Special Feature: Choices of the Heart
Chapter 01: The Set-Up
Mermaid Lucia and Kaito fell in love when they were still children. Today, Kaito is still in love with his mermaid, and he is overjoyed to be able to see her again.
Chapter 02: Lucia's Choice
Lucia knows that she is in love with Kaito. However, Kaito doesn't know that she and Mermaid Lucia (whom he loves) are the same person. Lucia wants to confess her love to Kaito, but Hanon warns her that if she reveals her identity to him, Lucia will turn into foam. Thus, Lucia is faced with two options:
a) win Kaito's heart by getting him to fall in love with her human self, or
b) get him to figure out the secret of her identity on his own.
Lucia decides to leave both options open. She appears to Kaito as a mermaid and tells him, "Search for me." (Image below.) But at the same time, she vows to win his heart while in her human form.
Chapters 03-04: Kaito's Stubborness
Kaito is perfectly aware that human Lucia likes him, and he continues to tease her and flirt with her, but it is fairly obvious that his true heart belongs to Mermaid Lucia, and to her alone. In chapter 04, Kaito at least figures out that Mermaid Lucia and Pink Pearl Voice are the same person.
Chapter 05: Lucia's Anger
Lucia, frustrated by both Kaito's coolness toward her human self, and his inability to figure out her identity, finally lashes out against him. She says that she doesn't understand how he can go chasing after an imaginary girl, and Kaito responds by grabbing her angrily... and then kissing her. However, Lucia slaps him away. Later, at Awami Shrine, Kaito puts himself in great danger merely for the sake of protecting Lucia's candle... probably because he felt bad about the fight that they had earlier. This chapter establishes two important things about Kaito. One, he is coming to care deeply about human Lucia. Two, that means that his heart is now in turmoil.
Chapter 06: A Freudian Slip
Kaito is still firmly in love with Mermaid Lucia. However, it is obvious now that he is also thinking of human Lucia, especially since he calls out her name - "Lucia!" - when his mermaid is in danger.
Earlier in that same chapter, when Kaito faces Mermaid Lucia, he is finally able to say to her, "I love you!" But Mermaid Lucia responds with a question: "Is that really true...?" Lucia's question has more than meaning. On one hand, she could be referring to Kaito's insensitive treatment of her human self. If you truly love me, then why do you treat my human self as if you don't care about her? On the other hand, Lucia could be showing that she understands that Kaito's heart is in conflict. She knows that he loves her, but he is also starting to love her human self; and she wants him to make a choice. Do you truly love me, or do you love that other girl? At least, that's what her question probably sounded like to Kaito. And Kaito is ultimately unable to answer her question. Or perhaps he does answer the mermaid's question when he cries out "Lucia!" later in the chapter.
Chapter 07: Kaito's Choice (I)
Finally, Kaito is faced with a conflict. If he continues to search for his mermaid love, he will surely become involved in more mysterious happenings, probably involving the same villains that he keeps seeing over and over again. And if he continues to stay as close to human Lucia as he would like to be, then she, too, will then be sucked into the dangerous circumstances surrounding Kaito and his mermaid. Therefore, Kaito has to make a choice... And he chooses the mermaid. "Don't come near me anymore," he tells human Lucia.