View source for Water and Land (Coco Delrieu)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2026/01/06
|Location=Yumegahama Aquarium and Marine Center
|Synopsis=Coco and Rihito go on a beautiful date. "Hey, Veil, take care of things, ok?♡"
|Cast of Characters=55,NPC-Rihito
|Thanks=To Usagi for using her Maryam Siddig to help enable Coco's new surname.
}}
“Not that far away now, are we?”, Coco says. Her voice is quivering with energy, and she lightly presses against Rihito's side. The yellow and azure fabric of her dress shapes itself around his arm, but it slides out from under the pressure instead. It reaches for Coco’s bare shoulder, lightly touching the sparkling fabric of her sleeve, holding her closer.

“Gotta be careful not to lose that hat”, her boyfriend replies in a quiet whisper, looking ahead with a subtle spark in his grey eyes. “It would be a shame, right at the finish mark.” He looks up ahead, at the intensifying murmurs of the people ahead of them, already lining up at the aquarium.

Coco shakes her head, sending locks of her long hair to softly whip him. “It's not ‘’that’’ windy”, she replies amused, giving him a small bump, pointing with her left at the leaves resting on the ground, barely curled by the wind. “I really like this hat: I wouldn't risk it like that.”

Rihito's eyebrows rise. “Oh, you like it more than me?”, he asks with mock offense, adding a deep sigh. “I should have always known this day would have come. Guess I had no chance in the end. At least I lost to a good hat.” He lowers his head in a forlorn manner, still tugging Coco’s hand forward.

“Oh, come on, Rih”, Coco smiles with a huff, pushing back against his side in protest. “I think this is a first: getting jealous of a hat”, she says, giving an oblique stare to Rihito’s impassable stare. “No, really, it’s fine. I had no chance, I know that.” He turns her head at her with a quiet smile, staring calmly as if to challenge her.

“Well, ok, I see you are quite happy today.” She laughs, and lifts her face slightly to kiss his cheek. “You are adorable.” She looks at the queue ahead of them. Only two groups of people were left: a family of four, and two guys chatting animatedly with each other. One of them is waving a laminated pass. Probably a special discount.

“I am quite happy too. I haven’t really been here on a date before, but I have chatted with the animals here sometimes. To make sure they haven’t fallen ill with one thing or the other. I think it will be fun to show them to you”, Coco shares with a gleam in her eyes.

Rihito smiles. “I guess we are off to visit some friends of yours then.” He looks ahead at the Aquarium with a pensive stare. “Have you already had the chance to give them your new name?”, he asks curiously, but Coco shakes her head in response.

“It was just the other day, and I don’t come here that often. I haven’t even had the time to tell my friends yet. I have been getting used to it too”, she laughs warmly, and takes a few steps forward after the two guys leave to get inside the Aquarium, lowering the volume of her voice. “But I like Delrieu. It sounds nice, and the country it’s from, it’s right in my ocean. I am actually happy Siddig-san gave me this chance.”

Rihito takes in the sound of her voice with a nod, and smiles. “I think it sounds nice, and you really look happy about it. A slice of home?”, he asks curiously.

Coco smiles. “Something like that.” She hums and crosses the distance to the cashier, fishing in her back to get her wallet. “Tickets for two, please”, she says in a sing-song voice, readying the cash.

“That will be 6400 yen”, the clerk replies, lifting his gaze. “You a couple?” He munches on his words, while looking at them distractedly, only giving a neutral glance at Coco’s embellished fit.

“We are”, Rihito confirms casually, bringing Coco’s hand to his mouth for a kiss. “She is the sweetest.” Coco grins and grips his hand before he can put it back down. “I also know what I want, and who I want”, she teases, brushing her lips with two fingers for extra enticement.

The clerk clears his throat rather loudly, and pushes the receipt towards them. “Well, there is a couples' discount, so the amount you owe is 5120 yen”, he reminds them, and observes dispassionately as Coco takes the money out of her wallet, and gives it to him.

“Have a fun date.” The clerk nods to go along, and boyfriend and girlfriend turn to their right, smiling brightly at each other.

“We will”, Rihito comments, and once they are out of earshot adds “You were a bit much, I think.” He pushes open the door and lets her inside first.

“I don't, though. And we are out of his hair now”, Coco lightly chides him. “I know you like it, too.” She looks at him warmly, feeling her cheeks warm up with a faint blush. She too enjoyed it, being without reserves around him, and watching his soft expression in response. It really felt like nothing could be better.

As soon as the low light of the Aquarium envelopes them, Rihito rests softly against her side, and says “This is gonna be fun. Aquariums are the prime dating spots in Japan, and with a mermaid at my side, I will just have an in all of my own.”

“I will be the best chaperone”, Coco replies with a wink and stops briefly to enjoy his proximity, just a few moments, and then pulls him forward this time with a bright smile that invades her eyes. “I come in here to check on how the animals are doing sometimes, and I can tell you lots about that.”

“I will enjoy that, but first”, he stops on his feet, taking his hand away and lifting both to her shirt. “Your bow got crooked, Utahime”, he warns her, and fixes the star ornament with ease. In the same beat, he tilts his head down, stealing a kiss from her lips, but before he can separate, Coco’s hand presses on his hair, letting them exchange the softness of their lips just a few moments more.

Then she lets him go, and Rihito takes the chance to comment “Ok, now we are ready.” Neither of them acts as if anything happened, but her eyes of sunlight, which had gotten just a tad shiner at his gesture, watch his own warm greys closely. "Let's go then!", she announces excitedly, with an echo that makes a few heads turn towards them. "Gotta keep it down", she concedes in a whisper, smiling embarrassedly.

The two walk along the cold lights and a great white swims at their left, slowing down slightly when passing by Coco before continuing on his path. Rihito watches it leave silently with slightly parted lips, and then turns towards Coco. "Do you know it too?"

The blonde girl turns her head in the same direction as Rihito's and squints her eyes at the huge fish. “I think so, yeah. That one hasn’t been here long, just a few months. It actually adapted rather quickly. Some of them have been kept apart for over a year before being let in, but it sped through the procedures.”

A brief thud of shoes against the floor echoes, and Coco and Rihito part briefly, just in time for a group of young kids to speed past them. “That’s a smart guy”, the dark-haired young man comments. “Or maybe just really easygoing.”

Coco gets back to his side, and smiles. “A little bit of both. It gave me the impression it knew where it was. It shared a lot about its time here, so it’s actually quite sociable.”

Rihito mirrors Coco’s expression. “They seem comfortable with you”, he says, glancing back at the tank. “That’s nice to hear, Utahime.”

“I have my little surprises too”, Coco replies confidently, turning to watch the tank when another shark swims past. The two turn silent in the pale blue glow of the tank, watching it turn away, and slowly move along, enjoying their disappearance past grey rocks and swaying algae.

Their fingers brush together again, sparking a short skip in Coco's heartbeat, and she breathes quietly, losing herself in the quiet that has fallen since, a spell that almost makes her hear Rihito's own heart. They exchange a smile when a pufferfish presses really close to the glass, leaving its mark on it, and linger long enough just to see the imprint fade.

Drifting jellyfish greet them in the next tank, wading through the dark water like living lanterns, their bodies pulsing with slow, patient rhythm. Each contraction is a pulse that sends them gliding forward, and then eases them back into stillness, a precise rhythm as if they were breathing with the water itself. Their translucent bells catch the light and scatter it softly, lighting up and darkening with the cover of plants moved along by invisible currents.

Trailing behind them, delicate tendrils curl in lazy spirals, moving a heartbeat after the bell, and each jellyfish slips past one another without touching, rising and sinking in quiet arcs. “They are beautiful little dancers, aren’t they?” Coco beams at Rihito, turning her attention away from the tank to examine the soft expression of her favourite face, and enjoy the marks of delight the quiet experience is leaving on it.

Rihito’s eyes flick to hers, and he offers her a grin as quiet as the cold illumination around them, but holding a warmth that makes her press close to him, enough to turn the azure-tinted yellow of her expanding dress and the icy white of his shirt into one, continuous fabric. “I don’t know… you might be the better dancer here”, he remarks, and she too smirks knowingly, whispering “I can show you next time”. With the echo of that promise, they fall into unanimous silence, resting their fingers together on the railing.

Minutes blur together as they watch the underwater spectacle, and the people around them slowly turn away, leaving them alone. Coco's face lights up with an idea in that solitude, and she slowly takes her hand away, raising it in a stop sign. At his headtilt, she mouths a simple ‘Wait here’, and turns away, with her flats padding slowly alongside her shrinking figure.

Rihito is left alone, with the ghostly glow of the jellyfish, and his hand still presses to the railing where their mixed warmth lingers. He looks at it, turning those unspoken words around in his mind, until a quiet knock from the tank takes him away from his thoughts, and he looks back up.

Across the tank, a swirl of blue and gold moves gracefully through the water, and Coco waves at him from the other side of the glass, smiling at him with a glow that sends a soft blush to his cheeks. She looks at him fondly, finding comfort in that vulnerable affection on his face, and makes a heart shape with her hands, before gesturing at him to get closer.

Her long hair spreads behind her like a fan, mixing with the reflected dots of blue gleaming on her tail, and in unison, they slowly approach each other’s face, and slowly press their lips together for the second time. Despite the glass separating them, their warmth crosses the distance, and mingles, keeping them united with their rapid heartbeat, cradled by a sparkling blue holding her yellow and his grey.