[Rin Matsuoka POV]

Chapter 1

I never thought I'd ever hear the words "fishing for men" come out of Sousuke's mouth.

It was a normal, routine day like the rest. Rarely any calls came in from this area, but Sousuke and I still patrolled just in case. There were plenty of things to look at while driving around, but after several weeks of seeing the same scenery, it would get kind of boring. Sometimes I did want a change of pace.

Getting a strange call in the middle of the day from Sousuke wasn't what I had in mind.

"Yo, Rin?"

"Sousuke?"

"Yeah, are you busy?"

"Not really. Did you want me to pick up lunch for you or something?"

"No, it's just…a few fishermen called a few minutes ago. I'm actually doing something, so I was wondering if you'd go instead."

"Fishermen?"

"Yeah. According to them…" There was a long pause.

"What? Did they find something weird in the water?"

I clearly heard Sousuke clear his throat before speaking, making me raise an eyebrow. "They said they'd gone out early to go fishing, but it looks like they accidentally ended up fishing for men instead."

It took a while to process that.

"…What?" I finally managed to say.

"I know, right? But you should probably go check it out anyways. They sound serious enough."

"You're kidding, right?" My shoulders slumped a bit.

"This is different from that prank I pulled on you last week. Want to talk to them yourself?"

"No thank you."

Sousuke huffed a bit. "Anyways, good luck. It's not everyday you get these kind of calls."

"I don't need you to tell me that," I sighed and sat up in the seat of the police car I was in, starting up the engine. 'Did those guys have to word it like that?' Not even a minute after starting to drive to the main section of the beach designated for fishing, I got another call from Sousuke.

"Great, what did they say this time?" I said as I turned onto a main street.

"They called again, said you should get there as soon as possible. They sound even more serious this time."

"And you're sure these aren't just a group of kids that want to mess with us?"

"I've talked with them before. I know what they sound like."

"And you're not just handing over this job to me because it sounds ridiculous?"

Silence.

"Sousu—"

"I'm not," He muttered matter-of-factly and hung up before I could say anything. I had definitely heard the lying tone in his voice.

"Liar," I muttered in return before parking the car, an expanse of the deep blue ocean to my left. Before, it might have made me feel relaxed, but now it was just a common sight. Getting out of the car and locking it, I put on my hat to complete my outfit out of habit and took a pair of handcuffs if things got complicated. I didn't like carrying around a gun with me unless it was necessary, and so far there'd been no need to use it. It'd probably be like that for a while. The people living here weren't the type to cause trouble. Even though that would be a relief to anyone at first glance, it inevitably got boring to me. I wasn't a person who could just sit around and be calm. That was part of the reason I had the job I did right now. 'That, and…'

I sighed. 'Forget it, Matsuoka.'

I could see the fishing boat from a distance away. Hell, I could even smell the fish from several meters away. I'd been told several times that my sense of smell was absurdly keen, but that was a disadvantage at times. This was definitely one of them; at least it was helping me locate where the fishermen were. Now, if only my sense of smell could take care of actually having to face those guys.

Sighing deeply, I put a hand in my pocket as I went onto the board walk, going up to three older men who were looking down at their boat, muttering and stealing glances at each other. 'Suspicious…'

Once they saw me walking towards them, they straightened up and turned to me. Even though I was here to help, it looked like they we're guarding the boat from me. Great, uncooperative people were the best kind to deal with. It wasn't like their boat could have held something extremely important, anyways; it was one of the smaller types compared to the other ones docked beside it. It was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed and sank yet, looking like it hadn't been painted in years and more damaged than it should have been.

"I'm officer Matsuoka," I said casually as I came within speaking distance of them. They seemed to loosen up as they saw my relaxed posture.

"We were expecting Yamazaki to come, but it looks like we won't need to keep an eye out for trouble from you," one of them remarked immediately. "You look like the type of person that would be around him. I trust you."

'Thanks?'

I cleared my throat. "Anyways, he told me about the call you gave them. Knowing more of the details would help me." The oldest of the three, one who had a head of completely white hair that glowed in the harsh mid-day sunlight, stepped forward. I did hold respect for these kinds of people; they didn't let their age get to them that easily, and that was especially obvious in this situation.

"We went out early to fish today, as soon as the sun began to rise," he started. His voice was slightly low and very raspy. It was the kind of voice I thought I'd probably have when I got older, and I didn't know whether I'd like it or not. "We always go fishing in the same area since there seem to be plenty of fish to catch every time we go there. Today was a bit different. There weren't as many fish as there usually were, and the waters were very calm. We caught about half the amount of fish that we usually do. Still, it was a large amount.

The entire time he was talking, I awaited what was inevitably going to come out of the old man's mouth. 'Fishing for men? How does this even tie into what he's telling me?'

"So we came back to the dock, but our youngest member—" he patted the back of the man with the least gray hair in the group, "—claimed that something else was in the net where our fish were . We didn't know what to do at first, but we eventually decided to open up the net to see what it was."

"And…," I could feel the words about to come out of him.

"Instead of finding a fish, we found a young man. He looks around your age."

Although the matter had seemed trivial at first, now I was worried. They had possibly found the body of someone who might've been missing. That wasn't really something I was eager to deal with.

"Was he breathing?"

"Our eyesight is getting worse by the minute," the youngest one replied. "We couldn't tell."

"I take it I have permission to look inside the net?" I took a step towards the boat, but they seemed hesitant.

"There's also one more thing…"

I turned my head to look back at them before I could steal a glance into the boat, just like they'd been doing a few minutes earlier. "What is it?"

"We thought it was a normal boy, but…well, our eyes might be tricking us. Go see for yourself, but try not to call too much attention."

'That's what I should be telling you,' I sighed and nodded, smiling at the fishermen to reassure them before turning back to the boat. 'Honestly, I think they're making a bigger scene than—'

"…Huh?"

Everything else was normal. The net wasn't ripped, there was a decent amount of fish in the net, the boat was actually in pretty good shape despite its outer appearance, and the water around the boat was a deep blue reflecting the sky. But…

'What the hell is that?'

The guy almost looked like he was asleep. Every few seconds, you could clearly see his chest moving upwards. He was surrounded by the fish in the net but he didn't look affected by it, laying on his side. His hair was a dark shade of blue, almost black, shining from the afternoon sun, stopping at the base of his neck. His expression was relatively calm and relaxed.

That wasn't what bothered me.

There was something blue on his shoulders, on his forearms, and his nails we're a shade of blue you'd see on an Easter egg, pastel and bright. Carefully making my way closer, I reached out and touched the blue spots. They felt slippery and slightly slimy, almost like…scales. His nails looked like they'd gotten a professional manicure. Grabbing his wrist, I held his hand up to my face and spread the fingers apart, getting even more confused as I saw a transparent substance at the base of his fingers that looked a lot like webbing.

But even that wasn't the weirdest part.

I took off my hat and shrugged off my police jacket to reveal a white wifebeater beneath, getting more comfortable. Crouching down, I started to move more fish out of the way of the guy's body. It felt kind of weird, but I tried not to make a big deal out of the sensation. My hands stopped cold when I saw another large section of blue beneath a layer of fish. Maybe I was going crazy. Then again, three other men also saw what I was seeing right now. Sighing a bit, I reached forward and touched the sparking blue. If I wasn't in a boat right now, I would have been content with just assuming it was really clean, really blue water.

Of course, it was scales instead.

They felt the same as the ones on the guy's arms and shoulders. Moving more fish out of the way, I was rendered into more shock as I saw how long this…thing was. And even though I knew this was the kind of stuff you see in fairy tales and The Little Mermaid, the reality was staring back at me. He had a tail attached to him. It wasn't some sort of costume; the scales started at his upper abdomen and became bolder and more firm while keeping that slick texture of the scales on his arms, completely taking over the bottom half of his body at the hips. The large fin at the end of the tail was a bit smaller than my wingspan.

"…" I suddenly felt eyes on me, other than the gazes of the men on the deck above. My eyes slowly came up until my gaze was back on the guy's face.

Except this time, his eyes were open and staring at me.

The irises we're easily bluer than any ocean I'd ever seen. There might as well have been an ocean compressed into this guy's eyes. The pupils were slightly slitted. Most of the iris was a deep blue, but a small section around the pupil was a slightly lighter shade, like that of a pool and not an ocean or lake. Even the darker blue of his iris looked about ten different shades of the color all mixed together.

After several long moments of observing his eyes, I finally realized that I was staring and cleared my throat, looking up at the fishermen on deck. They'd taken a few steps back, as if the guy (Merman? Half-fish? Fish-man?) was going to attack them at any moment. I could almost feel the guy's gaze following mine. He stared straight at me as I looked back over at him.

"…What's your name?" I asked. After nearly a minute of silence, I asked again, but it didn't look like he was even thinking of answering. "Oi, your name. You have one, don't you?"

"…"

'Are you kidding me?' I sighed. Not only was he some sort of fantasy creature, he was also a prick. "Just tell me already."

"…Free."

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow, looking at him skeptically and trying to keep my eyes on his face and not his tail or otherworldly traits. "Your name can't be 'Free'. What's your real name?"

"…" He looked annoyed.

"As soon as you start cooperating with me, this'll be a lot easier," I remarked. "Where're you from?"

"…Free."

"Let's try again. Why are you here?"

"Free." Now the guy was saying it with conviction, like that was the answer to everything in the world.

"What's with that tail? And why is there webbing on your hands?"

For a moment he looked like he was going to say something else. His mouth opened, then remained open as he tried to say something. After several seconds, he immediately gave up and his expression changed from annoyed to I-don't-really-care. "Free."

"Are you fucking serious?" I muttered under my breath. He was making this way too complicated.

This time, he chose not to answer (smart choice) and struggled to move, slipping and squirming over the piles of fish around him. His nose scrunched slightly at the sight but he still tried to get out of the boat. Instead of trying to stop him, I watched. He obviously hadn't wanted to get caught at a fishing site, much less be part of the catch. His eyebrows furrowed as he gripped the railing of the side of the boat and tried to push himself over into the water; it was only then that I saw the underside of his tail. It had clearly been injured, although it was unclear what had caused his injury. Crimson was flowing from a gash a couple of centimeters long, trickling down his tail. The sight of that color clashing with the shining blue of his tail made me feel slightly bad for him, even if he was being difficult and annoying.

"Oi, stop forcing yourself. You won't get anywhere like that," I stood up and walked over to him, being careful not to step on any fish, and grabbed his arm, turning him onto his back again. He clearly winced but didn't look in my direction, as if that would hide anything. 'Honestly, making me feel like this was my fault…'

"Let me help you. Are you so stuck up you won't accept help from an injury, fish-boy?"

"…Free."

My eyebrow twitched and I looked to the side, sighing in exasperation. After a moment of thought, I retrieved my jacket, shrugging it on, and stuffed my hat partially into one of its larger pockets, going back onto the deck and confronting the men who still looked unsettled by the fact that the thing in the fishing net was still alive.

"I'll take him with me," I told them. "Do you have a container he fits in?"

"You're taking him?" The eldest sounded genuinely surprised. Not that he shouldn't have been surprised. I would have been more worried if he wasn't.

"I'll wait for him to heal, then bring him back. The rest of the people here don't need to know what happened today; can I trust the three of you to keep this secret?" They all nodded. It was kind of reassuring, but it wasn't like there wasn't much chance that people would believe them if one of them chose to tell someone, anyway.

"We have a larger container for large catches, he should fit there," the youngest suggested. "I'll lead the way."

I nodded and turned back to the boat. Apparently fish-boy had realized how useless it was to try to force himself back into the water, and was now laying there, still looking half annoyed and half carefree. I jumped back down onto the boat, making it rock back and forth slightly as I walked over to him. As soon as I started to reach out to him, he glared at me and shifted away.

"I'm trying to help you," I muttered, glaring back at him. "Want me to help or do you want to bleed to death here?" I was probably exaggerating, but that was what I had to do to get this guy to even start to listen to me. After several moments of staring each other down, he finally relaxed slightly. Taking advantage of the split second of hesitation, I moved closer to him and slipped an arm under his upper back and another over the midsection of his tail, being careful to avoid his injury. He seemed uncomfortable with the way I was touching him, but I didn't feel like dealing with what he wanted. I was trying to help him, and this was the only way I could. He had to endure it now.

Instead of climbing onto the deck, I took the nearest set of stairs, being careful not to drop him. His tail was heavier than I thought, and carrying him felt like trying to carry a huge, slippery bar of soap. I muttered a curse several times when I almost fell over or dropped him, but managed to make it onto the main deck. The entire time, he didn't say a word and didn't look anywhere besides the ground. It might've been my imagination, but I thought I'd seen him pouting slightly. He wasn't making the situation any better. Thankfully, the only people at the beach today were the fishermen; the weather was colder today, definitely not comfortable for a beach visit.

It would've taken only about a minute to get to our destination, but since I was carrying a heavy load and had to be careful, it ended up being about five minutes before I saw the container that they'd been talking about. It was definitely big enough to fit fish-boy, but I wasn't sure how I was going to get it home—

'Home? Hell no. I'm not taking him to my house. What am I thinking?'

But…there wasn't really anywhere else to take him. Plus, my house had a pool I didn't use anymore, so…

I sighed. I didn't know if I'd be able to handle half an hour with this guy living with me.

"This is it," the youngest fisherman stated. The container was already filled, and my arm was definitely relieved to finally lose the weight that I was carrying as I set fish-boy into the water. He was more than glad to be away from me even if it was by a few feet.

"Thanks," I turned to the fisherman, deciding to ignore the slightly annoyed gaze coming from a certain half-human. "I'll take it from here." He nodded and smiled slightly, making me slightly jealous that he wasn't the one that had to deal with this thing for who knows how long. With my eagerness to get rid of him, it would only take a few days.

I took out my phone from my back pocket, dialing Makoto. Although we we're in different departments, we usually called each other for help when we needed it. And I definitely needed it now.

"Hello?"

"It's Rin."

"Oh, Rin. Did something happen?"

"Makoto…can you keep a straight face no matter what I tell you?"

"Huh?"

"I found a merman. He's annoying as hell."

"…Rin?"

"Just drive over to the main beach and you'll see. Bring your truck, I'm going to need it."

"O-okay…I'll be there in ten minutes."

Ten minutes were too long.

I tried to make conversation; I wasn't completely done with trying to get fish-boy to say something other than "free", like he was some sort of salesperson. I asked where he was from, who his parents were, what his hobby was, what his plans for the future were, why he was in the area where the fishermen were—the answer to all of that was free, free, free, free, and free. At this point I didn't know whether the guy was trying to annoy me or partially mute.

"Hey…can't you say anything other than 'free'?" I finally asked after I was 200% fed up with his answers. He stared at me, and for once he didn't look annoyed. "…You can't talk or something? What are you, The Little Mermaid?"

The annoyed look was instantly back, making me smirk slightly. Teasing him was fun. Slightly.

"Rin!" I heard a familiar voice call out in the distance and turned around, seeing Makoto park his pickup truck next to the cop car and come out, hurrying over to me. He looked confused when he saw the large container next to me, but that was soon replaced with shock as he saw what was inside.

"That's…"

"I told you," I remarked. "I don't usually mess with you."

"…What's his name?" Makoto got closer and crouched down to be level with fish-boy. Makoto smiled, but it didn't look like the merman was going to smile back anytime soon. Even so, he did look different around Makoto. Less annoying?

"I asked him about a hundred questions by now. He keeps on saying the same thing. Free."

"What's free?" Makoto asked, confused.

"That's what he says to every damn question I've asked him. 'Free'."

"Why?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be so frustrated," I sighed. "Nevermind; can you put this onto your truck? I need to drive him back to my house. It's the only place I can keep him that won't attract too much attention."

He nodded, and we both went to opposite sides of the container, Makoto near the guy's head and I at his tail, lifting it up and slowly moving over to Makoto's truck. The entire time we walked over, fish-boy looked completely at ease, staring at me as I struggled to not let the container topple over.

"Might want to lay off the seaweed," I muttered under my breath. In a split second, the fin at the end of his tail was raised above the water, right in front of my face. I realized too late what he was doing as his fin slammed onto the surface of the water, my vision going blurry as I was doused in it.

"Rin?!" Makoto had been focused on moving and didn't catch what had happened until he heard the splash of the water.

"You little…," I glared at him, but he was still looking at me with that plain expression.

"L-let's just get to the truck," Makoto suggested, seeing how annoyed I was getting. Deciding not to respond, I was silent as we lifted the container more to slide it onto the back of his truck. Since a pretty large amount of water had been politely handed to me, none of the water in the container spilled over as we finally let go of the container and closed the back of the truck. I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck and turning to Makoto.

"I'll drive my car, you drive yours," I suggested, although it sounded more like a command. "You should see if he'll talk to you." Makoto nodded and smiled slightly before heading to the driver's seat of his car. I turned and walked over to the cop car, leading the way to my house since Makoto had only been there a couple of times and didn't know the way yet. Luckily for my current situation, I had a decent home near the outskirts of the town. People weren't too nosy, so they probably wouldn't have any issues with my keeping a half-man, half-fish there.

Probably.

Making a left, I looked in my review mirror to see that it seemed like Makoto was carrying a conversation on his own. Fish-boy actually did act different around him; it hadn't been my imagination. I guess it was because Makoto was generally more approachable than I was.

I parked the car in the small driveway, making space for Makoto to fit as well. He came out of his car to approach me.

"It looks like he really does only say 'free'. I don't think it's because he wants to, either."

"So you're saying it's impossible for him to say anything else?" I raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the guy. Only the top of his head and part of the bottom of his tail was visible, trying his best to go completely underwater in the container which was still slightly too small for him.

"It looks like it. It's as if his mouth doesn't know how to form other words even if he tries," Makoto responded. I could see how that was possible; it'd happened on the fishermens' boat when I'd tried to get him to talk. "How long are you going to keep him here, Rin?"

"As long as it takes…hopefully a few days," I sighed a bit. "I'll go open the doors so we can carry him out to the backyard." I jogged up to the front door and unlocked it, then went through my house and opened the doors necessary to get to the backyard, making sure there was enough space for us to make it through. By the time I'd come back to the front of the house, Makoto had the back of his truck open, the container with fish-boy ready to be hauled out. This time, I took the opposite end so I wouldn't get splashed again, although I wasn't completely assured that he wouldn't try to do something to me if I made even one wrong move.

"Maybe you should take care of him," I teased Makoto, making it into my house and carefully walking around the furniture. "He likes you more."

"Really? I mean, if—"

"You're too nice," I scoffed slightly, smiling slightly. Even if Makoto and I didn't have much in common, having him around was comforting. "I was kidding, unless you actually want to take responsibility for something I wanted to do."

"I don't think you're bad at this kind of thing," Makoto was too vague, making me give him a questioning look. "Caring for people."

"Thanks?"

"You're more approachable than you think," he laughed a bit, stepping back and out to the yard. I didn't answer. Following him outside, we found a spot and set down the container. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, I'll take it from here," I nodded to him, noticing that he wasn't wearing the outfit he usually put on while he was working. I felt a little less guilty for not interrupting him during work. "Thanks, Makoto."

He smiled. "If you need help again, just give a call. Recently there have been fewer calls and more people working in the same department, so I have more time to relax."

"Sounds eventful," I remarked as we walked to the front door. "Up until today, nothing major happens with me."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I sighed a bit, "but it doesn't give me much to do. Some people start thinking we're lazy and respect us less."

"Well, all you can keep doing is what you have been. People are safe, right?" Makoto stepped off of the front steps and turned to smile at me.

"Yeah…thanks, again," I smiled back at him. "Wish me luck dealing with this guy." Makoto laughed a bit before going back to his truck and driving away. It was a good idea that I'd called for his help; he was good at cheering people up as well as helping out. Closing the door and locking it, I remembered what I had just allowed to take residence in my backyard and sighed. This was going to be anything but fun, with the way fish-boy was acting towards me.

"Oi," I called out as I walked out into the backyard, seeing the container but no one in it. 'He's gone…?' My pace quickened a bit and I approached the container, sighing when I saw that he hadn't tried to run away (if that was even the right term for him). Somehow he'd found a way to completely submerge himself in the water. His tail was slightly bent by the hips and where his knees would've been at, and his upper body was hunched inwards. It was just barely enough to fit him in. My eyes glanced upwards at the pool a few meters away. I had a crazy idea.

Three hours later was when I processed that I'd actually gone through with it.

The pool was completely clean and filled with water. Since I'd been skeptical about the idea of having chlorine in it, I'd filled it directly with cold water from the hose. I hadn't used the pool in a while, so there had been a lot to clean up, but once I'd started I had focused only on cleaning, my thoughts shutting down as I acted on instinct. In no time, it looked as if the pool had been clean and ready to use for weeks, not abandoned for months.

I stepped back once I finished and took a deep breath, deciding not to think about why I'd just cleaned and filled up a pool for an annoying cross between a fish and man that obviously didn't want to be here. When I turned around, I saw fish-boy, part of his head peeking out over the top of the container. I had no idea how long he'd been watching me. He was giving me a strange look, and his eyes were practically sparkling. Then I realized he was just looking at the pool.

"I'm going to have to clean up that wound before you can dive in," I told him, walking over to him. His eyes became dull as he looked over at me, still giving me that plain, slightly annoyed stare. "Can you stop looking at me like that?"

"Free."

"Forget I even said anything."

Without warning, I reached into the container and grabbed the end of his tail, bringing it above the water. His hands went to the sides of the container for support, and he glared slightly, trying to move out of my grasp; however, his glare faltered once I lifted his tail more and looked at the gash on the underside of it.

"I'm going to get bandages. I'll get someone to come tomorrow and put stitches, so this is all I can do for now," I muttered, setting his tail in the water again before momentarily going into the house and grabbing some gauze I had. I didn't have much experience with first aid, but I'd have to do whatever I could for now. Tomorrow, hopefully, Rei would be able to come over and fix the injury properly.

"…." Fish-boy stared at me as I came back out into the backyard and over to the ledge of the pool, setting down the gauze, then walked over to him and extended an arm.

"Grab on."

"…"

I sighed, reaching into the water and taking hold of him, lifting him out of the water and using both arms to hoist him over my shoulder. It looked like he had gotten the gist of what was going on, since he felt less stiff and slightly more compliant. Making my way over to the ledge, I set him down and sat down.

"Turn onto your stomach," I told him, glancing over at him. His stare was less intense, as if he was uncertain if I was going to help him or wrap his body up in the gauze and call him a mummy. After a few seconds, he supported himself on his arms and upper body, rolling over and settling down. His brows were furrowed and he squirmed a bit. Luckily the ledge of the pool had been covered and the heat hadn't made it too hot for him to handle.

"Don't struggle," I told him, shifting to sit close enough to settle his tail in my lap, sighing a bit as I felt my lap getting moist from the water still dripping from it. 'I should've dried him off a bit first…' I heard him huff a bit before putting his head down in his arms, turning his head to the side to stare at the water with that expression again. It was kind of creepy.

Nevertheless, I started, unwrapping some of the gauze. His tail twitched a bit as I pressed the cloth to the wound and his shoulders tensed, but he eventually relaxed a bit. It wasn't bleeding as much as when I'd first seen it, which made my job a bit easier. I lifted one of my legs a bit higher as I started wrapping the gauze around the wound, switching hands as the fabric wound around his tail. It took a few minutes, but I managed to cover the cut and tie it securely. Hopefully it would be tight enough to last him in the water until tomorrow.

"I'm done," I told him, turning to look at him. When he didn't answer, I leaned forward slightly, craning my head to look at his face. He should've been staring at the water, but his eyes were closed, displaying what I thought was pretty long eyelashes for a guy. I hadn't really noticed before, but there were also scales on the sides of his face; it was fainter than the ones on his shoulders and arms. His mouth was slightly open as he breathed through it in small puffs, and his chest moved slightly with every breath he took. It was a change of pace to see an expression on his face that actually seemed peaceful.

Part of me wanted to push him into the pool to mess with him, but I decided against that.

"Hey," I muttered, setting his tail off my lap. He stirred slightly. "I'm done."

"…" His eyes opened slightly, then turned to look at me. He was silent for a few moments before exhaling and sitting up, looking at his bandaged tail. His eyebrows furrowed; it was obvious he didn't like the feeling, but I wasn't going to let him try to take off the cloth. I sighed, looking down at the damp spot in front of my pants. 'I'd better change them before Sousuke decides to make a random visit and makes a joke out of it.'

"Get in the water," I said, looking up.

He was already at the bottom of the pool.

"You're welcome," I muttered, looking at him in slight disbelief. I was already starting to get used to his bluntness, unfortunately.

Half an hour later, I was freshly showered, wearing sweatpants and a random t-shirt I'd gotten from a random drawer, cooking dinner while calling Rei. Because I didn't know what fish-boy actually ate, I had decided to go for the leftover mackerel in the fridge. Giving him seafood was probably the safest option, and I figured that cooking it would probably make him a little less annoyed around me instead of giving him a piece of cooked and refrigerated fish. I sighed slightly when Rei didn't answer and decided to leave a message.

"It's Rin. I, uh, found something interesting and got injured. I need you to come over tomorrow and stitch me up. I also wanna show you what I found. I'll be waiting." Rei would probably come over and immediately correct me, saying he was a scientist, not a doctor, but he had the most medical experience, making him the one I could trust for something like this.

'Next…' Sousuke was probably thinking that I'd been kidnapped by the fishermen or something, so I dialed him after leaving the message to Rei. He picked up almost immediately.

"Rin?"

"Yeah, I'm alive."

"That's not what I'm worried about. The guy in charge of our department is asking where you are."

"…Taking care of an inmate."

"Huh?! Rin, what'd you find?"

"It's kinda hard to explain. I'd rather not talk about it over the phone. Also, I'm at home. Mind if I take the rest of the day off?"

"It's already pretty late," I heard Sousuke sigh, then go silent for a moment as I heard who I assumed was the person in charge talking to him. I couldn't tell what it was, but he sounded annoyed. A few moments later, Sousuke came back to the phone. "Yeah, it's fine. Not like anything's going to happen."

"Thanks, Sousuke."

"Yeah, yeah," I heard a click, then silence. He was usually the one to end calls, so him hanging up like that wasn't really offensive to me.

Turning off the stove, I got two plates and served out the mackerel, then took one plate and sat down at the small table in the same room. I ate my share first along with rice and steamed vegetables, then took the other plate and went outside.

"Oi," I called out. He was still swimming around near the bottom of the pool. "I made you food, so you'd better eat it. It's mackerel. You eat fish, right?" I was glad none of the neighbors were out, or they'd think that I was talking to my pool rather than what was in it. I crouched near the ledge, setting the plate down and waiting for a few moments. He looked pretty immersed in swimming. Luckily, it looked like the bandages would be able to last until tomorrow.

He finally emerged from the water, only his eyes and part of his nose showing above the water. 'Is he an alligator now?' I sighed.

"I don't know what you eat, and if I ask you you'll probably just say 'free', so I just made you this."

He swam closer to the ledge, more of his body emerging until his shoulders were above the water. He was staring at the plate with mild interest, a look I hadn't seen on him yet. He finally came up out of the water to the waist, arms resting on the ledge to support himself. Drops of water fell from his hair and face, some of it going onto the plate. He seemed like he was entranced with the smell of the fish, of all things.

"Here," I said, handing him a fork. I wasn't completely sure if he even knew how to use it. He stared at the fork for a bit before tentatively using it on the mackerel, managing to break off a piece and stick it on the end of the fork. It took him an exceptionally long time to turn it around and bring up the food to his lips, then put the piece of fish into his mouth without dropping the piece on the way. He set the fork down once he started chewing, staring down at the plate until he swallowed. Even after he finished, he was slow to respond.

"…You might want to eat mo—"

I didn't have time to finish. In no time at all, he got used to using a fork and finished up the mackerel in less than a minute. I stared at him in disbelief as he set his fork down and stared at me.

"…That good?"

"Free."

I scoffed, running a hand through my hair. "Of course." His brows furrowed slightly as he stared at me, making me slightly uncomfortable. 'What is he trying to do?' After a while, he actually managed to say something besides free.

"Mo…re."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?" I couldn't have heard that right. The first word he said besides "free" couldn't possibly be…

He looked at me with a blank expression, nodding. "More."

He pushed the empty plate towards me. He was expecting me to go make him more mackerel.

'I'm not going to be able to last a day with this guy.'

Ok, so I know that I haven't updated or uploaded anything in a while ._. and I also know that I said I was updating Face the Facts soon, and I'm not lying, I will be updating in the next week or so. However, I got this idea about two weeks ago and had to write about it x_x so I'll be writing this as well along with Face the Facts. I hope to update both of them a few times before school starts again and I have to deal with being a sophomore. If you're one of my followers that are looking at this out of curiosity and haven't watched Free! I recommend that you do since I really enjoyed the series ^-^ please enjoy and leave helpful reviews!