LIBERI FATALIS: The Therianthrope Chronicles

by Eddie-E

A crossover between Ace Combat, Katmandu and another, surprise famous furry comic. A Japanese scientist during the onset of World War II in Europe devises a groundbreaking theory of evolution whose effects will resonate not only on Earth but also throughout the universe for centuries to come. Rated M for language and mature situations.

9. HIROSHIMA

ACT IX: HIROSHIMA

---

If you're going through hell, keep going.

Winston Churchill

---

-"Where the hell am I?"-

Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu was in this scene in a completely dark place, with no trees, no people, no buildings of any kind, no life...

-"My God, I think I'm having another one of those weird dreams I've had for years."- The Japanese scientist wondered himself, completely aware he is inside on a dream, a very unusual dream. -"Now what kind of place am I in right now?"-

Komatsu began to look around, and he could see absolutely nothing that could be clearly identified. A very strange thing about that place was that his voice did not seem to have any kind of echo, as if he was in a closed place with objects around it that could absorb his voice, but Komatsu could see nothing but his own body.

-"Hello? Is anyone here?"-

The scientist's words found no answer and literally no echo in that very empty place where he was.

Suddenly, Komatsu saw something extremely unusual that was in front of him: He saw a silhouette of what appeared to be a child about five to seven years old, which was ten paces from where he was...

-"What? A child?"-

But there was something that began to disturb the scientist greatly, and that was the fact that the boy had rabbit ears, something that for Komatsu had a more than an obvious connotation...

-"Since when am I starting to dream about Alice in Wonderland?"-

But Komatsu, like Alice in the aforesaid tale, decided to follow the rabbit boy to where he was going, in order to know what he was dreaming about and what his meaning might be. One could say if he was lucky, maybe he'd end up in Wonderland just like Alice and that little bunny was the white rabbit from the famous Lewis Carrol's eponymous tale.

But the Japanese scientist, instead of finding what appeared to be some kind of rabbit hole where that boy had gone, that rabbit kid, suddenly and without warning, disappeared from Komatsu's sight, leaving him speechless and bewildered.

-"What...the...hell...?"-

Faced with this mysterious situation that presented itself to him, Komatsu can only scratch his head and tried to analyze what was happening to him. Clearly, what he was witnessing was not a gratuitous literary allusion out of his imagination, but something that had some kind of deeper meaning for him.

But since the six years he has been dreaming of all those bizarre images involving some kind of humanoid-looking animal since he worked in Germany to date, Komatsu has not been able to deduce their meaning, other than other events that the young doctor had suffered since the beginning of the war, including his expulsion from both the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene and Unit 731 in Manchukuo, and now he had ended up back in his native Japan in an almost humiliating way. Though considering what he heard and saw there, for Komatsu being able to get out of that nightmarish hellhole was something that at least justified returning home.

Before he could digress any further, a white light appeared from nowhere in front of him, and the young scientist decided to go in that direction, in order to find some kind of way out of that mysterious place where he was.

-"Well, if I decide to go into that light, maybe I'll find my way out of this hole by now."-

In effect, as Komatsu headed towards that light, he seemed to be going to another place, except that place was not what he expected it to be, but something else more familiar for him...

---

April 10th, AD 1944, Downtown Hiroshima, Komatsu Family Apartment, Hiroshima, Japan, 10:00 AM

Indeed, as he opened his eyes, Yoshinori Komatsu realized that it was another of those dreams he had had for years, something that was beginning to frustrate him greatly. Not only were those bizarre nightmares beginning to screw his general state of mind, but even as he tried to understand its meaning, he could not find a satisfactory explanation for all that mysterious and even troubling paraphernalia of images, all of which had the same underlying theme: the manifestation of anthropomorphic animals.

Did all those nightmares have something to do with his life's work, his famous theory that had been rejected by many scientists both in his country and in Europe? Or were they the product of post-traumatic stress disorder due to the traumatic events in both Germany and China, along with Dr. Kazama's suicide, who decided to kill himself in front of Komatsu? And above all, why did many of his colleagues seem to disagree with his work? Was it professional jealousy or a genuine concern that his work was hiding really strange or sinister motives? Although Komatsu himself had made it clear on countless occasions that his theory had practical aims and that he had no hidden motives, beyond helping humanity at the time when it might be urgently needed, no one seems to be conviced on his words.

Perhaps his theory had some bellicose aims, but it was not very different from other similar theories, and did not involve human beings in any way, compared to what he observed in Unit 731 in Manchukuo. However, creating soldiers from animals was more practical than doing the same with people, and he wasn't the only one thinking about it, at least at the time. Moreover, providing intelligence to inferior species would be very useful in other fields of science, such as neurology, psychology, zoology, biology, etc., due to the great amount of useful information about the mysteries of intelligence that still remain hidden from humanity.

-"Yoshinori! Breakfast is ready!"-

-"I'm coming, mom!"-

But before he could figure that out, he had to eat something first because he couldn't think of anything useful with an empty stomach...

Once at the table, Komatsu saw what his mother had served him for breakfast that day: Sashimi, Bratwurst, smoked fish and many other seafood products. Thanks to the salary of his father, who was a veterinarian, and his salary as a school professor, along with his contacts in the Imperial Japanese Army, allowed the Komatsus to live a better life than many of their compatriots at that time, due to war and scarcity of food.

But despite all those privileges regarding food, there was only one thing that Yoshinori Komatsu refused to eat outright...

-"Yoshinori, you didn't seem to eat that Bratwurst..."-

-"I think I've told you before, but I don't eat meat anymore since a few years ago, mom."-

-"Oh, my, I forgot about that! I'm sorry if I bothered you by serving you that, since I thought it would bring back memories of your time in Germany."-

The young man grimaced as he heard about Germany and everything he remembered about his stay, especially the reasons why he was forced to leave that country.

-"Honestly, there's no way in hell I want to remember those days. It was quite unpleasant for me in many ways."-

Mitsuyo Komatsu, Yoshinori's mother, had forgotten for a few moments what her son had suffered in Europe, so her question sounded somewhat insensitive to him.

-"If I remember correctly, you had some problems with your seniors over there, didn't you?"-

The young scientist refused to answer that question. The very thought of the subject even made him nauseous, considering that the reason he was back in Japan had a lot to do with what had happened in Germany, along with what had happened in Manchukuo.

-"..."-

-"If I have to interpret your silence, I guess it wasn't a good idea for me to talk about it."-

-"The truth is that I don't want to talk about what happened to me in Germany, nor about what went wrong with me in China too. We had already agreed with Dad that I wouldn't want to discuss it."-

-"Well, I think you at least have your reasons for not talking about it."- The woman replied with a resigned face to her son. -"It must have been very hard for you to had to work for the government when you were there in Manchukuo after what happened in Frankfurt, right?"-

-"In a way, yes."-

-"I see."-

-"By the way, has Dad gone to work in his clinic yet?"-

-"Yes, he left very early for work."- Mitsuyo answered his question about his father. -"You know how much your father loves working with his animals, something you also inherited from him."-

-"Well, I had to pick something up from him in a way."- Yoshinori deviously smiled on that point about him.

Suddenly, the clock started ticking, indicating that it was 11 AM, about the time Yoshinori Komatsu had to go to work at the university...

-"Oh my god! I'm gonna be late for work!"- Yoshinori took his working gear and he gave a good-bye kiss to his mother. -"See you at home later, Mom."-

-"OK, See you, dear."-

Yoshinori Komatsu then left his department for the school where he was currently working.

---

April 10th, AD 1944, Shudo Junior and Senior High School, Hiroshima, Japan, 12:00 PM

-"All right, boys, class is over. Don't forget to do your homework at home and I expect the results tomorrow."-

-"THANK YOU, SIR!"-

The students bowed to their teacher and then left the classroom. That teacher was none other than Komatsu himself, who now worked as a school teacher at that private school in Hiroshima, one of the oldest and most prestigious in the city.

Komatsu got that job as a schoolteacher as a tacit agreement with the Japanese military authorities of the time in exchange for being able to continue his investigations in his thesis and not being arrested for the events that happened to him in Germany and Manchukuo. In exchange for his continued release, Komatsu was committed to discussing the progress of his research with the Imperial government and the military authorities who had control of the country, and he was to travel to Tokyo whenever requested to discuss the matter with his superiors in the Imperial capital. The young scientist felt at the time that his situation was similar to that of a kind of servitude in exchange for his freedom, or even his own life, and it was not for less: What Komatsu had done in Germany and China had caused great inconvenience to the Japanese government and the only reason he was still a free man was because the government still saw him as a useful asset for the purposes of war.

And with regard to the war, it was a more or less open secret, due to Komatsu's contacts with the Japanese military cadre, that the conflict was not going very well for Japan. There was a shortage of food on a daily basis, the government was resorting to suicidal methods, and anything that could be useful to the cause of the war, however absurd, ridiculous or even stupid it might be, among these was Komatsu's theory, was acceptable to the Imperial government. And as for him, Komatsu knew that his work was not yet ready for the prime time and above all, his theory was just that: a simple theory, or in other crude words, a wishful thinking at best.

And even among his colleagues in the same profession, Komatsu's theory was regarded as unbelievably unreal, absurd and even concealed ulterior motives even more darker than simply winning the war in favor of Japan or the other members of the Axis countries. And if we consider that even Hitler himself did not want to know anything about Komatsu's theory, it was because there was something that even a genocidal maniac like him was not even willing to accept.

-"Professor Komatsu, may I have a word with you for a moment?"-

-"Uh?"-

Those words came from Komatsu's superior at the school, Shiro Ueda, who was the high school biology teacher, and who had also finished his shift at the time.

-"What I can do for you, Mr. Ueda?"-

Ueda was a man in his 50s, with some gray hair and somewhat intimidating appearance, but compared to other superiors Komatsu dealt with in the last few years, he was a very kind and understanding person and despite the difference in age and status, they both had an excellent relationship. It helped a lot that, with the only exception of the school board, no one else knew why Komatsu worked there.

-"Since we both finished our shifts, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch with me at a restaurant, if you don't mind, obviously."-

Before Komatsu could open his mouth, his stomach began to growl conspicuously, making the obvious clear...

-"I don't think I can say "no" to that, sir."-

-"Well, in that case, let's go out for a decent meal."- Ueda replied to his junior. -"And don't worry about the expenses, the food's on me this time."-

-"Thank you, sir."-

-"Another thing, I'm going to pay the transport costs too. No problem with that?"-

-"No, sir."-

Once everything was decided, both teachers left the school, where a rickshaw that Ueda had ordered was parked outside the campus.

-"Mr. Ueda, if that' s not too much of an indiscretion on my part, where are we going to eat?- Komatsu asked to his senior, while riding the rickshaw. -"Do you have a place in mind?"-

-"Ummm..."- Ueda pondered for a few seconds. -"I heard there's a traditional restaurant near Ota River where the food is said to be very good. The owners are a very young couple who opened that restaurant just four years ago."

-"A young couple, you said?" -

-"Yes."- Ueda replied, while the rickshaw moved straight to the restaurant the man was talking about. -"The husband comes from a more or less wealthy family, and they even have a daughter who helps her parents in the restaurant from time to time."-

-"I see, sir."- Komatsu nodded. -"They must be a hard-working family, for I can see, although I don't know why a girl would be working on these things.-

-"That's right, and I agree with you on that one, but they need some extra help, and they don't have the money for paying an older employee for the task."-

And while the two men were arguing about the restaurant they were going to eat at, among other things, the rickshaw was moving towards downtown.

---

April 10th, AD 1944, Near Ota River, Hiroshima, Japan, 02:00 PM

After a long drive through the busy streets of Hiroshima via rickshaw, Komatsu and his superior managed to reach the traditional restaurant which was in front of the river. The place looked like it had been recently built, not many years after its inauguration, but its owners still took great care to give it an old, feudal look, compared to other restaurants in the same area, which had very notable western influences.

Upon entering the place, Komatsu and Ueda were greeted by what appeared to be a girl of approximately 10 years old, who bowed to her clients at the door.

-"Oh, welcome, gentlemen!"- The little girl greeted the men.

-"Greetings, Saeko. It's nice to see you again here."- Ueda also returned the greeting. -"Are your parents working right now?"-

-"Yeah, they're in the kitchen working right now."-

-"Good."-

-"By the way, Mr. Ueda, who is this man with you right now?" - The girl named Saeko asked Ueda about his junior.

-"Him? His name is Yoshinori Komatsu and he works as my junior in the school, Saeko."- Ueda happily added. -"He's also a veterinarian, and he worked abroad in Germany and China." -

-"Please, sir, you don't have to present me to her like this like I'm someone really important. I'm just a schoolteacher and nothing else."- Komatsu replied in grief to his superior's compliments, as he felt he did not yet deserve them.

-"Really sir? You must be a very important person then."-

Saeko, who was dressed in a deep blue yukata as part of her traditional attire as she worked in a typical Japanese restaurant, was listening carefully to what Komatsu had to say about the topic, but the young man felt somewhat awkward to speak about his achievements, partly because he doesn't like to talk about the topic and also, because most of his work was considered as top secret, he could not speak freely about his job anyway.

-"Well, let's just say I'm not that important, and let's just leave it at that, shall we, sweetie?"-

The girl was somewhat disappointed that she could not know more about Komatsu, something that was evident on her face.

-"All right, if you say so, sir..."-

But before she could continue the talk, a female voice from the kitchen caught her attention.

-"Saeko, stop talking to the customers and start serving them food!"-

-"All right, mom!"-

Meanwhile, Ueda and Komatsu decided to sit at a table so that Saeko could take their orders. The girl then had a notebook to start writing down what the two men wanted to order for lunch.

-"All right, what would you gentlemen like to order for lunch today?"-

-"I would like to order some yakisoba and some udon."- Ueda order what would be his food.

-"I'd like to order some fried rice. No meat or broths with meat in my food, please. I'm a vegetarian..."-

Saeko carefully wrote down the orders of both diners in her notebook and made a final check.

-"Let's see: Yakisoba, udon and fried rice with no meat or meaty broths. Is that all right, gentlemen?"-

-"Yes."- Ueda replied.

-"Me too."- Komatsu did the same.

-"OK, in that case, I'll proceed to prepare your order, gentlemen, please be patient."-

Saeko then went to the kitchen to ask her parents to prepare the food for the two men. In the meantime, Ueda and Komatsu decide to talk to each other about some topics of interest.

-"And while we wait for the food,"- Ueda started the conversation -"why don't you tell me something about your theory you've been working on for years, Professor Komatsu?"-

-"My theory, you said?"-

-"Yes."- Ueda replied, while playing with some chopsticks in the meantime. -"You had talked about it some time ago, but you hadn't given many very specific details, as I recall."-

-"Ehem..."- Komatsu coughed a bit after hearing this. -"Well... I think I told you a long time ago that I can't give you many specific details about my work, because it contains several topics that might be considered... somewhat sensitive to explain, to put it mildly."-

-"Sensitive, you said?"-

-"Yeah."-

-"In summary, one could say that my theory is related to Darwin's Theory of Evolution, although one could say that it expands some elements of Darwin's work exponentially. That is all I am going to say on the subject."-

Ueda looked at Komatsu attentively at these words, as he could not believe that he did not wish to speak about his work, but he respected his decision anyway.

-"Well, I don't blame you if you don't want to talk about it, but I would have liked to hear more about that theory of yours that you've been working on since university, since I don't know many people who continue with their school work past graduation."-

-"You could say this theory is my lifetime's work and I want to devote as much time to it as possible for me."-

-"I see."- Komatsu's senior replied -"Now that I remember, I remember that you spent some time in Manchukuo and you just got back here to Japan last year, didn't you?"-

Hearing the word "Manchukuo" was the last thing Komatsu wanted to hear, because of all the terrible things the young Japanese scientist had been unfortunate enough to witness or hear.

-"Excuse me, Mr. Ueda, but I think we have discussed before that I do not wish to talk about my experiences there, and that is all I will say about that."- Komatsu replied to his superior sternly, something that Ueda quickly grasped when he saw the face of his interlocutor.

-"Oh, boy, I think I forgot about that! I'm sorry if I offended you, by the way."-

-"Don't worry about it, sir. I understand you probably forgot that little detail of mine."-

At that very moment, Saeko, the restaurant's young waitress, brought the food of both men to the table, who were already looking forward to it.

-"Here's your food, gentlemen. I hope you enjoy it."-

-"Hmmm! It looks delicious."- Komatsu watched the food with such an appetite. "Thank you very much for everything, Saeko."-

The girl blushed at the words, and bowed to Komatsu.

-"Y-Y-You're welcome, sir. If you'll excuse me, I'll be going. Excuse me!"-

Without more to say and blushing, the girl went to the kitchen, with no more words to say to anyone else.

-"That girl is so adorable, I wish there were more children like her in this world, because they would brighten up the day for anyone, especially in the current hard times."- Komatsu commented about Saeko.

-"I could agreed with that. nom nom nom"- Ueda replied as he began to eat.

-"Right."-

Komatsu took his chopsticks and began to eat his ramen, and after eating a few bites, he paused for a few minutes, for no apparent reason, something his superior began to aware of.

-"Something wrong?"-

Komatsu took a deep breath first before giving a clear answer to Ueda.

-"Nothing, I just wondered about a few things, especially what I'm going to do today."-

-"Like what?"-

-"Like going to see Dad at his clinic once I'm done eating, for starters."-

-"I see, although I remember you saying that your father worked at a vet clinic on the city outskirts, if I remember correctly."-

-"Yes."-

-"And why do you want to go see your father? I thought maybe you'd go straight home, didn't you?"-

The young scientist does a brief pause for a few seconds.

-"There are several things I want to discuss with him with, although I don't know where to begin."-

-"Do you have a problem with him?"-

-"Of course not, he is just a a very busy person, and at the moment he has been having a rather heavy workload in the last few days because many farmers living in the villages around Hiroshima have started to go to the city to get help for their animals, as the food has started to run out for them, and I don't blame these people for that, nor do I blame him for it."-

-"I think I understand that, considering that the war has been getting ugly lately in the last few months, although I don't really know how ugly it's really gotten."- Ueda replied in a somewhat worried voice. -"The authorities only say that attack X happened in place Y, but from then on they don't give much explanation, although I have heard rumors that Tokyo was attacked, but I haven't had time to request more information regarding that news."-

-"I know it too,"- Komatsu said while finishing to eat his ramen. -"fortunately I haven't had the chance to go to Tokyo in the last few months to find that out for myself."-

But before they could continue the conversation, Saeko walked up to the two men again to speak to them again. The sudden appearance of that girl caused both of them to be obviously surprised, though they did not seem to be upset by the interruption, considering that it was Saeko who wanted to speak with both of them.

-"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you right now, but is there anything else I can do, gentlemen?"-

-"Eh..."- Komatsu began first. -"At the moment, I don't think I have anything else to ask you, but thanks for the question anyway."-

-"Me too"- Replied Ueda.

-"In that case, would you like me to bring you the check?"- Saeko asked both men.

-"Yes, please, if you'll be very kind, sweetheart."- Ueda asked the girl, since he already stated previously he was going to pay the food. -"By the way, and if it's not too much of an indiscretion on my part, what's your full name?"-

-"Mine?"- Saeko replied, somewhat puzzled that an unknown man wanted to ask her name. -"Why the question?"-

-"Just out of curiosity and just in case, besides, I've seen you around several times before the last few times I've been here."-

-"Oh, I see, sir."- The girl humbly replies to Professor Ueda. -"My name is Saeko Yasuda, it is a pleasure to have served you, and I am at your service in whatever you wish."

-"Saeko... Yasuda?"- Komatsu replied, somewhat surprised at hearing that name.

-"Eh, you knew me before, sir?"- Saeko asked Komatsu.

-"No, I'm just saying."-

-"I see."- The girl replied to her customer. -"If you'll excuse me, I will get your check."-

The girl leaves the scene so she can bring the check, but for some reason, Saeko Yasuda's name began to resonate in Komatsu's head for some mysterious reason.

-"Saeko Yasuda. Why does that name sound so familiar for me?"- Yoshinori Komatsu pondered that into his brain for a few seconds.

-"Something wrong?"-

Komatsu noticed that Ueda wanted to talk to him as he watched Saeko carefully as she returned to the kitchen, something that made his interlocutor's attention drawn to him.

-"Nothing! Nothing at all!" -Komatsu responded embarrassed. -"Why are you asking me that?"-

-"I noticed you stared at Saeko and couldn't help but think of the reasons why you would gaze at such a young girl..."-

Seeing that Ueda was implying something rather sinister about his young interlocutor's intimate personal preferences, Komatsu could not help but raise his voice firmly, but without uproar, about such a statement.

-"If what you think is that I have a sick taste in little girls, I can assure you that's not my case, so please forget about such a sick notion from your head!"-

Seeing Komatsu's virulent reaction, Ueda couldn't help but laugh at the look on his junior's face.

-"HA HA HA HA!"-

-"What the hell is so funny about that?"- The young man furiously retorted to his senior. -"Nobody likes to be called a pedophile in their face, damn you!"-

-"I'm just kidding, kid. Don't take it so personally."- Ueda tried to reassure Komatsu at the funny comments he made about his colleague's sexuality. -"Of course I'm not stupid enough to call my co-worker a pedophile, but I couldn't help but make a joke about it."-

-"If that sounded funny to you, I don't find that funny at all."- Komatsu was still annoyed at such a distasteful remark from his superior.

-"Oh, c'mon! Has all that time you spent in Europe screwed your head?"-

-"If your definition of "screw my head" means "not acting like a pedophile", you might say so."- The young scientist defended himself at such criticism of his mindset.

-"Oh, my! You are such a sourpuss! No wonder you don't even have a girlfriend!"-

Those last words began to infuriate Komatsu as never before in his life, but the young schoolteacher tried to prevent his anger from becoming too evident to avoid a major problem with Ueda, so he only decided to adequately answer his claims.

-"And does not having a girlfriend have anything to do with me looking at Saeko at all?"-

-"Well, since I've known you I've never seen you with any woman, which has made me think, even if it's a joke, that you like little girls, or maybe you like m..."-

It was obvious where his superior was going with that: Basically he was accusing him of being homosexual in his face, and for Komatsu, that was the last straw for him.

-"IF THIS WHOLE PLAN TO GO TO LUNCH WITH YOU WAS JUST YOUR IDEA TO MAKE FUN OF ME IN MY FACE, I'M SORRY TO SAY IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK! So if you excuse me, I'll leave this place, and you can shove that check in your mouth!"-

Then, Komatsu leaves the restaurant in a rage, while cursing all the known gods, leaving a perplexed Ueda sitting at his table, while Saeko, the girl through whom the whole conflict began, goes out to the street to see what had happened aftering hearing his screams.

-"My, what happened to that man?"- Saeko Yasuda wondered about Komatsu, and his reasons for leaving the place.

Shiro Ueda, who had risen from his table, tried to reassure the child as he watched as Komatsu wandered away from the place like a demon from hell itself.

-"I don't know, dear, but there are people who lack the slightest sense of humor, and that guy Komatsu is one of them."-

---

April 10th, AD 1944, Downtown Hiroshima, Japan, 03:00 PM

-"That ignorant, no-good prick!"- Komatsu continued to curse Ueda in the middle of the street, despite being a long way from the restaurant and the aforementioned person. -"How dare that jerk laugh at me in front of everybody? Like the last thing I need right now is people making fun at me!"-

The man's violent attitude began to attract the attention of many of the people on the street, causing some people to think Komatsu was drunk, and to start whispering to each other about his behavior.

-"Poor man, I think he drank too much..."-

-"Mom, why is that man yelling in the street?"-

-"What the hell is wrong with that guy? Doesn't he see that there are children on the street?"-

None of that seemed to matter to the young scientist, however, as Ueda's tasteless jokes were the last straw in the long list of grievances that Komatsu had suffered since the beginning of the war and he could no longer endure any further abuse as far as he was concerned. One thing was to criticize him for his scientific work or as a schoolteacher, and another thing was to label him a pedophile or a homosexual, especially in that era.

Then, that outraged scientist knew that getting angry like that wasn't going to be beneficial in the short term, and he thought there were better ways to channel his irritation.

-"I think it would be best to go look for Dad at work and talk to him a little while as I calm down."-

Yoshinori Komatsu then proceeded to walk to the east end of the city, where his father's veterinary clinic was located. He knew his father would be there working right now, so he wouldn't have much trouble finding him.

But quickly in his mind he began to think that there was another problem that he began to worry about because of what happened with his senior, since the fuss he made at the restaurant could probably damage his reputation at school and lead to his dismissal, and he knew that his temperament had already caused him many problems in the past. But at the time he didn't want to think about it anymore.

-"I only hope that Mr. Ueda will forgive me after the whole mess I caused at the restaurant, since I cannot afford to be fired from another job after what I did in Germany and Manchukuo."-

And without further thought or word, the young Hiroshima-born scientist went to his father's work, hoping to find him there and talk to him, so that Komatsu could find solace in those difficult times.

---

April 10th, AD 1944, Komatsu Veterinary Clinic, at the foothills of Mount Gosasou, east Hiroshima, Japan, 04:30 PM

-"Well, I think your cow is going to need some medicine in the meantime, but I don't think it's going to be serious in my opinion, so, if you continue the treatment as prescribed, your animal will be healthy before the end of the week."-

-"Thank you very much doctor, I can't tell you how happy I am to know that my dear Kana can be cured thanks to your help."- The peasant thanked Dr. Hidenori Komatsu, Yoshinori's father, for the treatment of his cow, which was a very precious asset to him. -"How much will the entire treatment cost?"-

-"Until Kana is completely cured and there is no further problem, I will not be paid for the time being. I would not like to have to charge you and then know that your cow has relapsed or even worse, that she has died. That would be terrible for both you and me."-

-"Thank you very much, Dr. Komatsu, I'll pay you back as soon as possible."-

-"No problem, just make sure that Kana is relaxed and you will soon see that she will heal quickly."-

The peasant and his cow left the vet's clinic after receiving the treatment, leaving Hidenori with a big smile on his face.

The Komatsu Veterinary Clinic was located on the slopes of Mount Gosasou, in an almost heavenly place outside of Hiroshima. The majority of the local clientele were humble men peasants who lived in the poorer villages around the city and they did not have the money or resources to pay for more expensive vets in the city. This was because Hidenori Komatsu did not usually charge for his services until the client was fully satisfied with his work and only charged for the material that was necessary, not charging or only charging a symbolic amount for the work itself.

While this may have been too kind or even stupid for the time and circumstances when all the inhabitants of the area, and of all Japan itself, due of the war, it was as important to Dr. Komatsu to heal the animals of those people as it was to heal the humans themselves, since many of those animals were as family for those humble people, and the loss of one of those animals was as painful or more as the death of a human being. After all, all life, human or animal, is valuable in itself, and he hated the idea that an animal could be sacrificed so easily, to the extent that he did everything possible to save an animal's life, and only resorted to sacrifice when he knew it was preferable for an animal to no longer suffer and its life could no longer be saved.

-"That's sound like a rickshaw, I wonder who that could be?"-

As he left the clinic, Dr. Komatsu saw his son, Yoshinori, who was riding in that cart to take him to his father's workplace. Obviously the doctor is more than happy and at the same time surprised to see his son in that place at that time of day.

-"But it's you, boy!"- Hidenori hugs his son. -"He, He! What brings you to my clinic right now? Did you get off work early today or what?"-

-"Well, sort of."- Yoshinori explained to his father. -"I'll explain more about it inside the clinic, please."-

-"Well, if you put it that way..."-

Both father and son decided to enter the veterinary clinic in order to discuss the matter in a more relaxed manner, bearing in mind that Dr. Komatsu had no clients to attend to at the time, other than the animals he had to check before Yoshinori arrived at his workplace.

-"You can explain to me why you came to visit me at work."- Hidenori asked his son, as he offered him a glass of water, due to the warm weather of spring at that time. -"It's usually rare for you to come to my clinic on your own unless I ask you to, so I'd like to know what brings you down here today."-

-"Well, you could say I was invited to eat at a traditional restaurant downtown by my superior."- Yoshinori explained, while drinking the water in a single gulp. -"Unfortunately things went downhill when he started making tasteless jokes at my expense."-

The doctor began to reflect on what his son had said and he quickly deduced who had been.

-"Let me guess, it was Shiro Ueda, wasn't it?"-

-"Yes."-

The doctor was grumbling at the mention of that name, for it was already well known to him, for all the wrong reasons.

-"I figured that douchebag had to go out with one of his stupid jokes, as if that bastard thought his quips are funny at all."-

-"Do you know him?"-

-"Of course I know that jerk, Yoshi! That idiot was my classmate when we were both in high school."- Hidenori explained what he knew about Ueda. -"and since then he had the knack on telling stupid, tasteless jokes to everyone, especially when he wasn't busy touching ladies' asses too, that is."-

-"Well, then you and he knew each other a long time ago, right?"-

-"Yes, to my personal misfortune."- Hidenori lamented the time when he met Yoshinori's current senior. -"Let's say that guy was a bully, and a very annoying one for that matter."-

It was very evident that the experience the doctor had with Ueda in the past was not a pleasant one, to put it mildly, and Hidenori had no qualms about saying it frankly to his son, so he would have an idea about the person he was dealing with.

-"And let me tell you one thing: The only reason that idiot still has a job is because of his family's influence within the government, since his parents were people who came from a high class family since the Meiji era, and they always enjoyed many privileges because of their contacts with the upper echelons. It is even said that they even have connections with the imperial family, although I really doubt it."-

-"I get it, Dad"- Yoshinori was a little bit surprised to hear Ueda was a very important person and he and his father were acquaintances, in a manner of speaking. -"but it seems a little strange to me that in the time I've known him, he has never talked about his family or his personal connections to the government."-

-"There's a good reason for that, son: Ueda is working in a school and not in the government is because nobody wants that piece of human trash within 10 meters of a government office, much less on a desk giving orders in some important position."- Hidenori pointed out in a aggresive fashion about that man. -"Otherwise, I don't know what that dumbass would have done with all the power he'd have in his hands. Maybe he'd get richer than he already is, and he could send a lot of people depending on him to the grave in case he had to deal with anything about the army or stuff like that."-

Yoshinori was still surprised that his father only spoke ill about his superior. Even if his only unpleasant experience with Ueda was those jokes, he never imagined that behind that kind man was a very sinister figure whose only reason for having a job was because of nepotism.

-"Damn it!, Just... FUCKIN'... DAMN IT!"- Hidenori Komatsu suddenly and without warning cursed like he never did it before, in a way his son was starting to worry for real. -"For those and many other damn reasons, that's why I hate politicians, the military and the rich like Ueda! All those BLOOD-SUCKING PIGS like him only think about how to get rich, powerful or both at once, at the expense of people! FUCK!"- The man violently slammed his fist against a wall. -"It's because of those bastards that we're in this DAMN war against EVERYBODY!"

-"Dad, please calm down..."-

-"CALM DOWN?"- Hidenori looked at his own son with raging eyes that he could not control. -"YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN? DO YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY ARE STARVING TO DEATH WHILE THE ARMY IS SENDING THEIR CHILDREN TO A CERTAIN DEATH IN SOME GODFORSAKEN PLACE? DO YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN WHEN MANY CITIES ARE BEING BOMBED TO HELL, AND PEOPLE ARE DYING IN THEM BECAUSE ALL THE BULLSHIT OUR RULERS ARE DOING, USING PATRIOTISM AS A CHEAP, SICK EXCUSE?"-

Yoshinori didn't know what to say about that, and when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse for him...

-"And now tell me, Yoshi. What the hell were you doing in Manchukuo last year?"-

-"What?"-

Yoshinori had only told his family up to that time that he had worked in a medical laboratory for the government in that region conquered by Japan in China after the problems he had experienced in Germany. For obvious reasons, he had not given his family many details of what had befallen him in Manchukuo, but for some reason his father seemed to be starting to suspect about the things his son saw or suffered in that faraway land.

-"I thought I'd explained to you before that I worked in a government medical lab back in Manchukuo..."-

-"Yeah, I get that, probably experimenting on human beings, RIGHT?"-

Upon hearing that, Yoshinori gulped in shock, seeing how his father was able to find out something that was supposed to be confidential information about the activities of the Imperial Japanese government in China, especially with POWs and political dissidents.

-"How... how did you knew THAT?"- The young scientist asked his father. -"That was supposed to be top-secret information. How could a civilian like you managed to find out as sensitive as that?"-

-"You're not the only one in this family with government connections, Yoshi."- Hidenori replied -"Remember that I also deal with soldiers and military officers from time to time when I have to take care of their pets and animals, and that's why I managed to find out some of the very dirty things that this government keeps in wraps, especially when there are soldiers who open their mouths thinking no one else will hear them. That's how I learned about the military unit where you worked and the experiments they were conducting on human beings."-

Seeing Hidenori Komatsu's disgusted face towards his son, thinking that he had been involved in those inhuman experiments that had been carried out there in China, Yoshinori, the only son of that veterinarian, had no choice but to tell him the truth of what he was working on in Manchukuo.

-"Dad, I know you may not believe me, and the truth is that I am as outraged about it as much or more as you are, but I was never involved in those experiments in any way or other."- Yoshinori explained about his work in China. -"In fact, one of the reasons I returned from Manchukuo earlier than expected was because of my reluctance to participate in those sick experiments that were being conducted there. I even got slapped in the face by the unit chief because of it."-

-"And who was the bastard conducting those experiments, if may I ask?"-

-"That's classified."- Yoshinori refused to give the name of Shiro Ishii, the man behind Unit 731 -"But I was blamed in the suicide of a scientist who worked there."-

-"Suicide?"- That last part perplexed the vet, since he would never have imagined that his own son could tempt someone to take his own life, even though considering the circumstances in which Yoshinori was in China, it would not have been difficult for it to happen. -"And why would they blame you for someone killing himself? Did you even encourage him to do it?"-

-"OF COURSE NOT!"- The young man yelled at his father at that possibility -"Do you think I could do something as terrible as that? In fact, I witnessed that suicide before my very eyes and could do nothing to save that poor man."-

When Hidenori heard his son's harsh response regarding what had happened in Manchukuo, he had no doubt that his son was speaking the truth, as he could hear in his voice that what had transpired in that terrible place had traumatized him in a significant way.

-"Did you... witness his suicide?"-

-"Yes. And the man blamed me for it before killing himself."-

An uneasy, awkward silence was felt for a few minutes...

-"Why that man blamed you for his own doom?"-

Yoshinori did not know what to say to his father about what had happened, since apart from the terrible atmosphere that was transpiring in Unit 731, there was the fact that the thesis he had written and refined since university had something to do with Dr. Masao Kazama's death.

-"I don't know, other than he read my thesis before he died."- Yoshinori finally explained the role his thesis had in Kazama's suicide. -"To be fair, he was drunk on sake when he approached me on the topic, and later, he went nuts, and then, he blowed his brains out with a gun, but not before he cursed me to hell."-

But before Yoshinori could continue the discussion about Dr. Kazama's suicide, both he and his father heard the mooing of what appeared to be a cow, which was in the barn dedicated to the farm animals brought to his father for further treatment at the clinic.

-"My, I think Clara's about to give birth."- The doctor quickly deduced from the type of mooing that the cow was in labor and that the most important thing now was to see that the birth ended well. -"Let's see how she's doing. I'm gonna need your help this time, Yoshi."-

-"OK, dad"-

Both father and son, who were both doctors with experience in veterinary medicine, went to the stable to see if Clara had already given birth, leaving the issue for a better time.

And indeed, Clara had given birth to a healthy calf, which was just trying to walk, while her mother gave her milk. That scene, even for doctors specializing in births like them, was still a touching one, especially when everything went perfectly and smoothly, and the best part was that they didn't have to do anything else, apart from checking that both Clara and her calf were healthy.

-"Looks like it all came out on top, didn't it, Yoshi?"-

-"Yeah, the cow and that calf of yours look pretty healthy."

-"She's not my cow, Yoshi."- Hidenori made it clear to his son who the cow was. -"It's from a peasant who lives north of the city and asked me to check his animal's pregnancy to see that everything went well, because he doesn't have the means to do it, and this cow is the only animal he has. Needless to say, he will be more than happy to know he now has a very healthy calf."-

-"That's for sure, Dad."-

-"Let's take a look at Clara and her new son, shall we?"-

-"Right."-

Both doctors look at Clara to see that the delivery didn't cause her any problems, and the same goes for the calf. Luckily, everything indicated that the birth had no complications, and the only thing to do was to remove the placenta that the cow had expelled from her body after the birth and feed her so that she would have enough energy to nurse her new baby.

-"Easy, Clara. I'm gonna give you some food, so you can feed your baby well..."-

After feeding Clara some grass and oatmeal, Hidenori could not help but observe the animal with a certain air of melancholy and sadness on his part, especially considering that he was arguing with his son a few moments ago about his work in China, so he decided to speak to Yoshinori again, although the talk was in a completely different way from the one they originally had before Clara interrupted them both.

-"Well, it's good to see how Mother Nature does her job without the need for us humans to intervene in her processes."-

-"Indeed."-

-"Indeed, you say?"- Hidenori looked grimly at his son.

-"What do you mean? Do you still want to continue your talk about me and my work in China?"-

-"Not quite, although just so you know, I do believe you about what you were saying about whether or not you participated in the work of Unit 731."-

-"Then, what do you want to talk with me this time?"-

Hidenori took a chair that was near him, sat on it near Clara, and he looked closely at his son, as well as the cow and her calf that had just been born a few minutes ago.

-"What I am about to tell you is something completely different, although it has some relation to what happened with regard about the suicide of that man you told me a few moments ago."-

-"Yoshi, I, as your father, have always supported you in your career as a biologist and vet since you were a child."- The man began his talk about Yoshinori's past at him. -"You have always been very fond of animals as long as I can remember, and you have even risked your own life to live and play with them as if they were part of your own family. Maybe it has to do with the fact that you are our only son and that you needed someone to play with, since you were never very social with other children in your childhood to begin with."-

-"Yes, that was true, to be frankly honest with myself..."-

-"I never doubted for a moment that you would continue my work as a vet, although I know that you have other ambitions besides working as a simple vet in a city like Hiroshima all your life. That's why you decided to go to Germany to expand your horizons and not just stagnate in Japan."-

-"I agree with you on that."-

-"But, there is something that really worries me a lot about you, and it has nothing to do with your work in Manchukuo, but with the perception that other people have of you, especially with regard to what you intend to do in the future."-

Yoshinori was paralyzed and with his face showing a hint of astonishment at these words coming from his father.

-"What do you trying to say with that? Is there anything you don't like about me or my work that I've done so far?"- The young doctor asked details to his own father, knowing he really wanted to say something more important than the whole Manchukuo issue. -"I think I always have been a good son, and I have always been sincere enough about what I want to do, and I have nothing to hide from my own parents, much less from you, a doctor like me."-

-"What I was saying about you, exactly, is this."-

Hidenori pulled a book from his backpack he had brought with him from his right side, where he kept his surgical instruments and important papers from his work, which was a copy of the thesis his son, Yoshinori Komatsu, had been working on since he had graduated from university. He had given that copy to his father after graduation and before he left for Germany and, although it was not a very up-to-date copy because Yoshinori kept writing and updating information as he continued his research, he still had the most basic points about his research that his son was doing at the time.

And it was clear that what his son was writing and working on with that dissertation was beginning to disturb even his own father.

-"Well, that's the copy of my thesis I gave you when I went to Frankfurt..."-

-"I know that, Yoshi, but I think you know exactly what I mean by this."-

Seeing his father wield the copy of the book of his thesis on his face, demanding from his own son an explanation of its contents, Yoshinori tried to pretend that his father had not yet read it with care, so his attitude suddenly became a little more smuggish than usual...

-"Could you at least elaborate on what you understood about the book?"-

-"Elaborate would be an understatement about what I managed to understand about this book."- Hidenori Komatsu then put his eyes on his own son, . -"In short, if that's what you want to know, the theory you outline in this book is a complete and utter MADNESS from beginning to end."-

Yoshinori was deeply surprised that even his father seemed to disagree with what he himself wrote in his theory, even though he remembered giving him the main features of his theory when he started writing it in university before he got his degree.

He at least expected his father to understand what he had written in that book, bearing in mind that both were doctors and both had the same passion for animals.

But it was evident that even Hidenori Komatsu had his own personal values and ideas on the subject, and that he did not agree with what his own son had written in that book. What his son Yoshinori had written in that book was something that began to disturb him in a way he had never experienced in his life, and that now was the opportunity to demand an explanation from him.

-"Yoshi, please tell me,"- The middle-aged man said. -"Since when did your vocation for animals turn into attempting to emulate Dr. Moreau or Frankenstein?"-

-"I beg your pardon?"-

Seeing that her son seemed to be trying not to give any importance to the matter, Hidenori violently threw the book to the ground, causing Clara, her calf, and the other animals in the stable to start making loud, deafening noises. Meanwhile, Yoshinori remained silent without saying a word.

-"DON'T TRY TO PLAY DUMB WITH ME, YOSHI!"-

When he saw his father's violent reaction, the young scientist had no choice but to react in an appropriate manner.

-"Why do you think I plan to play god, too?"-

-"I don't know if that's your idea or your goal, but everything I've read from that thesis of yours is full of unrealistic crap taken from the craziest science fiction stuff I've ever read in my whole, damn life!"- Hidenori yelled at his son as loudly as he could. -"I never imagined I had raised a son who turned out to be crazier than a wild monkey, so one day you go out with a piece of shit like that!"-

Yoshinori Komatsu remained silent in the face of this accusation from the mouth of his own father. Being called "as crazy as a wild monkey" was something that began to dishearten him, especially if it came from his own family, but he decided to listen to him anyway.

-"Looks like I'm right, doesn't it, boy?"-

Silence

-"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?"-

Silence again, then Yoshinori replied...

-"Did you at least take the time to read all the details of the thesis and its implications?"-

-"Yes, of course, I have read this book since you left for Europe and I have read it over and over again since then to make sure I have not misread it or misunderstood anything."- Hidenori explained about what he understood about his son's work. -"The most disturbing thing about your work is the main idea on regards of giving sentience and human appearance to any warm-blooded animal and bird by trying to artificially replicate the same method by which we humans evolve from monkeys."-

-"Well, you could put it in that way, dad."-

The man looked back at his son again, seeing that he did not seem to be aware of the implications of his oeuvre.

-"Do you have any idea this is something that has been the holy grail of biology and genetics for centuries?"- The man kept explaining. -"Something that no one has tried to replicate in a laboratory because of the implications it could have for humanity itself?"-

-"Yes, And I plan on being the first human to try it."-

Hidenori then saw his own son with extreme skepticism as he perceived that he planned to make possible what was clearly impossible for the 20th century science.

-"Do you realize that what you're planning to do is beyond what current science can achieve today?"- Hidenori demanded answers to his son. -"How do you plan to give, for a better example, a dog, human intelligence and speech, to begin with? If we haven't done that with apes, who are our closest relatives, how do you plan to achieve that with lesser beings?"-

-"Well, to be honest, there is not one single method, but several methods that used together can be used to give a mammal or bird human intelligence."- Yoshinori explained in a nutshell about the ways in which he planned to achieve his goals. -"It should also be noted that there are some very promising methods that are currently being researched and, if perfected, could be applied to my thesis in the near future. So it's not just about sticking with the technology that currently exists, but also about any other work that might come along later and that would help my job."-

The veteran vet doctor could not believe that even his son had taken into account any future research that might be helpful to his main goal and that he was willing to do anything to achieve it.

-"And I have to suppose the same method you're using with mammals and birds can also be used with insects, lizards, mollusks, fish, marine mammals and apes alike, right?"-

-"Technically, no."- The young man explained about the limitations of his thesis. -"With the exception of marine mammals and monkeys, it is currently not possible to duplicate the method with these beings, because they are mostly cold-blooded, and it is not possible to simply change a cold-blooded being into a warm-blooded one through my work. Also, even if it were possible to do so, there is the fact that the evolution of those beings worked in a very different way than hot-blooded beings and I don't know if my theory could have any negative side effects. There is also the problem that these beings require very specific habitats in order to simply live, as in the case of marine creatures such as whales, dolphins, fish, etc."-

-"And what about apes?"-

-"Although the method would work much better with them than with other mammals and avians, I have decided not to use it with monkeys."-

-"And why not? That would be the most obvious and logical thing to do, considering they are our close cousins in biological and genetic terms in the first place."-

-"That's why I don't intend to experiment with them. You just have to see how the world is these days."- Yoshinori then pointed the finger on himself and later he pointed it to outside, implying there'e no much difference between simians and humans on regards of behavior. -"Do you think any creature I could create using my thesis would be happy to see apes, who are intimately related to us, begin to enslave them, while the apes begin to consider themselves as the superior race among them?"-

Yoshinori's father remained silent, for he knew better than anyone that his son was right about not using monkeys in his work. There were already enough problems in the world at the time regarding the different races to add yet another layer of social mayhem by adding intelligent apes to this whole affair.

-"If we humans cannot avoid that among ourselves, who can guarantee me that it won't happen the same if there are apes involved?"-

A brief silence was felt after those words, then Hidenori gave his point of view.

-"Well, we've already had enough with Tojo and Hitler, so I'd hate to see a simian dictator subdue the other animals like those two jerks. That would be too sickening compared with what's already in this world."-

-"Exactly. This is why I don't want to involve apes in my theory, as well as any animal that requires special habitats. Just the risk of something going horribly wrong is extremely high, especially when apes are involved."-

-"Anyway, and back to the topic,"- The man didn't want to stop talking about the issue, and he wanted to make that very clear to his son. -"I want you to take a look at Clara and her calf, and I want you to tell me what you see."-

Yoshinori sees the cow and the little newborn calf and he walks up to them both to caress their backs, while the calf licks the young scientist's hand.

-"What do you see? And above all, what do you feel?"-

Yoshinori Komatsu, faced with that question, answer it with a smile in his face...

-"Well, it's a very nice cow, and I think this calf is going to be a very healthy animal, that's for sure."-

-"No, no, no, you IDIOT! That's not what I meant!"- Hidenori Komatsu, Yoshinori's father, began to berate him harshly, as that was not what he wanted to hear from his own son. -"There is something much deeper in those animals than just being healthy and in perfect condition."-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"Take a look at those two animals once again"-

Yoshinori saw the bovines again, and he did not seem to fully understand what his father tried to say regarding them. To the young Kansai-native scientist, Clara and the calf were only two animals in good health, nothing more and nothing less.

-"I don't see anything unusual about them."-

-"That's because for you those two animals are just something you would use in your experiments, instead of treating them like living beings with feelings and emotions."- Hidenori reprimanded him severely and unabashedly for what he thought of his son's work. -"Do you think that if you gave Clara the ability to speak, what would she would think of the birth she just had a few minutes ago, not to mention other unpleasant things you would be doing to her?"-

Obviously, his father was implying that his son was experimenting on animals in a cruel and savage manner, something that was far from true, but there was still some context to it, and Yoshinori did not intend to remain silent to such an allegation.

-"Are you suggesting that I sacrifice animals to experiment on them?"-

-"I have no idea exactly, but what you are doing with these animals is not nice, even if your intentions are sincere."-

-"Dad, you know perfectly well that I would never allow an animal to be unnecessarily sacrificed, much less in the name of science!"- The young man replied furiously at this accusation. -"In fact, many of my problems in Germany and Manchukuo were due precisely to my refusal to slaughter both animals and humans."-

-"In that case, tell me, Yoshi: How did you end up working for the Nazis and those bastards from Unit 731?"-

Yoshinori began to grow distressed at what seemed like a barrage of uncomfortable questioning from his father, who wanted to know what his son had been up to these last few years since the war began.

-"As for the Nazis, I had no control over where I studied in Frankfurt, in fact, I didn't know exactly what the place where I was studying was actually devoted to. Only years later when I was sent to China did I learn that my expulsion from the Institute was ordered by higher orders, but from then on I know nothing else."- The young doctor explained the circumstances under which he had been through Germany and China. -"And as for Manchukuo, I was sent there against my will when what happened in Frankfurt reached the ears of the Japanese ambassador to Germany, and he ordered me to go to Berlin to see him as soon as possible. Once there, he offered me to go to that hellish place in exchange for ignoring what happened, and the truth is that, given what I heard and saw in China, I was lucky to be given the opportunity to choose my punishment, rather than just being sent to Japan as a prisoner or with an extra hole in my head."-

-"Holy... shit."-

-"I agree with you, Dad. In fact, I had many problems because of my reluctance to work with human beings, beyond healing the soldiers, at least when I was in Manchukuo."- Yoshinori kept explaining what had happened to him abroad in the last few years. -"Anyway, I was lucky that in both cases I was allowed to keep my animals that I used as part of my research since I was in Germany. And those animals, in case you're wondering, are still alive, believe it or not, even though they're in a laboratory in Tokyo right now, since I was not allowed to bring them here to Hiroshima."-

After listening to his son's explanations, the vet was not entirely satisfied with what he had just heard and wanted to make clear his opposition to what his son was doing at the time.

-"In any case, and regardless of whether you have done any harm to any living thing or not, there is one question I want to ask you."-

-"What do you want to know?"-

-"What use is it to you to give human intelligence to an animal?"-

As strange and absurd as it may seem, Yoshinori Komatsu, the man and the creator of the theory of accelerated evolution, never considered this at any time the usefulness that his work could have for humanity. It was true that giving human intelligence to lower beings could be useful and very interesting to know what those beings think and what they think about humans, but on a large scale of things, giving human intelligence and attributes to animals was equivalent at best to listening to nonsensical trivialities filtered from a purely animal point of view, and in the worst case, as Yoshinori himself had already said about not using his work on apes, it was the equivalent of opening the Pandora's box, and unleashing any kind of unintended consequences that his work might bring to the human race.

-"Well, one idea I had in mind was that they could fight wars, without us humans having to intervene, and in case several of them die, they could easily be replaced with new soldiers created by us. This would save a lot of money, effort and human lives, at least in my personal opinion."- Yoshinori gave a somewhat methodical explanation of one of the uses of his work.

Hearing such a response from his son, Hidenori Komatsu, without showing any emotion on his face, approached his own son, and without warning, slapped him loudly in the face, causing Yoshinori to be surprised by his father's attitude.

-"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"-

-"I never imagined that my own son, who loved animals so much, would be able to use them to fight our bloody wars on our behalf."- The older man replied, not raising the tone of his voice, but very firmly in his determination regarding what he thought about his son. -"I never imagined that my own son only sees an animal as something to be used in an experiment, instead of learning from them, and using them as weapons of war, as if their lives were less valuable than ours."-

-"And what did you want, dad? You want more innocent people getting killed? At least it's one of the uses that could be made of my theory, and it's preferable than experimenting with humans, like those psychopaths from Unit 731."-

-"And you think an animal doesn't have emotions or feelings like you? Don't you think they can't feel fear, anger, pain, pleasure or other things like us humans?"- Hidenori pointed the one of the biggest flaws of the theory to his son, after hearing his disregard over the lives of the animal life he is experimenting on them. -"If you ask my opinion about what I think about your theory is that what you are doing is not unlike experimenting with humans. The only thing that's different is that your victims aren't going to complain when you're working with them."-

-"In that case,"- Yoshinori retorted loudly. -"do you have any better ideas?"-

-"If what you want is a good idea, I want you to look at Clara again, and tell me what you see. I bet you've forgotten something very important in that theory of yours..."-

Challenged by his father about Clara, Yoshinori decided to see the cow again, who was nursing her calf at the time. The young scientist could only look at her over and over again from every possible angle to see what her father was referring to. Tired of seeing that animal, Yoshinori had no choice but to admit defeat.

-"I give up."- The young man replied, very tired after seeing Clara for many minutes. -"What the hell do you mean by looking at that cow? It's just a cow giving milk to her newborn calf. Did you want me to see anything else?"-

Hidenori Komatsu shook his head in disapproval, seeing that his son gave in easily to the proof he placed in front of him. And that proof turned out to be something more elaborated but, at the same time, simpler than he imagined.

-"You may not have noticed it, but the thing you haven't seen of Clara, and even I had said it before, is something very obvious."- The old man looked at his son with a smile in his face. -"And from what I see, you don't seem to have noticed it with your own eyes: Even though you love animals and you do your best to care for them, deep down you are only using them for your absurd experiments, regardless of the suffering you may cause them. I don't know if what you want is some kind of benefit or fame, like some kind of prize, but if that's what you want, I can only tell you for my part that I don't want you to involve me or your mother in your bullshit!"-

-"But... but... WHY?"- Yoshinori, seeing that his father did not wish to be involved in his son's plans, demanded an explanation. -"I thought you would be very proud of me to see my work, regardless of whether my theory is valid or not."-

Hidenori again pointed his finger at Clara and her newborn calf, which approached the father lovingly as he licked his hand.

-"Haven't you just figured it out, you idiot?"- The man sneered violently at his son as he saw that he did not seem to understand what he had just said. -"In that case, I'll put it to you in a very simple way."-

-"OK."-

-"Don't you have any feelings for that cow and her calf?"-

Upon hearing those words, Yoshinori said nothing else, and after some thought, his answer was something... not very convincing.

-"Well... yes, of course. What kind of person wouldn't be moved by the sight of a cow with its newly born calf? You know very well that I am not inhuman or cruel in any way."-

Yoshinori's voice began to sound unconvincing or disingenuous, as if he was forced to give an answer that would please his father, something he noticed at once.

-"Of course, obviously you wouldn't like to slaughter that cow or the calf, but you'd want to use them for your purposes, wouldn't you?"-

An awkward silence was felt from Yoshinori's side, as he knew his father was right on this.

-"And if you were able to give Clara human intelligence and speech, do you expect her to thank you wholeheartedly, knowing beforehand that it will not be easy for her?"-

Silence

-"And do you think she's going to thank you for involving her son in your madness, assuming, of course, her calf survives the whole process and doesn't die first? And if he died, what do you plan to tell his mother? That he died for science or some bullshit like that?"-

Silence. Hidenori quickly noticed that those awkward silences coming from Yoshinori meant that at least he was right about his observations regarding the work of his first-born son.

-"Judging by the fact that you haven't said anything back, I guess I'm right, huh?"-

After a brief moment without saying one thing, Yoshinori decided to reply to his father, but his response was quick and blunt:

-"I have nothing more to say about that."- Immediately, Yoshinori walked away and proceeded to leave the stable. -"I'm sorry for having to come here to bother you."-

The young scientist proceeded to leave his father's veterinary clinic, as he did not want to enter into an heated discussion with his father about his theory, especially since it was assumed he was keeping that work secret for the time being, at least as far as he was concerned, but now that his father knew what his intentions were, or at least did not seem to understand the context of the theory, he was completely shocked by what his son had written in that book. But Yoshinori had no intention or mood to play along with him and decided to return home at that moment.

Fortunately for him, a rickshaw with no passengers was passing through the road bound for Hiroshima and he picked it up to return home, while Hidenori Komatsu, who was in the doorway, was incredulous to see his son had left without even saying goodbye. Even though he disagreed with his son's work, he at least wanted to say goodbye properly, but Yoshinori had enough of listening to his father's criticisms, aside from Ueda's mockery, for the rest of the day and just wanted to go home and rest.

-"Sometimes I wonder what's going on in that young man's head?"-

---

April 10th, AD 1944, Downtown Hiroshima, Komatsu Family Apartment, Hiroshima, Japan, 7:30 PM

SLAM!

The sound of a door being slammed violently was heard in the apartment of the Komatsu family, scaring Mitsuyo Komatsu, Yoshinori's mother, who found herself watering the plants in those moments as the sun was setting. Seeing that it was his son who had entered his house, Mitsuyo wished to know why he had slammed the door that way, bearing in mind that Yoshinori might have frightened their neighbors.

-"Yoshinori, why the hell did you have to slam the door that way?!"-

There was no response from him, who was furious after the heated discussion he had had with his father, not to mention what happened along with Shiro Ueda at the restaurant. He also had no desire to explain himself to anyone, much less his mother.

-"Hey, are you listening me?!"-

-"I don't feel like talking to anyone."-

That was all he said when questioned by his mother, and then Yoshinori stepped into his room, not before locking it up so he would not be inconvenienced by anyone else.

Seeing the young scientist's angry face, the woman tried to wonder why her son had come to the house like this, since it was usually not easy to make Yoshinori angry like that, to such an extent that he would lock himself in his room.

-"What must have happened to him?"-

Obviously, and without knowing the background of his predicament, all Mitsuyo could do was ask herself that question over and over again. She also didn't think it would be a good idea to bother her son for now, so she decided to keep watering her plants and then ask her son again when he was in a better mood.

Meanwhile, in Yoshinori Komatsu's room, the young scientist took out from the shelf of his room some vinyl records he had stored and bought during his stay in Germany. Among the records he had put out was one he wanted to hear: Bolero, an orchestral piece written in the 1920s by Frenchman Maurice Ravel, who originally wrote it as part of a work commissioned by Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein and inspired by Spanish dance, hence the name "bolero". Yoshinori was lucky that he had a gramophone in his hand, which he also bought in Europe, and without thinking twice, he put the record in the turntable and he started to listen the music coming from the machine.

That music, which to the young Japanese man might have sounded so strange at the time, considering that it was not very normal for anyone to be interested in classical western music, and even less so in a country at war with several western nations like Japan, was for him a balm for his self-esteem, which had been destroyed by Ueda's mockery and his father's criticism. Also, that musical work, which began very slowly and almost imperceptibly, only to end in a powerful and dramatic way, was for him an analogy of what he wanted to do with his life's work.

Perhaps at that time, his theory was something simple and imperceptible, something almost nonexistent, but for the young Japanese scientist, he intended to do the same as Ravel did with his famous Bolero: To turn his theory into reality and finish it in a powerful and impressive fashion, so that he could be the center of attention of the scientific community, and most likely of the whole world, so that his name would stand next to other famous scientists, such as Einstein, Darwin, Newton, among others.

But for that, Yoshinori had to settle for first investigating the feasibility of his theory, and for that he had to write a lot, and for that, he had to spend hours and hours writing down everything he knew about the subject on hundreds of sheets of paper he had at hand. Perhaps partly because of the difficulty of writing on a typewriter at the time, especially considering that typewriters for writing in Japanese were metal monstrosities that only masochistic enough people dared to use, Yoshinori preferred to write all his work by hand, something that was faster and more convenient for him than using a typewriter.

This added an extra bonus: Due to his very complicated calligraphy, which used a mixture of archaic Japanese, German and English, made it very difficult for anyone to read his notes without proper context, and when he had to publish his thesis at the university, Yoshinori had to "translate" what he had written up to that date into a simpler and more accessible language for everyone, something that was not exactly a simple task, because at that time his theory in its most basic shape, when he wrote it in the university, had more than 500 pages, but somehow Yoshinori managed to "translate" it for the university without much trouble.

Hours after Yoshinori returned home, Hidenori Komatsu, his father, also returned to the family apartment, with a very worried expression in his face, due to the discussion he had with his son hours ago at his clinic.

-"Good evening, Mitsuyo,"- The man greeted his wife first -"do you know if Yoshi's back in the house yet?"-

Mitsuyo, his wife, quickly realized something was wrong with him.

-"Yes, he's been home for several hours, but he hasn't said a word to me since he got here and he seemed very angry. Since then Yoshinori has been locked in his room listening to music."-

-"I figured that out."-

Mitsuyo saw her husband's face, which indicated that something was not right, and had something to do with what had happened to their son.

-"Is something wrong, honey?"- Mitsuyo asked. -"You seem to know what's bothering him."-

-"It's not something I should be proud of, and I think I hurt his pride because of my big mouth, but actually he and I had a discussion at my clinic several hours ago."-

The woman was surprised to hear that, as she thought her son was still at work as opposed to going to his father's clinic just to have a discussion with him.

-"And what was he doing at your clinic? Wasn't he supposed to be working at the school?"-

-"Well, it's a very long story to tell..."-

The man told his wife the reasons why Yoshinori had gone to his clinic, and the reason for the discussion they had both had about Yoshinori's theory he had written to date, and what his father thought about it. Although she knew broadly what her son's work was about, Mitsuyo had never considered the consequences Yoshinori's work might have for everyone, since she did not know much about biology or zoology, so she depended on her husband to understand the subtleties of the theory.

-"Now I understand why Yoshinori was so upset when he returned home."- The woman quickly understood the crux of the matter between her husband, her son, and besides that, what happened to Shiro Ueda, who made fun of her son. -"I also didn't imagine that Ueda was working in the same workplace as him, just like you when both of you were young."-

-"I know, and I really don't know why that Ueda bastard is working at that school with our son. Considering what happened to Yoshi in Europe and Manchukuo, I have no doubt that he was put in that school so that he could make his life difficult to him."-

-"But there's one thing I want to know, honey: I may not be as much of an expert in the same field as you two, but from what you've given me to understand, what Yoshinori intends to do with his theory is basically to make animals talk, isn't it?"-

-"In short, yes."- Hidenori responded in a concerned tone. -"Actually, it's a little more complicated for something so trivial than making animals talk. Otherwise, any idiot would have done it long ago."-

-"Then what's the problem with his theory?"-

Hidenori took a deep breath before answer his wife's question:

-"Yoshinori is not going to settle for just making an animal talk like a parrot, but ensuring that animal has the same intelligence as a human being, not to mention being able to make it walk on two legs. In short, what our son is trying to do is to reproduce the same process that caused man to evolve from apes, but by doing so with other warm-blooded mammals."-

On hearing that, Mitsuyo could not help but react incredulously, since what her husband was saying was more like something out of some cheap science fiction novel written by some overly imaginative writer, not from a serious scientist like her husband or her own son.

-"Hidenori,"- The woman said with a dry, emotionless voice. -"you're not joking with me about that, are you?"-

-"Believe me, Mitsuyo, I would love to be joking with you about that."- Hidenori answered. -"And that's not all that's included in that theory, but telling you everything included on it in a nutshell would be too long to explain here in one single night."

-"Really?"-

-"Yeah, but I can tell you one thing that worries me about all this."- The man grimly gave his thoughts. -"Our son doesn't seem to be aware that his work could have consequences that could be dangerous to the human race if he doesn't find a way to prevent his work from being used for more sinister purposes. Any country would give anything to get an animal to talk and have human intelligence, which would be useful in military fields, not to mention the consequences it would have for human society at-large."-

The woman was completely shocked by what she had just heard from her own husband. Normally, to hear someone say that they intend to give intelligence and human voice to an animal would sound completely out of the ordinary and anyone would doubt the sanity of the person or people who had said such an outlandish thing, but in this case, these words came from their own husband, an expert in this kind of subject, and therefore, she will have no reason to doubt him, especially if it is her own son, who was a genius with a somewhat more than ordinary intelligence, and especially theirs was a person who graduated from college summa cum laude, and who also got a scholarship to study in Germany to begin with.

-"Honey, if it wasn't you who would say that, I'd normally think you'd go crazy or something, and more so if you're talking like that about our own son, who's been our pride both for us and the rest of the family."- Mitsuyo replied in a very worried, almost angry, voice to her husband. -"How do I know you're not saying all this nonsense about our Yoshinori out of envy?"-

Upon hearing those words, Hidenori could not help but think that perhaps his concerns about his son's work might be related to the fact that he had never done anything as reckless as what his son was doing when he had the opportunity to do it in due time, so he could not rule out that the reasons for complaining about his son's work might have something to do with envy, but within him it was something more than just envy that led him to criticize Yoshinori and his revolutionary theories. In the end, Hidenori knew that other geniuses with similarly revolutionary ideas saw how these brilliant ideas would end up being used for more sinister ends, and he did not want his son to find himself in a similar dilemma.

-"I would normally agree with you as to whether I am jealous of Yoshi or not, but this is much more than just envy, because what our son might be doing could ultimately harm him, us and everyone around him, and I will tell you why"- The man quickly retorted his wife's concerns about jealousy. -"Many people like Yoshi have carried out research or inventions without sometimes considering what their work may bring to humanity, and sometimes their inventions have ended up being used for darker purposes than their creators had in mind. In short, the famous saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" could be applied to Yoshi in this case, although it pains me to say so myself, his own father. After all, I was the one who encouraged him to study zoology and natural sciences in first place."-

Both spouses kept silent with each other when they did not know what to say about it. It was obvious that they both had a very big problem on their hands, but they had their hands tied to do something about it, except perhaps to talk to their son in a timely fashion and explain their concerns about his work, since, given their son's contacts with the Japanese government, they could not help but think that Yoshinori could be exploited by the imperial authorities to use his theory for warfare purposes.

-"Then, what do you suggest we should do with Yoshinori after all?"- The woman finally asked.

A brief silence was felt from Hidenori's side...

-"So what else can we do? The logical thing to do would be to talk to him. I'll do it that before he goes to sleep."-

-"OK, I just hope you're not going to make things any worse than they already are between you and him."-

-"Trust me, Mitsuyo. I'll make him understand what I think about this."-

Hours later, Hidenori heard that his son had stopped listening to music, which meant he was about to go to sleep, so he could get up early. Without thinking twice, the man knocked on the door of his son's room so he could talk to him. Unfortunately for him, Yoshinori did not respond, so he tried again.

-"Yoshi, it's me, your father, please open that door, I need to talk to you."-

No response from Yoshinori. Clearly he didn't want to talk to his father.

-"I know you're still mad at me, but I need to talk to you in a good way..."-

Again there was no response from the young scientist, who was silent. The young man's attitude gradually began to annoy his father, who wanted to sort things out somehow.

-"Yoshi, if you don't open that door, I will come into your room, like it or not."-

Again, no response.

-"Well, I warned you beforehand, so I'm going in."-

Fortunately for Yoshinori's father, he had a copy of the key to his son's room, so he could get in there if necessary. It was something he did not enjoy doing, since he normally respected his son's privacy and work, but he did not intend to tolerate his authority being challenged even by him in his own home.

Once inside, the man saw his son in bed reading a book, "On the Origin of Species", by Charles Darwin, a book considered to be one of the forerunners of scientific literature and the foundation of the theory of evolutionary biology, something that was supposed to be the specialty of that young scientist. Despite having entered his room in a somewhat forced manner, Yoshinori did not seem to pay attention to him and he continued to be absorbed in reading that science book, as if nothing had happened. Interestingly, the book he was reading was a English edition, instead of reading an edition translated into Japanese, perhaps to better understand any nuances that might have been lost in a Japanese translation.

-"I can't help but notice that, as your father, your tastes in literature aren't bad, unlike other lads your age who would rather read stupid romantic literature or erotic crap."- Hidenori gave his compliments to his son regarding the book he was reading at the time.

Yoshinori closes his book abruptly when he sees his father, and decides to face him immediately.

-"I don't think it was just to congratulate me on my taste in books that you came into my room, was it?"-

-"Indeed."- Hidenori, his father, replied quietly without raising his voice in an attempt to calm things down between the two. -"I just want to speak to you right now..."-

-"For what?"- Yoshinori bluntly retorted. -"So you can criticize my work?"-

Hidenori took a deep breath after seeing his son's defiant attitude toward him. He wanted to settle thing down with Yoshinori without making the things worse than already are between father and son.

-"Look, it's true that I don't agree with you regarding your research, and my attittude at the clinic was a knee-jerking one, although I know wholeheartedly that your intentions aren't bad,"- The old man gave his opinion to his son, in the best way he could. -"but as a vet and scientist, I can't help but be critical of someone else's work, even if it's my own son."-

No answer from Yoshinori, despite not being angry with him anymore, since he wanted to hear his father's words, so he decides to sit on his bed in order to pay attention to him.

-"Well, it looks like I got your attention."-

Yoshinori got out of bed and put the book back in the bookcase, and again he sat down on the bed.

-"What do you want to get at with this?"- The young man gave his own opinion regarding the topic. -"You know very well that I'm not going to change my mind about my research, since I've been doing this for years, and I'm not going to stop because you don't like my work, or anyone else for that matter."-

The father took another deep breath when he saw that his son was acting defensively about his theory.

-"I have no intention of asking you to stop, because I know very well that this theory of yours that you have written for years has been very important to you,"- Suddenly, Hidenori Komatsu's face became more serious, but with a certain concerned expression regarding his son. -"but I do want to warn about what you are doing now, and I want to listen very well to what I plan to say to you, since I don't want you to regret it later, if you ever have the opportunity to do so."

When Yoshinori saw his father's gaze, he could not help but pay full attention to it, for when he acted that way, it was because what he was about to say was more of a serious thing than he normally would, and in this case it was something Hidenori should say to his son before it was too late for either of them.

-"I'm all ears, dad."-

The vet sat down on his son's bed so he could talk to him more comfortably.

-"I'll be frank with you, Yoshi: You've never been very social with anyone, except for that miko named Rina who lives in the mountains with her family, who's been your only friend since you were in junior high..."-

-"I know."-

-"Since then, you have been studying almost non-stop and your only friends have been animals and books, and even in college you preferred to be locked up reading and writing, being your only diversions to go to the zoo and watch movies about animal life, and your only outings were and still are going to my clinic to help me sometimes with the animals, and whenever you worked with them it seems that you are in another world different from ours..."-

Silence from Yoshinori

-"Fortunately, I have never thought that your love for animals is more intimate than it should be, since I have seen that you are offended when someone assumes that you are a zoophile, although it has not stopped others from thinking the same thing, to your own personal misfortune. Not to mention that your contacts with animals have always been respectful and I have never seen you do anything to make me think otherwise."-

-"And?"- Yoshinori replied gruffly, as he felt that the conversation was going nowhere after hearing all this from his father. And not to mention that his father mentioned events that Yoshinori found quite unpleasant to recall, especially the mentions about zoophilia that many people made of him in the past. -"I don't like to remember that, you know."-

-"I know that, kid, but I just needed to stress it out once and for all, so I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable."- The old man apologized his son, them he returned to the conversation again. -"But before I warn you next, there's one thing I want to ask you about your theory, now that it comes to mind right now."

Yoshinori was perplexed to see that his father wanted to ask him a question about his theory suddenly, when they were on another topic, even if it was related to his work.

-"What do you want to know about my theory?"-

Hidenori Komatsu took a brief pause before continuing, as what he was about to say was quite crucial to him.

-"What motivates you to give animals human intelligence and speech?"- The man questioned his son regarding the very reason for the existence of Yoshinori's revolutionary theory. -"I already asked you that question at my clinic, but you know very well that's the holy grail of zoology to try to know the thoughts and feelings of other species besides humans, and that there have been many people who have tried it before, with mixed results. In other words, what makes you think you can do what others have failed? I really, REALLY, want to know that."-

Strangely enough, Yoshinori Komatsu, the architect behind his own radical theory, seemed not to know exactly how to answer such a simple question.

-"To be honest, I don't know why."- The young Japanese doctor admitted the lack of reasons to justify his own creation. -"Putting aside my original idea regarding their use as soldiers, all I can say is that I always wanted to know what the animals had in their own minds and I thought that finding a way to get them to communicate with us directly would be the best solution rather than trying to translate what they were trying to say, considering that an animal's thought patterns are very different from those of a human. But I think I've found a way to do it in a more effective fashion, and this book is what gave me the idea."-

Yoshinori rose from his bed again and picked up the book he was reading a few moments ago, On the Origin of Species. Upon seeing that book, Hidenori could not believe, despite having read his son's theory earlier, which method Yoshinori intended to use to achieve his goal, and it was something so simple that he had never previously considered.

-"Yoshi, don't tell me you were inspired by that book?"-

-"Yes, that's right."-

The young man's father took the book written by Charles Darwin, who could not believe that such a simple book could have given his son the idea to replicate human evolution in lower beings. But obviously there were many questions that remained unresolved and he wanted to know those answers right now.

-"How do you intend to replicate the evolutionary process in an animal? You know very well that it took us human beings centuries to be in the place we are now, and to achieve that same goal would take the same time scale, and by then, you, me, this country, most likely the human race and even the earth will have disappeared by then."- Hidenori questioned one the main issues of his son's work. -"Do you have an idea about doing this in a reasonable time frame?"-

-"As I mentioned earlier to you, my original idea is to use various methods, both natural and artificial, and that includes methods that may exist in the distant future, so I will not be kept in the grip of a single idea."-

-"But do you at least know how long it would take to be done?"-

-"According to my theory, you could see results in 30 to 50 years, depending on many factors that may happen along the way, such as technological advances that speed up the processes, as I stated before. And that's a very optimistic assessment on my part."-

Hidenori could not hide his surprise at knowing how long it would take to see results from his son's theory...

-"THIRTY TO FIFTY YEARS?!"- The old man exclaimed in shock. -"Even if it's more reasonable than waiting thousands of years, it's still too much time even for you! By then, you'll probably be too old, sick and weak to do anything. Haven't you considered that, Yoshi?"-

-"I have considered that, and obviously other scientists will continue my work if anything happens to me."

Yoshinori's father face-palmed at this.

-"YOU FOOL!"- Hidenori shouted at his son as he saw that he did not seem to regard the fact that it would take half a century to see any results. -"Who assures you that someone else can continue your work? You know very well that your theory is not only revolutionary, but also completely out of touch for many people and I doubt if anyone would want to continue your work once you are no longer there to supervise it."-

The conversation took a brief pause at this last point of questioning from Yoshinori Komatsu's father.

-"As usual, you don't always seem to have the answers for everything."- The father commented on the look on his son's face and the lack of answers from him regarding the last question he made. -"But now I'm going to put the questions aside and now we're going with my warnings, as I mentioned earlier, so I want you to listen to me very carefully..."-

Yoshinori watched his father carefully, without saying anything else, nor trying to interrupt or criticize him as well.

-"I don't care if what you are going to do is possible or not, nor do I care if your work may have any ethical implications that could lead to it being used for purposes other than what you had planned, even if I, as a parent and as a scientist, did not agree in the first place."- The man continued with his lecturing. -"I can only tell you, at least as a human being that I am, not to do anything that you will regret later and that you cannot correct in any way. Remember that many people have invented things that they regretted having created themselves in the first place."-

-"That means..."- Yoshinori finally replied, with a soft, but surprised, voice.

-"Yeah, as already told your mother before,"- Hidenori did another brief pause. -"there's a saying that goes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". You'd better remember that all the time, Yoshi."-

-"I will, dad. I promise I'll do my best to make sure nothing goes wrong."-

Once the talk was over, Hidenori stood up from his bed from where he was sitting along with his son and walked to Yoshinori's room door.

-"Well, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed now. You would also do well to sleep and not stay up all night writing, which could be bad for your health."-

-"I will, good night, dad."-

-"Good night, Yoshi."-

Then the father left the room, while Yoshinori decided to listen to his father and go to bed at once, since he had to go to work the next day anyway. Hidenori was at least glad that he had settled things with his son, even if he could not get him to give up on the idea of continuing his harebrained theory.

But at least he knew he might have time to talk to him about the whole thing another day.

---

April 11th, AD 1944, Downtown Hiroshima, Komatsu Family Apartment, Hiroshima, Japan, 8:00 AM

-"Honey, have you seen Yoshinori? I haven't seen him in the house since I got up."-

-"Nope, I haven't seen him either, and I have no idea where he could have gone this early."- Hidenori answered his wife when neither of them saw their son in their room. -"Yesterday when we talked he didn't tell me if he was planning to do anything else before going to work."-

-"Was he still mad at you before you went to sleep?"-

-"Not that I know of. When we finished talking, he was already in a better mood."-

When they both arrived in the kitchen, both spouses realized that Yoshinori had not only prepared his breakfast before leaving, but had also left a note written for his parents saying the following:

Dad, mom, I'm going to the shrine north of town to visit Rina and I need to leave early so I can get to work on time. I'll see you later. Yoshinori.

-"Well, it seems like reminding him of Rina made him think about visiting her."

-"It seems so, but at least that's good, because both of them haven't seen each other since our son left for Germany years ago, so it would be nice if Yoshinori could have a word with her from time to time now that he's back here in Japan."-

-"Indeed."-

---

April 11th, AD 1944, Fujimoto Shinto Shrine, Mt. Tatami, Northern Hiroshima, Japan, 10:30 AM

Yoshinori Komatsu decided to visit her childhood friend, Rina Fujimoto, who lived in a Shinto shrine on the top of Mount Tatami, a mountain that was far away from the Hiroshima metropolitan area. The shrine was the only temple that was several kilometers away, and there were hardly any towns or inhabited areas near the place, which gave the Fujimoto Shrine an almost mystical look from out of this world.

In order to get to Mount Tatami and therefore to the shrine, Komatsu had to ask for a ride from a co-worker who had a car, something that was not very common for many people in Japan at the time, since he knew it would take him a long time to get from Hiroshima to the mountain and back to the city in order to return to work if he did it in a rickshaw. And even with the car, Komatsu had to climb the mountain to get to the temple, since there were no roads for cars at the time.

But getting to the shrine was really both satisfying and challenging for Komatsu. Even if he had to walk to get to that sacred place, which also had no roads for people, he felt he had to visit his old friend, whom he had known since he was a child, although she was a few years older than him.

Komatsu had known that place since he was a kid, and since then, at least before he went to study in Germany, he used to visit the shrine from time to time. Even as a child, he was never particularly religious and his reasons for visiting the temple were mostly to visit Rina, her family and in a way, the curiosity of being in that place that seemed to be separated from the rest of civilization, without anything that disturbed that peace, even in those dark times like those from World War II.

-"RINA, RINAAAAAAA,, WHERE ARE YOU? IT'S ME, YOSHINORI KOMATSU!"-

The young scientist shouted the name of his friend, who strangely did not appear to receive his friend at the shrine. As an additional curiosity, despite being a Shinto temple, as far as Komatsu remembered that temple was not very visited, and the few people who attended the place were the occasional pilgrim or villager who appeared there. The fact that the Fujimoto Shrine was in a very difficult place to access didn't help, but it didn't prevent its occupants from always having it in a clean and presentable condition either, since, at the end of the day, that place was also their home.

-"Where the hell did that woman go? I don't think she went anywhere today."-

As he waited for Rina, Komatsu decided to take a look around the temple, especially the statues of many of the gods worshipped in the sacred place. Although Komatsu, as mentioned above, was an atheist, that did not prevent him from admiring the intrinsic beauty of those divine statues, which were figures that seemed to have been sculpted centuries ago. But among those statues, there were two of them that always caught his attention: those of the two Buddhist gods called Agyo and Ungyo, the guardian gods also known as Nioh.

According to Rina and her family, Agyo and Ungyo are two gods whose task is to protect the place from evil spirits and thieves, so these statues were located at the entrance of the shrine, and despite having a very intimidating appearance, both gods are supposed to be benevolent, hence the meaning of the word "Nioh": Benevolent King. In addition, both gods have another very interesting meaning: Both represent the beginning and the end, life and death, alpha and omega. In short, one end to the other.

Would those statues have any special meaning for the young Komatsu, knowing that beforehand and considering what he was about to do and what had been warned by people in Germany, China, Japan and even his own family before? For him, all those feelings of omens that he felt inside him could be absurd thoughts produced by his imagination, since the last thing Komatsu wanted to feel in those critical moments of his life was to admit that he was letting himself be carried away by some kind of religious superstition.

Another thing that contrasted with the menacing presence of the guardian statues was the cherry trees blossoming all around the shrine, which was normal for the time of year, but given the location, it was an extremely surrealistic, and to some extent even uncomfortable scenario for anyone, including someone as methodical as Yoshinori Komatsu.

And as for him...

-"YOSHINORI, IS THAT YOU?"-

Hearing that voice, Komatsu turned to know who that voice was...

-"RINA?"-

The young scientist heard an unmistakably feminine voice from his childhood friend, Rina Fujimoto. That adorable young woman was the priestess, or miko, who was in charge of the Fujimoto Shrine, which belonged to his family and knew Komatsu since he was a child.

-"Been a while since I've seen you since I left for Germany, Rina..."-

The most surprising thing is that even though Rina was an adult woman, physically she hadn't changed much since he met her when he was just in elementary school. She was still the sweet and kind maiden with short black hair, and above all, she still had those turquoise green eyes that made that woman something exotic to him, considering that it was unusual to see a Japanese woman with that kind of eye color at that time.

-"It's... it's really a surprise for me to see you again, Yoshinori."- The miko answered with tears in her eyes as she saw her friend again. -"I heard from your parents that you'd been in Manchukuo for a while, right?"-

-"Indeed."- Komatsu replied at her, also with tears in his eyes as well. -"I spent a few years there, and I thought I'd never come back. What I experienced there was something very terrible for me, actually, but in one way or another, fortune smiled on me again and here I am back again in Japan."-

-"I'm glad to hear that, Yoshinori."- Rina began to explain what happened in the country when Komatsu left home. -"Since you left, a lot of horrible things have happened here in Japan since the war began. Bombardments, mass recruitments, famines in many parts of the country, executions, a lot of other dreadful, disgusting things have happened here, especially since the war began to escalate."-

-"Yes, I know that."- Komatsu agreed with his friend, since he also witnessed many of these horrors in China during his time with Unit 731, but obviously he had no intention of telling her anything about his work in the army. Leaving aside the confidentiality of the matter, there was the fact that what he saw and heard in Manchukuo was something so horrible and so shocking that he had no desire to talk about it with anyone outside his family, most likely for the rest of his life. -"I was aware of some of those things when I was in Manchukuo, but it wasn't until I got home that I saw the extent of the whole thing."-

-"And what were you doing there in China? Aren't you supposed to have received a scholarship to study in a very important school in Germany?"-

Rina asked Komatsu for an explaination about his whereabouts abroad, since she already knew he originally planned to study in Frankfurt, before the whole deal with both Mengele and his mentor soured the whole thing, and he was basically "punished" by the Japanese ambassador in Germany by sending him to China. Apparently, he needed a good excuse to explain to her what he was doing in Manchukuo.

-"Well, you could say that the scholarship also included studying in Manchukuo, so they sent me there. But the war got ugly over there and I couldn't get back to Japan until things calmed down for a while. That's the only thing I can tell you right now."-

Seeing that her friend spoke in a way that didn't seem very convincing, even to himself, Rina seemed to deduce that Komatsu might be bluffing, though she didn't know if he was actually doing it or not.

-"Why don't you want to give me more details?"-

-"Because what I saw in Manchukuo was just as horrible as what happened here at home."- The scientist explained in a swift fashion, while trying to give some kind of pausible explanation. -"I saw executions, fighting, bombings, and many other things that I don't even want to remember anymore. Now do you understand why I don't want to be so explicit about that?"-

-"But why would someone like you be sent to such a dangerous place as Manchukuo? Wouldn't it have been more convenient for you to be in Europe instead of being sent there?"-

-"Yes, but the war is also raging in Europe and they thought the best way to make sure I was safe was to send me to China. They never thought things were as bad or worse in Manchukuo as they were in Germany, so I had to hide in a government-rented building there until it was safe to leave and return to Japan."-

Komatsu never imagined that miko was so inquisitive, and if it were not for his ability to twist the truth, bearing in mind that she did not seem to suspect anything else, he would have had to tell her the truth and risk his friendship with her.

-"And I suppose while you were in that building in Manchukuo you were studying all that time, weren't you?"-

-"Damn, I never imagined this woman asking so many questions..."- Komatsu thought as he listened to all the questions she was asking to him, something that was already beginning to annoy him, as he wanted to change the subject.

-"You could say that. What else could I do?"-

-"And when did you return to Japan?"-

-"Several months ago."-

-"Then, why didn't you come visit me?"-

-"Because I was very busy at work. I work as a school teacher in a private school and, as you know, I'm very busy dealing with all those kids. Not to mention with some annoying people as well."-

There was a brief pause between the two characters as Komatsu tried to think of any other excuses that might come to mind to evade Rina's barrage of questions about his past in Europe and China.

-"OK, let's put aside what I did abroad, and now, tell me how you've been while I've been away. You sure have a lot of interesting things to say, don't you?"-

To say what happened to Rina Fujimoto and her family all those years as "very interesting" from Komatsu's point of view would be an understatement for her.

-"Well, if you want to know, I've been working in a clothing factory for a few years since the war started, specifically clothes for soldiers and stuff like that."- Rina explained to him what she was doing during Komatsu's absence from Japan. -"Normally, that would be something I would hate to do, but my family and I need money, and there are almost no jobs in many places, especially for women like me."-

-"I understand that perfectly."- Komatsu grimly responded, while trying to understand the situation Rina was into all that time. -"Sorry for asking that..."-

-"No, no problem! I'm not mad at you, Yoshinori,"- Rina clarified what she mentioned about her and her family to her friend, thinking that he had said something that made her uncomfortable, considering that they both went through difficult times in their own ways. -"actually... it's good that you asked me about what happened to me here..."-

Suddenly, she started to cry, which was no wonder after the hell she also went through, but there was something else she wanted to say to him.

-"I don't... sob I don't know if you're aware of this yet, Yoshinori, but there's something I want you to know..."-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"I... sob have a boyfriend for a few years, who is enlisted in the Imperial Air Force. He told me that we would get married when the war was over or when he returned from his last mission, but that was two years ago and I haven't heard from him since."

The news that Rina was engaged to another man while he was out of the country really shocked Komatsu like never before, who had feelings for her, even though he never dared to say it openly, or mention it to anyone else, or even think it through. Rina was always a woman he always loved and one of the reasons he had decided to make the whole trip to Mount Tatami was so he could tell Rina how he felt about her before it was too late, only to receive the news that she was interested in someone else.

-"You said you have a boyfriend?"-

-"Yes."- The miko answered. -"His name is Akiharu Hirose."-

Silence from Komatsu...

-"He is a priest from Izumo who I met at a festival before the war started. I don't think I told you about him, since you were too busy with the paperwork to get your visa to travel to Germany, so you're probably very surprised to know that I have a boyfriend, considering you were out of the country all this time."-

Indeed, the young scientist was surprised to learn this, but for very different reasons, and at that time Komatsu felt within himself an incredible amount of anger and pain he had never felt before.

All these years of suffering abroad, all the humiliations he endured, all the insults, all that bloodshed he saw...

At least Komatsu wanted, after all that, to be able to be with someone who was by his side to at least help him lessen all the suffering he had endured all those years, only that in the end, he would find out that that person was with another man. For the young man from Hiroshima, it was as if, far from things getting better, they only seemed to get worse for him...

-"Have you talked to the authorities about his whereabouts?"- Komatsu asked, trying to conceal his discomfort over the topic regarding Akiharu Hirose, who, unbeknownst to both of them, was still alive on that island in the Pacific Ocean after the Battle of Midway.

-"I tried, but they didn't tell me anything about him."- The woman replied. -"If he had died, I think I would have been told, but I haven't heard from him since."-

-"I see."-

Komatsu could deduce that the man by the name of Akiharu Hirose was most likely gone, or even dead by then, but he could not hope that he had really disappeared from Rina's life yet.

-"I still believe that Akiharu is still alive. If he had died they would have known that all along, wouldn't they, Yoshinori?"-

-"Most likely."-

Rina suddenly began to notice that there was something that seemed to bother her friend, despite his attempts to disguise his anger about the news that she had a boyfriend she had never mentioned before...

-"Is something wrong with you, Yoshinori? You seemed to be feeling a little under the weather."-

-"No, it's nothing, thanks for asking anyway."- Komatsu made his best effort to avoid showing any kind of visual gesture that would make Rina think he was jealous.

-"Are you sure about this? You may well be very tired after climbing Mount Tatami dressed like that."- The woman makes mention of the formal suit Komatsu was wearing at the time, and even more so when one considers the weather was a little warm that day, making a mountain climb a somewhat strenuous undertaking. -"Do you want me to bring you something to drink, like water or green tea?"-

-"No, thank you Rina, I'm not thirsty."-

-"I don't mind to make you a cup of tea, so you can stay at the shrine for a while while while you rest before going down to the city."-

But at the time, the last thing he wanted from Rina was tea, or whatever came from her. In those moments of frustration and pain, all Yoshinori Komatsu wanted was to return to Hiroshima and leave both the shrine and Rina Fujimoto behind. For him, she already had her life with that man, assuming that he would return one day, and he was no longer important in the life of that miko, in all probability.

-"Excuse me, Rina, but I have to go back to the city right now, because I have to give classes at school and I'm going to be late. I just came by to see how you were doing, and it's good to know you're well..."-

And without even saying goodbye to her, Komatsu headed for the entrance to the temple bound for the city, leaving behind a bewildered Rina, who did not understand why Komatsu did not want to say goodbye to her, but she was too polite to question him that way, as she thought he was most likely too busy, so there was only one thing left for her to ask before the young man left the shrine.

-"Can you at least tell me when you plan on going back to the shrine?"-

The woman only received an answer, a rather cold answer from that man...

-"I'll think about it another day, later."-

And without further ado, Yoshinori Komatsu descended from the mountain, leaving Rina Fujimoto wondering what had happened to that young man that day.

-"Oh my, why did he leave here like that?"- The miko wondered about Komatsu's odd behavior and his sudden farewell. -"Whatever happened to him, it must have been a terrible thing to say about."-

What she didn't know about him was more than just remembering the painful events that Komatsu suffered in Germany and Manchukuo: He also suffered from a completely broken heart.

---

April 11th, AD 1944, Shudo Junior and Senior High School, Hiroshima, Japan, 12:15 PM

After a long trip from Mt. Tatami to school, Komatsu managed to get to work on time as a teacher in that private facility, although he had to change his clothes right there because he smelled bad from the physical effort he put in when he went up and down that mountain, not to mention the trip back to Hiroshima. He was not in a very good mood after what happened with Rina in the Fujimoto Shrine, but as always, the young teacher and scientist tried to give the best face he could, bearing in mind that, as a teacher, he had to set an example to his students, even if that, in his inner opinion, was a complete and utter hypocrisy.

After reporting to his superiors, and going to the classroom to teach the biology class, which was his specialty for obvious reasons, but when he arrived at the classroom, he noticed something very strange, which he had not been warned about in advance by anyone when he arrived at the school.

-"Why isn't anyone here in the classroom?"-

Komatsu asked himself angrily when he saw that there was no one in the room. As far as he was aware, there were no plans for any outings or events that required leaving school, and no one seemed to have at least made a phone call to at least notify him.

-"If this is a bad joke from my students, there will be very severe consequences for those responsible. I'm not in the humor right now for this kind of thing."-

But before Komatsu could continue to complain about that annoying situation, he noticed that the students did not leave their belongings in the classroom either, which meant that they did not seem to have arrived in the classroom to begin with. Why no one warned him about it was a mystery to him.

-"Damn, I think I'm going to have to go ask the principal to find out what happened here."-

Before he could leave the place, however, Komatsu heard a voice that was too familiar to him...

-"I don't think that will be needed, my dear Komatsu."-

That voice came from none other than Komatsu's superior, Shiro Ueda, who was at the entrance of the classroom where Komatsu normally worked, waiting for him to leave the premises.

-"Mr. Ueda! What are you doing here? I didn't see you at the school office when I first reported there."-

-"I was in other businesses outside school, and I was told that you would be here looking for your students, so I came as soon as I could."-

-"I see."- Komatsu replied, quite surprised to see his senior in front of him. -"Do you know what happened with my students? I haven't seen them or their belongings in the classroom since I got here."-

-"Sorry if you weren't warned beforehand, but your students went to a course about public morals that would be taught outside the school. We were only warned at the last minute last night, and we thought it convenient to first let students know when they arrived here, and then let you know when you did, but I don't think anyone told you at the head office, did they?"-

-"No, nobody told me about that."-

-"I see, too bad nobody did."-

Suddenly, Ueda pulled what appeared to be a letter out of his pocket...

-"What's that letter?"- Komatsu asked Ueda regarding that letter.

-"That letter?"- Ueda replied, pretending supposed ignorance. -"Well, it's not a letter per se, but a telegram, and it's for you. In fact, they asked me to give it to you before you got to the classroom, but you made it here before I did."-

-"I see, I wonder what that telegram is for."-

Ueda handed the telegram to Komatsu, but before he could read it, the young professor wanted to talk to his superior about something...

-"Before I read this, I would like to apologize to you Mr. Ueda for what happened at the restaurant yesterday afternoon."- Komatsu spoke in a embarrassing tone, after what had happened the day before with him. -"I admit that my behavior was not the right one, nor was it expected of someone like me, especially in front of a girl like Saeko..."-

-"Oh, please, Komatsu! There' s no problem with that, if you ask me!"- Ueda tried to apologize as well, since at least he tried to admit he was the one who angered his junior first. -"I'm the one who should apologize for what happened at the restaurant, after saying all that nonsense about you. I'm really sorry about that, honestly."-

-"Oh, that's good."- Replied the young man, after seeing that man, despite his bad reputation, seemed at least to recognize that he went too far with him. -"I humbly accept your apology, sir."-

-"So, that's settle the whole thing."- The old man happily replied after seeing the whole issue with his junior was solved in a satisfactory fashion. -"And by the way, weren't you going to read that telegram?"-

-"Oh, right! Let's see what it says."-

As he opened the envelope and read the telegram, Komatsu began to read the contents. Suddenly, the happy look on Komatsu's face at having settled the matter with Ueda suddenly turned into a distraught face, for what the telegram said was not to his complete liking:

To Yoshinori Komatsu: Please report immediately to Tokyo regarding your research and theory. Col. Matsuoka

Just by looking at the name "Matsuoka", the young Komatsu knew very well which person the telegram was alluding to. Col. Hiroshi Matsuoka was the name of Komatsu's superior at the Imperial Japanese Army in Tokyo to whom he was accountable for his theory and research work he had been conducting since he returned to Japan. And he knew very well that man was a person who wouldn't take a "no" for an answer.

But the strangest thing about that telegram was why he had to return to Tokyo again: Komatsu had already gone to the imperial capital last month and had been warned beforehand that he was not to return to the city for another three months. Why he was being asked to return to Tokyo early was something he could more or less infer, and it wasn't exactly a good thing.

Did the war escalate in such a way that the government was now asking anyone who could be of use to the war efforts to participate, regardless of whether what they could contribute was of use or not? Whatever was going on with the government, the government's military cadre and its leaders was something that was beginning to terrify that young scientist, because of the consequences it could have on his career or even on himself.

-"What's wrong, Komatsu? Did something bad happen?"- Ueda asked him after seeing his face.

Komatsu took a deep breath to answer his superior's question.

-"They're asking me to go to Tokyo as soon as possible. I don't know why, but I don't think it's any good, considering I went there a few months ago."-

-"Oh my! That must be terrible."- Ueda responded, as he made an attempt to comfort his junior about the plight he was in.

-"Yes, it certainly is."- The young scientist replied, somewhat glum at the news. -"I don't know what I'm going to tell my parents about this, and also what I'm going to do with my work here at school."-

-"You shouldn't worry about the things here, Komatsu."- The young man's senior tried to calm him down in an attempt to convince him that things would be all right whilst he was away. -"I can replace you for as long as you are out of town, otherwise, I can try to find a substitute teacher as well. You can go to Tokyo with complete peace of mind, as your job will remain safe once you return, I can assure you that."-

-"To be honest, sir, not being here working in Hiroshima is the least of my problems..."-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"I can't give you much details on the subject, as it is confidential, but I am legally forced to return to Tokyo to work there. That's all I can say about it."-

-"Oh, I see."- Ueda responded with a bitter tone. -"And on what day do you have to go to the capital?"-

-"They ordered me to come back as soon as possible, so I'll most likely have to leave here tomorrow morning."- Komatsu replied the man, trying to find a way to solve the situation he was in. -"I don't know if I should work today or return home to prepare myself for the trip."-

-"In that case, I can replace you as of today, so that you can return home and prepare yourself with no worries in order to go to Tokyo."- Komatsu's superior tried to handle his affairs from that point on. -"I'll take care of the rest, as long you give me your curriculum so I know where you left off in the last class with your students."-

-"Oh, really? Thank you very much, Mr. Ueda! That would help me a lot."-

-"You're welcome, Komatsu, don't worry about it."- The old man smiled his junior, as he assured that Komatsu's work would be safe during this trip to the capital. -"If you wish, you can return home to your family and prepare for your trip. I wish you well in Tokyo."

-"But wouldn't it be good to talk to the principal and other supervisors first so they are aware of my trip beforehand?"-

-"I'll take care of that too, young man. You just worry about your trip and I'll take care of everything school-related, and I'll also notify your students of your absence."-

-"Thank you very much again, Mr. Ueda!"- Komatsu heartfully thanked the man for what he was trying to trying to do for him. -"I don't know how to thank you for what you're doing for me, especially after what happened yesterday."-

-"No need to thank me. If you want, we'll talk about it when you get back from Tokyo."-

-"Well, in that case I'll be leaving. See you later and I'll try to somehow phone you from Tokyo to find out what's going on at the school."-

-"You're welcome. Have a nice trip!"-

Then Komatsu shakes hands with his superior and bows slightly to the man before leaving the classroom to go home. Fortunately for the young teacher, a rickshaw passed through the school gates and was the first vehicle he picked up to return to his home.

Meanwhile, half an hour later, Komatsu's students, who had allegedly attended a public morals course that Ueda had mentioned earlier, returned to school earlier than planned, and when they arrived at their classroom, they realized that their teacher was not there waiting for them, and in their place was Komatsu's superior, Shiro Ueda, who would be their new teacher from now on.

Something that the students, for obvious reasons, were not aware of at all.

-"Mr. Ueda, what happened to Mr. Komatsu, where did he go?"-

In response from one of the students, Ueda answered the following, with a smile on his face...

-"Well, your teacher had to go to Tokyo because of some personal problems and he's going to be out of town for a while."- The old man responded. -"That's all I know."-

All the students were bewildered by such drastic change of events, as they were never told beforehand by Komatsu or the school that he would have to leave on a trip, which was obvious for them to demand an explanation from Ueda, their new mentor.

-"And why didn't he tell us?"-

-"It was a sudden thing, believe me, kid."- Ueda continued with his explanation. -"He barely had time to tell me, and I'll take it upon myself to pass the notice on to the school management on his behalf, as his immediate superior."-

-"And you don't know when he's coming back, sir?"-

Ueda took some time to think about his answer, so that he could adequately deal with the students he now had under his watch.

-"Well, considering the extent of his situation and the fact that he didn't really told me the reasons for his trip to Tokyo, I don't think he'll ever come back here."-

---

April 11th, AD 1944, on the banks of the Ota River, Hiroshima, Japan, 01:30 PM

The rickshaw that Komatsu was on board went by pure chance near the Ota River, near the restaurant where he and Ueda had eaten the day before and where he had also been involved in a spat with the aforementioned person after being called a zoophile and a pedophile. In those moments, Komatsu's stomach began to growl from the hunger he was feeling at the time...

-"Damn, what a bad time to be hungry..."-

While Komatsu was thinking this, the vehicle went through the aforementioned business, which gave the young man, now a former teacher, something to think about due to his hunger.

-"Well, I still have plenty of time and I could eat a course or two before I go home."-

That being said, Komatsu orders the rickshaw owner to return to the restaurant, so that he can eat something before returning to the apartment.

Once near the restaurant, Komatsu was preparing to enter, when he saw a girl, dressed in her traditional dress, sitting near the riverbank. That girl was none other than Saeko Yasuda, who was staring at the river completely distracted from what was happening around her.

-"What's Saeko doing sitting there? Did something happen?"-

In view of what happened and considering that since he first met her, he began to feel sympathy for her, Komatsu went to the riverbank to have a chat with her. The girl, who kept her eyes on the river, did not seem to have noticed the young scientist behind her.

-"How are you, Saeko? I see you're taking a good look at this river, aren't you?"-

The girl was surprised to see Yoshinori Komatsu, whom she did not expect to see again, but at the same time, she was happy to seeing him anyway.

-"MI-MISTER KOMATSU?"- Saeko stuttered as she saw him in front of her. -"What are you doing in here?"-

-"You could say that my rickshaw passed through here and I got a little hungry, so I made a stopover at your restaurant to get something to eat before I went home and before I left for my trip."-

-"Oh, I get it."- The girl heartfully responded the man. -"Would you like us to go to the restaurant and get you something to eat?"-

-"Yes,"- The young man responded at the girl -"but first I'd like to talk to you before you serve me food, sweetie."-

Saeko was intrigued by this question, for even if she knew Komatsu, he was still a stranger she met at work yesterday and she was not sure that she wanted to talk to him.

-"Why do you want to talk with me, Mr. Komatsu?"- The girl asked the young scientist. -"I find it a little strange that you want to talk when we've only known each other since yesterday afternoon."-

-"Well, I think it's a way to apologize for what happened yesterday."- Komatsu proceeded to explain the incident with Shiro Ueda. -"Everything that happened yesterday was my superior's fault, and I think I made a very embarrassing scene in front of everyone at your job, so I want to apologize if I caused any problems for you and your family for my actions."-

The girl then smiled at Komatsu's words as she saw that the man who was older than her heartily apologized to her and her family for the unpleasant events that had occurred the other day.

-"There's no need to apologize, Mr. Komatsu. I understand the reasons why you were angry with Mr. Ueda, since he told you that you were a zoophile and a pervert, as I understood it."- Saeko accepted Komatsu's apology. -"I'd be mad with that too if I were you."-

-"Yeah, that's right."- The man with a forced smile in his face.

Suddenly, at these words, Komatsu noticed something quite unusual about Saeko, considering the response the girl gave him at the time and its implications. How did that girl know what he was talking to Ueda about, if they were both talking quietly that day precisely to keep Saeko from hearing anything? Was that girl eavesdropping them during that argument and that's why she knew everything?

-"WAAAIT a second, Saeko! How did you know Ueda called me a pedophile and a zoophile in my face?"-

Realizing the annoyed look on Komatsu's face at the knowledge of that, Saeko looked back at the river as she stopped staring at the young man...

-"I think I talked too much, I'm so sorry."-

As a result, Komatsu started to be intrigued by that fairly ordinary girl, as it was self-evident how Saeko seemed to be hiding something she did not want anyone else to know, much less someone like him. So, Komatsu started trying to squeeze some more information out of her.

-"Wait, Saeko, I'm not done talking to you, and besides, I'm not mad at you."- Komatsu responded, in an attempt to reassure the girl after that remark. -"I just want to know one thing I just noticed about you, little girl."-

Saeko seemed determined not to say anything more about herself. And Komatsu's curiosity began to increase...

-"Well, what happened? Aren't you going to talk about you?"-

When she saw that unknown person was putting pressure on her, Saeko had no other choice but to take emergent measures in this regard...

-"If you don't come to lunch at the restaurant and you're just trying to annoy me, I'm going to ask you to leave if you don't want me to call the police."-

Seeing that the girl began to threaten him, Komatsu had no choice but to comply if he did not want the situation to become more serious than it already was.

-"All right, all right, I'm going to eat, sorry to bother you! You don't need to be mad at me, dammit!"-

And without further ado, the young scientist enters the restaurant "Jiiya" to eat something, listening to Saeko's advice, while the girl also enters the restaurant so that she can serve him.

---

April 11th, AD 1944, Restaurant "Jiiya", Hiroshima, Japan, 02:00 PM

-"Here's your vegetable salad, Mr. Komatsu. I hope you like it."-

Saeko had served Komatsu a delicious vegetarian meal. Since she knew that he ate absolutely nothing that had meat or came from any animal, she took care that the salad really had nothing that would displease that strange young man, even if half an hour ago he began to ask too personal questions about her, and Saeko had no duty to serve that stranger, but she was obliged, as part of the restaurant staff, to satisfy her customer, no matter whatever the reasons.

Putting this aside, the vegetarian scientist began to devour his food with gusto and without saying anything else. Komatsu could not help but think the food from that traditional Japanese restaurant was one of the best meals he had eaten in many years, considering that the foods he had eaten in Germany and Manchukuo were never to his liking. In particular, one of the things he hated most about German cuisine was the famous Sauerkraut, which he sometimes had to eat in the absence of anything better to eat than meat. And it goes without saying what Komatsu had to say about German sausages.

-"Well, did you like the salad?"-

Komatsu gave his blessing as he continued to gobble up that delicious salad.

-"nom nom Delicious! nom nom"-

-"Good thing you liked it, Mr. Komatsu."- Saeko explained. -"That salad is one of our specialties for vegetarian customers, despite being a western recipe."-

-"Don't worry about it, little girl, I have zero issues with foreign food."- Komatsu tried not to give any thought to the fact that he was eating Western food in a Japanese restaurant. -"Besides, I've had worse meals when I went to Europe and Manchukuo."-

-"Did you travel abroad, sir?"-

-"Yes, thanks to a scholarship I was awarded in the university when I got my degree. I lived for a while in Frankfurt, Germany, and Manchukuo for a few years. Although to be honest, it wasn't something I could call fun."-

Obviously, Saeko knew very well what Komatsu meant by that.

-"You mean the war, right?"-

Komatsu paused a bit at that part...

-"Partly yes, and partly for other very unpleasant reasons that I rather not tell a girl as young as you."-

-"I.. I see, sir."- The girl responded with some understandable disgust in her face.

Suddenly, other customers came into the restaurant, something that caught Saeko's attention as soon as she could.

-"Excuse me, sir, but I have other people to attend to!"-

-"Don't worry, I won't take up your time and you better attend your customers. We will talk later."-

Saeko scrambled to serve the guests who arrived at the restaurant, while Yoshinori Komatsu continued to eat his salad, ignoring everything that was going on around him...

...except for one thing that started to get his attention.

At that moment, a stray cat went into the restaurant through one of the windows, and when he saw that in one of the tables on the side of the kitchen, where Saeko or her parents put the leftovers of the food that their customers left on their tables, there were many half-eaten fish, the cat went to that place to eat some of it.

-"Well, that cat looks pretty hungry."- Komatsu thought after seeing that feline. -"I think it would be nice to warn the girl before that poor cat eats some customer's food."-

But before that hungry feline could even taste a bite of those half-eaten fish, Saeko seemed to have noticed the presence of that animal inside her restaurant, and quickly went to the table where she had the leftovers, and scolded the animal, but without trying to hurt or physically mistreat him. What happened next was something that started to amaze him, because of Saeko's attitude towards the animal...

-"What are you doing here, Goro? I already told you you can't come here to eat when I have customers."- The girl scolded that cat as if it was a person, instead of an animal. The most surprising thing was that the cat seemed to pay attention to the girl's words. -"I'll feed you when I get off work, you naughty cat."-

Seeing how that girl not only felt the presence of the cat, but also how she seemed to treat him in a rather strange way for a mere stray animal, Komatsu began to take a closer look at both the cat and Saeko Yasuda.

How was it that Saeko felt the presence of that cat when she was at the other end of the restaurant serving customers, and how was it that she felt the intentions of that stray animal before that cat could touch the food when she was busy? There was also the fact of the words she said when he and Saeko were in the Ota River regarding the discussion he has held with Shiro Ueda, and she refused to give more details about how she knew something that was supposed to have been kept secret from her to avoid upsetting her to begin with.

There was a possibility that the cat was Saeko's and she left it loose in the street, so she knew his routines, but there were other things that didn't match that possible answer: She spoke to the cat as if it didn't belong to her, considering the way she addressed the animal, and the cat, however educated it might be if it was an ordinary pet, obeyed the girl without further mischief, not to mention that the cat left the restaurant without Saeko forcing him to do so, something that's not easy to do, even with domesticated cats.

There was only one way to find out, but he knew full well that Saeko was not going to say anything more about her special... talent, so he had to find a way to find out the truth about that mysterious girl, whether she wanted it or not. Knowing the truth about the strange ability that this girl had was perhaps relevant to the theory that Komatsu was working on, so that he could know an animal's thought patterns.

-"Hey Saeko, could I have the check please?"-

Saeko quickly rushed to the table where Komatsu was eating and she brought him the check.

-"Here's your check, Mr. Komatsu. I hope you enjoyed the food."-

Then Komatsu paid for his meal, and then he got up from his chair to leave the place as soon as possible.

-"Thanks for the food, Saeko. It was delicious."-

-"Thank you very much, sir. I hope to see you again very soon."-

-"Same goes for you, see you later!"-

After bidding the girl farewell, Komatsu left the restaurant as soon as she could, while Saeko was at least happy to see that the mysterious stranger was gone.

What Saeko Yasuda did not know was that Yoshinori Komatsu had other plans in mind for her, and he did not intend to give up so easily...

---

April 11th, AD 1944, outside Restaurant "Jiiya", Hiroshima, Japan, 08:00 PM

It was already dark that day in April, and the restaurant "Jiiya" had already closed its doors for the day. For the Yasuda family, especially Saeko, it was a day like any other, leaving aside what happened between her and Yoshinori Komatsu on the Ota River, and she was happy to finish working.

-"Saeko, don't forget to put the leftovers in the trash before they go to waste."-

-"Yes, mom!"-

It was the voice of Saeko's mother, who ordered her to put all the leftovers in the trash, something she always did diligently every day and without fail. Fortunately for her, what she was going to throw away wasn't a lot, so she could do it without too much trouble.

But that girl had another plan in mind for that trash...

-"Goro! Goro! Where are you? Come out, kitty, wherever you are!"-

Surprisingly and without even warning, Goro, the cat Saeko was looking for, emerged from the darkness of the night and stood on one of the garbage cans behind the restaurant in front of Saeko, while she, for obvious reasons, was happy to see him again.

-"Well, as I promised you this afternoon, I brought you some leftover food today, but you didn't have to come into my work without asking permission first, Goro!"-

The cat started meowing to Saeko, as if the animal was trying to say something to her, knowing beforehand that she would understand.

-"I know you were hungry, you dumb cat, but you know very well you would have gotten me in trouble with my parents or my customers if they had seen you inside the restaurant."-

More meowing from the hungry feline...

-"Yeah, yeah, I know, but luckily my parents are busy with something else, so they're not gonna see me talking to you, or anyone else."-

Apparently Goro was trying to tell Saeko, or rather, to warn her, about talking to him while she was on the street, because of her ability to understand what the cat said, something she didn't care about, since she and Goro were the only entities in that alley that night.

Meanwhile, Goro kept talking, or rather, meowing to the girl.

-"What do you mean you felt something strange today?"-

Saeko tried to think about what the cat was trying to say, as everything indicated that he was warning her.

-"Well, if I can deduce what you're trying to say, I think you're referring to..."-

-"...me, I think?"-

A mysterious male voice came from one of the corners of that dark alley behind the "Jiiya", trying to stop that cat from warning Saeko any longer.

-"MISTER KOMATSU?!"-

In fact, Komatsu had been on the street most of the day waiting for Saeko to finish her work and he was counting on her to possibly go out and feed that stray cat and talk to him, so he could find out her secret. Now that he knew she could talk to the cats, he could get any information from her easily.

But obviously, Saeko was not happy to see Komatsu at all in that place and at that time, and she decided to try to defend herself somehow.

-"If you try to come near me, I'll cry for help and call the police!"-

Komatsu did not seem intimidated by that little girl's threat, since he had something better to counter her words in a very effective way...

-"I don't think it's in your best interest to do that, little girl."- Komatsu warned Saeko before she could do anything else. -"Besides, there's something you should know about me before you call the police or your parents."-

-"What should I know about you?"-

-"You see, I happen to work for the Imperial Army as a scientist and I have contacts there, so if you try to prosecute me, you're not going to succeed at all and it could be worse for you or even your family, so be a good girl and let's talk like civilized people, shall we?"-

The girl remained silent in the face of this threat...

-"And to show you that this is not an empty threat, let me show you my Army ID, so you can see I'm not lying at all."-

Komatsu showed his identity card to Saeko, confirming that he was indeed a member of the Imperial Japanese Army. What Saeko did not know and Komatsu conveniently concealed from the girl was that he did not have as much influence in the army as she could imagine at the time, and in fact, there were many people in the army who would wish him dead if possible, after his antics in Germany and China, so it was he who took a risk in threatening that girl if Saeko decided to comply with his threat, since if they both ended up in court, Komatsu would be the one to end up in jail, or worse. Part of Komatsu's plan was to assume the girl was impressionable enough for her to meet his demands without much trouble.

Luckily for him, Saeko was indeed impressionable enough to speak, which made things easier for him in many ways. Although, to be honest with himself, being forced to act like a "bad guy" just to get secrets out of a girl was something he would never normally do under normal circumstances, but he had no choice but to do so. In the end, everything was for science, as he thought.

-"OK, sir, I will talk."-

-"Well, first and foremost, I just want to say one thing:"- Komatsu made the things clearer for Saeko regarding what he wanted to know. -"I will not hurt you in any way, since I only want to talk to you about the power you have. That's all I want to know about you."-

-"Re-really, Mr. Komatsu?"-

-"Yes. Unfortunately, your attitude forced me to take more drastic measures to get the information I need, so I'm going to beg you to forgive me for what I did."-

Saeko, seeing the sincerity on Komatsu's face, decided to open up to him in what the young scientist needed to know, seeing that he was apparently telling the truth.

-"All right, what do you want to know about me? I imagine you're referring to my ability to talk to Goro, aren't you?"-

-"Exactly, that's what I want know about that power of yours."-

-"Okay, I'll tell you the truth: Not only can I talk to Goro, I can talk to any animal, including birds, but I can't talk to reptiles, insects and worms."-

-"Now that is interesting."- Komatsu responded quite surprised at hearing that. -"How long have you been using that skill?"-

-"Since I was, like, six years old."- Saeko continued to explain the origins of her power to Komatsu. -"When I started going to school, I realized that I could suddenly understand what animals could say, even if other people could not. At first I was afraid and thought I was hearing voices in my head, but as I grew older, I began to understand that power I had and since then I have used it to communicate with animals easily."-

-"Oh, interesting!"- The young scientist exclaimed as he heard this. -"Does your family know about your power? And does anyone else outside your family know about this?"-

-"No one else knows about this."- The girl responded at that question. -"I've never wanted to tell my parents about this, because I'm afraid they'll think I've gone crazy or something. And I don't want to talk about it with any strangers either, because I'm also afraid they'll take me somewhere to do me some harm."-

Upon this last part she had just said, Saeko looked into Komatsu's eyes, thinking the most obvious thing that could happen to her when she told her secret to that man, who was a scientist. The young man also thought of the same thing when considering the dilemma Saeko was now knee-deep in by telling him something as sensitive as her power to him, but Komatsu had no other negative intent about Saeko than to speak to that girl, so he needed to assure her that her secret would be safe with him.

-"I know what you're thinking, but I assure you your secret will be safe with me."- Komatsu gave his word to the girl, who started to get nervous after telling the origin of her powers. -"It is also not in my best interest that anyone else knows about this, as it is of vital importance for a very important research I am doing, and I need to know more about you to complete it. And before you think otherwise, I'm not going to do anything else to you, I just need to ask you a few questions, that's all."-

-"Research?"- Saeko was puzzled at first when she heard that. -"What kind of research are you doing, Mr. Komatsu?"-

Upon hearing this, Komatsu knew full well that, if she wanted to win the trust of that girl, who at the time was quite afraid of having to tell her secret in a forced way, the only way to do so would be to tell her the truth and tell her the true purpose of his theory that he had been working on for years. Even if there was a risk that Saeko would tell anyone else about it, Komatsu trusted that she would not, since she would automatically have to explain the reasons why she found out about it and that would incriminate her even more.

And now, it was the great time to tell Saeko the truth, so Yoshinori Komatsu took a brief pause to get some air and told her, broadly speaking (considering she was only a child) the purpose of his theory.

-"ehem What I am about to tell you, my dear Saeko,"- Komatsu began his explanation. -"is also a little secret that I am also hiding, and only a small handful of people, including my parents, know exactly what it is."-

The girl looked the young teacher into his eyes, trying to pay attention to his words.

-"What kind of secret, sir?"-

A brief, somewhat dramatic pause was done here...

-"Would you believe me if the real purpose of my research is to make animals talk and think like us humans, like the way you talk to that cat?"-

Silence...

Upon hearing this, Saeko Yasuda could not help but be silent in the face of such a statement from a person whom she considered to be a serious adult. Even a girl like her, of about 10 years old, was not stupid enough to buy such an ludicrous idea, even if she were in the same situation as Komatsu when it came to supernatural things.

Even Goro, the stray cat that Saeko was going to feed, and who was standing there in the garbage can doing nothing for the girl, for fear of making things worse for both of them, and also considering that Komatsu could defend himself against him, could not help but hear all the conversation that Komatsu was having with his friend Saeko, and when he heard it, the cat's opinion was the same as that of a human girl, except that Goro decided to get to the point, in a very brutal way...

-"Saeko, I don't know if this guy is really telling the truth, or if this idiot actually has some screws loose in his head, as many humans would say in a situation like this. And I could say something more vulgar about this, but I won't do it out of respect for you."-

Luckily for Saeko and Goro, the cat's words could only be heard by the girl in her head, while Komatsu heard only meows from the animal, though for obvious reasons he knew the cat was trying to tell her something. Meanwhile, Saeko tried to continue the conversation, despite the twist it took with the man's words.

-"Mr. Komatsu, are you really... serious with that?"-

-"I give you my word I'm really serious."- Komatsu reassured the girl again of the veracity of what she had just said, even if the girl (and Goro) did not seem to agree with him. -"It may sound like a joke, but I'm really working on it. Obviously that will take a long time, perhaps years or even decades, but I am absolutely certain that it is possible to make an animal talk or think like a human."-

When Goro heard this, he put his paws on his head as a sign that he had enough to do with listening to that human, whose ideas, already in themselves sounded absurd to another human, to a cat like Goro sounded like something out of some ridiculous story taken from someone who consumed some strange substance, which in the case of Goro could be catnip, or in a human would be something like some psychoactive drug.

-"I will take back what I said about not saying vulgar things: This human, with all due respect to you, Saeko, is completely and absolutely outta his fuckin' mind!"-

-"I agree with you, for this time."- Saeko replied the feline with a forced smile in her face.

Obviously, Komatsu saw that the girl was talking to the cat, and while he didn't understand anything Goro said, he knew that cat and Saeko were having a little chat between them, and he wanted to know how that was possible if the cat couldn't talk.

-"Before we continue with our talk, Saeko dear,"- Komatsu asked the girl about the way she communicate with the animal. -"I would like to know, first of all, how you can know what the cat is saying if you can't speak his language and how the cat can understand you too."-

-"Well, technically I can't speak his language,"- The girl finally explained how her power worked to the man. -"but I can only actually read his mind, which allows me to know what an animal is trying to tell me. I can also do the same with human beings, but only partially and with a lot of mental effort on my part, that's why I knew what you talked about with Mr. Ueda yesterday afternoon at work."-

-"I see, so you have telepathy with animals and humans, although limited in the latter..."-

-"That's right."-

-"And as you told me a few minutes ago, you can't engage in mental communication with fish, insects and other lesser beings, right?"-

-"That's right, too."- Saeko confirmed this. -"I have to assume that those beings are not intelligent enough to communicate with me, or they may have another way of doing it which I do not know."-

-"Very likely, in my opinion."-

At that time, Komatsu noticed something interesting in Saeko's yukata, who always wore it at work as part of her attire at the restaurant, being a traditional place that required her to wear it: That girl's yukata had a picture of an animal that looked like a cat, but with two tails. If Komatsu remembered correctly, that image was that of a nekomata, a kind of yokai, or spirit from Japanese mythology. Of these beings it is said that they can control the dead, drink human blood, among other activities related to necromancy. In addition, legend has it that a nekomata can walk upright on two legs, something Komatsu intends to do with his theory with any mammal, not just cats.

Was it a coincidence that girl who possessed such a special gift had a mythological being drawn on her yukata that clearly represented the goal that ambitious scientist wanted to achieve? (Without the necromancy part, of course)

-"There is something else I want to ask you,"- Komatsu asked the girl again. -"does that image of a nekomata embedded in your yukata have any relation to your powers?"-

Saeko looked at the image of the nekomata that her interlocutor mentioned closely, something she had not related to the situation she was in with Goro until Komatsu mentioned it.

-"You mean this?"- She pointed her finger on the image from her yukata. -"My grandmother knitted me that yukata, and on the nekomata, she knitted it too, because she thought it looked nice there, plus I always liked cats..."-

-"I can see that."- Komatsu smiled when he saw Saeko's face with regard to her love for cats.

-"In fact, I have a lot of stuffed cats, a Maneki-Neko, and I also have a cat, only he is at my grandmother's house right now, because he got sick and she has more time to take care of him."-

-"Oh, I see, you really do love cats."-

-"Don't you think so?"- The girl responded somewhat embarrassed to this.

-"Yes, I do."- The man smiled, and he then laugh a bit later on. -"And well, back to the subject, you told me a few minutes ago that no one else knows about your powers, didn't you?"-

-"That's right, no one else knows about my power."- The girl made a point regarding this. -"Not even my parents, grandparents, best friends or my teachers at school know anything about this."-

-"That's good, because I'd rather keep it that way."- Komatsu warned the girl. -"In fact, I don't want you to tell anyone I talked to you, or what we talked about, since you'd get me in a lot of trouble, along with you, if anyone else found out I told my secret to someone outside the army."-

-"Don't worry, Mr. Komatsu, I will keep your secret with me."- Saeko promised to keep Komatsu's secret, though she wanted to ask another just as important question. -"But, don't you want to know more about my power?"-

Komatsu noticed that, as he strayed from the subject for a few moments, he forgot to ask questions regarding Saeko's telepathic powers.

-"Oh, yeah, I forgot that! Thanks for reminding me that, sweetie!"- The scientist tried to quickly remember where he had left off. -"As I was saying a few moments ago about the way your power works, In what way, to give you a clearer example, can that cat sitting there in the garbage can for example, make a telepathic link with you and how does the animal engage a conversation with you? Does he use words, mental images, some form of communication other than human ones?"-

For some reason, Saeko disliked that Komatsu called Goro "that cat", since he had a name, and she wanted him to use it like anyone else.

-"That cat has a name, and his name is Goro."- Saeko responded upset at the young man's insensitive inquiry. -"Regarding your question, each animal has its own ways of communicating with me. In general, if it is a pet, they communicate with me with words that they transmit to my head when I read their mind, but when they are wild animals it is something more complicated, because I can only see or understand visual images that I must interpret in some way."-

-"I get it. In the case of the domestics ones, they can communicate with you verbally since they most likely learned the human language from their masters, but with wild animals this is not possible for obvious reasons. That was something that I had been assuming for a long time in some research on the subject that I have done for a long time."-

Saeko was still upset that Komatsu was addressing Goro in a very impersonal way, and above all due of the fact that he seemed to ignore her words on the subject, while the young scientist continued to talk about the way that girl talked with animals.

And in that regard, Komatsu noticed that Saeko was quite upset, not only because of the above, but also because she was forced to talk about her telepathy by threats. Upon realizing this, the young scientist from Hiroshima considered it appropriate to end the conversation, since he had already obtained enough information for his needs, even if in other more favorable circumstances he would have asked that girl to participate fully in his research, but now that he was going to Tokyo tomorrow morning, that was no longer possible, so Komatsu had to settle on textual information for the time being.

-"Well, I think I already have all the information I need right now."- Komatsu then tried to apologize with the girl. -"I thank you very much for your cooperation and I apologize for the way I had to force you to give that info to me, but tomorrow I'm leaving for Tokyo and I don't have time to ask you for it in any other way."-

-"You're going to Tokyo?"-

-"Yes, the army asked me to go to the capital as soon as possible. I don't know what for, but I don't think it's anything good, considering the state of things with the war."- Then Komatsu takes an envelope out of his pocket and he gives it to Saeko. -"And if you don't believe me, here's the telegram with the orders I was given, so you can understand why I had to force you to do this."-

Once the envelope was in her hands, Saeko proceeded to read it and she realized that what the young man said was true. But that did not rule out the fact that Komatsu had forced her to speak in a rather sinister way, taking advantage of the fact that she was alone with Goro, with no one being able to help her at the time.

-"Even so, it still bothers me that you forced me to speak, Mr. Komatsu..."-

-"I know, so I'm going to apologize to you again. When I return to Hiroshima, we will talk about this again in a more relaxed way, and I will bring you more proof of what I am doing, and if you wish, I will also bring you some gift from there, as a sign that I am sorry for what happened."-

The girl could only growl at this, but at least she could see that Komatsu was being honest in his words, not to mention embarrassed by the way things went down with her.

-"Now I no longer take up your time, as I must return to my home for tomorrow's trip to Tokyo. See you later and say hello to your cat for me and the same goes for your parents too."- Komatsu says goodbye to the girl, as he leaves the alleyway where he was with the girl and the cat, which only see how that man left as quickly as he originally came there. -"And by the way, the food in your restaurant was delicious."-

Once Komatsu had left, Saeko tried to recount what had happened, especially with Goro, who was just as perplexed as the child to witness the strange incident with the human. If Saeko tried to understand what had happened, to that cat Yoshinori Komatsu's words were as bizarre as the goals that the human had in mind for animals like him, and the cat did not hesitate to let the human girl know.

-"I'm going to repeat what I said a few moments ago, Saeko: If I'd heard an idiot like that Komatsu guy say that he can make me talk like a human and act like one, I would have, either I would have asked him to go to hell, or that he should go to a psychiatrist at once."- The cat gave his crass opinion to the girl. -"This has definitely been the strangest thing I've ever heard in my entire life, that's for sure, but at least he didn't try to hurt you."-

-"I agree with you, Goro."- The girl responded as she tried to assess the incident.

-"And what are you gonna do about it? That guy's got connections with the authorities, so it's no use talking to the police to get that nut job arrested."-

-"I know, but I don't think he's gonna do anything nasty to me, that's for sure."-

-"And how can you be so sure about that?"-

-"I don't know, it's just a hunch from me."- Saeko replied the cat. -"Besides, he thanked me for the food, so I don't think he is a bad person, not to mention what happened between him and Mr. Ueda yesterday."-

-"I wouldn't be so sure of him if I were you, Saeko dear. I have known both other cats and humans who can trick people to do what they want without them having to lift a finger, so that at the last minute their true intentions are revealed."- Goro countered the girl, seeing that she was acting very naive about Komatsu's intentions for her, or his theory as a whole. -"I can assure you that guy's true intentions are more sinister than just making an animal talk, and if I were you, I would get as far away from him as I could."-

-"I think you think too much, Goro."-

The cat began to meow louder, as if the animal were trying to scold Saeko for what she said...

-"I would rather be frank with my opinions a thousand times than see someone dear to me hurt, since my feline intuition says that man wants to do something he will regret later."-

---

April 11th, AD 1944, Downtown Hiroshima, Komatsu Family Apartment, Hiroshima, Japan, 09:00 PM

-"Honey, I'm home!"-

Hidenori Komatsu had returned from work that night, when he arrived home from work and took off his shoes, he noticed that there were many luggage and bags in the dining room, which belonged to his son Yoshinori, while the latter's mother, Mitsuyo, was trying to help him get the things he needed to take with him to Tokyo. Hidenori obviously knew nothing about the trip, so he demanded an explanation.

-"What are all those bags doing here in the dining room?"-

Mitsuyo tried to explain to her husband what happened to their son.

-"Yoshinori is going on a trip to Tokyo again. He received an urgent telegram from the imperial capital to return as soon as possible, so he has to leave town early tomorrow."-

-"WHAT?!"- The man yelled in a surprised way. -"But he just went there recently! Why the hell do they want him back in Tokyo again?"-

-"I don't know, and neither does he, but we both think it has something to do with the war."-

-"THOSE GODDAMNED BASTARDS!"- Hidenori cursed as louder as he could. -"It's obvious those scumbags want to use our son for-God-knows what weird thing they have in their heads, knowing they're losing this war!"-

-"Well, according to Yoshinori, they seem to want him with regard to his theory..."-

-"WHAT THE FUCK?!"- The man cursed even louder after hearing this, knowing the whole implications about the Imperial Japanese Army using trying to use his son's theory in its current state. -"Are they insane enough in using Yoshi's work as it is now? Don't they know what they're dealing with?"-

Silence on the woman's side, as she did not fully understand what was happening, apart from the basics.

-"Let me talk to that boy before it's too late for him."-

Yoshinori's father, without thinking twice and completely enraged by the sudden turn of events in his son's life and by the fact that the army intended to use the revolutionary theory of his offspring, Although the latter was only in very early stages of conception and was not yet ready for use, considering the technological level of the time, he went to his son's room to demand an explanation for this whole situation in which Yoshinori was involved and the reasons for his sudden trip to Tokyo.

From Hidenori's point of view, it seems the Japanese Empire was willing to do whatever it takes to win the war, even if it meant using methods that were not yet within the reach of the human race at that time, and in the case of Yoshinori Komatsu's advanced theory of evolution, it could be considered as a forbidden knowledge, in the words of the father of the above-mentioned person, and that humanity should not use under any circumstances.

-"Yoshi! What the hell does it all mean?"-

Yoshinori was finishing packing his things, including many of his books, important papers, and above all, his work instruments. Because he had to leave Hiroshima as early as possible, he barely had time to pay attention to his father, who was not content with what he was witnessing.

-"Didn't mom tell you? Tomorrow I have to leave for Tokyo as early as possible, and I'm packing up all my stuff."- The young man responded his father, while was busy with his personal belongings. -"I received an urgent telegram from the capital where I was required in connection about my work."-

-"Yeah, she told me everything, and I don't know why you agreed to go there, knowing that they're going to use your work for military purposes without knowing what the consequences might be!"-

-"I know, Dad, and the truth is that I don't like going there either, but I have to, or else there will be serious consequences for me and for you too if I don't agree with their requests."- Yoshinori tried to explain what was happening and why he had to leave town. -"And while I have no objection to my work being used for military ends, I would not like it being used in these circumstances, much less when my theory is only on its theoretical basis, with no technology available yet to carry it out."-

Upon hearing such a statement from his own son, Hidenori, who was already angry in advance, snapped in rage as he had enough to hear his son say such words in his own face...

-"YOU PATHETIC ASSHOLE!"-

-"What?"-

PUNCH!

Hidenori violently punches his own son in the face with a powerful blow, sending him into a bookcase at the back of his room. The young scientist could not believe what had happened and he only saw his father, who had never physically beaten or punished him in his life, doing it for the first time, and in an extremely violent way, to top it off. Fortunately, his father punched him in the cheek without touching his glasses.

-"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HITTING ME FOR, DAD?"-

-"BECAUSE YOU'RE A SPINELESS WIMP, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!"-

-"AND JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T REFUSE TO GO TO TOKYO, DAD?"-

-"AND WHAT DO YOU THINK AM I DOING THIS?"-

A brief silence was felt at that moment in Yoshinori's room, while Mitsuyo, his mother, on hearing the fight, stepped forward to see what had happened, as she watched in horror as her son lay on the floor with a bruise on his cheek from the punch he received from his father in those moments.

-"What the hell happened here? And what did you do to Yoshinori?"-

Hidenori, seeing his wife's anguished face at what had happened between him and her son, tried to calm her down somehow.

-"Mitsuyo, I am sorry you had to witness all this, but I could not help but beat him for his stubbornness about going to Tokyo in spite of what they might do to him there, or with regard to his theory."-

-"Did... did you hit him?"- The woman responded when she saw that her husband had done something he had never done in his life with her son, and now she was witnessing the punishment the father had inflicted on his son in his face.

-"I hate to admit it... but yes."-

Yoshinori Komatsu, who was on the floor after that hefty punch he received, got up as best he could, but strangely enough he was not angry with his father for hitting him, since he understood very well the reasons why he did it, but felt that he had to respond to his father in some way that was right for him.

-"Dad, I understand very well how you feel, and believe me that going to Tokyo is not something I like in the least, but if I refuse to do so, I would only have two options: Either escape from the country as quickly as possible or end up in jail, or facing a firing squad."- The young man tried to explain, while putting his hand in his cheek after the punch he received from his father. -"And believe me, I have no choice right now but to obey."-

Hidenori, who had beaten his son at the time, realized that his son was right about the issue: Escaping from the country was not an option at the time, since the Japanese military authorities were probably being careful that no one who was not a member of the government or the army could leave or enter the country, much less someone like Yoshinori and his family, and even more so in a situation as critical regarding the war as it was at the time. Hiding was not an option either, since the government would do its best to track down Yoshinori or his family, and there were so many people in the country who would not hesitate to sell them in exchange for any gain they could reap from the government.

And in analyzing all this carefully, Hidenori could not help but start crying as he saw the dilemma in which his son was plunged up into, and from which he had no way out.

-"I'm so sorry, Dad,"- Yoshinori apologized his father for what he indirectly did toward his familiy -"I'm so sorry to have involved you two directly due to my previous deeds when I was studying abroad. I just wanted to make you two proud, but I think I just made things worse."-

Yoshinori's father, an elderly man, continued to weep, while his mother also began to shed tears at the words of her son.

-"Why did you never tell us about this in the letters you sent us when you were abroad, Yoshinori?"-

-"You know very well that there were things I could not say in my letters due to the army censorship, and I did not want to embarrass you if you had known beforehand that I was expelled from that school in Germany and as a consequence sent to Manchukuo."- The son explained to his mother about the reasons regarding not telling them the truth about the whole thing. -"If I had watched my big mouth when I was in Frankfurt, none of this would have happened, and you didn't have to suffer for my stupidity..."-

-"Did you infuriate someone in Germany?"-

-"Well, you could say that."- Yoshinori then explained what happened in a nutshell. -"It's a very long story that isn't worth telling from the start, but you could say that all this mess started because I wasn't careful about opening my mouth against the wrong people."-

-"Oh... god."-

-"I'm so sorry, mom. I didn't want you two to get directly involved in this whole thing."-

A somber silence was felt in the Komatsu household due to the dire predicament in which the only son of that family was involved, and in which the lives of all concerned were at stake.

-"If there was a way to solve this situation, I would do it as soon as I..."-

-"Please shut up, Yoshi..."- His father Hidenori retorted, with a still angry expression in his face, albeit his voice had a really sad sound...

Silence again.

-"I never imagined I raised such a stupid son."- The father continued with his complains. -"And I never imagined I raised someone who was going to sink us all into the deepest pits of hell."-

Yoshinori could not reply to such words from his father, since he did not know what to expect in Tokyo in view of the situation in which Japan was at that time, apart from the fact that the most certain thing was that he would become part of the war effort to reverse the situation in which the country was in comparison with the Allies. And there was the possibility that he might not be able to return to Hiroshima alive, if something happened to him there, or something related to his theory could also fail in such a way that he could die from it.

And in considering all this, the young scientist could only begin to cry when he saw the pain of his parents when they realized the terrible situation in which he and they were also involved, and from which there was no other way to make it out of such a mess without making it any worse.

-"I'm... sob I'm so sorry, dad, mom..."- Yoshinori cried like he never did before in his life. -"I never... never imagined it would cause you so much trouble... If I had been more intelligent and thoughtful, none of this mess would have happened and I would not have involved you in my problems..."-

Then, he saw how his parents were crying in front of him, a scene that depress him even more...

-"I'm a such a first-rate idiot, that's what I am..."-

Suddenly, Hidenori approached his son, and without saying a word, he gave him a hug, something that stunned the young man, when he was expecting his father to say something else or try to beat him up again.

-"It's OK, son."- The old man tried to calm his son with a more gentle approach than before. -"I think we all make mistakes in life, and I think I understand why you're involved in all this."-

At these words, Yoshinori could not help but weep, seeing that his father was at least trying to understand him, given the current situation in which he had involved them without their consent.

In the same way, Hidenori Komatsu also understood that his son was not completely indolent and that much of the current situation was also due, apart from the mistakes his son made, it was also due to the combination of circumstances created by the war, of which all the inhabitants of Japan, in one way or another, were knee-deep involved, even if the Komatsus were very lucky enough not to suffer the same deprivations experienced by their less fortunate countrymen.

-"Thank you... sob thank you so much, dad..."-

Yoshinori kept crying in the arms of his father, while he tried to let his son to cry in his shoulders, since he knew his son was also a victim of the whole cruelty of the war, and he wasn't also indiffent of his suffering either.

-"We'll see what your mom and I can do to get all of us out of this mess..."-

After this, Mitsuyo joined her husband and son and the Komatsu family cried together for the tragedy in which they were all involved in one way or another, a tragedy that seemed to affect the family permanently...

---

April 12th, AD 1944, Hiroshima Train Station, Hiroshima, Japan, 09:00 AM

-"Passengers to Tokyo, please prepare your tickets for the train!"-

Yoshinori Komatsu, along with his family, who were also with him to say goodbye to the young man, heard these words from one of the employees at the train station, which indicated that Yoshinori should be ready to get on the train that would take him to Tokyo, where he should stay as long as necessary as the Japanese military authorities say.

The young scientist was not happy to have to say goodbye to both his family and the city in such difficult circumstances, but he knew that he had no choice about it and that his fate would now depend on what was ordered of him from now on. At least the presence of his family made the farewell less difficult for him.

-"Yoshinori, it looks like the train is about to leave."-

-"I know that, mom"-

-"Do you already have your tickets ready?"-

-"Yes."-

But while the Komatsus were on the station platform preparing the final arrangements before Yoshinori left for the capital, two people approached them, which they seemed to be well known for the young science man.

-"Hey, Komatsu, I heard you were leaving for Tokyo at this hour so I decided to say goodbye to you before you left for the capital."-

Yoshinori was surprised to see who had gone to see him off...

-"Mr. Ueda?"-

-"Yeah, that's right!"

And he wasn't alone in saying goodbye to him...

-"And Saeko?"-

Saeko Yasuda had also come to say goodbye to Yoshinori, something he did not expect from that girl, given what he had done to her last night when he threatened her, but apparently she did not seem angry and she seemed rather happy to see him even one last time before he left the city.

Yoshinori's parents, who did not know Saeko in person, since their son had not spoken about her to them, were surprised to see that girl, considering that her son was a high school teacher and Saeko was a elementary school girl, which was outside of their son Yoshinori's scope.

-"I just came here to say goodbye to you, Mr. Komatsu."- The girl shyly replied to the young man. -"Mr. Ueda told me you were leaving for Tokyo earlier today at this time and I decided to follow him to the station. And if you ask me, I asked permission from my parents to come here."-

-"Oh, I see."-

-"All passengers of the train from Hiroshima to Tokyo, please board the train as soon as possible. The train will leave in 15 minutes!"-

Seeing that the train was about to leave, Yoshinori knew that he had to be as brief as possible in order to say goodbye to his loved ones in the most appropriate way, considering that it would most likely take him a long time, if ever, to see them again.

-"I will be brief, so forgive me if I miss any niceties:"- Yoshinori then proceed to present Saeko to his parents, while avoiding some specifics regarding the true nature of their relationship, for obvious reasons. -"This is Saeko Yasuda, the daughter of the owners of the Jiiya, a restaurant on the side of the Ota River where Mr. Ueda and I have gone to eat. We both became friends with her because she's a very smart girl for her age."-

-"It's a great pleasure to meet you."- Saeko bowed toward the elder Komatsus.

-"It's also a pleasure to meet you in person, Saeko dear."- Mitsuyo replied at the girl, while also bowing to her.

But with regard to Shiro Ueda, the elderly Komatsus, who knew the man from long ago, especially the patriarch Hidenori, who had nothing good to say about him, decided to deliberately ignore that man, focusing their attention on his son and also on Saeko, of whom they had no knowledge about her and wanted to know much about that girl, obviously in their proper time and place. Apparently, however, Ueda did not seem to care much whether the Komatsus ignored him or not.

-"Well, I think I should go now, I hope I can get in touch with you by phone or letter as soon as possible, but I can't guarantee anything."- The young man began to say goodbye to his relatives and to prepare to enter the train, while he took his tickets out of his suitcase. -"Military censorship will most likely be more severe this time considering the current situation."-

-"Don't worry, Yoshi."- Hidenori, with an emotionless voice, for his son's whole situation does not make him happy at all. -"Even if you can't talk to us while you're in Tokyo, at least try to come back to the city when you can finally do so."-

-"I will."- Yoshinori responded his father, with some tears in his face. -"I swear I'll do my best to try to get home as soon as I'm allowed to."-

Hidenori quickly hugged his son, as he stoically wept what seemed to be the last time he would see his son again, something that his wife and mother of his son, Mitsuyo, also did in the same way as her husband.

-"Please, Yoshi, I may not agree with you about what you're going to do there in Tokyo, but if there's one thing I can tell you beforehand: No matter what you're told, no matter if those bastards put a gun in your head just to force you to do something, never, ever do something you'd never agree to do and that could hurt other people in one way or another, directly or indirectly, as a result of your work. I don't need to tell you that I would never forgive you if I found out that your work was used to harm other humans or even the whole mankind..."-

Yoshinori was moved by these words, for he knew very well that anything could happen to him in the imperial capital, and that he would be under a lot of pressure to obtain results that would reverse Japan's situation in the war, even if it were absolutely impossible to achieve and would challenge all the paradigms of science known to date or even the limits of human morality, considering that he was against experimenting on humans, but, considering what kind of people Yoshinori was going to have to deal with from now on, and also taking into account what he witnessed in Manchukuo with Unit 731, his reluctance to human experimentation would be compromised if he was forced to do so.

-"I cannot guarantee you anything, but I will do my best to prevent my work from being used for more sinister purposes than I would allow..."- Then, the young man's voice became somewhat more emotional with his following words. -"...otherwise, I will be forced to take more drastic measures, even if it costs me my life."-

-"Then so be it, my son."-

Then, he said goodbye to Saeko.

-"See you later, Saeko. I hope I can come back soon, and when I do, I hope we can talk in a more relaxed way, and I hope you show me something about "you-know-what"."-

The girl knew exactly what he meant by that, in this case her telepathic powers, and she only smiled regarding those words.

-"Don't worry, Mr. Komatsu. I'll wait for you the day you get back to town. Just promise me you'll come back someday, right?"-

-"Yeah, right. I promise I will back."-

Afterwards, he hugged the girl as strongly as he could...

-"And by the way, say goodbye to Goro for me, will you?"-

-"OK, I will tell him!"-

-"And who the hell is that Goro you guys are talking about?"- Ueda asked regarding the cat.

-"Nah, Goro is Saeko's pet cat I met yesterday when she was working and when I went to eat lunch yesterday afternoon after work."- Yoshinori explained to his superior about Goro, even if he had to lie to him about the details of how he met that cat.

-"Oh, I see!"-

-"And by the way, I forgot to say goodbye to you, Mr. Ueda:"- Finally, Yoshinori bid farewell to Shiro Ueda, his immediate senior at the school. -"Thank you so much for all you've done for me at school and hopefully I can get back to work as soon as all this madness is over. And I also apologize if my attitude wasn't right the last time we hung out at the Jiiya."-

-"Don't worry about your job, Komatsu. As soon as you return, you will be able to resume your work without any problem and with the same salary as always, rest assured, young man, since I spoke to the board about your situation."-

-"Thank you very much, Mr. Ueda! You don't know how much I appreciate that."-

-"Don't thank me, young man, we'll talk about it more calmly when you get back to Hiroshima."- The man also hugged his junior in a polite way. -"And with regard to what happened at the Jiiya... let's leave it for another day, shall we?"-

-"OK, sir!"-

-"All aboard! Passengers to Tokyo, this is your final boarding call! Please present your tickets before boarding the train!"-

-"Well, now it's time to go. See you later, everyone, and hopefully I can come back soon."-

Yoshinori Komatsu, without wasting any more time, took his luggage and headed for the train with tickets on hand. Once inside the vehicle, he sat in the seat facing the window, and he looked out as his parents and friends bid him farewell for the last time in a very effusive way.

And five minutes later, the train slowly left the Hiroshima train station for Japan's capital, Tokyo. And as the train left the station, Yoshinori noticed that his parents ran to the end of the platform to say goodbye to him for the last time.

-"GOODBYE, YOSHINORI, PLEASE COME BACK SOON, I LOVE YOU, SON!"-

These were the last words of Mitsuyo Komatsu, the mother of that young scientist who was leaving his hometown for a trip he did not know was going to wait for him at the end. All he could do was look at her, while he said goodbye, with tears in his eyes, as he saw that it might be the last time he would see his mother again.

-"Someday I'll come home, and I'll make my parents proud of me, I swear."- He said to himself, as he still shed tears, which he wiped from his face with a handkerchief he had in his shirt pocket.

Meanwhile, the Komatsus, who were still at the train station, had other plans in mind in order to ease the pain of seeing their son leave town, and those plans included a certain person they had just met.

-"Well... it looks like Yoshi isn't with us anymore."- Hidenori finally spoke at last, albeit in a resigned manner, of his son's departure.

-"Yes, I know, dear, but we could do something else in the afternoon at lunchtime with someone else."- Then, Mitsuyo put her eyes on Saeko. -"Saeko dear, wouldn't you like to eat with us this afternoon now that our son is gone? It would be interesting to get to know you better and I think a meal would be the best."-

-"Really, ma'am?"- Saeko responded in a surprised manner after those elderly people wanted to invited her to eat with them.

-"Yes. Obviously it would be good to ask your parents for permission in case you need to miss work in the afternoon."- Hidenori also agreed with his wife's idea on inviting that little girl to eat at their home.

-"I don't think there's any problem with that, since my parents have always wanted me to have more friends. I just need to let them know, or if you prefer, you can come along with me and explain your plan to them."-

-"No problem, then let's go to your work and talk to your parents."-

-"OK, Mrs. Komatsu!"-

Once that was decided, the Komatsus and Saeko went to the Jiiya to talk to the latter's parents and ask their permission for the girl to eat with them.

Meanwhile, Shiro Ueda, who had been ignored by junior's parents the entire time they were at the station, stood there, doing nothing else...

But when he saw that the Komatsus and Saeko Yasuda were out of his sight, that man, who for the entire time the train that was taking Yoshinori to Tokyo, he stood there without saying a word, shifted his face from a emotionless face to a with a sinister, grotesque grimace.

-"Heh, heh, heh,"- Ueda laughed. -"I hope you'll thank me later for the favor I did you by sending you to Tokyo, because I know very well, thanks to my contacts in the government, of all the bullshit you did in China, especially since you drove my friend Masao Kazama crazy with your insane ideas about your talking animals."-

That man, Shiro Ueda, turned out to be an old friend of years ago of the late Dr. Masao Kazama, who committed suicide in Manchukuo, and of whom it was said in military circles that Yoshinori had something to do with his death, ignoring the fact that Dr. Kazama was drunk the day he took his own life. But that didn't seem to matter much to that man, who not only sought revenge on that young scientist for what happened at the restaurant and made a fool of him in front of everyone, but also to avenge the death of his friend in the same way.

-"Now it is my turn to return the favor by making your life in Tokyo a living hell on earth once you step one foot in the capital. And if you can still survive what's coming to you, I'll see to it that you never return to Hiroshima alive."-

Yoshinori Komatsu, who had left the city, was heading for Tokyo, unaware that from that day onwards, his descent into the deepest pits of hell was about to begin...

END OF ACT IX