Jet lag kick in not long after the vehicle I’m in starts to move. As a result, I feel extremely groggy.

   ‘You can just sleep for a while. We’ll wake you up once we’ve reached our destination.’ Amesaki-senpai suggests to me when she notices that I’m not feeling well.

   ‘Are you going to use this chance to assault him?’ Motome-senpai smirks.

   Amesaki-senpai blushes at once.

   ‘No, I won’t!’

   ‘Uh-huh.’

   ‘I’ll take up on your offer, then.’ I tell them while ignoring their conversations.

   ‘Go ahead. Sweet dreams.’

   When I wake up, I smell salt in the air. The vehicle has already stopped, and I’m all alone in it. A small fraction of the window to my left has been lowered down so that I would not die from lack of oxygen.

   I get out of the vehicle as I let out a huge yawn. I feel much better now, but I still feel a bit sleepy. I take out my phone and send a message to my LINE group to tell my girlfriends that I’ve arrived safely. I didn’t get any reply since all of them have already fall asleep. After all, it’s close to midnight at Japan right now.

   While stretching my body, I take in the view before me.

   There’s a beautiful beach right in front of me. The sand is brown, the seawater is blue and crystal clear. Now that it’s almost winter, it’s quite cold around here. Still, this would be an ideal place for a vacation.

   If it wasn’t for the destroyed village on my left.

   All the wooden houses I see are built on really tall to prevent them from getting flooded during high tide. To be more accurate, what’s left of those houses. A vast majority of them are either burned to the ground or wrecked beyond repair. I dread to think what happened to their inhabitants.

   I see a lot of men and women in suits rummaging around the wreckage, hoping to find something. They’re also saying something to each other, but I can’t catch any of that since I was too far away. I figure that I better stay out of their way since I won’t know what am I supposed to do.

   I walk over to the beach and take a closer look at the written words right in front of the village. Sure enough, there are the words “Stop me before it’s too late”. Don’t ask me how some fish folks know how to write Japanese, or how they know how to write at all.

   ‘Did you have a good sleep?’

   I look towards the direction where I heard the voice. It’s Amesaki-senpai.

   ‘Not really, but work comes first.’

   She smiles at me. ‘We’ll try to search for clues first. Hopefully, we’ll find something quickly enough so that we could take a break.’

   ‘Got it, senpai. I’ll-’

   I stop suddenly as I feel someone or something staring at me.

   ‘Is something wrong?’ Amesaki-senpai asks me in concern.

   ‘Senpai, do you feel like we’re being watched?’

   ‘Not at all. Are we?’

   ‘I’m absolutely positive.’

   She looks around for a while.

   ‘Strange. I don’t sense anything at all. Not to brag, but my sixth sense is pretty good when it comes to this kind of thing.’

   I would say I’m overthinking it, but in fact I’m not. The truth is, I’ve felt this stare before. When my girlfriends and I were at D*sneysea.

   ‘Senpai, I’ll be excusing myself for a moment.’

   ‘Sure. Where are you going?’

   ‘I’m going to look for a stick.’

   ‘Um, okay.’

   Naturally, she has no idea why I would need one. I leave the beach and go to the nearest group of trees I see right opposite the road where all the vehicles are parked. I bent down and pick up a fallen branch that’s the right length and go back to the beach.

   While Amesaki-senpai is watching, I slowly and carefully draw a pentacle. It took me around ten minutes since I was really taking my time, but it was eventually completed.

   ‘Can you watch over me while I dive inside my head?’ I ask Amesaki-senpai.

   ‘Of course. Take all the time you need.’

   I sit down cross-legged in the middle of the pentacle and close my eyes. Three seconds later, I’m in the bottom of the ocean where everything around me is pitch black.

   ‘Took you long enough!’ a voice tells me.

   It’s the same as usual for Curruid. He’s keeping his distance away from me, and I can only see his larger-than-a-house eyes.

   ‘It’s him, isn’t it?’ I get straight to the point.

   ‘Who else would it be? Finally, my time for revenge has come!’

   ‘Hold your seahorses. First of all, I’m the one who has to fight him. You’re just an ornament. Even if I do end up winning, it has nothing to do with you.’

   ‘Looks like someone wants to be torn apart!’ the sea monster growls.

   ‘I’m sorry. I’m actually not alone. How could I forget?’

   ‘Good.’

   ‘I have those civil servants on my side. Together, we can surely win.’

   Curruid starts to growl so loudly the entire seabed is trembling. I patiently wait for him to finish his tantrum.

   ‘Are you done?’ I ask once the growling and trembling stops.

   ‘For now.’ he mutters.

   ‘Right. Let’s get back to the topic at hand. How are we going to lure him out? Am I just supposed to dive into the middle of the ocean and wait until he arrives?’

   ‘I honestly doubt that will work.’

   ‘Seriously? Even after staring at me for so long every time I’m near the ocean? Now that I feel like fighting him, he’s suddenly all no thank you?’

   ‘Unlike me, he has a nasty habit of stalking his prey. He would quietly observe his target for weeks and even months before finally going in for the kill.’

   ‘Hold on. He’s around the same size as you, right?’

   ‘What of it?’

   ‘I find it hard to believe that a creature as big as you can actually go stealth mode without getting noticed. And he’s not even trying to hide the fact that he’s stalking me.’

   ‘Our species specify in hiding our presence no matter our size. Hence, we can never be detected even though we are the size of a skyscraper built by you humans.’

   ‘How does that even work?’

   ‘That I cannot tell you. It is one of our greatest secret, after all. If you are that curious, you can ask the one who created us in the fist place. If you can find Him, that is.’

   ‘In other words, you don’t know.’

   ‘I never said that.’

   ‘The way you said it sure make you sound like you don’t.’

   He growls irritably.

   ‘Does it matter?’ he demands.

   ‘It doesn’t. But it’s fun irritating you.’

   He sighs. ‘You are as charming as ever.’

   ‘I’m glad that you enjoy my company. Now then. You mentioned that I can’t just lure him out. Why is that?’

   ‘He is not one who charges straight to a fight. He prefers to deal mental damage to his prey before striking so that his chance of winning is maximized.’

   ‘Is that how he got you?’

   A pause.

   ‘I do not want to talk about it.’

   It’s a shame I can’t see his face since I can’t tell what he’s thinking from hearing his voice alone. I don’t know he’s ashamed of getting bested or accepted the fact that he was defeated by his nemesis.

   ‘We’ll just move on then. If he’s into psychological warfare, did he order his minion to attack the villages in the hope that I would get anxious?’

   ‘That is definitely his aim. He wants you to be impatient and frustrated so that you could not think properly. When you are stressed out from all the guilt of not saving the humans, he would come out and finish you off.’

   ‘Wow, he’s one nasty piece of work.’

   ‘I couldn’t agree more. A word of caution. Just because he prefers to use wits it does not mean that he is not dangerous when faced.’

   ‘Of course I know that. I mean, he’s the size of a building. Only an absolute idiot would underestimate a sea creature that big. To be honest, I’m more worried about this part than finding him. Unless you’re telling me that your bone allows me to transform into you.’

   ‘I am afraid that is not possible.’

   ‘Drat. If only we have a giant radioactive lizard, or at least a huge gorilla…’

   ‘What manner of creatures are those?’

   ‘No need to wrap your fish head around it. They’re just creatures of fictions.’

   Great, not only is our adversary this time huge, but he’s also cunning. Even if we managed to stop his army of fishmen, they’ll never stop coming unless we defeat him. This is going to be tough.

   ‘Let’s just try to narrow down his location first. Do you have any idea on how to look for him? Anything at all?’

   ‘I haven’t the slightest clue. He could be hiding at the Antarctic Ocean, and we would be none the wiser. Remember. His minions are doing all the work for him. It doesn’t necessary mean that he has to be nearby.’

   As I’m about to fall into absolute despair, Curruid speaks again.

   ‘But I can guarantee this. He suffers from perpetual sloth, so he will not move from his hiding spot until it is time for the bloodshed.’

   ‘Even if he’s starving?’

   ‘Even if he hungers. Why, I still remember one time when he stayed at the same spot for twenty years just so that a whale he wanted to feast on weakens from old age.’

   ‘I honestly can’t tell whether he’s being patient of being extremely lazy.’

   ‘Looking at it from an objective point of view, we were the same size as a whale back then. Should he chose to attack the whale in its prime, he might have failed.’

   ‘Hold on. How many years ago were we talking about?’

   ‘At least two millennials ago.’

   ‘Man, your species sure live long.’

   ‘I would know next to nothing in regards to that, since I am already dead.’

  ‘Oh…right. My bad.’

   ‘There is nothing to apologize about. I have already come to terms in regards to the fact that I am no longer alive.’

   ‘Just so you know, I’m not doing this to avenge you. It’s to stop him from going nuts.’ I tell him bluntly.

   ‘...Of course I understand that.’

   I could tell from his tone that he would love nothing more than joining the fight himself to get his revenge. However, his spirit is stuck inside Gáe Bulg. There’s nothing much he can do.

   ‘There’s something that has been bothering me for a while.’ I tell him.

   ‘What is it?’

   ‘You seem to know an awful lot about him. Are the two of you brothers or something?’

   ‘No. We are not related at all.’

   ‘Then why? Have you been stalking him?’

   ‘Cease the false accusation! I am not a stalker like he is! I know him well since we have known each other for thousands of years!’

   ‘And the two of you had been at it for just as long?’

   ‘Indeed we do. Unfortunately, it always ended up in a draw. It was either I suffered near fatal injuries, or he had a sudden craving for whale meat and would just leave in the middle of our fight. A lot of the times, we were also interrupted.’

   ‘By whom? Fellow sea creatures?’

   ‘Yes. There were quite a lot of us back then. The two of us would always attack some of them together, even if it means that we are winning by numbers.’

   ‘Just curious. When you said there were quite a lot of you, how many exactly are we talking about?’

   ‘Oh, about two hundreds or so.’

   ‘No wonder the world back then were full of natural disasters. It was you guys, wasn’t it?’

   ‘Bah. Humans back then claimed that our fights were natural disasters because they refused to acknowledge our existence. Quite ironic, considering that they worship Gods and offered up human sacrifices to quell us. And when they finally see us as a real threat, what do they do? They hunt us down!’

   ‘Don’t take it too personally. It was either them or you.’

   ‘The one incident that I could never forget is that I actually had to rescue him from a traps made by those cursed humans! Can you believe it? Me! Saving my mortal enemy! I should have left him to die if I knew that he would eventually cause my demise!’

   ‘Did you regret saving him?’

   ‘I beg your pardon?’

   ‘If it happened again, would you save him?’

   A few seconds of silence.

   ‘...I will.’ he admits grudgingly. ‘And I am fairly sure that he would too if the roles were reversed.’

   ‘You know, I’m pretty sure we have a word for people or creatures with relationships the two of you have. Which is weird considering the fact that the two of you tried to kill each other on multiple occasions.’

   Curruid makes a sound like he’s being choked.

   ‘Do not say it!’ he warns. ‘I absolutely forbid you! The nerve of you for even considering the idea!’

   ‘I haven’t even said anything yet.’

   ‘And so you shall remain if you do not want something terrible happen to you!’

   I raise up both my hands.

   ‘All right, all right. No need to get so agitated.’

   I’m not going to tell him something stupid like ‘You wouldn’t have died if the two of you get along better’. Animals and mythical creatures will always fight each other no matter the consequences. There are no ifs or buts. Their instincts to fight each other are literally embedded into their genes.

   ‘Is there anything else I should know about him?’ I ask instead.

   He thinks for a while before answering.

   ‘He may be a trickster who might use dirty tricks to win, but that is before the fight begins. He would not use any tricks during the fight itself.’

   ‘So he plays fair to a certain extent.’

   ‘Indeed. Which is why I have a sinking feeling that he was taking into the factor that the two of you must have an equal ground to make the fight fair.’

   ‘I guess that’s a clue for his whereabouts.’

   ‘One last thing. He prefers to hunt at night.’

   ‘Got it. Thanks for all the info.’

   Right after I come back from my head, the first thing I see when I open my eyes is Amesaki-senpai’s face. And her face is extremely close to mine. If one of us suddenly moved, our face would surely collide with each other.

   The two of us stare at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, with Amesaki-senpai’s face getting redder and redder by the seconds. Eventually, the two of us look away.

   ‘H-H-H-H-H-H-How d-d-d-d-did it went, Ka-Ka-Ka-Kagenashi-kun?’ Amesaki-senpai asks while stuttering.

   ‘I-I-I-I-I got l-l-l-lots of useful information…’ I, too, can’t stop myself from stuttering.

   ‘T-T-That’s good to hear…’

   ‘Y-Yes.’

   We then try to calm ourselves by taking deep breaths. Just as I was about to look for Motome-senpai and the other civil servants, they came over to this side of the beach to look for us.

   ‘Is everything all right here?’ Motome-senpai asks us. ‘We got worried after the two of you didn’t appear after so long.’

   ‘We’re sorry for worrying you. It’s just that I needed to ask the spirit I formed a contract with some questions.’ I tell her.

   I then tell all of them about the conversations I had with Curruid.

   ‘Wow, to think that asking you to come here actually helped us out.’ Motome-senpai says in shock after I was done. ‘And to think we were just trying to make you and Miu get closer.’

   Amesaki-senpai glares at her friend.

   ‘Care to elaborate, Nao?’ she demands in a frosty tone.

   Motome-senpai averts her eyes and whistles innocently.

   ‘It’s true that all these villages were indeed attacked when night falls.’ a blond civil servant whom I assume is from the Irish government informs us.

   ‘Even so, there’s still a chance that it’s not Coinchenn, but rather another sea creature that has the same habit that he does.’

   For those of you who actually gasped in surprise over the possible identity of our target, yes. We’re highly suspecting Coinchenn, the sea monster that killed Curruid, to be the mastermind behind this incident.

   ‘Either way, we have to narrow down our search area as much as possible. As we speak, more and more villages will fall. We cannot afford to waste any more time.’ he says.

   ‘He’s right. Better to assume that it’s Coincheen and try to find him with hints you were given by Curruid that searching around blindly.’ Amesaki-senpai tells me.

   ‘Right. I understand.’

   Suddenly, I feel a great pressure on my shoulders. If I don’t find Coinchenn soon, another village is going to get attacked. But it’s much easier to be said than done.

   ‘Well, no pressure.’ the Irish tells me. ‘We’re already feeling apologetic for calling all of you here out of the blue. We can’t just leave everything to you just because you have the most clues about our target.’

   I shake my head. ‘Please don’t feel guilty. We’re supposed to help each other out during troubled times, after all. For now, I’ll take a dive around the ocean while trying to fix my thoughts.’

   ‘Got it. Good luck.’

   It’s true that I can breath freely underwater. However, my clothes will still become wet, just as I found out the hard way the first time I went diving. Therefore, I’ve bought a diving suit for myself just in case the need ever arises. I quickly get changed inside a public toilet near the beach and goes deeper and deeper into the ocean while holding my spear.