Disclaimer: I do not own the movie "Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack" or the manga on which it is based, "Gyo." This story is purely a work of fan-fiction. No profit is being made from it.
Kaori gazed at the picture of herself and Tadashi, now the only memento of him that she had left aside from the silver engagement ring on her left hand. She remembered how happy they had been at the time, how eagerly they had looked forwards to graduation and to getting married afterwards.
How had everything gone so wrong so fast? Just over forty-eight hours ago they had been talking happily on the phone, her in Okinawa where she and her friends Erika and Aki had gone on a holiday to celebrate their upcoming graduation, him at the radio station where he worked. In particular she recalled how he had mentioned that he would prefer their honeymoon to be somewhere away from the sea.
And then the walking fish invasion had occurred; countless sea creatures swarming up onto the land atop mechanical legs. With them they brought the Death Stench, a horrible disease that had soon spread to humans, causing their bodies to bloat and swell with foul-smelling gas. Soon after that they were taken over by the same strange walking machines that had first carried the fish.
Kaori had immediately returned to Tokyo to look for Tadashi when his phone call was cut off but she had been too late. By the time she had found him he had been infected. Not only that but his own uncle, Professor Koyanagi, had used him as a test subject to create his own walking machine. Soon afterwards Tadashi had died, torn apart by the other human walkers.
She recalled how his final act had been to reach out for her. She had tried desperately to reach him and take his hand but had been unable to. Her only consolation was that in his last moments he had recognised her and known that she loved him despite what he had become.
She spared a thought for Shirakawa, the cameraman she had befriended en route to Tokyo. Even though he had initially helped her for self-serving reasons she was deeply grateful for all that he had done, especially reassuring her that Tadashi had acted of his own will in reaching for her. "I think what you believed was the truth" he had said. He also had succumbed to the infection, as had Erika and Aki. Only Kaori herself had proven immune to the disease.
Eventually she had taken a life raft to a ship the few survivors had managed to reach. Soon after she had arrived she had been given a room for her private use. It was sparsely furnished but at least had a bed and desk with a comfortable chair. She was currently sitting in that chair as she stared at the picture, thinking of happier times.
After a while she sighed, carefully put the picture back in her pocket and stood up. As important as it was to keep Tadashi's memory alive she knew that she couldn't spend the rest of her days just dwelling on the past. Perhaps a walk around the ship would help clear her head.
Just then she heard someone knocking on her door. Concerned, she went to answer.
She opened the door to see a woman her own age with shoulder-length black hair. She hadn't talked to many of the other survivors but she did know this woman. Her name was Chihiro and she was the captain's daughter.
"What's wrong Chihiro-san?"
"Come quick Kaori-san! There's something on the radio!"
They hurried to the bridge. Along the way several other survivors joined them. Finally the small group of people arrived at the bridge to find the captain operating a radio. He looked at them in surprise.
"What? Chihiro-chan, you can't bring people onto the bridge!"
"With all due respect father these people have a right to know what's going on" she replied.
He sighed. "Yes, you are right. Just a few moments ago we received a transmission from Tokyo. This is that transmission."
He pressed a button and a voice issued from the speaker.
"Hello, hello. Can anyone hear me? Is there anybody out there? Someone please help me! They're after me! No, oh no, they're here! Someone please…"
There was a sharp hiss of static and the message ended.
The captain said "Whoever this person is we can't afford to wait long for them. Given our limited food and fuel the odds of being able to reach somewhere safe grow worse each day."
"Is there anywhere safe?" asked one man. "I heard that all attempts to contact other countries had no response."
"That is correct" the captain replied.
"Then for all we know we could be all that's left of the human race."
"But we can't just sit here and wait to starve to death" said a woman.
Everyone started talking at once, their voices blending into an incomprehensible jumble. Only Kaori did not speak. She noticed how quickly the topic had moved away from whoever had sent the call for help. That poor person, afraid and probably alone, had seemingly been forgotten.
She moved back slightly and clapped her hands together as loud as she could. Everyone fell silent and turned to look at her.
"Why don't we go and look for the person who sent the call?" she asked the captain.
He shook his head. "We can't risk exposing anyone to those things." Several people murmured in agreement.
"I'll go" she said firmly, drawing gasps of astonishment from the crowd.
I lost Tadashi and my friends because of this disease she thought. If there's any chance that I can save even one person from what happened to them, then I must try.