Lulala chuckled at this. “Hee hee! As long as I have a big sister to consult, it will be all right.”
“Yes.” Sapphee smiled.
She truly thought of Lulala as her little sister. But perhaps she was also showing her potential acceptance of a marriage between Lulala and Glenn…even though it would be quite some time before he gave a formal answer.
Good grief, Glenn thought. If Sapphee accepted it, then he’d actually have to reckon with Lulala’s feelings.
“I’m going to continue with the treatment now, Lulala.”
“Oh, yeah. Ahhh!”
Glenn resumed peeling the frayed skin and applying ointment.
“Eee! I-it hurts a little when you peel it!”
“Sorry. I’ll try to be gentler.”
“Ahh, ahn! Ahnmmm!”
One patch at a time, Glenn gently peeled the burnt skin away, like it was the delicate shell of a boiled egg. Lulala might still be a child, but this tender back of hers carried the weight of her entire family.
“Ah, mm, mmm…”
Glenn’s hands reached the nape of her neck, where the burn was especially harsh. The sun probably shone directly on that spot whenever she sang at the fountain.
“Ooh, eee!” Lulala jerked. “Mmm, ahh…”
“Don’t move, Lulala.”
“Umph…” Lulala said. “When I think about you touching me, Doctor, it tickles even more!”
All of the peeling skin had been removed, except for at the nape of her neck.
“Mmm, ahh, oo, ooh!”
“Just hold still a bit longer.”
“Eeh, ahhh!”
This area was especially sensitive, and Lulala couldn’t help but tremble and jerk. She held onto the examination table tightly, her tail twitching.
“Ah!” Glenn said.
“Wh-what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry. Your skin broke off when I was in the middle of peeling it. I’m going to do it one more time.”
“Ahhh, nooo!”
Glenn resumed, even more gently. peeling the skin at Lulala’s nape. Each time, she let out a strange whimper, clearly finding the sensation unpleasant.
“Oooh, a-aren’t you done yet?”
“Yes, I’m done,” Glenn smiled as he looked down at her neck, the skin a different color than it had been a moment ago. “I’m going to apply the medicine now.”
“Mmm, I forgot about that.”
Glenn applied a generous amount of ointment to the nape of her neck.
“Ahhn! I-it’s cold!”
As long as it stayed cool, it was unlikely that Glenn’s hand would damage Lulala’s mucous membrane. Relieved by this, he rubbed the ointment into her skin.
“Mmm, mm! Aaghhh!”
“I’m almost done.”
“Agggh, h-hurry!” Lulala was doing everything she could to stay still, but the bottom half of her body was writhing, splashing water everywhere. If she struck him, Glenn could be seriously hurt.
“Okay, your neck is done.”
“O-okay.”
“Now, last of all…” Glenn glanced over at Sapphee. She nodded, passing him another bottle, filled with white liquid.
“I’m going to apply a waterproof sealant to the places covered in ointment. This way, the medication won’t come off even when you’re in the water.”
“You can do that?” Lulala asked.
“Of course! It doesn’t taint the water flowing through the Waterways, but it does make things a bit cloudy, so I don’t use it often. However, you’ll need it today to protect your mucous membrane.” Glenn began to apply the white, sticky liquid to Lulala’s back.
“Mmm! I-it’s tingly!”
“That’s because you’re sensitive where the skin peeled off. Once your mucous membrane reforms, it won’t bother you anymore. Just be patient.”
“Eee! Aggh, mmm, ahh!” Lulala jerked and writhed. She seemed out of breath, and her gills, which were normally closed on land, started to twitch.
“Mm, mm, mmmm!”
“I’m almost done,” Glenn said, as he used all five fingers to thoroughly rub the sealant in. He finished at the nape of her neck, touching her as gently as a lover.
“Mm! Aggh, aaahhh!” Lulala couldn’t help but cry out.
When he was finally finished with all the treatment, Lulala lay spent on the exam table, completely worn out.
“Oooh, my back is a completely different color than the front. How ugly!” Now that the treatment was over, Lulala’s eyes were filled with tears.
The contrast between the pale skin of her back and the brown skin on the rest of her body really was something.
“You’ll tan again. Don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Lulala replied obediently.
If only Illy and Plum had such an attitude, they probably wouldn’t fight. Sure, they were both straightforward and honest when talking to Glenn, but evidently, that wasn’t how they acted around other women their own age.
“Doctor…lately it’s been hot even in the water. I’m not sure what to do about it.”
“Hot…inside the water?” Glenn tilted his head.
Lindworm’s Waterways originated in the mountains, where snow melted to form clear, contaminant-free water that maintained its cool temperature even in midsummer. If the water truly was warm, then that meant the heat wave was off the charts.
Glenn didn’t know much about weather, but he’d heard that when the temperature of the ocean increased, it meant the weather was abnormal for that year. If a river got hot, wouldn’t that make the ocean it fed into hot, too?
That reminds me…wasn’t there some sort of connection between mermaids and weather?
Sapphee tapped Glenn on the shoulder, rousing him from his thoughts.
“Doctor.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. What is it?”
“I’m going to report to the council that Lulala can’t be ambassador. But…that will mean that the ambassador will either be Illy or Plum, right?” Sapphee said as she stroked the scales at the corner of her eye.
“Wait, I thought Memé was a candidate.”
“She was,” Sapphee said. “However, she dropped out. Hopefully this won’t spark a new feud between Illy and Plum.”
That sounded just like Memé.
“Those two really don’t get along, do they?” Glenn said.
“Would it be better if I just…push through and go?” Lulala asked, looking worried.
She probably thought that they could avoid conflict if she just became the ambassador.
“No, it wouldn’t,” Glenn said. “First of all, as a doctor, I really can’t recommend that you make the journey. But even if you did take on the role of ambassador, it wouldn’t address the root of the problem.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Maybe it’s not my place to say, but I think you should be there for both of them as a friend.”
“Leave it to me.” Lulala smiled and winked.
She’d always been a bubbly girl, loved by everyone. But now that she was a popular singer, her smile seemed more infectious somehow. Bright, like the sun.
“The little ones at home are always fighting, too. It’s really annoying.” Lulala giggled. “I might not look it, but I’m the older sister.”
Just then, a voice echoed from deep within the Waterways.
“Hey! Sister! Aren’t you done yet?”
“Oh, Syd!” Lulala called back.
The voice belonged to Lulala’s younger brother, who poked his face out of the water, looking so much like Lulala that anyone would have been able to tell they were siblings. More mermaids appeared, popping their heads out in turn.
“Wow, this is the clinic?”
“Hello, Dr. Glenn.”
“H-hi…”
Lulala’s younger siblings peered around nosily.
“You’re all here!” Glenn greeted them. “What’s the occasion?”
The tiniest—Sorau, the baby of the family—had been examined in the past, with her mother. But this was Glenn’s first time meeting the others.
“We’re here to pick up our sister!”
“She was taking so long, we got worried.”
“Sister, we’re hungry!”
“Yeah…”
“I see.” Glenn smiled.
As a newly independent doctor without a benefactor, Glenn had no idea what sort of requests he would receive and when. He needed to learn more about the residents of the city he’d never met before, or he wouldn’t be able to do his job.
“I’m Glenn. Nice to meet all of you. If you ever feel bad, come see me here in the clinic.”
“Okay!” they all said in unison.
Lulala, as their caregiver, had probably taught them to respond this way.
“Hey, Doctor…”
“Hmm?”
A young mermaid who looked to be the oldest after Lulala peered up at him with wide eyes. “When you marry our sister, will that make you our older brother?”
“Huh?!”
Before Glenn could respond, Lulala rounded on her sibling. “What on earth are you saying, Remi? You know good and well that there’s no way a doctor with such a magnificent clinic would marry me!”
“But Syd says you’re always saying it.”
“Yes…I am.”
“When are you going to get married?” the kids all asked.
Glenn was still deciding how to respond when Lulala said, red in the face, “Okay, okay! Time for everyone to go home! Mother will be worried!” Lulala scooped up Sorau.
The other children looked like they still wanted to say something.
“What? Why are you so mad?”
“Don’t say things like that! You’re going to make the doctor feel bad!” Lulala pulled the children along and hurried away, blushing. “Bye, Doctor! I’ll be back again!”
“Be careful! It’s still very hot out!” Glenn called after them.
Lulala held up her hand to indicate that she’d heard him.
“Phew!”
“Good job, Doctor. Those kids sure are excitable.” Sapphee chuckled.
“Yes, good work, Sapphee.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“That’s not true. You acted very maturely in front of Lulala.”
“Er…” Sapphee’s face turned red.
If it had been Tisalia or Arahnia, she might have snapped at them as usual, but with Lulala, she acted like a kind adult.
“W-well, Lulala is like a sister to me,” she replied. “I want her to get along well with you.”
She’d said this to him before. However, now that their relationship had shifted, her words took on a different meaning.
“Yes, I know,” he assured her. “I’ll work hard for us.”
“Oh, now I’m embarrassed. We need to hurry up and hold the ceremony or you’ll end up with a mountain of new fiancées! I need to keep them all in check!”
“Well…don’t push yourself too hard.”
“I won’t. Taking care of myself is part of my job! That’s why I need you to work hard at your job, Doctor.”
Perhaps it was the heat, but Sapphee was acting even more assertive than usual.
Glenn, on the other hand…
The water temperature is rising.
Legend had it that mermaids could predict storms, and in some myths, that their singing even attracted storms. There were also stories that on this continent, storms moved north from the sea when the water temperature rose.
Mermaids are sensitive to such fluctuations. That’s why they can sense storms earlier than other species.
Glenn knew this was nothing but a baseless hypothesis. But he still needed to prepare. This abnormal weather might lead to something worse. He had a bad feeling about all of it.
“Doctor? What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking that it feels like there’s a storm brewing.”
“Like Plum and Illy’s fight?”
“No, no. A real storm. Let’s get the broken window shutters fixed.”
“What?”
Glenn laughed. Then he decided to prepare his heart, just in case any other storms might be brewing.