, dear cousin, you’ll need to elaborate a bit more.” He knew he was unnecessarily riling his cousin up, but it was funny, so he didn’t care.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Stop playing dumb.” His voice was near a yell.
Motoya maneuvered around him towards the cabins so he could dry off. “I just fell overboard as I was taking a nice stroll on deck.”
“You are a better sailor than that,” Kiyoomi called him out, “you would not simply fall overboard when the waters are this calm. Find a better bluff.”
“The water is quite nice today; you could enjoy a nice swim.” He pushed open the door to his room and began toweling off, leaving Kiyoomi to close the door behind them.
“You are deflecting again. Did you meet the siren?” A straight answer was finally asked, so he decided he could finally give an answer.
“Why yes, I did, he’s such a nice guy.” Motoya smiled slyly at him.
Kiyoomi was clearly trying to tamp down his anger. “Why did you not tell me that in the first place?”
Motoya laughed, “You didn’t ask.” It was far too easy to get a reaction.
“Never mind.” He groaned, “Why would you risk your life like that?”
Motoya let a rare moment of seriousness creep in, “I didn’t see any danger, I genuinely don’t think he’s out to hurt us.”
“He’s caused dozens of ships to crash in these very waters. Why would he not do the same for us?”
“No clue,” Motoya shrugged. “All I know is that you have encountered him multiple times, in which you would be dead by now if that was what he wanted.”
Kiyoom’s face was conflicted for a moment. “If you talked to him, then did you attempt to get any information out of him as to why he is in these waters and sinking ships?”
“We did not. I simply had a nice chat with him and then left.”
He sighed, “You could have at least done something useful.”
“I did do something useful,” he said defensively, “I got his name!”
“It has a name?”
“Not ‘it’, He. And his name is Atsumu because I know you were curious.” Motoya grinned. It was fun feeding him information.
“...”
“He has a marvelous sense of humor as well. I could tell he was a kindred spirit from just a brief interaction.”
“Of course you could. This does us no good in completing our quest, though.”
‘Well…” Motoya started.
Kiyoomi leveled a glare at him. “I will throw you to the siren and refuse to bring you back on board if you try to bring up a romance.”
He smiled and shrugged, “You said it, not me.”
Motoya let out a small laugh as his cousin let out a huff and turned to leave.
“Just think about it!” He said as his cousin slammed his door closed behind him.
He laughed. It was coming together; he was a genius.
The siren seemed emboldened by the conversation they had had, and in the following days began elaborate mating shows to catch Kiyoomi’s attention. Most of the sailors would enjoy the show for a bit before getting back to work, but Kiyoomi was on the deck every day watching until Atsumu slipped back under the surface.
Motoya gleefully watched his cousin each day as he watched the siren, and then, when Kiyoomi went to hide in his quarters, Motoya would pester him. He was glad to see that Kiyoomi was fighting less and less each time to keep up the pretence of him watching for research.
It was almost time for another one of Atsumu’s shows, so Motoya headed to the deck. He was barely in time to watch his cousin jump over the railing and into the water. He bit back a squeal before turning around and heading back to his room.
He was surprised not to see his cousin until the sun had begun to set. Unfortunately, Kiyoomi breezed past him and locked himself in his room. Motoya knew he would have to confront him later to try and weasel some information out of him.
The next day was unfortunately much the same, but he was blessed on the third day to have Kiyoomi come knocking on his door.
He wore a glare as Motoya opened his door for him. “If you so much as laugh at me, I’m leaving.”
Motoya mimed a zipping motion over his mouth.
“I’ve been out meeting with the siren the past few days. I’m loath to admit it, but I fear you are correct.”
Motoya grinned, but did not laugh, and kept his mouth shut as promised.
“I fear I may be growing attached, but I think I need a bit longer to figure everything out. If I decide to write home about these updates, will you help me compose the letter?”
Motoya nodded, happy his cousin was coming to him for help.
“Thank you, that will be all.”
He wanted to complain and beg for more, but he figured it would be better to let it go for now and let Kiyoomi come to him again once he was ready.
Moyota was overjoyed that he only needed to wait a few days for his cousin to come back with a request to help him write a letter home.
“I’m impressed that this is what you have chosen. I never expected you to want to give up the kingdom for the siren,” he confessed.
“If you had asked me not too long ago, I would have agreed with you.”
“Well, I’m proud of you. I wish you happiness in this.”
“Thank you.”