The first month Ponyo barely slept. She'd toss and turn, kick off the blankets, then yank them back on. She'd use the bathroom, go to the kitchen for a glass of water, stare at the ceiling and count sea stars until she ran out of numbers.

In the early morning, when she could stand it no longer, she'd ease open the door and slip down to the water's edge.

The water was a cold shock to her bare feet. Had it always been icy in the morning? She remembered it warm.

But then again, that was before she had toes to feel it.

Kindergarten is a strange place. Her teacher (who doesn't even know the name of the pet turtle; Cuora flavomarginata evelynae) scolds her when she answers too many questions in class.

"Let others have a turn, Ponyo," she says, and calls on Kumiko instead. She slumps in her seat as Kumiko smugly provides the answer.

"Kumiko is a dumb Anguilla japonica," she grumbles.

For Show-and-Tell, she brings in her family portrait.

"This is my dad," she announces, pointing to a blue blob with red hair. "He cleans up the ocean with his magic. And this is my mom," she moves her finger to similar-looking blob, only three times bigger. "She travels a lot."

"What are all those red dots?" Kumiko asks.

"My sisters," Ponyo points to a cloud of them proudly. "I had to make them small so they would fit on the paper."

"How many sisters do you have, Ponyo?"

"Two hundred and seventeen," she answers the teacher. "I'm the oldest."

"You don't have two hundred and seventeen sisters!" Kumiko retorts.

"I do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Alright Ponyo, thank you for sharing. Sit down now."

Sasuke smiles sympathetically at her as she passes him on her way to her desk.

"It's a good picture, Ponyo."

She nods her thanks and carefully folds it back up, then kisses her sisters when no one's looking.

"What story do you guys want to hear tonight?"

Saskue kicks his legs up and down, making the blanket roll like the sea during a storm.

"I want 'The Rabbit in the Moon'!"

Lisa laughs. "I told that one last night! How about we let Ponyo choose this time?"

From her nest of pillows and blankets on the floor (Lisa had offered to buy another bed, but this felt more like sleeping among the coral from her old life), Ponyo considered her favorite stories.

"Do you know 'The Octopus Who Lost His Legs'?"

"Hmm, I've never heard of that one."

"Or 'The Oyster's Green Pearl?'"

Lisa shakes her head.

"What about 'The Five Whales'?"

But before Lisa can reply, Ponyo bursts into tears.

"Hey, hey!" Lisa goes to the rescue, holding and rocking her. Sasuke jumps out of bed and lands in the nest. "What's the matter?"

She clings to Lisa tightly, tears making spots on her shirt.

"Daddy used to tell me that story."

(Used to wave his fingers at the part when the whales make the waves. Used to drop to a whisper by the end of the tale, when half her sisters were droopy-eyed and the other half already asleep. Used to trip on something while trying to tiptoe away and wake them all up, while she giggled at his voice growling at his sore foot.)

Lisa ruffles her hair.

"Why don't you tell us your favorite story. I'll listen very carefully, so the next time you want to hear I'll know how it goes. How does that sound?"

She nods, and shifts in Lisa's lap. Sasuke, who hasn't said a word, takes her hand.

"Mommy told us this one all the time. It's called, 'The Fisherman and the Koi-maid'."

"Sounds like a good one!" Lisa smiles at her. "What kind of story is it?"

"A love story."

Sasuke sticks out his tongue. Lisa glares at him, and he quickly pulls it back in.

"One day long ago, a poor fisherman cast his nets out at sea. He had bad luck that day, and didn't catch many fish. As he was about to give up and go back to the docks, he noticed a red koi caught in his net…"

Slowly, her tears run dry. Lisa and Sasuke listen as she tells of how the red koi transforms into a beautiful girl when the fisherman releases it, and grants him a wish for helping her, if only he promises to stop killing her fish. The fisherman wishes to control magic like the koi-maid, and Sasuke's eyes go wide as she explains how he practiced his power, but was still poor and earned nothing. Lisa's face shows her concentrated listening as the fisherman goes back to sea, only to find the koi-maid angry at him for breaking his promise.

(As she speaks, the nest of blankets and pillows turns to soft seaweed and sand, and Lisa's warm arms are her mother's giant palms. When Sasuke gasps she multiplies it by the hundreds for each of her sisters. And while the fisherman of the story is cursed by the koi-maid, forbidden to step on dry land again and to use his magic to restore each fish he took from the sea, she pictures her father, who always stood at a distance on his ship, looking at the stars. Eventually the koi-maid falls in love with the fisherman, and her eyelids feel heavy and half her sisters are already asleep.)

"And they lived happily ever after."

Ponyo doesn't have trouble sleeping that night.

The next morning she awakens to the screeches of Larus canus and Sasuke's hand still in hers.

Over the cliff, the ocean is painted gold by the sunrise, and for a split second she sees the waves turn to fish that swim circles around a small boat on the horizon.

She wiggles her warm toes and smiles.