"Mummy, mummy, hurry up! I have to see the mermaid!"

Noiz watched as a young girl squealed while she tugged her mother along to the large glass tank that contained the new star attraction. Dozens of little children would stare in awe at the creature inside the tank, while the parent's humoured their kids, and the skeptics would make snide comments about how fake the merman actually was and would claim the whole thing a sham.

Generally Noiz would side with the skeptics, the idea of any kind of mythical creature was a childish and preposterous idea, but at this point it didn't take much convincing that what they were looking at was the real deal. His argument? If it was fake, the performer would be acting like a total show pony to entertain the masses, not cowering away behind a rock and staring back at the crowd on the other side of the glass and occasionally moving to another rock to continue staring. Not even the densest of idiots would hold their breath underwater for long periods of time just stalling.

Letting out a sigh, Noiz scanned the area; people were enjoying themselves as they checked out each exhibit, some were completely enthralled by the octopus, while others were taking selfies with the tropical fish in the background. Nothing out of the ordinary and no suspicious activity.

"Ah, Noiz-san, you're here early, your shift doesn't start for another hour when we closed."

The youth turned his head and came face to face with a familiar tall blond man with glasses who was giving the younger his typical charming smile. It was a rather rare sight to see this particular individual without his counterpart who was pretty much his twin.

"Virus..."

"Talkative as usual I see. Well, probably a good thing you're hear because I need to-"

"DADDY DID YOU SEE IT! IT MOVED!" A young boy shouted, jumping up and down excitedly as he pointed at the tank to get his father's attention. "IT'S SO PRETTY!"

Both blonds looked towards the merman's tank, where the crowd of children and adults were in a total frenzy over, what Noiz would assume, moving to hide behind another rock.

"Looks like our newest attraction is a big hit. Such a stunning creature." Virus mused.

Noiz made a small sound in agreement

"Unfortunately we still can't get him to eat. We're unsure if it's the food we've been trying to give him, or if he's still unsettled by his environment change. We've tried to see if we could communicate with him, but no success yet. I wouldn't put it pass that he probably doesn't understand us, but it will become a problem if he becomes sick from malnutrition."

"...Probably too spooked when there's eyes on him constantly."

The pierced youth was the only person to see the merman more active than he is during opening hours. Once the aquarium was closed and the only soul on the building floor was Noiz during his security shift, the blue haired being would swim around in his exhibit, be it cutting laps and inspecting the enormous tank, leisurely floating and occasionally doing flips, or leaning against the glass and looking into the room that was separated from his confinement.

He'd be lying if he said he didn't take the opportunity to scare the creature occasionally when he found him resting against the glass. Noiz always found it amusing when his brown eyes would bulge out in surprise, and would either propel himself back behind his rocks, or remain perfectly still until Noiz would lose interest and move on to check other parts of the building.

"Perhaps." Virus continued to look a the crowd till they settled down and faced back to Noiz. "Anyway, you wouldn't have seen any sort of suspicious activity or find anyone lurking around during your shifts within the last week?"

"No."

"I see... Have you been informed that a number fish have gone missing from their exhibits recently?"

Noiz couldn't help but raise one of his stubby eyebrows at that, "No I haven't. Are you trying to imply something?"

"Not necessarily, but the room is too crowded for anyone to try anything during the day, along with the fact that it's only you and 2 other people who keep an eye on everything afterhours and this is one of your designated floors for you to supervise. It's a little hard not to be suspicious" The taller blond explained as he adjusted his glasses

Although it didn't show on his face, Noiz couldn't help but be a little peeved at the accusation. "I have no interest in taking anything, and what would I even get out of stealing fish?"

Virus continued to give the youth his usual smile. "Well Platinum Jail Aquarium is home to many rare and endangered species, and there are plenty of people who'd pay a fortune to get their hands on them."

"Whatever, it wasn't me."

"I have no doubt that it isn't you Noiz-san, but fish are disappearing and it seems to be happening under your serveillance. I'm leaving it to you to figure out who's the culprit otherwise you may have to be laid off." Virus stated.

Before Noiz could talk back, the older man's coil chimed to indicate a message. It didn't take Virus any time to read and respond to the text.

"You're an intelligent young man, Noiz-san, I'm sure you'll solve the problem...if not I'm sure you'll have no issues finding another job. Now if you excuse me I need to find Trip."

The bespectacled man left, leaving Noiz to stand where he was, the words he wanted to say was left to stew in his mind.

Sighing through his nose, Noiz brought up his coil screen, answering a few messages and checking to see how long till his shift began to take his mind off what had just transpired. The second the holographic screen disappeared, the crowd by the merman tank had gone into another frenzy, and a few people walked past him, making snarky comments about the creature and how gullible the crowd was.

"...Damn."