Chapter 87

"I am imitating it like this."

Aria continued in a clear, not-yet-mature voice unique to a child.

"Why do you not even imitate it?"

"Am I not Jio because my hair is black?"

"Well..."

Aria took in the person before her.

Not the golden priestly robes that symbolized the sun, nor the white cape that represented the priests of light, but a person wearing a black cloak.

A man with pitch-black hair, unlike the figure she remembered, and a gloomy face without the slightest hint of a smile.

A chilling presence that could not be called human.

"..."

Even so, she could not say he was not "Giovanni."

"... I still don't quite understand."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Is this what they call reincarnation?"

How strange.

"It is not as if I have never seen such cases at all, but this seems different in kind. It does not seem to be simply a matter of receiving divinity from the Sun God and being deified, either."

How should she explain the Jio standing before her now?

"I heard the people of Earth call you Black Cloak when they see you."

"I was given that name."

"Can that be called your current identity?"

"It is only one of my names."

"Yes, Giovanni."

The young mermaid moved her bare feet and approached him.

"Were you... originally a portrait?"

"I am human."

"..."

Only after a long while did Aria answer.

"... That may be so."

Even Aria, with all her vast knowledge, could not properly define the Black Cloak before her eyes. He simply looked like a painting, felt like a god, and at times seemed truly human.

"What brought you to this village?"

"I came to dig for clams."

"Well, yes, you always did love food so much, so I understand."

"I also remember that you liked my cooking, Aria."

"Then will you invite me to your feast?"

"If you help me dig for clams."

"... You really are a frivolous human, as always..."

Aria dragged around a white coat far too large for her as she wandered over the mudflat. The coat, which had been magically treated, did not get dirty easily.

"I will help."

"Thank you."

They had often spent time like this in the past as well.

"It reminds me of the old days."

"What kind of memories?"

"Just this and that... trivial things."

Giovanni used to bring the mermaids who were curious about humans to places like this. Or to beaches packed with fishermen, bustling markets full of people trying to buy things, and even banks where money could be deposited.

As her bare feet stirred through it, the white mudflat, unlike those of Earth, slowly turned over.

"What are you going to make?"

"I am thinking of making grilled clams and Edlen stew."

"You're making something delicious. Are you thinking of putting clams in the stew too?"

"That would be good. I have meat, so I could put that in as well."

"Hmm..."

Jio was an excellent cook.

"Come to think of it, you must have been a noble, so why did you enjoy cooking so much?"

"You never asked me when you were young. What changed your mind?"

"Back then, I thought that was the wise thing to do. Human lives are too short and complicated, so I thought if I carelessly poked and asked, blood might come out."

"And now?"

"Now I know you are not someone who would bleed if I poked you."

"That is true."

Jio, with his pitch-black eyes, approached and folded Aria's sleeves for her. The coat, made to fit an adult man, had to be folded up several large times before her hands were finally visible. They were small, delicate child's hands.

"The reason I enjoyed cooking despite being a noble was simply that I wanted to eat something delicious."

"As expected, it isn't a grand reason. But you could have someone else make delicious things for you as much as you wanted."

"I wanted to see for myself what ingredients went in, how they were used, and what kind of dish came out."

When Jio lightly sent Honey flying from his shoulder, Honey flew up to just beneath the ceiling of the cavern and brightly illuminated the underground. The mudflat, already white to begin with, became so vivid it was almost dazzling.

"I wanted to improve myself further."

"That is an answer like you."

"Where is Iser?"

"He is hiding in the temple."

"Why did he not come with you?"

"Someone needs to guard the house."

"Who would rob that ominous house..."

"Black Cloak, for example."

"..."

Jio felt a little wronged. Raising one eyebrow, he asked,

"Am I frightening, Aria?"

"How could you not be?"

"Why?"

"You are black and gloomy, and even intimidating."

"I have never been intimidating."

"You are now."

"I really do feel wronged."

"Well, on top of that..."

Aria looked up at him in her smaller body and said,

"... I did not know what face to make when I saw you, so I could not easily come to see you."

"That is true. As soon as we met, we started with a fight."

There had been no time to feel the emotion of reunion or anything of the sort.

"If I were to express it from my perspective, it felt similar to children I raised like my own nieces and nephews when they were young going abroad for a few years, then coming back after not only committing mass slaughter at home, but even kidnapping a child."

"If you put it that way, from my perspective, it is similar to a beloved teacher I thought was dead reincarnating as a pitch-black lump of a monster that is not even human. On top of that, you even possess the divinity of that annoying Sun God, so I wondered if someone was trying to piss us off."

At those words, Jio nodded.

"It seems I was more shocking after all."

"I missed that shamelessness of yours."

The mermaid chuckled.

"Are you not angry?"

"Should I be angry?"

"At the very least, what we have done all this time was not something that would suit your heart, Giovanni."

"I do not believe I need to take responsibility and get angry over the changes of children I raised after I had already died."

"That is quite cold..."

"I already vented all the anger that was mine at that banquet hall."

With pitch-black hair and numb eyes, Jio continued.

"The rest is neither the duty nor the right of Giovanni, who died long ago, to question."

"..."

After a moment, the mermaid said,

"Then that is enough."

Aria, too, no longer needed to know more.

"You said we have a great deal of time."

"Exactly."

Above all, Jio was not the type to think too deeply. He was not someone who would be frightened just because the mermaid students he cherished had grown into mad mermaids.

"And thinking too much with food before your eyes is a bad habit."

"Isn't that more likely because you are strange, Jio? Why do you like food so much?"

"Why do you dislike food so much?"

"You cannot live only to eat."

"But you cannot live without eating, either."

"... Yes, as long as you are happy, that is enough."

"You give up more easily than I expected."

That was unexpected.

"In the past, you used to try so stubbornly to win."

"Because I am an adult now."

"Despite that, I believe you cried at the dinner table."

"... You do remember who made me cry, don't you?"

"You do remember who made me angry, don't you?"

"... Oh..."

"I won again this time."

"... You really do have a shameless side..."

"That is my charm."

Jio looked at the mermaid, who had become so small he had to bend down quite far to meet her eyes.

"Can you dig for clams with that body?"

"I came digging for them often even when my body was this small, so what are you saying now?"

"I was asking whether you feel any discomfort from your body becoming young."

"A transformation of that degree is easy now."

"Hmm."

A moment later, he asked,

"That coat is mine after all, isn't it?"

"..."

The mermaid soon answered.

"This doctor's coat?"

"Yes."

"That is right. It is mine now."

"I was planning to pass it down to you anyway, so it is fine."

"..."

After quite a long time, the mermaid asked in a deliberately calm tone,

"You were?"

"Did you think you had stolen it?"

"..."

"Seeing as you have no answer, you did."

She really had. Aria could not deny Jio's words.

"I never thought you meant to pass it down to me."

"I intended to pass the doctor's coat to you, Aria, and my priestly robes to Iser."

"Unfortunately, your priestly robes were torn. By those bastards from Sun Cult."

"I thought that would be the case. Fortunately, the doctor's coat went to its owner."

"This is truly unexpected."

Aria kept smiling.

"Because we mermaids ruined the life you had as a human."

"All the tragedies of that time were closer to something humans ruined by themselves."

Giovanni could have chosen not to help the mermaids as much as he wanted. Humans could have had a huge emotional fight with the mermaids without any right answer. This world, at one time, could have been one where humans and mermaids lived together.

"Aria, you never took anything of mine."

"I wonder if that is true."

"It is only something I fully passed on to you."

"You are still kind."

"Did you hope I would not be?"

"Perhaps I did."

"But unfortunately..."

Jio was, in the end, Jio.

"I do not seem to change very easily."

That might have been because he was not the type to think too deeply.

"In that sense, shall we dig for clams again?"

"You have a talent for ruining the mood."

"I need to prepare dinner before it gets too late..."

"Hah."

Even though Jio had folded her sleeves for her, the mermaid grumbled as she fussed with the coat that kept slipping down.

"I thought you came to talk to me, but you were just a total glutton."

"It is good to do both while I am at it."

"You really do just live however things flow. You are Giovanni after all."

"I suppose you still do not know that life is most enjoyable when you live it roughly."

"..."

After a little time, the mermaid asked,

"... Are you happy now?"

The answer was not difficult.

"I always have been."

"... Why?"

"Because I have always done my best."

"..."

"So now, the clams..."

"Oh, come on."

Though she showed a little irritation, Aria faithfully joined the clam expedition.

* * *

"We are back."

"Mrr..."

The teddy bear looked at the four living beings who had returned, each holding an armful basin of clams.

"Mrr?"

"Yes, I caught Aria and Iser too..."

"Mrr."

"I brought them."

Since there had been no word for a long while because of the clam digging, Iser had also wondered what was going on and came to Edlen Village.

And there, he discovered his older sister crouched in a dress, digging for clams. It was the first time Jio learned that an already pale face could turn that white. That was how Iser was forced to participate in the clam excavation squad as well.

With a subtle expression, Iser looked at the Sun God wearing the shell of a teddy bear.

"..."

"Mrrr."

"... You have become much cuter since I last saw you..."

"Mrr mrr."

"Are you laughing?"

Seriously?

'What am I looking at?'

Holding a basin of clams in his arms, Iser was already feeling faint.

Seeing none other than Aria digging for clams with mud on her hands had been confusing, and his own situation, in which he had naturally been dragged along, made to dig for clams, and then pulled all the way to the cabin, was confusing as well.

"Why is the Sun God here...? I did feel that the presence of the sun had disappeared, but this is..."

"Still, he is your grandfather, so do not be like that. You should not make it obvious that you are uncomfortable with an elderly gentleman who is quietly behaving himself."

"No, no, ah."

Iser was rendered speechless, but the situation was not much different for his older sister Aria.

"A teddy bear?"

"Mrr."

"Are you serious?"

"Mrr mrr mrr..."

"Are you laughing?"

Through that calm chaos, Honey toddled across the floor and approached the teddy bear. Then it spilled out all kinds of large and small clams in a rush.

"Mrp."

"Mrrr."

"Mrrrr!"

"Mrr mrr..."

The teddy bear laughed like an old man watching his grandchild show off and clapped his fluffy cotton paws together with little pom-pom sounds. When Honey proudly puffed out its chest, Dana, who had been watching, also stood beside it and struck the same pose. The Sun God was very pleased.

"Good little ones."

Jio was pleased too.

"..."

"..."

Jio called to the speechless mermaids.

"We need to go clean the clams, kids."

"... Are you our dad?"

"I am already the father of two children. Any more would be a little."

"Then uncle."

"All right, my dear niece, shall I give you some allowance?"

"Is this fun for you?"

"It is."

"Oh..."

After that watery exclamation, Aria became a stone statue, and Iser readjusted the basket of clams he had nearly dropped without realizing it and turned his gaze to Jio.

"Teacher."

"Yes, go ahead."

"By any chance, do you have a plan to destroy Earth..."

"Why would you suddenly ask such a horrible question?"

"It is just, considering the members here."

"...?"

Jio looked around.

"..."

He could not understand.

"There is only one teddy bear, one bird, and one cat, so what is the problem with this adorable and harmless composition?"

"Ah, so that is how you treat them... I understand."

"I do not think you do."

They were a very noisy family even before they had begun cleaning the clams.