05/28/13

Chapter 3

Kotetsu's daughter, Kaede, was not happy with him about his new job. Or rather about the living situation that came with his job. He tried to reason and explain it to her without telling her about the merman, he had signed a contract saying he couldn't tell anyone, but she only yelled at him and then turned to an even worse tactic; ignoring him.

Though his mother, Anju, said she understood Kotetsu didn't believe her. She kept talking about other jobs that he'd already been rejected for that he could make another attempt at. He suspected she was also the one unpacking his things when he wasn't looking since Kaede had taken to her room besides for meals.

The night before he would move over to his room next to the merman's tank Kotetsu sat outside Kaede's room and apologized, talking to her late into the night even though she never responded. In the morning, despite the fact that she tripped over him after he had fallen asleep there, she still hugged him goodbye when he left with a drawing she made him and about a week's worth of lunches prepared by his mother. He promised to call every night after supper before they went to bed and was on his way.

After Kotetsu moved his couple of boxes into his makeshift apartment, and found a magnet to hang Kaede's picture onto the fridge with, he met Dr. Saito and got a tour of the rest of the facility. Besides his main door into his room Dr. Saito showed him there was also a ladder in his closet that went to the surface area of the tank for in case of emergencies.

Up on the surface it looks like a giant high school swimming pool only one end had a gradual decline into the water that would have looked like the beach if it had sand. There were also numerous refrigerators full of food that the scientists were trying to entice the merman to eat as well as an observation deck behind glass where some electric equipment was safe from the merman's electric waves where they studied him and made notes.

Besides Dr. Saito working there, there was an intern by the name of Karina Lyle assisting him. She was barely sixteen and one of the people the merman had tried to drown when she got too close. With the blunt honesty only a teenager would have she told Kotetsu she almost didn't come back, that she rather be somewhere singing but that the merman had too pretty of a face to wither away from not eating.

As Dr. Saito tried to explain to him what they had learned so far, Kotetsu browsed through some of the foods they has tried to feed the merman but failed. They tried the type of fish the merman had been caught with along with fish that were known to be in the area the ship that caught him had been in but the merman never showed any interest.

"Have you tried seaweed?" Kotetsu asked, noting that there were no plants of any kind.

Dr. Saito spoke very softly but as he leaned in to the explanation Kotetsu surmised that the answer was no. He left the duo to discuss what they should try next and went to look at what was in the fridges, which seemed to all be varying degrees of frozen.

Going back to his room, Kotetsu looked at the foods Anju had packed for him and took up what was dated as his lunch. He sat next to the pool, without being too close, and opened up his bento box.

Careful not to drop the insides of the roll, Kotetsu unwrapped a bit of seaweed from a salmon roll and threw the seaweed as far as he could into the tank before popping the rest of it into his mouth before it could fall apart too much.

"Mr. Kaburagi you can't go throwing things into the tank," Karina yelled at him.

"How else do you try to get him to eat?" Kotetsu asked but heard the water splash before he got an answer and turned to look.

The merman had surfaced, at least to the top of his head to mid nose. He was looking at Kotetsu before eyeing the seaweed, Kotetsu happy to note that he was right about the merman having green eyes. For a bit the merman studied the seaweed and, rather than picking it up with his hands, opened his mouth and sucked the seaweed in, along with some of the surrounding water and swallowed it.

Besides the sound of the water, the room was silent for a bit before Karina exclaimed that the merman ate and announced she was going to tell Lloyds to order more seaweed before running off to the zoo offices.

Kotetsu smiled to himself and returned to unwrapping the sushi, throwing the seaweed wrappers into the water for the merman to examine and eat by sucking it in as Kotetsu devoured the rest of it. He was about to start the sixth roll when it slipped from his fingers and into the water. He somehow doubted that they had a pool net long enough to get it back.

There were two more pieces left of the rolls so Kotetsu moved to unwrap the next one instead of dwelling on it. He was about to throw the seaweed in when he noticed that the merman had surface a little higher up this time, shoulders peeking out from the water, as he examined the dropped salmon roll in his hand.

Watching the merman, Kotetsu remained silent for a while, smiling a little at his puzzled expression. When the merman did nothing but stare at the sushi for a few minutes, Kotetsu leaned forward on his knees and used his hand to splash a bit of water.

Though swimming in the middle of the tank and far from Kotetsu's reach the merman swam backward to get further away at the sound and looked at Kotetsu with wide eyes.

Slowly, as to not startle him further, Kotetsu showed the merman the piece of whole sushi he was holding. When he was sure the merman had seen the roll, he placed the sushi in his mouth, making a show of chewing it and swallowing.

The merman looked at Kotetsu a while longer before looking back at the sushi in his hand. He rolled it between his fingers, squeezing a bit, making some of the rice fall out and nearly making him drop it. He sniffed it, looked at Kotetsu, and then placed it into his mouth. At first he held it in his mouth, as if waiting, before chewing slowly, a look of surprise lighting his features before he chewed more naturally and swallowed, then eyed Kotetsu.

Smiling, Kotetsu held out the last piece.

Seeing it the merman swam forward but then stopped, backing away again as he lowered himself back into the water so only his eyes up where above the water. It reminded Kotetsu of a bunny peeking at him from around a bush.

"You win," Kotetsu tossed the last sushi toward the merman, whom caught and devoured it. He chuckled when the merman saw he had no more to offer and went back to the depths of his tank just as Karina came back.

"Tell Lloyds to add salmon and rice to the list; we have ourselves a sushi fan," Kotetsu informed her.

Karina grumbled about cell phones not working in there and headed back out.