Chapter Six

The next morning…

"Mana, I'm heading to work now," Yuta called out. He found her sitting at the kitchen table staring at her phone. He walked over and gently took the phone from her. "You should stop looking at that," he said quietly.

"There was another incident of mermaid's flesh in Switzerland," Mana said. "Thirty people died! Yuta…" she looked at him with an expression of sadness and horror. "Yuta, what's going on?!"

"…I don't know," Yuta said, closing the article on her phone. "But it's escalating quickly beyond our control."

Before turning the thumb drive over to Shiro, Mana and him had taken a look at the location of where Yamagishi's order had come from. It had been a…fishery located in the northwest. Yuta had been strongly tempted for Mana and him to go to the fishery themselves to handle it, but after the incident in Kyoto Yuta knew that the location had to have been larger than a standard fishery. For over one hundred people to have eaten mermaid's flesh at a party, Yuta knew that the facility had to be massive. That it had to be a "farm" where mermaid's were grown and then slaughtered for consumption. He didn't want to think about how many mermaids were being raised at this facility, but he knee that there had to be a lot.

But Shiro took over the investigation and doesn't want us to be involved. As much as I want to help, this is too big for Mana and I to do anything. We'll have to trust Shiro to handle this.

"I'll come home straight after work," Yuta reassured her, handing her back the phone. "In the meantime don't open the door for anyone. And stop reading articles about all—this. Just watch videos with puppies and kittens, okay?"

Mana sighed quietly, taking her phone back. "How can I watch puppies and kitties when people are dying, Yuta?"

"Because it will be better for your mental health," Yuta told her. "I'll be back at—"

He was interrupted by a loud pounding at the front door. Mana looked up with alarm, but Yuta motioned to her to stay back. "I'll check," he told her. "If something happens, go out the bathroom window."

"Yuta, I can't leave you!" Mana exclaimed, but Yuta hurried to the front door. He was poised to attack if necessary. He looked through the peephole, but he didn't entirely relax when he saw who was on the other side. "It's Shiro!" he called over his shoulder.

"What does he want?!" Mana demanded. Yuta opened the front door. "What—"

"Plans have changed again," Shiro snapped, pushing his way into the apartment. He was still wearing sunglasses but Yuta saw from his stiff posture and his clenched jaw that he was angry. Very angry. "I need you both again."

A cold chill swept over Yuta. Not even twenty-four hours earlier they had been discarded from the mermaid situation, but now Shiro wanted their help again. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

"They're dead," Shiro rasped, gesturing angrily with his arm. "They killed everyone."

"W-What?" Mana gasped.

"My team!" Shiro shouted. Both Yuta and Mana jumped at his raised voice. "I sent agents to take down the facility, and they killed them all! All of my agents are dead!"

"W-What?!" Mana exclaimed again.

"What the hell happened?!" Yuta demanded.

"Biological warfare, what else?!" Shiro snarled. "Most of their cameras were destroyed, but we salvaged a short clip. When my team moved in, it started—raining! Or misting! Whatever it was, the fluid was contaminated with mermaid byproduct! Either contact or my team inhaling the mist in—they were exposed to mermaid byproduct! It were as though they had eaten the flesh! Two turned into those "Lost Souls", others coughed up blood—but the main thing is that my team is dead!"

Yuta swallowed thickly. A knot of fear started forming inside of him. "These people are prepared," he whispered. "The brazen way they're selling mermaid's flesh globally…and contaminate water as another means of spreading this curse?"

"Oh my God," Mana whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth. "What if—What if this water gets out to the public?!"

"Regardless, it is too dangerous to send anyone else to this facility," Shiro fumed.

"Why not do an airstrike from the air?" Yuta asked. "That should take care of the facility."

"We don't know what else this facility is producing to distribute mermaid's flesh. And it's attached to water. We have no way of knowing if an airstrike may dump contaminated into the water or the surrounding forest. We need to properly secure the facility before destroying it. That's why I need you both again." Shiro pointed to Yuta and Mana. "I can't risk sending normal people in there. But exposure to mermaid's flesh should be no problem for the two because you already ate it and survived it. I need you both to go there and put a stop to it."

"Right," Mana said immediately, nodding.

"I'm happy to help but this is going to be a difficult job," Yuta pointed out. "Mana and I are probably going to die several times during this. And we don't know what we're going up against, except that this is a fishery that may possibly have at least a hundred mermaids."

"I know," Shiro said. "But they're still shipping out orders and people are still dying. This doesn't look good for the Japanese government, so we need to settle this now before the Americans decide to mobilize their forces. Sending the two of you in should hopefully minimize any more casualties."

"We need to do this, Yuta," Mana said, taking his hand. "We have to stop this so no one else dies."

Yuta nodded his understanding, though his stomach knotted as he looked at Shiro. "We've always been devoted to stopping the spread of mermaid consumption. We may not know what we're up against, but rarely do we ever know what we face in these situations. We'll do it."

"Good," Shiro said. "Because we're leaving now. We're going to fly you there and drop you off at the perimeter. Get it done by tomorrow morning."

"And if we do, you'll help us," Yuta said.

Shiro nodded. "If you both succeed, the Emperor himself will ensure you're rewarded handsomely."

Yuta was still uneasy, but he tried to shake it off as best as he could as Mana and him followed Shiro out of the apartment. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and he held strong to his will. They needed to stop this. They needed to stop the widespread curse of the mermaid's flesh.

Whoever is doing this…we will stop them.

The eyes that stared up at him from the murky depths were filled with hatred. It was a glare that Higuchi was familiar with, but in the moment he was uneasy. He swallowed thickly and looked away. "This is necessary," he murmured. "This is necessary."

"Sont-ce des sirènes?"

"Mon Dieu, ils sont moches!"

Laughter from below drew Higuchi's attention and he looked over the rail. In the tank below he saw two young men kneeling beside the tank and pointing into the water and laughing. They were the only survivors of their "Switzerland order" and had achieved immortality. Not only were they pleased with their newfound immortality but they were also fully in support of Masato's ultimate goal. A little too supportive in Higuchi's opinion, but he never said anything to Masato about it. Masato only welcomed people who supported their plans. Anyone who didn't was killed.

This is necessary. We need to do this to make a better world.

"Excuse me," a woman's voice said in English behind him. Higuchi turned to see an American woman holding a clipboard. She began speaking English in rapid-fire at him, and though Higuchi spoke conversational English she was talking so fast that the words sounded garbled to him. "W-Wait!" Higuchi interrupted her in English. "Just—slow down please!"

The woman looked impatient and shoved the clipboard into his arms before storming away. Higuchi shook his head and glanced at the clipboard. But what he read on the clipboard…the mantra he had been chanting in his mind fled and he raced away from the tanks and towards the offices. "MASATO-SAMA!"

Masato was playing what looked like a Nintendo 2DS when Higuchi burst into his office. "What is it?" he asked calmly.

"You can't do this, Masato-sama!" Higuchi shrieked, jabbing his finger at the page on the clipboard. "You cannot possibly do this order, Masato-sama!"

Masato glanced at the clipboard before glancing at him. "I"m pretty sure I can," Masato responded.

"You CAN'T!" Higuchi shouted, wringing his free hand through his hair. "This is—Masato-sama, if you fill this order—this is inhumane!"

"I'm not human, Higuchi," Masato pointed out, closing his 2DS and setting it on the couch cushion beside him. "This is the next step in our plan. You knew what the stakes were when you pledged your loyalty to me 30 years ago."

"These are children!" Higuchi shouted. "You cannot give mermaid's flesh to children, Masato-sama!"

Masato's brow rose. "Why not? I ate mermaid's flesh as a child over 800 years ago. Are you saying that there is something wrong with feeding children mermaid's flesh?"

"I just…" Higuchi stammered, a cold knot of fear settling over him. "Masato-sama—"

"We have exposed thousands of people to mermaid's flesh these past 30 years, Higuchi," Masato pointed out. "And of those thousands of people, thousands of them have died. You have not spoken against me in all this time, with all these deaths. Only now you speak against me?"

His voice was eerily calm. He wasn't shouting, but Higuchi almost wished that he would shout. "We are in danger," he whispered. "We're filling too many orders too fast. Too many people are dying at once, and we—we killed government agents, Masato-sama! Do you realize the danger that we're in?! And now you want to expose children to mermaid's flesh! We are being too reckless and it—" he shook his head furiously. "How is making children immortal going to bring out a perfect world?!"

"Our kind will have children they can claim as their own," Masato said. "And I will have companions that look similar in age to me. Children is only one step. With the success of the misting, we can also make infants immortal."

"I-INFANTS?!" Higuchi shrieked. "You can't turn infants, Masato-sama! You cannot!"

"Says who?"

"I say so! This is my fishery, and I—"

Masato reached behind one of the couch cushion and pulled out a pistol. Before Higuchi could react he fired two shots directly into Higuchi's chest. He fell to the floor, and after a few gasping breaths he went still.

"Fool," Masato said, setting the gun down. "You never truly understood my plan. That's why you never ate the flesh himself."

"Masato-sama!" His loyal agents burst into the room with their weapons drawn. "Masato-sama, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Masato said. "But we will be moving forward witout Higuchi's support. Send cleaners in here to take care of the mess."

The agents looked stunned at seeing Higuchi sprawled on the floor, but snapped to attention. "Yes, sir!"

Masato watched them drag Higuchi's body out of the room. Then he picked up his 2DS and returned to his game.