Ai to Ningyo Hime

For Shio, the kitchen has always been his sanctuary and fish his native tongue—a man whose every heartfelt sentiment finds its way onto a cutting board and into a simmering pot. So when he stumbles upon a genuine mermaid, his ingrained instincts flare to life in the most inopportune way: his first thought is not wonder, but how best to prepare her for a meal. This jarring impulse sets the stage for a bizarre first encounter, one that threatens to end before it truly begins, until the mermaid utters a name from his family's forgotten past. As Shio grapples with his own absurdly culinary brand of affection, the mermaid unveils a century-old pact buried in his lineage. Long ago, his ancestors were rescued from certain doom by her people, and in an oath of eternal gratitude, they promised to unite their bloodlines through marriage. The weight of that vow now crashes down upon Shio, transforming a chance meeting into an inescapable obligation. Yet as the two cautiously navigate this inherited engagement, strange echoes and coincidences begin to surface—hints that their connection may run deeper than any written promise. Between his fishmonger's heart and her oceanic mystique, a romance brews that is equal parts absurd, tender, and destined, proving that sometimes love arrives not with a rose, but with a side of sashimi.