"Wait, but I want to come with!" Delic called. "I need to—"

"You don't need to do anything." Roppi said, tapping the blonde's chest in comfort. "You've already done enough to help your brother. Let your mother take care of the rest."

"But I—"

"I know. I understand, I really do. But it's okay."

"No, you don't! I abandoned him, for three years! I—"

"Out of everyone in here, I understand that feeling the most. In the height of battle, I've also abandoned my brothers in arms. The guilt...it eats away at you. Every time you close your eyes, you see their face. But understand, Delic, you've done all you can, all you need to do. If things don't go well, I'm ready to kill to get your brother out. You don't need to be apart of that. I can take it from here."

"Height of battle...Are you a soldier?"

"I was."

"When?"

"Name a time," Roppi chuckled. "I've been around for centuries, so believe me, I know what I'm talking about. So, please, Delic, just get into the taxi with your siblings and take them to the address I sent you. There, you'll meet two other siblings of yours, Sakuraya and Shitsuo."

Delic glowered with confliction. Then he cast his gaze to the side with a heavy sigh. "Alright."

Roppi smiled. "Thank you."

The raven stepped up on his tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He then knelt down in front Hibiya and Tsuki. The two were holding hands, Tsuki shying behind Hibiya.

"I want you two to behave for Delic, alright?" Roppi said, grabbing Hibiya and Tsuki's hand. "He's taking you to the warehouse. So be good, okay?"

"Okay!" Hibiya called then looked up at Delic. "I'll show you all the cool places in the warehouse! And my secret spot! But it's a secret, so you can't tell anyone, got it?!"

Delic held back a laugh. "Got it."

"Don't laugh! This is serious!"

"You're right, you're right, little prince. I'm sorry."

Hibiya glowered, his cheeks puffing with a bellow that he was trying to keep down.

"Alright, alright, go on, you two. Follow Delic." Roppi said, turning Hibiya and Tsuki around.

"This way, kiddos!" Delic gestured for them to follow.

Hibiya looked at Delic then at Roppi. The little raven rushed over and hugged Roppi. "See you in a bit, mother!"

Tsukishima copied his brothers movement and hugged Roppi as well. "L-love you, papa."

"Love you too. I won't be gone long."

"Okay!" Hibiya separated and rushed over to Delic, grabbing his hand. "You're going to like the warehouse! It's so cool and there's a big tank for us to swim and play!"

"Really?" Delic got into the taxi, shimmying over to let Hibiya in after.

Tsukishima was reluctant, but he let Roppi go and followed as well. Soon enough, the two kids were in the car with their adult brother. Roppi stood and waved good-bye as the taxi drove off. Roppi then turned to Izaya, who stood by Shingen.

"Alright, let's go."


"Hey," A man in a labcoat said, "have you finished compiling the notes yet?"

"Not yet." A man with black hair replied, dressed in a white long sleeve with a red outline for a v-neck, black pants, and a white-and-red haori. "I'll be done in a bit. By the way, where's the laundry room?"

"Why?"

"I was asked by one of the others to take that cart of fabrics down to the laundry room." The raven pointed.

Across the room was a rectangular hamper by the barred fish tank—where inside sat a blond-haired mermaid with a bright red fish tail.

"I was told it's on the way to the car park," The raven said, "So, I wouldn't have to go out of my way to put it in the laundry room."

"Oh, yeah, it is. Its the door right next to the car park door on this floor."

"Cool beans, thank you!"

The scientist chuckle at the childish response. "You're welcome. When you finish the notes, just go ahead and put them in my dropbox."

"Will do."

The scientist waved goodbye before exiting the room. Finally alone, the raven let his hands rest on the typesetter where he was compiling his notes. He turned his chair to look at the mermaid. He stood and walked over.

The raven knelt down in front of the barred tank. The mermaid, having a muzzle over his mouth and two metal contraptions over his hands, looked at him before turning fully. He put his metal gloves on the glass as gently as he could.

"I got the keys earlier." The raven whispered, putting his hands on the glass over the mermaids. "Just a little bit longer, alright?"

The mermaid nodded.


"Frankly, Shingen-sensei, you didn't have a right to make this kind of deal." The man behind the desk said. "Specimen 4-40 was raised in this facility."

"He was stolen from me at birth!" Roppi yelled.

"We bought him fairly from Nanasaki."

"You kidnapped my baby before I could even name him!"

"Nanasaki never specified the details of how he obtained the specimens. He stated he had them and didn't want to have them anymore, however didn't want to release them since they wouldn't survive in the wild without their mother. Which is why I am reluctant to release specimen 4-40 now. To suddenly give him away to a parent he doesn't know wouldn't be the right choice for him. He's lived in captivity all his life, so he wouldn't survive in the wild."

"He's not a motherfucking animal, you worthless cunt!" Roppi slammed his hands on the desk, the wood caving in around his fists. "He's far smarter than any of your shitty scientists and will live twice as long as any of you daft cunts!"

The man looked down at his desk, staring wide-eyed at the craters.

"You don't fucking get to keep him any longer! I'm willing to come to this dumb compromise, but if you want to try and stop me, I'll tear this whole building down to the very foundation—and I'll make sure there will be no survivors. Tell me, is one monster life worth the hundreds of human lives in this facility?"

The man didn't answer.

"As you can see," Shingen stated, "He's not filled with empty threats. We don't really have a choice in the matter. Either we agree to this compromise with a mermaid who has far more knowledge about his species than the two we had and have, or we lose everything in this facility."

"How are you able to do that?" The superior asked, looking up at Roppi. He showed no fear, only interest. "The specimen's couldn't do that."

"Yes, they could. They just never knew they could, so they never tried." Roppi crossed his arms. "As a child, a mermaid is able to use their supernatural strength when they turn six or seven. However, their little bodies can't handle that kind of strain to their muscles and bones, so they'll go through numerous broken bones and damaged muscles."

"Fascinating." The man said, tenting his hands under his chin. "What else can they do that we didn't know?"

Roppi glowered as he crossed his arms. "Why the fuck should I tell you anything if you won't agree to the terms of the deal?"

The man was silent, staring at Roppi. He was obviously contemplating his options. He stared for a very, very long time, long enough that Roppi was going to yell at him to decide. However, he didn't have to as the man finally spoke.

"Alright...I concede." The man nodded. "So long as you hold up your end of this agreement."

"I don't go back on my word." Roppi growled. "You have my word, staked on my honor that so long as everything is humane, I won't back out of this deal."

"But that means," Izaya interjected, "That everything you do to Roppi has to be with his consent. If you go against him for any reason at anytime, he has a right to null-and-void this deal."

"Yeah, that mean's no fucking autopsies." Roppi's lip pulled back in a snarl.

"...I'm sure we can agree on that." The man said, although his gaze took on a dark look. Izaya didn't trust that at all.

And apparently, neither did Roppi.

"And let me add to the deal." The mermaid said, "If you decide to double-cross me at any point—that means drugging me, trying to hold me in this facility permanently, or go after my kids again, I'll eat you."

The man cocked a brow.

"Mermaids are as carnivorous as sharks." Roppi leaned forward, resting his hands on the table as popping happened in his mouth. "What's more, I have two stomach and I can puke up my top stomach just like a shark can. Which means, I can eat a full grown man in an hour at most. I have eaten a full grown man in an hour at most. I actually ate him mother, then I moved on to his son. I was still in the process of disemboweling him when his father walked in."

His eyes widened.

"So, understand, if you decided to violate our deal, violate your honor against mine, then you'll be the first one I kill. And I'll make sure to eat you alive."

The man didn't respond. He didn't make any visible facial expressions, however, Izaya saw that his hands were shaking.

"So, then," Roppi sat upright, a smile crossing his face, so his shark teeth were clearly visible. "Do we have an accord?"

Roppi held his hand out.

The head of the facility hesitated. He then exhaled heavily and stood from his chair. His hand reach out and gripped Roppi's.

"We're understood." He said.

The shark teeth disappeared, receding back into his gums.

"Good." Roppi let his hand go and looked over to Shingen. "Where's my kid?"

"This way." Shingen gestured for them to go to the door.

Roppi and Izaya followed Shingen as he led them out of the office. They went down the hall until they made it to an elevator. Shingen pushed the button and waited. Soon enough, the lift arrived, and they all got on. The doctor pushed the button for one of the lower levels and off they went.

"Does he have a name?" Roppi asked, looking at the door.

"We only called him Specimen 4-40."

"I'm not calling him that."

"Well, then you can give him a name when you see him."

Roppi growled.

The rest of the ride was in complete silence. Luckily, the elevator came to a stop at their floor. A moment later the doors opened. The trio walked out with Shingen in the lead. Onward they went down the hall, passing multiple doors. About five minutes later, they came to a stop in front of the door on the right. He pulled out a keycard and held it up to a reading pad by the door. The door opened.

Shingen stepped in. Roppi was right behind him with Izaya taking the rear. On their left was a desk with a typesetter and blank pieces of papers on it. In the middle of the room was a tank with bars across the glass and lid. Although it was still plane to see that there was a person inside. A red fin, pale skin and a mop of blond hair, there was no doubt this was Roppi's child.

Except Roppi was resonating. Not a tears could be seen. That made Roppi clench and rage fill his chest.

"What the fuck are you playing at?" Roppi hissed.

"What?" Shingen looked at him.

Roppi grabbed the chest of his shirt, lifting the masked man off the ground.

"What the fuck is this?!" Roppi yelled, his teeth popping. "You think you can trick me with a fucking look-alike?!"

Izaya stepped around them and walked over to the tank.

"Yeah, obviously you didn't fucking know this, but it's not unnatural for mermaids to drift away from their family. The ocean's big, after all, and if the parent is under attack, we'll send the kids away from the fight, so they don't get caught in it. Shit happens, you know?"

Izaya knelt down so he could get a better look in the tank.

"We can go literal decades without seeing our siblings and parents. But because it's not that uncommon, we mermaids developed this biological adaptation we call a 'resonate'. When we come in contact with someone who shares our blood, we start crying uncontrollably. Our chest gets tight and its a little hard to breathe."

"Eh, well that's very interesting but why—"

"So, I know for a fucking fact that isn't my kid!" Roppi started shaking him. "You think you can fucking trick me?! You—"

"Um, Roppi." Izaya voiced.

The mermaid looked at him.

"If it makes you feel any better, this isn't even a mermaid."

"...Excuse you?" Roppi dropped the scientist.

Shingen landed on his rump, groaning. Roppi walked over to Izaya.

"This is a doll." Izaya said. "Pretty shabbily done too."

"What?!" Shingen pushed himself up.

The masked man rushed over and looked into the tank. He then grabbed his keys and went through them until he found the right one. He unlocked the tank and opened it.

The 'mermaid' didn't move. Roppi took off his coat and dropped it on the ground. His shirt quickly followed. He then reached into the the tank. Roppi had to bend completely forward, submerging his head and most of his torso into the water. He grabbed the 'mermaid' and pulled it up.

"It is a doll," Roppi said, shaking his head to get his wet bangs out of his face. "What the fuck is this?"

Roppi pulled the wet doll out and dropped it on the floor. Water flowed from its cloth body to soak the floor in seconds. The doll was certainly shabby, like Izaya said. The stitches were already coming apart thanks to the water and were very obvious. It was not professionally done, that was for certain. The blond hair was patches of fake fur either super glued or hot glued on and the red fin was just a red blanket with drawn on scales. A lot of the ink had run so most of it was faded now. Around its hands were the metal mittens and over its mouth was the metal muzzle. They could also see in its chest was a pocket with the metal mouth guard.

"What's going on?" Roppi growled, looking at Shingen.

The scientist quickly turned his head, looking left and right. The room was certainly empty, so Izaya wasn't sure what he was looking for. He then quickly turned and ran out of the room.

"Hey!" Roppi yelled, giving chase.

Izaya grabbed Roppi's shirt and jacket before following.

Shingen stepped out and looked down the hall.

"Odashi...!"

"Wait, Shingen-san," Izaya started, "Where's the mermaid?"

"One second!"

Shingen made haste down the hall from where they came from, Izaya and Roppi following.

"Oi, what the fucks going on?!" Roppi yelled. "What'd you do with my kid?!"

Shingen didn't answer. He ran nonstop until he came to a door on the left, close to the elevator. He opened the door without a pause.

"Odashi!" Shingen yelled.

The man at the desk jolted. "Wha—Shingen-sensei, what—"

"Why is specimen 4-40 out of containment?"

"Wha—!"

"I thought we agreed that specimen 4-40 wasn't allowed to leave containment anymore, not after he choked out the intern!"

"I didn't let him out!" The man stood.

"Then who did?! He's not in his tank!"

"Are you saying you coincidentally lost my fucking kid?!" Roppi yelled, grabbing Shingen by his white lab coat.

"Roppi, wait!" Izaya gripped his shoulder. "Benefit of the doubt for a moment."

"Benefit of the doubt my ass! He—"

Odashi grabbed his phone from the landline and hit a single number. He put it to his ear.

"Lock down the facility!" The man said into the phone. "We have a subject out of containment. We need to do a key check now."

There was a short response on the other end before he hung the phone up. He then came around the desk.

"Visitors should leave for now." Odashi said. "We—"

"Yeah fucking right!" Roppi yelled before he began to shake Shingen. "You planned this, didn't you?! You sent them some kind of fucking message to move my kid, so I'd have to leave without him!"

"Wait, wait, wait, this is purely coincidental! Purely coincidental!"

"Coincidental my fucking ass!"

"Sir, stop!" The other scientist yelled, grabbing Roppi's shoulder. "Who are you? What are you even doing here?"

"This is the mermaid that birth subject 4-20 and 4-40." Shingen stated.

The man's eyes widened. "Wha—wait, so you're a mermaid too?"

"Damn right I am!" Roppi growled, glaring at him. "And this motherfucker—"

"Wait, Roppi!" Izaya pulled on Roppi's arm. "Stop and think for a second. There'd be no benefit for them to do this! Immediately going back on the deal after you made it apparent you're going to kill everyone in the facility is not something an intelligent person would do!"

Odashi's eyes stretched wide.

Roppi let Shingen go to turn to Izaya fully. "No, but it is something a greedy person fueled by the pheromone's of a mermaid would do!"

"You and the pheromones, why are you being so paranoid about them all of a sudden?!"

"Why are you taking them so lightly?!"

"Why are you taking them so seriously when you told me to take them lightly?!"

"Don't put words in my mouth!"

"I'm not! You said it yourself months ago!"

"As if I can be held accountable for something I said months ago! What are you, a woman?!"

"That's rich, coming from the woman who is obviously PMSing."

"I am not PMSing, you cunt!"

"Well, you're certainly in a mood!"

"I'll fucking throat punch you!"

"Stop—"

"I really don't want to get in the middle of your lover's spat," Shingen started, "but this is not what's important right now."

Roppi glared at him.

"I'm being honest when I say I didn't 'warn' anyone about your arrival. Nor did we move specimen 4-40. He's far too dangerous to just move willy-nilly like this. We would have needed to tranquilize him—which means feeding him, not using a needle. He won't hold still long enough for us to use a needle on him. This was not planned."

"It is entirely possible that this was done by someone spurred on the pheromone's, but that means one person took him, not a group effort. If that's the case, then they most-definitely kidnapped him from the facility."

Roppi's glared at Izaya, his lip pulled back in a snarl. He then growled an inhuman growl.

"...Fine. Fine!" Roppi crossed his arms and glared at Shingen. "Fuck it. Maybe you're not lying. But if you fucking think I'm going to leave when someone took my kid, then you're fucking high."

Shingen nodded then gestured for him to follow. "We'll go to the security room. See if the camera's picked anything up."

The mermaid growled again.

"Roppi, listen to him." Izaya said, touching his arm. "I'm more confident that this is foul play by someone outside of the facility." The informant looked at Shingen. "Was the mermaid pregnant?"

"Absolutely not." The other scientist said. "The specimen was a male."

"Mermaid's are hermaphroditic." Izaya looked at him. "In human form they only have one, but in mermaid form they have both genders."

"Delic wasn't hermaphroditic." Roppi reminded. "So, there's no doubt his brother wasn't either."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Either both would be or neither would be. It doesn't split like that."

Izaya nodded.

"Even if he was," Odashi said, "He is still completely virginal. We wouldn't allow anyone to do such a thing to him."

"Oh, please!" Roppi growled. "You put Delic through a live autopsy. Why wouldn't I believe someone fiddled with them?"

"Because you're thinking of your ex-husband." Izaya growled. "Remember, Shingen stated that when the boys pheromone's fluxed, all male personnel were removed from the floor, and only females were around. If you son's not virginal, it was with a female only—which doesn't change that he wouldn't be pregnant right now."

"Why the fuck are you defending a bunch of abusers?!"

"Because you're accusing them for things they didn't do. They're scientists. Not perverts."

Roppi opened his mouth to argue, however, Odashi spoke first.

"We wouldn't allow any female personnel's to do that either. Nor would we allow the specimen's to try and force themselves on anyone. Specimen 4-40 was more volatile than his brother. 4-20 earned walking privileges because he was civil and...well, practically human with his behavior. Specimen 4-40, on the other hand, would get very violent if something went array. He is usually docile, but say, if someone was late with lunch or the water wasn't cleaned fast enough, he lashes out. Because of that, he doesn't get let out of his tank very often. So, unless one of our female personnel's is brave enough to have sex underwater, he should be completely virginal."

Izaya nodded and looked at Roppi. "This doesn't rule out Yodojiri."

Shingen perked to the name. Izaya didn't miss that.

"He could be trying to do to Rubi what he did to you. Since all your other children were either missing or under my custody, this child was the only one he could go for. And he wouldn't know that this one isn't hermaphroditic."

Roppi didn't answer, only glared.

"Walk and talk." Shingen said.

Izaya nodded and held Roppi's clothes out to him. He was mostly dry now so it wouldn't be a problem for him to put on his clothes. Roppi took them harshly. He put on his shirt, then his coat as they left the office. They headed down the hall with Shingen in the lead, Odashi second and Roppi and Izaya trailing behind them..

"Do you think Yodojiri has connections within Nebula?" Roppi asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised. He seemed to have a hand in every basket."

"If that's the case, the camera's may not show anything. He may have bugged the system."

"If that were the case, security would have been aware of it before we were." Odashi stated. "They would have seen the bug."

"Unless security was paid off."

"If we could hire people that easy, we wouldn't be a world renowned company."

"Oh, please, every world renowned company has its shadows."

The scientist didn't respond.

"What does Yodojiri want?" Shingen asked.

Roppi looked at him. Izaya noticed that he didn't question who Yodojiri was and from the expression on Roppi's face, he noticed it as well.

"Don't worry about it." Roppi growled. "Once I get my kid, it's not of your concern."

"Well, if your kid was kidnapped, then we'll need to work together to find him."

"No we won't. Izaya and I can find him just fine on our own."

"We're obligated to help because of our deal."

"If I find my son without your help then our deal is null-and-void, isn't it?"

Shingen stopped in his tracks. "Then I guess you don't want to use the security camera's, since we have no obligation to help."

Roppi didn't answer, glaring.

"He wants a mermaid child." Izaya stated, "After all, mermaids are fully grown by the end of the year and if you raise them, they can be a personal, completely loyal bodyguard."

"Ah, so that's why you asked if specimen 4-40 was pregnant."

Izaya nodded. "Yodojiri would just need to keep him long enough for the child to be born, but if not, he's going to have to impregnate him itself. And considering what happened with Roppi, he'll need to find someone willing to do that since he won't do it himself."

"Which won't be hard." Roppi growled, "There's plenty of perverts around."

'He is in a mood.' Izaya thought, but allotted not to say that aloud.

"But Yodojiri doesn't know Specimen 4-40 is a male." Shingen stated.

"More so, he doesn't know that he's not hermaphroditic. Roppi is, after all, and so was Roppi's son, Sakuraya—who was pregnant but unfortunately lost the baby due to physical trauma."

The group of four entered the elevator. Shingen pressed the button to one of the top levels.

"What will this Yodojiri do when he finds out Specimen 4-40 isn't hermaphroditic?" Odashi asked.

Izaya shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe he'll get rid of him. Or maybe he'll convince him to impregnate a woman."

Izaya looked at Roppi.

"Will a 3/4th human mermaid still age like a normal mermaid?"

"Yes, but there is a chance it'll skip their general." Roppi said, arms crossed and glaring at the ground. "Very low chance, but still plausible. For that to be out of the question entirely, I'd need to be a great great grandfather."

"So, when the kids could potentially look like the father."

"Exactly."

Izaya nodded.

"What do you mean, 'kids could look like the father'?" Odashi asked.

Izaya opened his mouth to answer.

"No more fucking questions until we find my kid." Roppi growled. "Just everyone shut the fuck up already."

Odashi fell silent. The rest of the ride up was silent and tense. Luckily it wasn't much longer as they reached their destination, the fifth floor. They got off the lift and headed down the hall. They went all the way down to the end of the hall and banked left. They then stopped at the first door on the right. Shingen put his keycard to the scanner. It beeped and the door opened.

They entered the room. In front of them was a wall of TV monitors, each playing different cameras around the facility. Three men were sitting in front of those TV's. They all turned around to look at the group that entered.

"Hey, sensei's," One of them said, "So we can't find Specimen 4-40 on any of the camera's. We don't think he's in the facility anymore, but we do have a party searching the whole place, top to bottom."

"I've been rewinding the tapes and I think I found something." Another said and waved at them. "Come take a look."

The group of four walked over, Roppi in the lead. The security man cocked a brow.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it." Shingen said. "What did you find?"

The man stared for a moment, then nodded. He turned back to the TV screen. "So, about two hours ago, we had a little blip in the system. Camera B2 S2 had a system shut down for five minutes. We thought that was weird but then Camera L-15 also went out. S-2 is in the Specimen's room on the bottom level, while L-15 is the lobby on the fourth floor. Completely unrelated, so we assumed it was a simple hardware glitch and called in maintenance. They said they'd be down in the next three hours."

"We weren't too worried about it because it was a system reset, not a shutdown." Another security man said. "We assumed the reset timer for those camera's were set wrong since we were told there's be a system update later tonight."

"Right, so we didn't think much of it. Obviously, that's not the case anymore." The security man paused the video then pressed play. "So, watch here."

On the screen was a blond-haired mermaid with a fin that matched Tsukshima's in crimson hue. He was sitting in a tank with his restraints on. At the only desk in the room was a man in a red-and-white haori. He was typing on typesetter. Izaya had seen the device and thought it a novelty, but it turned out it was in use. The only other thing in the room was a big laundry hamper on wheels, filled with white sheets and lab coats. The man seemed to finish what he was typing as he stood. He compiled the notes together in a nice stack, then went about putting them in an envelope. He put his hand in his pocket, in which a second later the camera went black.

"So, the camera went down here."

The man hit fast-forward then pressed play when the image came back. Now in the tank was the shabby dummy, laying against the bottom of the tank as if sleeping. From the camera's perspective, it actually looked quite convincing. Izaya wouldn't know it was a fake if not for the fact that he had seen it earlier. The bars around the tank and the distance from the camera made it hard to tell. The man was gone, along with the huge hamper filled with white linens.

"So, it was Kurashi-kun." Shingen stated. "That makes no sense. He hadn't taken an interest in Speciemen 4-40."

"Who is that?" Izaya asked.

"Kurashi Toudaimoto. He's a journalist/writer we hired to compile our notes on the specimen. Since many of us have made notes on 4-40 over the years, a lot of our notes may not match or were repetition of each others. So, we hired someone with a Literature and Writing Major to combine all of our notes for us. It's about seven years worth of information from about eight or nine scientists to put in chronological order. He's been working with us for the last year now."

"That's the intern Specimen 4-40 assaulted." Odashi said. "After that, he asked if he could compile his notes in the room with the specimen. Said he didn't want to be scared of it and that it motivated him to get the notes done faster if he could see the thing they were talking about."

"We didn't question it at the time. We just took him as an eccentric. After all, when 4-40 attacked him, he was smiling the whole time and tried to talk sense into him. He defended himself, sure, but only to ward him off, not to attack him back."

"Kurashi-kun was the last one in the room." The security man said. "It had to have been him. Here he is on camera B2-H4."

The Kurashi man was walking down the hall, pushing the white hamper on wheels.

"The laundry room is the room right next to the elevator, but he bypasses it completely."

The security room clicked a button that changed the camera angle again. Sure enough the man was telling the truth as Kurashi walked pass the laundry room and kept going down. He came to the last door on the hall.

"That's the door to the car park. The basement levels connect directly to the car park—we have two floors of parking lots. That's the door we use when we get deliveries."

Kurashi went to that door, used his keycard to open it, and pushed opened the door. He pulled the cart through. The camera changed again to show an underground parking lot. He struggled to keep control of the cart as it went down the ramp. It was obviously heavy, but control it he did and pulled it over to the side. He pulled the cart up behind a van. The camera couldn't see what he was doing from its angle, thanks to the giant company van in the way. He was messing with something on the other side of the vehicle. They could barely see through the passenger and driver-side window that there was a small red car on the other side.

Kurashi was out of sight for a little over five minutes. He then came back into view, pulling the cart back up the ramp. He didn't struggle with it this time as he made it to the door with ease. He went about going back down the hall and went into the laundry room. He dropped off the basket, left the room, went back to the car park, and got into his car.

The next few minutes was the camera switching between different angles of the car park, following the red car all the way up. There was no one in the passenger seat and it looked like there was no one in the back seat either. It would be hard to hide the seven-foot tall, bright red mermaid, especially in that tiny car.

"I'm not sure if he's the one who stole the specimen." One of the security man said. "He certainly stole something but if he had the specimen, the guys at the front gate would have stopped him."

"He put him in the trunk." Izaya stated.

They all looked up at him.

"That's the only logical conclusion. How else would he hide him?"

No one answered him.

Kurashi made it to the exit gates, showed his exit pass to the gatekeeper who shined a flashlight into his car to make sure he wasn't taking anything—which the camera showed that there was nothing but him in the car. The gatekeeper bid him a good day and off Kurashi went. The last camera angle was outside of the facility, watching him go left onto the road.

"Nebula's private security is already putting an IEB out for Kurashi-kun's car." A different security man said.

"Shingen-kun," Izaya said, "Your office has a computer, right?"

"Of course."

"Good. Let's go there then."

Shingen stared for a moment before nodding. "Alright." He then looked to the security man. "If anything changes give us a call."

"Will do." the man said.

With that, Izaya, Roppi, and Shingen left the room. Odashi allotted to stay for whatever reason, so the three were left alone as they walked.

"I'm assuming Yodojiri has been giving your grief." Shingen stated.

"Not as much as he could." Izaya replied. "He's not coming after Roppi, luckily, but that's obviously because I'm standing between them."

"So, what's your partners story?" Shingen pointed to Roppi. "How did you come across a mermaid?"

"How did you come across a mermaid?"

"Heh, you already know. We bought them from a man named Nanasaki Yoroshi. He came to us with an offer. Said he had some prime specimen's that he needed to get rid of and didn't want to release to the wild since they wouldn't survive without their mother. We didn't really care for his reasoning. After proving they were genuine mermaid, we bought them for a hefty sum. And that's all she wrote on the matter."

"You never questioned where the mother was."

"We did. He stated it died in childbirth."

A hiss bubbled in Roppi's throat as he clenched his teeth hard. "Fucking lying sack of shit..."

Shingen looked at him. "Obviously that's not the case."

"That's right, it's not the fucking case."

"Roppi was enslaved for the last 12 years." Izaya stated. "He had many kids, but Nanasaki didn't want to have more than one mermaid to worry about since they're man-eaters. Then he didn't want to worry about mermaids in general and sold me Roppi."

"Why'd you buy him? Are you going to use him for the war?"

Roppi cast him a side-long glance.

"That's not my intention right now, no." Izaya stated. "Simply put, I just wanted to study him. If I didn't take him, he would have surely died anyway. And it turned out he wasn't just a dumb beast, so it went from there."

"Heh, yeah." Roppi growled. "Went from wanting to study me to fucking me. Great improvement."

Izaya stopped in his tracks to look at him. Roppi glared at him.

"Okay, what is your problem right now?" Izaya hissed.

"Other than the fact that my kid's missing and you seem to be more concerned with humanizing his abusers."

"Stop deciding what I'm thinking. I'm not humanizing anyone."

"Bullshit. You're literally making small talk with the guy who cut my child open!"

"Roppi, this is Shinra's dad. I've known him since I was in high school."

"Wow, good to know you were a piece of shit all the way back then."

Izaya glowered. He then let out a heavy sigh and kept walking. Roppi was obviously looking for a fight, so it wasn't worth even trying to defend himself against him. He'll just have to give Roppi space and leave him alone.

Izaya walked up to Shingen, who stopped to wait for them.

"Let's go."

Onward they walked with Roppi trailing behind them. Soon enough, they arrived to the elevator, where they went down to the basement level. There were two basement levels, but they didn't go to the one that the blond's tank was at. They went to the first basement floor instead.

Shingen led the way through the hallway with no conversation. Soon enough, they were to his office. The scientist wasted no time turning on his computer and signing in. Once done, he gestured for Izaya to do as he would. The informant sat down in his chair and got to work making his own IEB—one that would certainly get results faster.