The rest of the day goes by without much of note happening, with Meg and Mari having a peaceful dinner together before heading to bed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the night, as Mari is awoken quite te into the evening when she hears sounds of wood cracking and snapping coming from somewhere in her apartment.

  “Ngh…What was that? Did you hear it too, Meg?” She groans as she stretches a bit, only to realise that Meg isn’t in the bed with her. She can barely see through the darkness that her bedroom door is open as well, leading into the pitch bck of her living room.

  That’s strange… is she already checking out where that sound came from? Why didn’t she turn any lights on…?

  She looks towards the doorway with curiosity when she starts to hear a rustling noise from somewhere on the other side, putting her on guard.

  What in the skies is going on in there… and where’s Meg?

  Mari grabs a small ntern sitting on top of her dresser, a limited edition model sporting a spiked pattern at the top and bottom of the gss to resemble Ursu’s teeth, and very quietly walks towards her bedroom door. She slows down upon reaching the doorway, the light in her hand only able to illuminate a short distance ahead of her, and looks out into the living room as the rustling sound continues.

  “H-Hello…?” She quietly calls out, to which a set of glowing eyes light up, looking right at her from the corner of the room where the kitchen is located. Luckily for Mari, however, they glow a very familiar shade of pink, and the Erune breathes a sigh of relief.

  “Oh, it’s just you, Meg…” She says with a yawn as she heads over to the kitchen. “What are you doing out here in the dark?”

  “Mph mphmph mmph mph, mph mmph?” Is the response Meg gives in return.

  “Huh?” As Mari finishes closing the distance, the light from the ntern reveals the scene pying out in the kitchen. As the light shines upon Meg, Mari could swear her loose fitting tank top doesn’t look quite as loose as usual, and that her shoulders are sticking out a bit more than she remembers, but there are other things that grab her attention before she has a chance to dwell on it. Meg is holding a jar of cookies in one hand, several of which appear to be in her mouth already, and in her other hand is… the door to the cupboard they were stored in, torn off its hinges…

  “Sorry.” Meg says after swallowing. “I said, it wasn’t that dark, was it?”

  “Yeah, it was. I couldn’t see a thing in here without this light!”

  “Huh… was it? I guess I didn’t notice somehow. Sorry about, uh, this as well.” She holds up the cabinet door before pcing it on the kitchen counter. “I tried my best to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake you up, but then that happened… I could have sworn you’d reinforced all the furniture in here.”

  “I… did… But don’t worry about that, I can get someone around to fix it in the morning. Are you hungry again?” Mari stretches a bit to try and wake herself up some more.

  Meg looks back to her apologetically. “Yeah… Gotta say, this whole thing with Ursu and I sharing appetites isn’t much fun.”

  “In that case, just leave it to me!” Mari takes the jar and puts it back in the cupboard. “You go take a seat and I’ll whip up a big midnight snack for you!”

  “A-Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to bother you in the middle of the night…” Meg says bashfully.

  “Of course! you miiiiight have guessed already, but I’ve learnt a thing or two about te night meals in the past few years, hehe! Just sit back and let me take care of you.” Mari grabs Meg’s arm, guiding her to the living room table, and returns to the kitchen after turning on a few more nterns to light up the room. She quickly gets to work while Meg tries to watch, although there’s not much to see from her seat.

  “It was super sweet of you to talk with that kid earlier today, you know.” Mari says after a while as she faces away from Meg.

  “Was it? I didn’t think I did anything all that special.”

  “It was, especially when you were already so worked up about everything else. Most other people would’ve said they had to go, like, wayyy before you did.”

  Meg scratches her head. “I dunno… It just felt like the right thing to do, I guess. I remember what things were like for me growing up, not knowing what I wanted to do with myself or if I really had a pce I belonged. If I can help some kids figure themselves out a little sooner than I did, then it kinda just feels like I need to give that my all, you know? Kids are important, you gotta take good care of them.”

  “They… sure are important, aren’t they?” Mari says back, with Meg unable to see the look of absolute etion on her face.

  “Yeah, maybe we can try and organise something for the next time I’m in town where I can do a meet and greet with the kids or something? There’s tons of children in Auguste, especially in the summer.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry Meg…” Mari says under her breath. “Give me a few years and we’ll have plenty of kids around…”

  “Sorry, what was that, Mari?”

  “O-Oh, I said that sounds like a great idea! I’ll definitely put something on.”

  “Thanks Mari, you’re always so good at that sort of thing. It’s no wonder everyone here trusts you so much.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing, hehehe!” Mari can’t hide her joy over Meg’s compliment. And while the conversation dies off after that, she can’t help but sing a little song to herself as she continues preparing Meg’s food.

  “La-ta-ta - ta ta- ta, -ta-ta - ta ta- ta…”

  “That’s… the song you wrote for the concert, isn’t it?” Meg asks after listening to the melody for a while.

  “M-hm!” Mari cheerfully confirms as she chops something up. “That was a really fun day, wasn’t it?”

  “It was, wasn’t it?” Meg looks down pensively. “I’m just a little surprised you still remember that song.”

  A giggle comes from the kitchen. “Don’t be silly, Meg. I wrote that song specially for us, of course I’m going to remember it.”

  “Yeah…”

  The two go quiet for a while as Mari continues prepping the midnight snack, leaving Meg to her thoughts.

  Ugh, why does this have to be so difficult? Does she remember it because I’m important to her in that way, or did she just have a lot of fun that day? If only there was some sort of sign she had romantic feelings for me…

  Meg leans back, taking some time to look around the room. She never really noticed how much stuff Mari’s collected over the past few years. She’s got a huge poster on the wall of Meg striking a bodybuilding pose at the beach, and on the shelf right next to it is a Meg-themed board game that Mari insists on pying every time Meg herself is here. The window on the front facing wall has purple curtains with bck stripes that match Meg’s hair, which has apparently become more of a trend recently, if that conversation about Megwarmers yesterday was anything to go by, and even the salt and pepper shakers on the table have been designed in Meg’s image.

  She continues to take note of all the novelty, Meg-themed items around the room, until a number of dots suddenly start to connect.

  Hold on just a second… We really need to work on getting some more Ursu merch out there. We’re meant to be a team, it’s not fair that they’re making so much stuff with just me on it. I suppose I’ll have to bring it up another time, though, I don’t want Mari to be thinking about work this week. After all, she’s meant to be…

  Oh… right…

  Meg remembers the reason she’s visiting Auguste this week, and a wave of guilt washes over her.

  “Mari, I’m sorry for ruining your vacation…” She says with a sigh.

  “Huh? What are you talking about?” Mari stops what she’s doing and turns to her. “You haven’t ruined a single thing.”

  “Yes I have. I’m sure you had a bunch of stuff pnned for this week, but everything going on with Ursu and I, and the crew members I brought with me, not to mention Ukupanipo and the other sharks that have been attacking us, have screwed that all up. Not only have we barely gotten the chance to actually do anything yet, but you’ve almost gotten hurt several times already.” Meg puts her head in her hands in shame. “I’m meant to keep you safe, keep everyone safe, but I keep messing things up...” She remains in that position, dwelling on her failures, even as she hears a set of footsteps getting closer.

  “Meg, look at me.” She hears from the side, and she moves her hands a bit to see Mari standing right next to her, leaning over the woman.

  “...Y-Yeah?” She keeps her hands in pce in an effort to hide the blush that she knows is taking over her face.

  “None of that is your fault, Meg. Well okay, mayyybe some of the crew members tagged along because of you, but even then, it worked out for the better in the end! You’re not the reason Ursu’s been doing strange things, you’re not the reason those sharks started attacking us, and you’re not the one who built an entire district above a huge primal beast that nobody even knew about until yesterday.” Mari crouches down, and Meg lowers her hands a bit, having a slightly easier time looking into her eyes when she doesn’t also have to look past the rest of her.

  “Yes, a lot’s happening all at once, and it’s affecting you more than anyone else, but it’s not your fault. We just need a little time to figure out what’s going on, and then you can beat up the monster or bad guy or whatever that’s behind all of it, just like always, Meg.”

  Mari proceeds to gently grab both of Meg’s hands and lower them from her face. Meg doesn’t protest, despite how nervous she is about letting Mari see her like this, and the Erune continues to hold her hands, even the one that’s taken on a very sharky appearance, as Meg starts to lose her composure a little.

  “B-B-But we’re still spending your vacation dealing with all of this instead of what you wanted to do…”

  Mari chuckles a bit. “Meg, do you know what I wanted to do with my vacation?”

  “I-I don’t know…” Meg says shakily. “You probably had a ton of p-pces you wanted to show me… and things you wanted to… W-W-Woah!”

  Meg can’t help but vocalise her surprise when Mari suddenly pulls her into a tight hug.

  “I wanted to spend it with you, Meg. And the st time I checked, we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that so far, unless you’re about to tell me you’re not who I think you are, or something like that.” Mari lets out a giggle, and while her beloved doesn’t audibly react, she hopes the joke helped her mood a little. She can’t bme Meg for having a lot on her mind after the past two days, even if she doesn’t entirely realise that at this precise moment Meg’s mostly just unsure how to act when so much of Mari’s soft body is in contact with hers.

  Mari releases the hug, but still holds on to Meg’s shoulders as she looks her in the eye. “I know you very well, Meg, and I get why you’ve been so anxious, but you can trust me when I say that I’ll still be happy be with you even if we spend this entire week dealing with all this shark stuff, just like I can trust you to be the same old, wonderful Meg that you always have been. Do you think you can do that?”

  Meg takes a deep breath, struggling to match Mari’s eye contact. “Yeah… Thanks Mari, sorry for making you worry.”

  “It’s what I’m here for. And you can stop apologising too, everything will be okay, Meg.” Mari lets Meg go and returns to the kitchen, slyly grinning to herself on the way after seeing just how red Meg’s face had gotten after that hug. “I think getting some food and a good rest will really help you rex, so let me finish up here so you can fill up and get back to bed!”

  “Right…” Meg trails off, and sits in silence as Mari gets back to work, with certain parts of her spiel in particur hanging over her.

  “...unless you’re about to tell me you’re not who I think you are, or something like that.”

  “...I can trust you to be the same old, wonderful Meg that you always have been.”

  But… I’m not, am I? Would that same old Meg keep secrets from her? Will she still trust me if she finds out I’m in love with her? Who exactly does she think I am in the first pce?

  Meg loses track of time as she frets about how Mari may or may not see her, only to find a pte suddenly pced in front of her with two rge sandwiches stacked on top, each one lovingly packed with some of her favourite ingredients. Mari’s made simir sandwiches for her many a time, but for some reason these ones really grab her attention.

  “Here you go, Meg! After how hungry you’ve been getting today, I thought I’d make you extra just to be safe!” Mari smiles at her before returning to the kitchen to clean up.

  “Wow, thanks Mari! Did you try something new with these sandwiches?” Meg can barely pull her eyes away from her te night snack, if it could even be considered one with how much food she has been served.

  “Nope! I made them just how you like them, same as always!”

  “Really?” Meg picks one of them up, giving it a quick look. “They smell super delicious, you sure you didn’t put a little extra sami in there or something?”

  “I carefully measure everything wherever I cook for you. But if you’d like, I could add extra next time?”

  “If these taste half as good as they smell, I think you might have to!” Meg can’t resist the meaty aroma any longer and takes a bite, only for her eyes to go wide in surprise the moment it all hits her taste buds. Before she even realises what’s going on, she finds herself taking another bite, and another. At some point during this process the second sandwich ends up in Meg’s other hand, and she’s taking turns chomping into both without any restraint.

  It’s not until both sandwiches are completely devoured that Meg returns to her senses. She doesn’t know what happened, but she wolfed both of them down in mere moments, now met with the sight of an empty pte that has a picture of her and Ursu printed on it.

  The Meg on the pte, the same old, wonderful Meg, looks happy as always, giving a thumbs up with a confident smile. Meg can’t help but compare her hand to the one in the picture as she looks at the smooth, grey and white flesh.

  We still don’t really know why my hand changed like this, and if I didn’t know better, I’d almost say this weird shark skin has spread a little further since I first noticed it earlier today. Mari mentioned something about me being a bit taller as well, didn’t she? I guess my pyjamas do feel a bit tighter than usual… Am I going to keep changing like this as long as that part of Ukupanipo’s core is in my body? I don’t want to think about it, but what happened back at the docks is probably reted as well... I hope these changes start to slow down soon, but what do I do if it doesn’t?

  She looks at the pte again and sighs sadly. The Ursu in the image floats beside Meg, sporting a huge smile of her own. She’s a shark of few words, but she’s always happy to be there.

  I miss Ursu, too. The only times she’s come out on her own today have been when she’s hungry, and even when I ask her to come out for something, she just hides again as soon as she’s finished helping. We really need to get to the bottom of this, for her sake as well. I just hope she’s okay in there… Or in me, I guess? I don’t really know how to phrase it…

  Meg’s thoughts of her shark companion are only interrupted by an increasingly familiar feeling in Meg’s stomach. One that she’s not at all happy about experiencing at this moment.

  “Wow… I guess it’s a good thing I made two.” Mari says with a yawn as she returns from the kitchen once more, but her expression shifts to one of worry when she sees that Meg’s in a sour mood again. “Was there something wrong with the sandwiches?”

  Meg looks back in surprise, having momentarily forgotten that Mari was here with her. “N-No, not at all... Honestly, that was the best they’ve ever tasted, it just…” She looks away guiltily. “Wasn’t enough…”

  “Really? I can make you another if you want.”

  “No, like… It really wasn’t enough. I think I need to take Ursu out into the water again.” Meg gets up and heads into the bedroom to get changed.

  “That hungry? I guess Ursu eats a lot more than I realised…”

  “Y-Yeah… I guess so.” Meg replies from behind the closed door. Some grunting can be heard shortly after, much to Mari’s concern.

  “Are you sure you want to go out in the ocean this te? It’s gonna be even colder than it was this afternoon, you know.”

  “It’s not like I have much choice, if I don’t feed Ursu soon she’ll probably start getting all rowdy again, and I don’t want her wrecking your apartment.” Meg comes out of the bedroom, dressed in her swimsuit, and with an embarrassed look on her face. “I’ll… I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  Mari looks at her in surprise. “You’re going out like that in the middle of the night?”

  “Yeah, uh… I’m not sure why, but I was having some trouble getting my regur outfit on… But I’m getting in the water anyway, so it’s fine, right?”

  “Well, I can at least make some hot chocote for when you get back, you’ll…” Mari stifles another yawn. “...you’ll need something to warm you up after going out there.”

  “No. It’s okay, honest. You can just get back to bed, Mari. I already feel bad about keeping you up this long.”

  Mari pces a hand on Meg’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

  “Yeah, I promise.” Meg says, putting on the best smile she can.

  “Okay… You’ll be back soon, yeah?” Meg nods at Mari, and the Erune lets her leave, heading out the front door into the cold, dark night. She then gets back into bed, only to sigh loudly.

  “But... how am I meant to get back to sleep without you here…?”

  Well over an hour ter, an exhausted Meg sneaks back into the bedroom, having already dried off and gotten back into her pyjamas in the bathroom. This feeding session took much longer than she expected, and the shark in her arm seemed especially eager to thrash around as it hunted for food. Constantly getting pulled around the water in the dark has left Meg completely drained as she gently and quietly climbs into the bed, only for a weary pair of soft arms to wrap themselves around her.

  “...You’re still awake?” She asks softly.

  “Only… just…” Mari replies with a quiet yawn. “You okay now?”

  “Yeah, sorry I took so long.”

  “S’okay… just gd… yorrrrr…”

  Meg gives Mari a moment to finish her sentence, only to realise she’s already fallen asleep. While Meg can’t see it, her sleeping partner is currently sporting the most peaceful smile as she holds her close. I really hope she didn’t stay up waiting for me…

  Meg closes her eyes as well, shuffling a bit to make herself comfortable, but unfortunately for her, sleep doesn’t find her quite as fast as it did Mari.

  How long can I keep letting things go on like this? I’m going to have to tell her how I feel sooner or ter, aren’t I? But… I’m so scared of what will happen if she doesn’t feel the same way…

  After stressing herself out for a while, Meg starts to feel Mari shift a bit, no doubt having a dream of some kind.

  “Meeeeeeeg…” She mumbles in her sleep. “Lufffffff… youuuuuuu…”

  Meg opens her eyes in surprise after hearing this.

  Huh? She… loathes me? That wouldn’t make any sense, would it? Meg looks towards the ceiling in confusion, having at least enough self confidence to not believe Mari would hate her.

  But, what does that mean then? Meg holds her left hand up, having a surprisingly easy time making out its colours in the dark room. Maybe she hates what I’m becoming? I wouldn’t bme her for being scared of someone that had part of a primal beast’s core stuck inside their body… I… wouldn’t bme her for not loving them, either…

  She shakes her head a little, closing her eyes once more.

  I shouldn’t be thinking about this stuff right now, I really need to get some sleep after everything that’s happened today, so we can focus on fixing all of this tomorrow and getting back on track with telling Mari how I feel.

  Sleep seems to still be out of her grasp, however, as a peculiar taste still lingers in her mind.

  I still don’t get what happened back there. I spaced out for a bit while we were in the water, and the next thing I knew, I was holding onto a live fish with my teeth. I spat it out right away, but how did it even get there? And… more importantly…

  Why did it taste pretty good…?

  I dunno… Maybe I was just imagining things, it’s been a long day, after all… I gotta be careful about spacing out in the water like that too… that could be pretty dangerous… What if I got hurt… or forgot to come back up for-

  …

  Wait…

  I was down there… for quite… a while… right…?

  Why do I… only remember…

  Coming… up… for… air…

  Two…

  Or…

  Three…

  …

  …

  The exhaustion wins out over Meg at st, and she falls asleep before she even gets a chance to fully grasp the implications of what she has just realised.

  It will just have to be a matter for tomorrow.

  SyntaxSpeedway