After dinner Wendy decided to talk to Erza.
"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Erza asked.
"Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine. Why do you ask?"
"Because you've been acting very different lately and it's making me worried."
"You don't need to be worried Wendy."
"Are you sure? Because if you're in some kind of trouble, you know you can tell me right?"
"Wendy you forget that I'm the big sister and you're the little sister. That means it's my job to worry about you not the other way around."
"But Erza-"
"Relax Wendy. You just focus on doing well in school and everything will be fine."
But Wendy wasn't convinced. Erza had never kept secrets from her before and it made her a little scared. She didn't like the idea of reading someone else's diary but she wanted to make absolutely sure that Erza wasn't in some kind of trouble. So the next day she called up Chelia and agreed to meet with her at the foster home.
"I don't like this Chelia." Romeo said.
"Just keep quiet and watch out for Juvia or Gray." She said.
The doorbell rang.
"That's probably Wendy."
She went to the door with Romeo following.
"I don't want to be apart of this anymore Chelia, find yourself another watchdog."
She opened the door and Wendy walked in.
"Hello Wendy." Chelia greeted. "The diary is right upstairs."
"Okay but I'm only doing this to make sure that nothing bad is happening to Erza." Wendy said.
"That's the translator?" Romeo asked watching Wendy go upstairs.
"Yes. That's Wendy. She takes calligraphy so she should be able to read cursive and she happens to be the sister of that Erza chick, Juvia is friends with."
"Hubba, hubba, where has she been all my life?"
"Close your mouth Romeo before you catch flies." Chelia said rolling her eyes and pulling him upstairs. Wendy silently read the diary and she felt very guilty about doing this.
"She sure has a lot written down." Wendy said.
"Is it anything embarrassing?" Chelia asked.
"No and if there was I wouldn't tell you. We're not doing this to humiliate Juvia, you know?"
"Oh right! I know that...I just want to find out what's bothering her that's all, right Romeo?"
Romeo didn't answer. He was too busy staring at Wendy with a lovestruck grin.
"You know you have really shiny hair." He said to Wendy.
"Um...Thank you. It's all in the shampoo." She said feeling a little weirded out.
She continued to read the diary, finding nothing peculiar until she reached a section in the diary that made her feel very concerned and confused.
"Well this can't be right." Wendy said.
"What? What is it?" Chelia said.
"Maybe I'm reading this wrong."
"What? What does it say?"
"If I didn't know any better I'd say that according to this, Juvia is a mermaid."
"What? That's crazy." Romeo said.
"There must be some mistake I'm sure." Wendy said.
"Maybe not." Chelia said. "That would explain why she's so desperate to avoid getting wet. If she touches water, she'll grow a tail."
"Tell me that you don't actually believe this." Wendy said.
"Of course Juvia avoids water Chelia, she's scared of it. You know what happened to her parents." Romeo said.
"But she's not the only one. Lucy is avoiding water now too. She used to love swimming in the pool and in the ocean but suddenly she just stops swimming. That is when no one is around and judging by these drawings of the blonde and red head, I have reason to believe that Lucy and Erza are mermaids too."
"You're crazy." Wendy said. "My sister is not a fish."
"She's half fish."
"She is not. This is insane. Tell her Romeo."
"Chelia I think you're going way too far with this and there's no way..." He started to trail off as a memory came back to him.
"Romeo what is it?" Chelia asked.
"Well you know how last week I almost drowned while trying to surf? And Juvia pulled me out?"
"Yeah. You were out cold."
"Well I did briefly regain consciousness and I might have been hallucinating when I saw this. In fact I'm pretty sure that I was hallucinating."
"What exactly did you see?"
"I thought that I saw Juvia with a purple tail."
"I knew it!" Chelia said.
"Again it was probably a hallucination."
"If she wasn't a mermaid why would she jump into the sea to save you even though she's scared of the water?"
"Because she loves me and doesn't want me to drown."
"Face it pal she's a freak and so are the other two and you know it. We should expose them."
"Can't we just talk to them? Ur always said that you should solve conflict with communication."
"Communication is for humans and they are not humans. They're evil and dangerous and they have to be stopped."
"That's it! I've had enough!" Wendy said. "I only went along with this to find out if my sister was okay, not crucify her as some monster. I'm going home. I'm sorry I ever did this."
"Do you mind if I walk you home?" Romeo asked.
"That's sweet but no thank you, besides my mother doesn't like boys."
"Oh...Okay...So I'll see you around?"
"Sure."
She left after that.
"Who needs her?" Chelia said. "You know I'm right, don't you Romeo?"
"I'm not a hundred percent convinced." He said.
"Then I guess we should keep an eye on the girls so you might see something that will convince you better."
"You mean spy? Chelia we'll get into so much trouble."
"Just do this with me and if we don't find anything then I'll let it go."
"You promise?"
"Promise."
"Alright."
"Great. So here's the plan, you spy on Juvia and I'll spy on Lucy."
"Where is Juvia?"
"Last I heard she had gone fishing with Gray."
Indeed, at the moment Gray was at the docks trying to catch a decent fish. But swimming under the docks was Juvia, searching the ocean floor for seashells. Recently she and her friends had been spending a lot of time at the cave at Tendrou Island, soon it had become their own personal hang out but Juvia thought that it looked a little dark and needed something to brighten it up. So she started collecting sea shells and other things that she could use to decorate the cave.
"Are you sure that you should be swimming around here?" Gray asked her when she came back up to surface. "What if someone sees?"
"Don't worry, I'm being extra careful." She assured. "And look I found a conch shell. Isn't it pretty? I'm sure that I can make that cave much more nice than it is."
"Looks like you're having better luck than I am. I haven't caught a bite all day."
"Gee I'm sorry. What don't you take a break from fishing and have a swim?"
"No thanks."
"Are you sure? You're looking a little red. Oh no! Gray you didn't forget to put on sunblock again did you?"
"No I didn't forget."
"So you purposely chose not to put on sun block in a hundred degree weather?"
"Ye...Yes." He said feeling embarrassed.
"No offence Gray but that makes you sound dumb. Much dumber than just forgetting to put on sunblock. Now you're burning up. Come in the water, you need to cool off."
"I told you I'm fine."
Juvia rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. Then an idea came to her.
"Alright if that's the way you want it."
She went back under water, a few minutes later Gray felt something tug on his fishing line. He pulled but whatever was on the other end of the line pulled back and it was very strong. Stronger than he expected any fish to be.
"Wow! This one must be huge!" Gray said as he struggled to reel it in. But during his struggle he lost his balance on the dock edge and fell right into the water. Swimming up to the surface he found Juvia waiting for him, giggling and hold the end of his fishing line where the hook was.
"Juvia!" He said in irritation.
"It was for your own good." She said. "You were practically roasting."
She giggled again.
"Oh you think this is funny?" He said.
"A little." She admitted.
"Yeah? Well take this!"
He smacked the ocean surface hard, splashing her in the process. Though surprised she responded with a playful smile and made a large bubble rise from the sea. She then sent it flying into Gray's face.
"Alright if that's how you wanna play!"
The two started their own splashing war while laughing at how childish they were being. From a distance, Romeo heard them and went down to the docks.
"I win." Juvia said.
"What do you mean you win?" Gray asked.
"I made the biggest splash."
"That's not fair! You can control water and I can't."
"All is fair in love and war. Uh-oh!"
"What is it?"
"Romeo's coming."
She quickly dove underwater just before the boy could see her.
"Hi Romeo." Gray said trying to act casual while internally praying that Juvia wouldn't be seen.
"Gray why are you in the water?" Romeo asked. "I thought you were going fishing."
"I was but I got hot and I needed to cool off."
"With your shirt on?"
"Uh...It's a very slimming shirt."
"Who were you talking too?"
"No one. It's just me. I'm the only one out here."
"I thought Juvia was with you."
"She went home."
"No she didn't. I was just there."
"Oh...Then she must be over at Lucy's then."
"Okay." He said not entirely convinced that Gray was telling the truth. "Hey Gray can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"What if someone you knew, someone you cared about wasn't human?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what if someone...Say Juvia was some sort of supernatural creature, would you expose her to the world?"
"What?! No! Wait why would you think that Juvia was some supernatural creature?"
"I don't. This just hypothetical."
"Well honestly no. I wouldn't expose her because human or not she's still my best friend. Besides do you have any idea what the world would do if a supernatural creature was exposed to it?"
"No. Not really."
"Well typically the government would take it away, lock it up, and dissect it! Now tell me do you want that to happen to Juvia?... Hypothetically speaking that is."
"No. Never. I didn't think about that. Listen I gotta go. Bye!"
He ran away as fast as he could. Once he was gone Juvia came back to the surface.
"What was that about?" She asked.
"I don't know but I think that Romeo might know your secret."