Mermaid by Liza Chernyavska

Autumn. The sun just hid
somewhere, but the world is still bright. Several clouds are stretched across the sky and above the sea. Wind and waves are playing in different games.
Wide smiling girl in kimono ran into the beach, dragging a frown boy by a hand.
"Haru-kun, come on! It is a sea! It's so wonderful and charming!" she exclaimed, leaving footprints on the millions of sand waves.
"I don't want to go closer!" he screamed, burying legs into the sand.
"Haru-kun, don't show off! It's just a water!" she scowlingly twitched him and broke into laughter after succeeding. "Let's go, coward-kun!"
He sighed humbly, following her, but a strange gaze didn't fade away from his eyes.
Two footprints chains ended up on the beach's edge. The girl took a deep breath, filling her chest with the salty air.
"Isn't it magical? Boundless. Deep. Mysterious. How many living creatures it hides under this thin hyaline? Colorful fishes, bright corals, sirenical mermaids! I’ve read The Little Mermaid this morning, so maybe she'll be swimming somewhere here! I’ve been dreaming about it since I was four! And you know, it is said that the ocean is blue? But this ocean is so... full of colors! Oh, look! There is a ship! It may be going anywhere in this world. One day I’ll be on…”
“Stop it,” he whispered. “Nanami, please... Don’t lie to me.”
She kept staring at the horizon with a strange smile, frozen on her face.
“You know you’ll never be able to leave our island. And our father won’t come back...”
“You don’t know it for sure,” she still was weirdly smiling.
“You know it. And you know, why I hate this sea. It’s not beautiful. Or full of life. It sucks out everything it touches and hides thousands of corpses on its bottom. Our mother dived for another pearl and this dark waters sucked her in. She didn't become a mermaid! Our father disappeared beyond this dull horizon. And this waves brought him to the other ends of the earth. He wasn’t enjoying his travel! This sea deprived us of everything.”
“But the sea is the only way to run away from here,” she said with hysterical voice, wiping away tears with trembling hands, but still trying to smile. “Fumiko-san said, that the war is about to come…”
“So you can betray our parents fond memory to save your skin? You didn’t drench with sea water your feet for three months.”
“It’s never too late to start,” she said, giving her brother an artificial enthusiastic smile, which looked extremely weird with cheeks shining with tears, and made a step. “You see? It’s a choice our parents would like us to do. We are not running away, we are saving our pride from being raped and slaved.”
Haru’s gaze suddenly turned sad. He made a step towards Nanami, took her face in his arms and pressed forehead to her forehead.
“You’re lying again, sister,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “You’re sacrificing your pride. You’re scared and weak. So all your honesty, braveness and pride you’ve put in me. But, sister,” he opened his eyes and met her gaze. “I am buried in those waters too. And I can’t carry a part of you always.”
Smile finally slipped away from her face.
“N-no, Haru. You’re here, with me, right? My beloved younger brother, much more better, serious and talented than me, with that funny frown and serious expression on a child’s face...” she grabbed a brother for both hands, convulsively gasping by the end, while tears were running on her face.
“No, Nanami,” he smiled bitterly. “It’s all - just you. You survived this year all alone, And it’s time to move on. To forget the past or to take the burden of pride, our family carried through centuries.”
“I-it’s too hard for me… I’m just a girl!” her face twisted with despair.
“You’re not just a girl, Nanami,” Haru suddenly turned confident and serious. “You are - Yamato. You’re - Japanese. And you’re my sister”
“Haru…” she abruptly hugged him, burying face in his chest.
“And,actually, you’ve already made your choice,” he giggled quietly. “You still didn’t drench your feet with sea water.”
A chill ran down Nanami’s spine. Her feet really were dry.
Several centimeters were still separating her legs from the playful waves.
Haru kissed her hair, smiling.
And his arms, eyes, smile turned into foam.
The girl in kimono was standing on the beach’s edge. The sun hesitantly appeared from the clouds, seeing off a thin figure walking back from the beach and  leaving another footprints chains on the millions of sand waves.