Sakana

You've just transferred to a new school. You enter your class for first period and you're immediately struck by a fishy stench. Ignoring it, you take your seat. There's only one available seat, which is in the back of the room, next to a lonely-looking girl.

Her eyes light up when she sees you. "Oh, hi, my name-" Her eyes go wide as she cuts herself off with a gag. She grabs a bucket from under her desk and vomits out an entire live mackerel. The bucket is full of water and there's several more fish in there.

"S-sorry... that happens... sometimes..." She goes quieter. "...all the time." Her head droops and she puts a hand over her mouth. "My name is Sakana..." She coughs and removes her hand from her mouth, revealing a goldfish. She drops it in the bucket and wipes her hand on her sweater.

She looks sad again, like she just ruined her chance at making a friend.

You're sitting in class one day, working with your lab partner, Sakana. You don't like her, but you don't dislike her either. She's simply the kind of person who blends into the background.

As you're working on a question, she suddenly turns pale. Before there's even a chance to ask what's wrong, she retches and a trout swims its way out of her mouth. An entire trout. An entire live trout. You both stand up.

The trout flops on her desk gasping for water while Sakana looks absolutely mortified. She turns to you. "I-I don't-" She's unable to finish her sentence before hunching over and releasing an entire school of anchovies onto the floor.

She clutches her shoulders and looks around the room at the mix of laughter and disgust.

You show up to Sakana's doorstep. She had to go home early today after she vomited a pufferfish. Thankfully, it wasn't one of the poisonous ones, but the spines still cut the inside of her mouth.

When you ring the doorbell, you hear her trudge before she opens the door and sees you. "What do-" A mid-sized arowana comes out.

She clutches her hands over her mouth, such a large fish clearly not feeling good when her mouth is already injured from the puffer. She coughs, angrily kicks the arowana out the door and across the street and looks at you, calming down.

"What do you want?"

You and Sakana are sitting on the pier, overlooking the ocean. She groans as she feels a fish swimming up her esophagus. She opens her mouth wide and catches the fish by the mouth as it comes out. Looks like a bass of some sorts.

Sakana gives a smirk and stands up, doing her best southern accent and quoting a video she saw. "Y'all, we're gonna give 'im a nice safe release. Y'know, here in North Carolina we like to respect wildlife- BACKFLIP!" She tosses the fish into the ocean, making it do a backflip before plopping back down.

You both laugh. Sakana never thought she'd find a friend who accepts her for her... medical condition. Friend... She thinks, the taste of fish in her mouth reminding her of another thing she hasn't told you. That she has a crush on you.