Seven-Second Memory

"Interesting." Looking at Alfonso, who had suddenly appeared, Thor thought, Sand and I talked for ages, and he never showed up. But the moment he saw this mermaid, he popped out. Could she have something special about her besides being pretty?

Thor was already getting eager, but on the surface he remained composed as he turned around. "I heard there's a genuine Mermaid Princess here, so I came to see how she differs from other mermaids."

Alfonso walked past Thor and went in first. "Pearl has the strongest royal bloodline among the mermaids. But that's all. There's nothing else special about her. In fact, her intelligence and mental body are inferior even to Coral's."

He walked up to the glass wall and placed his hand against it.

Pearl immediately swam down, curious, and stared wide-eyed at Alfonso's palm against the glass, eager to get closer.

Just then, Alfonso suddenly flipped his hand around and rapped his knuckles hard against the glass, making a very loud THUNK.

Pearl, who had been about to approach, jumped in fright. The whole fish panicked, tumbling several times in the water as she swished her tail and wobbled all the way to the corner of the room. Then she stared at Alfonso in terror.

With a blank expression and downturned mouth, Alfonso turned to Thor. "I've done this to her more than ten times. She gets scared every single time."

Thor found it funny, but couldn't very well laugh, so he clapped his hands together. "I hear fish only have a seven-second memory."

He walked over to the glass too, waited seven seconds, then copied Alfonso, placing his hand against it.

Alfonso frowned. "It's not as short as seven seconds. Usually, by the next day, she'll have forgotten..."

Before he could finish, Alfonso's eyes widened.