An older man, a professor of marine biology, approached her in a portside café.
"I'm looking for... a babysitter. A companion, more like. My son lives alone, in a small house by the sea. He's an adult, but... he needs someone around."
It sounded like a joke, but the pay was good, and the job seemed easy.
"I agree," Nika replied.
And so she ended up at the shore, in a small, wooden house right by the sea. There she met him.
A boy with dark, navy-black hair with one pure white streak. He had red eyes. A stuffed orca was perched on his shoulder.
When he saw her, he backed away from the door so quickly he tripped over his own feet.
"So... my dad hired you?" he asked in a low voice, nervously petting the stuffed animal.
His cheeks were slightly pink, his gaze anxious, like that of someone who had lived alone for years.
Nika smiled gently.
"He wanted you to have someone to help you."
"I don't need help," he murmured.
He turned away and began making dinner. He chopped seaweed, arranged mussels, cleaned crabs, his hands trembling every time someone glanced her way.
Nika slept in the small room next door, cleaned, cooked, and sometimes went out with him to catch sea creatures—he was the best at it. Sometimes she joked,
"You look like a killer whale, you know?"
And he would look away, cheeks pink, and whisper,
"Really...?"
One day, a strange sound woke her. The house was empty.
"Ren?" she called out, but only the roar of the waves answered.
She took a small lantern and went outside.
The sea was black. As she approached the wooden bridge, the lantern's light fell on the boy's silhouette.
Ren stood turned away, wet, as if he'd just emerged from the water. His hair fell across his face. A stuffed orca hung over his shoulder… soaked.
Nika took a step closer and then noticed the tail.
Long, heavy, black with white patterns, dragging across the boards.
Nika froze, the lantern quivering in her hand.
He was a hybrid. Half human, half orca.
“N-Nika?” he said, the voice of a frightened child, not a monster. “Why… why are you running?”
She ran into the house, packing her things with shaking hands. Anything. Just to disappear.
Ren ran in right after her, wet and panting.
“Nika, please!” he begged. “It’s me! I’ve always been like this! I’m sorry… I didn’t mean for you to…”
Before she touched the doorknob, something wrapped around the door.
His tail slammed the door shut, blocking her path.
And then Ren embraced her from behind, his arms wet.
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered, his voice cracking as if it would burst.
His nails gripped her shirt.
“Nika… please… don’t run away… I’m just… different. That’s why Dad sent you. To help me… so I wouldn’t be alone.”
When she struggled, he hugged her tighter. He was trembling, like a frightened sea creature washed ashore.
“I’m scared,” she whispered, her voice thin as a thread.
Ren froze.
And then he cried softly into her neck.
“I know…” he said. “But I… I love you.”
And his tail held the door shut as if his life depended on it.