Miles's gaze locked dead onto the top of the aquarium.
Resting there was a thick, heavy glass lid fitted with rubber sealing strips. The lid had four metal latches that clamped it down airtight, and it was even locked with a key. Inside the entire tank, aside from the landscaping at the very bottom, there wasn't a single piece of dry land or a basking platform protruding above the surface.
A completely aquatic environment. A sealed top. This was what the masked man called a "mansion."
How was this a mansion? This was clearly a crystal coffin filled to the brim with water!
"You..." Miles pointed at the fish tank, his finger trembling slightly. For a long moment, he couldn't even formulate a sentence.
He was genuinely stunned by the sheer stupidity of it all. He was shocked by a pure, unadulterated foolishness that contained no impurities whatsoever.
"What's wrong? Are you overwhelmed by my professionalism?" The masked man was still reveling in his own smugness. "Let me tell you, to prevent him from running around and hurting himself, I specifically custom-ordered this anti-escape lid. It is absolutely safe!"
"Safe my ass!" Miles finally snapped. "You call this safe? Are you raising a turtle or making a water-dungeon specimen?!"
"What?" The masked man was bewildered.
"Save your breath!" Miles didn't want to explain any more theory. For this kind of person, only cold, hard facts could slap him awake. "Right now! Immediately!" Miles's voice rose an octave, carrying the tone of an unquestionable command. "Put your Squirtle inside! Put him into this 'mansion' you're so proud of! I want everyone in the livestream to see exactly what kind of torture device your so-called 'love' really is!"
The sheer force of Miles's roar stunned the masked man into silence for a moment.
"Fine, I'll put him in... no need to yell..." the masked man muttered.
Although he thought the streamer was acting inexplicably crazy, he turned around to prove his innocence. He picked up the Squirtle, who was still shivering violently in the corner. The moment he was picked up, the Squirtle's four limbs began to paddle frantically. His eyes were filled with absolute terror, locked onto the glowing water tank as if it were the gateway to hell.
"Stop fussing! Go take a swim and show them!" Ignoring the Squirtle's struggles, the masked man walked over to the aquarium and expertly unlocked the heavy lid.
Splash! With the sound of breaking water, the Squirtle was tossed into the bottomless "mansion." Immediately afterward, the masked man did something that sent Miles's blood pressure spiking straight to 180—he casually slapped the airtight lid back on and clamped the latches shut with a crisp click.
"Look! See how comfortable he is!" The masked man pointed at the tank, looking at the camera like a child expecting praise. "He loves staying in there. He usually stays in for hours at a time!"
At that moment, the more than six hundred viewers in the livestream collectively held their breath, their eyes glued to the sealed aquarium. At first, no one noticed anything wrong. After entering the water, the Squirtle paddled his limbs with an elegant posture; he was a Water-type Pokémon, after all.
However, less than five seconds later, a sudden change occurred!
The Squirtle, who had just been "swimming," abruptly became violently agitated. He stopped swimming horizontally and began paddling upward with everything he had. His neck stretched out incredibly long, his round face screaming with a desperate thirst for air.
He breached the surface.
Thud! A dull impact echoed as the Squirtle's nose smashed heavily against the thick, locked glass lid. He wanted to breathe. But the water level was too high, and the lid was clamped too tight. There wasn't even a millimeter of air space left between the surface of the water and the glass!
He rammed his head against it. He scratched at it. It was pure survival instinct. He opened his mouth wide, trying to inhale oxygen, only to suck in a massive gulp of freezing, filtered water.
Blub... blub... blub...
A string of bubbles escaped his mouth—the very last reserves of air in his lungs. His eyes began to lose focus, and the paddling of his limbs became chaotic and weak. Yet, he continued to mechanically repeat the same motion: float up, smash, sink, float up, smash...
He looked like a drowning victim trapped beneath a sheet of ice, desperately pounding on the door to survival.
And outside that door? His owner, the man wearing the Pikachu mask, was pointing at him and laughing at the camera. "Haha! See that? So lively! Look at him thrashing around, he's even doing the backstroke for me! Does your face hurt yet, Streamer? Is this what you call hydrophobia?"
In that instant, the "Hahahaha" messages filling the chat vanished. A bone-chilling horror crawled up the spine of every single viewer watching the screen. Any idiot could see what was happening.
How was this swimming?! This was clearly drowning! He was begging for his life!
[Viewer "Kindergarten Lunch Thief": H-Holy shit?! Something's wrong! He looks like he's in agony?!]
[Viewer "Forest Deer": Oh my god! He's hitting the lid! He wants to get out! He can't breathe!]
[Viewer "Passerby A": I feel like I'm suffocating... Is that thing fully sealed?! Not even an air hole? And the water is filled to the brim?! How is this any different from locking someone in a flooded coffin?!]
[Viewer "Melon Eater": Stop laughing! Open the lid! He's going to die!!]
In front of his screen, Miles watched the Squirtle struggling desperately in the water, the light gradually fading from his eyes. He roared, "How long are you going to keep laughing?! Open your damn eyes and look closely! Is he swimming?! He's fighting for his life!!!"
Crash! Miles violently smashed his water glass onto the floor. The sound of shattering glass transmitted crisply through the microphone, striking the masked man's face like a physical slap.
Startled, the masked man's smile froze. "W-What are you going crazy for..."
"I'm going crazy? You're the one who is insane!" Miles pointed at the screen, sneering continuously. "You absolute genius! You Einstein! Exactly how lacking in common sense do you have to be to do something so incredibly vile?! What do you think he is? Do you think he's a Magikarp? A Goldeen? A fish that filters oxygen from the water with gills?! He is a Squirtle! A turtle! A reptile! He uses lungs! Lungs! Do you understand what lungs are?!"
"You threw him into a container filled with water, sealed the lid shut, and locked it! It's like throwing you into outer space without a spacesuit! How the hell is he supposed to breathe?! Every time he floats up, he isn't hitting air, he's hitting the coffin lid you built for him! And you still have the nerve to ask why he has hydrophobia? If I shoved your head into a toilet, nailed the lid shut, and did it eight hundred times a day, let's see if you develop hydrophobia! You aren't raising him, you're making a water-dungeon specimen! You are murdering him!"
This barrage of furious, mocking rebukes rained down on the masked man like bolts of lightning. Every sentence left his ears ringing. Dazed, he slowly turned his head to look at the aquarium behind him.
By now, the Squirtle had stopped his violent thrashing. His limbs were splayed out as he slowly sank toward the bottom of the tank, releasing one final, tiny string of bubbles from his mouth. His eyes were half-open, completely devoid of focus, leaving only a dead, ashen gray.
It was the sign of impending death.
"S-Squirtle?" The masked man's voice trembled.
Even though he was a troll, even though he was stupid, and even though he loved seeking attention online, he wasn't a psychotic killer. He had genuinely believed he was providing the best possible environment for his Squirtle: a twenty-thousand-dollar tank, fully automatic circulation...
"Impossible... he's a Water-type Pokémon... how could he drown..."
He panicked. He completely panicked. A bone-deep chill shot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull.
Watching the flustered figure on screen, the rage in Miles's eyes practically erupted. He never expected that the first major crisis he'd face since transmigrating into this world would be caused by a single person's sheer stupidity.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot!" Miles sneered. "If you don't pull him out right now, you can prepare to collect his corpse! And while you're at it, head over to the police station and turn yourself in for the abuse and murder of a protected Pokémon!"