Intermission

“Rekka!”

When Rekka fell from the top floor of Ryugu Palace, Rosalind transformed into bats and followed after him as quickly as she could. To her, it was the obvious thing to do, but it put Rain in the worst position imaginable.

“Ah... uh...”

The mermaid princess was seized with terror, unable to do anything but tremble. She thought she was about to be killed. She thought all of the merfolk were about to be killed. The man in front of her had the motive to do it.

But after he was rid of Rekka, the man just stood there, motionless and silent. It was as if he didn’t even see Rain.

I-I have to get away...

She knew she needed to run, but her feet wouldn’t move. Fear had taken control of her legs.

The secretary, who until now had silently been watching things unfold, walked over to the giant man and whispered something to him. He slowly nodded and turned towards Rain.

“Aah...”

Rain was almost in tears as she felt the oppressive weight of his gaze upon her. She turned to the body of her murdered mother.

Mother...

But alas, the corpse that was no longer her mother offered her no comfort.

The man silently approached.

The sorrow of losing her mother and the fear that she was about to share the same fate washed over Rain at the same time. She could no longer hold it in and began to sob.

“Waah...”

The man’s huge hands reached out towards her.

▽

Ryugu Palace, second floor. Girls’ bathroom.

Tetra and Shirley were hiding in a stall.

“A-Are the scary people gone?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t leave yet.”

“I’m sorry... This is my fault for saying I wanted to go to the bathroom.”

“No, I wanted to go, too... We were just unlucky that the third floor bathroom was being cleaned, you know?”

When Rekka left to hand Raul over to the staff, the two girls also stepped out to visit the bathroom. That was where they were when the pirates had rushed the palace, leaving them unable to get back to the others.

What do I do? What do I do?

Out of all the girls, Tetra was the weakest in combat. After all the time she’d spent living underground, she was weak in general. If even a single pirate found them, there would be nothing she could do. And Shirley was a scientist, so the same was probably true of her.

The two girls huddled in silence after that, but even without saying a word, they could each feel the other shaking as they held each other close.

“I-It’s okay,” Tetra finally said, trying to make them both feel a little better. “Rekka will come to save us. I know it. So until he does, let’s just stay here so the scary people can’t find us.”

“Y-Yeah.”

But as if her prayer had been heard and cruelly denied, the door to the bathroom opened with a click. Tetra’s eyes opened wide at the sound. She tried her best to keep herself under control, even putting her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. She looked and saw that Shirley was doing the same thing. Both girls waited in anxious horror as the footsteps echoed ominously through the cramped room.

Please... Just go away...

But the footsteps suddenly stopped. They stopped right in front of the stall where the two frightened girls were hiding.

SNAP!

The door to the stall was split in two. The top half slid off its hinges and fell to the ground, revealing a towering man looking down at them.

“Rekka...”

Tetra’s tearful plea fell on deaf ears.