On that fine afternoon– Gill– with his hands in his plaid pockets, wandered up the dirt road towards Akari's farm. Not because I want to spy on her, or anything, he reasoned to himself, but because I want to examine that root blocking the road between the Mine and River districts. I heard it wasn't cut yet.
Despite how firm he felt his logic was, he still failed to give a good enough reason as to WHY he was examining the root from Akari's side of the road (and not from the other side– which would've made more sense because he could've immediately gone to the carpentry afterwards to scream at Luke). However, it did explain that Gill's fascination with Akari was reaching a boiling point.
Why was Akari living and working in the middle of nowhere and all by herself? What was it like where she came from? And why… did she leave that place? These questions constantly plagued Gill, and with such violent intensity, that he was certain that she was the villain of his diary-bound fantasies– an EVIL temptress plotting something nefarious. Something that didn't involve farm plots.
Reaching the bottom of the ridge, Gill stopped. In the distance, alongside the river, he spied Toby– just standing there– blankly staring off into the distance (presumably watching fish in the water) and all while shamelessly displaying his half-nakedness. His clothes remained wadded in the dirt beside him.
"That guy is… infinitely strange," Gill said to himself at last (and with dripping pretentiousness). Not wanting to be spotted, he continued about his business and passed Akari's farm– which was growing a decent-sized crop. The sight of all the vegetation put Gill at ease considerably (since it showed that Akari was too busy laboring away to cause much mischief YET) but it still made him wonder if she had used sorcery in aid of its growth.
Stricken by a sudden recollection, Gill stopped by Akari's mailbox to think. Though Toby was no longer in his sights, he couldn't help but remember the incident from two days ago– back when Toby had badgered him about mermaids at the Town Hall.
During that time, Gill had told him all about the lore of mermaids (since he couldn't give him the checked-out book detailing it): like how mermaids were a bad omen and how they could hypnotize men with their singing and lead them to death, typically by drowning. How shocked Toby's eyes looked (even if he never opened them!) and how strange of a coincidence it was… for him to suddenly become so interested in mermaids– especially in light of the new farmer and her role as a kappa in Gill's imaginings.
After I educated him about mermaids, he mentioned that he saw one… Does this mean that the fisherman saw the kappa? Gill thought intensely, whipping out his green diary to jot this idea down. He never knew when inspiration would strike him, so he always carried the book around wherever he went. Holding his pen in his mouth, he considered the plot further, but not once did he ever make a connection or separation of his fantasies and reality. (Nor did he ever imagine Toby into anything more than a fisherman.) Such was the depth of his insanity!
Tucking his diary and pen away, Gill continued on his way, and after a short while, he came upon the large root of the Mother Tree. And the girl of his musings.
Akari.
Left and right the girl tilted her head, eyeing the root with an unspoken franticness. Her glossy cheeks– bright red– tightened when she reeled around to face her intruder. However, seeing Gill's face, her intense expression melted into a relieved smile.
Knickerbockers! she thought jubilantly. She was just glad it wasn't Toby.
Gill, though, was certain that she was happy to see him (just because of how great he was) and this notion delighted him. "…Oh, hey Akari," he said, crossing his arms to fortify his conceit; "That root is in your way, right? I asked the carpenter to cut it, but he keeps stalling."
Once again, Akari appeared troubled. I can understand why Luke doesn't want to come around and do it, she thought; I also don't want him to… Nothing personal. It wasn't his fault if he wanted to chop her into a million pieces.
Gill remained blissfully unaware of the situation between Akari and the star carpenter. Somehow, the gossip hadn't reached him and Elli yet. "I think my father keeps telling Dale to wait. A lot of people object to cutting the root."
Akari answered him with a ginormous question mark. (Which was a natural response in this world, along with music notes, squiggly lines, and battle auras.)
"This root is a part of the Mother Tree. The Mother Tree means so much to the island," Gill rambled on; "…But it's in the way, we have no choice. It should be cut for the sake of people's lives. I'm sure the Harvest Goddess would understand." As he spoke in an increasingly self-important way, it became very obvious that he was too big for his knickerbockers.
Akari, troubled by Gill's hasty decision, quickly spoke up in hopes of deterring him: "Actually, I quite like this big, road-blocking root here. It looks very nice from this angle and if you squint your eyes, it sorta looks like a bear–"
"–Ok," Gill said, totally ignoring her; "I'm going to Dale's Carpentry again to remind him. I'll get this path clear one way or another."
"W-wait–" Akari yelled, her eyes holding back a desperate plea for life: NOOO! PLEASE DON'T bring axe crazy Luke around here– I don't want to be chopped up– not chopped up– NOT KAPPA GIBLETS– SO MUCH BLOOD!
Kappa didn't have giblets, but that was irrelevant. Reaching out, Akari snatched Gill's arm, tugged him back around and (in one frantically messed-up tumble) fell backwards with him landing right on top of her.
Gill– letting out a muffled cry– pulled his face away from Akari's chest. Despite its smallness, it had cushioned his landing– a discovery which made his face turn completely red.
Akari, unfortunately, did decidedly worse. With her right cheek smack in the dirt, her eyes swirled in their sockets and her head glugged out precious water. The last thing she remembered was Gill calling her name.
Getting Akari to her house was a back-breaking battle. Though Gill attempted to princess-carry her (as was suitable for a romantic prince like himself), he was unable to lift her past his knees (and barley able to move her more than ten steps) before placing her back in the dirt and gasping for air.
"She is vastly heavier… than she looks," Gill said between labored breaths. He hadn't struggled THIS much since that time he tried moving the town hall's TV set.
By now, Akari's limbs were sprawled out in the dirt, her eyes were rolled back into her skull, and her skin had lost most of its elasticity due to a slow death via dehydration. Gill, catching onto her SOMEWHAT urgent condition, pulled her close and lifted her up onto his back in a pathetic excuse for a piggyback ride. In his defense, his forte was heavy reading, not heavy lifting.
After twenty minutes of hauling Akari down the road and into her house, Gill set her down in bed and brushed the hair out of her sunken face. As she laid there, gasping for breath, he filled with intensifying panic. What is wrong with her? he thought anxiously, holding his head and looking her up and down; She looks dreadful! What should I do? In such a situation, the prince would seek the help of the wizard for a cure… but the wizard had explicitly warned him to stay away from the kappa to begin with!
"Dealing with that man will be frightening, but… I must take responsibility," Gill said to himself at last; "I'll go call Dr. Jin."
Upon hearing the cruel doctor's name, Akari– despite being half-unconscious– sat up at once and cried out, "NO, DON'T CALL HIM." Flopping back down, she then weakly asked for water.
"Of course," Gill answered brightly; "I'll get you some water." Digging around in Akari's rucksack, looking for her watering can, it took him a full minute to realize that her request was ENTIRELY like that of a kappa's.
Pulling out the watering can (which was brimming full of NONSENSE) Gill set it down on the nightstand with a steady but contemplative hand. Akari… he thought, still clutching the rucksack; I've imagined many things about you, many absurd and marvelous things, but in actuality…
I don't know anything about you. Nothing at all.
So how is it possible… that you're exactly what I've imagined?
Dropping the rucksack on the ground, a small paper fluttered out and landed face-up at Gill. "What's this?" he said, reaching down and picking it up. It was a glossy photo on white card stock: a photo of a blonde haired woman in overalls and a young Akari– who was sitting on her lap and smiling with all the mischievous mirth of a little boy.
"That's right…" Gill said, his eyes downturned with sudden melancholy; "She said her mother was gone, too…" Had he been wrong to be so fiercely suspicious of her?
Turning the photo over, Gill read the names on the back. Claire… and Akari, he thought, suddenly thinking that this title was written with very sloppy handwriting; How weird. Did Akari write this when she was little? If so, it should've been something more childish, like 'Me and mama'… How informal.
Flipping the photo over and studying it once again, Gill noticed something even more peculiar… that the photo had been taken on the shore of a pond. And from the water.
Before he could foolishly theorize that the photo may have been taken from a boat, a loud knock sounded at the door– and before anything else could be done– Jin barged in with Toby in tow.