You'll be seeing me in your dreams, but I'll be there when your reality drowns

Dani took a deep breath, and exhaled. At the same time, she could feel the breath of the siren against her back. It was a cold hiss, and it tickled her hair.

“…I can’t decide that,” she admitted, staringito Dakota’s eyes in resignation.

“Oh?” Dakota raised her eyebrow curiously. “And why is that?”

“Because if I take you up on your offer, it won’t be just me,” she replied, turning to look at the siren apologetically. “There are the others to consider, too, and how they would feel about this. After all, the siren girl, she’s…”

Dani felt really bad for saying this, but…

“She might… be dangerous,” Dani finally admitted. “So I can’t unilaterally make that decision.”

Dani took the siren’s hands into hers. “I’m sorry!” She apologized, loudly and desperately. “This isn’t what I want! It’s just… I don’t know if I can bring you back with the others!”

The siren didn’t say anything. She just stared into Dani’s eyes with a pensive expression on her face, like nothing she had said mattered in the slightest.

Dani winced. There was something in those eyes that disturbed her, but she couldn’t be sure what it was.

“Well, if that’s your decision, then, then I suppose we’re done here,” Dakota said, lifting up her cane. It began to glow.

“Wait!” Dani spun around and held her arms up in a protective gesture of the siren. She quickly shook her head. “I-I didn’t say I’d made a decision yet!”

“Oh?” Dakota lowered her cane and smiled. “Well, get on with it, then.”

Ugh, this is the worst! I don’t know if she’s safe to be around or not… but she saved me, didn’t she? So maybe she’s one of the good guys… but then, if she was, why would Dakota and Nola be acting like this? It’s strange… maybe she’s dangerous after all…? Dani just didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t used to making choices like this. Especially not a choice that involved the life of another person, one she would have to take responsibility for.

And the fact that Dakota seemed so damn amused just made her feel even worse.

“How about this?” Dani asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I can’t make this decision on my own. This is something that involves the whole group, after all. So I should get their feedback on the matter, don’t you think?”

“Oh?” Dakota raised her eyebrow. She seemed intrigued by the possibility that Dani proposed. “So you’re saying… you and the siren will go to the others, and… what? You’ll plead your case to them? Put it to a vote?”

Dani nodded. “It’s the best way to handle this,” she replied. “We need to get everyone’s perspective, so that we all know where we stand. If I make a decision like this without asking anybody, even if I didn’t have to take responsibility for it, that still wouldn’t be good. If she did something…”

Suspecting the siren hurt. But she couldn’t be naïve about this. She had to think of her friends’ wellbeing, and even if the siren wouldn’t control them using her singing voice, she couldn’t be sure about that.

On the plus side, the fact that that she was making this compromise instead of just quietly doing what the girls wanted her to do, and allowing the siren to join the group without any vetting, suggested that she wasn’t under the girl’s control. It would have been very easy for her to compel Dani to follow instructions and bring her along- this was, at least, a point in the siren’s corner as far as Dani was concerned.

“…Alright then,” Dakota relented, and Dani was surprised she would actually agree to that.

“Wait, what?” Dani stared at Dakota in shock. “Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I do,” Dakota smirked, stroking her chin. “I’m looking forward to seeing how you advocate on behalf of a sea monster. And not only that… but it pleases me to see you’ve grown so much, from the beginning of the show.

Dani blinked. “Um… what are you trying to say by that?” She asked, confused.

Dakota smirked. “A reckless girl like you? In the beginning, you would have done whatever you wanted, and made your decision without thinking through the consequences first. And that’s really not how I like to do things. So if this is you wising up and finally realizing you have a brain between those ears of yours, that’s only an upside for me.”

She leaned in and licked her lips. “So go on, Dani, I look forward to seeing just how much you’ve really grown.”

Dani felt another shiver roll down her spine, and the cold feeling of the siren’s fingers felt damp against her skin. A part of her was well aware of how risky this was, but she couldn’t help herself.

The siren girl needed support, and Dani wanted to give it to her.

“Good luck, Dani,” Dakota smiled. She tapped her cane and disappeared, leaving only her words on the wind. “I look forward to hearing about what you decide to do. Let’s say, you give me an answer by curfew time tonight? Six o’clock.

Dani gulped. Left alone with just the siren, she turned to the slender, athletic fish monster thing, who stared back at her with those bright blue eyes, illuminated by her glowing face.

“Well… hello there,” she greeted the creature with an awkward wave. “My name is Dani.”

The siren blinked, and then nodded slowly.

“Oh, that’s good!” Dani sighed in relief. “So you know what names are?”

Another nod. Dani was quickly catching onto the sirens’ language, or lack thereof. …Or maybe now. Well, at least the girl could understand Dani, that was something to be happy about, right?

“Well, for now, let’s get you back to the hotel,” Dani decided. “Once we’re there, we can decide what to do with you.”

Dani winced. That sounded a lot worse than she’d meant it. “Well… I don’t mean ‘to do’ with you, like you aren’t a person, it’s just… oh, gosh, I’m babbling, aren’t I?”

Dani was finally starting to become aware of the fact that she was alone in the hot spring with a very beautiful woman who’d already kissed her, and had no trouble showing off her naked body to the people around her.

That was pretty great, she wasn’t going to lie.

Unfortunately, the boutique wasn’t open yet, since it wasn’t even six in the morning. Not seeing any other options, Dani brought the siren back to her room. She had a ton of clothes that the aquatic girl could try on, and maybe they could even use the room towels to dry her off.

…Could they dry her off? Should they? Maybe sirens were supposed to stay wet, maybe it was keeping her alive. Dani didn’t know, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out, either. All she wanted to do was make sure that her new siren friend was okay, and the best way to do that was to get her some food and a change of clothes.

Unfortunately, with every step they took towards the hotel, Dani was getting closer and closer to her first obstacle of the day.

That first obstacle happened to be a shorter girl, with short hair, wearing a very short schoolgirl skirt and tights.

Sucking in some air, Dani rapped her knuckles on the door and hoped that Kim had gotten an early start on the day. That was reasonable, right? Kim seemed like the kind of girl who would head down to breakfast immediately, she made a habit of being punctual, as Dani, her buddy, could attest. So maybe this would all work-

The door swung open with a creak and Dani winced.

…Out.

“Hey, Dani, you back? What’s… oh, holy crap!” Kim tripped over herself and fell on her ass, staring up in shock at the siren. “Y-y-you… huh?!” She pointed at the girl, her mouth flopping open and closed in confusion as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. But she couldn’t really explain it. Dani ad showed up with… with a…

“A siren?!” Kim sputtered, crawling away from the door. “From that ride?! What did you do, Dani?! Why would you take her off that thing?!”

“I-I didn’t!” Dani protested. She winced, hearing the accusation in Kim’s words. “She… she escaped on her own, that’s all.”

Kim bit her lip. Not good. No, no matter how much Dani wanted to dress this up, no this wasn’t good at all!

“Does Dakota know about this?” She asked, staring at Dani suspiciously. The wince on the other girl’s face confirmed her suspicions.

“It’s not that simple,” Dani replied, strangely unconfirming them.

“…Huh?” Now Kim was just confused. She shook her head and walked over to the bed, flopping down on top of it. “Okay, then fine,” she said, staring up at the ceiling. It seemed like a better option than staring at the siren girl. “Explain it to me.”

Dani tried her best. She went over what happened with siren in the hot spring, and the ultimatum that Dakota had given her.

By the end of her explanation, Dani was less convinced that Kim was that this was the right thing to do for everybody.

“Okay… so let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Kim said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You adopted a siren?”

“No!” Dani groaned. “I didn’t adopt her, she just came back with me, that’s all!”

“Oh, that’s all…” Kim nodded thoughtfully. “So a ****, then?”

Dani’s eye twitched in frustration. “Come on!” She groaned, shaking her head. “It’s not that simple and you know it!”

“No, I really don’t,” Kim said, shaking her head. “Look, when I was a kid, I wanted a pet dog. But guess what? My mom pointed out that we didn’t have the resources to take care of a puppy and their needs, so I couldn’t get one. Instead, I ended up working at an animal shelter, where I could take care of the animals on their own. But you can’t just bring this girl back to the hotel and try to make her part of the group, Dani, it doesn’t work that way!”

“I know it’s not going to be easy, but what do you want me to do about it?” Dani whined. “Who knows what Dakota would do to her if I say that I’m not taking her in?”

She turned back to look at the siren, and flashed an awkward smile.

The siren tried to replicate it. She waved at Dani in an awkward, jerky motion that didn’t really seem like something she was comfortable with.

Dani sighed and turned back to Kim. “You see? I’m all she’s got right now. And if you make her go back to that cave, then she’s just going to try escaping again… or something even worse!”

Dakota didn’t exactly strike Dani as the merciful type. Interfering in her little show was probably a good way to get a severe punishment.

Dani didn’t want that. Not for herself, and certainly not for the siren in her charge.

But she couldn’t just ignore what Kim was saying, either. The siren girl was definitely dangerous, with those mind influencing powers of hers. If she wanted to use her siren song on the girls, there wasn’t much they could do about it.

“If you think about it, though,” Dani pressed, “the fact that we’re even having a conversation about this topic to begin with shows that she’s not as dangerous as she could be, isn’t that right? She isn’t influencing us to make us keep her around.”

That was something that she’d been scared of.

Kim considered that. “You do have a point,” she admitted. “At least, she doesn’t seem to be using her siren song.

She scrunched up her face and frowned. “Okay, I know what we need to do. Before we go see anybody else about this, there’s someone else that we need to talk to, first.”

“Sylvia?” Dnai guessed. If anyone would know about the sirens and whether or not they were a threat, it would be the blonde who had talked about them the whole time, and had been the host over them for the first bit of the show.

Kim nodded. It was the best idea.

At the moment, though, Sylvia wasn’t exactly in the mood for helping anybody out.

She had other, more important things on her mind.

Sylvia and Morgana clung to each other, shaking as they headed down the hallway towards the Banquet Hall.

“It’s going to be fine,” Sylvia said, more to herself than to the goth girl that was holding onto her for support. “We’re going to be fine… the others aren’t going to suddenly turn crazy and try to kill us…”

“Are… are you sure?!” Morgana wailed.

“Yes! I’m certain!” Sylvia insisted, even though she felt as far from certain as she could, even if she knew that she was telling the truth. “After all, this is Dakota’s show we’re talking about! And I know her well! She would never let something happen to us, never!”

Sylvia paused for a few seconds.

“Well… she’s probably let someone get to me before interceding,” Sylvia acknowledged. It stung that her creator didn’t care about her at all, but it was just something that she’d grown accustomed to at this point.

Believe it or not, though, Sylvia’s mature understanding of the matter wasn’t helping Morgana’s fear.

“Why did we have to watch that series?” She groaned, feeling like she was going to throw up again. She’d been feeling nauseous since the Amusement Park, for one reason or another. “We could have watched something else…”

“I thought it would be a sweet and wholesome show!” Sylvia wailed. “I didn’t expect those nightmare faces and people ripping their fucking necks open!”

“Oh! Look who it is!”

Sylvia and Morgana looked up to see Rose approaching them with a smile. The blonde waved at the two girls. She didn’t fail to notice the fact that they were holding onto each other, a fact that morphed her smile into a smirk.

“Well, would you look at that?” She tittered, stroking her chin. “It seems you two have been getting a lot closer than I anticipated!”

“We… we just… it’s nothing,” Sylvia said, letting go of Morgana immediately.

Morgana didn’t have that same bravery about her, and clung on for dear life.

“Getting… getting breakfast?” She mumbled. Deep down, she felt that if she could have a conversation with Rose, then maybe, just maybe, she could get her mind off of the terrifying show that Sylvia had insisted they watch.

“Yeah, we are,” Rose said, nodding back to the corner she’d just come from.

Marley walked out right behind her, along with her sister.

“YEAAAAAAGH!” Sylvia screamed, jumping ten feet into the air, easily.

“AAAAAH! NO! GO AWAY!” Morgana shrieked, easily clearing twelve feet herself.

“Huh? What the heck? What did you do to them, Rose?” Marley asked, turning and giving the blonde a suspicious look.

“Me?!” Rose sputtered in disbelief. “Why do you think I had anything to do with it?!”

“Is everything okay?” Carly asked, approaching the two of them.

“Stay back!” Sylvia took a few deep breaths as memories of the night before flooded into her. “Just… just stay back!”

Carly frowned. She wasn’t exactly loving this.

“What’s going on?” She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. “You two look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Morgana was one thing. She seemed like the kind of girl who would be scared of her own shadow. But Sylvia? The former host?

It was hard to imagine anything other than Dakota scaring her, but here they were.

Sylvia coughed and cleared her throat.

“We, uh… we watched the first few episodes of Higurashi last night,” she confessed. “We made it through the first two arcs, and, well…”

Carly winced. “Oh… oof. My sympathies.” She wasn’t much one for horror series, but she had more of a stomach for them than Morgana clearly did, and Sylvia as well, apparently. “I guess my costume didn’t really help.”

Dressed as Rena Ryugu, the poster girl of Higurashi, it was pretty clear that they weren’t exactly in the right frame of mind.

“It’s gonna be fine…” Morgana repeated Sylvia’s words while hyperventilating. “It’s gonna be fine… she’s not real… it’s just Carly… everything’s gonna be fine…”

“Sorry about this,” Carly apologized. “Hey, how about I treat you all to breakfast?”

“We’re going to the Banquet Hall, though,” Rose pointed out. “And we all eat for free in there.”

Carly flashed the other girl a playful smile.

“I know,” she replied, batting her eyelashes. “That’s kind of my whole point.”

With a laugh, she headed off to the Banquet Hall with the other girls.

They arrived just as Kim and Dani got there… with a third guest that sent them all for a loop.

“What the hell!?” Rose exclaimed. “That’s… it’s one of the sirens! From that ride!”

“What’s she doing here?!” Carly demanded, forgetting all about the awkward interactions she’d been having with Dani recently to focus on the siren instead. “She… Dani, what’s going on?” She looked at the blue-haired girl, who held up her hands.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s alright, she’s not going to hurt anybody,” Dani assured them. She turned to the naked siren girl. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

The siren nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off of the group of girls.

“…I don’t like this,” Marley said, shaking her head. She knew what it was like to be a supernatural entity planted on the show. And while Marley would never hurt a fly now, she couldn’t forget when she’d been spawning dozens of copies of herself as Mimi, and what the other girls thought of that.

“It’s going to be fine, it’s going to be okay!” Dani was still trying to cajole the others and make it seem like the situation wasn’t a big deal. “There’s nothing to worry about!”

“Nothing to worry about?” Sylvia squinted. “Dani, those sirens were put there by Dakota. She hates water, and she still created that enclosure for them. And you’re telling me that one of them broke out of that place?

“It’s the one who saved me!” Dani pointed out.

“You saved yourself, though,” Carly pointed out in turn. “I saw you, you swam right up to the surface all on your own power; she just followed after you!”

Dani knew that Carly had a point, but she didn’t see it that way. “She bumped into me, and made me realize I was drowning,” Dani replied. “Who knows what would have happened, if she hadn’t done that?”

“I know!” Sylvia said, raising her hand like a student in class, even though Sylvia was the one wearing the uniform. “Dakota would have immediately saved you, that’s what.”

Dani frowned. “…Oh. Really?”

“Uh, duh,” Sylvia said, rolling her eyes. “She’s not just going to get rid of a member of Daddy’s harem like that!”

Somehow, Dani didn’t feel better hearing those words. She clutched the siren’s hand, not sure what the position of everybody else in the harem would be.

Hopefully, they would come around to the siren. Because Dani really didn’t want to kick her off to Dakota if she could help it.

Dakota wasn’t good for anybody. Not even sirens.