The Flu Mystery

The day starts quite early at my house. Since my grandfather works supervising rookie police detectives, he likes to go to work early to review the previous day's work and see what mistakes his trainees have made. I get up earlier than him to prepare breakfast for him because although my grandfather is a very independent man, it is also true that he is not very good at housework, so I promised him that I would take care of it. After finishing breakfast my grandfather takes me in the car to the entrance of the school.

At first, it was no big deal, since my grandfather is a pretty important person so you could say that I would come to be an Ojou-sama, the girl of a prestigious important family, so it was normal for me to come this way. But since my mother died my grandfather has taken my safety much more seriously, to the point that I've even seen him make sure he has his gun loaded before getting into the car. To make matters worse, earlier this year his biggest fear happened when some masked guys kidnapped Adelis, my grandfather's friend, and me on my way to karaoke with Yukiko. I don't remember much about what happened next, I think I fainted and woke up in a hospital with my grandfather by my side, he told me that the Adelis guards managed to rescue me without any problems. Since that day I am not allowed to move around much without being accompanied by someone. Normally it is my grandfather or some policeman under his command, but for some reason, he also sees it as valid for me to be with Elise and her girlfriend because apparently they are "adopted" by Adelis and quite reliable.

Once I left the car, the doors of my school, Amari High School, were waiting for me. It is one of the most important private schools in the country, here come the children of a lot of important people, so many parents send their children to make friends with those who will probably be important people in the future. The classes are mostly conducted by the best professors in their fields, even the nurse is a renowned professional doctor so after class, she has to go to the hospital to continue attending to people. Most of the people who come here are quite professional, including the students, because they also take very seriously the classes, exams, and the status of their families, resulting in a very competitive environment, everyone wants to be number one among their peers, a very tiring environment. Everyone except for Elise and her girlfriend Tamamo, the two of them always seems to take everything very lightly with everything that happens in class, as if it doesn't matter, for the most part, they don't get stressed by the homework they leave us, and when they get a regular grade they don't seem to get depressed by their setback, once I even saw Elise rejoice when she got a 75 on a test, the minimum to approve. Tamamo on the other hand I have no idea how she does it but she gets perfect grades even though she never seems to be paying attention in class, she is almost always doing something else, even making flower arrangements during class, but her grades are so good that the other teachers let it pass. Being with them is a lot more fun than being with the rest of the class who just hang around talking about their parents and the latest thing they bought. Especially compared to the girls, who are almost always talking about boys or makeup. Instead, Elise and Tamamo spend time talking about their adventures, about how last week they went to Costa Rica and went to the beach, or how they were in New York the day of the attack, they are somewhat similar to some of the stories my grandfather tells me.

But being with her has also caused some friction with the rest of my classmates. Yukiko, a friend I've known since pre-school even got mad at me because I'm not fighting with Elise unlike the rest of the girls in the class. It seems like a lot of them have differences with them because of how she dresses or acts, but if they would just get over what they have to go through maybe they would understand how hard these girls have had it in their lives. Not everyone has had the opportunity to be born into a golden bed like most in the room. Of all the class, who Elise has the worst confrontations with Kyouko, because curiously although they both seem to like girls, they can't stand to be near each other, the only time I've seen Elise angry was fighting with her when even Tamamo had to intervene. But The fact that Tamamo and Elise have come so far is really admirable, but few give the opportunity to get to know that side of them. My grandfather doesn't think much of it either, since he seems to know enough about the two of them to know that the others are the ones who are wrong.

The course of the day seemed to follow the usual rhythm. Even the two girls mentioned before were late as usual, but today there was something different about one of them. The white girl had a medical mask, also you could see in her look that she was quite tired, besides the cold she had, because the coat she almost always wears around her waist was on and buttoned today, when she had not done that even when it was still almost winter. I asked her what happened to which she replied that she had caught a cold after falling into a giant fish tank the day before, but how did that happen in the first place? What was she doing?

During the course of the class, I could see how Elise made efforts to continue in the day. It was really amazing to see the tenacity that the girl possessed, for coming to a class where she is bullied daily and with such strong flu to see how even though she was an albino her face turned alarmingly red, or maybe it was normal red but the lack of color made it look more serious than it was. But she still refused to go to the infirmary, and it wasn't until Tamamo, tired of insisting, took her by force when her girlfriend almost fainted in music class. When classes ended I also went to the infirmary to check on her health.

"You know, I find it incredible that a creature like you could get sick from a simple cold"

"Of course, I can get sick, I am more human than fox, and even foxes can get sick." Elise said in a funny voice due to her stuffy nose.

"Speaking of which, you're not going to turn into a fox by any chance now that you're sick"

"Where did you get that idea?"
"Ah, ah, ah"
"ACHUUU!"

Just as she finished speaking, Elise sneezed so hard that her tail lifted up violently, throwing the sheet off the bed. Tamamo quickly picked it up and put it back in place before anyone else noticed.

"Well, it looks like you can't involuntarily transform by catching a cold"

"I'm glad something more dangerous than a fox didn't come out"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, forget it."
"...."
"You know, I really think I'm getting worse."
"I'm sorry but I'd better go home, I don't want to be this bad in this place"

"Sure, of course"
"I hope you get better soon"

"I'm sorry Haru but I'm also going home with Darling, I need to take care of her, especially in the subway"
"I won't be able to go to the club meeting today"

"Sure, no problem"
"I understand perfectly"
"Please take care of her"
"And good luck"

After that, I went to the club room to let Asuka, the other club member, know that today's meeting would be canceled due to a lack of members. Especially since my grandfather will surely come to pick me up early as soon as I told him that Elise left early today.

"Are they really not coming today either?"
"That's a pity, I have only been able to see them once so far"
"I don't think we've had a single real club activity yet"

"Well, we don't really have a lot of ideas of what to do right now ,either"
"Most of the time we spent talking about other things and figuring out how to decorate the room better"
"I was thinking about practicing with that magic trick set"

"You know, just out of curiosity"
"Do you really know Tamamo and the other girl?"

"Of course, I know them!"
"They are my friends after all!"

"Sorry, I think I asked the wrong question, let me rephrase it"
"How long have you known Tamamo?"
"She is one of your childhood friends, isn't she?"

"Well, I haven't really known them that long."
"I met them at the beginning of this year when they came to our class."
"...."
"But my grandfather has known their mother for a long time, so it's not like we're complete strangers either"
"You could say that it was only until now that I had the opportunity to talk to them with what should have been my group of friends from the beginning"
"Or something like that"

"...."
"So you've only known them for a short time"
"..."
"Did your grandfather really never even take you to her birthday party?"
"How old is Tamamo?"

"Oh no."
"That would have been really difficult though."
"They are not from Japan, they come from America, in truth is surprising how well they speak Japanese"
"...."
"Although now that I think about it I think I heard that Tamamo was from Kyoto before going to America"

"So they are foreigners?"
"How did your grandfather meet her mother then?"
"Isn't your grandfather the chief of police or something similar?"

"Well yes, but it was only recently that he became a police officer again"
"He spent a lot of  time working in the foreign ministry if I remember correctly"
"He spent a lot of time traveling abroad."
"It was only now that he is taking care of me that he finally decided to stay in one place"

"Interesting"
"So your grandfather was not only a policeman and Tamamo claims to have a mother"

"Well, something like that"
"She's currently living in the same house as Elise, her girlfriend, it's kind of complicated relationship."
"!!!!"
"Speaking of my grandfather, he's calling me, I have to answer him!"
"See you later Asuka!"

"Okay, see you later"

My grandfather's call was to tell me that something had happened at work, another strange case , so it will come out quite late again. Since I told him about Elise's condition he wanted me to go to the White Moon cafeteria and stay there until he came to pick me up, so I gathered my things and was on my way.

It had been a while since I had been to Adelis' coffee shop. I knew they were remodeling it quite a bit lately from what Elise was telling me, so I was anxious to see what it looked like now. And I was quite surprised, the walls now had many more decorations, several swords, and spears, there were also several leather bags ,armor parts quite dented and leather clothes is being exhibited on a wall in the background, I think that by the shape it is clear that Elise was the model for the suit, which was a strange choice really, especially knowing that Tamamo and Lisa were available, they have a more standard body. Also, the place had been arranged better for people in wheelchairs, as there was much more space near the counter and some of the tables, which in fact an elderly lady was using one of them right now. There were also more plants now, as there are even pots on the ceiling, they are beautifully decorated and real, I have no idea how they keep them all looked after too, as it looks like quite a lot of work. Finally, I managed to see what had been the most radical change in the place so far, because at the bottom there was now a giant aquarium from which a rock came out from the ground to the surface of the water, now I understood where Elise caught a cold. Inside was a huge girl, she was dressed as a mermaid and was playing with a boy making funny faces underwater. Her performance was really convincing, as even the movements of her tail seemed to carry the weight that her size would suggest.  With her, the new arrangements, and the new food, it was certainly now as close to another world as you can get.  

"Just go and die already!"
"Get out! You fucking maggot!"

That must have been Lisa, who must have just charged a customer to he can leave. The boy that came out of the door shortly after with a happy face must have been him.

"Oh hello Haru." Said Adelis waving as she attended to someone else.

"!!!!"
"Hi Haru, welcome"
"If you want, go to the back table as usual."
"That one is always reserved for the family"
"Look out for the model warship Darling was building, it's in the box on the table" Said Lisa, attending to me with a smile.

"The one next to the mermaid?"

"Yes, that's right"
"Let us introduce her to you"
"Haru this is Levia"
"She is the new member of our group"
"Levia this is Haru"
"She is the daughter of a good friend of Adelis, she is also in the same class as Elise"
"She is a close friend"

"Hello Haru"
"As you were told my name is Levia"
"I would like to shake your hand but I think you'll have a hard time getting up here" She said as she climbed onto the rock.

"Wow!"
"That's incredible!"
"How are you able to do that?"
"Isn't the costume too uncomfortable on your legs to be swimming for that long all days?"

"...."
"Well it's not that hard..., once you get used to it."
"Ha..., ha.... , ha...."

"???"
"You have the same guilty look on your face that Elise had when I told her about her ears"
"...."
"!!!!"
"Wait, is it possible that you really are a...!"

"Haru!"
"What do you plan to order!" Lisa interrupted me.

"Come on, don't worry."
"She's trustworthy, you can tell her the truth Levia."
"Didn't you want to meet more humans?"
"This is your chance!"

Maria appeared next to us by surprise as well, this time wearing a blonde wig and clearly fake pointed ears.

"And what are you supposed to be?"

"Elf" said disappointed.

"Your costume is pretty bad compared to the others"

"I know, that's the idea"
"Remind people that the maids here are in theory  wearing costumes"
"We had a problem last night when an otaku wanted to kidnap Levia and Elise had to intervene"
"Because of that, she ended up catching a cold"

"Which is surprising because she is really heavy, but he  somehow almost makes it"  added Lisa.

"So, is she really one?"
"A real mermaid!?"

"...."
"Well yes"
"I am Levia the mermaid and slave"
"I wanted to get to know the world of humans and that's how I ended up here."
"I'm Elise's toy number 6"

"???"
"Toy?"