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.

13. BLACK RAIN

ACT XIII: BLACK RAIN

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The crucial thing is to arouse the awareness that as a matter of human conscience we can never permit the people of any country to fall victim to nuclear weapons, and for each individual to express their refusal to continue living in the shadow of the threat they pose.

Daisaku Ikeda

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July 25th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 09:00 AM

-"Good morning, Dr. Komatsu"- Isamu Suzuki, Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu's personal assistant, greeted his senior once he had entered the laboratory. -"Did you have a good sleep, sir?"-

What seemed to be a very innocent and kind question, to Dr. Komatsu was something that sounded almost like a mockery, to put it in nicer terms, even though it was not Suzuki's intention to do so. His eyes showed signs that he had not enjoyed a good night's rest that night, most likely the result of having suffered a nightmare like those Komatsu had been suffering for years...

-"I must infer that you had a nightmare again, didn't you, sir?"-

Faced with this question, Komatsu could not help but respond aggressively to his subordinate, who was behind him as the doctor headed in another direction, ignoring his junior.

-"You would do well not to ask me such a question again, Suzuki."-

Obviously, Suzuki could only obey that request, knowing beforehand the personal traits of his boss when he was not in a mood to talk to anyone else.

-"Ye-yes, sir!"-

The young doctor quickly noticed that Komatsu was going to the area where the large and dangerous animals were, which meant one thing...

-"Doctor Komatsu, are you going to talk to Raghu?"-

-"Yes."- The doctor bluntly responded at that question. -"Is there any problem with that?"-

-"Not that I know of, sir."- Suzuki quickly confirmed Raghu's status to his boss without hesitation. -"In fact, Raghu seems to be in a very good mood, even though you haven't spoken to him in a week. I think he will be pleased that you are going to talk to him."-

-"I hope so. I need to talk to him right now."-

Without further ado to Suzuki, Komatsu went to talk to his friend, the Bengal tiger called Raghu. Normally such a thing would be cause for laughter or mockery elsewhere, but knowing Raghu's ability to use sign language, this was not unusual as it might seem, at least for those men of science.

Except for Suzuki, who even knowing the abilities of that mysterious feline, still remained incredulous as to what Raghu could or could not do. Even after seeing that the tiger could use a means of communication that would normally be exclusive to humans, for that young scientist, within his own mind, there was the possibility that Raghu was just only imitating what that animal saw of Yuka Nagahama, its former caretaker, before she died, and that its chief Komatsu was only elucidating about Raghu's true abilities... to say nothing of what he really thought about his boss in his own head, which would be nothing surprising considering that since they started working on the project, they had not yet achieved any tangible results, which meant that either they had not yet got anything worth mentioning, or Komatsu's famous theory could be a bogus fantasy written by a man who Suzuki thought had lost all sense with reality.

-"I don't know if that tiger can really use sign language, or if this asshole is out of his fucking mind."-

---

July 25th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 09:15 AM

-"All right, Raghu, you can leave your cage now."-

Raghu, the Bengal tiger who had the ability to use human sign language, quickly left his cage and approached the doctor to greet him. The animal was more than happy to be able to get out of that cramped prison and walk at will within the lab without any worries, considering that he had the confidence that human would not only going to treat him well, but that he could also talk to him without any problem.

-"Good morning, Doctor."- Raghu replied using sign language with his paws. -"How you been?"-

-"Try to interpret my face, Raghu."-

Upon seeing the doctor's face, Raghu immediately realized that Komatsu had not had a good time that day, something he made known.

-"Let me guess, I reckon you slept very poorly again, didn't you?"-

-"Yes."-

-"It must have been another one of those nightmares you said you've been having for the last few years..."- Raghu replied with unease. -"I must assume Lt. Nakamura's death must have made them worse than usual, right?"-

-"I suppose so, my dear friend."- The science man answered the question made by his feline friend, while putting one hand over his face, as he was also having a headache as a result of the stress produced by his lack of a good sleep. -"I try to forget the subject, but no matter how hard I try not to continue to dwell on his death, I cannot shake off the cowardly manner in which Col. Matsuoka murdered him."-

-"I cannot blame you for it, doctor."- Raghu agreed with him. -"Anyone would be equally horrified by something like that. Even I, who have killed many humans who have tried to harm me, consider that man's death was something vile and ruthless."-

-"It's natural for you to think that way about us, Raghu."- Komatsu complained a bit. -"We humans kill for the most absurd reasons that surely you, a tiger, would have a hard time understanding them fully. In fact, this war in which my country is involved through and through had its beginnings for reasons that date back decades."-

-"Really, doctor?"-

-"Yeah."- Then, Komatsu sit in a chair near him so he could explain all the details to the tiger. -"And you'd better sit down, Raghu, because this is going to be a rather long story to tell."-

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

Once in the chair, Komatsu began to tell Raghu in a summarized manner the historical background of both wars, beginning with the first.

-"All right, where do we start? The truth is that I'm not very good at talking about this kind of stuff, much less when it comes to wars, but here it goes."- And then Komatsu began his brief version of World War I. -"It all began 31 years ago, in a city in Eastern Europe called Sarajevo, where a prince, or rather an archduke to be more technical, was assassinated by an anarchist from the territory where that nobleman was visiting, and wanted the liberation of his country that was being controlled by the nation from where the assassinated archduke hailed from. What would otherwise have been settled in a less drastic way quickly degenerated into a worldwide conflict when other nations with economic and political interests decided to get involved in the whole mess. Within a short time alliances were formed and many European nations began to kill each other as never before in history and with time, the war swept to other nations of the world, to the extent that almost every country in the world was involved in the war in one way or another."-

-"My, that must have been terrible."-

-"And it was."- The doctor kept explaining the background of the first war at his feline friend. -"In that war, weapons of mass destruction were used, such as toxic gases, flame throwers, among other cruel methods. In the end, millions of people died in that absurd war, many of them civilians who had nothing to do with the reasons why the conflict began and ended up paying the consequences due to the idiocy of their leaders."-

-"And I guess that war didn't end that easily, did it?"-

-"That's right. Although that first war ended, much resentment and feelings of revenge were still present."- Komatsu then explained the background the current, second one. -"One of the nations that caused the war was subjected to many punishments and reparations payments for the last war that bankrupted that country, to the extent that their money was no longer worth anything. The people were desperate and furious and wanted a leader to pull their country out of the despair it was in, until one day a man came who promised to change all that."-

-"I heard from some humans that there was a man named... "Hitter", "Hiller" or something like that, which is said to have caused a war far from here."- Raghu quickly guessed which person Komatsu was talking about, through he didn't knew his correct name. -"I guess it's that man you refer to, don't you?"-

-"You're really bright-eyed for a tiger, Raghu."- The Japanese science man congratulated the animal for trying to figure out the Führer's name by his own means. -"The name of that man is Adolf Hitler. And, for the record, I have absolutely not one good thing to say about him, at all."-

The aggressive and derogatory utterance in which Komatsu was referring about the leader of the Third Reich made the feline quickly realize that his human interlocutor had a deep seated hatred towards that man.

-"Judging by the way and the tone you refer to him, I guess you had some sort of beef with him at some point in your life."-

Then Komatsu raised his voice a bit to make his point heard by that tiger...

-"To say that I hate Hitler and anything to do with him would be like saying that I hate cockroaches and all the crap related to them."- The scientist angrily explained the reason why he hated Hitler and his regime. -"That damn pig is nothing but a racist, xenophobic and genocidal animal, which will not rest until he exterminates from the face of the earth everyone he hates. It would be very difficult to explain to you the reasons why he wants to exterminate certain types of people, because I doubt very much that you can understand the historical and cultural context that motivates that man to do what he is doing."-

-"I understand very well what you mean, Doctor."- Raghu replied with some unease after the implication that tiger couldn't understand human-styled racism, much less anti-semitism. -"But I think I've heard from some people that he's persecuting people you humans call "Jews" or something. The truth is, even though I don't understand exactly what a "Jew" is, if I can understand it in feline terms, a "Jew" would be another kind of human being, right?"-

-"You might say so, Raghu."- Komatsu then gave a better example for Raghu about what is a Jew in a way he could grasp. -"In order for you to better understand the situation, I will use you as an example. We humans call your species "tiger", but your race is called "Bengal" because it originates from the city of the same name in the country where you lived, which we humans call "India". I imagine that among you tigers must have a very specific name for your own species and race in your language, don't you?"-

-"Well..."- The animal gave his own explanation about the same issue. -"That would be very hard to explain."

-"Why?"-

-"Because we have no specific terms for our own species, except those that humans, when we come into contact with them, give to us and we use them for the sake of convenience. I remember my mother calling herself "striped" because of the stripes we tigers have, but because I grew up in captivity, I never had the opportunity to know anything more about the culture of my own species. Everything I know to date is due to my contact with humans, and you could say, although it hurts me to admit it, that sometimes I consider myself more like a human than a tiger, something that bothers me greatly on many occasions."-

-"Hmmm"- The scientist saw that explaining human racism, especially anti-Semitism, would be too complicated for a tiger to understand. -"That could explain a lot about your personality."-

-"But I think I understand what you're referring to by that, Doctor."- Raghu quickly grasped the context of Komatsu's words and tried to give his own version about the topic of racism. -"I figure you are talking about other types of tigers, besides my own kind, is that right?"-

-"Yes, you could say that's what I was trying to getting at."-

-"In that case, let me tell you something:"- Raghu explained his own twist about the topic. -"Although I do not have much experience with other tigers, since I was the only one of my own species that was locked up in that place when I was a cub, I remember more or less that near my cage there was another animal very similar to me, although with more or less golden fur. Judging by his accent, I believe that this critter was not from India."-

-"A lion, huh?"-

-"I guess so."- Then the tiger explained about what he saw in his younger days. -"Even though I couldn't understand your language, I remember clearly that your attitude was somewhat arrogant, and that "lion" as you call him, even though he was still small, thought he could give orders to everyone, and in my personal opinion, that little idiot was a real pest for all the animals that were there."-

-"Heh, heh, heh! Surely the lions' human stereotype about them being the kings of the jungle seems to have some justification after all."- Komatsu laughed mockingly at the sound of such an opinion about the lion who lived alongside Raghu.

-"But even though I didn't like that idiot, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him..."-

Raghu paused briefly in his gestures, and his face showed a sign of utter discomfort.

-"Because, like me, he was also a victim of that "monster" every night when his boss was out of his sight."-

By interpreting Japanese sign language signs about "that monster", Yoshinori Komatsu knew exactly the person Raghu was referring to: That Indian zoophile who sexually abused that tiger as a cub, as well as probably other animals under his care.

Just hearing about those terrible events was enough to boil the blood of that Japanese scientist in rage in a way he never felt before in his life. The fact that a human being could do such things with an animal was something that for him, a qualified veterinarian who had vowed, figuratively speaking, to protect animal life at any cost at the time of receiving his degree, something unthinkable and repugnant beyond all doubt.

It was perhaps the first time in his life that he was beginning to desire the death of another human being for committing such a horrible crime, and if Komatsu had the opportunity to have the man responsible for that atrocity in his hands, he would no doubt have strangled him with his own hands.

-"Doctor Komatsu, are you all right?"- Raghu asked as he saw his human partner clenching his fists in rage. -"Looks like what I said about me and the lion must have hit you pretty hard."-

After a brief, awkward pause, the man resumed his talk...

-"To say that this hit me "pretty hard" would be an understatement, my dear feline friend..."- Then Komatsu returned to the topic about the war and racism, using Raghu's terrible past as an example. -"And by saying this, you quickly gave me a nice comparison of what is currently happening between us humans."-

-"What do you mean, doctor?"-

To help Raghu understand the crux of World War II in broad terms, Komatsu decided to make some comparisons between the life of that tiger and that of the Jews, even though he knew it might be something unpleasant for both of them to mention.

-"Let's say this Hitler we've been talking about is very similar that "monster" that abused you. And let's say you and the lion are the "Jews" in this case. What that guy is doing seems to be a lot like what happened to you and your other friends there in India, except that he is much, much worse on many levels, except replace "being sexually abused" with being sent to ovens."-

Raghu receded a few meters in disgust as he heard this last part about the Nazi leader. Even by that animal's standards, to hear that a human being could be so depraved as to send his fellow-beings to be cremated to death was something Raghu had never seen even in his worst nightmares. And that was nothing compared to what Komatsu was going to say next.

-"And if you think what that scumbag is doing right now sounds terrible to you, that's no match for what I had the misfortune to hear when I worked in Manchukuo, in China."-

-"Really? The truth is, I can't believe there could be anyone even worse than that person you're telling me about, doctor."-

-"Unfortunately for me, yes."-

Then Komatsu, with some natural hesitation for very obvious reasons, started to talk about what he saw and heard during his stay in that place.

-"Two years ago, I worked in a laboratory there after being sent there as punishment for having had a verbal fight with a colleague who, through my contacts in the army, it turned out that he worked very closely for Hitler and his cronies. In exchange for allowing me to work on my lifelong project, I had to work as a field doctor, even though I only have experience working with animals, not humans. Not that it was something that the idiots who sent me to that hellhole cared about in the least, of course."-

-"Judging by your words, I can only assume that your experience there must have been something very terrible for you..."-

-"To say that what I experienced in that place was a horrible thing is an understatement, to put it in straightforward terms, Raghu."-

Then, Komatsu began to shed tears as he tried to remember everything he had heard in his time in Manchukuo, while clenching his fists in pure, sheer rage...

-"That place, assuming you understand what I am going to say in religious terms, was the closest thing you could get to living in hell in this world."-

The tiger lifted his head and pulled it back in surprise and revulsion as he heard about what Dr. Komatsu had experienced in China. Notwithstanding the fact that he was an animal, Raghu seemed to understand the context of the words that his human counterpart said, at least in his own way of seeing things.

-"If I remember well, judging by what I've heard from other humans, including Yuka, what you humans call "hell" must be a horrible place, right?"-

-"I think the real hell is nothing compared to what I witnessed."-

-"Really?"-

-"Yes, my friend. What I heard and saw in that place was all the worst that humanity can do against its own fellows at all possible ways. I heard screams, cries of men, women, some of them pregnant, and even children, who were slaughtered in a worse way than farm animals. I heard how some of my colleagues, for a better name to call the bastards who did all that, treated their victims as if they were inanimate objects and how those monsters experimented with all those people in ways that I, who work with animals, would never do even in my worst days. In fact, I don't even want to speak about the kind of experiments they did against all those poor people. It was... so... horrible..."-

-"I see."- Raghu saw Komatsu's disturbed face when he tried to remember those events -"And what happened afterwards? I must suppose something happened so that they would send you back to Japan, didn't it?"-

-"That's right."- The Japanese man then explained the events that forced him back to his country. -"And it was so awful, that I still can't get it out of my head and I still have flashback nightmares about it."-

-"What happened to you over there that traumatized you?"-

Komatsu tried to remember the events that happened to him in Manchukuo that led to his return to Japan. But trying to remember such painful experiences caused the scientist to begin to shed tears, for that was something he wished to forget at all costs, but he could not help remembering them no matter how hard he tried.

-"It was an ordinary day in Manchukuo, when the sun was starting to set."- Komatsu began his recap with these words. -"I was in my laboratory, listening from afar the cries of pain from the prisoners of war who were victims of the terrible experiments being carried out there. Working in my place was the only way to evade the reality of that hell, even if it meant that I was not very popular with my other colleagues, who continually criticized me for not helping them to perform their vile deeds, which even led me to be beaten at times by the superior officer in charge of that place. That day, my immediate superior stepped into my lab, completely drunk and reeking on alcohol, and for various reasons that would be very difficult for you to understand, we began to have a very heated argument..."-

Komatsu paused briefly, which caused Raghu to wonder why he stopped suddenly in his talk.

-"And then?"-

-"Then, the discussion became more violent, and suddenly, that man drew a firearm he had at hand, and at that moment I thought that man wanted to kill me..."- The young scientist did a even longer pause after these words. "And... at that moment... the man decided to point the gun at his head, and after saying several things... he blew his brains out with that revolver."-

The animal made a gesture of disgust at hearing about the suicide of Dr. Masao Kazama, whom Komatsu had the disgrace of witnessing in all his bloody details, and which was the main cause for which that young scientist was brought back to Japan under orders from Shiro Ishii, the main man who commanded that place with iron fist.

-"Because of that suicide, the officer in charge of that prison camp didn't want to see me anymore and decided that it was best to send me back to Japan, where I wouldn't cause any more trouble for anyone."- Komatsu went on to explain the latest details about why he was in Japan, as well as why he was in Tokyo in the same way. -"In exchange for my freedom, I had to work as a school teacher in my hometown of Hiroshima, while I had to go from time to time to the imperial capital when ordered. And here I am in this place, as you can see right now. And damn it! It seems like I just can't avoid getting out of an nasty situation and ending up in another mess as bad or worse than I was before, don't you think?"-

Raghu looked at his human partner and began to think of an appropriate reply to such a question. But it also turned out that he also needed to know more about the current reality in which both Komatsu and the tiger were in, something the animal made known.

-"From what I'm hearing from you it seems that your country is also involved in similarly nasty ventures, am I right?"-

The scientist was really surprised that Raghu could understand that his country Japan was also involved with Hitler's Nazi Germany and all the terrible actions that his country was carrying out both inside and outside its nation in order to win the war at any cost. Komatsu had no choice but to roughly explain to him what was happening at the time.

-"I'm surprised you can understand a concept as complex as politics, my feline friend."-

-"Well, I may be an animal and my way of seeing things is not the same as human beings, but I'm not stupid, and after listening for several months since I've been here to several humans, I can tell that there's a kind of conflict between men where lots of them are dying outside the walls of this place."-

-"Yeah, that's right."- Komatsu confirmed Raghu's question about the war. -"My country, Japan, is allied with that beast called Hitler, along with another maniac, whose name I don't remember very well. Musso...lini, I think?"-

Then, Komatsu cannot avoid cursing about the whole war, as the whole thing was already unpleasant to him to even discuss to being with, for many already explained reasons.

-"Nah! Who the hell cares about this nonsense?! The truth is that I don't care a single damn about this war, much less the names of the idiots who have plunged this world into this giant, bloody mess from which it does not seem that we will ever get out! "- Komatsu keep badmouthing everything about his situation and the terrible deeds of his own nation. -"What really matters is that thousands of people are dying out there while you and I are talking here, no thanks to those two psychos, along with the military leadership of this country! Even if I love my country like any Japanese, the actions that my country is committing in the name of the homeland are completely monstrous, and if it were up to me, I would prefer to stay out of all this crap, but unfortunately, I got involved in this war without wanting to at the moment that I allowed my country to pay for my studies by granting me a scholarship and sending me to another country, where it would only make things worse for both myself and my family."-

Suddenly, Raghu noticed a small, but very important fact in the words of his human friend that he seemed to have omitted...

-"If I remember correctly, you mentioned that one of the reasons you were sent to Manchukuo was because you had had a quarrel with a co-worker of yours before, am I wrong?"

-"Right."- Then, the man explained some details. -"His name was Josef Mengele and, to be completely blunt, he was a racist, unhinged psychopath with a very undeserved degree in medicine. I wouldn't be surprised if that "Aryan" freak was doing the same things I saw in Manchukuo, or maybe something even worse. But what surprises me the most is that despite the time I was there, he has tolerated me all this time even though I was Japanese, but I think he looked for a way to get some added value from me during all that time, or at least that's what I think."-

-"And what exactly was the reason you were sent to Manchukuo, doctor? I don't think this Mengele guy sent you there without a good reason, unless there's some fact that you don't want to discuss on the issue, don't you?"-

There was a brief, awkward pause in the conversation between both characters...

-"I must admit you're quite on the ball in that regard, Raghu."-

-"As I said before, I am not stupid, and I could not help noticing that you omitted an important detail."- Raghu then pointed his left paw to Komatsu. -"Or maybe there's a reason for that?"-

-"Well, to be technical and based on what I have been able to find out on my own, I knew that one of the reasons I was sent to that place was because my case was sent to Hitler, and he ordered Mengele, with the help of the principal of the school where we both worked, to be expelled from the place, but not before having a very heated dispute with him before leaving."-

-"And what was the reason for that dispute, if you could excuse me?"-

Pause

-"Well, to be honest, Mengele started making fun of me because of my ideas and also because I'm Japanese. He always found my work absurd or even insane in his own personal opinion and that began to irritate him from several days before I was kicked out from there."- Komatsu explained what happened between him and the Nazi scientist, through wisely for him he avoided to give some details that could affect Raghu and his point of view towards him. -"And to make matters worse, the whole mess between Mengele and I came to the ears of the ambassador of my country and he arranged to have me sent to Manchukuo as punishment for wasting a good scholarship in a foreign country."-

-"I can perfectly understand that, but there is something that you have not yet fully explained to me, Dr. Komatsu, and I say this because somehow I am sensing that there is something in this whole story which is one of the reasons why I and the rest of the other animals are imprisoned in this place in order to be used in your work, doctor."- The tiger pointed out the fact Komatsu ommited some critical information about the reasons for his and his fellow animals' imprisonment in that underground facility, a fact that was starting to unsettling him quite a bit, and he needed an answer from that man. -"And judging by your face, your expression, the tone of your voice and other things that I have noticed in your person, I can deduce that you are keeping from me something that you do not want me, or the rest of the animals that live in this place, to know fully."-

And so that Komatsu would know that what Raghu said was not simply an observation, the animal menacingly advanced toward the scientist, while the animal began to growl furiously toward that human, something that caused Komatsu to fall from where he was sitting, but without ceasing to look at that wild beast, which did not stop looking at him in order for that human to give him an explanation why that animal was locked in that cage in an underground shelter, without knowing exactly why he was there, apart from the fact that Raghu knew that he was being used for some kind of scientific experiment.

-"And you'd better give me that explanation now, because I've suffered all sorts of humiliations since I've come to this filthy place, including the threat of dying at your hands and seeing another human being killed in front of me, and if I don't get that answer now, I will personally gut you with my own claws!"-

Seeing that the feline was really serious about killing him, Yoshinori Komatsu seemed to have no choice but to tell him the truth about what he intended to do with him and the other animals he was experimenting with, even knowing that depending on his answer, Raghu could still turn him into tiger food. Raghu began to draw closer to where he was lying on the ground and it was obvious that the animal would not allow him to even rise from the ground unless Komatsu began to let go of everything he knew to him.

On the other hand, Komatsu was completely terrified to see how that situation was starting to get out of control incredibly fast, and without even having anticipated it in advance. He had underestimated that animal thinking that he would not realize such a crucial detail as the reasons why he was locked in that underground bunker, believing that Raghu would not be intelligent enough to look at such minimities, something that only an educated human would have quickly noticed, but he never imagined that a wild beast like that Bengal tiger could have the ability to think analytically, much less to figure out that his human interlocutor was not being honest with him.

Certainly, as Raghu had warned beforehand, that tiger was indeed not as stupid as he thought, and now he had to look for a way out of that predicament, since his life depends of it.

-"Crap! Such an ludicrous way to end my life, to be the food of one of the animals that are in my care!"- Komatsu then quickly thought of a way to convince Raghu not to eat him, considering his current situation. -"I can't shout for help to the rest of the lab staff, or the tiger will go straight to my throat and bite it off, nor do I have a gun or any other weapon at hand. And even if I had one, Raghu would surely attack me first before I could use it..."-

The young scientist did not stop looking into the eyes of that feline, who seemed more than determined to kill him if Komatsu did not tell him the truth about his theory. On the other hand, he could not tell Raghu what his theory was about, even in layman's terms, because it was likely that the animal would not fall into that story and consider it a lie or an attempt by him to save his own skin. Given that more intelligent humans had considered his theory as ridiculous or unworkable at best, or as complete madness, at worst, the possibility that a "supposedly inferior" being such as a tiger would also argue the same would be very high.

-"I guess I have no choice but to tell the truth, and pray that Raghu has mercy on me."- Then Komatsu sat on the floor, without losing sight of Raghu. -"As they say in some western countries: Honesty is the best policy. Such stupid hypocrisy from them, if they ask me..."-

-"All right, Doctor. I'm waiting for your answer."- Raghu kept on threatening the scientist while that man was still on the floor at the mercy of that animal. -"Or do you want to keep fooling me, thinking I won't understand a damn thing?"-

-"OK, OK, You already won!"- Komatsu finally decided to open his mouth and tell Raghu his plans. -"I will tell you the truth, but don't kill me first!"-

The tiger sat on its hind legs on the floor to listen to the scientist, leaving behind the threat of killing him, but also allowing him to retaliate should Raghu decide to change his mind or defend himself.

-"I'm listening."- The tiger said. -"You better have your explanation convincing to me, or I won't doubt killing you at any time. Am I clear?"-

-"Yes."-

-"Then, start talking."-

-"OK, but I would like to warn you something beforehand: What you are going to hear may be very difficult for you to understand, or even for your own standards may even sound absurd, out of place or even consider it as something out of my twisted imagination, especially if you don't understand its proper context."- The Japanese man began his explanation. -"And the truth is, at this point, I no longer care what people say about my ideas, because I've heard enough criticism about them, and if what I'm going to say is going to send me right to the grave, so be it."-

-"Cut that crap, doctor, I don't have all day to listen to your talk!"- The tiger began to growl when he saw that the doctor seemed to be trying to lengthen the conversation unnecessarily, possibly with the intention of boring him and forgetting to eat Komatsu -"I am very hungry, and if you try to find a way out of this with nice words, I will use you as my breakfast."-

In the face of this threat, Komatsu knew that the best thing he could do was to begin explaining his theory to Raghu, and pray to all known gods that his words would not anger that vicious Indian feline.

-"In that case, I'll have to get to the point, and I hope you understand what I intend to do."-

And so Komatsu began to take a deep breath, in order to carefully think what he was going to say to the animal...

-"I'll tell you what I plan to do with you and the rest of the animals you're here for..."-

And so, the young scientist began to speak and explain his intentions to that animal who was furious at not knowing what that human intended to do with him.

-"In short, what I intend to do is that you and the other animals can communicate with humans without the need for translations or signs, as is your case, in a direct way."-

The tiger, hearing this, tried to assimilate what Komatsu had said, something which, as that man had said beforehand, was going to be very difficult to understand or even to believe, even for an animal like him.

-"What do you mean with "communicate with us in a direct way"? Do you intend to...? No way! That would be..."-

-"Yeah, that's right."- The man continued with his explanation, by complementing Raghu's words. -"What I want to do is make animals talk and be able to communicate with humans."-

-"WHAT?!"-

Then, a silence was felt in that place and both characters remained speechless, while Raghu tried to grasp such a revelation, considering everything he had suffered up to that very moment. The fact that a human had the unequivocal and unwavering intention of giving him and other beasts enough sentience to talk to humans was something that even for an animal like him was something absurd and utopic, something that he never imagined anyone would ever say with complete sincerity, and with the true purpose of putting into practice such an idea which at that time would have sounded like something stemming from a childish imagination at best, or like anything originating from an extremely disturbed mind, at worst.

And in those moments, Raghu did not know what to think anymore about Yoshinori Komatsu. Was that human a misunderstood genius or a complete nutcase? The mere fact of trying something as daring as providing sentience to animals would be something normally worthy of awe, but in those moments and judging what he had hitherto experienced in his own flesh in that place, the tiger could only look at that scientist with absolute and utter skepticism.

-"May I ask you something, Dr. Komatsu?"-

-"Yeah, what is it?"-

-"I take it that what you said is not some kind of sick joke or a rather dumb intent of yours to get out of this situation alive, I guess, or am I wrong?"-

-"I'm not joking, much less would I joke with something as serious as this in the circumstances in which I find myself."- Komatsu confirmed his words at the tiger, thinking in that critical moment that Raghu is not buying at his words. -"You have every right not to believe me if you wish, but you cannot deny that I haven't done any kind of act that has harmed you so far, other than that you are locked in a cage, that time when I tried to kill you with poison, and the occasional blood sample I have taken from you, to be fair with you."-

The tiger leaned a few steps away from Komatsu, threateningly. It seemed that Raghu was not very pleased with his response, to put it mildly...

-"Do you expect me to believe such an absurd story?"-

-"No."- The man bluntly replied at the beast. -"And I really don't expect you to."-

Pause

-"Do you have the slightest idea of the meaning of what you want to do? Do you have the slightest idea of what it would mean for us to be able to communicate with you humans without having to resort to these signs or other methods? Do you have any idea how many things we would like to share with you about what we think, especially our desires, our feelings, our illusions, our culture, EVERYTHING?"-

-"Yes..."-

The scientist then shed some tears due to a mix of utter fear and also happiness to know Raghu was starting to understand the true intentions of his theory...

-"In fact... sob ...your words you mentioned a few moments ago have been my dream since childhood..."-

Then Komatsu rose from the floor and quickly sat down again, holding in one hand a book he had previously pulled from his lab coat. That book was where his theory was written in it, which Komatsu held in his hand with remarkable pride.

-"Since I began to study I have devoted myself to trying to find a way to give you the intelligence and ability to communicate with us and share your words, wishes and dreams with us. That way, we humans could know what are the problems that afflict you and find the right way to solve them, instead of simply ignoring you people, trying to guess you blindly or even eliminate you as if you were worthless trash."- Then, Komatsu showed the book in front of Raghu's face. -"And to demonstrate my feasibility of my theory, everything necessary to carry it out is written in this book."-

-"And why didn't you ever say anything to me right from the start since you knew I could use sign language?"-

-"Would you have believed me if I told you back then?"-

The animal growled slightly at that last query...

-"Anyway, you have my word, and you can confirm with your own eyes, that it has never been my intention to hurt you, or any other creature that I have been working with since I started trying to put my theory into practice seven years ago, before the war broke out."- The man tried to gain the trust of that animal with his words, seeing that Raghu was not yet completely convinced of what he had just heard from that human. -"Or do you have any good reason to doubt my words?"-

Raghu, after hearing the plans Komatsu had in mind for him and all the animals living in the bunker, began to walk restlessly, trying to physically show his disbelief at the similar ideas that that human scientist had in his head. Just trying to think that someone could try something so incredible with a straight face was something that, under normal conditions, that feline would have considered it as a hoax or a gross intention to deceive him.

But in the same way, there was something inside the animal that told him that human did not have, so he could deduce with his own senses, the slightest intention to lie about something as serious as that, and that his intentions about giving intelligence and voice to the animals were really sincere. How serious those intentions were was something Raghu could not know at that point without asking further questions. And no dead man was going to give that feline the answers he needed...

-"Right now I don't know what to think of you anymore, doctor."-

-"You think I'm lying just to save my neck?"-

Pause...

-"Under normal conditions, anyone, be it a tiger, another animal or a human who tells me that he has a magic formula to make me or any animal talk to humans, I would have called him crazy."- Raghu replied with disbelief. -"But in the same way, something tells me that you are not lying and that you are being honest with me in your intentions to carry out your plans, however incredible or absurd they may seem to everyone else."-

Komatsu, without warning, approached the tiger and began to pet his head, as if he were a cat, so that Raghu would feel comfortable, and in the same way, so that the animal would know that the human was not angry with him. Faced with this sudden display of affection, Raghu at first retreated a little to be on the defensive, but upon seeing Komatsu's intentions, the Indian feline decided to accept the fondness of that man, who was also comforted to know that Raghu seemed to understand what he was saying and that the animal no longer intended to kill him.

-"I can assure you in advance that everything will be fine and neither you nor any other animal under my watch will be harmed as long as I am in charge of this laboratory. I assure you that."- Komatsu said, while his hand was still on Raghu's head, scratching it and giving some nudges with his fingers. -"The only thing I ask of you is that you trust me in what I say. The only thing I can tell you beforehand is that neither you nor I will live to see the results of my work, and it will be our descendants who will finish it. And let's just hope we survive this damn war first if we want to see any kind of payoff."-

-"Will you promise me that, doctor?"-

-"Yes, that's a promise..."-

But before the conversation could continue, a male voice coming from the loudspeakers that were installed in many places within the bunker, including the laboratory, was suddenly heard at that moment, interrupting that emotional event for both characters...

-"Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu, your presence in your office is required right now. I repeat, your presence in your office is required right now..."-

-"Damn it! What do they want from me this time?"-

Annoyed enough at being interrupted, Komatsu took one of the headsets that were close to the room where he was, and after dialing a phone extension, the scientist made contact with his personal assistant who was in his office who was in charge of receiving appointments for him and thus knowing what was the reason for him to show up at his office.

-"Hello, this is Komatsu speaking."-

-"Oh, sir! I'm very sorry to have to interrupt you on whatever you're doing in the lab, but there's someone who wants to see you right away."- The young man apologized to his boss at the phone. -"He says it's urgent and he needs to discuss the issue with you privately."-

-"Who wants to talk to me? Could it be Colonel Matsuoka?"-

-"Eh... no, sir."- The office assistant replied with some hesitation. -"The person who asked for your presence here strongly ordered me to call you and ask you to come to your office."-

-"And who the hell is that very important person to demand my presence in my office? I hope this is not some kind of stupid joke, because otherwise..."-

-"Sorry for interrumpting you, but I can only tell you that this person asked me not to reveal his name until you were here, sir."-

Komatsu growled in disgust at the sight that a mysterious person required his presence in his office without even saying his name. And for his greatest annoyance, that person had the audacity to interrupt him halfway through his work, although on the other hand he was also happy that he had managed to reassure Raghu and prevent the animal from turning him into his lunch.

-"All right, tell that person I'll be right there."-

-"Understood, sir."-

-"Sorry to have to have to put a pause at this conversation , Raghu, but my presence is required elsewhere. We'll talk about what you like as soon as I return to work."- Then Komatsu said goodbye to the tiger. -"Just remember what I told you and I only hope you have some patience with my project and my work."-

-"OK, doctor."- The animal also bid farewell to the human, understanding the reasons why he had to leave. -"See you soon."-

-"You too."-

---

July 25th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Office), Tokyo, Japan, 11:30 AM

Yoshinori Komatsu, who stood at the doors of his office, looked extremely upset. The fact that he was interrupted in his work by someone who refused to give his name and was basically asking him to come to his office was something that enraged him to a great extent, and once he was in front of his office assistant's desk, he began to ask for explanations to the young man.

-"Okay, Nishikata."- Komatsu addresed to his assistant. -"Is the person who wants to see me still in the office?"

-"Yes, sir."-

-"I just hope whatever he wants to tell me is worth it. I'm not in the mood for cheap talk after Raghu nearly had me killed."-

-"Really, sir?"- The assistant was surprised at what his superior had said about the tiger. -"I thought Raghu was already being more cooperative."-

-"I'll explain later in more detail. In the meantime let anyone who is looking for me know that I am in my office and that I will be busy and I don't want to be interrupted. Understood?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

And with nothing more to say to his assistant Nishikata the doctor went into his office to talk to the person inside...

What Yoshinori Komatsu never imagined was that the person demanding his presence was someone very close whom he knew too well.

-"What...the...HELL?"-

That person was his laboratory assistant, and basically his second in command regarding the inner workings carried out on the place: Isamu Suzuki.

-"SUZUKI?!"- Komatsu almost yelled at the sight of that man. -"What's the meaning of this? Weren't you supposed to be inside the lab when I was talking to Raghu?"-

-"I am sorry to have to do all this in private and also have to request your presence in your office, but I needed to speak urgently with you."- The young assistant said with a serious expression in his face. -"I did not want the other staff members to hear this discussion and involve them in our issues, so I want to speak with you right here."-

-"And why the hell didn't you wait until we finished working, eh?"- Komatsu was both surprised and annoyed to see that his esteemed assistant had taken a defiant attitude toward his own boss by asking him to speak with him privately without considering that Komatsu had been busy a few moments ago, and when he planned to continue speaking with Raghu. Now, the man has no choice but to listen to what his assistant wanted to say. -"You know better than anyone that I don't like to be interrupted unless it's an emergency or when I ask for it, so I hope whatever you want to say is relevant to me, because otherwise I will be forced to take corrective action."-

-"Well, that would not be necessary, sir."-

Komatsu was puzzled at this last statement from his assistant, indicating that it was something quite serious...

-"What do you mean with that? You'd better explain yourself, Suzuki."-

-"I'm just asking you to see what's on your desk, Dr. Komatsu."-

At this request, Komatsu looked carefully at his desk and saw an envelope on which was written, in quite large letters, the following:

RESIGNATION LETTER

The reason Isamu Suzuki asked Dr. Komatsu to come to his office was nothing less than to resign from his lab work. Upon seeing that letter, the scientist was completely dismayed to see that his closest assistant intended to resign without any notice beforehand, when at the time he had arrived at the laboratory, he never perceived from Suzuki any discernible intention to resign.

-"What are you trying to do with this quitting thing, Suzuki?!"- Komatsu yelled at his now ex-assistant -"Why the hell do you want to resign now, huh?"-

-"With all due respect to you, Dr. Komatsu, I have lost confidence in you and your project."- Suzuki explained the reasons for resigning the project. -"I don't think you can achieve anything worthwhile and if you ask me for my opinion, this project, from the beginning, is nothing more than a complete waste of time, human and monetary resources and above all, this is nothing but a complete and absolute hoax."-

-"What makes you think we can't accomplish anything, Suzuki?!"- The science man retorted at those damning words from that young man who had lost any faith on him. -"You know very well that we have achieved some important feat, such as Raghu and some biological tests that show that this theory is possible to put into practice! How dare you to say this is a hoax?!"-

-"You call Raghu an accomplishment of yours?"- Suzuki furiously questioned this statement from his now ex-boss. -"I never imagined that, apart from being unrealistic, you are also ethically dishonest. If Raghu learned Japanese sign language, it is not thanks of you or any of us who work in this laboratory, but because of another person, Yuka Nagahama, who would be the one we, and above all you, should thank. And it is indeed a pity that she is no longer in this world to be able to do so."-

-"And so what"?- The chief scientist retorted at the young man. -"I also collaborated in Raghu's learning so that he could perfect his domain of sign language, so this is not an achievement of hers alone."-

The mere fact that that scientist was trying to take credit for Raghu's learning was something that Isamu Suzuki considered to be the last straw that broke the camel's back. He could not believe that the man he admired so much was, at least in his own personal opinion, a completely dishonest person who did not mind taking over someone else's work for his own personal gain.

However, in comparison to the following, plagiarism would be the least of all problems.

-"I perfectly understand that in the situation in which we find ourselves we cannot afford to do our own investigation in some cases, as would be the case in Raghu, but for my own personal ethics, the mere fact of taking over someone else's work, and more so when it comes to a dead person, is for me something completely unacceptable. And there are other things that upset me even more than this plagiarism thing."-

-"Like what?"-

-"You know very well that, apart from Raghu, we have not obtained any viable result in accordance with the parameters that you indicated to us. The fact that we cannot sacrifice any specimen by your instructions due to your personal beliefs does not help us in the slightest, and we must rely exclusively on blood and other biological samples to be able to work, in addition to depending on the empirical method, without being able to put anything into practice."-

-"You know very well that this project has goals that especially require a lot of time to carry them out. We are also dealing with something that no one has ever worked on before, and we will probably have to invent many things if we want to achieve something, and for that we need to do a lot of research to know which tools we are going to need, and which methods we are going to use."-

-"And are you fully aware that the one thing we don't have at hand is time?"-

The defiant attitude of that young man was causing Komatsu to begin to lose his already distraught temper with those words...

-"OK Suzuki, I agree with you in this one. I am fully aware that we do not have enough time and that we have until December to show any results to Colonel Matsuoka, if that is what you mean."- The science man angrily replied at Suzuki. -"Unless you intend otherwise. If you want a raise, I can give you one right away."-

Seeing that Komatsu intended to settle the conflict with money, Isamu Suzuki could not help but raise the tone of the conversation by seeing that the man did not seem to understand the concerns that the young scientist was feeling about the project of his now former superior.

-"Do you think I only care about money? Or don't you even seem to understand the notion of human empathy at all?"- The young man pointed then his finger at his former boss. -"You know very well that we're not going to get anything worthwhile from here to December, assuming, of course, if we can accomplish anything first to begin with."-

-"What are you trying to imply with that?"-

-"That in my personal opinion, and I will be very frank with you, Dr. Komatsu, you are nothing but a fraud."-

An awkward silence was felt within the office at the harsh words Isamu Suzuki uttered against his former superior just minutes ago. Although it was not the first time someone had called him a fraud, it was the very first time a subordinate of his had disputed his ideas, something he found hard to accept.

-"Have you come all this way to have the insolence to call me a fraud in my own face, Suzuki?"-

-"Yeah."- The young man confirmed his word without any kind of fear against that man. -"In fact, I requested permission from Col. Matsuoka to be transferred to a medical unit. I'm not going to work in this bunker any longer, and I'll use my knowledge to take care of human beings, instead of playing with animals in your personal zoo for god knows what stupid purposes you will have in mind."-

Hearing the very name of Matsuoka caused Komatsu's blood to freeze completely. Not only was it impossible for him to do anything against Suzuki, but that man had the personal protection of the highest authority in charge of the bunker, who was also the person he hated most, especially after Matsuoka executed Lt. Hideki Nakamura in his own presence.

Yoshinori Komatsu had never before in his entire life had he felt so betrayed by someone close to him as at such a critical moment, and the worst part of all is that Suzuki was now under the watchful eye of the colonel, which meant that anything he knew about his project that Komatsu did not wish anyone else to know would now be Matsuoka's personal knowledge.

And at the time, Komatsu would have wished he could have done something about that man who now in his opinion was nothing more than a filthy traitor. Perhaps, even strangling him with his own hands until he broke his neck and ripped out his throat with everything and tongue, and fed it to Raghu. He had had enough betrayals, manipulations and deceptions in his life and now he had a man to whom he had sold him for a few yens in order not to be there anymore.

But unfortunately for him, he couldn't do anything else except accept his resignation. Komatsu was completely tied down to prevent the man from singing everything to Matsuoka, and trying to do something to stop him would only make things worse.

-"I hope you enjoy your move to your new unit, Suzuki. That's all I'm going to say about it"-

Komatsu only managed to bade Isamu Suzuki farewell in a flat tone and with no visible emotion on his face.

-"Is that all you're going to say?"- The young biologist replied with a perplexed voice, after he expected Komatsu would fight back Suzuki's damning words to him. -"I expected something more from you, like a rebuttal regarding your project or something like that, or at least an insult. Or do you perhaps know that I am right?"-

SLAM!

Komatsu crashed his fist against the desk at what appeared to be a direct provocation to his authority so that Suzuki would know that he would not allow anyone to speak ill of him or his theory.

-"What the fu-?"-

-"Do you have anything else to say other than to mock me by exploiting the fact the colonel is protecting your hide?"-

-"N-no, si-sir!"-

-"In that case, you have five seconds to get out of this office with your pretty face intact, or else, I will use that face of yours as food for the beasts inside my lab. So if you don't have something more useful to say, and if you appreciate your own physical integrity, GET OUT OF MY DAMN SIGHT!"-

-"YE-YES, SIR!"-

At the sight of Komatsu enraged as he had never seen him before, Isamu Suzuki immediately left the office running for his life. He began to consider at that moment that perhaps he had crossed the line with his words, but it was too late to change his mind, and after seeing Komatsu threaten to use him for animal food, the best thing for him was to get away from that man as far as he could.

Maybe that man, as far as he was concerned, was completely insane.

After seeing Isamu Suzuki fleeing the office, in addition to hearing his boss yell, Nishikata, the personal secretary in charge of Dr. Komatsu's office, decided to check what had happened just a few seconds ago.

-"Dr. Komatsu, are you all right? I just saw Dr. Suzuki rushing out of here."-

For obvious reasons, Komatsu was not in the mood to give an answer to such a question...

-"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS, NISHIKATA! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE SOMEONE GETS HURT!"-

-"YE-YES, SIR!"-

Upon hearing that warning, the secretary knew that it was best to leave the doctor alone in his office and get away from there to a safe and wise distance if he didn't also want to be a target of his boss's wrath, who had never been so angry as he had never been in his whole life before.

And regarding the man inside that office, for a brief moment, Komatsu's mind went blank, nothing but those damned words floating through. His hands shaking, his face went red, jaws clenched so tight that he would feel it for days to come. He never saw it, but the first thing to fly was a typing machine, keys flying all around him as he smashed it on the wall, the chair rolled to the ground even before he was all the way up from the chair. He flipped a table in front of him to give him space, and screaming like a mindless lunatic as if Suzuki, the man who dared to question his work, was there to hear it. He then threw the chair into a mirror, pieces of glass where still hitting the floor, and when he finally controled himself, the only thing in his mind now was this:

-"Damn... you... Suzuki... God... damn you... you treacherous bastard... one of these days... I will make you eat those words... I swear it..."-

---

July 27th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 12:10 PM

-"Dr. Komatsu, forgive me if I'm being too nosy in your personal affairs, but haven't the janitors finished cleaning your office yet?"-

That question, which seemed to be a fairly harmless one, came from one of the employees working in the lab, who already knew, as did the rest of the staff, what had happened two days ago in the fallout between his boss and Isamu Suzuki, which caused Yoshinori Komatsu to have a fit of rage that left his office completely in a mess, and resulted in him having to run his administrative affairs inside the lab while his workplace returned to order again.

-"It's going to take two more days for them to clean up the mess."-

The employee was surprised that his superior had no objection to discussing such a personal matter with one of his subordinates. And for Komatsu, there was a very good reason for doing so: He could not afford to make a negative impression on his assistants, most of whom work there either on the orders of Col. Matsuoka's superiors, for professional reasons, patriotism, or simply for money, and he could not give the impression that their boss might be a nutcase and that Suzuki might have a reason to leave the place and resign.

-"I know very well what you're thinking, Moritsugu."- Komatsu addresed his junior, Kazuki Moritsugu, after he saw his worried face on regards of his boss and the shameful events that happened a couple of days ago. -"And I apologize to you and others if I make a bad impression on you. As the general director of the project, I must set a good example for all of you, and my outburst of rage must have changed your personal opinion about me."-

-"Please do not worry about it, Doctor. We all have bad days from time to time."- Moritsugu replied to Komatsu trying to ease him up. -"Besides, Suzuki had started talking badly about you behind your back a few weeks ago, so I'm not surprised that he resigned. What surprises me is the way he did it, because we all hoped that he would simply leave his resignation letter with Col. Matsuoka first, and he would give the news to you privately. And to be honest, Suzuki already had a reputation for being a top-notch jerk when you weren't here since day one."-

-"Hmmm... I think that would explain a lot of things."-

-"And with regard to Suzuki and his resignation,"- The junior continued with the topic. -"have you not yet decided who will replace him?"-

There was a moment of awkward silence, then he continued, with some hesitation...

-"Well... I haven't decided yet, as I have other more important things to worry about."- The man replied, while trying to change to topic a bit. -"And since I'm going to work here, I don't think it's necessary to look for a replacement until my office is ready to go back there again, so the duties that were previously in Suzuki's hands will be with me until I get back."-

-"Understood, sir"-

And as Komatsu and his assistants worked in the laboratory, a soldier stormed into the place with a bag on his back, and he went personally with the doctor.

-"Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu?"-

-"Yes, that's me. Is there a problem?"-

-"I have mail for you."- The soldier replied, as he handed Komatsu a mail envelope. -"I think it's from Hiroshima."-

-"Hiroshima, you said?"-

-"Yes."-

-"Let me see that!"-

If something came from that city, it only meant one thing: That letter came from his parents, whom Komatsu had not heard from since the day he had been working in the bunker. Due to the communication restrictions imposed on all the inhabitants of the secret underground facility owing to the top-secret nature of the place, he had no way of writing to his parents without permission from the military authorities, nor could Komatsu answer them back. Similarly, any letters addressed either to him or to anyone working within the bunker would have had to be authorized by Colonel Matsuoka or some higher authority, and yet would have had to go through military censorship first.

How could that letter have gotten into his hands? That was something he had to find out before opening that envelope.

-"Do you have anything else to say, doc?"-

-"I have some questions I'd like to ask:"- The science man asked the military mailman. -"How am I receiving mail when normally all outside communications are restricted? Did Colonel Matsuoka authorize this mail?"-

-"How do you expect me to know that, doc? In fact, I also find it strange that you receive an email, in my opinion. I only have here in my bag some courier packages sent by other divisions from the IJA, and this mail is the only written letter I have received in God knows how long I have been working in this place."-

-"Well don't worry about it, I'll handle this with the colonel privately. And anyway, thank you very much for delivering this."-

-"You're welcome, doc."-

The military messenger then left the lab as quickly as he had originally entered, while Komatsu tried to figure out how that mail reached the bunker to begin with.

-"Moritsugu, you will take care of the place while I will be in the big animal's room for some privacy. I don't want to be interrupted unless it's an emergency that warrants my presence. Do I make myself clear?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

With Kazuki Moritsugu in charge of the laboratory, Yoshinori Komatsu went to the room where large animals such as tigers, lions, elephants and the like were housed for safety and control. It might have seemed like a very awkward place to enjoy some privacy and read a letter, but to a man who enjoyed the company of animals like Komatsu, that place was a small paradise in the middle of the World War II hell. His little personal paradise, to put it in more specific terms.

-"All right, let's read this letter. I hope my parents are doing well."-

Once the envelope was opened, Komatsu was ready to read the letter. Judging by the letter's handwriting, it was written by his mother, Mitsuyo Komatsu, who, even after so many years living in Hiroshima, continued to write her mails with her traditional Kyoto accent.

My dear Yoshinori: I hope from the bottom of my heart that you are well there in Tokyo. I understand perfectly why you have not written to us, considering the whole issue concerning military censorship and all that, but I felt the need to write a letter and hope it could reach your hands. Unfortunately for us, things aren't starting to going well. Your father has been without clients for several months because most of the farmers and peasants who live around the city have been forced to sacrifice their animals to feed their families due to the war and government imposed rationing, which becomes severe with each passing day, forcing him to do some chores in his free time for a small fee. Even we, who enjoy privileges thanks to your army membership, are beginning to see how our food is being rationed in the same way and now we can only eat twice a day. Your father, as always, curses the government and the war, because we no longer know how long this situation will last. The people around us are beginning to wonder what is going on, while the government continues to rally us with the same old propaganda, trying to convince us that we are going to win this war. Considering what you and your father have also said, I very much doubt that it is true. I know it would be very difficult for you to do this, but I would like you to return to Hiroshima even if it is for a few days, so that I can at least see you this year. If you can't return, at least we'll understand your reasons, but at least write us a letter to let us know you're okay. You don't need to tell us anything else if you decide to return home or answer us by mail, just knowing that you are alive is enough for us. To finish this letter, I just want to say that no matter what you do and the sacrifices you have to make, we just want to tell you that I and your father are very proud of you, and that we both love you very much. You are the pride of the Komatsu family, and I wish your grandfather, the first Yoshinori Komatsu, were alive to see what you are doing. We hope that this war will end and that wishfully you can devote yourself to peaceful things that have nothing to do with all this madness. With all my love. Mitsuyo Komatsu.

After reading his mother Mitsuyo's letter, Yoshinori Komatsu began to shed some tears at the sight that the war is taking a toll in his own family. The fact that he belonged to the same army that was partially responsible for all that terrible situation caused him to curse his luck and wonder if what he was really doing was worth it.

Was Isamu Suzuki really right and all his theory was just a crazy enterprise from the very beginning, based only on scientific principles with very ambiguous grounds, as was Charles Darwin's theory of evolution?

Even if the theory of evolution says that one being can evolve into a more advanced being with the passage of time, explained this in simple terms, the theory itself requires a lot of time to obtain visible results, which can last for years, decades or even centuries, and by then Komatsu would no longer be alive to reap the fruits of his work, assuming that his own version of the theory is correct, even with the right tools, and unfortunately he lacked the money and the right tools to make his theory a reality or at least check whether it is feasible or not.

-"GODDAMMIT!"-

The scientist kicked a bucket of water next to him, cursing the dilemma in which he finds himself: He had until December 1945 to provide results to Col. Matsuoka or else he would end up with an extra hole in his head just as Hideki Nakamura ended his days and then return to Hiroshima in a coffin.

It was remarkable that despair is beginning to fall prey to that scientist. Already all the options he had at hand were beginning to dry up and no matter how much Komatsu tried to show that things looked fine before the imperial authorities and his own men, reality was a completely different matter and his theory seemed destined to fail, along with the person who wrote it.

But before the beleaguered scientist could continue to curse his bad luck, he heard a loud noise from one of the cages that were at the far end of the room...

-"What the hell is going on here?"-

It turned out that cage was from Raghu, who was using his front legs to make noise in the bars of his cage so he could ask Komatsu to let him out of it and talk to him.

-"You want to talk to me, Raghu?"-

And without a second thought, Komatsu opened the cage and let the tiger out of it, allowing the animal to use sign language with utter freedom.

-"Thanks for letting me out of this damn cage, doctor. I need to talk to you right away."-

-"Uh?"- The Japanese science man scratched his head at that last part. -"What do you want to talk to me about? Right now I don't really want to talk to anyone else."-

-"That's why I need to talk to you, doctor, and I need it right now. I heard your letter that you were reading in a low voice, and that's why I should speak with you."-

Komatsu had not only forgotten that Raghu was there, but, because he was a tiger, he could hear sounds that normally a human would find harder to do or even inaudible, as in this case was being able to hear his human friend read a letter in a quiet manner. Faced with this situation, the scientist had no choice but to speak on the subject with the animal.

-"I imagine you already heard me about how this letter could have gotten into my hands without going through the military censors, especially if you heard that this letter makes very strong criticisms against the government."- The man explained the whole issue to Raghu in a nutshell. -"Do you know anything about the matter, Raghu?"-

-"Yes."-

That answer puzzled Komatsu even more. How was it possible for that animal to have prior knowledge of that letter, from whom and where it came from, and most of all, how important those people were to Komatsu to make Raghu talk to him urgently? Did that animal know something he didn't? And if it was true, how did that beast find out about the issue in the first place?

-"Tell me you're kidding with that. There's no way you know anything as intimate as my family."-

-"I wouldn't joke about that sort of thing, doctor,"- The feline replied with a certain unease in his face. -"and more when it implicates someone else's family."-

The Indian feline's response began to disturb him even more. What kind of animal did he have in front of him? After what happened when he dreamt Raghu in his dreams and tried to kill him afterwards, Komatsu knew that beast was not an average tiger, but that animal had some kind of ability that he had not yet been able to understand. And now he has just discovered that Raghu had a skill he did not know beforehand.

-"And how the hell do you know that this letter was from my parents?"- Komatsu angrily replied at the animal. -"Do you even know how to read? And above all, how did you know beforehand how important this letter was to me?"-

-"Yeah, I know, because I was the one who brought that letter to this bunker."-

Raghu's response left him stunned as he had never felt before in his life. What that animal had done defied any logic and reason known to man, so before continuing he wanted to know if it wasn't some kind of joke from the tiger.

-"I'm not in a mood for bad jokes about tigers wandering over Tokyo completely unnoticed in front of god know how many people, including children, and especially soldiers."- The science man angrily questioned Raghu about that last quip, thinking it could had being a bad crack from him. -"Also, there's no way you could've walked out of this cage without my authorization or the colonel's. And even if you could have left this lab somehow, there's no way out of here without being seen by a soldier, and if a military man had seen you in the first place, we wouldn't be here talking about this to begin with."-

-"To be honest, I also don't understand what exactly happened yesterday."-

-"Wh-what?"-

That answer caused Komatsu to briefly cut off the talk with the tiger. How was it possible that Raghu could get out of his cage, leave the bunker and walk around Tokyo like a ghost? Even if that tiger had been as stealthy as possible, an animal as big as Raghu would have been very easy to spot by anyone, and even more so considering the high alert situation which prevailed in the imperial capital, causing any authority that had its eye on that mysterious beast to try to capture the animal or shoot it should the need arise.

-"I guess you want to know how I got out of my cage, don't you?"-

-"You would do me a big favor if you would explain that to me."-

The tiger sat on his hind legs to explain what had happened the day before to Komatsu...

-"Well, here's my explanation of the events."- And so then, Raghu began to explain everything. -"Apparently someone, I can't remember if it was the person who fed me yesterday in the afternoon or you in the morning, left the cage lock unlocked and I decided to leave the cage at first just to stretch my legs out of it. So, later on, I decided to take a walk outside the lab as a mischief, just to find out what was outside this place for once in my life. At that moment, when I was trying to get out of the bunker, I met a soldier who was guarding the entrance checkpoint..."-

-"And then what happened?"-

-"Even though the guard was in front of me, the human did not seem to notice my presence, apart from just listening to my footsteps and breathing."-

-"But how?"- Komatsu asked Raghu about that improbable, in his personal opinion, scenario. -"There is no way that a soldier, or any person in general, would not have noticed your presence, especially if they were in front of him and considering that he could hear you perfectly."-

-"Theorically, that's what must have happened."- The tiger kept describing what had happened that day at the checkpoint. -"But for some reason, the human could not hear me, no matter how many attempts I made to get his attention. That poor idiot could only hear cat footsteps and purring around him, and to be honest, I also don't understand what happened so that he wouldn't see me. And after having some fun with him, I got out of the bunker."-

-"Did you have any further trouble doing it?"-

-"No."- Raghu responded. -"Then I realized that guard wasn't the only one who couldn't see me. Other people passing by were also unaware of my presence, which allowed me to walk wherever I wanted without worries. It was as if I was invisible to them; no one could see me, no matter how many attempts I made to make people realize my presence."-

Yoshinori Komatsu put both hands to the sides of his head in surprise and amazement as he interpreted the revelation from that animal. Normally and in other circumstances, to have read such an event would have caused Komatsu to begin to doubt the mental state of the speaker and to think at any moment that the person might have lost his mind or worse.

But in the same way, that scientist had reasons not to doubt at any moment what was said by that tiger, starting with the simple fact that Raghu could use sign language. If an animal like a tiger could use such a complicated method of communication without many issues, then to think that a tiger could have roamed Tokyo without being seen by any human being would be something equally plausible, and he should have no reason to doubt Raghu's word.

Who or what was that tiger? That was a question that began to fill the Japanese scientist's head. Was Raghu an ordinary animal that was simply smarter than the average tiger, a mutant or maybe he was something else? A more superstitious person would have thought at that time that Raghu could be a mythological being, an envoy of the gods or even a god himself, and even in more absurd terms someone could have considered that feline a being from another planet. In other words, an alien.

But Yoshinori Komatsu, a man with a university degree, a man who did not believe in either gods or the supernatural, considering that the average Japanese citizen of that time was very credulous in many things, and more considering that he had spent much of his childhood and youth on a farm on the outskirts of Hiroshima, but who had also devoted much of his life to the study of the natural sciences in order to better understand the world around him, knew better than anyone else that what he had in front of him must have some scientific explanation, a reason why Raghu could do all these things.

Unfortunately for him, nothing he could think of as a solid rationale for understanding the talents of that mystifying tiger was helpful in explaining what he was seeing and hearing at the time, especially since Raghu was aware of the value that mail had for him.

And now the most important thing for him was to know how Raghu could have brought that letter into the bunker without anyone noticing it, including military censorship...

-"All right, Raghu, now explain this:"- The man asked the tiger about what puzzled him the most. -"How did you know there was a letter for me in Tokyo and how did you manage to find the correct post office? I think there must be several offices in this city so you would know exactly where this letter was."-

-"To be honest, it was a fluke."-

-"A fluke?"-

-"Yes."- Then, Raghu explained how he did managed to find the place. -"I was roaming the city quietly without anyone seeing me and at that moment I was walking through the streets seeing if I could find something decent to eat for myself. Unfortunately, all I could find was trash, rats, restaurant leftovers and other junk. There were some humans on the street who seemed to be homeless people and I thought for a few moments that if they disappeared, no one would miss them, but I also thought it wouldn't have been a good idea to draw attention to myself that way, so I ignored them."-

The scientist grimaced to hear that Raghu was considering at any time eating someone, which could have brought trouble to both the tiger, him and the army. It was a miracle that feline didn't do it anyway when Raghu considered that in mind.

-"So, how did you find the post office where my letter was?"-

-"As for the restaurant part, while I was near one of those places, I happened to hear someone who was two blocks from that spot about a problem they had at the time. The problem they were referring to was about a letter that was addressed to someone named Yoshinori Komatsu, which drew my attention immediately, especially when one of the humans had commented that the letter came from Hiroshima. I quickly remembered that you continually talked a lot about your family and where they were from, plus the issue that any correspondence from them could not pass through military censorship, so I took on the task of getting that letter somehow, knowing beforehand how important that would be for you."-

-"And how could you break into the post office?"-

-"It was simple."- The tiger explained how he sneaked into the building, -"I waited until nightfall and when all the people left the building, but before they started to lock the place down, I managed to slip away without problems, taking advantage of the fact that I was invisible to them and so I managed to enter the building."-

-"And how did you know which letter was mine?"- The human was puzzled about how Raghu found his parents' letter in that spot. -"There must be thousands of letters in that building, so it shouldn't have been easy to know which letter was meant for me. Besides that, since when do you know how to read in the first place?"-

-"Your letter was in a section intended for correspondence intended for army members, for which they should go through censorship first. Fortunately, there were only two letters there, which were in a folder inside an archive, which, fortunately, was not locked. As for how I was able to read who that letter was addressed to, I learned to read in the time I have been here in this lab thanks to some papers thrown around here. It wasn't exactly a simple task, but I managed to learn quickly in a few weeks."-

-"I don't think anything surprises me about you anymore, Raghu."- Komatsu replied while scratching his head about the way how Raghu learned to read. -"And how did you get out of the building after that? If the building was locked down, I don't think you could have easily walked out of there. Or don't tell me you found the key and used it to escape that place?"-

-"No."-

-"Then how?"-

-"I left the building through a window, although I had to break it in order to do so."-

-"How? With a hammer?"-

-"No. Jumping to the window in a single hop."-

-"What?"-

-"Fortunately there was a tree in front of the building, and one of the branches was strong enough to support my weight, so I was able to jump with the envelope I had on my mouth. Luckily for me I didn't get hurt breaking the window, although I did make a lot of noise while doing that, which caused the guards inside the post office to call the police thinking it was a thief who had entered the premises."-

-"And then?"-

-"After that, I immediately went back to the bunker the same way I went out, although this time I infiltrated into it in a supply truck that was going to enter the place and so I could return back without problems, without anyone seeing me. Strangely enough, when I returned to my cage, my invisibility was already gone when one of the people who normally feed me noticed me again."-

-"And how could you place my letter along with the other correspondence addressed to the rest of the bunker's people?"-

-"Well, before returning to my cage, I found by pure chance the room where all the mail was located. Luckily the door was open so I could go in there and leave your letter, and then I headed back to the lab."-

-"That would explain why the messenger had no idea why my letter had landed here in the first place."-

There was a brief pause in the conversation, while Komatsu tried to wonder himself what kind of strange animal he had in his hands. Not only was Raghu able to use sign language, but he also knew how to read and even had a skill that no other animal was able to do: to make himself invisible to others. Definitely, that tiger was a living mutation, a being that was one in a million, and that maybe that scientist knew that it would be very difficult, or impossible to find one similar to him.

Komatsu understood at that moment that he had just hit the jackpot. If Raghu was able to do that and many other things, if he could find a way to find his secret, he could apply it to other animals and replicate Raghu's abilities in any other living beings, as long as it is warm-blooded. He just had to isolate in some way the genes that caused the mutation that gave Raghu those unusual traits in a tiger.

But for now, Komatsu needed rest, as all that talk had already dried his mouth and he urgently needed a glass of water to quench his thirst.

-"If you'll excuse me, Raghu, I need to rest for a while. All this talk has made me thirsty."-

-"I understand perfectly, I also need water, so before you leave here I would like you to give me a bowl full of it."-

-"Don't worry, my furry friend, you deserve it after all the sacrifice you made for me in trying to get this letter, but next time let me know before you try to do something like that."- Then Komatsu gave Raghu some water to him. -"Because you might not be so lucky and you would end up being turned into a tiger rug in Colonel Matsuoka's office."-

-"I will, doctor"-

-"So, if you'll excuse me, I out of here. See you later."-

-"See you, doc."-

---

July 27th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 01:45 PM

-"Have you finished reading your letter, Doctor?"- Kazuki Moritsugu asked to his senior, while watching his clock. -"You took a long time to read it, considering how long you spent on it."

-"Well, yes and I'm sorry for that, but Raghu also wanted to talk with me."-

-"Raghu?"-

-"Yes, do you have a problem with that?"-

-"Of course not, sir, but I never imagined Raghu would want to talk to you right now."-

-"Well, the thing is that we talk about very personal matters and that's why I took some time with him, in addition to the time it took me to read my own letter."-

-"Oh, I see."- The young man then asked another question to his boss. -"And if I' m not too intrusive, would you tell me what you two were talking about?"-

-"Well..."- Komatsu did an awkward pause. -"right now it would be very unlikely to explain what we're both talking about, because I'm still trying to digest everything he told me, and if I told you what Raghu said, you would hardly believe me."-

-"Really, sir?"-

-"Yes, and if this project we're working on is almost already set in the "fantasy" territory, for put in it in kind word in a honest way, to be fair with myself, I doubt that you can believe what Raghu said to me. In fact, even I'm having trouble understanding him, no matter how much I might know about that tiger."-

-"I think I can understand you, sir."-

-"And with regard to the latter, I require you to do me a small favor, Moritsugu."- Komatsu then gives Moritsugu a specially designed animal syringe for blood samples in his hands. -"I need you to take a blood sample from Raghu as soon as you can, so I can isolate the genes that could be causing some kind of genetic mutation that would be the source of the unusual talents that feline has."-

-"Wha-WHAT?!"-

Moritsugu cried out in awe at the prospect of having to introduce needles to Raghu, a particularly wild animal who, up to that point, was the responsibility of his superior, Komatsu, who knew how to treat him properly without being mauled to death by that animal.

-"With all due respect, sir, I doubt very much that I can do that."- The young scientist questioned his superior about the danger entailed in dealing with Raghu. -"At least I'm going to need an anesthetic so I can put that animal to sleep first without killing me on the spot."

-"That won't be necessary, Moritsugu."- Komatsu retorted -"I have every confidence that you can handle him without any issues."-

That answer really began to outrage that young man. Moritsugu asked himself if the reasons why Isamu Suzuki resigned from his post were fully justified, for that man seemed not to care much about his physical safety in dealing with an animal that was known to have killed many men in his lifetime, even though that animal had reasons to do so, including the fact that that animal was sexually abused while living in India. But Kazuki Moritsugu would have preferred Komatsu to take care of the feline instead of him.

-"Sorry for what I'm going to say, Dr. Komatsu, but you don't seem to care about the physical well-being of your own staff at all."- Moritusugu finally lost his temper against Komatsu and did not hesitate to make his displeasure known against the man. -"I'm not going to risk my skin just to draw blood from a man-killing animal. If you want to do it so badly, do it yourself, and don't involve other people in your nonsense, especially when lives are involved!"-

At that moment, Komatsu slammed his fist against the table in front of the two men, in order to let Moritsugu know that he would no longer tolerate any insubordination against him, especially after the incident with Isamu Suzuki and his resignation.

-"Kazuki Moritsugu, I will not tolerate another disrespect against me ever again."- Komatsu responded without raising his voice, but in a firm and decisive way to the brutal protest of his subordinate. -"I understand your discomfort and your concerns, but right now we need to show some sort of result to Col. Matsuoka, or else you, me and everyone who works here will end up just like Lieutenant Nakamura: With an extra hole between the eyes."-

Moritsugu gulped down at the threat from his boss. He knew very well that he could not afford, as his predecessor Suzuki did, to just resign and leave that man behind, because unlike him, Moritsugu could not ask to be transferred to another army unit because he was barely working with Komatsu for about a month, unlike Suzuki, who had been working there since the bunker was built.

-"But...but..."-

-"*AND I DON'T WANT ANY BUTS, YOU IMBECILE!"- Komatsu finally yelled at that young man while pointing his finger at him. -"Also, I doubt very much that Raghu would want to do you any harm if you talk to him and tell him that you come on my orders and what you intend to do with him. He will likely understand that if you explain it to him carefully."-

-"What if Raghu doesn't want me to take samples from him and instead he wants to eat me?"-

A brief pause was done, while Komatsu tried to give a good reply to that concerned man...

-"In that case..."- The man said while taking a little breath. -"The most logical thing to do would be running for your life."-

The young scientist was irritated to hear such a response which in his opinion was absurd and unhelpful: Even if he tried to escape, there was a probability that Raghu would catch Moritsugu at any moment, and by the time someone came to help him, he would be tiger food by that point.

-"I understand your discomfort, but in case there is a problem with Raghu, there is a red button there that triggers the alarm, which will make the authorities come to the laboratory to deal with the animal while you run away."-

-"And what are you going to do while I do all this?"-

-"I'll go have some lunch."-

Hearing that Komatsu was going to lunch while Moritsugu was going to risk his skin with Raghu caused the latter to show a face of utter displeasure in the most self-evident fashion that he could.

-"I hope you know what you are doing..."- Moritsugu finally agreed to do that dangerous task, while he stressed the consequences of what might happen if something goes awry. -"...and I also hope that Col. Matsuoka also likes the way you risk the lives of the people who work here in this way."-

And without further ado, Moritsugu took the syringe and went straight to the room where the large beasts were located to take a blood sample from Raghu. In the same way, Komatsu also left the laboratory, with some discomfort after that heated discussion, especially after seeing how his authority was starting to be questioned by his closest personal circle.

But perhaps what made the man most angry was the fact that Moritsugu brought Colonel Matsuoka into their quarrel, whose antipathy towards Komatsu and vice versa was known to everyone inside the bunker, considering that the former had threatened to execute the latter if he did not show some kind of result, and what he least wanted to hear was the name of the guy who had killed Lieutenant Hideki Nakamura in front of him and Raghu.

-"Goddammed Matsuoka!"- Komatsu yelled his name aloud, not caring if someone could hear him. -"When he sees what I've just discovered, I'll make that ignoramus swallow his words!"-

---

July 27th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Cafeteria), Tokyo, Japan, 02:00 PM

-"I'd like an apple juice and a tofu soy salad, please."-

Yoshinori Komatsu, who was standing in front of the cafeteria counter ordering his food, ordered this from the cook, who could not help but smirk.

-"I'm sorry to have to say this, doc, but we don't have apple juice anymore."-

-"What?!"- The doctor complained loudly at the cook. -"How come you guys don't have any apple juice left?"-

-"That's right."- The cook replied while explaining his words. -"In case you are not aware, due to continuous problems with supplies, we no longer have apples to prepare juice, so you will have to settle with something else."-

-"In that case, I'd rather have an orange juice."-

After a brief wait, the cook brought Komatsu his drink.

-"Here's your juice, doc."- The cook gave Komatsu his drink and food, but not first warning him about the current state of the cafeteria's food supplies. -"But I do remind you that we're likely to start suffering from shortages of certain products and our menu may have to change, so keep that in mind the next time you order something from us."-

-"I will keep that in mind, thank you any way."-

-"No problem, doc."-

With his lunch in hand, Komatsu went to a table where he could taste his food without any more worries, especially after that heavy work session he had in the morning and especially after arguing heatedly with Kazuki Moritsugu, who would take a sample of Raghu's blood instead, despite the reluctance that young man had about the entire thing.

And as he enjoyed his vegetarian lunch, Komatsu couldn't help but overhear a couple of soldiers on the side of his table, who were speaking more or less in a notable tone. Judging by the stripes on their uniforms, both officers were high-ranking military personnel, and from what Komatsu was able to hear, it was evident that the war was not going very well for Japan. And by saying that things weren't going well, it's because were really going from bad to worse.

-"DAMN!"- One of the officers cursed loudly, regardless of whether he was going to be heard or not. -"Those damned Americans really hit us hard this time!"-

-"Hey, keep quiet, will ya?"- The other officer, who was smoking a cigarette at the time, called his partner out. -"Do you want everybody to hear us here?"-

-"And you think I should care a fuck about secrets, if we're going to lose anyway?"-

The other soldier, visibly annoyed, took out of his pocket a hip flask where he was carrying wine, and without caring about anything else, the man began to drink from its contents, much for the annoyance of his friend.

-"Hey, do you want us to get kicked out of here?"-

The other officer continued to drink regardless of that warning. It was obvious that the man was looking for a way to forget whatever unpleasant event he was going through and no one was going to stop him from drinking a little to ease his sorrows.

-"If we get kicked out of here, I don't give a damn, understood? I just want to forget all this shit."-

-"I understand how you feel, buddy, and I don't really blame you for it, but I think you should calm down and not make a scene here in front of all the soldiers who are lunching here in the cafeteria."-

The soldier, who was beginning to undergo drunkenness, slammed his flask against the table on hearing the latter.

-"CALM DOWN? DO YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN, YOU DUMBSHIT?"- The man shouted at his partner as he rose furiously from his chair as if he intended to use it to attack your interlocutor. -"I just lost my brother at the Yamato, and you want me to calm down like nothing?"-

-"Yamato, he said?"-

Even if Komatsu was not very fanatical of the then conflict that was unfolding in his homeland, even someone like him knew exactly that man was referring to the Yamato, the famous super battleship that was said to be almost completely indestructible.

What Komatsu did not know until a few moments later was that the Yamato had been sunk a month ago during the Battle of Okinawa, and that the man had barely learned of the tragic unravelling of that vessel, and that his brother had died during that bloody battle along with the ship.

Due to the isolation that all the inhabitants of the bunker suffered from the outside world and also in order to maintain the highest possible morale in the face of these tragic events, the military authorities had tried to keep secret what had happened in Okinawa, but it was evident that the troubled soldier no longer cared in the least to preserve the facade in the face of the death of a relative.

And to the cries of that man, the other soldiers began to see the yelling officer when they saw all the fuss he was causing, something he did not like in the least.

-"WHAT ARE YOU FUCKERS LOOKING AT?"-

Faced with this, the soldiers who were having lunch decided to wisely ignore the man, knowing that he had a revolver in his belt and that he would not hesitate to use it, especially when the man was drunk.

-"Hey, break it off! I understand how you feel, but threatening other soldiers is not going to help your situation at all."-

The soldier who had lost his brother at the Yamato only drank a sip of wine from his flask as a gesture of irritation when he was unable to vent his rage, while looking elsewhere.

-"But at least I have to agree with you that we're in a very, very deep shit right now."- The more rational soldier dipped his head in his food as he talked about Okinawa and what had happened there. -"Those damn Americans have total control of the Ryukyu archipelago, and from what I've heard from some high-ranking officers, not only did we lose the Yamato, but we also lost a lot of civilians and god knows how many soldiers and officers there. Also, we also lost many warships apart from the Yamato, and now we don't know how we are going to recover from this."-

The other soldier, who was already in a deep state of drunkenness, did not utter a single word in the face of that terrible situation in which their country was placed. The last thing he would want to hear was more suffering and drinking was the only way that poor man could evade that terrible reality.

-"Maybe it's just a matter of time before the Americans invade the whole country."- The soldier commented in a very grim voice on that possibility. -"And considering all the crap that fell on Okinawa, I wouldn't even like to wonder what would happen if something like what happened there actually takes place here in Japan on the same scale or even worse."

What that soldier was mentioning was about the enormous magnitude of the tragedy that befell the Ryukyu archipelago, which Komatsu had no idea about at the time, in which almost all the buildings on the island of Okinawa were completely destroyed, not to mention the human losses, which until then were still very difficult to quantify at all, and it was natural that if a similar event happened in the Japanese archipelago, it would be an event just as or even more terrible than what took place in Okinawa.

-"Please, buddy... hic"- The drunken soldier replied in his alcoholic stupor. -"Don't even remind me that..."-

The sober soldier could only sink his teeth into his food with a certain self-contained rage, while his companion could no longer avoid restraining himself...

-"hic That damn Tojo and his gun-totin' cronies!"- The soldier complained loudly about Hideki Tojo, the then prime minister and leader of Japan, not caring if anybody could hear him lambasting his boss. -"He and his whole gang of pussy-lickin' cowards are asking the entire country to sacrifice our asses, while he does nothing but bark orders like a rabid dog at us as if we were disposable or something! hic"-

-"Hey, wait a minute, buddy! Do you want to get thrown in jail for saying that crap about him?"-

The sober soldier tried to warn his friend of the consequences on insulting Tojo, but that man was not in the mood for warnings, especially when he had lost his brother through that man and the war itself.

-"Well, Tojo can kiss my sorry ass anytime, dammit!"-

Seeing that his drunken companion did not seem to shut his mouth any time soon, the other military officer quickly leapt out of his chair, and he just grabbed his friend's arm, to the latter's personal surprise.

-"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIN'? hic I'M NOT FINISHED ON DRINKIN' MY BOOZE YET!"-

-"You can drink all you want in your room, but I don't want to be executed thanks of you, you dumbass!"- The other soldier warned his companion, while this one took out of the cafeteria his alcoholized friend by force, while the other opposed. -"We're outta here NOW!"-

And both soldiers left the cafeteria as soon as they could, while the other soldiers and people in the place were relieved to see that these two men left, considering that one of them was armed and how things could have gotten uglier if they had stayed longer.

Komatsu, on the other hand, besides being glad that those two gentlemen had left, was also worried to hear about what was happening in Japan and what happened in Okinawa, which meant that the war could soon end on behalf of the Allies at any time. The question now was to see how that war would turn out and under which conditions his country would be at the end of it.

-"Damn, things are going from bad to worse."- Komatsu cursed as he continued to eat his tofu salad. -"Now I understand why Col. Matsuoka was rushing me to get results as soon as possible."-

Suddenly, a mental image appeared in the head of that chief scientist, and it was something that he could never put aside, regardless of the final outcome of the war...

-"I only hope that my parents are well and that Hiroshima would not be attacked by the Americans at any time..."-

But as he finished his meal and set out to leave the place, the cafeteria cook shouts at Komatsu in an attempt to get his attention...

-"Hey, doc, you have a phone call from your lab!"-

-"A call for me?"-

-"Yeah, from some guy named Kazuki Moritsugu."-

-"Moritsugu, you said?"-

-"Yeah, that's right."-

-"OK, put me through."-

The scientist went to the counter where the phone was and he quickly answered his subordinate's call.

-"Yes, it's me, Dr. Komatsu."-

-"Hello, Doctor."- Moritsugu responded with a somewhat shaky voice. -"I was able to get Raghu's blood sample just as you ordered."-

Komatsu was very surprised that the young man had managed to obtain that blood sample from the animal without dying in the attempt. Now it was a matter of knowing how he had done it.

-"Good job, Moritsugu."- After congratulating that young scientist, Komatsu wanted to know a few more things. -"I'd like to know now how you got Raghu to even let you insert a needle without ending you as his lunch."-

Moritsugu, after hesitating a bit for some reason, resumed his talk...

-"Could we talk about this in the lab, please? I don't feel comfortable talking here by phone."-

-"OK, OK, I'll be right there."-

After hanging up the phone, Komatsu left immediately for the laboratory. He wondered why Moritsugu wanted to talk to him there, although by that time the scientist already knew what the reason might be...

---

July 27th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 03:00 PM

Yoshinori Komatsu had quickly entered the laboratory after receiving a call from his subordinate Kazuki Moritsugu. It was obvious that the young man wanted to talk to his superior about what had happened with Raghu's blood sampling and that he wanted to talk to him about it, even though both had had a heated discussion about the issue hours ago.

But as he entered the lab, Komatsu noticed something that began to disturb him: Once he entered the place, he realized that there was not a single soul inside the lab, except for the animals that were in their cages as they should have been.

-"What the hell does all this mean? Where did everyone else go?"

Komatsu, disturbed to see that no one was inside the lab, roared around the facility in search of other staff members, unsuccessfully. The strangest thing of all was that he had received a call from Moritsugu, but the latter was not on the scene either.

-"If this is some kind of prank, then it's a very tasteless one, so you'd better everyone get out from whatever you are before I get really mad."-

-"Here I am, doctor."-

Kazuki Moritsugu, the person who had made the call, suddenly appeared in the laboratory, just behind Komatsu, his superior. When Komatsu saw his underling, he made a grimace of disgust, because he sought an answer as to why no one was in the lab, when everyone should be working.

-"Moritsugu, you better explain me why no one is here working in the lab and why you phoned me in the same way, or else you'll be fired immediately!"-

-"I don't think that's going to be necessary, doctor."-

Seeing that Moritsugu made a smug expression towards his own boss, the aforementioned scientist replied furiously towards the young science man.

-"What the hell do you mean by that?"-

And without hesitation twice, Moritsugu withdrew a revolver from his coat pocket and pointed it toward Komatsu's head, leaving the scientist in shock at the time. He did not understand why the man now wished to kill him, even if he understood what the reason might be, but that sudden turn of events left him with no way to defend himself or seek help immediately.

-"You better not try to do anything funny, doc, or your bright mind will end up spread on the floor after I blow your brains out with this gun."-

-"WHAT?!"-

That young man who until just a few moments ago was his subordinate now planned to kill him right there without caring that they were both inside an underground bunker owned by the IJA and that most likely Moritsugu could not get away with it if he first killed him.

But as he watched for a moment the revolver Moritsugu was holding, he realized one thing: That gun had some inscriptions in Russian, and, although Komatsu did not like firearms much, thanks to a small self-defense training course he took before entering the army, he knew that that weapon was a Nagant M1895, a seven-shot weapon used in the Soviet army.

That only meant one thing: That man, Kazuki Moritsugu, was a spy working for the Russians.

-"I may assume Stalin must be paying you quite a fortune to gain access to this lab and steal any secrets here."

-"Boy, you sure figured out who I'm really working for."- The young man congratulated Komatsu for noticing his true colors. -"How did you know that?"-

-"Because only an idiot like you would enter a Japanese bunker with a weapon owned by the Soviet Union and with text engraved in Russian. Besides, I know that gun is a Nagant M1895, a weapon widely used by the Soviets, and you are very naïve if you thought I would mistake it for something else."-

-"For a man who says he hates wars, you really know a lot about foreign weapons."-

-"Heh!"- Komatsu does a smug smile a bit. -"Don't underestimate me so easily, stupid kid. I may be a biologist and veterinarian, but unlike silly kids like you who don't know the world, I know more about what's going on around me than you think. And if you think that working for the Russians, and especially for that imbecile of yours Stalin, is going to increase your social status, let me tell you that you are very wrong. In fact, you just signed your own death sentence."-

Moritsugu, who was only two steps in front of Komatsu, furiously struck him with the butt of the pistol on hearing all that, causing Komatsu to fall to the ground, but without Moritsugu losing sight of the man.

-"Shoot me if that's what you want!"- The scientist defied the spy in a dignified, but fierce, tone. -"But don't think you can get out of here alive."

-"SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLE!"-

Moritsugu quickly began to kick Komatsu on the ground as a revenge for those harsh words, and for other things he had against that man.

-"I'm tired of hearing every day your same bullshit about your ridiculous project! DID YOU HEAR ME?!"-

Moritsugu kicked him in the groin to make him react. Komatsu screamed in pain at this, as he listened to his attacker while Komatsu was completely powerless on the floor.

-"Fuck, I don't understand why my bosses are so interested in all this shit you're working on. They must be really desperate to get something useful out of here, while there's more interesting projects to see than the whack ideas of some dog-fucking screwball."-

Komatsu, still in pain after the blows received by Moritsugu, could only manage to sit on the floor, while the latter did not lose sight of him with his weapon. It seemed that the young man first wanted Komatsu to suffer first before he could decide whether to kill him.

-"You'd better not get up from there, unless you want to return as a corpse to Hiroshima."-

-"First of all..."- The chief scientist asked Moritsugu. -"I just want to know what happened with the rest of the staff members working here. Did you do something to them?"-

-"No, at least, not yet."- The young assailant answered the question of his now ex-boss in a defiant tone. -"I locked the other members of this lab in the warehouse, making them believe there was a false emergency with some of the wild animals, and locked the place up for the while."-

-"And how could you do that all by yourself? I don't think someone like you could have infiltrated here without someone else's help."-

-"I have some people helping me out there, including some buddies who are isolating the lab area from the rest of the bunker, so no one else is coming to help you, doc."-

The man cannot avoid to snark a bit about Moritsugu and his fellow conspirers' plans, considering they were trying to take control of a heavily-protected military facility which was underground, and even if they could get away with their plans, there's no guarantee they could live the whole place in a single piece.

-"Boy, you and your cronies should have been paid a good deal of money by the Soviets for a suicide mission that you and your friends won't be able to enjoy afterwards."-

Moritsugu kicked Komatsu in the groin again...

-"SHUT UP!"- The young man yelled at the man. -"I don't care a single shit what my bosses do with that stupid theory of yours! I only care about two things: money and, above all, making you pay for all the suffering and shame that I and my friends have had to go through because of you."-

-"What the hell did I do to make you do this?"-

Moritsugu kicked Komatsu again, this time in the stomach...

-"And you still have the nerve to ask the reason why we're doing this, you dumbshit?"-

-"Ugghhh..."- Komatsu started to spit some blood from his wounds. -"I don't know... Maybe you envy me?"-

The young attacker and spy kicked Komatsu again, but this time, he gave him a brutal kick to his face, which was hard enough to break his nose...

-"Seriously, you don't have any empathy for no one, you sick dog-fucker."-

After that brutal beating he received, the scientist could only spit blood again, but this time, he spit it on Moritsugu's shoes as a sign of defiance towards his aggressor.

-"Aggh!"- Komatsu tried to catch his breath so that he could respond to the young man. -"And you seem like after working so long on this place, you still have the wrong idea about me."-

After all those events, Moritsugu decided to pursue his task for which he was being paid once and for all, and he approached Komatsu threateningly, with his gun in hand.

-"OK, I'm tired of all this shit and let's get to the point for real."-

-"I imagine you want to get the theory I'm working on out of me, right?"-

Moritsugu made a furious expression at the question...

-"Technically yes, even if it were up to me, I would ignore your crappy theory, there are better things to get from here."- The spy said with a certain scorn to his own work that he was going to do. It was evident that Moritsugu also had personal motives for which he decided to rebel against his own country and above all Komatsu. -"As I mentioned before, my bosses in Moscow are interested in everything they are working on here, including your project. I can hardly imagine why they would want something so absurd like this, but that's none of my business anymore. So, let's cut the crap and GET UP!"-

Komatsu could barely rise from the ground, but obeyed the orders of his aggressor.

-"Now, tell me where your theory is?"-

-"If you mean my written theory, I have it in my other office. But I don't think you can get very far from here without getting yourself killed, kiddo, since, by now, everyone knows what's going on here, judging by the sounds of the bullets being heard out there."-

Indeed, sounds of gunfire were heard, most likely from Moritsugu's accomplices who were trying to prevent the other soldiers within the bunker from reaching the laboratory.

-"I knew beforehand that something like this could happen someday, so my important papers are stored in a vault inside my office, while everything important is inside my own head, so you wouldn't want to kill me if you wanted to get something out of this project."-

-"Then you're coming with me!"-

-"And how do you plan to get out of here, Moritsugu? There's no way to leave this lab other than through the front door. Besides, are you going to take me to Russia with you? I don't think you can get out of Japan alive, much less Tokyo, because the whole army will chase you and your buddies the moment you set foot out of here."-

-"There is a submarine waiting for us in Yokohama just to help us escape from there, besides that I know a special way where we can arrive and leave Japan. If all goes well, we should get to Russia in a few days, my bosses in the NKVD (Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del - People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the predecessor of the KGB) will deal with you once we get to Moscow."-

-"You still haven't answered my question about getting out of here, or are you planning on making a hole or what?"-

-"We'll get you and me out of here through the ventilation duct that's in the room where the big animals are."- The spy responded that question, while both men where walking to that place. -"Fortunately I have at hand the plans of the ventilation system of the bunker that I got in advance before starting with the operation by another spy who infiltrated this bunker."-

Komatsu knew that he was now involved in a larger problem than he had imagined from the beginning. Although he knew that Moritsugu was not acting alone, judging that he was hearing gunshots and by the comments of his attacker about the presence of other collaborators who were helping him to escape from the bunker and then the country to Russia, he never imagined that the situation took such a dramatic turn and what originally would have been simply a plan to get information from that military installation, had now also become a kidnapping and a fierce battle to get out of the bunker alive.

And the worst thing for Komatsu was that, even if they managed to get out of Japan in one piece, there was no guarantee of what would happen to him once he arrived to Russia. Knowing Stalin and what he had heard about the Soviets, he would be lucky if he only ended up in jail or in the most benign of cases, ended up in a gulag in Siberia once he was no longer useful to them. And knowing beforehand the Russians' desire for revenge on the Japanese because of the 1904 Russo-Japanese War, Komatsu knew he was not going to expect anything good from his Russian captors.

But what bothered that scientist the most was that one of his own compatriots was now working for the Soviet NKVD, possibly driven by ambition and also the desire for revenge against both his own country and towards him, something he brought to Moritsugu's attention once both were in the room where the large and dangerous animals, including Raghu, were housed, for that was where there was a ventilation duct large enough for both of them to get out of the bunker without problems.

-"Moritsugu,"- Komatsu said before climbing to the duct. -"I just want to know one thing before I step out from here..."-

The spy was irritated at the request and briefly granted the privilege before leaving the bunker.

-"Better be important, if you don't want your brains blown out right here."-

-"Why would someone like you decide to be the mule for the Soviets, knowing in advance that the Russians could get rid of you once you're no longer useful to them? Given that we're both Japanese, I think you should already know the full meaning of what it entails to work for them, or didn't you ever consider that in mind?"-

-"I just want to get the hell out of this country as soon as possible."- the spy answered wholeheartedly to the man who was his boss for a long time. -"We all know that this war is not going to end well for us, and I just want to give money to my family when I live in a western country and no longer live in this shithole this country has become, much less I want to continue living here if the Americans get to invade the whole country in the same way they ended up with the Ryukyu Islands. And if that means having to kiss Stalin's and the Russians' ass, that's preferable to having to live or die at the hands of the Yankees."-

-"In my personal opinion I don't think there's much of a difference between working for the Russians and dying at the hands of the U.S."-

-"And what the hell are you gonna know about this? You only care about your stupid fucking animals, and I don't think you care what people think of you."- Moritsugu angrily responded at the man, while still pointing his gun at his head. -"While you are very happy fucking with your beasts, I have to live in a very small room in this damn bunker, while my family is starving outside. Do you know how much I am paid to work with you while you are most likely to have sex with your pets? What they pay me is barely enough to keep me alive, much less my mother, my father and my younger sister, who have to eat cats on the street while you work with them. And what for? To make the cats talk? What good is it to me that a damn cat can talk? So that at the end of the day that cat could say "give me a sardine" or some shit like THAT? And what about ME and my family? Have you and this damn country thought about what we ordinary people have to go through to fulfill your stupid ambitions while we are used as toilet paper? In that case, I'd rather work for the Russians, even if I know there's a chance that they won't live up to their end of the bargain, than go on living in this hell. But if I'm going to end up in hell, at least I'm not going there alone."-

Komatsu did not know how to answer that question, making the situation even more uncomfortable, especially for the spy.

-"You don't know the answer, do you?"- Moritsugu taunted the man, interpreting his silence as a proof of his lack of empathy for him. -"That means you don't give a shit about the rest of the human race. And once we're in the USSR, I'll ask the NKVD to take care of you personally. You know what they do in Siberia to smart guys like you, right?"-

-"I already know about that, my dear Moritsugu..."-

-"And what do you intend to do about it, Mr. Know-it-all?"-

Komatsu turned his gaze in another direction, as if he were looking at something else rather than Kazuki Moritsugu, who was still pointing his weapon at the scientist...

-"It's a shame our relationship has to end this way."-

-"WHAT?!"-

And before the spy could react, a huge orange mass suddenly appeared beside Moritsugu, and without a second thought, the huge creature rammed against the Soviet spy and threw him violently to the floor.

-"WHAT THE FUCK...?!"-

Komatsu, when he managed to catch his breath in the face of this violent turn of events, realized that the mass that had attacked Moritsugu was none other than Raghu, the Indian Bengal tiger, and that he had somehow managed to get out of his cage in order to help Komatsu against his aggressor.

Moritsugu, on the other hand, stood beneath the clutches of that enormous feline, and he was struggling to wrestle the animal in any way he could.

-"YOU GODDAMNED CAT! GET YOUR DIRTY PAWS OFF ME!"-

The spy, in a desperate attempt to get rid of Raghu, quickly pointed his gun at Raghu's head in order to kill him with a single shot...

But before that man could even pull the trigger, the tiger managed to react quickly to that threat, and with one single violent stroke, the Indian feline ripped off that man's arm with everything and his pistol. Moritsugu shrieked in pain at the sight that he had lost his arm, not to say that he had lost his only means of defending himself from that wild animal.

-"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! MY ARM, MY FUCKING AAAAAAAAAARMMMMMM!, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO WITH MY ARM, YOU SON OF A BITCH!?"-

Despite all that, the spy still tried to defend himself from the tiger by punching him in the face and trying to kick him with both legs, without any success. The sudden loss of blood, plus his already altered state of mind, began to cause Moritsugu to scream like a mad demon in a desperate attempt to save his own life...

-"I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, I KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU, KILL YOU..."-

-"Silence, you stupid human."-

And while the man was fighting for his life, Raghu only wished to end the fight as soon as possible...

And without further ado, the feline quickly grabbed Moritsugu by the neck with his own jaws, while holding the spy's head by his chin with one of his legs...

...and quickly and furiously, Raghu ripped the spy's head off with a quick, spontaneous movement. For obvious reasons, the feline's face and body were stained with blood due to the large stream of it coming from Moritsugu's corpse, which was on the ground giving its last crampses.

Meanwhile, Komatsu was standing on the wall, trying not to look at the violent events that had happened at that moment...

But Raghu, in an attempt to deflate the situation, touched the head of his human friend with one of his paws, in order to call attention so that Komatsu could look at him and communicate with sign language.

-"It's all over now, doctor."-

Although the animal was trying to pacify Komatsu, the latter could not help but feel sickened to see Raghu with his fur, and especially his face and muzzle, completely stained in human blood, which meant that the scientist could only avoid looking at the tiger at his face for some seconds.

-"I'm not going to kill you, Dr. Komatsu. Everything will be fine, though I think I will need a good bath after this."-

Once Komatsu recovered his composure, the Japanese scientist could not help but criticize Raghu for the violent manner in which the tiger killed the spy...

-"Did you have to rip that poor man's head off?"- Komatsu yelled at the feline. -"You could have just immobilized him for a while so that I could disarm him and ask for help!"-

-"I'm sorry, but since that human had a gun pointed at your head, I assumed that he intended to kill you once you both got out of the bunker, so I decided to end the whole thing once and for all."-

Komatsu could have stayed all day explaining to Raghu how inconvenient it would have been to have killed Kazuki Moritsugu first instead of just immobilizing him, so that the IJA could have extracted some useful information about those who ordered him from Russia to infiltrate the bunker and steal top secret information at any cost.

But, at the same time, the scientist knew that it would have been useless to engage in such a conversation with an animal that only took the easiest way to solve the crisis, from a point of view for a wild tiger like Raghu. And considering everything that feline had gone through before meeting Komatsu, Raghu had his motives for killing people like Moritsugu as quickly as possible for him. He wasn't going to let the one person who really cared about him die, just like his friend Yuka Nagahama did in the past.

-"Well, all I can do now is thank you for saving me."-

-"You're welcome, doctor."-

-"Now we have to wait for the rest of the IJA soldiers to take care of the spies, so it would be best to stay here until things cool down."-

-"Understood."- Raghu replied. -"But, what if they couldn't do anything and the spies tried to storm the lab?"-

-"Well, you're not the only wild animal here, Raghu, if you know very well what I mean with that."-

The man explained to the feline what his plans would be in the face of that possibility. Raghu quickly understood what the plan that his human friend could have in his head might be.

-"Good idea, doctor. I think I get what you mean by that."-

---

July 27th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Corridor next to Komatsu's laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 04:00 PM

With regard to the spy cronies of the now deceased Moritsugu, they were engaged in a fierce battle against several IJA soldiers, using both the weapons they had managed to introduce beforehand, as well as any weapons they could find, including any guns from fallen enemy soldiers. There were approximately about twenty men in the hallway, standing exactly behind a barricade they had set up, while they defended themselves as best they could.

And judging by their current situation, things didn't seem to be going very well for those men who had betrayed their country with the promise of receiving money from the pockets of both the Soviet Union and Josef Stalin if they fulfilled their mission of extracting any useful information they could find in that super secret underground bunker. Knowing that their ammo would run out at any moment, now it was all about finding a way out of the bunker at any price.

But for the misfortune of those men, the only way out of the bunker had been blocked by the Japanese soldiers, who were furiously repelling their attack, and it was only a matter of time before they brought reinforcements to deal with them.

-"Damn it! How are we gonna get out of this damn hole?"-

-"If I knew a way to do it, I'd have known by now. And the worst part is that we're running out of ammo."-

-"And what do you think we should do? The soldiers have blocked the exit and if we don't find a way out of this mess, we won't live to tell it."-

-"If I remember correctly, Moritsugu said he'd go out on his own through the ventilation ducts. I wonder if he did it."-

The spy took his radio and decided to talk to the aforementioned colleague, not knowing beforehand that he was already dead.

-"SHIT! Why isn't Moritsugu answering his radio? Did something happen to him on the way?"-

-"Could it be that he's too busy fleeing to Yokohama?"-

The spy used his walkie talkie again, trying to put his ear as close as possible to the communicating device in order to know if Moritsugu was busy in something else, but the only sound he heard from the side that should be from the late spy was just static.

-"Something's not right about all this."-

-"What's wrong?"-

-"Normally Moritsugu always responds to calls, but this time he doesn't answer. Either he's busy with something else, or something happened to him."-

-"And what do you recommend we do?"-

-"The only thing I can think of is for all of us to head to the lab and see what happened to him. Considering our current situation, it would be best if we all escaped through the ducts in the same way and took everything we could there. I hope the Russians can understand that when we reach Moscow."-

-"But Moritsugu's orders were that we all try to escape through the main exit and meet him in Yokohama once we get a vehicle to take us to the docks."-

-"I know that, damn it!"- The other soldier yelled in utter exasperation. -"But we don't have any other choice. Either we leave this place with anything we can push through the ducts or our heads will roll if we are captured alive. I'll see that Moritsugu and those NKVD Russkie morons understand that when we're safe."-

-"Understood, sir."-

-"Well, in that case, let's find a way to keep the soldiers distracted while we run to the lab."- At that moment, the spy pulled what appeared to be a couple of metal cylinders out of an ammunition box. -"And I think I know a way to do it."-

The spy threw to the Japanese soldiers those cylinders, from which a dark black gas was spewed that prevented the visibility of the IJA soldiers. The soldiers thought that the spies intended to break through the barrier they had placed to prevent the spies working for the Soviets from escaping from the bunker.

The man who led the Japanese soldiers was none other than Colonel Hiroshi Matsuoka and he knew very well that the spies could take advantage of the darkness generated by the gas in order to escape...

-"Don't let those spies get through the barrier!"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

But when the smoke began to dissipate, Matsuoka had realized what the spies were really up to. Not only did the aggressors did not attempt to break through the barrier and escape through the main gate, but they retreated in a direction unknown to them, which had given the spies enough time to head to Dr. Komatsu's laboratory, escape the bunker and know once and for all what had gone on with their fellow soldier Kazuki Moritsugu.

-"WHAT THE HELL?!"- Matsuoka furiously yelled at his men. -"Where the hell did those bastards go?"-

-"We don't know, sir."- One of the colonel's men replied with some unease. -"It didn't look like they tried to get through here while taking advantage of the smoke."-

Once all the smoke was gone, it was evident that all twenty aggressors had retreated deep into the bunker, possibly looking for another way to escape from there. This caused the colonel to start losing his temper, as he was not going to allow spies working for the Soviets to carry important data for Japan's national security. Not to mention that his own head was in danger if he allowed it.

-"Don't just stand there like idiots, and go get those motherfuckers! I want those treacherous sons of bitches DEAD! You hear right, you assholes?"-

-"YES SIR!"-

---

July 27th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 04:40 PM

-"Doctor, did you hear that?"-

-"What is it?"-

-"I hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the lab. Judging from the sound, I believe they are the steps made by soldiers, but I cannot tell if they are the sounds of allies or from the invading enemy spies."-

Yoshinori Komatsu and Raghu were inside the lab waiting for help, but both noticed that the battle did not seem to be over yet, and there was a possibility that spies working for the Russians might try to escape through the ventilation ducts, not before passing through the lab, which meant that both characters either had to leave the lab first or face the aggressors as they stormed in.

But there was a problem for both of them: Komatsu could not afford to leave the bunker, since there was a possibility that the spies, in a desperate attempt to get anything that might have been useful to them, would try to loot the laboratory before escaping, not forgetting first of all that they could even kill the animals inside. As the project leader, Komatsu had the absolute responsibility to protect the laboratory facilities and any information inside them by any means necessary, or else he would face a court-martial or he could even be executed for defecting. And considering that Colonel Matsuoka hated him, the scientist couldn't give him further reasons to dispose of him.

Leaving the lab through the front door was also out of question, for in the event that the spies were waiting at the entrance, both he and Raghu would not live to tell the tale...

Indeed, the human realized that several people were passing quickly through the corridors surrounding the laboratory, apparently in an effort to suddenly get into the place. Judging by their voices, their tone and above all, their uniforms, these soldiers were not from the IJA. Faced with this, Komatsu foresaw the worst scenario, but what those spies did not know was that he had a plan to deal with them, although he knew that there was a possibility that something might go wrong and die in the attempt, but that was better than sitting and waiting for death inside his laboratory.

-"Raghu, I presume you know what the plan is, don't you?"-

-"That's right."-

-"OK, let's resume the plan in a nutshell."- Komatsu gave the tiger a brief summary of his plan in sign language so that the nearby spies could hear nothing. -"The moment the spies enter the lab, I'll turn off the lights, and you know the rest of the plan. I will not be able to see you in the dark, so I will not read your signs until we both get out of this one alive."-

-"Understood."-

Suddenly the footsteps became more intense, and they were getting closer to the main entrance of the laboratory, gearing up at any moment to enter.

-"All right Raghu, get in your position, while I'm going to go to the control consoles and I switch off all electrical power of the laboratory."-

And the footsteps became more intense as the soldiers arrived, as they prepared to enter the laboratory violently. The spies began to knock on the door to force their way into the place, in order to escape from the bunker.

-"Here they come, doctor."-

-"OK, Raghu,"- Komatsu said with a sardonic expression in his face. -"let the party begin..."-

A few moments later, a metallic sound similar to that of a door being wrestled was heard with intensity at the entrance of the laboratory, and seconds later, the door was knocked down, causing the spies who had invaded the base to enter the place with the intention of leaving the bunker as soon as possible, knowing that the other soldiers of the Japanese army were following their tracks.

"All right! Time to get out of this shithole as soon as possible before those goons find us first!"-

-"Do you know how to get out of here, sir?"-

-"According to the map, there is a large enough ventilation duct at the bottom of the labotatory, which is located in one of the main rooms. There are many dangerous animals in that room, so we have to be careful about touching anything, but it is sure that Moritsugu already should have taken care of them, along with the lab workers."-

But before they could get to the room, the first thing they found before they could do anything else was something that stunned them, because they were so out of place in that critical situation for them, as well as how dangerous it could be...

-"A tiger?"-

And under the tiger's paws, there was something else that had horrified them even more...

-"Oh no... It can't be...! MORITSUGU!"-

Raghu had the decapitated corpse of Kazuki Moritsugu under his feet, or his paws to be more precise, which had not yet completely bled out. That nightmarish sight astonished and disgusted those spies, some of them began to vomit as a result of the revulsion to see the shattered corpse of his now deceased comrade, who was killed by that wild beast.

But those soldiers neither had time to waste mourning the death of their friend, nor did they intend to leave such a crime unpunished, considering they were armed, so the only thing they could do for Moritsugu before leaving the bunker was to kill Raghu.

-"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS, YOU FUCKER!"- The leader of the spy group yelled while he prepared his weapons to fire at the tiger. -"EVERYBODY FIRE AT WILL!"-

But before they could even pull the trigger on their rifles, the lights all over the lab suddenly went out, leaving the entire facility completely dark. That sudden change on the current events caused the spies to begin to freak out, considering what they had in front of them.

-"WHAT THE HELL!?"-

And before they could react in time, they heard a sound, or rather, several metallic sounds, like iron bars hitting each other, which came from the bottom of the lab, and then they heard what seemed to be sounds of different footprints coming in the direction of where those soldiers were located inside the lab.

One thing was more than obvious to those men who at that moment were paralyzed from fear: Those footsteps were not of human soldiers, but of something completely different.

The spies knew they wouldn't just stand there and do nothing else...

-"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU IDIOTS? SHOOT THAT TIGER, GODDAMN IT!"-

But in that instant, a huge shadow threw itself at one of the soldiers and began to attack him, without hesitation twice. Because of this, the panic preyed on the spies, who knew they were being attacked by Raghu taking advantage of the darkness.

-"GODDAMNED TIGER, FUCK YOURSELF! KILL HIM, KILL HIIIIIIIIIM!"-

The invading soldiers began to open fire in the midst of darkness in order to even try to kill the animal...

But when things didn't seem to get any worse than they already were, more shadows violently stepped into the position where those men were in those moments fighting against Raghu.

The spies realized at that time that Raghu was not alone in his fight against those humans who sought to escape the bunker.

-"OH FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"- one of the soldiers cried out, most likely the leader, in a desperate and fruitless bid to fight those who were coming upon them. -"KILL'EM ALL, KILL 'EM, KILL THEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMM!"-

Those unfortunate men started shooting anywhere, just to kill something. They knew that they were being attacked by many wild, hungry beasts, of which they were not certain what they were exactly facing. But in their attempt to get out of that terrible situation, some soldiers began to shoot themselves by not being able to see where they were shooting.

And those who died by friendly fire were the luckiest to die in better conditions than those who were in the clutches of other beasts, which were not going to have any more considerations with those men, especially when several of those animals had not eaten since a previous day.

And meanwhile, Yoshinori Komatsu was hiding under a table in another room where the consoles that controlled the electric energy were found, trying not to see that macabre sight that was taking place at that moment, where gunshots could be heard, animal roars, and the curses and cries of pain of those men who were being savagely mauled by those beasts that did everything possible to defend themselves from those violent and armed humans.

After an hour of intense fighting, Komatsu realized that the screams and gunshots had suddenly stopped, and only the sound of the animals lying there in the laboratory lobby could be heard, some of them seeming to be eating something. Considering what had happened, it was obvious that they were eating human flesh, something that really freaked the scientist out for a few moments, knowing the implications of what that man had done indirectly, because he had basically ordered his animals to kill other human beings, even if it was in self-defense.

-"Oh, god..."- The man cursed to himself. -"What the hell have I done?"-

As Komatsu lamented what had happened, Raghu, the tiger, entered the console room in order to warn his human friend that it was all over.

But the tiger didn't seem to understand why that human was stunned by that situation. Perhaps for Raghu, and considering his own violent past, killing other people was the most normal thing, but for Komatsu, having ordered the death of another living being was something that he had never done in all his life, and it was also something that he would have preferred never to have had to be forced to do so. Faced with that situation, Komatsu did not stop crying.

-"No... no... no... why...?"-

-"Dr. Komatsu, can you see me? The aggressors are now gone."-

The tiger tried to communicate with his human friend, but the man was still in shock from the events that had taken place, and he did not seem to pay attention to the big cat, which was in front of Komatsu.

When Komatsu finally turned his attention to Raghu, what he witnessed in front of his eyes made him even more horrified: The huge feline was soaked from head to toe in human blood after killing several of the spies, not to mention the already murdered Moritsugu, and then he devoured parts of their corpses in order to satisfy his hunger. His breath still oozed the stench of rotten flesh still between his teeth, which caused repulsion in that man, who had not yet finished assimilating what he had done and the magnitude of what happened that was his own doing.

-"What's wrong, doctor? Are you OK?"-

-"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OKAY TO YOU?"- The human shouted to the tiger at such a question which in his own opinion was quite stupid, for it seemed that the Indian feline did not seem to understand his displeasure at seeing him soiled with human blood, not to mention his foul smell. -"OF COURSE I'M NOT!"-

The tiger looked at his human friend, and slowly, but decidedly realized that the scientist was horrified and disgusted that he had ordered the death of another human being. Under normal conditions, Raghu would have been annoyed at Komatsu's attitude, and he would have thought that human was an ungrateful person.

But even a wild and bloodthirsty animal like Raghu was also able to understand that the man also had feelings. If that man was able to feel sorry for those humans that Raghu had killed a few minutes ago under Komatsu's orders, compared to the humans that Raghu had grown up with when he was still living in India, and above all the human who had sexually abused him, that meant that not all humans were cruel and insensitive like those men that Raghu had the misfortune to deal with in his already painful past.

-"I'm really sorry for this, doctor. Things weren't supposed to end this way, I guess."-

Komatsu could not, nor did he feel like answering Raghu's question. He just sat there, crying and trying to make sense of what had happened.

And while that was happening, some footsteps were heard inside the laboratory. As Raghu glanced sidelong from the door where he had been with Komatsu, he realized that they were IJA soldiers who were chasing the spies minutes ago. Colonel Hiroshi Matsuoka, who led those soldiers, was the first to enter the laboratory, just as he was the first to see the grotesque sight he had before his eyes...

-"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?"-

In front of him were the slaughtered corpses of the spies with whom they had faced moments ago, which were now the food for the animals in the laboratory that Komatsu had liberated in order to kill the aggressors before they escaped from the bunker. Even for a man like Matsuoka, hardened in several battles during World War II, seeing corpses mutilated at the hands of animals was something that even he found hard to watch at all.

-"I think Dr. Komatsu's zoo was ultimately of some use after all, if I may say so, Colonel."- One of the soldiers responded sardonically to his superior in the face of what had happened in the laboratory.

-"But still, I think those guys didn't even deserve to die this way."- Another soldier replied, who was, like Matsuoka, equally disgusted to see the corpses of the spies working for the Soviets, and especially for Stalin, the man of steel who ruled the USSR.

-"Yeah, I agree with you, pal."- The other soldier replied, while covering his nose with his hand in order to not to smell the stench from the corpses. "And, by the way, where is the doc?"-

-"I'M OK! DON'T SHOOT ME!"-

Yoshinori Komatsu, who a few minutes ago was weeping and hiding in the console room, came out of his hiding place in order to alert him that he was well, and also to prevent Matsuoka's soldiers from killing his animals after seeing the massacre they had committed against the Soviet spies.

-"Don't shoot me, it's me, Komatsu. I'm all right."-

Seeing that Komatsu was the person who had left the console room, the soldiers had lowered their weapons. while the scientist approached Matsuoka and his men, while Komatsu had to avoid stepping on the corpses and blood of the dead still on the floor, while some animals were still there eating the dead, including a lion that was eating the arm of a man, a spectacle that horrified the soldiers, not to mention the colonel.

-"Dr. Komatsu,"- The colonel asked the doctor with a face of evident displeasure, considering that the corpses began to give off the typical smells of putrefaction. -"I hope you have an explanation for this. And I also hope that you find a way to get your beasts under control and return them to their cages before anyone else gets hurt."-

-"Yes, sir."-

-"And bring some stretchers and cleaning staff right now. We gonna need them to clean your mess."-

---

July 29th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Colonel Matsuoka's Office), Tokyo, Japan, 01:50 PM

-"Very well, Dr. Komatsu, I hope you already have at hand the report I asked you to do after what happened two days ago, right?"-

-"Yes, colonel."-

Yoshinori Komatsu gives the colonel a folder containing a report on events in the laboratory, where spies working for the Soviet government had stormed the bunker in order to get secret information, but when things had gone wrong for them, they engaged in intense combat with the Japanese military forces in their attempt to escape the military installation. Seeing that they could not escape through the main gate, they tried to leave the bunker from Komatsu's laboratory, but the doctor had let the wild animals out of their cages and they attacked the spies, killing them all in a matter of minutes. That was basically what the report summed up, at a minimum.

-"By the way, doctor, have they done cleaning the lab yet?"

-"Yes, Colonel. All corpses and biological debris from the latter were cleaned from the laboratory as I ordered. The bodies were sent to the morgue for inspection."-

-"Good job, doc."-

-"If you don't mind me asking, Colonel, what have you been able to find out about what happened here? How much were those men colluding with the Russians, and if they had more accomplices than those who were here?"-

Matsuoka, who was reading the report, took a brief pause and placed the folder on his desk so that he could answer the doctor's question.

-"Normally I should not answer these inquiries, as it is considered classified information, and the investigation regarding the incident is still ongoing. But if I would like you to answer something, doctor."-

-"What is it, sir?"-

-"You knew Dr. Isamu Suzuki, didn't you?"-

-"I beg my pardon, sir?"-

Komatsu found it odd that the colonel asked this question, as it was assumed that Suzuki had been transferred to another location at the latter's request and with the colonel's permission.

-"I asked you if you knew Dr. Suzuki, because he worked with you, didn't he?"-

-"Yes, he worked for me, but he quit so he could be transferred to a medical unit, and with your blessing, of course."-

The colonel nodded in surprise at this last part of Komatsu's comment...

-"What authorization? I didn't authorize anything to him ever."-

The doctor was shocked at this, as Suzuki had said that Matsuoka had authorized his transfer to a medical unit, and Komatsu had no reason to doubt his word, knowing personally how strict the colonel was with regard to any matter involving the transfer of personnel from the bunker to any other branch of the army. After all, the bunker was supposed to be a top secret military facility that only a few people within the IJA knew of, and the colonel was not going to let anyone out of there without a good reason, which was more than apparent at that time.

And if the colonel hadn't authorized his leave from the bunker, that only meant one thing...

-"Please, Colonel, don't tell me what you're going to say is what I think it is..."-

Matsuoka calmly pulled out of his desk a box containing what appeared to be Cuban cigars and lit one in front of the doctor as the colonel tried to explain what had happened to Isamu Suzuki.

-"Yes, it is."- Matsuoka blew the smelly cigar smoke from his mouth toward Komatsu's face, which could not help but be disgusted by the foul scent of that tobacco product. -"Isamu Suzuki was arrested yesterday when he was trying to escape the bunker. In his possession he had many documents with sensitive information about several of the projects that are carried out here in the bunker, among them were your project where he worked with you until the 25th of this month. After being interrogated by intelligence personnel, Suzuki revealed that he was working as a spy for the Soviets under the orders of the NKVD, which we must deduce that Stalin could be behind all this. The NKVD promised him that it would help him escape from Japan if he provided any useful information about the activities taking place here. For our fortune, you took care of the rest of the other conspirators with the help of your zoo, while we took care of Suzuki."-

Komatsu knew very well what the colonel was referring to when he mentioned the "intelligence personnel": He was 100% sure that Suzuki was tortured by the feared Kenpeitai, the secret police who were under the orders of the IJA, and whose main mission was to prevent incidents like the one that occurred two days ago, not to mention his mission to control the civilian population with an iron fist. And judging by the gravity of the events, the members of that dreaded military agency were not going to allow their honor to be tarnished in any way, and Suzuki would very likely be the perfect target for them to unleash their fury, given that spy's participation in the whole incident.

But even Komatsu, who had cursed Suzuki's name for insulting him and who by his fault had even turned his office into a dump after venting his wrath against everything around him, could not help but feel sadness for the young man. Komatsu might at that point have been insensitive at certain times, but he would not wish either Suzuki or his worst enemy to fall into the hands of those ultra-nationalist zealots, who would find a way to get any information out of that poor man, and at the same time make him pay dearly for betraying his country.

-"I'm going to assume the Kenpeitai was very rough on him, right?"-

-"Did you expect anything less from them after what Suzuki did, doctor?"-

Komatsu did not question Matsuoka's response, knowing exactly that, as a matter of fact, Suzuki was brutally tortured by the Kenpeitai.

-"I would like to know if Suzuki at least managed to send some information to the Soviets before what happened."-

-"As far as we know, it doesn't look like it."-

-"Really, sir?"-

Matsuoka removed his glasses for a few moments to clean them, as he thought carefully his response. On his face, it was evident that, even in a nearly as catastrophic situation as that, he could not help but feel contempt for that scientist, due to what the Kenpeitai managed to obtain from the mouth of Isamu Suzuki.

-"It may sound absurd, but even someone in desperate need of money like Suzuki hesitated to send information about your project to the Russians, because in his own opinion he thought that neither the NKVD nor Stalin would buy what you have been doing here. Surely the Russians would have thought that Suzuki had gone insane or was faking out information in order to obtain more money from Moscow."-

The scientist did not know how to react to that fact, and he knew what Matsuoka meant.

-"I don't know if I should be happy or upset that the Russians ignored me, sir."-

-"Even a bastard as cruel and insane as Stalin is neither so stupid nor so desperate as we are to put his hopes in a strange project as unreliable as your advanced artificial evolution theory is."-

Komatsu did not respond to that cruel remark from his superior about his project. Moreover, there was something else that worried him even more than his theory at the time.

-"I would like to know if I am in suspicion by the Kenpeitai for what happened and if I am being charged for any possible illegal transfer of information."-

-"Let me see, doctor. Here are some papers on the issue they sent me last night."-

The colonel put on his glasses again. and began to read the papers that Kenpeitai had sent him about what they had obtained from Suzuki, and any involvement Komatsu might have had in that matter accidentally, for he did not know at any time that the man was working for the Soviets, nor did he know that there were more undercover agents inside the bunker.

-"Let's see, as this document says, the Kenpeitai has no suspicions about you, as they do not believe that you accidentally or intentionally transferred information to Suzuki and that any classified information he may have obtained was the same as that which all laboratory staff have been getting since working there. Considering that you killed the spies when they tried to escape from the bunker, that also helped to clear any suspicions about you. "-

-"Please, colonel, I think it would be an exaggeration to say I killed those spies."- Komatsu replied somewhat vexed at the insinuation that he had ordered his animals to kill the spies. -"It was my animals themselves who did that, although I was the one who let them out of their cages so that they would distract the guards while you came to take care of them more easily, but I didn't expect the situation to become so... violent... all of a sudden."-

-"Considering that, at the time I and my men arrived at the laboratory your beasts were feeding on the dead, and we even had to use tranquilizer darts to prevent them from continuing to eat and return them to their cages, I doubt very much that your intentions were only for the sake of distracting them."-

The scientist did not reply to that observation that Matsuoka made about what he saw in the laboratory when his men and himself arrived and saw the grim sight of multiple wild animals devouring human beings. Even Komatsu couldn't deny that the situation had gotten out of control because of him, and that it could have been even worse if he hadn't done something to stop the animals from attacking the other soldiers.

-"Maybe it's too much for me to ask, colonel, but does the document also mention Kazuki Moritsugu and his attempt to kidnap me to take me to Russia?"-

-"Umm, let me see..."- The soldier took a look to the document for a bit. -"Yes, there is something about that Moritsugu, although there is not much to say apart from what you already mentioned about him and what happened between you and Raghu with that spy. About his personal data, I'm afraid to say it's classified information even for me, since the Kenpeitai will be in charge of finding out if Moritsugu had more conspirators outside the bunker."-

-"I see, sir."-

-"And in case you ask, his body was also taken to the morgue along with the bodies of the other attackers. I pity the idiot who has to do the autopsies of those poor bastards, because all those corpses were turned into steaks by those animals. heh"-

For once, Komatsu had to agree with his commanding officer. Whoever had to perform autopsies would find the macabre spectacle of completely shredded corpses in ways that a normal human would never see in his ordinary life. Even if they are military doctors, who are more than accustomed to seeing equally disgusting things through the nature of their work, to see such injuries on human beings would be something that moves away from normal standards in their work. And that came from someone like Komatsu, who was a licensed physician, who also had experience in seeing corpses, even if those he had seen were animals, and the few deceased humans he had the misfortune to witness were those he saw when he was in Manchukuo.

-"If I may say so, what you said is very true, Colonel."-

-"Thanks for the compliment, doc."- Matsuoka replied happily as he continued to smoke his ill-smelling cigar. -"You know, it's a good thing you give me the reason once in a while."-

But there was something else Komatsu wanted to discuss with the colonel, which was something he should discuss with him right away.

-"Colonel, now that we're talking about the matter, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

-"What do you want to discuss with me, doctor?"-

-"Well, um, you see,"- Komatsu responded awkwardly due to the kind of person Colonel Matsuoka was. -"as you know, I also did a lot to defend the bunker by releasing the animals and killing the aggressors..."-

-"And so?"-

-"I think at least I deserve a reward or a medal for my involvement in solving this crisis."- The science man replied at the military officer about what he really wanted -"Normally I am not a person who is a fan of receiving that kind of thing, but I think that award would be the least I could receive for all the services I have done for my country."-

There was a moment of a very awkward silence, so awkward that Matsuoka stopped smoking his cigar for a few seconds, before continuing with the chat...

-"You said you wanted a reward?"-

-"That's right."-

On hearing this, the soldier immediately put out his cigar in the ashtray of his desk, so that he could look at his interlocutor with a fierce look.

-"What makes you think you deserve anything, Dr. Komatsu?"-

The scientist only managed to respond nervously when he saw the face of his superior officer.

-"I beg your pardon, sir?"-

-"First of all, I want a lot of things to be crystal clear, Doctor, and I hope you understand them."-

-"Understood, sir."-

-"To begin with, this is a very top secret military facility, which only very few people are supposed to know about."- Matsuoka answered the doctor in a clear and precise manner about the reasons why he could not give him whatever reward Komatsu asked of him. -"Among the people who know of the existence of this place are the highest commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army, and the entire imperial family, including His Majesty, the Emperor Showa (Hirohito)."-

The scientist could not say anything more when he learned how serious it was that foreign-contracted spies had infiltrated that place. And it was doubly serious if the Emperor of Japan himself knew of the existence of the place, even if it was not his fault that those spies entered the bunker in the first place.

-"In official terms, this place does not exist, it does not appear in the IJA organigram, and all the expenses and budgets reserved for the maintenance of the bunker, as well as those reserved for all the military and scientific projects carried out here are provided by the imperial family out of their own pocket, so there is no easy way, in theory, for our enemies to know where all that money goes and what it is used for."- The colonel continued with his explanation. -"Obviously, an mole, either Moritsugu or Suzuki, posing as an employee on your command, managed to enter the bunker, and thanks to their clearance badges, they managed to introduce to the place more people who were masquerading as paid workers in order to get valuable secret information and give it to the Russians. When they were discovered by some soldiers, things got ugly for them and they tried to escape, and that was the reason why they also tried to kidnap you to take you to Russia, so that the NKVD could take anything out of your head for Stalin's benefit."-

-"And so?"-

-"Since this place doesn't technically exist, there's no way we can give you any kind of recognition, so I'm very sorry for that, doctor."-

-"..."-

Komatsu could say no more, though his aggravation was more than palpable.

-"And there's one other thing I want to make clear, Dr. Hero."-

With the use of that term, Komatsu knew that the colonel was not going to say anything good about him...

-"Another reason why you don't deserve a damn thing, in my personal opinion, is because you should have realized that two of your employees working under your orders were actually spies on the payroll of the Soviet intelligence services,"- Matsuoka angrily retorted against the science man. -"and thanks to your crass incompetence four of my men died defending this place. And as if that wasn't enough, I have the Kenpeitai as well as several of the senior officers of the IJA over my head right now for not having been able to do anything on my behalf to prevent those spies from entering here in the first place."-

Even if Komatsu hated Matsuoka, he could not help but feel uneasy about the man for making the Kenpeitai begin to suspect him. Knowing the fame of brutality that organization had, the few terrible things that colonel had done, such as executing Lt. Nakamura, were almost nothing compared to the brutality that military organization was able to do to him.

-"You should at least be glad the Kenpeitai doesn't want to see you dead instead of me. That should be a better reward than anything else."-

Despite all this, the scientist could not hide his anger at not receiving any recognition for his work in defending the bunker and he felt that nothing he was doing, including his scientific work he had been doing to date, was enough to change that man's mind.

-"Do you have anything else to report, Doctor?"-

-"No, sir."-

-"Then you can leave here."- Then, the colonel made one last reminder to Komatsu about the lab. -"By the way, since the lab is still being cleaned, you can take the resulting days off until the whole place is completely cleaned and disinfected. I hope you enjoy them."-

-"Yes, sir."-

And without further ado, and with some discomfort evident on his face, Yoshinori Komatsu left the colonel's office. At that moment, and by sheer, bizarre coincidence, a phone call was received at Matsuoka's office, which caused Matsuoka to answer the call. Judging by the Colonel's tone of voice, the call proved to be quite important to him.

-"Hello, Matsuoka here."-

-"Has Dr. Komatsu left your office yet, Colonel?"-

-"Yes, he just exited here a few minutes ago."-

-"We also saw Dr. Komatsu leave your office, Colonel, and we just wanted to make sure he was the one who left."-

-"Wasn't that obvious to any of you?"-

-"We just wanted to make sure it was him, because we didn't see him go into your office minutes ago."-

-"Well, let's cut the crap then."- Matsuoka responded notoriously annoyed at his caller. -"What's the point of asking me about him?"-

-"We just wanted to know what you think about the doctor, and what involvement he may have had in the infiltration of the NKVD agents into the bunker."-

-"To be honest, I doubt very much that Komatsu intentionally allowed anyone outside the project to sneak in like this."- The military man responded at the mysterious caller. -"In fact, there are many things about Komatsu that I still do not fully understand, including the true end of his advanced evolution theory. We know beforehand that the purpose of his project is to endow animals with intelligence similar to humans, but there are many details that are obscure even to me, even though I have a copy of that theory in my hands. As much as I read it, I can only understand the basics, and the doctor translated the theory from its original version, because it was written in several languages besides Japanese. In short, that man is a mystery even to us, and I doubt that someone like him would have allowed his information to be leaked that way. Fortunately for him and for everyone, he personally took care of the spies, so there is nothing to worry about, at least as far as he is concerned."-

-"Let's hope so, for his sake and yours."-

Matsuoka took a breath of fresh air to catch his breath before replying the following to his counterpart.

-"Look, tell Prime Minister Tojo that everything is fine and there's nothing to worry about. Also tell the imperial family the same thing I'm telling you. For the time being, this is a slight setback in our plans, and I hope that everything will be back on track by the end of this month. In fact, the only thing we need to put back in order is Dr. Komatsu's laboratory, as it was there that the spies died at the hands of his animals, in addition to imposing new and stricter safety measures."

-"We hope so, because the thing we need most is time, and we can't allow another incident like this to happen again. There is no need to tell you what will befall you if you fail us one more time."-

-"Understood, sir."-

---

July 29th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 02:15 PM

After leaving Colonel Hiroshi Matsuoka's office, Yoshinori Komatsu immediately went to his laboratory to see how the clean-up was going. The place was still a mess due to the confrontation that his animals had faced with the spies hired by the Russians, with much of the essential equipment and various elements that were either out of place or broken, not to mention that several walls were even marred with the blood of those unfortunate men who met their end as the food of those beasts.

And as if that weren't enough, the stench of death was still pervading the place, despite attempts by sanitation personnel to use cleaning chemicals to completely eliminate that unpleasant odor that permeated the entire place. In fact, the use of these chemicals only made the smell more insidious and nauseating.

-"Oh, Dr. Komatsu! What brings you here?"-

One of the cleaning staff saluted the doctor nicely, but Komatsu wasn't in a very good spirits after the discussion with the colonel, and after seeing how his lab still smelled like a rotten corpse though.

-"I just came to see my animals, and see if they're being fed."-

-"Well as far as I know, the animals are being fed by the other staff members of the lab since yesterday. Considering how much they ate two days ago, I don't think you should worry about them starving to death, if I have to say so, heh heh."-

Komatsu deeply disliked the employee's macabre statement about what had happened on the 27th, something he noticed right away.

-"OK, sorry for the bad joke, doc."-

-"Just tell me if I can go see the animals without any problems now."-

-"Yeah, don't worry about it. In fact we also finished cleaning the area dedicated to wild animals, since there was only one dead person there, and we got him out of there before he started to rot."-

-"Thank you very much."- The doctor thanked the man. -"In fact, that area was the one I needed to be clean before any other."-

-"Well, you can go on smoothly now, sir."-

Without further ado, Komatsu went to the wild animals unit, since he wanted to know that those creatures, especially Raghu, were doing well.

Once inside the room, the scientist verified at first sight that everything was in order and that the animals were healthy. Fortunately, the animals were lively and quiet, and they didn't seem to be paying attention to the doctor, who was there to see their state of health.

Once this was verified, Komatsu safely closed the room so that he could be alone with the animals, and especially with one of those beasts with whom he could communicate without hindrance.

-"Raghu, we need to talk."-

The human quickly opened the Indian tiger's cage, and the feline quickly left his captivity to talk to his friend.

-"Good to see you again, doctor. I was getting bored."-

-"Likewise, my dear friend."

-"What do you want to talk to me about, doctor?"- The tiger asked to the human. -"I presume your meeting with Matsuoka did not go as well as you expected."-

His facial expression and the attitude of that human scientist was all Raghu needed to know that things did not go well for that man.

-"Do I have to say that, Raghu?"-

-"Indeed."- Raghu replied as he sat on the floor with his hind legs, while he used the front ones to be able to make the corresponding signs. -"Humans are ungrateful even among themselves."-

Komatsu sat on the floor to speak to his animal friend, and he too could not avoid agreeing with the feline's words.

-"I hate to say this, but I think you're quite right, Raghu."-

-"It's strange that you think that, doctor."-

-"Strange?"- Komatsu couldn't help but sardonically smirk at such a questioning. -"Just because I am a human does not mean that I agree with many things that my own peers do, starting with this stupid war that leads nowhere, neither us Japanese nor humanity in general. And while you and I are talking, many people are dying out there, whether on battlefields, in prison camps or in their own cities that are destroyed by one side or the other."-

-"I already know that."- The feline replied with a sad expression in his face. -"Unfortunately, I have suffered in my own body how utterly cruel humans can be."-

-"And I don't blame you for that, my friend."- Komatsu placed his head between his legs, completely down in the face of what had happened, and from the conclusions he was coming to next to his feline friend. -"For my part, they didn't even bother to give me an acknowledgement for what you and I did to protect this place from those spies, after everything I went through, the brutal beating I received from Moritsugu and above all I risked my skin, yours and the lives of the other animals that are here in the laboratory to be able to stop the spies. And what do I get in exchange for all that? Just damn insults, cheap excuses, and threats. And all because I didn't realize that two people who worked here proved to be spies working for the Russians. Also, how the hell did they want me to know that? I'm a scientist, not some damn member of the Kenpeitai secret police. That's not even my responsibility, but theirs, dammit!"-

The tiger can only observe his human partner, while his purring became more intense, a sign that he too was angry about what had happened to his friend.

-"You must be as unhappy like me, don't you?"-

The tiger responded in a blunt and forthright fashion to Komatsu.

-"Let's just say I'm angry, and that's all I'll say about that."-

The scientist knew that the animal sympathized with him of the injustices Komatsu had suffered, but in those critical moments, the animal held an unprecedented grudge against other humans, who, unlike Komatsu, were equally capable of destroying the life of his human friend in the same manner as that depraved man abused him in the most repugnant and vile ways possible when he was still living in India.

In a nutshell, Raghu was not going to ever forget what humans were capable of doing to other living beings, including him, and if he had the power to do so, he would have killed all human beings until the entire humankind disappeared from the face of the earth. The irony that the one person who agreed with his opinion that humans were terrible beings was also another human being was not lost on him. After all, that man had suffered a lot from the worst that his own kind was capable of, and that was what really mattered to him.

-"In that case, I'll leave you alone."- Komatsu complied with the feline's wish. -"I only ask you to go back to your cage and we'll talk another day."-

-"Understood."-

Once the conversation was over, Raghu quickly returned to his cage, and once Komatsu had put the corresponding locks in place, the man left the room, and therefore the laboratory moments later. There were many things that the man needed to reflect on, and what happened with the colonel in his office had only caused his resentment towards everything that had to do with the army and politics to become more intense, to say nothing of other ideas that the science man was beginning to harbor in his own, thick mind.

---

?

-"Oh, God. Please somebody tell me I'm not having another one of these really horrible nightmares..."-

To Komatsu's own misfortune, that man was again having yet another one of those mysterious and terrible nightmares that did not seem to stop, no matter how much he wished. But this time, the nightmare he was having was quite different from the previous ones...

The first thing Komatsu noticed on that occasion was that, unlike previous nightmares where he always began in what seemed to be a completely dark region, where everything, including the sky and the soil, was black, and where there was absolutely nothing, not even the clouds or the sun, this time he was in an area where everything was white, although as in past dreams, there was nothing around him either.

Komatsu also noticed something different on that occasion from where he was this time. An intense wind blew with great intensity in that place, to such an extent that even he could hear it, even though there was absolutely nothing in that place where the wind could cause any sound when hitting any object, except him.

-"Where will that wind come from?"-

That was the question that man asked himself in those instants. As much as he tried to find out the origin of that wind, that blast didn't seem to come from any specific place, as if the wind was simply blowing towards him as if by magic.

Anyway, being able to feel that wind caused a pleasant sensation in Komatsu, believing that at least once, the dream he was going to have would be more or less pleasant for once in his life.

What he never imagined was that things would suddenly turn around, and what would then happen would be something he would never forget in his entire life...

-"What?"-

The wind Komatsu suddenly felt stopped without warning, as if it were the air produced by a fan, returning the status quo to that of previous dreams. And in a fraction of a few seconds, Komatsu felt something else fall upon his own being in an equally sudden manner and without any warning...

-"Rain?"-

Indeed, what Yoshinori Komatsu felt in himself was a rain falling from the sky, even though there were no clouds where the water could come from, nor did he hear lightning or any kind of storm. The rain simply fell, no more and no less.

-"How strange. First I started to feel wind, and now it's raining..."-

And when everything seemed to be normal, that man noticed something really strange in the rain he received. And it was something that was both strange and disturbing.

-"What... the... hell... is going on... with the rain?"-

Suddenly, the color of the raindrops went from transparent to deep black, like the color of oil, causing all the clothes Komatsu wore to stain with that color on the spot, as if the man had fallen into a puddle of tar.

But despite this, the smell of the rain remained the same, as if nothing had changed in that instant.

That sudden change of events began to disturb the already altered mental state of that scientist, who did not understand what was happening.

-"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, FOR GOD'S SAKE?"-

Minutes after that rain began to fall, the sky, the land and everything around Komatsu began to darken, so that seconds later everything would return to the status quo of previous nightmares...

-"What the hell does all this mean?"-

In a complete display of the most absurd form of irony possible, Komatsu's answer to that question was answered in a way he did not expect to see again...

-"IT CAN'T BE, IT'S THAT CITY AGAIN!"-

That completely dark region suddenly became that strange city of the last such nightmare he had in March. That city that seemed to have been destroyed by what appeared to be a war and by some kind of weapon or event outside of his own compression.

But there were two things about the city that popped up in his dreams that began to bring the attention of that scientist in those frightening moments that were for him:

The first of all was that he had appeared in the same place where he had stood in the last dream, and at the same time to top it off. That meant that his nightmare he was having at the time was only a follow-up to the last nightmare he had five months ago.

Unlike his last nightmare, where everything was dry, the black rain that he was perceiving minutes ago was also present in that city, with the only difference that he was the only person that the rain affected directly, because the other people around him, those beings with animal appearance and humanoid traits, did not even seem to feel the rain, or even seemed to feel that no rain was falling on their heads.

-"Why isn't anyone noticing that a black rain is falling on their city?"-

The question that Komatsu was asking himself at that moment knew very well it was not going to have an immediate answer, because as in previous dreams, nobody perceived the presence of that strange human in their own city, as if he did not exist for them.

But before Komatsu could do anything else or even react, he perceived that something was behind him. Something that was too familiar to him...

-"Raghu..."-

As in the last nightmare, that mysterious and enigmatic Bengal tiger was again present in the dreams of that human, who at that moment no longer knew what to think about it...

Was that horrible nightmare was really a thing that came from his own head, as Raghu said the last time the two of them saw each other in Komatsu's dreams, or was it the work of that beast, which was possibly manipulating that man for his own personal ends?

And when everything seemed like nothing could be worse, something more terrifying began to be present in that place where Komatsu, Raghu and all those mysterious creatures were present, something that began to chill the body of that man to levels he had never felt in his life.

-"What's going on with the rain? Why is it raining harder?"-

Indeed, the rain became more intense, as if it were the rain produced by a tropical storm that fell on that city already devastated by war, as if those poor inhabitants no longer had enough suffering caused by the destruction of their hometown.

But in those very moments, there was something else that began to be more disturbing than the rain itself...

-"Blood?"-

The color of the rain, which a few moments ago was black like oil, suddenly changed color, but this time the color of the rain became an intense crimson color, staining his clothes as if his body had suffered some kind of injury, with a very noticeable difference: That was NOT his own blood.

In short, over that city, or better said, over the head of both Yoshinori Komatsu and Raghu, it was raining nothing less than blood.

And that was the last straw that broke that man's mind...

-"It can't be... IT CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"- Komatsu knelt on the floor crying in despair and rage at what he was seeing before his very eyes. -"RAGHU, TELL ME THIS ISN'T TRUE AND IT'S JUST A VERY BAD NIGHTMARE!"-

The feline only watched keenly over the human, and a few words came out of the muzzle of that beast...

-"Yoshinori, what you are feeling on your body is not just the destruction of this city, but every drop of rain that falls on your body represents every person that directly or indirectly will die in the future as a product of your work."-

The answer given by that powerful beast shocked the man to no end, on account of the facts Komatsu found himself in, and considering that what was falling on his head was blood.

-"As... a product... of my work?"-

The tiger nodded with his head.

-"Indeed."-

Such damning words, coupled with the bloody imagery that surrounded him, caused that man to break into tears...

-"NO... NO... NO! I AM NOT A MURDERER! I DO NOT WANT TO KILL PEOPLE, I DO NOT WANT TO!"-

Raghu slowly drew closer to Komatsu, standing two steps away from the human, who was lying on the ground, crying at what appeared to be something extremely condemning to him.

And if that imagery was already bizarre enough to begin with, some mysterious voices could be heard, approaching the terrorized scientist in a slow manner.

-"MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER..."-

-"NO!"- Komatsu yelled in a utter and plain display of unadulterated despair...

-"MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER MURDERER..."-

-"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU MONSTERS! I AM NOT A MURDERER!"-

The voices came from the humanoid silhouettes with the appearance of animals, which until then spoke to each other in their own language, but now they began to speak, whisper and scream in Japanese, Komatsu's language, through in a very bizarre, inhuman way...

-"Yes, Komatsu. Yₒᵤ ₐᵣₑ ₐ ₘᵤᵣDₑᵣₑᵣ"-

-"ƎW ᗡƎ˥˥I⋊ ∩O⅄"-

-"ʸᴼᵁ ᴷᴵᴸᴸᴱᴰ ᵁˢ"-

-"Y⃣ O⃣ U⃣ K⃣ I⃣ L⃣ L⃣ E⃣ D⃣ E⃣ V⃣ E⃣ R⃣ Y⃣ O⃣ N⃣ E⃣ O⃣ F⃣ U⃣ S⃣"-

-"ＡＬＬ ＴＨＡＴ ＩＳ ＰＲＥＣＩＯＵＳ ＦＯＲ ＹＯＵ， ＹＯＳＨＩＮＯＲＩ ＫＯＭＡＴＳＵ， ＷＩＬＬ ＤＩＥ ＡＬＯＮＧ ＷＩＴＨ ＹＯＵ！"-

-""-

-"ᵀᴴᴱ ᴴᵁᴹᴬᴺᴷᴵᴺᴰ ᵂᴵᴸᴸ ᴮᴱ ᴰᴱˢᵀᴿᴼʸᴱᴰ ᴮʸ ʸᴼᵁ"-

-"🆈🅾🆄'🅻🅻 🅱🅴🅲🅾🅼🅴 🅶🅾🅳 🅰🅽🅳 🆈🅾🆄 🆆🅸🅻🅻 🅳🅴🆂🆃🆁🅾🆈 🅴🆅🅴🆁🆈🆃🅷🅸🅽🅶."-

-"N̶̙̻̣̯̠̟͉̠͘O̶̧̡̩̳̗͖̯͉̩̅̒̋̌̓͊̃͝.̵̲̭͈̗͆͊͋ ̴̧̮͇͍͖͍͈̆̈́̄̾͘͠͝͝ͅY̶̛̮̠͎̩͖̩̪̭̰Ó̵̤̱͆́̂͐͝Ṷ̸͉̝̾͗͐̍ ̸̦͚̤̹̤̱̈́̏͗̄͂́̈́W̸̟̝͕̖̖͙̯̬̑Ǐ̸̡͈͈͇̰̗̩̭̬̤̔̑͋͘̕͝L̶͓̠̞̘̞̳̼͓͌̍̎͂͋̋́͜͜L̶̟͚̺̦̺͉̪͎̋͒͛͝ ̷̬͎̔̓̈́͑̀́̕B̵̛̯̺̼̞̬͑́̾̊̈͘̕͠Ę̸̙̯̞̹̿͋̈ͅC̷̨̘͚̙̩̑̆̀͘͘̕͜͝Ǒ̶͕̄̽̏̓̕̚M̵̨̛̠̙̦͚̼̐̿̆͑͛̕͜͝E̷̢̛̬̪͍͓̜̋́͆̽̅̏͘ ̸͚͓̘̝̱̻̞̎̋̉̐͒S̸̮͎͕̻͔̫̠̮̘͉͑͝Ǎ̷͇̪̈́̄̀̋͘̕͜Ṭ̴̨̡̼̗̓͑͐̌́A̵̡̤̖̓̊̄̽̈́̉̀̊̋̈́Ń̶̠̦̳͎̘̤̦̺͓̐̌̂͘͠ ̵̛̺͈͛̕Â̶̘̙̱͋̂͛͘̕͝Ņ̷̬̞͖̭͉̳̮͇͋̈́́ͅḐ̵̭̠̹͚̪͉̪̦̦̀͆̀̋̄͌̍̚͠ ̴̛͇̫̝̖̠̹͇͉̞̑̈́̊͋͒͛̈̿͠Y̵͍̘̰͖͕̦͖͑̋̒ͅO̵̪̻̍̈͋̅U̶̺̟̰̇͌͒ ̵̭̥̼̙̥̝̂̌ͅW̴̛͕̼͌I̴̱̪̫͗̈L̶̬̱͕͔̗̒͂͊̉͒̈͌͑͜L̸̯̒̔́̽́̒̇̈́͒͝ ̶̱̝̣͖̘̌̌̍ͅT̴̨̧̛̖̼̠̬͆̇͋͋͘Ų̶̟̰̝̠͖̗̃͜͜Ṟ̴͆͐N̴̗͕̤̲̠̭̅͗̊͒̒̌̂͛ ̴͇͈͙͚̀͜T̴͍͂̅̀̇̈̔̊͋̚̚Ḧ̷̡͈̥́̈́͐̈́̿È̶̢̨̛̺͕̝͈̪̰̥̋̉͌́̾͘͝ ̶̬̹̺̤̬͚̤̠̎͌̾͊̈́̃̄̄͜͠ͅẄ̶̧̪̦̦̤̝̰̰̝̺́̄̃̐̄̋̂̋̋̾Ǒ̴̧͖̌̾̇R̶̩͋̔̑̾͒̇L̵͔͔̙͗̒̅͆̓D̶̼̗̠̜̟͇̀̓̎ ̷̥̺̟̺̖̰̹̀͜Í̸̧̨̳̫̙̼̦̬͝N̵̡̛͓̭͓̤̎̂͋́T̷̨̺̳͉̪̠̞̟̽͝ͅO̶̥͎̺̰̪̜̝͉̖̠͛̄̓͐̊̌͋͛͌ ̷̨̲͈̃̆̽̈́̅̉A̶̛̛̫͙͔͆́̈̇̈́ ̶͖̫͈̼͚̜̗͆̇͌̆̅̎̈́̒͛̕H̵̦͙͓̍͗̊͒̈́̆̋̂̏̒Ė̵͓̀̓͒̓̓͆̚͠Ĺ̷̺̼͋̐̄͜͝L̴̬̜͈̜͐̂̊̓̽̿̈́͝͝.̴̦̬̪̃̅̀̎"-

-"SATAN"-

-"SATAN"-

-"SATAN"-

-"LUCIFER, THE FALLEN ANGEL. MARA, THE DEMON WHO TEMPTED BUDDHA. HADES, THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD. THANATHOS, THE LORD OF DEATH..."-

-"𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄."-

Faced with such gruesome and uncanny voices that seemed to accuse the man of some kind of crime, Raghu also added his own words...

-"Komatsu..."-

-"MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE! RAGHU, MAKE THOSE VOICES STOP! I BEG YOU, FOR EVERYTHING SACRED FOR YOU! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! PLEASE, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"-

The man's sanity was already reaching its limit, and it seemed that Komatsu could not stand those voices that seemed to accuse him of their own deaths, even if he had nothing to do with what had happened, given that it was a dream to begin with.

-"PLEASE, STOP THOSE DAMNED VOICES! I BEG YOU, GODDAMMIT!"-

In the face of the plea of that human, who could no longer endure what he was seeing, and who was on the ground crying like a small child, while the rain of blood fell on his body in that strange destroyed city, Raghu uttered these words...

-"Yoshinori. If you don't want anything you're seeing right now to actually happen, go back to Hiroshima, and have your family out of there as soon as you can. Then, never go back to Japan again, and above all, never, ever, touch science again, if you know what awaits you."-

-"WHY? WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN HIROSHIMA? IS THE CITY GOING TO BE DESTROYED AS YOU TOLD ME IN MY LAST DREAM? AND WHY DON'T YOU WANT ME TO GET INVOLVED WITH SCIENCE AGAIN?"-

-"You'll know soon enough."- The feline gave a final warning at the man. -"For now go back to your city and save your family. It is not too late to do so. This is my final warning to you, Yoshinori. You decide whether to follow it or not. If you decide to ignore these words, then you and the rest of your species will have to suffer the consequences of your foolishness..."-

-"WHAT?"-

-"That is my final word, Yoshinori Komatsu."- Raghu said with a booming voice, fitting for a very proud tiger. -"Save your family, and save the world..."-

And after the tiger uttered those words, everything turned white and suddenly enough, everything around the beast, including the city and the humanoid animal shadows, disappeared in the blink of an eye...

---

August 5th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Room), Tokyo, Japan, 06:00 AM

-"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"-

Komatsu shouted as loudly as he could when he opened his eyes and then returning to the world of the living after that nightmare...

Once he was awake, that troubled man tried to think of what he had dreamt this time, knowing that that nightmare was not just a really bad dream...

Without wasting any more time, Komatsu rose from his bed and went straight to the bathroom. Once inside and when he saw himself in the mirror, he realized something he had not seen last day.

-"Blood?"-

Komatsu had threads of blood on his chin and near his mouth. He also realized that his tongue hurt quite a bit, which meant that he had bitten it at some point in his sleep. It was obvious that nightmare must have been disturbing enough to have caused him to hurt himself.

For anyone else in more normal circumstances, having had that dreadful nightmare and injuring oneself during it meant that it was simply a bad dream and that it would have necessitated going to a doctor or psychologist to know what was going on and to understand the meaning of those terrible nightmares that Komatsu had been having for years.

Except there was a problem with that premise that didn't apply at all to that man.

Not only did all the nightmares he had since 1938 have to do with the same subject in general, which in this case were about anthropomorphic animals in violent situations that directly involved him, but in almost every nightmare, some of the characters that appeared in them tried to warn him about what he was doing with his project based on his advanced evolution theory that he has been working on since university.

Anyone else in the same situation as Komatsu would have wondered that those nightmares weren't just bad dreams caused simply by a combination of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by war and its violent consequences, overwork, nervousness, frustration, accumulated anger that he hadn't been able to release for years, among other problems.

Those nightmares seemed to be trying to warn Komatsu of a tragedy that was about to befall his hometown, Hiroshima, and whose consequences could affect him in such a way that it could have ramifications that could even affect the rest of the world, and the whole mankind at large.

But even though he knew that something bad could happen to Hiroshima, there was something he still didn't fully understand:

What did all this have to do with him after an event like that happened, and not before?

Komatsu could have stayed a little longer to ponder that critical question for himself...

But instead, that man decided to do something else related to it: Go to the lab and talk to Raghu, the other creature that appeared in his dreams. That beast had the ability to enter the dreams of others, and Komatsu desperately sought answers. And if there was anyone who could give them, it was that tiger and no one else. Only then could he get to the root of that problem once and for all.

---

August 5th, AD 1945, Imperial Japanese Army Underground Bunker (Komatsu's Laboratory), Tokyo, Japan, 06:15 AM

-"Good morning, Dr. Komatsu. I hope you had a good dream, sir."-

Those were the words of one of the guards around the laboratory to Yoshinori Komatsu, who was preparing to enter the site. Due to the incident with the spies days before, security both inside and outside the bunker was considerably strengthened in order to prevent another similar event from repeating itself.

Fortunately for Komatsu, due to his security clearance and his position as project leader he was able to enter the lab without further problems.

But in the same way, he wasn't in the mood to talk either, let alone smile at that soldier.

-"I didn't have a good dream, to be honest, and I'm in a hurry, so I don't have time to chat."-

And in a blunt way, Komatsu entered the laboratory, leaving the guard speechless.

-"Gee, what happened to that guy?" - The guard asked himself.

Once inside the research center and without a second thought, the scientist went to the room where the ferocious beasts like Raghu were housed. Once inside, Komatsu wasted no more time and went straight to Raghu's cage.

-"Raghu, we have to talk right now."-

Komatsu removed the locks from the animal's cage so that he could get out of it and communicate in sign language with him. The animal quickly jumped out of its seclusion and once on the floor, he wasted no time in responding.

-"If I had to figure out the reason you want to talk to me, it's because of that nightmare of yours, isn't it?"-

The human was not for small talk, and he wanted an answer from that animal as soon as possible, considering what he had dreamed.

-"I'm still surprised you have the gall to ask me that."- Komatsu angrily replied at the feline. -"You're going to give me an explanation of all this, and you better give it right now!"-

The tiger tried his best to think about the answer he was going to give to his human friend, considering how critical the situation was for that man.

-"In that case, let's cut to the chase, shall we?"- Raghu began his explanation about his powers and the reason why he entered Komatsu's dreams. -"As I have already said, I only entered your dreams to try to warn you what might happen to your hometown, based on the interpretations I have seen of your dreams. I haven't manipulated your dreams in any way, and I can't use my powers on people who are far away, hence the reason you had those dreams before you met me. In fact, I didn't even know you back then and I didn't know the dilemma you were going through."-

-"So why did you break into my head?"- The human replied. -"Were you trying to manipulate me for some kind of reason?"-

-"I told you, that wasn't my intention at any time."- The beast followed with his explanation. -"The only reason I entered your head was to test my powers, and besides, you're the only human I can trust to do that. I had never tried this with anyone else, not even with Yuka."-

Raghu's answers seemed not to satisfy the beleaguered scientist, who at the time no longer knew what else to think about that beast. Was Raghu telling the truth, or was it just an excuse that kept some more sinister cause? At that time, all Komatsu wanted to know was whether Raghu was behind all those horrible nightmares, or only that poor tiger had the misfortune to enter his dreams at the wrong time in the wrong place.

-"I guess my answer doesn't do you any good, does it, doctor?"- Raghu replied. -"The only thing I can say is that maybe I never imagined the magnitude of what I just saw inside your head."-

-"In that case, what were all those warnings you gave me for?"-

-"I will say it again: You are my friend, and what I have just witnessed in your dreams was something that terrified me like I had never seen before in my life. And as the friend that you are for me, it was my duty to warn you of what could happen if you don't do something about it, even if it causes you a lot of pain."-

-"..."-

-"Maybe the problem with my approach was that I did it in a way that a human could seem terrifying and inhumane in their own point of view, so I beg you to forgive me for the trouble caused to you personally. I am a tiger after all, you know."-

-"..."-

-"The only thing I can say to conclude this talk is that you are the one who decides whether you want to hear my warning or not. If something really happens, the only thing I ask is that you do not blame for having warned you before. I do not have the power to change or alter what may happen tomorrow or in the distant future, and I can only give you an advice as the friend I am."-

Komatsu looked at the tiger at his own eyes, while he was still trying to assimilate what he heard from that animal's mouth. At that time, that man was about to make a decision that could alter the course of his life, but at that time, he could not stand idle by what he had seen and felt in his dreams, but to do so, he needed Raghu's help to achieve it.

-"If you really consider me your friend, in that case I'm going to have to ask for your help for something."-

-"What would it be, doctor?"-

---

August 5th, AD 1945, near Sagami Bay, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, 07:30 AM

A vehicle with military supplies was traveling along the road heading west in order to transport ammunition and various weapons to its destination. Inside the vehicle, the drivers on board engaged in a lively conversation in order to kill some time on the way.

-"What a drag! Why do we have to go all the way to Kumamoto just to carry supplies by land? Can't these guys take them by plane instead?"-

-"Agree."- The other driver replied with a smirk in his face. -"Basically they are sending us to the other end of the country for something they could have done on an airplane, instead of sending us to the boonies just to make this kind of shipments. Hell, at this rate we're going to arrive there with hemorrhoids on our asses!"-

-"Yeah, and right now I would give anything to smoke a goddamn cigarette, but since we carry explosives, it's something we can't do until we refuel in Nagoya. Shit!"- The driver who was driving the truck looked closely at his partner. -"Could you at least tell me which cities we should make stopovers apart from Nagoya?"-

-"Let me see..."- The driver's companion took a sheet of paper out of his pocket. -"Nagoya aside, we must make stops in Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Fukuoka, before reaching Kumamoto. According to the itinerary, we also have the attribution to make any emergency stopover in any city that is not printed here. in case we need a stop outside the itinerary, we must first notify by radio so that Tokyo is warned beforehand."-

-"Well, at least the morons from the imperial capital are giving us some consideration for us for the long-ass journey we have to make."-

-"Right, pal."-

But before they could continue their talk, a very loud sound was heard from the back of the truck, something that naturally startled the drivers.

-"What the hell was that?"-

-"Let me check."-

The other driver took a look at the cargo they were carrying in their vehicle, but after looking closely, he saw absolutely nothing unusual back there.

-"Nothing at all."- The man said, trying to keep his annoyance in his head. -"Maybe it was your imagination."-

-"I could have sworn I heard something back there a few minutes ago."-

-"Maybe it was some crate that slipped because of the truck's rattle."-

-"I see."-

What both men didn't know is that apart from them, there were two other people who were in the truck, and who were going with them as stowaways...

-"I hope they don't see us, otherwise we won't reach Hiroshima alive to tell the tale."-

-"Don't worry, as long as you're by my side, there's no way they'll see us."-

-"I didn't know that your invisibility powers could also work with other people next to you."-

-"To be honest, doctor, I didn't know either, until we tried before we made it out of the bunker, which is a pleasant surprise even to me."-

-"It was also a miracle that we found a vehicle that happened to pass through Hiroshima, so we can get there without having to pass us through the checkpoints, because most likely Matsuoka should have already realized my absence from the bunker. At this time the colonel must be cursing my name to all known and even unknown gods, and he will request a search throughout Japan."-

-"And what are we going to do when we get to Hiroshima, doctor? Getting there is one thing, but getting your parents and yourself out of Japan is going another different matter."-

-"If we're lucky, we can go to Okinawa, turn ourselves in to the American authorities that control the Ryukyu archipelago right now, tell them what I know, which would allow us to avoid being arrested as enemy combatants, and defect to the United States. The truth is that I would not like to end up in the hands of the Americans, but right now I can think of nothing better to leave Japan. I just hope the Americans treat us better than the Germans and my own fellow countrymen treated me. "-

-"And what if that's not the case?"-

The human hesitated a little in answering that question, because he had not yet considered that possibility.

-"Then we just have to pray that the Americans don't kill us first."-

Yoshinori Komatsu and Raghu went in the back of the vehicle, being completely invisible to the military drivers of it thanks to the invisibility powers that Raghu held, and that also worked in his human partner as long as Komatsu was next to the tiger. Although the invisibility of Raghu and Komatsu prevents anyone else from noticing their presence, it could not nullify the sounds they both made, so Komatsu had to speak quietly with Raghu, and while the tiger didn't have to worry about having to speak, as he used sign language, the other sounds he made, such as breathing and his purring, were still somewhat evident.

And that was something the driver of the vehicle noticed right away.

-"Hey, did you hear something?"-

-"What kind of thing, pal?"-

-"I heard a very loud purring coming from behind, like a cat's."-

-"You're not imagining things, are you?"-

-"Of course not! I'm pretty sure I heard something coming from behind."-

-"Let me check back there again."-

The other driver checked the cargo compartment again, and checked to see if there were any animals, such as any cats that might have entered the vehicle when they were still in Tokyo, and that could have been the cause of those purring sounds that were heard. After looking for a while, the soldier found nothing, and returned back to his seat.

-"You sure you didn't drink a thing before you started driving?"-

The question offended the driver for more than obvious reasons.

-"LIKE HELL I'M GONNA DRINK WHILE DRIVING WITH AMMO IN OUR ASSES, YOU MORON!"- The truck driver angrily yelled at his friend. -"Do you think I'm so stupid to do that sort of thing?"-

-"Well, no. I'm just asking, pal."

-"THEN STOP DOING SUCH QUESTIONS, YOU DUMBSHIT!"- The driver kept yelling. -"I've got enough to drive through half of Japan to take that kind of bullshit about my sobriety, you fucking idiot!"-

-"OK, OK, don't get mad, buddy!"-

-"Fuck!"- The man behind the steering wheel cursed as hard as he could. -"The last thing I need is some asshole who doubts my driving skills. Why did these jerks in Tokyo have to assign me an idiot as my driving partner, huh?"-

-"Geez, you don't have to take this the wrong way, pal."-

-"THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DO YOUR WORK!"-

-"OK, sir."-

---

August 5th, AD 1945, IJA Military Base, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 08:15 AM

-"How long will it take to refuel the truck?"-

-"It'll be ready in a few minutes. In the meantime, you can rest and have a cigarette for as long as it takes."-

-"Thank you, colonel."-

The drivers of the military vehicle made their mandatory stop in Nagoya to rest, refuel and verify that everything was in order with the load they were carrying. Meanwhile, the aforementioned soldiers were inside the base smoking, while they waited for their truck to be ready.

-"AHH! I really need this..."-

-"I agree with you, buddy. There's nothing better than a good cigarette to calm our nerves after a long trip."-

-"By the way, I forgot to ask: When are we supposed to get to Kumamoto at the pace we're at?"-

-"According to the schedule, we should arrive no later than the day after tomorrow morning or night, should there be no serious issues on the way."

-"I just hope we don't end up dead when we get there. The truth is that traveling half the country is a real pain."-

-"Yeah, a real pain in our asses, if you ask me!"-

Both soldiers laugh at what was obviously a bad joke, but in those moments, they needed to say something that would allow them to lighten their day.

-"By the way, the truck should be ready by now. Why are they taking so long in getting it done?"-

-"They have to verify that the load is in order. There is a lot of ammunition there, and they have to check that nothing is missing, considering the current state of things around here. But, after what happened in the bunker, I don't blame them for being more cautious."-

-"Yes, and considering that the Americans took over Okinawa, there is a possibility that they will try to take over the rest of the country, so having enough armament down there in Kumamoto is reasonable."-

-"Exactly, but I still don't understand why it didn't occur to them to send all that cargo by plane instead of by land."-

-"Maybe to keep the plane from being shot down by the Americans?"-

-"That would be more likely, in my personal opinion."-

-"But even so, it is still a chore for us that we have to make a trip halfway through Japan just to bring ammo."-

-"Also, why are we the only ones and we don't have any kind of escort or other vehicles with similar cargo, huh?"-

-"Hell if I know! The only thing I know is that this cargo was requested by high-ranking officers stationed in Kumamoto."

-"Then I don't think that's enough ammunition for a whole city, if you ask me."-

-"I'm with you. I don't know what will be going through the heads of the officers who asked for a very specific shipment and in very specific quantities to make us drive halfway across the country. Considering how absurd this war is turning into, we can expect anything. I heard rumors there that the Germans surrendered, and Italy also did so a little earlier."-

-"Really?"-

-"To be honest, I'm not quite sure. The military censorship has become more intense and the most likely is that the high command does not want to say what is going on in Europe to prevent morale decline, if we look at what happened in Okinawa, where by now is something that many people are already beginning to know. I am also hearing that the government is beginning to prepare the civilian population for a possible Allied invasion of Japan, which would be a terrible thing."-

-"Tell me about, pal! I don't even want to imagine how many people could die in an invasion of our country."-

-"If something like this were to happen, I don't think this country could survive for long."-

-"Shh!"- The other soldier tried to silence his friend after his last remark. -"I don't think you want them to hear you say that. If anyone heard what you said, you'd end up with your brains out."-

-"Oh! I see, sorry for that."-

While the soldiers continued their conversation, a superior officer appeared in the base lobby, where the drivers of the vehicle waited for their truck to be ready.

-"Gentlemen, your truck is ready. You can now resume the journey as scheduled."-

-"Thank you, colonel."- The driver said, while doing an extra question. -"If not too much indiscretion on my part, could I ask why they took so long to get the vehicle ready?"-

-"Oh, I see."- The colonel said. -"We had some problems with your vehicle, because we heard some strange noises inside the truck, and we thought there might have been someone in there traveling as a stowaway."-

-"Really? We heard similar noises back there too hours ago"- The driver replied after confirming he wasn't the only one who heard strange noises behind his back. -"Did you find anything or anyone while you were checking the truck?"-

-"Fortunately, no."- The officer confirmed what he and his men saw in the vehicle. -"We checked the truck from top to bottom and found nothing in there. Most likely some cat or a rat got into the vehicle and that's the reason for the sounds you heard, and most likely the animal left the truck as soon as you arrived here to Nagoya."-

-"I see."-

-"Well, I'm not taking up any more of your time, gentlemen, so you can depart here without a hitch. I wish you luck on your way."-

-"Thank you, colonel."-

Fifteen minutes later, the vehicle resumed its journey to Kumamoto without further ado, leaving the city as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the senior officer from the Nagoya base who was chatting with the drivers of the supply truck a few minutes ago noticed something strange that seemed out of the ordinary at that moment.

-"That's weird. I swear we had two crates full of rations at the warehouse entrance."-

Seeing that something was missing in the warehouse, the colonel checked the list of supplies, and doing a quick check, he noticed that two boxes were indeed missing.

Seeing that something was missing in the warehouse, the colonel checked the list of supplies, and doing a quick check, he noticed that two boxes were indeed missing.

But that's when things turned even stranger: The boxes disappeared just as the truck carrying military supplies to Kumamoto had made its mandatory stop at Nagoya. No other vehicle or person had entered the base in the last 24 hours, and the drivers of the vehicle, the only people who could have taken those boxes, were waiting in the lobby while the vehicle was refueling and being verified, and there was military police surveillance in that place, which would have made it impossible for both people to have done anything without the soldiers of the base realizing it first.

-"I think I'll have to double-check it out. There is no way those crates just vanished."-

---

August 5th, AD 1945, near Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, 11:45 AM

-"How long before we get to Okayama?"-

-"At the pace we're driving, we should be there in less than an hour."-

-"Good, 'cause I want to take a piss, and I don't know if my bladder can hold longer."-

-"Well, you'd better hold that thing on, because we can't waste any more time on stops."-

-"Oh, come on, pal! How long do you think it's gonna take me to empty my tank, huh?"-

-"The last time we made a stop for you to do your bodily needs, it took you about half an hour just to pee."- The other partner criticized his friend's tardiness the last time they were forced to do that. -"Do you have diabetes or what?"-

-"Of course not! Otherwise, I wouldn't be in the army, or I'd already be dead by now. It just takes me a long time to pee."-

-"Well, you need to do something about it, we can't waste too much time on that kind of unnecessary stuff."-

-"I already know that, you moron, you don't need to remind me! Like you think I like to do this shit, gee!"-

Suddenly, both soldiers heard a very faint sound, and suddenly they perceived a strange aroma, which was faint, but at the same time, it was also a incredibly nasty smell.

-"By pure chance you didn't eat something strong, like daifuku (sweet beans)?"-

The man at the wheel fumbled at that hint.

-"Are you telling me I farted, you dumbshit?"-

-"Well... maybe."-

-"For your information, asshole, I also heard and smelled the same sound! Could it be that you were the one who farted?"-

-"Hey, I didn't do it either, buddy!"- The backup driver angrily retorted at his friend. -"In fact, I haven't even eaten anything since we left Tokyo, except for a cup of coffee."-

-"In that case, if it wasn't you who farted, then who was it? A ghost?"-

-"And since when do ghosts fart?"-

The driver could not believe that his companion asked such a ridiculous question in order to distinguish himself that it could have been he who threw a flatulence into the truck, as if they did not have enough to be locked in the cabin of the vehicle for several hours and only make stops in case of emergency or to relieve themselves.

-"What kind of stupid question was that? You want to blame a ghost for your farts?"-

And suddenly, the same unpleasant sound and smell was felt again inside the driver's cabin. It was evident that this time it was not coming from either of the two drivers, but from someone else.

-"Did you heard that, pal?"-

-"Yeah, I already smelled it."- The driver then covered his nose as a result of that unpleasant smell. -"You don't need to tell me."-

It was evident that there was someone else on board with them, when they were absolutely certain that the vehicle was checked when they refueled in their last stop in Nagoya.

-"Damn it! Those Nagoya idiots were supposed to check that there was no one inside here, for fuck's sake!"-

-"Let me check again if there's no one with us."-

-"Make sure you bring your gun with you, lest we have some armed spy who wants to give us some sneaky surprise as soon as we let our guard down!"-

Thus, the second driver entered the back of the truck, and began to check that there was no stowaway inside the vehicle. To avoid any unpleasant surprises, the soldier carried his service revolver with him.

-"Did you find anything fishy, buddy?"-

-"So far, no."-

Suddenly, the man heard the same purring sound that he had heard when they were just leaving the imperial capital and on their way to Nagoya.

-"Damn it, I swear I heard the sound of a cat purring around here..."-

The soldier took out of his pocket a flashlight that he kept with him for a situation like that, and started looking all over the truck for any animal that had gotten inside. But after several minutes of searching through every corner of the vehicle, the puzzled driver couldn't find anything, even though he had sworn to have heard the purring of a feline, and above all, both men smelled what seemed to be a flatulence.

-"I looked everywhere and found nothing, even though I heard what appeared to be a purring of a cat, or some kind of wild feline that may have been smuggled into the truck."-

-"So, what was that fart then?"-

-"Maybe we ran over some dead, rotting animal on the road. That would be the only thing I could think of that would be the reason we heard that sound."- The man shrugged his shoulders. -"The purring can be anything else, including my imagination, to be fair."-

-"Anyway, we're going to get to Okayama, and we're going to ask them to double-check the vehicle once again. I just hope it's what you say and it wasn't you who farted."-

-"Hey! I swear I didn't fart, pal, I'm not that nasty to do something like that!"-

The driver was already tired of going through all the fart talk, and he just wanted to keep driving without any more annoying drama that angered him more than he already was...

-"Look, you dumbass, I'm sick and tired of arguing about farts. The safest thing is that, as you say, is likely to have run over some rotten animal that was on the road, so better shut up if you do not want to arrive at Kumamoto without your teeth."-

-"All right, all right! you don't need to get mad, pal!"-

What they didn't realize was that the person responsible for that gas was someone else behind them, using his invisibility powers to avoid being seen by those soldiers...

-"Hell, I don't think it was a good idea to have eaten that thing you gave me from the food you stole in Nagoya, doctor."-

-"I know, but I didn't expect daifuku to give you more flatulencies than it would normally cause to a healthy human being."- Komatsu apologized to the tiger, seeing that the food he gave him caused gases that could have caused both to be caught by the soldiers. -"Normally, beans generate a lot of gas in a human's digestive system, but I never expected the effect would be exponentially multiplied in felines."-

-"Maybe I'm not used to eating something like that. I have only eaten meat and milk since I live here in Japan."-

-"Considering what we have at hand when it comes to rations, we can't be picky, my furry friend."-

Raghu, on the other hand, enjoyed eating a can of smoked sardines that came with one of the ration crates Komatsu had stolen from that last military base, while his human friend, a vegetarian, settled down with eating a cup of udon with tofu. Both were careful not to make too much noise at mealtime so as not to attract the attention of the truck drivers, even though both were invisible to them.

-"By the way, doctor, do you know how far we are to Hiroshima?"-

-"According to what I heard from the drivers, Okayama is the last stop before reaching my hometown. If there is no other issues, we should get to Hiroshima by night at the latest."- Komatsu then explained at the tiger his plans to leave Japan. -"My plan is, once there, and after convincing my parents, I should get them both out of the city at dawn, and if we get another vehicle to take us further south, we could "borrow" a boat and sail to Okinawa, and pray that the Americans don't kill us first before making landfall."

-"You know how to sail a boat?"-

-"To be honest, no, but we can reach Okinawa using a map and a compass, and hope that we can have good winds that take us to the Ryukyu archipelago."-

-"I just hope you know what you're doing, Dr. Komatsu."-

The scientist sighed at the tiger's doubts about the chances of getting to Okinawa alive, and thus escaping to America. He knew very well that the Americans were quite racist, and that they might doubt at first in the words of a Japanese man, but considering the circumstances, and the information that could be extremely valuable for any bellicose effort against the Japanese empire, and also taking into account that Komatsu had no sympathy for the rulers of his country, the Americans might be interested to hear him.

But at the same time, however, Komatsu began to think if he was not coming out of the frying pan, just to fall into the fire; and he had reason to think of that possibility: In the last seven years that the war had lasted until that moment, Yoshinori Komatsu had been jumping from place to place, and from country to country, and all because of his own inability to analyze in detail the situation in front of him, and end up angering people more powerful than himself, so that in the end, he ended up being little less than a glorified slave serving the men who controlled the world.

-"Right now what we need most is hope to get out of this mess, and leaving this goddamn hell at once."- The science man replied with a stern look in his face. -"At this point, I can no longer turn back; Matsuoka is surely hunting us all over the country, and I guess there will already be orders to find me either dead or alive."-

Raghu ended up eating what was left of the sardines that were in the crate, and he could only come up with something that could help his human friend.

-"If there's anything I can help, doctor, I'd be honored to do so."- The Indian feline replied with some signs done with his paws. -"I am very indebted to you, and I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me, so helping your family is the least I can do for you."-

Komatsu was very touched by that sign of help that animal was making for him. He couldn't help thinking that, despite not being human, Raghu had done much more for him than any other human he had known since the war had begun, and that animal was willing to do anything, even at the risk of his own life, to make sure that his friend and his family could leave Hiroshima, and then Japan, before the tragedy he had dreamt of months ago would fall on their heads.

-"Thanks, buddy..."- Komatsu said with some tears in his eyes. -"I really appreciate that."-

-"You're welcome, doctor..."- The tiger then replied, but suddenly... -"BUUUURRRPPP!"-

To their disgrace, Raghu burped quite loudly, and his burping was heard all over the truck...

-"Was it you who burped, you fucking twat?"-

-"Me?"- The backup driver replied quite annoyed at that question, since he also heard that burp as well. -"I thought it was you who burped. In fact, it looks like your burp smells like rotten sardines." -

-"What did you just say?"-

-"What you heard, buddy. Your burp smells like rotten sardine, and God knows what else you put in your mouth, possibly with your girlfriend..."

Faced with such a vulgar assertion to himself and his girlfriend, the driver made a sudden stop just five kilometers from Okayama, so he could settle the score with his driving partner.

-"All right, dickhead, what's the fucking problem with you?"- The driver yelled at the other man. -"Do you want me to break your stupid face or what?! Why are you involving my girlfriend in your bullshit?"-

-"Well, that's the only reason I can think of why your burps reek."-

-"And haven't you thought that I haven't eaten a damn thing since we left the capital?"-

-"Uh?"- The backup driver was puzzled at the face of that statement from his driving partner. -"If you say it wasn't you who burped, then who did it?"-

Both drivers looked at each other, and quickly came to a conclusion inside their own heads...

-"In that case I'll see if there's anyone back there in the trailer."- The man took his service revolver and proceeded to step out from the truck cabin to go to the trailer, this time going out the back to check more calmly any anomaly that might be inside that place. -"It's the only way to find out that you're not lying."-

-"I told you I didn't find anything back there, but if you want to go see you in person, I don't think it would do any harm to stop here and see it by yourself."-

-"We'll see about that."-

The driver boarded the trailer and began checking the place again from head to toe to see if there was someone or something inside the vehicle. After searching for more than 15 minutes, the disgruntled soldier couldn't find anything his friend hadn't found earlier when they were both on the road.

-"Well, I didn't find shit here."- The driver then returned to the truck cabin. -"Once we get to Okayama, I'll request that the trailer be re-checked again."-

-"That would be the wisest."-

-"And another thing, smartass:"- Then, the driver started the truck's engine, so he and his partner could resume with the trip back to Okayama. -"If you insult my girlfriend ever again, I'm going to send you back to Tokyo on a boat with your ass in the flagpole. Is that clear?"-

-"Understood, sir."-

Faced with that explicit threat, the backup driver decided not to continue with the discussion, leaving aside that they could not waste any more time in that kind of absurd incidents.

Meanwhile, Komatsu and Raghu, who were in the trailer, could only hold their breath as much as possible to avoid being heard, after the tiger's loud burp caused all that incident. At least they should be grateful that both drivers were not exactly the smartest people on earth for those two soldiers to question the presence of stowaways inside their vehicle.

-"Be more careful next time with your mouth, Raghu."- Komatsu said this as he covered the tiger's muzzle with both hands. -"They could have found out about us if they had been smart enough to know that someone is hiding in their truck."-

-"Sorry, doc."-

---

August 5th, AD 1945, IJA Military Base (Mechanic Hangar), Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, 12:28 PM

After a long and somewhat uneventful journey, both drivers arrived at their mandatory stop at a military base located in the city of Okayama, and after identifying themselves properly before entering, they were received by the resident mechanic who was in charge of repairs and everything related to refueling. But in those moments, both drivers only wanted to rest for a while before resuming their trip to Kumamoto.

-"Welcome to Okayama, folks! I hope you had a good trip."-

The driver who was on the truck had another, very different opinion about the trip...

-"Heh, to say we had a good trip would be an understatement."-

Obviously, the mechanic was a little confused by that observation.

-"Did something bad happen on the road?"-

-"I will be brief with this:"- Then, the man driving the truck explained what happened to him and his partner on the road. -"Throughout the entire trip from Tokyo we have heard what appears to be a string of strange sounds from the trailer, including what seemed to be the purring of a cat, according to what my traveling buddy said, farts and even burps..."-

-"Purrs, farts and burps?"- The mechanic put a malicious smile on his face at such a strange observation. -"Could it be that you or your friend were drinking maybe too much the whole way?"-

-"OF COURSE NOT!"- The driver retorted in rage at such insinuation. -"If that had been the case, we wouldn't have gotten here in one piece, that's for sure. In fact, I almost ended up getting into a fight with my partner because of that incident, to be honest."-

-"If you say you heard all that since you two left Tokyo,"- The mechanic checked a notebook he had on hand. -"didn't you have the vehicle checked at the last stop you guys did in Nagoya, according to your schedule?"-

-"Of course, but they didn't find anything there; despite that, we heard those strange sounds in the road again. I had to make an emergency stop when we were five kilometers from here and I did a quick check of the trailer personally, and I didn't find nothing either."-

The mechanic was perplexed by these strange incidents that both men had heard all along the way, but decided to reserve his opinion on the subject for himself before anything the driver could say on the issue.

-"I know that maybe I am asking too much, but I would like that taking advantage that we are here in this base, that they could search inside the vehicle again, this time if possible, to verify if there is someone or something inside the crates, to remove any doubt about it."-

-"Umm..."- The mechanic thought carefully about the petition. -"I'll see what I can do, but I need to request permission to do something like that. Meanwhile, you guys should take a good rest here. You guys must be tired from all the way here and what happened."-

-"Thank you, sir."-

-"No need to thank me, guys."-

As the conversation continued, a radio message was heard on the transmitter inside the truck, which seemed to have an urgent tone...

-"All military units are notified that there are two persons of high interest who are reported missing from Tokyo: Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu, director of the biology department of the IJA, and a Bengal tiger named "Raghu". Dr. Komatsu's distinguishing marks are: He is 28 years old, originally from the city of Hiroshima, wears glasses, has brown hair, is relatively tall and is possibly wearing a white lab coat, black pants with shoes of the same color... About the tiger, we only know that it escaped from a Tokyo zoo, and that it is extremely dangerous. We have suspicions that both individuals could be together and that they could both head south, especially through the surrounding regions of Hiroshima... We do not know if Dr. Komatsu is armed or not, but it is recommended to capture him alive if possible. As for the tiger, there are orders to kill him if necessary, but if possible also capture him alive. In any case, if both individuals show resistance, you are authorized to use lethal force. Over and out."-

The base's chief mechanic was intrigued by what he heard on the truck's radio, while the drivers headed to the base's dining room for something to eat before resuming the trip. At that moment, one of the mechanics working under his command approached his boss.

-"You want us to start refueling the truck, sir?"-

-"Yes, indeed."- The -"As for me, I will go with Commander Hamaguchi to get some permissions. If you see or hear anything strange, do not hesitate to notify me or the commander."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

---

August 5th, AD 1945, IJA Military Base (Commander's Office), Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, 12:50 PM

Knock Knock

-"Requesting permission to enter the office, sir."-

-"You may come in."

-"Yes, sir."-

Within the office is the senior officer in charge of the IJA military base at Okayama, Commander Ryozo Hamaguchi. Hamaguchi was an elderly man, approximately 70 years old, who was reading a book in his office at the time. In front of him was the chief mechanic named Souta Matsushita, who quickly took off his mechanic's hat and bowed to a man of such high rank as that old man.

-"What brings you to my office, Lieutenant Matsushita?"- Hamaguchi asked the chief mechanic at the base as he closed his book. -"It's very unusual for you to come to my office to talk to me, which means the subject is very important, isn't it? "-

-"Actually, it is, sir."-

-"What do you want to talk to me about, Lieutenant?"-

-"Technically there are two things I need to talk to you about, sir: The first thing I need to ask of you is permission to do a check on a cargo truck with supplies from Tokyo, bound for Kumamoto. Here are the details of the truck, its drivers and the cargo that is declared in the relevant paperwork."-

Matsushita handed the commander the papers, which were read by the old man to verify that everything was in order. But at that moment, Hamaguchi noticed that there was a small detail that he could not overlook, according to the vehicle's travel log.

-"Hmm. This is very strange."- The commander put his finger on an entry that was written in the log. -"According to this, the truck had been completely inspected at the last stop they made in Nagoya, and now they are asking us to do another search, even though they found nothing out of the ordinary there."-

-"That's right, sir."-

-"And why do the truck drivers want us to do another search? Didn't they feel satisfied with the last one?"-

-"Apparently not, sir."- Matsushita replied at the commander. -"In fact, during the drive from Nagoya to Okayama, both drivers claim that they heard what seemed to be a very loud purring of a cat, and if I may be more explicit on the subject, sir, they also state that they heard and smelled what appeared to be belching and flatulence."-

Before this last part, the old commander opened his eyes as big as possible, for he had never heard such an ridiculous statement as he was hearing in those moments from his subordinate, and he had every right to know that if what he was hearing was not the result of a bad joke of those men, or from that mechanic.

-"I hope this is not some kind of sick joke of yours, Matsushita, or the product of the intoxicated imagination of those two young men, because otherwise, not only do I not find it amusing at all, but someone will end up in jail for this."-

Knowing that Commander Hamaguchi believed that the incident was a bad joke, Matsushita also decided to make the second part of his question to that superior officer, so that the old man could understand the context of the request made by the truck drivers, as well as the chief mechanic.

-"Sir, this is not a joke, and to show you that I am serious, here is the second part of my question that is related to our petition."-

-"And what is it, Lieutenant?"-

-"I heard on the truck's radio when it was going to be sent to the hangar to refuel about an incident that happened in Tokyo, and I need you to confirm, if possible on your part, whether or not it is true."-

-"Which incident are you talking about, Matsushita?"-

-"About the incident of a doctor and a tiger who escaped from Tokyo, or something like that, and that the whole army is being asked to look for them all over the country. I just want to know if it is true or not that petition from Tokyo about these two persons of interest."-

The commander took some time to think, trying to recall what his subordinate had mentioned on regards of that incident, and after a few seconds of silence, Hamaguchi opened his mouth again with an answer for that man..

-"Indeed, we have a search warrant for those two people, however absurd that may sound, to be perfectly honest."-

In those moments Matsushita no longer knew what was more incredible: The claim from those drivers about those weird sounds they heard in their truck, or the fact the whole Japanese military are trying to find a doctor and a tiger. This was especially remarkable, since the mechanic did not understand why the army had to look for such people at that time, having more important things to be done, considering what happened recently in Okinawa with the American invasion of the Ryukyu archipelago.

-"Are you serious, sir?"- Matsushita incredulously replied to his superior. -"With all due respect to you, commander, I don't understand why the army has to divert resources to look for a doctor and a tiger who left town; that's supposed to be a job for the civilian police, not us at the IJA, who have other more important things to do."

-"To be honest, Lieutenant, I ask myself the same question."- Hamaguchi explained to his junior. -"In fact, I sent a telegram to Tokyo to ask for more information about the incident, but they refused to give me further explanations, except only reiterate the given orders."-

Matsushita found that explanation from his superior rather strange: Why in Tokyo were they so interested in looking for a doctor and a tiger? It was already bizarre enough that the Japanese army had to look for a single man who didn't seem to matter, but having to distract resources to also look for a tiger that was on the loose, which apparently had some relation to the aforementioned scientist, was extremely out of the ordinary.

And the worst of all is that the high command in Tokyo refused to provide more explanations on the issue.

Above all, the only thing they could do was to obey the orders given, no matter how absurd they were. And taking into account what Matsushita said, there was the possibility that there was some stowaway inside the truck, bearing in mind that the vehicle was bound for the south.

-"sigh... Well, I guess it can't be helped."- Hamaguchi said with annoyance when he saw that they had no other way out of the situation they were in. -"Also, I don't think it would do any harm to do a search on that vehicle in case we find something related to those two persons of interest."-

-"Then you authorize me to do that, sir?"-

-"Indeed, Matsushita"- The old man said. -"And to be safe, I also authorize you to check all containers and boxes where it is possible for a person or animal to be in there. And for added security, there will be some extra soldiers who will be present during the check. If there is a problem, be sure to let me know."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

---

August 5th, AD 1945, IJA Military Base (Mechanic Hangar), Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, 01:15 PM

-"All right, guys, you read the commander's orders! We have orders to check every container and crate big enough for one person to be inside, and we won't rest until we see there's no stowaway within!"- Souta Matsushita, the chief mechanic, shouted to his subordinates, who listened closely to what their chief said. -"We've got some extra soldiers, and if any of you see anything out of the ordinary, shout, so the soldiers can come and lend a hand!"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

And so, the soldiers and the mechanics began to open the containers to verify that there were no unwanted guests inside the truck. Due to the size of the containers they had to open, the process lasted several minutes, at least.

What they did not know was that the aforementioned unwanted guests, Yoshinori Komatsu and Raghu, were hidden in a corner within the hangar, while the tiger's invisibility powers made it impossible for anyone within the base to notice their presence.

-"If it weren't for your powers, Raghu, I don't think we'd live long enough to reach Hiroshima safely."-

-"Indeed, doctor."- The feline said. -"Although I can't help smiling to see all those stupid humans trying to find us. I'd like to see the look on their faces when they don't find anything."-

-"I agree with you, my furry friend, although I'll be relieved if we can get out of this place as soon as possible."-

-"Same here."

Every crate and container inside the supply truck, at least the largest ones when a person or animal could fit in their insides, were carefully checked to see that there was no one within. Since the whole job was manually done with the help of crowbars, hammers and common tools, the process was long, and especially arduous, as the boxes had to be closed and returned to the truck again.

And after six long hours of searching, and checking from head to toe, both the containers and the truck itself, including the bottom and the roof of the vehicle, Matsushita's men couldn't find anything, much for the very displeasure of the chief mechanic...

-"Someone's gonna die here..."

---

August 5th, AD 1945, IJA Military Base (Commander's Office), Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, 9:30 PM

The drivers of the supply truck were in the office of Commander Ryozo Yamaguchi, waiting to be reprimanded by the aforementioned official. It was obvious that the apparent misadventures of both men had only caused unnecessary waste of time and effort for the IJA, and after two seemingly unnecessary inspections of their vehicle in both Nagoya and Okayama, the actions of both men were not going to go without some kind of disciplinary action.

-"I guess you two idiots already know the reason you are here, and the reason I didn't call you both right after the search on your truck was to verify your personal files with Tokyo by phone to determine what to do about you guys."-

-"Yes, sir."- The first truck driver said. -"We understand that."-

-"OK, Let's see what Tokyo told me about you two:"- Hamaguchi said while reading both men's files. -"Sergeant Masakazu Kubo, born in Nagano in May 12th, Taisho 9 (1920), and Ensign Hiroto Takamiya, born in Tokyo in Jun 8th, Showa 2 (1927). Neither of you have negative records in your files, and there's nothing worth mentioning here either..."-

The old man began to sniff the air with his nose all of a sudden, which caused some strangeness in both men who saw as that man doing something so unusual in their sight.

-"...and judging from what I'm smelling, neither of you have been driving while drunk. At least I have to admit that you're not dumb enough to do something that suicidal while transporting back ammunition and explosives."-

-"Yes, sir."- Both men replied at the old man.

-"Well, let me cut to the chase, so I don't waste any more time with this nonsense: You must thank me that you guys don't have any negative records in your files so that I don't take any further disciplinary action against the two of you."- Then, Hamaguchi allowed the men to speak. -"But I would like to know before I finish this talk if you have anything else to say on the subject in your defense."-

-"Well, to be brief, sir, we did hear purring that seemed to be that of a cat, as well as flatulence and belching. We checked the truck several times and we were even going to have a fight between us for the same thing."- Kubo replied at his senior officer. -"That's all I have to say about that, sir."-

-"Very well, young man."- Hamaguchi was happy to hear that man was humble enough to explain himself. "And what about you, Takamiya? Do you have anything else to explain?"-

-"I have nothing more to say, sir, for it would be very redundant, except that everything my co-worker said is true."-

The commander made a brief pause in the conversation, and after looking at Kubo and Takamiya, decided to put an end to the whole lecture.

-"Well, I don't have any more to say about it, so this conversation is over. Tomorrow the two of you will resume your trip to Kumamoto as scheduled in your itinerary at 6:30 AM."- The old man then signed some clearances so both men could leave the base at the stated hour. -"But I'm going to make this warning to you two: If I hear about another similar incident at your next stop in Hiroshima or anywhere else, I will personally see to it that both of you tow pork manure to Korea by boat for the rest of your lives. Do I make myself clear?"

-"Yes, sir!"-

-"Well, you can go now. Go back to the barracks and don't leave until departure time. That's a small punishment on my part; and be thankful that I'm not like other abusive officers who would have executed you guys on the spot in a similar situation."-

Without further ado, both drivers left the commander's office, while the man pulled out a pipe from his desk, placed some tobacco on it and began smoking from the pipe.

-"Damn young brats! What a way to waste one's time with eschatological humor, as if we're in the mood for that kind of silly stuff."

---

August 6th, AD 1945, IJA Military Base (Mechanic Hangar), Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, 06:45 AM

-"It's a good thing we managed to get some food and drink quickly on this base before we left here so at least we didn't die of hunger or thirst on the way, doctor."-

-"Well, to be honest, we're only over 100 kilometers from Hiroshima, so this is just a quick snack before we get to town."- Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu then checks his clock. -"If there is no other issue with this thing, we should get there at 8 AM, but we should get off the truck as soon as we get to the city and go to my parents' house and haul them out as soon as possible."-

-"Good idea, doc."- Raghu replied, through he also wanted to ask a very important question regarding his human friend's plans, as those plans involved the tiger as well. -"But there's one thing you haven't explained to me: How are you going to explain to your parents about me and my powers?"-

-"We will see that when we get home; for the time being we have nothing left but to pray for our safe arrival."-

-"Understood."-

-"OK, we'd better shut up, someone's coming!"-

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard approaching the truck. The drivers of this vehicle were already going to get on their way to resume their trip to the city of Kumamoto, with the next stop at Hiroshima, the destination of Komatsu and Raghu.

-"Hey, chief, Is the truck ready?"

-"It's more than ready, folks."- Matsushita handed the keys to Kubo, the main driver. -"Take good care of the vehicle, and for whatever you want, guys, I hope you two don't get to hear any strange stuff in the truck again. If that happens again, I wouldn't doubt that the commander would send you two to an insane asylum or someplace like that."-

-"After the search your people did yesterday afternoon, I doubt very much that will happen again, but anyway thank you very much for taking the trouble to do that, and we're very sorry to have bothered you guys with that whole purring, farting and belching thing in the trailer."-

-"Heh, heh, heh, Don't worry about that!"- The man laughed a bit. -"Have a nice trip, and be careful with all that ammunition; don't let all that stuff explode along the way, you know."-

-"We already know that, see you later, chief!"-

-"See you soon!"-

And so, the truck begins its journey to reach its next stop in Hiroshima. Komatsu and Raghu, for their part, had already made themselves comfortable in a safe place, while the feline's invisibility powers allowed them both to slip under the radar of both drivers.

On the other hand, Komatsu began to yawn a little, as he had not slept at night in his attempt to find food and water to drink on the way, and after all that tense night, now what he needed most was some sleep.

-"Raghu, I haven't slept all night, so I'm going to sleep for a while. Let me know when we get to Hiroshima or if the truck stops for any other reason."

-"All right, I will let you know, doctor. Have a nice dream."-

-"You too, Raghu."-

---

?

To the disgrace of the human scientist, the last thing he was having in his own dreams was a nice dream at all...

-"Oh no! NOT AGAIN, PLEASE!"-

At the moment Komatsu opened his eyes, the man saw himself again in the same destroyed alien city that he had been in his last two nightmares, in the same place, and apparently even at the same time, as if nothing had happened since the last time he was there and at that moment, which meant that the nightmare was merely a follow-up to the previous one.

Except for two very notable differences...

Unlike previous nightmares, Raghu was not present along with Komatsu, and as if things were not terrifying enough at the time for that human, the mysterious humanoid shadows from past dreams surrounded the troubled scientist everywhere, preventing him from escaping if he tried.

And the shadows drew closer to the human in a slow yet sinister manner, as if they were trying to do something with that man, while their voices, as in the last nightmare, began to speak to him in his language...

-"Ｙｏｓｈｉｎｏｒｉ， ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ ｎｏ ｌｏｎｇｅｒ ｓａｖｅ ｙｏｕｒ ｆａｍｉｌｙ．"-

-"ᵣᵤₙ ₐwₐy fᵣₒₘ ₕₑᵣₑ ₐₙd ₛₐᵥₑ yₒᵤᵣₛₑₗf."-

-"єรςคקє Ŧг๏๓ ןคקคภ คภ๔ ภєשєг ς๏๓є ๒คςк."-

-"ⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ"-

-"NEVER COME BACK"-

-"ᴚƎᴚƎᗡᴚ∩W"-

-"🅼🆄🆁🅳🅴🆁🅴🆁"-

-"ɱųཞɖɛཞɛཞ"-

-"Ⓖⓘⓥⓔ ⓤⓟ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓞⓡⓛⓓ ⓞⓕ ⓢⓒⓘⓔⓝⓒⓔ ⓐⓝⓓ ⓢⓐⓥⓔ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓞⓡⓛⓓ .⃝"-

-"𝔒𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔴𝔢 𝔠𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔵𝔦𝔰𝔱 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔶𝔬𝔲."-

-"˙ʇxǝu uǝddɐɥ oʇ ɓuıoɓ s,ʇɐɥʍ uɐɥʇ ǝsɹoʍ ʎpǝɓɐɹʇ ɐ pıoʌɐ noʎ uɐɔ uǝɥʇ ʎluO"-

The voices spoke in incredibly grim sounds, as if their intention was to subject Komatsu to intense psychological strain in order to put an end to the sanity of that man, who at that moment was on his knees, crying in utter despair, seeing that what those shadows might be saying might have a certain truth.

-"NO, PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE, WILL YOU?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME OR WHAT?!"-

-"ₙₒ, wₑ ⱼᵤₛₜ wₐₙₜ ₜₒ ₕₑₗₚ yₒᵤ, Yₒₛₕᵢₙₒᵣᵢ."-

-"O̾n̾l̾y̾ ̾t̾h̾e̾n̾ ̾w̾i̾l̾l̾ ̾w̾e̾ ̾c̾e̾a̾s̾e̾ ̾t̾o̾ ̾e̾x̾i̾s̾t̾,̾ ̾a̾n̾d̾ ̾t̾h̾u̾s̾ ̾s̾a̾v̾e̾ ̾t̾h̾e̾ ̾w̾o̾r̾l̾d̾ ̾a̾n̾d̾ ̾y̾o̾u̾r̾ ̾s̾a̾n̾i̾t̾y̾.̾"-

-"My sanity, you say?"-

-"𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖙'𝖘 𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙. 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖒𝖆𝖞 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖘𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖋𝖆𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖞, 𝖇𝖚𝖙 𝖆𝖙 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖈𝖆𝖓 𝖐𝖊𝖊𝖕 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖘𝖆𝖓𝖎𝖙𝖞 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖈𝖙."-

-"𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕦𝕟 𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖. 𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕘𝕠 𝕥𝕠 ℍ𝕚𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕞𝕒, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕚𝕥."-

That last part infuriated the scientist more than anything else he was hearing at the time, despite the sheer horror he felt at the time: The mere fact of abandoning his family, the only people in his life who cared in some way for his own well-being, was something Komatsu would never allow himself, even in his worst days, and he would rather die in Hiroshima with his family than have his parents left to their fate in that place in the face of anything that might happen there.

-"ARE YOU ALL CRAZY? DO YOU WANT ME TO LET MY PARENTS DIE JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY SO? DON'T YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA OF WHO I AM, AND OF EVERYTHING I'VE BEEN THROUGH IN THE LAST FEW YEARS SINCE THIS STUPID WAR BEGAN?"-

-"Ｙｅｓ"-

-"THEN WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO DO SUCH A STUPID THING? IF YOU ALL COME FROM MY DAMN HEAD, HOW CAN IT HAPPEN TO YOU GUYS THAT I SHOULD ABANDON MY PARENTS?"-

-"🄱🄴🄲🄰🅄🅂🄴 🅃🄷🄴🅁🄴'🅂 🄽🄾 🅆🄰🅈 🅈🄾🅄 🄲🄰🄽 🅂🄰🅅🄴 🅈🄾🅄🅁 🄿🄰🅁🄴🄽🅃🅂, 🄱🅄🅃 🅈🄾🅄 🄲🄰🄽 🅂🅃🄸🄻🄻 🅂🄰🅅🄴 🅈🄾🅄🅁🅂🄴🄻🄵."-

-"ₕₑₑd ₒᵤᵣ wₐᵣₙᵢₙg, Yₒₛₕᵢₙₒᵣᵢ ₖₒₘₐₜₛᵤ: ₗₑₐᵥₑ ⱼₐₚₐₙ, ₗₑₐᵥₑ ₕᵢᵣₒₛₕᵢₘₐ, gᵢᵥₑ ᵤₚ ₛcᵢₑₙcₑ ₐₙd ₗᵢᵥₑ yₒᵤᵣ ₗᵢfₑ ₗᵢₖₑ ₐₙy ₒₜₕₑᵣ ₕᵤₘₐₙ bₑᵢₙg."-

-"𝕺𝖓𝖑𝖞 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉, 𝖔𝖗 𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖔𝖗𝖞?"-

Upon hearing that last part, Komatsu realized to the point that those shadows wanted to come, and that he, up to that point, had never fully realized it because of his obsession with being able to make his theory of assisted advanced evolution a reality: There was something in that theory that could cause some kind of unspeakable damage to the world if Komatsu continued to pursue it, and even though he was not a man who believed in the supernatural, if he had had all those dreams for years, that meant there was something, that he could not even explain with the aid of science, in those mysterious nightmares that were trying to warn Komatsu that if he continued with his project, something far worse than anything that could happen to the city of Hiroshima could now befall the entire world and the human race.

-"But before he could keep thinking about it any further..."

-"ຟคkē นp."-

-"ῳąƙɛ ų℘."-

-"ᏇᏗᏦᏋ ᏬᎮ."-

-"山卂Ҝ乇 ㄩ卩..."-

---

August 6th, AD 1945, a kilometer from Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, unknown hour (early morning)

-"WAKE THE FUCK UP, YOU ASSHOLE!"-

When Komatsu opened his eyes, the first thing he saw before him was what appeared to be the cold barrel of a rifle aimed at his head...

-"WHAT THE HELL?"-

Yoshinori Komatsu had just come out of a nightmare stemming from his own head, only to end up in a different one when that last one ended, only this time, this one was very real.

-"Looks like we weren't imagining things all this time after all since we left the capital, right, buddy?"-

-"Yeah, all this time we had two stowaways behind us during the whole trip, although I didn't really expecting to catch a tiger as an unwanted traveler."-

Komatsu noticed to his own dismay that not only had Raghu's invisibility abilities failed at that critical moment when only one kilometer to Hiroshima was left, but both had been captured by the two drivers of the supply truck bound for Kumamoto, and had a planned stop at the human scientist's hometown.

-"I think I can explain all this, gentlemen, if I may."-

-"Yeah, right, you're gonna explain anything when you get off the truck, you fucking idiot, SO GET GOING!"-

And without warning and as he was being dragged to the door of the trailer, Komatsu received a very strong kick in his rear, which sent him straight to the hard dirt floor where they were standing. Raghu was also outside the truck, while Hiroto Takamiya, the assistant driver of the vehicle, also pointed the Indian feline with a rifle on the animal's head.

-"Hey, Kubo, don't you think these two guys seem pretty familiar?"-

-"What do you mean, Takamiya?"-

-"I remember that when we were in Okayama, I heard that the army was looking for a tiger and a scientist who had escaped from the capital."- The man said while pointing both the animal and Komatsu, while trying to remember what he heard the search warrant they heard in their last stop. -"Could it be that these two are the people Tokyo was looking for, by chance?"-

-"I think you're right, I also heard something like that at the last stop."- Kubo replied, while forcedly lifted Komatsu from the ground. -"It wouldn't do any harm to talk on the radio with the central command and have them confirm the information."-

-"I suppose you want me to take care of the prisoners, right?"-

-"Well, who else am I supposed to ask for help, man?"-

As Kubo made his way to the cabin of the truck, a loud noise like the sound of several planes was heard with great intensity in the vicinity of the dirt road where Komatsu, Raghu and the two soldiers met, and which seemed to be heading towards Hiroshima.

-"That's strange,"- Kubo then looked at the sky. -"I don't remember at any time that central command mentioned about any bombing mission flying over this region."-

Looking closely at the planes flying over the area, the driver noticed something that was not right about the bombers he saw at the time: Those planes were not from the IJAF, but the most likely were American bombers, which meant that the United States was planning either to bomb Hiroshima in the same way as they did Tokyo months ago, or they were targeting another city in the region. Either way, the soldier knew he could not stand idly by and allow those enemy planes to do what they wanted in their country.

-"Holy... shit!"-

-"What's wrong, buddy?"-

-"Those planes aren't ours, they're American planes!"-

-"WHAT?"-

Without further explanation, Kubo boarded the truck, and frantically, the man took the radio from his vehicle and tuned the frequency to communicate with the appropriate authorities regarding both the prisoners and the American planes he saw heading toward the city.

-"Central Command, this is Sergeant Masakazu Kubo, please respond. We have two prisoners in our possession, and on top of that, we have seen an enemy squadron of bombers, possibly American ones, heading towards the city of Hiroshima. We do not know of any other additional information. We ask for further details about the prisoners, since it seems that they are the people who escaped from Tokyo and were the subject of a national arrest warrant."-

-"This is central command... please repeat... ZZZ... Americans... ZZZ... Hiroshima... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..."-

The man repeated the last message twice more on the radio, but the only thing he heard was static. It was as if something was trying to keep him from communicating with Tokyo about what was happening at the time. Faced with the impossibility of being able to speak with any authority, the man could only curse his fate.

-"SHIT! I can't reach central command on the radio!"-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"Some damn thing is preventing us from communicating with central command!"- Kubo slammed the radio's mic on the truck's panel, and then he got out from the vehicle as quickly as he could. -"All that's left for us to do is talk to Hiroshima, have them communicate with Tokyo, and do something about those bombers."-

-"Do you know the frequency of Hiroshima?"-

-"Of course, here is the list of frequencies of all the cities in the country."- Kubo got in the truck again and he grabbed the radio mic. -"Let me talk to them, while you interrogate that four-eyed fuckwad."-

-"Understood."-

Takamiya pointed his rifle at Komatsu and decided to ask him a few questions...

-"What's your name?"-

-"Yoshinori Komatsu."-

-"What do you do?"-

-"I work as a veterinarian and a biologist."-

-"What were you doing behind our truck?"-

-"I wanted to go to Hiroshima."-

-"Why?"-

-"Because I was born there, and my family hails from that city."-

-"And who is that tiger of yours?"-

-"His name is Raghu."-

-"Raghu, huh?"- Takamiya responded, while he noticed something very off on that feline. -"For a tiger, he seems pretty smart."-

Komatsu decided not to answer that question, to prevent them from knowing about that tiger's powers.

-"And why do you want to go to Hiroshima with a tiger?"-

-"Raghu is part of an experiment of mine and I needed to take it there."

-"An experiment, you say?"-

-"Yeah."-

The soldier looked at Komatsu in disbelief at that response, for it was obvious that Takamiya was not going to swallow that so easily, and suddenly and without warning, the soldier pointed his rifle very close to the science man's forehead.

-"Look, Mr. Know-it-all, if you think I'm gonna believe that you're planning to use that big fucking cat of yours for some kind of shitty school science project, then you're really wrong, smart guy."- Then, the soldier removed the safety lock from his rifle so that Komatsu could hear it. -"Thanks to you and your tiger, we were humiliated by own senior officers, and we wasted too much time on trying to finding you guys during all the fucking trip. I don't know how the fucking hell you two managed to slip inside the truck, but you two managed to ruin our trip with your farts and belching antics..."-

Takamiya then hits Komatsu with the rifle butt, sending the scientist back to the ground.

"...and that really, REALLY PISS ME OFF!"-

Seeing that his companion seemed willing to kill Komatsu right there, Kubo decided to intervene, for he knew that both characters were worth more alive than dead if they wished to receive some sort of reward.

-"Hey, Takamiya, don't beat that poor four-eyed guy too much, he and that tiger could be the key to getting us both promoted!"-

But Takamiya did not seem very interested into hearing his partner's words, and again pointed the rifle at Komatsu, while the later was still on the ground, bleeding from his head after the last blow he received from the soldier.

-"TO HELL WITH THAT SHIT!"- Takamiya yelled in rage at Kubo, not caring at the slightest about the consequences his actions could bring to both of them. -"Let me first make this bastard suffer a little for all the humiliation we've suffered all along the way, and then we'll see about promotions!"-

The scientist could barely sit on the ground after the brutal beating he was receiving from both men, and Raghu, who under normal conditions would have done something to help him, could do nothing, as he too was being threatened at rifle point, and any action he did, including signaling to communicate with Komatsu, could be interpreted by the soldiers as aggressive movements and they could try to shoot him.

-"guh! Please... gentlemen... I think we can work this out somehow... but please... don't kill me...hahg!"-

But Hiroto Takamiya did not care about the scientist's pleas, and he wanted Komatsu to suffer as much as possible without having to kill him first. At his words, the soldier spat Komatsu in the face.

-"FUCK YOU!"-

And slowly, the soldier pointed his rifle at the man, this time pointing to his left arm...

-"Let's see if you still want to beg when I blow your motherfuckin' arm to bits, you goddamn four-eyes!"-

-"TAKAMIYA, YOU ASSHOLE! WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO...!"

But before the soldier could pull the trigger...

𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙎𝙃!

𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙈!

A powerful and deafening explosion was heard at that very moment, coming from the city of Hiroshima, one of a type that none of those around in the road had seen in their lives. That event caused both soldiers to stop whatever they were doing at that moment and they immediately looked at the city.

-"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING THERE?!"-

But before both men, in addition to Komatsu and Raghu, could ask any more questions, a powerful explosive wave was felt in that area, wiping out everything around it.

And in a matter of seconds, the blast hit the supply truck, along with all of its occupants, violently flipping the vehicle through the air, while the people who were on the dirt road also flew away in the same way due to the impact of the shockwave. And it wasn't just the truck and its occupants were the only things that were flying, but everything around them, including trees, rocks, wooden boards, anything that might have been there.

Komatsu, who was on the ground at the time, only watched in terror as everything around him was destroyed in a matter of seconds as a product of that explosion, before he lost consciousness, which allowed him not to see what was happening in those terrifying moments...

---

August 6th, AD 1945, a kilometer from Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, unknown hour (early morning, probable a few hours later from the last event)

When Komatsu opened his eyes, he realized that he was no longer near the supply truck, with the soldiers driving the vehicle threatening him with their rifles, or at least that was the last thing he remembered before that explosion sent him flying through the air.

-"Aughhh!"-

In view of what had happened, the scientist tried not to move from where he was, believing that he probably had some broken bone, or even his neck or spine, considering the violence of that event; once Komatsu had completely opened his eyes, the only thing he saw was a faint light coming from above and nothing else.

-"Where the hell am I?"-

The man asked himself that question, and for a few moments, he thought he might be dead, and that he was in the otherworld, hoping for reckoning for everything he did in his other life.

-"Am I dead?"

But when he touched his whole body, he realized that he was still alive, and the best part of all was that apparently he had absolutely nothing broken, so, slowly and surely, Komatsu began to stand up from where he was.

-"Looks like I'm still alive after all."-

And after looking around, he realized two things: The first was that Komatsu had fallen into what seemed to be a kind of natural sinkhole that was by pure chance at the time in that place, and best of all is that the bottom of that hole was filled with tree leaves, hay and other soft materials that cushioned his fall and prevented it from being deadly to him.

The second important thing was that he wasn't alone in that hole.

-"RAGHU! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? WAKE UP!"-

Raghu was also in the hole along with the human, while the latter tried to awaken him, without success. The scientist, taking advantage of his knowledge in veterinary medicine, checked the pulse of the animal, and realized that his pulse was somewhat weak, while also ensuring that Raghu did not have any injuries caused by the explosion, including broken bones.

But in a matter of minutes, Raghu opened his eyes, and the first thing the tiger saw was his human friend, who couldn't hide his tears after seeing that his feline friend was survived the whole ordeal with him.

-"RAGHU, THANK GOD YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!"-

And then, Komatsu hugged the tiger as harder as he could, while Raghu licked the man's face with his tongue.

-"Oh my... what happened, doctor? Where am I right now?"-

-"It's a long story, buddy, but I'm glad you're OK."- Komatsu replied at the animal, while still checking him up just in case he could still hold some kind of injury out there. -"How do you feel right now?"-

The tiger stood up as soon as it could, and while the animal had some difficulty walking properly at first, Raghu did not seem to have any type of serious injury, other than a few scrapes. The same could be said about Komatsu, who also had some injuries, but none that warranted emergency treatment.

-"I've had worse days than this."-

Then both looked upwards to see if they could find a way out of that hole.

-"Do you think you can get out of there first, Raghu?"-

-"We have no choice but to try."-

Without wasting any more time, Raghu climbed the hole thanks to several vines that were around the place with the help of his claws, which allowed him to climb to the surface quickly. The feline then placed some of these plants in such a way that his human friend could also leave the site.

-"Thanks for helping me out of this hole, my friend."-

-"You're welcome, it's the least I can do for you, doctor."-

But once Komatsu came out of the hole, he realized the Dantesque sight he had around him along with Raghu: Everything around him, including trees, signs, plants and among other things, had completely disappeared, and the only thing there was at that moment was a massive cloud of dust and ashes all over the area. Whatever had happened, it had caused destruction like they had never seen before in their lives, and that was only a few hours after that event. Komatsu had lost track of the time when all that had happened, because he had lost his watch during the incident, and the cloud of dust did not even allow to know if it was still daylight or had already darkened in Hiroshima.

-"Oh, no, no, no..."- The man cursed his fate when he saw the extent of the tragedy that had fallen in that place. -"What the hell happened here?"-

Raghu also tried to see what was around him, but even his animal senses were completely useless in such an adverse situation he had in front of him.

-"I also wish I knew what was going on here."- Raghu said with sheer disbelief in the face of the whole tragedy. -"The only thing I smell in this place is dust, and what looks like charred flesh..."-

That last statement shocked the Japanese man in a way he never felt in his life, considering what could happened to those two soldiers who arrested them a few hours ago.

-"Charred... flesh?"-

-"That's right, unfortunately."-

-"Then let's look for those two men, I wouldn't like to just leave here without knowing what happened to those two guys!"-

-"Well said, doctor."

But to their misfortune, they did not have to walk far to know what had happened to Masakazu Kubo and Hiroto Takamiya, since Raghu and Komatsu found both men a few meters away from where they were...

...and what was left of them was a really unpleasant sight.

-"Oh... my... god..."-

The corpse of Masakazu Kubo was at the top of a tree, with the enormous trunk of a tree running through his chest, while the rest of his entrails lay on the ground, being devoured by the birds of prey that roamed the area. And as for his companion, the reason for the smell of burnt flesh was because Hiroto Takamiya's corpse was under the supply truck, as it caught fire from the blast wave coming from Hiroshima. In either case, that macabre sight turned Komatsu's stomach, for even if those men were not nice people at all, they did not deserve such a gory death. Even Raghu, who had killed many people violently, could not help but feel sick at the sight of such a grotesque scene before his eyes.

-"This is horrible in so many levels..."-

Raghu suddenly saw how his human friend seemed to want to do something about those men, so that at least they could have a dignified resting place after all, but the animal tried to make him change his mind.

-"Forget it, doc. There's nothing we can do for those men right now."- Then, the feline reminded Komatsu about their goal and the main reason why they did all that long trip to Hiroshima. -"For now the most important thing is to know if your family is safe, and considering what happened here, I have my serious doubts about it."-

The man fell on his knees after hearing that last part...

-"MY FAMILY!"-

And at that reminder, Yoshinori Komatsu ran in the direction to Hiroshima disregarding any other consideration of what he might find in that city in light of what had happened hours ago. But none of that mattered to him now: His number one priority was to know if his parents were safe, and nothing else.

-"I don't think this is going to end well at all."- Raghu mused for himself when he saw his friend running towards the city, while he also went there to see what he could do to help.

---

August 6th, AD 1945, Downtown Hiroshima, Japan, unknown hour (thirty minutes from the last event)

After half an hour of running, Komatsu managed to get to his hometown, but as soon as he entered the city and the dust settled a little, the scientist could see with utter shock the magnitude of the tragedy the city of Hiroshima had suffered at that time...

-"No... please no... somebody tell me this is some kind of sick nightmare..."-

69% of the city had been destroyed by whatever was thrown into that city, and that in a single strike wiped out everything in that city, including buildings, trees, homes and above all people. The first thing Komatsu saw when he arrived to Hiroshima was the large number of fires that occurred all over the city, and large parts of Hiroshima now looked like desert-like wastelands where there was nothing standing, not even the smallest house or the most solid structure, like poles or traffic signs.

But what most horrified that poor man was the large number of corpses that were everywhere no matter what part of the city he was going to. There were bodies of adult men, women and children, and whatever weapon was used in that city, it did not distinguish between civilians or soldiers, as happened in Tokyo months ago, except that the effects of that weapon were far more frightening and disturbing on many levels.

But what most horrified that poor man was the large number of corpses that were everywhere no matter what part of the city he was going to. There were bodies of adult men, women and children, many of these were completely incinerated, some of them to the grade only their bones remained, while other bodies were on the ground as if they were dead cockroaches crushed by something massive and powerful, and whatever weapon was used in that city, it did not distinguish between civilians or soldiers, as happened in Tokyo months ago, except that the effects of that weapon were much more frightening and disturbing on many levels.

And if this was already disturbing to see in those who died, that was nothing compared to the suffering of those who had the misfortune to survive the bomb.

Komatsu saw as ambulances, vehicles and any means of mass transportation that still worked at that time carried stacks of wounded people and dead bodies, which were taken to any place where they could be cared for, or buried if necessary. The bomb had also destroyed many of the city's hospitals, and many wounded were taken to improvised open-air hospitals, where they were treated by anyone with medical knowledge, no matter how improvised.

-"HEY YOU, KID!"-

A man in a truck that appeared to be from the Red Cross shouted at Komatsu, who was trying to go to where his parents lived at the time.

-"Do you mean me, sir?"-

-"Yeah, I'm talking to you!"- The driver yelled at him. -"Are you a doctor?"-

-"Yes."-

-"We need all the available doctors we can find, as many died in the attack! Do you want to come and help us, young man?"-

But Komatsu was not in the mood to be sympathetic to anyone outside his own family, even in light of what had happened.

-"I don't have time to help anyone, I need to go look for my parents, they lived in the north of the city, so stop bother me, and go find another stupid doctor!"-

The driver of the Red Cross truck stared to the north, and could not help but sigh at the doctor's comment...

-"The north, you say?"- The man said with a somber tone, while still yelling at Komatsu. -"I'm sorry to tell you this, kiddo, but there's NOTHING standing in the north, and if there was anyone living in that area, they must all be dead by now!"-

Before this, Komatsu ran as fast as he could heading north, saying nothing more to the driver. The man, a person of about 45 years of age or older, saw how that young man ran in search of his loved ones, ignoring any danger that might befall him there.

-""HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, KIDDO?! DO YOU WANT TO GETTING YOURSELF KILLED OR WHAT?!"-

---

August 6th, AD 1945, on the banks of the Ota River, Downtown Hiroshima, Japan, unknown hour

Komatsu, by fate, ran near the Ota River, where the traditional restaurant "Jiiya" was located near there. That restaurant was where Saeko Yasuda, the little girl who had the ability to talk to animals, worked.

As he passed through the area, Komatsu quickly remembered Saeko, and quickly his head was filled with the horror of thinking that something might have happened to that little girl and her family.

-"Oh, no, no, no...Saeko!"-

But for his disgrace, at the moment the young scientist arrived at the place where the restaurant originally was, the only thing left of that place were burning ruins, which fiercely glowed at that tragic moment, while Komatsu was standing there, completely frozen like a stone statue, at the sight that there was no way anyone could have survived such a catastrophe.

-"SAEKO!"-

Without wasting any more time, Komatsu ran to the site of the fire, with the intention of trying to save that little girl, in case she was there, from that place that had become a hellish ordeal.

But when he tried to approach the place, an explosion, most likely produced by some gas tank used by the restaurant's stoves, roared the place with more force than ever, causing hundreds of burning wood fragments to fly through the air. Seeing this, Komatsu quickly backed away, and ran towards the river and sank into it, in order to protect himself from those burning projectiles that fell on his head.

The man remained plunged into the water as long as he could, while he watched as shards of the restaurant fell into the river as if they were burning bullets. Fortunately, none of those fragments impacted him, but Komatsu remained under the river for a few more seconds until he saw that there was no longer any danger.

When the danger was over, the scientist came out of the water, and watched helplessly as the Jiiya, or what was left of the restaurant, burned before his eyes, while many of the neighbors who lived in the area tried to put out the fire with water from the river. The man tried to get closer to see if he could still do something, but a man stopped him.

-"I know what you're thinking, buddy, but I don't think there's anything else you can do. If there was someone there, chances are they're all already dead."-

Faced with the possibility that Saeko and her family might have been there, Komatsu fell to the ground on his knees, and began to cry silently, seeing that she could not have survived the fire, if the bomb did not kill her first...

-"No... please... tell me if Saeko was there before all this happened..."-

-"Saeko? You mean the daughter of the Yasudas? I knew her years ago, but if I remember correctly, she was inside there before all this horrible tragedy unfolded. If she was important to you, I am very sorry, pal."- The man placed his hand on Komatsu's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. -"All we can do is pray that her soul will now rest in peace."-

But Komatsu was not in the mood for that sort of thing, and immediately he took away the hand of the man who was trying to comfort him from his shoulder and quickly looked at him with a rage that he had repressed for a long time, and that he had never felt in all his life.

-"May she rest in peace, you say?"-

The man, upon seeing Komatsu's attitude, stepped back upon seeing that the doctor looked upon him as a bloodthirsty demon who no longer desired the human sympathy from anyone else.

-"YOU CALL THIS RESTING IN PEACE, FOR GOD'S SAKE?"-

The neighbor tried to calm him down...

-"Hey, easy, buddy!"- The man was shocked to see how Komatsu looked at him with murderous eyes. -"I understand how you feel, but this is not the time to piss off like this!"-

There was a moment of very tense silence, then he continued...

-"Saeko must be dead by now, and there is nothing we can do except pluck the dead from there and bury them. You better come to terms with that at once, young man."-

And then...

-"HYAAAAHHHH!"

Komatsu rose to his feet as quickly as he could, and without a second thought, he punched that man in the face who was trying to comfort him. Then he ran north without saying anything else, leaving that neighbor surprised, and at the same time in pain after the blow he received.

-"Oh man, that was a good straight punch, that's for sure..."-

Then another man went over to find out what had happened between him and Komatsu.

-"What happened here?"- The other neighbor said while helping the other man to rise on his feet after that blow he received from the doctor. -"I just saw that guy punching you, and then he ran away; did you knew him, by chance?"-

-"No."- The man replied. -"But I cannot blame him for punching me either. That man lost a very loved person in the Jiiya, and I'm very afraid about what might happen if that young man learns that there could be more people in his family or loved ones among the dead. I only hope that he assimilates this in the best possible way, because otherwise, this blow would be nothing compared with the fury of that man."-

---

August 6th, AD 1945, Northern Downtown Hiroshima, Japan, unknown hour

Yoshinori Komatsu ran as fast as he could, in spite of the pain he felt all over his body, thinking only that his family could have survived the atomic tragedy that fell upon Hiroshima, his hometown. He still had the slightest hope that his family and home could have survived the whole catastrophe and that both parents would be safe. Considering what happened to Saeko and her family, he could not have the luxury of thinking otherwise.

Unfortunately for him, the hopes of that man began to fade when he arrives at where his home was originally...

-"No... this can't be happening..."-

When he arrived at the neighborhood where he had grown up, the only thing that was left was rocks, rubble and nothing else. There was almost no building standing throughout the area, and what was once a bustling and cheerful neighborhood was now a dead and desolate wasteland.

But if this was not enough for him, the stench of death was very noticeable throughout the place; a large number of corpses of men, women, the old and children lay everywhere as if it were a very macabre spectacle for anyone who had the misfortune of being there in those moments. Komatsu made a supreme effort to only breathe when needed in order to not to inhale such stench.

And while this was happening, that unlucky young man could only run towards the place where he originally lived with his parents.

And when he arrived at the place that was his home, he saw what he feared from the beginning that might have happened: His apartment had completely disappeared, and now what was left of the building was only ruins, where not even the foundations were standing...

-"No..."-

-"No..."-

-"This is a joke, right?"-

Then Komatsu approached the ruins of the building slowly and slowly, as he watched that painful and tragic scene for that man. All the effort and sacrifice he made to reach Hiroshima from Tokyo, where he even risked his own life and Raghu's, had been completely in vain.

-"Somebody tell me this is not real..."-

In a desperate act of sorrow as he saw the destruction of his own home, Yoshinori Komatsu ran into the rubble, and without any help other than his own hands, he began to dig through the rubble in order to find his parents, or at least their bodies, that could still be trapped there...

And so he went on for about 15 minutes, while the only thing he could find in that undone place was stones, rubble and corpses of the people who lived there, some of them were completely charred or crushed due either from the atomic explosion, or from the collapse of the building due to the former.

What Komatsu did not realize was that the driver of the Red Cross truck he met when he first arrived in town walked up to him, with the intention of at least helping him, even if there was nothing he could do for that troubled man.

-"Hey, buddy..."-

Komatsu, for obvious reasons, was in no mood for greetings and much less for pity, and ignored the man as he continued to delve into the rubble.

-"I doubt very much that you can do anything else..."-

The young Japanese scientist kept ignoring the driver, without saying a word.

-If you keep doing that, you'll only end up hurting yourself, and you could become ill..."-

And while this was taking place, a rain began to fall on the city unexpectedly upon the city, which, while helping to alleviate in some way the fires that raged in most of the city, also only helped to deepen the plight of the survivors, due to the unpleasantness of this was in that tragedy that had struck that city.

The driver, seeing that the rain was falling, and to protect himself from it and also from that man who was frantically looking for his parents among the ruins, decided to walk to where Komatsu was, and immediately, he took the young man by force to a safe place.

-"LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD! MY PARENTS ARE STILL THERE, DON'T YOU SEE? LET ME GO, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"-

-"FORGET ABOUT YOUR PARENTS, YOU MORON! WE MUST TAKE COVER, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"-

-"I SAID LET ME GO, YOU STUPID SON OF A...!"-

The man punched Komatsu in the stomach, which blew the air out of him and knocked him unconscious as he led him to what appeared to be what remained of a small Shinto shrine near where the apartment was, where the two hid from the rain that fell over Hiroshima.

-"phew! It was a miracle we found a place that is still standing. At least we can stay dry here until the rain stops, that's for sure."-

Komatsu slowly regained consciousness, and saw how that man had forcibly taken him to that place to shelter them from the rain. He could not, nor did he want to thank him for what he did, but he also knew that there was nothing more that science man could do to overcome that reality, except to stay there and wait for the rain to stop.

-"Did you just wake up, young man? At least you should thank me for saving your life if you had continued digging like crazy in that place..."-

No answer from Komatsu...

-"There is nothing else you would have done for your parents, or for anyone who had lived in that place, that's for sure, and I am very sorry for your loss, but at this point I think that everyone in this city has lost someone dear because of whatever shit the Americans threw here."-

-"Since I work for the Red Cross, could you at least help us treating the injured, if you wish. We have lost many doctors and nurses, and I think any help is useful right now."-

Again, no response from the doctor...

-"If you are lucky, there is a possibility that your parents might still be alive there and that they had not been inside the building before all this happened, so if you help us, you may find them among the injured, if they are in some hospital or makeshift camp out there..."-

Suddenly, both Komatsu and the driver realized something was happening to the rain that was falling on the city: The rainwater suddenly changed its color to an almost dark color, almost completely black, as if it were oil or some chemical substance. That black rain fell on the city as if that rain mocked the wretched residents of the city by dropping on them what seemed to be the divine equivalent of God defecating on Hiroshima.

But when Komatsu saw that dark rain that fell in front of him, that poor scientist noticed something that was well known to him, and at the same time it was equally shocking for that man...

Both the rain, and the tragedy itself, were the same as what he dreamed in the nightmares he had had for many years since the war began, and that included the suffering of the inhabitants of that strange city that he saw in his dreams, the damage that the bomb caused to its inhabitants, and above all, the black rain that fell on that city, in the same way as the same rain that fell at that time on Hiroshima.

The only difference at the time was that, while the former had been a nightmare, and the strange inhabitants who lived in the strange city had the shape of humanoid-looking animals, what he saw before his eyes was the most painful reality possible, and the people who lived in that city of Japan were humans.

All this led Yoshinori Komatsu to a very painful conclusion that he had been ignoring for many years, believing that all that he had seen in his nightmares was a product of stress and suffering that he had suffered throughout the Second World War:

What he had dreamed inside his head was not simply horrible nightmares just to scare him or ruin his dream, but it was a warning, most likely related to his theory that he was working on it since university, and that he knew very well since day one what he was doing was a knowledge that for many people in the science establishment was considered a taboo knowledge, something forbidden by science due to the consequences that could fall on the human race if someone tried to play God with nature itself, just like Komatsu tried to do.

And as a result of having ignored that warning, the city of Hiroshima, its people and, above all, all the loved ones of Yoshinori Komatsu, including Saeko Yasuda, her family and the doctor's parents, paid the price of ignoring that warning from the mother nature with their own lives.

-"No... I always thought this was just some very horrible nightmares, not some kind of warning..."-

The driver, who was also busy watching the black rain with unease, heard Komatsu and wondered what was going on, ignoring the whole context of the whole situation...

-"A kind of warning, you said?"- The driver said at Komatsu. -"What's wrong with you and what are you talking about?"-

-"At first, I thought this was just something out of one of my nightmares..."- Komatsu replied with a creeper visage in his face. -"but all this time, my dreams were warning me of all this from the beginning, and I, by my own arrogance and foolishness, ignored all those warnings, and let all this happen..."

Those context-less words began to disturb that driver as never before had he felt in that life, and he thought that science man could had lost his mind.

-"And do you mean with all this "you let all this" shit, buddy? You're starting to worry the hell out of me..."-

Suddenly, Komatsu knelt on the ground, stared at the black rain, and after watching how that dark, dirty and above all radioactive rain fell on Hiroshima, he raised his arms, as he was trying to offer something to God, but instead...

-"DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN THE BASTARDS WHO DID THIS, I WILL KILL EVERY SINGLE OF THE MONSTERS WHO KILLED MY FAMILY AND MY HIROSHIMA, DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN EVERY ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEE OF YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"-

And then, his cries of pain were heard for several kilometers in all directions...

-"ＮＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯ！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！"-

---

EPILOGUE

On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb, called "Little Boy", on Hiroshima, Japan, from a B-29 bomber called "Enola Gay," led by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets. During the attack, more than 80,000 people died, most of these civilians.

Then, the United States threw another bomb, called "Fatman", on the city of Nagasaki, on August 9th, 1945, from another B-29, called "Bockscar", led by Major Charles W. Sweeney. In that city, approximately 22,000 to 75,000 people died, the vast majority also civilians.

On August 15th, 1945, Emperor Showa (Hirohito) announced the surrender of Japan, which was formalized on September 2nd of the same year at the USS Missouri.

In mid-August of the same year, the Allies, led by the U.S., and under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, militarily occupied the country from 1945 to 1952.

During the American occupation in Japan, MacArthur ordered the cancellation of any secret project that the Japanese government was carrying out during the war, including the projects that were carried out in the secret underground bunker that the Japanese imperial government built for all projects of very esoteric nature, along with the other ordinary projects. That also included the Advanced Artificial Evolution Project created by Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu, whose printed thesis fell in the hands of the occupation government, and therefore to the Americans.

Colonel Hiroshi Matsuoka, who was in charge of the aforementioned bunker, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in his own office. His corpse was found days later and was cremated, then his ashes were scattered in the sea. All the information regarding his death, especially when he died, are kept as state secrets by the Japanese government, even to date.

The bodies of Masakazu Kubo and Hiroto Takamiya were found a year later in the vicinity of Hiroshima. The body of the former had already been completely devoured by predatory birds that fed on his rotten body that was impaled in a tree, while from Takamiya's body only a few bones were found, possibly also devoured by animals.

Up to this point, the whereabouts of Dr. Yoshinori Komatsu remained unknown after he and the tiger named "Raghu" fled Tokyo a day before the atomic attack on Hiroshima. Nothing was heard of him until several years later, or at least that was what the American government officially said ...

END OF ACT XIII

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