I sigh as soon as I catch sight of where Mayu is. Normal kids like running around and screaming at this stage, but for Mayu it is a little bit different. She likes to run around and climb whatever is taller than me, but she neither screams not yells, not even when she falls down and dissolves into a pile of dust.

Everything is the same for today. Mayu somehow manages to climb to the highest railing of the windows and cannot figure out a way to climb down without breaking herself.

Which means she is stuck.

She pokes her head outside the curtains, her face blank with no expression at all. The light makes her hair look greener than usual, but otherwise she look perfectly fine, at least to me.

I clap my hands. 'C'mon, Mayu,' I say. 'Grab the curtains and slide down. It's easy.' Even though I don't expect her to follow my words.

She cocks her head to one side. Okay, then. I grab hold of the curtain and give it a swing. 'Just like this, Mayu, I'll catch you.' I roll up my sleeves, showing my visually not-so-strong biceps. I doubt if she believes in me, but she always jumps.

But obviously not this time. Instead, she snaps her gaze towards the door and yelled, 'Daaaaaaaaaddyyyyyy!'

I turn and find Tochiro walking towards me holding a baby in his arms. He doesn't seem to hear his daughter, because he walks straight up to me. 'Here Harlock,' says he with a grin which nearly splits his face into half, 'you wanna hold her? You're her godfather!'

I frown, looking between the baby and the girl on the railing. Finally I decide to choose the older one. 'But isn't you daughter…' I point a finger upward, '...up…' he looks at me with a shocked expression, therefore I turn and find a fully-armed Mayu, '...there…?'

My gaze go back to Tochiro, and immediately a bullet goes through his head. The baby dissolved into a pile of dust, and blood spills out from the wound.

I do not expect this to happen. The body lands with a loud thump, and at the same time the door squeaks open, revealing a slender, luminous form.

No. Don't.

'Miime don't!' I run towards her, but then something heavy strikes my back hard, and then my head hit the floor. From my blurry vision I see a pair feet walking slowly towards Miime, and some unseen forces are bounding my limbs, keeping me pinned onto the floor. The alien tries to run, but the door slams shut and she freezes cold. I hear a soft thump on the floor again. I want to scream, want to stand up, want to fight, but I can do nothing.

Why, Mayu, why?

'Don't.'

I smack the glass onto the table. I have lost count of how much I have drunk, but judge from the number of drunken men around me, I guess I have had a lot.

'You'll be payin', wontcha?' the bartender asks. Ah, I almost forget. I'm here not just to drink.

'Not unless,' I stand up from my place. The stoll falls down and his a person's head, but I don't care, 'you tell me where I can find poaceae nihility.'

'G'luck wi' you, girl. Last time I saw it was on the walls of the 'alley.'

'When was it?' I ask. The grass only grow on this planet. If it is gone as well, then I don't have long to finish my mission.

'Just yesterday, girl. You aren't trying to pick it? It's impossible, y'know, dissolving right under your fingertips.'

'Oh really?' I knock down another glass of whatever he poured for me and slam it onto the table. He looks far more than a little bit shocked. Some very heavy liquor, I assume. I unfold a knife from my pocket and nail it deep inside the wood. The bartender's chin is already on the ground, and his eyes are larger than flamingo eggs.

'This is my payment.' I stand up, avoiding the bodies on the floor. 'Gaia Sanction will reward you further.'

I exited the bar before he can ask me more questions.

The only solution to nihilium is nihilium itself.

Floating in midair, I detatch a bomb from my belt, pull the security plug away and throw it accurately onto the purplish black grass.

They shouldn't be here. It should only exist on Niflheim, but somehow, they manage to grow here on a densely populated human colony planet.

I float a few metres backward. The shock waves hit me hard, but I manage to stay still in the air.

No chance for you, Harlock.