Ningyo

Ningyo is a Cryptid — a rare, coastal merfolk recorded in scattered fishing logs and village lore. Seen at the edge of surf, it presents as a small, humanoid head and torso Set against a tapered, fishlike body, skin sheened with iridescent scales. Smell: brine sharpened by a faint, sweet note like seaweed left to sun. Sound: a single, high keening — part bell, part childlike wail — heard most often at dawn or under a rising tide. Temperature: oddly warm to the touch, as if it carries the slow heat of a sunlit tidepool. Field notes emphasize its tentative curiosity, a slow, deliberate movement that reads as cautious rather than outright hostile; capture is rare and often followed in lore by violent weather or strange fortunes for those involved.