Wh-What's a seal doing here?! Do seals even live in the water around Tokyo?

No, I don't think so. Maybe it wandered here from far away…

I've only ever seen them on the news, like when a seal finds its way into a river or something.

Hold up… Hey, do you think that maybe this whole cryptid thing is…

So you're still here, huh?

Hm? What are you talking about?

Oh! Um, well, uh…

Sorry, girls. I actually knew the cryptid you guys were looking for was this little guy the whole time.

You did?! Whaaat?! So that must mean you've known about this seal for a while now, huh?

Yeah… I happened to spot it on the way home from school when it peeked above water for a second. I thought I was seeing things. Then it was there the next day too…

I figured the poor thing might end up traumatized if a bunch of people found it and freaked out, so I decided to keep it to myself.

I see… You might be right there. A wild seal in the waters off Tokyo would definitely draw in a crowd. I mean, just look at how cute it is.

It sure is! One look with those big, black eyes is all it would take to make me wanna take care of it too.

So then someone must've spotted the same seal, thought it was a cryptid, and made it go viral online.

Yeah, you're probably right. I knew it was this seal the moment Honoka showed me its picture online.

Everyone seemed so excited about finding the cryptid, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you all the truth… I'm so sorry!

Ayumu…

I mean, I totally get you, Ayumu. Nobody wants to rain on anyone's parade. We were pretty worked up ourselves…

Now that you mention it, you did look really serious during our searches. You must have been worried about it, huh?

Yeah… It's not like I saw it every day, but I was worried since we couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

Then it's a good thing you got to see it again! It doesn't look hurt. Actually, it seems pretty healthy.

I'm kinda bummed that, ack, it's not a cryptid. But, hnngh, it's also really rare to, whoops, see a seal up close like this!

So, I'm more than satisfied with this little guy! Whoooooa!

That seal's all over you…

Animals do love Honoka, after all. I'm so jealous! I wanna make friends with a seal too!

The way that seal's all on her, you'd think it wanted to drag her down and make her the new queen of its undersea kingdom for real!

Aww, man… Even I couldn't get that close to it…

A-Ahaha… Ack, you're so heavy! Hang on… GAHHH!

Oh no! Honoka!

Uh-oh, Honoka! I was just joking earlier, but I think this guy might be serious about taking you along!