"Hey, can you get ahold of Namie-san?" Izaya asked.

"Huh?" Roppi guffawed for comical effect as he looked up at him.

His attention had been on Tsuki, who was watching a youtube show on his phone. The adult had been watching it with him, having one headphone in his ear while Tsuki had the other. Hibiya was playing a game on his phone.

Izaya chuckled. "Can you try getting ahold of Namie-san? She's not answered my texts and we need to collaborate for my next appointment."

"I can try, yeah. One second."

Roppi exited out of the youtube app. He then went to his contacts and clicked Namie's thread.

[yo Izayas bitchin that he cant get ahold of ya. You alive bitch?]

He went back to the youtube app, finished the video since there was only five minutes left. He then went back to the message. There was no response. He took the headphones out and clicked Namie's phone again. He called her and put it to his ear.

It trilled then went to voicemail.

"...Hm." Roppi looked up at Izaya. "You think she took a nap?"

"I would hope not. I'm not paying her to sleep."

Roppi shrugged. "Maybe she's fucking."

"...What?" Izaya cocked a brow at him.

"Just saying. She's got the house to herself. Maybe she invited a boy over for a quick fuck."

"...I heavily doubt that. She's obsessed with one man that she can never have, so I see no reason why she would have sex with someone else."

"Hey, girls like sex just as much as guys do. She can only go so long before she needs a good dicking."

"I doubt that highly."

Roppi shrugged again.

The train arrived to Shinjuku soon enough and the group of four made their way home. They walked for 20 minutes until finally arriving to Izaya's apartment. Up the elevator they went, Izaya letting Hibiya click the buttons since he wanted to.

"Hey, Dad," Hibiya said, "Can I play on the laptop for a bit?"

"No, I need it in a bit."

Hibiya slumped in disappointment.

"You can play on the ipad though."

"...Okay." He then looked at Tsukishima. "You want to play chess?"

"S-sure." Tsuki smiled.

"I want to be the black side!"

"We-we could play on-on the actual chessboard in-instead of the ipad."

The elevator dinged.

"But the ipad has custom pieces that we—"

The door opened, which silenced Hibiya as he perked. Tsukishima also perked. Izaya cocked a brow in confusion. He then looked at Roppi. The mermaid had tears beading his eyes, trying to hold them back as he started panting. Izaya's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

'They're resonating!'

The informant grabbed Roppi's wrist and pulled him forward. Hibiya and Tsukishima quickly followed, the two grabbing the back of his coat. Izaya looked around. There was no one in the hallway. Immediately, he felt suspicious. The fact that the mermaids were resonating, there was no one in sight, and Namie hadn't responded to any of his text. He had an idea, one that he did not like.

Izaya went to his apartment and punched in the code. The door opened and they all rushed in. The informant could already see someone sitting on the couch—a blond man wearing a white coat. He looked over at them. Tears were leaking from his confused pink eyes.

Roppi didn't bother to take off his shoes as he bolted into the living room. The blond stood and rushed over as well to meet him halfway. Without hesitation, their arms wrapped around each other in a fierce hug.

"Hi, Mom." The blond said. "Long time no see."

"...Yeah." Roppi voiced. "You've gotten so big."

"Heh, yeah. It's been seven years."

The two separated, although the blond put his hands on the side of Roppi's face. He rubbed the tears off his mothers face then kissed his forehead.

"How'd you find him?" Izaya asked, walking in with Hibiya and Tsukishima in tow.

Tsukishima was hiding behind Izaya, peaking out from around the informant to look at the grown blond with obvious shyness. Hibiya was looking at the man curiously, eyeing him up and down.

The blond stranger looked at him. "I saw the video on the Dollars site. The one of you two fighting in the fountain. I knew as soon as I saw her that she was my mom. So, I've been working the circles trying to find this 'Orihara Izaya'."

Izaya cocked a brow. "Working the circles? Are you a prostitute or something?"

"No, I'm a host...kinda. For private consulting."

"So, you're a prostitute."

"...I mean..." The blond shrugged. "If they want to pay me for sex, I'm not going to complain. I'll do what my customers ask, within reason."

"Well, at least you're making use of your good genes." Roppi patted the stranger's chest. "Although be careful not to get pregnant."

"Oh, nah, I got a vasectomy years ago." The blond waved it off.

Roppi cocked a brow. "Are you using your male gender?"

The blond looked confused. "...Uh...Yeah...? I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean."

Roppi also looked confused. Then his eyes widened with realization. "Oh! Okay, I get it!"

"What?"

"What?" Izaya asked.

Roppi looked at the informant. "He's not a hermaphrodite."

Izaya now looked confused too, matching the stranger's expression.

"Half-breed mermaids have a 50/50 chance of being hermaphroditic."

"...Wait, they do?" Izaya's brows rose to such a statement. "You never mentioned that before."

"Well, I didn't think it was important. I'd need to check the baby to see if they're hermaphroditic, and honestly, what's it matter what gender they are? So, I never really paid attention to if my kids had both genders or not."

"Wait," The blond started, "Are mermaids hermaphroditic naturally?"

"Of course." Roppi looked at him with a smile. "Why do you think I'm your mother yet have an Adam's Apple?"

He just stared at Roppi for a moment, completely silent.

"Wait, does that mean Tsukishima and Hibiya aren't hermaphroditic?" Izaya asked. "I know Sakuraya and Shitsuo are."

Roppi made the 'I-don't-know' noise, giving Izaya a judgmental look. "Does it matter? And why do you know what's in Sakuraya and Shitsuo's their pants?"

"They told me, of course. They told me morphine made them female. And obviously Sakuraya was pregnant yet had the top half of a man."

Roppi glowered. Izaya didn't like that. Maybe he was overthinking it, but he felt like that question was pertaining to their previous conversation when it came to the safety of Roppi's children. He felt like Roppi was insinuating whether he took advantage of Sakuraya or Shitsuo, maybe both. It was entirely possible that Izaya felt that's what Roppi was implying because it was a recent conversation, so he was still sensitive to the topic. It was entirely possible he was over thinking it. But it still upset him all the same.

Izaya decided to change the topic in an attempt to ignore his overthinking mind.

"Anyway, won't it matter what Tsukishima and Hibiya's genders are?" Izaya asked, "When Hibiya and Tsukishima become teenagers, they may start having periods. Or they may not."

"...Guess that's true." Roppi crossed his arms and shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't looked at their plumbing. They smell like testosterone and in human form, they've got wieners. So, maybe they're not hermaphrodites. I'm not going to check."

"Well," The blond started, "Didn't you have to change them when they were babies? Wouldn't you know from that?"

"Again, in human form, they're male. So, I'd only be able to tell in their true forms. And in our true forms, we don't pee like humans. We pee like sharks."

"How do sharks pee?"

"Through the skin."

The blond was taken aback by that.

"I should say, it's only through our fish skin—so the lower half of our bodies. Not our human half. But yeah, I wouldn't be able to tell their gender because they peed as babies. Besides, they were only babies for a month-and-a-half."

Izaya was going bring up the other reason one would change a babies diapers, but in context to a fish, that wasn't relevant. That still wouldn't give Roppi a need to clean his children up since they certainly defecated the same way a fish would.

Instead, Izaya nodded. "Well, I think we should probably take a blood test of the boys to tell what their gender is."

Roppi glowered. "Again, why does it matter? Gender isn't important."

"Again, when they hit puberty, they may start having periods if they have a womb. It's in their best interest that we know. Although!" Izaya said quickly since Roppi opened his mouth to speak. "If they're out of water when they have their first period, will that cause any bodily problems?"

"They can't be out of the water when they have their first period. During their puberty, they need to remain in water."

"Why? They're not beached mermaids."

"Because the hormonal imbalance will go by faster if they age faster."

Izaya stared for a moment, then nodded. "If a mermaid is not hermaphroditic, will certain painkillers not change their gender?"

"I don't know, honestly. Again, I never really bothered with my kids genders. It's their business, not mine." Roppi looked at the blond stranger. "Have you ever taken aspirin before?"

He smiled at Roppi. "Yeah. My legs were killing me the whole time and I had no gender."

Roppi looked back to Izaya. "Well, that answers that question. It's apparently not the breeding drug for him."

"Apparently." Izaya looked at the blond. "Are you still using Aspirin?"

"No." He said. "I take oxy. Makes me a man for four months, just have to avoid saltwater else it undoes it in an instant."

"Does your transformation undo your vasectomy?"

"I don't think so. I don't feel a pain in my balls when I transform back. I'm Delic, by the way. Thanks for looking after my mom all this time."

"...Nice to meet you."

Izaya stared at the blond for a moment, disliking the fact that he looked strikingly like Shizuo. However, he'd worry about that later. He glanced to the side, looking at Namie. She had been completely silent, sitting at her desk with an obvious glower.

"Are you alright, Namie-san?" Izaya asked. "You weren't answering my calls."

"He told me not to." Namie responded.

Izaya cocked a brow.

"Ah, yeah." Delic said. "Don't blame her for anything. She can't disobey me if I tell her what to do. I could make her forget her whole family if I said so."

Izaya looked at him with confusion then looked at Roppi. Roppi also looked confused.

"That's not a mermaid trait." Roppi said, "We don't have any voice-triggered mind control."

"Yeah, this is something I earned along the way." Delic's smile became sad. "It's how I got out of the facility I was sold off to."

"Facility?" Izaya voiced. "What facility?"

Delic looked at him. He then looked down at Tsukishima and Hibiya. He knelt down to be eye level with the children.

"Hi." Delic smiled at the two.

Tsukishima hid behind Izaya more.

"Hi!" Hibiya smiled back. "I'm Hibiya!"

"It's nice to meet you, Hibiya. Have you been taking care of our mother while I was gone?"

"Of course!" Hibiya puffed out his chest with pride.

Delic smiled. He then looked over to Tsukishima. The two made eye contact before the younger blond hid his face in Izaya's coat.

"That's Tsukishima." Roppi said, patting Delic's back. "He's shy."

"I can tell." Delic looked up at Roppi then stood up straight. "Did you find the others?"

Roppi was quiet for a moment, his expression souring for a moment. He then nodded. "We found all of them. You and your twin are the last."

Delic's expression also soured with obvious pain. But he forced that smile to remain as he nodded.

Roppi hesitated. "Are you...Is your...Where's your twin?"

More pain crossed Delic's pink eyes and that smile became more strained. He struggled to find his voice for a moment.

"...I think..." Delic started, "...That's something we should talk about without the kids present."

"I concur." Izaya announced. "I think we have a lot to discuss."

"You have an appointment in the next hour." Namie announced. "I compiled the information for you."

Izaya looked over at her. "Thank you, Namie-san. Reincheck the rest of the appointments I have for today. Then you can go home."

"Gladly." She said under her breath as she reached for the phone.

Izaya didn't blame her. He personally hated the idea of being mind-controlled, so he could only imagine Namie was fuming. However, he decided not to bring that up. Instead, he looked at Delic.

"Would you mind waiting until after I'm done with my client?" He asked.

"Sure." Delic responded. "I've got all the time in the world right now."


"So," Izaya started, "Let's get everything we know organized. You're name is Delic, you're a set of blond twins. You said 'seven years', so you must be the pair Roppi birthed after Shizu-chan."

"No, he's the third pregnancy." Roppi stated. "Shizuo was first, 12 years ago. Then Psyche nine years ago. Delic and his twin seven years ago. Sakuraya and Shitsuo three years ago. And now Hibiya and Tsukishima."

"Gosh, you poor woman." Delic said. "That's far too many forced pregnancies for one body to handle."

"Considering I was being rape almost daily, it's a wonder the pregnancies were so spread out." Roppi crossed his arms, taking on a nonchalant expression. "I know I had a lot of miscarriages during that time."

"Well, yeah! You're body was being forced into pregnancy every other month! Of course you'd miscarriage. What, don't you have to wait five years before having another baby else the mortality rate of the child decreases?"

Roppi paused. He then looked at Izaya. "Is that a thing?"

"It is." The informant said. "Most doctors say you need to waiting five years before having another child. Else it can become dangerous for the infant since your body is still recovering from the previous pregnancy. But it's also not unheard of nor uncommon for women to get pregnant a year after their first baby is born. It's something that can be dangerous, but the likelihood that it'll cause complications are slim."

"It takes five years for my body to heal? Doesn't feel like it."

"Well, how long does it take for your period to return after a pregnancy?"

"...Well, it all depends honestly. With Hibiya and Tsuki it was a few months, but that's because of the placenta's, I think. But for Sakuraya and Shitsuo, I didn't have a period for almost a year. And I've gone longer without one from other pregnancies."

Izaya nodded. "That's why. Your body doesn't want you to get impregnated again after just having one. So, your period may be delayed. Every woman's different, of course and every pregnancy is different, so results vary, but the general rule of thumbs that doctors recommend is to wait five years before getting impregnated again."

"...Hm." Roppi glanced to the side. "You know, I've had children that were only eleven months apart before."

Delic cocked a brow. "But didn't you just say when we were born?"

"I've had many children before I was enslaved." Roppi looked at the blond. "This bundle of children is only 12 years worth of my life."

Delic's eyes widened. "Only 12 years?! That's an 8th of your life!"

Roppi chuckled. "That's just a blink of an eye for things like us."

Delic looked confused.

'Does he not know he doesn't age?' Izaya wondered.

However, he decided not to bring that up.

"We got off topic." Izaya stated. "So, since you are as old as you are and you use painkillers, you're obviously not a beached mermaid. So, where did you end up after your separation? Where is your brother? And what have you been doing since?"

Delic looked at the informant. He hesitated for a moment. "So far, I've been...Well, I consider myself a host but I guess you could say I'm a gigolo. Or a sugar baby? Not sure what you wanna call it. But I basically get called in to cater to women with a lot of money. If they pay me for sex, then so be it. But I'd like to call myself a host since sex isn't guaranteed. I've been living in a callboy shop that's owned by the Asuki group, over in Shibuya. You probably already know, but that's a yakuza group."

"Yes, I am aware. They recently merged with the Awakusu-Kai group in Ikebukuro."

"I heard about that, yeah." Delic nodded. "As for where I went when we were separated...Well, have you ever heard of this company called Nebula?"

Izaya perked to the name but he made no physical indication. "Yes, I've heard of it."

"My brother and I were sold off to the Japanese branch in Nebula. They've been monitoring and experimenting on us since we were kids. They were really nice to us at the beginning. We were well fed, they made sure we never got any infections from bad water or rotten fish. A lot of them treated us like specimen, so we didn't have names, but were treated nicely. Some of them liked us and got of things like toys and books. They took an interest in how well we could learn, since we figured out had to read without anyone teaching us. So, we luckily had a great education.

"They...Well, usually the experiments were pretty harmless. They monitored our growth, our transformations. We had a few chemical experiments, seeing what drugs worked on us and what didn't. Finding out how our metabolisms worked, x-rays, bone alignments and the sort. When we were kids, we transformed naturally from human to mermaid, but when we were teenagers, we couldn't sprout legs anymore. So, they spent a lot of time trying to figure out what changes us and what doesn't. That's...that's when it started getting painful. They tried changing our diet, changing our water temperature, drying us out, giving us stimulus drugs. As more things failed, they started doing...more painful experiments and they started doing, um..."

Delic glowered. Then he let out a sigh. He unbuttoned his suit coat then lifted his shirt. Along his torso, down the exact center and curving around his belly button was a prominent scar with suture marks.

"They were humane enough to put me under as they gave me an autopsy. But they couldn't figure it out through standard, humane experimentation, so they decided to try and find a reason in my organs. They didn't though. They weren't able to find any reason as to why I couldn't sprout legs. Over the next few days, they pumped me full of painkillers and immune system boosters, so I wouldn't get an infection. Like that, they figured it was one of those two types of pills. So, some experimenting with that later, they figured out it was painkillers, or more so salicin."

Delic dropped his shirt, pushing out the wrinkles then buttoning his white suit jacket.

"After that, I started plotting my escape. My brother was extremely upset and was talking about killing people. He was put in, basically, solitary confinement and had these kind of gauntlet like things. They had a soda crusher mechanism in them so if he tried to break them off, they'd break his hands. They also had a muzzle that went over his teeth, and when they took it off it'd spray some kind of chemical, pheromone thing that would make us instantly vomit."

Izaya and Roppi looked at each other. There was no doubt that Roppi was thinking the same thing Izaya was.

'The same contraptions Nanasaki used on Roppi.'

"I started hating everyone there. I wanted to get out. I wanted to get my brother out. So, I started plotting and biding my time. They had another creature in their facility. A gancanagh."

Izaya wasn't sure what that was but Roppi looked surprised. Delic noticed Izaya's expression and looked at him.

"A gancanagh is a water fairy with a special voice. It's like a siren, luring people to their deaths with their beautiful voice. However, it's a bit different, since gancanagh aren't really vile fairies. They just want to have sex. Also a gancanagh are a male-only species, and their voice can only affect women."

Izaya nodded.

"Right, so, the gancanagh and I got to talking, and he mentioned that he was in extreme pain everyday because he was disconnected from Avalon. See, most breeds of fairies, front what he told me, can only stay in this plain of existence for a short period of time. They have to return to Avalon else, they'll start to wane. This gancanagh, his name was Derlik, got caught by this bastard named Kishitani Shingen and was entrapped for nearly ten years."

'Why am I not surprised that it was Shingen-san.' Izaya thought.

"By the time I met him, he was very withered. They were trying to keep him alive with supplements and IV's but he couldn't die from starvation or disease or anything like that anyway. Fairies were immortal to an extent, so he couldn't die by human means, but he was just suffering. He and I got to talking. Have you ever heard that myth, that if you say a fairy's true name, you'll steal their power and life?"

They both nodded.

"That's actually the case with certain breeds of fairy. Apparently not all, but breeds like leprechaun's, water fairies, and wisper's have to keep their names secret else they'll cease to exist and become part of the person who said their name."

"What do you mean by whisper?" Izaya asked.

"Wisper's are the one's who control the will-o-wisps." Roppi said. "They're a form of reaper who's task is the find lost souls on earth. I think the Japanese have a version of them as well. The Shinidamachu. But wisper's send out will-o-wisps to find souls, and when they do, they'll become corporal, which are those white orbs that humans see."

Izaya nodded, then looked back at Delic. He gestured for him to continue.

"So, he and I started talking." Delic began anew, "I was allowed to walk around the facility, so long as I had a chaperone and those custom gauntlet things. I hadn't proved to be hostile, but they weren't taking the risk. I was allowed to walk around and I started talking to Derlik. It got to a point where my chaperone didn't feel the need to chaperone me, so she'd leave us alone. Since I was a man, they took Derlik's muzzle off and he explained to me how his ability worked. Like that...he told me to take his name and get myself out. So, I did. Not like I had a name before then anyway..."

"So, you took his ability." Roppi said.

"...Yeah."

"Well, aren't you a dangerous one. Not only do you have our 'sirens song' that affects men, you also have a voice that can mind control women." Roppi sneered. "So it seems as if you're voice affects both genders."

Delic cocked a brow. "Wait, we have a song too? You said we didn't have a voice mind control thing."

"We don't. It's within our pheromones. Humans called it a 'sirens song' a long time ago because sailor would be willing to jump off their ships for us mermaids. Prolonged exposure to us can make someone completely obedient to the mermaid, or at least worthlessly infatuated. But it only affects testosterone, so only men will do stupid things for a mermaid."

"...Oh. Well, that actually explains a lot. Does it work on other mythical creatures?"

"If they have more testosterone than estrogen. So other mermaids, Heartstone's, even arachne and girtablilu's aren't effected by us."

"...But wait, doesn't everything have testosterone levels? Also, isn't Hearthstone a video game?"

Roppi looked confused for a moment. "A heartstone is a flat stone that's part of a hearth. You know, the stone chimney's with a giant fire place for cooking pots? Those chimney's are called hearths and the stones are called hearthstones."

"But there is a video game called Hearthstone."

"Is it a home decorum game?"

"No, it's a virtual collectible card game where you battle with the cards you've got to get more. It's part of the World of Warcraft franchise."

"I have no clue about anything you said." Roppi crossed his arms, glowering with annoyance. "It's a video game where you collect cards? Why not just fucking buy cards like a normal person?"

"Because you battle with those cards."

"Don't people battle with Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon cards?"

"Well, yes."

"And their video games aren't about playing a card game in a video game."

"I think Yu-gi-oh is, actually. But I haven't played u-go, so I wouldn't know."

"But I know pokemon isn't."

"...Yeah, I don't know. I didn't make it, so..."

Roppi glowered for a moment, before rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, it doesn't matter. They're not Hearthstone's. It's Heartstone. You know, like your doki doki." Roppi patted his chest twice. "They're a breed of harpy that are a male only species, but they are technically hermaphroditic since they're all male, but their asses lead to their wombs. They puke up pellets like owls do so they won't get infections. So I guess it's more proper to call their ass a vagina, but it doesn't look like a pussy. You know, its doesn't have pussy lips, it looks like an asshole, pucker and all. And because they're like that, they apparently have more estrogen than testosterone. Or maybe they're just immune to gender-based influences anyway, because our pheromone's don't work on them.

"But anyway, yeah everything's got testosterone, but not everything uses testosterone as their main hormone. For instance, a spiders' main hormones are octopamine and serotonine, where as humans are testosterone and estrogen. So, it stands to reason that an arachne and girtablilu—half-humans, half-spiders and half-humans, half-scorpions—wouldn't be affected by us."

"...Well, I didn't know that."

"You're young, and you've probably never been taught anything useful in that facility, so it's okay. I doubt they taught you biology or any of that shit."

"...Well, they did a little, but it was all fish related."

"Shocker." Roppi rolled his eyes again then let out a sigh. "It'll just take time and experience to learn. Anyway, please keep going."

Roppi gestured for him to continue. Delic stared at him for a moment before glowering at the floor. He took time to clear his throat as he clenched his hands together tightly.

"I managed to get myself out and I tried to get my brother out. But when we were heading back to get him, one of the male scientists started yelling that the gancanagh was gone, the guy on the camera's who saw Derlik become one with me sent out a red alert about everything, and basically if I went to get my brother, we would both be caught again. So, I had no choice but to leave him behind..."

Delic looked up at them.

"As far as I know, he's still there. It's been about three years now, but I don't think they moved him anywhere. They never moved us anywhere before, so I doubt they did so now. I hope they didn't move him anywhere. And I know you have a lot of pull, Izaya-san, so I'm sure with your help we can get him out."

Izaya stared for a moment, then smiled. "Yes, I'm certain we can. In fact, I think we can get this done by the end of the day."

Delic's eyes widened. "What, really?!"

Izaya grabbed his phone. "That's right. Of course, Roppi-chan, you may need to do a bit of pulling as well."

"Who am I eating?"

"Heh, no one if we can help it." Izaya stood and walked behind the couch, tapping away on his phone. "But you may want to use that brute strength of yours to do a little threatening."

"Who we threatening?"

"Kishitani Shingen."

Delic jolted. "You...You know him?"

"Of course, I do. He's the father of my friend, Shinra. He's also the one who stole that thing from the head of that pharmaceutical company," He looked at Roppi, "And brought the Saika blade to Japan."

Roppi's eyes narrowed. "So, he's an all around scumbag then."

"Indeed. But, he proves useful." Izaya put the phone to his ear and raised a finger to his lips for silence. "Hello, Shingen-san. How are you today? Ah, I guess that's true. Then let me get to the point, I have one of your runaway experiments here. A blond-haired mermaid. Don't bring the company van and come alone. If it's not just you, he'll run."

"I'm going to vomit." Delic said.

He was bent forward with his elbows on his knees and hands clasped together. His right foot was tapping sporadically against the floor. He certainly looked pale and was breathing hard.

"It'll be alright." Roppi sat next to him, pressing against his side. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"I don't want to see him again. His twisted fucking gas mask haunts my dreams. I can't do this."

"If you want, you can go upstairs." Izaya said. "You can entertain Hibiya and Tsukishima while we talk to Shingen."

"...I...might take you up on that, honestly...But-but I need to know—I want to be there when we go get my brother, so I don't—I should know what the plan is."

"We can always explain it to you afterwards." Roppi grabbed Delic's hand, rubbing his thumb across the flesh in comfort. "We'll tell you everything once we know what we're doing."

Delic looked at him with confliction. Then he nodded. "Alright...Alright."

Roppi smiled warmly. He then kissed Delic's cheek and bumped heads with him. Izaya felt a spark of jealousy before he realized that Delic was Roppi's son, and not competition. He shouldn't be jealous of anyone that looks like Shizuo. They're all related to Roppi in one way or another, so he shouldn't get jealous.

Delic inhaled deeply then exhaled heavily. He then stood. "Alright, which bedroom's the kids?"

"The one on the right."

"Got it."

With that, the blond went upstairs. The two heard the door open.

"Hello!" Hibiya called.

"Hi. What are you two doing?"

The door closed and their voices became muffled.

"Are you sure it's alright to leave him alone with the kids?" Izaya asked.

"What do you mean?" Roppi looked at him with a cocked brow.

"Well, we don't know him. We don't know if he's a pervert."

Roppi's eyes narrowed. "He's their brother."

"Does that change anything? Every pedophile and rapist had family."

Roppi fell quiet for a moment. "Are you bringing that up because of the conversation we had earlier? You never brought it up with Sakuraya and Shitsuo, even though the two of them admitted to having sex with each other."

Izaya didn't answer at first. "I'm just saying he obviously has trauma and is quite fickle about who he sleeps with."

"What the fucks it matter if he's fickle with who he fucks? I'm fickle with who I fuck and that doesn't mean for a goddamn minute I'm going to fuck a kid. I can like sex without being a pedophile, so what the fuck are you on about? And besides, Sakuraya and Shitsuo obviously have trauma too."

"But I knew Sakuraya and Shitsuo for weeks before I introduced them to Tsuki and Hibiya. We've only known him for...what, an hour?"

"You knew them for weeks because I refused to see them! You would have introduced them the same day you found them if I hadn't said no! And you were the one who suggested Delic go upstairs!" Roppi glowered at him. "What kind of 'set up for failure' shit are you trying to pull right now?"

Izaya glowered right back at him.

"Just because my reasoning for wanting to leave makes you heinous," Roppi growled, "doesn't mean you have to drag anyone else down with you."

"I'm not a—"

"I never said you were! I'm saying that you—oh my fucking god! Why are you pulling this shit now? Seriously, did I damage your pride that bad that you've got to make everyone else a pervert?"

"I'm not a pervert!" Izaya glared at him.

"But you're also not willing to admit that we're supernatural monsters who have magic-based manipulations over your sex drive! It's really great that if you came across a child Succu-Chy, you'd just be like, 'It's fine, I'm not a pedo, so nothing will happen', even though any physical contact you have with her—even just holding her fucking hand—will start turning you on! Good to know that your pride is more important than the safety of a child!"

Izaya couldn't respond, so all he did was glare. He couldn't help taking offense to the scenario. He understood that he wouldn't be in control of himself if he ever did get effected by the boys pheromones. He understood that there pheromones were stronger than Izaya's control. However, he couldn't help getting pissed off that Roppi would even insinuate that he would willingly rape anyone, let alone a child.

Luckily, he didn't have to say anything else as there was a knock on the door. The two glared at each other for a bit longer before Izaya turned towards the door. He walked over and opened it. Standing before him was Kishitani Shingen, white gas mask, white lab coat, and slicked back hair.

"Hello." Izaya said, "Thank you for coming on short notice."

"Good afternoon." Shingen stated. "So, you found subject 4-20."

"His name's Delic. But yes, I did."

"I'm assuming you're not going to hand him over."

"Absolutely not. I've been looking for him for over seven months now."

"Seven...Why?"

"Because he's Roppi's child."

Roppi stood and went to the genkan hallway. The mermaid leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, glowering at Shingen.

"Oh, is Roppi a mermaid?"

"Have you not been on the Dollars site?"

"I'm not part of the Dollars."

Izaya chuckled with a knowing smile.

"If you already knew that, then why ask?" Shingen grumbled with slight annoyance.

"Because I recall sending you an invitation to join the Dollars site." Izaya opened the door more. "Come on in."

Shingen hesitated before stepping through.

"So," Izaya closed the door, "We have no intention of giving Delic back to you. In fact, we're coming for the other mermaid you still have."

"That's not happening."

"Yes, it fucking is." Roppi growled. "You didn't get those boys through legals means, and you haven't been doing legal things to them. I'm taking them back."

"Nebula purchased them perfectly legal as 'exotic specimen'. That is what they are, after all."

"You don't perform autopsies on 'exotic specimen' that are still alive." Roppi's lip pulled back in a snarl, popping followed to show shark fangs.

"It was a simple surgery. His life wasn't in danger."

Roppi growled, an inhuman noise echoing from his throat. "You only have two options here, fuckface. Either you take me to the my son you still have, or I eat you right here and now, break into your facility, kill everyone I come across, and get my son. What's your choice here?"

"Wait, you can eat people?" Shingen's voice filled with excitement. "How does your stomach handle that? Are you always hungry like a shark?"

"That shows how little you know about marine life at all. Sharks aren't always hungry, they fast more than they eat and can go weeks without eating."

"Does Delic not have a second stomach?" Izaya asked.

"No, he only had one. Mind you, the autopsy wasn't to do an organ mapping. We already did that with a high-power X-ray. No, the autopsy was to try and find out why they couldn't sprout legs anymore. If there—"

"I don't give a shit why you did it, cunt stain!" Roppi yelled. "I care that you did it at all! And who knows what else you fucks did when they hit puberty!"

"Are you talking about their influx of sex pheromones?"

Roppi glared, clenching his teeth hard.

"So it did happen?" Izaya asked.

"Their influx, yes. Any sexual abuse, no. When they hit puberty at 13, the male chaperone's reported an influx of sexual desires for the boys. We ran some tests and found that they had an dangerous influx of sexual pheromones. After that, we only had female tenants look after them since the pheromones only seemed to effect the testosterone hormone."

"Bullshit. Any man who walked by would be affected."

"We isolate the entire floor. Or at least we did. It seemed their pheromone flux only lasted six months. But during that time, the only ones who were allowed on that floor were female personnel."

Roppi glowered, growling.

"We got off topic." Izaya stated. "What you did doesn't matter anymore."

"Bullshit it doesn't!" Roppi yelled.

Izaya put his hand up for calm. "What matters is that we will be coming for the mermaid you have. Whether I need to pull some resources from the Awakusu-Kai or have your aid to do this is the point in question."

"Why would the Awakusu-kai get involved?" Shingen looked at him.

"One of Roppi's children was adopted by Shiki of the Awakusu-Kai. I'm sure Psyche would be more than willing to convince Shiki-san to help us out."

"But all of our research, literal years of monitoring and—"

"All your literal years," Roppi interrupted, "And you still don't know shit about us! Like you bastards could learn anything from simply observing!"

Shingen fell quiet for a moment. He stared at Roppi for a long, long time. Then he finally said, "Alright, how about this?"

Roppi continued to glower but perked with interest.

"My executives won't just let me give away one of our specimen's. They're still upset that specimen 4-20 killed specimen 2-40. On top of that, they lost the specimen from Yagiri pharmaceuticals, so they won't be willing to part with specimen 4-40. No matter how much pull I have, I wouldn't be able to change their mind."

Roppi growled.

"But, if say, an exchange were to happen—"

"As fucking if I'm giving you one of my kids!" Roppi yelled.

"No, no, we wouldn't need to go that far!" Shingen waved his hands dismissively. "No, you obviously know a lot about your species more than us scientists can find out through monitoring and experimenting. Despite that autopsy, we still weren't able to find out why they couldn't gain legs again. It wasn't till we gave him the pain pills afterwards that we found out how, and even then we don't know why salicin worked. So, if you would be willing to come to the facility, as a willing participant so that we may study you, then I'm sure my boss wouldn't complain about the exchange."

Roppi's eyes filled with hatred while Izaya glowered.

"I'm not going back to slavery." The mermaid snarled.

"Then you don't get specimen 4-40."

Roppi flared with unbridled rage. He lunged for Shingen, however, Izaya stepped in between them. Izaya didn't want Shingen dead, and he had no confidence that Roppi wouldn't rip his throat out where he stood. They were just supposed to threaten him, after all.

Roppi stopped himself, although he still slammed into Izaya fairly hard. The informant cringed but didn't say anything.

"He wouldn't be remaining with you." Izaya stated. "If we agree to this, it'll be nothing more than a physical, and he'll be returning after a few hours like any doctor's examination."

"I don't know if my boss—"

"Shingen-san, this isn't up for debate. Roppi is not going back in a cage, and he is more than wiling to kill anyone who wants to keep him separated from his child. He's as strong as Heiwajima Shizuo and has centuries worth of battle experience. Mixed with the Awakusu-Kai, I don't think the private security at Nebula will stand a chance. Either you agree to these terms, or we'll take the other child by force."

Shingen didn't say anything for a long time. He then let out a heavy sigh.

"...I hear what you're saying." The masked man crossed his arms. "Alright, alright. I'll talk to my superiors."

"No, you're going to take us to that facility now." Roppi said, glaring at him over Izaya's shoulder. "And you can let your boss know when we get there that this is happening."

"Now, lets be reasonable. I—"

"Reasonable is giving you a chance at all."

"Shingen-san, you're not going to be able to convince him otherwise." Izaya stated. "This is his child, after all."

Shingen groaned in obvious annoyance. "...Alright."


Character concept for Derlik:

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