Batman, the Prince of Gotham

"Is this the Little Mermaid you were talking about? She doesn't look much like me, does she? Do you think she's beautiful like this?"

"Who knows? Maybe this version of the Little Mermaid mutated after being exposed to wastewater dumped by humans."

"No, why would she trade her voice for legs? Illusion Song is such a useful spell, and she traded it for a transformation potion she didn't even need?"

"The Little Mermaid doesn't know your Illusion Song spell. She just has a beautiful singing voice."

"Fine, I suppose that barely counts as a fair trade... But later, when the Siren used her voice to trick people, why didn't she just fight back? Wouldn't one good beating have set the Siren straight?"

"I completely agree. This Little Mermaid is too weak!"

The two firm believers in "never waste words when you can throw punches" exchanged a look and raised their hands for a perfectly synchronized high five, then went back to sharing snacks and picking apart the story's logic.

Working beside them until his head swam, Tim listened to the pair forge a deep friendship through their back-and-forth commentary and hammered away at his keyboard.

Dick had moved out of Wayne Manor after reaching adulthood, becoming an ordinary police officer in neighboring Blüdhaven, as well as its nighttime vigilante, Nightwing. When Bruce had been stranded on the deserted island, Dick, whose build was the closest to Bruce's, had hurried back, put on the Batsuit, and continued the nightly patrols disguised as Batman. Now that Bruce had returned safely, the young officer, who couldn't stay away from his post for long, had naturally returned to his own city.

Bruce had been missing for two weeks, and a considerable backlog had piled up, both at Wayne Enterprises and in his nighttime "side gig." Faced with Tim's enormous dark circles and Butler Batman's disapproving gaze, Bruce, who had been "slacking off" for far too long, guiltily took over most of the company's affairs. Add in his nighttime "side gig," and he was running himself ragged on two fronts: the playboy head of a corporate empire by day, an elusive, black-clad giant bat by night.

Tim hadn't been able to take it easy, either.

Bruce taking over the company affairs had merely dragged the poor boy destined for endless work back from the brink of dying from too many sleepless nights. After sleeping for ten hours straight, Tim buried himself in mountains of intelligence reports again and continued guzzling coffee like water.

Except for Damian.

Everyone was clearly swamped with the various problems left behind by Batman's disappearance.

Cleaning up loose ends from Nightwing's stint impersonating Batman, investigating the people who had escaped from Arkham, sifting through all sorts of intelligence...

Yet thanks to the "advantage" of being only eleven, Damian was firmly ordered by Batman to keep going to school during the day, apart from his nighttime "side gig," and was rewarded with "babysitting duty" in his free time.

He kept Miaomiao, the Little Merfolk visiting land for the first time, company as she practiced speaking and learned about human society.

Since Miaomiao's fish tail was too conspicuous for her to venture out into the world, Damian came up with a rather clever solution: watching films and cartoons in their original English.

With the films' original dialogue and Damian acting as her "conversation partner," Miaomiao's spoken English improved by leaps and bounds, until everyday conversations were barely a problem anymore. The two watched movies, ate snacks, and mocked the plots together, their "comradeship" growing at an astonishing pace.

I'll tell Bruce later to give some of the work to Damian instead of letting him sit around doing nothing. What hasn't the Demon's Head from the League of Assassins seen? Surely we're not worried about frightening him?

Some babysitting this is. Just look at what that little demon has turned the sweet, adorable Little Merfolk into! I don't want to end up facing twice the Damian after a while!

At that thought, Tim shuddered.

No, I absolutely can't let that happen!

Fortunately, the construction at Wayne Manor was complete, too, and the Little Merfolk's Water Park was officially ready for her to move in!

Amid congratulations from everyone in the Wayne Family, Miaomiao blushed and thanked them. This was her first time moving into a home prepared for her by human friends from the land.

According to the Elders, there had been land-dwelling humans along the coast who befriended the Merfolk before, but at most, they had dug a pond in their courtyard for the Merfolk to live in.

Miaomiao had originally thought the huge swimming pool at Bruce's home, so clean and beautiful, was already wonderful. She had never imagined that Bruce would build new water passages just for her inside his castle.

Yes, after learning so much over the past several days, Miaomiao had picked up plenty of common knowledge about humans on land. The "manor" Bruce spoke of was actually a magnificent old castle! He owned an entire island as his private domain, and such an enormous castle, too!

Hmm, maybe he's like the prince the Little Mermaid saved in the movie? Apparently Bruce really does have the title "Prince of Gotham." A prince from a foreign kingdom?

Miaomiao finally realized that when her human friend said he had "a few assets," he might have meant more than she had imagined.

Wonderful! Merfolk can eat an awful lot. I was worried Bruce might bankrupt himself feeding me, and I was planning to find more pearls, shells, things from shipwrecks, and so on. Now I can finally relax.

With her worries dispelled, Miaomiao happily leaped into the passage entrance in the main hall.

The water passages branched out in every direction, forming a maze in their own right. They were filled with all kinds of toys and little surprises everyone had prepared for Miaomiao. It was just like playing a real-life maze exploration game, and she had the time of her life.

"Thank you so much. I really, really love it!"

"As long as you like it."

Seeing the genuine delight in Miaomiao's eyes made Bruce happy, but he couldn't help worrying about how trusting the girl was. After turning it over in his mind, he finally couldn't stop himself from speaking.

"Miaomiao, it's very unwise to trust us so easily. What if we were bad people with malicious intentions, and we only built these passages to trap you? You're only putting yourself in danger this way."

Here he went again.

A Bat-style lecture.

The Robins, who had suffered through plenty of those themselves, all wore expressions that said, "I knew it." The old butler Alfred watched the Little Merfolk's happily swishing tail and the beaming smile that had frozen on her face.

"Master Bruce," Alfred sighed, "what is your poor old butler supposed to say? When a happy moment comes along, simply enjoy it. There really is no need for you to insist on..."

Ruining the mood.

Yes, everyone knew Batman meant well, and even understood that he was absolutely right. But how did he manage to push people's buttons with such unerring accuracy? He was nothing like Brucie Baby, whose sweet nothings poured out effortlessly in an endless stream.

They were clearly the same person. How could the difference be so vast?

One made people fall for him despite knowing his affection was feigned, drawing them deep into the Prince of Gotham's profound, melancholy steel-blue eyes; the other made people want to punch his handsome face a couple of times despite knowing he was sincere.

Even Nightwing, whose constant cheer and energy hardly seemed native to Gotham-even someone as good-tempered as Dick-had gritted his teeth more than once and said, "F**k Batman!"