I have a pharmacokinetics exam and should not be writing.

Although this is just a short prologue, please let me know if you have any feedback!

Thank you for reading!

"Uhee~...it's hot…so hot… this old man's going to melt soon at this rate~"

"Well, it is the middle of summer, Senpai. Compared to the crowds outside, at least we have it somewhat easier inside the aquarium."

"If this is easier, then I don't ever wanna step outside again…it's so hot that I can't even take a nap to escape the heat. Can't you do something about this, Issei?"

"I would if I could! I already asked a few times before, but apparently we're using all our budget on cooling the inside of the tanks, leaving us out here with no choice but to bear this heat. I dunno why those damn higher-ups can't understand that this is only gonna drive away more people from visiting!"

Issei let out a sigh to cool his thoughts as he wiped away the sweat dripping down his forehead with his shirt. After spending the better half of the afternoon doing nothing but staring at the ceiling and waiting for visitors that never came, the heat and boredom were getting unbearable to the point that restlessness was beginning to stir. He'd managed to pass the time slowly by talking with his small coworker, but at this point she'd been mostly reduced to an unintelligible puddle of pink and black melting into and becoming one with the checkered floor beneath her. Puddles didn't always make for the best conversation partners.

"If only the uniforms were any color other than black then this might not be as bad, but of course everything has to be working against us." His shirt clung grossly to his skin, making Issei constantly aware of how gross he felt.

"Mmm, but the seal on the front is really cute, isn't it?" The slime reformed herself into a more human shape long enough to point down at her uniform, the front of which pictured a caricature of a wrinkly looking dog-like creature with a long, drooping nose lifted high above a face morphed into a bright smile with buck teeth. Issei had heard from their manager, who had been the one to suggest this bizarre-looking creature as their aquarium mascot, that it was supposed to be an elephant seal. Issei had seen the real thing before; they were pretty ugly animals in their own right, but this weird-looking mascot somehow did them a disservice.

"No matter how many times you call that thing cute, I'm never gonna be able to understand it, Senpai." Issei took a moment to look around the gift shop they were stationed in. Shelf upon shelf stood stacked with mascot plushies all around them. These damn things never actually sold to anyone, but new ones always somehow made their way into inventory orders. "Does management have some weird fetish for those plushies or something?," Issei thought aloud.

Issei watched the small girl crawl to the lowest shelf and drag down a plush into her arms. "I don't know about any of that, but they're super soft~" Hoshino pushed her face down into the soft plush and started rolling back and forth on the floor.

Despite his weary mood, Issei smiled at the sight. Takanashi Hoshino, his coworker for the past several months, really was cute in a small animal kind of way. It might be an odd description for someone who was supposedly older than him, but he couldn't see her in any other way. She was too small to ever think that she was actually of high school age, standing at only 145cm tall. Hoshino wasn't very developed in any aspect other than mind, and looking at her roll aimlessly now brought even that into doubt. Although he liked her long pink hair that was almost as long as she was tall, his Senpai didn't match his preferences (in very specific areas) so he wasn't nervous talking to her, and he'd come to appreciate how she warmed up to him over their time working together.

Issei first met the small girl on his way back from buying porn at night, but that wasn't the only reason that meeting was remarkable to him. The girl he met that day was ethereal. Her empty expression as she sat motionless, looking up at the sky, told him that he couldn't leave her alone. And so Issei reached out to help her.

It had been a while ago since they first met, but still…

Issei still didn't know much of anything important about Takanashi Hoshino. Hoshino always called herself older than him, but he still didn't know her actual age. They'd worked together for several months, but he'd never heard any personal stories from her about life outside of the aquarium. Hoshino once mentioned that she was old enough to be in high school, but Issei didn't know the identity of the school she attended.

He tried to ask about things occasionally, but Hoshino usually avoided the question. At first, Issei was somewhat hurt, thinking that she didn't trust him enough, but he'd come to learn since then that she was just like that with everyone. No matter what small detail people tried to get out of her, at was like talking at a brick wall. Even just figuring out that she loved sea creatures had been the result of a sheer coincidence.

And so Issei stopped pressing for answers. If she didn't want to share anything important yet, then he'd just wait until she did. For now, Issei was too tired to worry about complicated things anyway.

*BANG* "Ouch!"

A loud sound brought Issei out of his thoughts. He looked over to see Hoshino holding her knee and squirming about in pain.

"Owowowowow…"

Issei noticed drops of blood falling down her legs and frowned. "Hoshino-senpai, that's why you really shouldn't be rolling around in this cramped space! Looks like you scraped it pretty bad, so I'll get something to disinfect it with!," Issei scolded. Issei looked around the gift shop and walked toward the first-aid kit on the wall.

"Slamming against a wall…hurts this much, huh," Hoshino muttered.

"Of course it does, idiot! Now move your hands and let me help," Issei instructed her. Hoshino consented, but her eyes remained on drops of blood around the wound. She slowly moved her gaze upwards and stared blankly at the empty space above her head, an unreadable expression on her face.

"It's really hot…"

"Ah, the day's finally over!" Issei exclaimed as he and his coworker walked through the exit to be greeted by dark skies.

The day had dragged on way too long, and Issei couldn't wait to get home and throw his sweat-soaked uniform into the washing machine. The monotony of the day continued until closing, and it wasn't helped at all by Hoshino growing quieter after she hurt herself. As a small blessing, a few visitors came near the end of their shift and Hoshino seemed to snap back to her usual self. That is, cheering lazily for Issei as he handled all the work. He didn't mind too much, though, since he didn't feel he was working enough to earn his money either way. The distraction from boredom was more than welcome too. And one of the women who came to the gift shop had a HUGE set of honkers!

He was hoping to see that girl again.

"Good work today, Issei~" Hoshino smiled at him. "Well then, I'll see you tomorrow for another shift of naptime. I'll bring a fan next time so I can sleep better!"

"Yeah, yeah. I think the manager's gonna be in tomorrow, so good luck with that."

"Uhee…" Hoshino visibly deflated. After exchanging goodbyes, she lazily waved goodbye at the boy and watched until he was out of sight, then turned around and started walking. Not walking back, just walking somewhere. Back in Kivotos, she would've considered this a patrol. Here, though, there was nothing to warrant nighttime patrols. Hoshino just knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. She was exhausted, so she just needed something to do.

Hoshino heard a scream in the distance, in the direction she was headed toward.

Her eyes narrowed, her legs tensed, and her hands began searching for her weapon that was nowhere to be found. She stepped forward regardless, prepared to find the source of the scream and—

Violet tinged her vision and she stopped.

Hoshino turned back in the direction of her apartment. She had another hard day at work tomorrow, after all.