Logan Moore's eyes locked onto the top of the aquarium.
A thick glass lid sealed it shut, lined with rubber insulation. Four metal latches clamped it down tight—so tight they'd even added a lock.
Inside the tank, aside from the decorations at the bottom, there wasn't a single patch of land. No rock above the surface. No basking platform.
It was a full-water environment.
Completely sealed at the top.
This was the "luxury mansion" the guy in the Pikachu costume had been bragging about.
Luxury mansion?
This was a crystal coffin filled with water.
"You…"
Logan pointed at the tank, his finger trembling. For a long moment, he couldn't even find the words.
He wasn't angry.
He was stunned.
Stunned by a level of pure, unfiltered stupidity he hadn't thought possible.
"What? Impressed by my professionalism?" the mascot man said smugly. "I even custom-ordered this escape-proof lid so it wouldn't run around and hurt itself. Totally safe!"
"Safe my ass!"
Logan finally snapped. "You call this safe? You're not raising a turtle—you're making a preserved specimen in a water prison!"
"Huh?" The mascot man blinked.
"Enough talk!"
Logan didn't bother explaining theory anymore. For someone like this, only reality would wake him up.
"Right now. Immediately."
His voice rose, sharp and commanding.
"Put your Squirtle into that 'mansion' you're so proud of."
"I want everyone in this stream to see with their own eyes that your so-called 'mansion' is actually a torture device!"
The force of his shout left the mascot man dazed.
"Fine, fine… why're you yelling…" he muttered.
Still confused but eager to prove himself right, he turned, grabbed the trembling Squirtle from the corner, and walked back.
The moment Squirtle was lifted, its limbs flailed wildly. Its eyes were wide with terror, locked onto the glowing tank like it was staring at the gates of hell.
"Quit struggling! Go swim for them!"
Ignoring its panic, the mascot man opened the heavy lid with practiced ease.
Splash!
Squirtle was tossed into the deep, silent "mansion."
And then—
Click.
He casually shut the lid and locked the latches again.
Logan's blood pressure nearly hit the ceiling.
"See? So lively!" the mascot man said proudly, pointing at the tank. "It loves staying in there. It'll hang out for hours!"
Six hundred viewers held their breath.
At first, nothing seemed wrong.
Squirtle moved its limbs gracefully underwater. After all, it was a Water-type Pokemon.
But—
Less than five seconds later—
Everything changed.
The Squirtle that had been "swimming" suddenly started thrashing violently.
It stopped moving horizontally and began clawing upward with everything it had. Its neck stretched high, round face desperate, eyes filled with a single instinct—
Air.
It reached the surface.
Thud!
A dull, heavy sound.
Its nose slammed into the thick glass lid.
It tried to breathe.
But the water level was filled to the brim. The lid was sealed tight. There wasn't even the thinnest layer of air between the surface and the glass.
It scratched.
It rammed upward again.
Instinct. Survival.
Its mouth opened wide, trying to inhale oxygen—
It swallowed cold, filtered water instead.
"Gurgle… gurgle…"
Bubbles escaped from its mouth.
The last of the air in its lungs.
Its eyes began to lose focus. Its limbs grew weaker, movements jerky and uncoordinated.
Still, it kept repeating the same motion.
Float up.Crash.Sink.Float up again.Crash again.
Like a drowning person trapped beneath ice, pounding helplessly at the barrier between life and death.
And outside that barrier—
Its owner laughed at the camera.
"Ha! See? So energetic! Look at that splashing! It's even doing backstroke for me! So, streamer—does your face hurt? Still saying it's afraid of water?"
The chat froze.
The "LOL" spam vanished.
A cold chill crawled up every viewer's spine.
Even an idiot could tell now.
That wasn't swimming.
That was drowning.
[Kindergarten Food Theif: W-what the hell?! Something's wrong! It looks like it's in pain?!]
[Fawn in the Woods: Oh my god! It's hitting the lid! It's trying to get out! It can't breathe!]
[RandomGuy: I'm suffocating just watching this… It's fully sealed?! No air gap at all?! Filled to the top?! That's like locking someone in a water-filled coffin!]
[Onlooker: Stop laughing! Open the lid! The turtle's going to die!!]
…
On screen, Logan watched Squirtle's desperate struggle, its eyes fading.
"When are you going to stop laughing?!" he barked.
"Open your damn eyes! Is that swimming?!"
"It's trying to survive!!!"
Crash!
Logan slammed the water cup in his hand onto the floor. The shattering glass rang through the microphone like a slap across the mascot man's face.
The laughter froze.
"Y-you… what's wrong with you…" the mascot man stammered.
"What's wrong with me? You're the one who's lost your mind!"
Logan pointed at the screen, voice ice-cold.
"You genius. Absolute genius."
"How much common sense do you have to lack to do something this insane?"
"Who do you think it is? A Magikarp? A Goldeen? Some fish that breathes by filtering oxygen through gills?"
"It's a Squirtle! A turtle! A reptile!"
"It uses lungs! Lungs! Do you even understand what lungs are?!"
"You throw it into a water-filled container and seal the lid—might as well throw yourself into space without a suit!"
"How's it supposed to breathe? Every time it surfaces, it doesn't hit air—it hits the coffin lid you built for it!"
"And you still ask why it's afraid of water?"
"If I held your head in a toilet, sealed the lid, and did it eight hundred times a day, you'd develop a fear too!"
"You're not raising it. You're making a water-prison exhibit."
"You're killing it!"
Each sentence hit like thunder.
The mascot man's head buzzed.
He turned slowly to look at the aquarium behind him.
Squirtle had stopped crashing into the lid.
Its limbs spread limply as it sank toward the bottom.
A final string of tiny bubbles slipped from its mouth.
Its eyes were half-open.
Unfocused.
Color drained.
That was the look of something on the brink of death.
"S-Squirtle…?"
His voice shook.
He was a troll. He was an idiot. He loved seeking attention online.
But he wasn't a psychopath.
He truly believed he'd given Squirtle the best environment possible—Ten thousand for the tank, fully automated circulation system…
"That's impossible… It's a Water-type Pokemon… How could it drown…"
Panic swallowed him whole.
A bone-deep chill shot from his feet to his skull.
Logan stared at the flustered figure on the screen, fury burning in his eyes.
Of all the crises he imagined after transmigrating—
He never thought the first life-or-death emergency he'd face would be caused by someone's stupidity.
"Don't just f*cking stand there!"
Logan's voice cut like a blade.
"If you don't pull it out right now, you'd better start planning the funeral—and maybe turn yourself in for abusing a Pokemon to death!"