Kafka looked at the yoju carefully. Its eyeballs were about the size of a human head, and the inside of its mouth was bristling with countless teeth. Just like the kaiju he had seen on the bank of the Tama River, it had three horizontal stripes on its stomach.
Fish-type kaiju came in all shapes and sizes, but you could ID their type based on limb count and pattern. This time as well, the analysis unit had determined their type and shared out the position of their cores.
“Still, seeing a fish type up close,” Kafka said, “it feels like it’s staring at me on purpose.”
“You mean, ‘on por-pose’?” Kikoru said doubtfully.
“Yeah. Look at how big its eyes are—like it’s staring into my soul on purpose.”
“Sir,” said Reno, “you didn’t go through all that now just to say ‘on porpoise,’ did you?”
Standing before the dumbstruck Kafka, Kikoru wore a stern expression. “And there it is. We have our dad joke,” she said.
“No, that’s not it! That wasn’t a joke just now. You just heard me say ‘purpose’ wrong! I didn’t say ‘porpoise’!” Kafka insisted.
“Reno, let’s get over to the lake. Other kaiju may still come ashore,” Kikoru said.
“Roger that. Let’s go, Shinomiya.”
Leaving Kafka behind, the two of them ran off toward the lakeside.
“Hey! Wait up, you two!” Kafka yelled. “I didn’t mean it like that! Don’t leave me—!”
Kafka was just about to take off after them when, from behind, there came a sound as of something being dragged.
“Hm? What’s— What!”
Kafka was struck speechless when he turned around to look back. The yoju that Reno had supposedly killed was getting up again. Blood and entrails spilled from the hole in its stomach, and its bloodshot eyes were trained on Kafka.
But Ichikawa shot a hole through it!
The kaiju opened its gaping maw and leapt straight at Kafka. Tumbling sideways, he tried to dodge it and just barely managed to avoid its attack. The enormous body passed by his side with a loud whoosh.
“Sir!”
A single shot rang out. A burst round fired by Reno struck inside the creature’s mouth. The kaiju’s head sizzled loudly, and it collapsed on the pavement, this time for good.
Kikoru and Reno hurried back over to where Kafka was standing.
“You need to follow through, Reno. Like Vice-Captain Hoshina said, don’t let your guard down.”
“Sorry, Shinomiya. Sir, I’m sorry,” Reno said. “Maybe I didn’t shoot through the core.”
“No,” said Kafka, shaking his head. “That was without a doubt the spot the analysis unit told us to aim for.”
“That can’t be, sir. They can’t survive if they lose their cores.”
“You’re right,” Kafka said. “Maybe this one was some kind of subspecies.”
The bodily characteristics of subspecies differed only slightly, so examples had been reported of cores with differing positions.
The words Kikoru had only just said to Kafka reverberated in his head.
“Stick to doing what you’re capable of.”
Kafka said, “All right. I’ll examine the body and confirm the core’s location.” He pulled out a knife from the sheath on his belt and jumped up on the kaiju. He had plenty of experience disassembling ichthyoids. This one had a hide covered in hard scales, however, and he was having trouble cutting through with his blade.
“Crap. What I wouldn’t give for a heat chain saw right now.”
Kafka changed tactics and inserted his knife in the hole Reno had made. The kaiju’s organs were still warm, giving off their distinctive odor. Kafka proceeded alone with the ichthyoid’s disassembly in the driving rain.
Watching him from the side, Kikoru murmured, as if impressed, “Wow. You’re pretty good at that. To think you were really that good with your hands.”
“He’d charge right into intestine duty when everybody else tried to get out of it,” Reno said.
Kafka paid no attention to the chatter around him. His eyes were locked on the kaiju in front of him. He sliced through the peritoneum and pulled out the intestines. Behind them was a large translucent organ whose surface was covered with a web of blood vessels. The inside was filled with liquid.
What the heck is that?
When Kafka picked the organ up, it immediately burst open. Instantly, a foul stench spread outward and assaulted his nostrils even through his mask. “Ugh, that was its bladder!” Kafka screamed, realizing the seriousness of the situation he found himself in. “This liquid is pee! Ichikawa, Kikoru! Help me out here! This stinks to high heaven!”
Ichikawa, perhaps flashing back to some trauma from his time as a disassembly worker, was getting nauseous. “Gross!” he said. “Don’t come near me with that stuff on you!”
“Good grief! If you’re just going to play around, then I’m going on ahead!” Kikoru said.
“No, I’m serious. Wait. Hm?” Looking at the disassembled kaiju, Kafka realized something. “I’ve got it, Ichikawa, Kikoru! I know why this thing got back up!”
A large bridge connects the northern and southern shores of Lake Kawaguchi. Hoshina was in the town on the southern side of the lake, not far from the bridge’s foot. A large number of yoju were coming onto land from the shore near the town. Even now, a huge number of them were rampaging through the area, and the seasoned officers, Hoshina included, were busy dealing with them.
“Vice-Captain Hoshina, this is Izumo, in Neutralization Zone Delta. I’d like to report—”
Hoshina listened to Haruichi’s report from the western side of the lake, and then responded. “So, they can’t be neutralized even by shooting through their core, eh? I’ve confirmed examples of that over here too. I was just about to get in touch with the analysis unit.”
Similar reports had been pouring in from numerous officers. Hoshina had seen it happen himself with a kaiju he had battled. He opened a channel to his operator. “Miss Okonogi? It’s me. There’s a surefire way to neutralize these yoju, so would you be kind enough to tell everyone? The method is as follows—”
Suddenly, there was a noise like that of something enormous beginning to stir. Two yoju that had been concealed in the shadows of buildings had leapt into the air and come at Hoshina from behind while he was talking on his transmitter.
Ting! A brief metallic sound rang out. The pair of yoju that had been closing in on him instantly froze up. The next moment, a powerful ice-cold wind blew, and their heads rolled off their bodies.
Hoshina shook blood from the blade of the katana in his hand. “Take off the heads and the cores don’t matter,” he said. “It’s just like making grilled fish heads.”
“But, Vice-Captain Hoshina,” Okonogi said, “The only one who can do that easily is you!”
“Really?” Hoshina said. “Well, maybe things won’t go so easily then.”
When Hoshina looked at Lake Kawaguchi, there were large ripples on the water’s surface. The head of an enormous fish appeared above the water. Its eyeballs alone exceeded the size of a human being, and it had an enormous mouth that looked able to swallow a whale in one gulp.
To think that a honju could grow this big.
In the past, a large-scale survey had been conducted of the five lakes of Mount Fuji. At the time, no kaiju had been confirmed to be living there. These fish-type kaiju had four limbs and were able to move about on land. As juveniles, they spent all their time in the water, but when they matured, they came onto land and expanded their habitat. Which was why—
With a loud bloop of waters rushing back together, the honju dove down into the lake.
We can’t let a thing like that escape into another lake.
Hoshina looked at the bridge nearby. It was five hundred meters in length, and Mina Ashiro was standing in the center. She had her gun barrel pointed at Lake Kawaguchi, whose waters appeared murky from reflecting the overcast sky.
Looks like the captain’s finally ready.