Summary
Rie laments being unable to go on a vacation like her friends one warm summers day. She asks if they can go on a trip after turning off the television, but her mother criticizes the very idea and brings up feeding Johnny and their other fish. Rie couldn't care less though, earning her a scolding as her mom points out having the fish since she was little. She prepares to leave for work and reminds Rie to feed the fish, only to warn her for relying on the air conditioning too much.
As she approaches the fish tank Rie complains over her mothers bossiness and carelessly pours food into the tank. She thinks the fish have an easy life when she suddenly recalls the project she has to finish. She doesn't feel like doing any work though, so she decides to work on the drawing for it and scoops out one of the fish from the tank to observe it. But as she tries putting it into the tank, her hand slips and it falls to the floor. Unaware of how life threatening this is for the fish, Rie curiously watches as it flails around and pokes it- only for the television to announce that her favorite program Saint Screaming Academy will be starting soon. She leaves the fish there, forgetting to put it back.
By the time the program ends, Rie is distraught when she suddenly remembers the fish on the floor and approaches to find it long dead. Her mother arrives home just then and quickly she tosses the small corpse into the trash bin. Her mother comes in to check on her and ask about the fish but Rie is too shaken to respond as they prepare for dinner- where she finds the dead eyes of a salmon staring up at her. She can't bring herself to eat, causing her mother to ask if she's feeling alright, and Rie wonders if she is imagining the fish looking at her after she claims she is fine.
That evening after everyone has gone to bed, the "deceased fish" begins to crawl out from the trash bin. It slips all the way to Rie's bedroom, where it appears on her bed with several of their other fish. They surround Rie and she awakens in a cold sweat to find her mother chewing her out for leaving the light on while she slept.
Later that morning, Rie's mother continues to complain about her carelessness but Rie tries to justify herself by saying it was too hot. She wonders if this was the cause of her dream and she looks towards the trash to find it's been disposed of. Her mom brings up emptying it the prior evening, then asks Rie why she is so concerned over it. Rie claims it was nothing, relieved to know she only dreamed the events from yesterday. But when her mother puts down a plate of food, Rie is startled noticing a row of scales on her arm and she asks her mom if she is okay. When her mother doesn't notice it, her father asks Rie if she is feeling okay as well, and Rie sees his webbed hand!
Frightened, Rie gets up and rushes to the bathroom in order to wash her face to try to calm down. As she dries off, she wonders if something is wrong with her and to her horror she realizes she has scales on her arms and cheeks!
In a panic Rie hurriedly rubs her skin but they won't go away. She recalls the fish she accidentally killed and runs back into the kitchen to dig through the trash in hopes of finding the fish. She is sure if she gave it a proper burial it may forgive her, but as this is going on her parents join her. Rie turns to look at them and she is horrified to discover they are now covered in scales and have large, glassy fish eyes. Staring at them, she begins to sob and blames herself for what happened, then she runs back towards the fish tank and collapses. She asks the fish to change her parents back to normal, even if something will happen to her.
Suddenly, Rie is shaken awake and she looks to see her parents are fine. She overlooks herself for any sign of scales or webbing as her mother apologizes and explains that she should have spoken to her, unaware of how upset she became. She reveals that she found the dead fish and knew Rie was the cause of it -revealing a small grave dug for it nearby- but she decided to wait for Rie to say something.
Overcome with relief, Rie cries again and she realizes it was the guilt over what she did that caused this ordeal. Having learned her lesson, she promises to treat the fish better from now on and her parents express confusion over her sudden change of heart. It's then her dad prepares to go to work and her and her mother head off to help, incidentally leaving the news program on.
The man on it explains that because of the planet having become flooded, it was decided that everyone will get surgery for gills when they turn ten in order to breath if overcome by water.
As the family finishes preparing, it is shown that Rie's parents have had the procedure done; with visible gills on their necks.
Tropes:
- Green Aesop: It's not the main Aesop but it is present.
- The Cameo: The program Rie likes Saint Screaming Academy, which features a girl who resembles Yomi.
- Transformation Horror: Rie is convinced that her parents are turning into fish-human creatures, but after realizing she imagined it, she fails to notice the fish-gills on their necks...
- It's then adverted when it turns out to be a medical procedure, rather than natural transformation.
- Might have also happened to Rie. In the credits page of this chapter, an eaten fish with her pigtails appears.
