"Good afternoon," Toby finally said, standing before the Town Hall's reception counter. He had been loitering there, hands at his sides, for the past twenty minutes– greatly perturbing Gill.

"Oh, yes, good afternoon to you too, Mr. Toby," Elli sang, cheerfully but in a preoccupied manner since she was busy preparing news manuscripts. Humming softly, she didn't seem bothered AT ALL by the fact that Toby had been staring at them for such a profane amount of time.

Flipping through a leather-bound ledger, Gill glanced up and regarded Toby, briefly, before ignoring him and going back to his work of calculating and planning the island's food and goods distribution.

Recently, Pascal had warned that the sea was too rough for any shipments to go in or out, so a great deal had to be organized if anyone wanted to make money on the island... And if they wanted to keep from starving to death, too, of course– since they were now essentially cut off from the mainland and STRANDED.

But above all else, Gill found the money issue most concerning! "What are you here for?" he asked at last, sensing something amiss with the squinty-eyed fisherman.

"Oh, nothing much," Toby said, waving his arms around as if he were orchestrating a boat wreck. "I was just thinking... you read a lot. And you look like a smart guy. You must know a lot about everything."

"Yes." This was old news for Gill. He already knew that.

"So I was wondering..." Toby shyly scratched the back of his tan neck. "Um, if you knew anything about mermaids."

Wordlessly, Gill ducked under the counter for several seconds and reemerged, hoisting a long, thin wooden drawer up. He flopped it onto the counter with an unsettling smack. "M through O," he announced, going back to work and leaving Toby to find his own resources.

"Huh?" Leaning over the drawer, Toby carefully flipped through the yellowed cards within. "Wow." He tilted his head curiously. "Is this your recipe collection?"

Gill closed his ledger with a thump and nearly went cross-eyed. He wondered if Toby had truly never seen a book catalog before or if he was just goofing off. Searching Toby's vacant face for an indication, Gill decided it was the former.

"Here. Look for 'mermaid,' like this," Gill explained, rifling through the cards at an inhuman speed; "And then look upstairs for the books it lists." Parting the cards, he snatched one out and whipped it over to read. "Don't do this, though. You'll just mix them up and make a big mess!" Intently reading the card, Gill frowned when he discovered the three books it listed. Two of them had already been unofficially checked-out by him (and they were on his desk at home) and the last book was the one that Jin had STOLEN the other day in broad daylight.

"Hm?" Toby leaned over the counter, practically in Gill's face.

"Do you mind?" Gill shot. Backing away, he placed the card back in, grabbed the whole drawer, and disappeared under the counter once again. "It seems those books aren't in," his disembodied voice came from below. "Oh well. I'll just have to teach you what I know, then."

"Really?"

"Yes." Gill poked back up, his sharp eyes full of suspicion. "One question, though."

"Huh?"

"Why are so curious about mermaids all of a sudden?" Staring Toby down, Gill became even more suspicious when the young fisherman started sweating and fidgeting– a rare sight. "And what are you so worked up about?"

"I..." Toby paused, holding his hand over his heart– dreamily– as if it ached. "Met a girl," he explained; "She was beautiful."

"That doesn't explain anything!"

Meringue Clinic's door locked behind Akari. Idling on the clinic's porch, she watched the sky and found that the sun hadn't waited for her all– instead, it had passed right by and washed the streets pink with leftover light– outright refusing to greet her. But it's not like the sun ACTUALLY greets people.

Thirsty. I've almost run dry, Akari thought, rubbing her head and sprinting away. She had planned on leaving early, but several patients and customers came by and as a result, Irene had put her in charge of the counter. Since Akari wanted to be a ultra-polite, she had bowed several times and lost a lot of water.

"If I'm going back to the river," Akari said to herself; "I'll go answer that monkey's riddle." She was now confident that she had the answer to it, especially since she had asked Jin (before leaving his office for the day) what was beyond Caramel Falls... A hot spring.

Racing past the stairs to Waffle Square, she peered above the rooftop of Sundae Inn and saw something... Visible beyond the trees and guard railings was a pink and orange blur– which– upon a closer look, revealed itself to be a strawberry blonde girl sitting all by herself on a bench. Evaluating a dinner plate in her hands, the girl drooped sullenly and filled the air with a blue aura of hopeless gloom.

Akari stopped, struck by the girl's obvious sadness. It's getting dark... Why is she eating there all by herself? she wondered. A dull pain dropped in her chest– a sort of shared grief– and without thinking, she went up the steps. Walking toward the girl on the bench, Akari stopped, sheepishly watching her from a distance.

Sensing that somebody was watching, the girl flinched, immediately putting on a cheerful smile.

She already knows I'm here, Akari realized. So shouldn't I...

Emanating happiness, the girl took her sandwich, dinner plate and all, and opened her mouth– cramming the WHOLE thing in. Holding her knees, she bobbled her head, never once minding the glass crunching in her teeth.

Akari stared, struck speechless. She also ate in such a way. What a coincidence!

"That was lovely!" the girl said, wiping her mouth clean. Standing up, she readily regarded Akari. With a gaping mouth, she blinked vapidly and walked on over. "Hello!" She nodded in greeting. "You must be the newcomer my dad was talking about! Let's see, you're Akari, right?"

"Oh. Yes, that's right." Confused, Akari wondered if she had already met this girl's dad (if she had, she had no idea who he was). "And you?"

"You've seen the inn, right?" The girl flashed a toothy grin. "That's my house! I'm Maya! Nice to meet you!"

"Oh! A pleasure." Akari nodded happily. So her mother and father are the inn keepers! Charmed by this, she kept bobbling her head, and on the second nod, her belly stabbed with a pain and released a earth-rattling grumble. It echoed throughout the square.

"What... what was that!" Maya panicked, looking around but finally ascertaining that the epicenter was right in front of her. "Was that... was that your stomach?"

"Ah." Akari gulped. "It was. Sorry about that."

Walking closer, Maya crouched down and held an ear to Akari's stomach. "When was the last time you ate?" she asked, much to Akari's discomfort.

"I– well, I think it was, er, was it?" Akari counted on her fingers. "Two or three days ago?" Yes, she hadn't eaten since she left Souffle Farm.

Jumping to her feet, Maya held her face in dismay– tears welling in her bright blue eyes. "T-that many days?" she cried, the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Without FOOD?...! Are you even HUMAN?"

Upon hearing this question concerning her humanity, Akari jerked back as if she had been stabbed with a fork.

"That's horrible! That's– that's a fate worse than death!" Maya continued on; "Come here!" Grabbing Akari's hands, she led her to the bench and forced her to sit down. Pulling out another sandwich, she stuffed it in Akari's mouth.

"Eat! You must eat," Maya implored her to chew. She did this by chomping her own teeth several times– like a pair of wind-up dentures.

This is all very surreal, Akari thought, frightened by Maya's demonstration. But since she was both hungry and polite, she did as Maya demanded of her and gobbled the sandwich vigorously. Bobbling her head AGAIN, she enjoyed its savory and delicious flavor as it evaporated in her gut. "The bread was good," Akari complimented. "Was it homemade? Its texture blended well with the mayonnaise! Were the slices pre-toasted?"

"Hold on, I didn't make it– so I don't know anything about that," Maya said, looking proud anyways. "Ask my grandma if you want to learn about cooking. My grandma's cooking is the best in town!"

"Your grandmother?" Akari instantly remembered the chef at Sundae Inn– the spunky old woman with pink, rope-like pigtails. Akari had seen her when she had woke up at the inn and again when delivering Souffle Farm strawberries.

"Yeah... It's funny. I keep getting in trouble for stealing food from her kitchen," Maya confessed sadly; "But I can't help it!" Pensively holding her chin, she lapsed into deep depression once again– though this time it was of a more frustrated nature. Though Akari wanted to ask Maya if anything else was troubling her, the girl had snapped from her funk before anything could be said.

"Oops, I'd better get going," Maya said, hyperly punching at the air. "Oh yeah, this is for you!" Taking out a cooking book, she handed it to Akari– who instantly jumped into the air with much rejoicing.

"You should read it," Maya insisted; "Don't starve yourself anymore, ok? Or I'll stuff you 'till you turn green. I'm serious!"

"I understand." Akari couldn't help but smile at the girl's straightforwardness.

"See you soon!"

Peeking out at Waffle Square through the Town Hall's double doors, Elli watched, rattling the keys hanging from the lock. She chuckled lightly to herself and tugged at her ruffly apron.

"What are you standing there for?" Gill inquired. Though it was late and Elli was going home for the day, he himself was staying a few more hours– as usual– to get some accounting and city planning done. More plots had to be zoned if the island was to attract new inhabitants (once the sea calmed down and boats could come in again, of course).

"I could be wrong, but I think the new islander ate Maya's cooking," Elli said, "and survived."

"Don't be ridiculous. If she survived Maya's cooking, then it wasn't Maya's cooking."

"I don't think you realize how contradictory that statement was..."

"Whatever." Gill shoved down on a stapler, securing a stack of extra-long papers. "You know what I meant."

Still peeking out from the doors, Elli sighed wistfully. "It would be so nice to be young again. The teenage years– it's like the 'spring' of one's life... It's so much easier to make friends during that time."

"You're not that old." Gill stapled another stack. "And wouldn't it be the 'winter' of one's life? It's much easier to make friends in winter. You get bored stupid and there's less work to do."

Elli chuckled gleefully. "You say the most amusing things!" Stepping out the double doors, she glanced back. "Don't forget that it's the 'springtime' of your life right now... Or wintertime, if you insist. Don't coop yourself up in here every day. Be more social or you'll regret it."

"Don't mother hen me."

"I don't think you mind it," she added; "and I don't think you mind HER." The doors locked shut, leaving Gill startled and in silence.

HIATUS! But don't worry, I'm just vacationing. *puts on shades and a can can hat*