Chapter 3: Who Changed What?

Once we arrived at the factory, we let Fam take the lead so that the other pirates wouldn’t be suspicious. She took us on a meandering path through the facility.

“It feels like everybody’s working hard. They look busy.”

“I think the docks are just bustling because work on the new ship is almost complete. But after we finish a job like this, everyone’s bodies need maintenance, so the lab will be busy, too.”

So we came at rush hour, huh? Well, I guess it wasn’t so bad. If everybody was caught up in their own business, they’d be paying less attention to us.

“All right. As promised, I’ll go look for an escape craft.”

“Yeah, that’s fine, but...”

I had Fam’s story to worry about now, too. I wasn’t planning on leaving immediately... though I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup.

“Okay, off I go!”

Raul gave another completely unnecessary wink and wandered off on his own, leaving the three of us behind. From there, we began to plot our next move.

“So, what’s our first objective?” Rosalind asked.

“Hmm... It’ll be hard to talk to Squallow when he’s got hostages. We should try and find the girls first.”

“They’re probably in the brig,” Fam said and turned to show us the way. “This planet still doesn’t have a police force, so when there’s trouble in the living spaces or somebody goes too far during a job, they get put in the brig.”

“Huh.”

“We also sometimes put children here when they play naughty tricks.”

“...Sounds more like time out than prison,” Rosalind said.

But regardless of what it was, it did sound like there was a good chance it was where the girls had been taken. And so we went to the so-called prison, trying our best not to stand out. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like a popular area, so there wasn’t anyone around.

“This looks just like a normal room. It’s not a cell?”

“We’re all family, and we all ride on the same ship. You wouldn’t put your family in a prison cell, would you? This room can’t be opened from the inside, and that’s good enough.”

Fam tapped at the door panel. There was a heavy clunking sound as the thick doors opened. That explained it. It wasn’t jail, but it was a prison in the sense that there was no way to escape from the inside.

When the door opened, we could see that there was no light. Maybe being trapped here in the dark was part of the punishment. But in the middle of that darkness, a pair of small red lights turned towards me. It was Tetra’s eyes shining in the pitch-black room.

“Tetra.”

“Rekka...”

When she heard my voice, there was shifting in the darkness. With the light streaming in from the hallway, I could see that she and Rain were holding one another. Rain followed Tetra’s gaze, and soon her tiny face was looking up at us, too.

“Rekka... why are you dressed like that?’

“I disguised myself to get inside. Tetra, Rain, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Yes... I believed... I believed you’d come.”

Tetra lent Rain her shoulder, and the two of them slowly stood up.

“See, Rain? Rekka came for us. It’s okay now.”

Rain was now silently staring downward.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“No... That’s not it...” Rain said in a faint, indistinct voice.

“Hey, where’s Shirley?”

Of the three kidnapped girls, I only counted two in the dark room.

“Shirley was taken somewhere else.”

“What?! Why?”

“I don’t know. We were all kidnapped by a big man, but Rain and I were thrown in here, and Shirley was taken somewhere alone...’

“That big man’s probably Squallow, the pirate captain.”

But if he took Shirley specifically somewhere else, did that mean he wanted something special from her in particular? Whatever. Either way, as long as Squallow had her...

“Tetra, Rain. I’m going to find Squallow.”

“To save Shirley? Then I’ll go with you,” Tetra volunteered.

“Wait. Saving Shirley is part of my job, but there’s one more thing... I’m going to talk with Squallow.”

“What?!” both girls gasped in surprise.

“W-Why?”

Rain seemed especially shocked. Her whole body was trembling.

“Fam... I guess you two don’t know who that is. One of the pirate girls here says that Squallow started to act really strange a year ago. She says he’s not the kind of guy... that would do something like this.”

I almost trailed off mid-sentence. I was going to find Squallow in order to save Fam’s story, but Rain was going to avenge her mother.

“If something did change Squallow, then I want to help him somehow. So, um... Rain, if it’s not too painful, there’s something I want you to tell me.”

I watched her face closely and chose my words carefully.

“...What is it?”

In a way, I was going to help the man who’d killed her mother. But instead of looking at me with rage or hatred, she was only looking at me with weak eyes.

“...What is a merman?”

She flinched and looked down at her feet.

Tetra looked back and forth between the two of us.

...Was that a rude question or something? When Squallow’s mask split and revealed his face, Rain had called him a “merman,” so I thought she might know something, but...

“It’s okay. If it’s something you don’t want to talk about, don’t worry. You don’t have to.”

“A merman is...”

But Rain cut me off with reluctant, weighty words. It was almost as if she had to force herself to speak.

“Mermen... were originally a type of merfolk that lived on this planet.”

“They were?”

I was surprised. Did that mean Squallow originally lived on planet Berano?

“Wait a second. Are you telling me he attacked his own home planet? Why would he do that?”

“It has to do with the history of planet Berano and the merman expulsion...”

“The merman expulsion?”

According to Rain, the merman expulsion was a mass eviction by the government. A long time ago, just after Berano was discovered by the Galactic Federation, the planet experienced a huge influx of visiting aliens. And not all of them meant well. Many were there to kidnap the merfolk. They lived their lives peacefully underwater, and had no way to protect themselves from evil alien invaders.

“In order to protect the planet, Berano turned to Estashion, one of the most important planets of the Galactic Federation, for help. Estashion agreed to protect Berano, but in return, they demanded the expulsion of the mermen.”

“...What? How does expelling them protect them?”

“Estashion agreed to protect Berano because they wanted the profits it would generate as a tourist destination. The beauty of the mermaids was good for gathering lots of tourists.” Rain’s tone was self-mocking.

“But what’s that got to do with expelling the mermen?”

“Did you forget how ugly that big man looked, Rekka?”

“...!”

“I don’t know if all mermen are like that, but if they are, they’d be a problem for anyone who wanted to market this mermaid planet for its native beauty,” Rosalind said.

Rain didn’t deny it. She just looked down.

“The expulsion of the mermen was carried out by Estashion, but my mother cooperated with it. That was about fifty years ago.”

So Rain’s mother was involved? Was that why she looked so pained over this?

“...What the hell? So then the boss is a victim, too!”

Fam glared at Rain. The mermaid princess shrunk back and apologized in a tone that made it sound like she was about to cry.

“So, Squallow is after revenge on the mermaids who banished him?”

“That’s probably the case. He stole the Mermaid Princess’s Tear before he left.”

“You mean that blue jewel?”

I remembered the blue jewel that Squallow had been holding when we encountered him at Ryugu Palace.

“Yes. But it isn’t just any gem. It has a strange power to control the weather on Berano.”

“C-Control the weather?!”

Something like that would have to be incredibly powerful!

“The seas of Berano weren’t always as calm as they are now. There were storms and tidal waves on a daily basis, and the merfolk suffered for it. Then the first mermaid princess begged the gods for help, and she was given the Mermaid Princess’s Tear. At least, that’s how the story goes. Ever since then, Berano has had calm, eternal summer, and the mermaid princess’s family and the king of the mermen have watched over it and kept its secret.”

“The king of the mermen...? Then Squallow is...”

“That’s right. I don’t have anything else to go on, but if he knew about the Mermaid Princess’s Tear, then he’s probably part of the mermen royal family. The name Squallow is likely an assumed one...”

So Squallow was the former king of the mermen? It was a shocking revelation, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on it now. There was one more thing I had to ask.

“What happens... without the tear?”

“Berano will probably return to its original, turbulent weather. Merfolk are weak creatures, so not many will be able to survive that kind of change in environment. Especially not the children...”

We were all taken aback at what Rain said.

“No... Boss wouldn’t...”

“Fam.”

I put my hand on Fam’s shoulder before she could fall to the ground. She didn’t knock it away like she usually did. Instead, she just leaned into me.

Fam then told us that the attack on Berano had been Squallow’s idea and his goal was indeed to steal the Mermaid Princess’s Tear, which sure made it sound like his goal was to wipe out the mermaids.

“...Believe.”

“Huh?”

“Your boss wouldn’t do something like that, right?”

But maybe that was just what it sounded like, nothing more. Maybe there was something else going on. Maybe he had some kind of reason we didn’t know about. Maybe I was just being too optimistic. But...

“If you believe in Squallow, then I’ll believe in you, who believes in him, and I’ll give him a chance. And if... if he really was after revenge, let’s both do our best to stop him. Without your help, I can’t do that.”

“...My help?”

“That’s right. I only know one side of Squallow, but you know that he’s a great guy who helps children and the weak, right? You know both sides of him, so you’re the only one who can persuade him. So help me do that.”

I offered Fam my hand. She reached out to take it, but then knocked it away.

“Hmph! Don’t try and impress me, you wimp! I’ll find out the truth about the boss on my own!”

“Well, that works, too, I guess.”

I chuckled and lowered my hand.

“Rain...”

I turned to the mermaid princess, whose lips were tightly pressed together in emotional agony.

“I’m sorry. I know your mom just died. I didn’t mean to pour salt on the wound.”

“No... the truth is the truth. It’s natural for the mermen to hate my mother. That’s what I think...”

Rain looked down.

“But...” she said with her lower lip quivering.

Was there anything I could do for her? Anything? She was a heroine, and I had the bloodline of the Namidare, right? There was no way Rain’s story was going to have a happy ending with her crying like this.

“Rekka, we’re wasting time here,” Rosalind said.

“R-Right.”

The clock was ticking against us with every passing second. We still didn’t know if Shirley was okay. Like Rosalind hinted, we needed to get a move on.

“Um, Rekka...” Rain suddenly said in a weak voice as she looked up at me.

“What is it?”

“Um... Can you take me to see Squallow, too?”

“Huh?”

“I want to meet him and talk to him. I don’t know what I’ll say to him, but...” Rain’s voice and shoulders were both shaking now.

Hmm.... Given the timing and the situation, R had said Rain’s story might be about rescuing a kidnapped princess, but as far as I was concerned, Rain’s happy ending was the one she wanted. The girl in front of me was terrified, but she wanted to face her fear more than she wanted to run from it. She wanted a different ending than being saved.

“...All right. Let’s go together.”

In that case, it was my job to help her. Now the next question was where Squallow and Shirley were...

“Fam, do you know where the two of them might be?”

“The boss is usually in the captain’s quarters, but I don’t know where he might’ve taken that Shirley girl.”

“I see...”

She had to be somewhere in the facility. Would we just have to search it at random?

“Hey, is that you, Fam? What are you doing here?”

We all froze at the strange voice.

At least on the outside. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. Everyone fearfully turned towards the door. Since it couldn’t be opened from inside, we’d left it unlocked. It was an automatic sliding door that would only open if you walked near it, so we thought we’d be okay, but I guess we’d gotten unlucky.

“Rosa—”

Rosalind was on the move before I could even say her name. She closed in on the pirate in an instant, but she didn’t attack. Instead, she looked deep into his eyes and used her charm on him. His head immediately drooped as he fell into a daze.

“Hmph. That was close.”

Rosalind dragged the man inside where he couldn’t be seen from the hallway.

“Well, this could work out well for us. Let’s see if he knows where Squallow is.”

Rosalind began to interrogate her new puppet.

▽

When Rosalind was done questioning him, we locked the pirate in the brig and made our way to the deepest parts of the lab area. That’s where he’d said Squallow had taken Shirley.

We headed for the room in the far back, keeping Rain and Tetra between us like prisoners, but several of the pirates we encountered along the way were suspicious. Squallow had apparently kept the girls at his side the entire time they were aboard the ship, so many of the pirates remembered them.

“I should’ve borrowed those disguise tools from Raul...” I mumbled.

“I don’t think you could use makeup even if you had it, Rekka,” Rosalind said.

“A wig and a coat would do, honestly.”

Rain’s pink hair in particular made her stand out. None of the men that saw her could forget her beauty, so each time someone got too nosy, we had to rely on Rosalind’s “charm.” It got us through, I guess, but...

“Hmph. It seems I’ve used a bit too much of my power,” Rosalind sighed.

I was a little worried about that by the time we reached what looked like the end of the lab area. There was only one door, and we were the only ones in the hallway.

“This is pretty far away from everything else. What goes on in here?”

“There was a cybernetics engineer who came to stay with us about a year ago—the one that enhanced everyone’s cyborg bodies. The boss made this room for the engineer, but ever since they left, nobody uses this place.”

“Hmm, I remember Raul saying something about that...”

He’d mentioned that some kind of super-talented cybernetics engineer strengthened the Seageists’ weapons so that they could attack military supply ships. If they’d gotten their own workroom, it was probably a good sign they were being treated well around here.

“Fam, did that engineer put the blade in your arm?”

“No, all the equipment they dealt with was delicate stuff that had to do with brain waves. As a gremlin, I couldn’t get the operation. My arm blade is simple: you just push this button, and it comes out.”

Come to think of it, with the way Fam wrecked sensitive equipment, she couldn’t really use a cyborg body, could she? That headband probably helped a little by keeping her electromagnetic waves in check, but...

“Stay as close together as possible. If one of you gets taken as a hostage, I’ll have a serious problem on my hands,” Rosalind said as we approached the door.

Everybody but Fam nodded. Me included.

“I’m opening it now.”

I took a deep breath and opened the door to the last room. It was filled with machines I couldn’t even begin to guess the purpose of. But from the general atmosphere of the place, I got the sense that it was an operating room.

There were three people standing in the center of the room: Squallow the giant and his android secretary who looked at us in silence, and a young girl who looked at us in surprise.

“Tetra? And Rain? What are you doing here?” the girl—Shirley—asked. She didn’t seem to understand what was going on.

“Boss...”

“Fam, please stay where you are.”

The secretary stopped Fam before she could get any closer to Squallow.

“Why did you take these two out of the prison and bring them here? The others are not listed in my database. They aren’t Seageists, now are they?” she asked coldly.

She’d realized instantly that we were outsiders. Since she was an android, maybe she had the faces the crewmembers logged in a memory bank of some kind.

How was I going to talk my way out of this one? No, we were here to see Squallow, and I wouldn’t be able to do that while I was still disguised. I wanted to make sure Shirley was safe before anything went down, but they were already too cautious for me to get close like this.

Instead, I took off my jacket and wiped the makeup off my face. Rosalind did the same.

“R-Rekka?!” Shirley’s eyes went wide when she saw who I really was. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

“I came to save everyone.”

Shirley looked even more surprised at my answer. Maybe “surprised” wasn’t the right word. It was like the idea had never even occurred to her. I didn’t know what they’d been doing to her here, but shouldn’t she have at least been a little relieved that help had arrived?

“Boss...”

“Fam, stop right there and explain this,” the secretary warned Fam before she could approach again.

“I’m here to talk to the boss. You stay out of this.” Fam ignored her and moved closer to Squallow. “Boss, that mermaid told me the story about how you were banished from Berano. She also told me that without this ‘Mermaid Princess’s Tear’ that you stole, Berano is doomed.”

Squallow’s only answer for her was silence.

“Tell me... Did you attack Berano because you wanted revenge? If that’s it, then please... Please stop this. Think of the kids, boss! A lot of kids are gonna die! I understand how you feel, but I can’t stand the thought of the man that saved me with the blood of innocent children on his hands!”

With each word, she took another step towards Squallow as if she hoped that being closer to him would make him more likely to listen to her pleading.

But still, the only sound from Squallow was the mechanical breathing hissing through his mask. He never said a word.

It was... strange. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why didn’t he answer her question, or try to explain? After hearing what she’d said, wouldn’t he at least want to defend himself?

“Fam, you led these people here and released two of our prisoners. You’ve betrayed the Seageists, haven’t you?”

Fam flinched when she heard the word “betrayed.”

“N-No! Boss, I didn’t mean to...”

“Captain, this is a clear case of betrayal. Deliver her punishment.”

Fam and the secretary talked over each other as they beseeched Squallow, who then gave his answer with a raised blade.

“No...”

“Rosalind!”

“Tch!”

I ran up to Fam, who was too stunned to move, and grabbed her by the hand. Rosalind turned her right arm into a wolf to block the blade with its fangs, but she was too far away.

Clang!

The loud, echoing sound of metal against metal rang out as his blade hit Fam’s headband.

“Agh!” Fam screamed, blood pouring out from beneath her headband.

That attack just now... Was he seriously trying to kill her?

“Squallow! I thought Fam was a part of your family! How could you attack your own family like that?!”

But again, there was nothing but breathy silence. Was he completely ignoring me?!

“Rekka, get the girl out of here! She’s in the way!” Rosalind yelled as she bared her fangs and jumped at Squallow.

Damn it! I knew there was a chance that diplomacy might not work, but I didn’t think he’d be this merciless.

“Rekka!” Tetra and Rain screamed in unison as they tried to run towards me.

“Get out of the room, both of you! Shirley, you get over here!” I yelled.

Shirley was panicking, unable to take in what was going on. But...

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“No way!”

A set of triple shutters suddenly slammed down where the door had been, locking us all inside.

“Tch!”

I could see the secretary standing a good distance from Squallow, tapping away on some kind of control panel. She must’ve been the one who activated the shutters. She wasn’t planning on letting us escape!

“Shirley! Get to the back of the room!”

“R-Right!” Shirley yelled back, quickly moving to get out of the way of the fighting.

I tried to take Fam to another corner of the room, but halfway there, she came to her senses and started to struggle.

“H-Hey!”

“Let me go! Let me go!”

Fam shook me off and tried to run back towards where Rosalind and Squallow were clashing.

“It’s too dangerous, Fam! Not now!”

I grabbed her again in the nick of time, and this time pulled her back as hard as I could.

“I don’t care! The boss is family to me!”

She yelled like a child throwing a tantrum, kicking and flailing as she tried to get away. But I couldn’t let her go.

“Boss! Why won’t you say something?” Fam screamed as loud as she could at Squallow.

But the giant man remained silent.

At this point, even I was starting to get curious. Why wasn’t Squallow saying anything at all? Did he really not want to answer that badly? Or... was it that he couldn’t?

...Wait a second. What’s going on here? Something about this seems familiar.

“Rekka! You’re too close! You’ll get caught up in the battle!”

Rosalind turned towards me, and...

“...You!”

“What?!”

I suddenly remembered.

That’s right. I’d been through this before. A situation where somebody close to me ignored me no matter what I said... It was just like the time Lea and Iris were under the control of Rosalind’s charm spell.

That would explain everything Squallow was doing that Fam said was so out of character, be it obsessing over a ship or even attacking children. But if, hypothetically, someone was controlling Squallow, then who was it? Who was making Squallow fight Rosalind right now?

“Fam, you said Squallow started to act strangely about a year ago, right?”

“Now’s not the time for that!”

“Just answer me! It’s important!”

“Yeah, it was a year ago! Who cares?”

“And when did that secretary start hanging around him all the time?!”

I pointed to the android secretary, who was still standing on the sidelines.

“It was... a year ago.”

The instant everything clicked, I left Fam with Tetra and Rain and started to run as fast as I could across the room.

The secretary’s emotionless eyes turned towards me.

I didn’t have any definitive proof that she was really behind this, but all signs were pointing to guilty.

I came to a stop right in front of her and pointed my stungun at her.

“Are you controlling Squallow?”

“What are you talking about?” she answered with a perfect poker face, just like you’d expect from an android.

The stungun wasn’t going to kill her, but if she really was controlling Squallow, knocking her out would mean that she shouldn’t be able to give new orders. That would be enough to find out the truth!

“Sorry, but I need you to take a little nap!” I apologized as I pulled the trigger, but...

“I refuse.”

Huh? She dodged the ball of lightning! Just how good was her reaction time?! I guess androids were a lot stronger than they looked.

In my surprise, I noticed a shadow suddenly appear that seemed to block out the light from overhead.

I looked up, and Squallow was almost on top of me, blade at the ready. I couldn’t get out of the way in time!

“Stop it!”

Fam’s headband shattered as she screamed, and the space around her warped and twisted in an expanding sphere. Everyone, except for the girls who had retreated to the far side of the room, was caught up in it. I suddenly felt like I had a terrible headache.

“Ugwah!”

W-Were these the electromagnetic waves of a gremlin’s horn? Had her emotional outburst made them go out of control?

Of course, everyone in the sphere was affected by it. Rosalind was doubled over in pain just like me, but Squallow the cyborg and his android secretary were far worse off. They both had bodies of delicate machinery, and it looked like they’d actually been damaged by the waves. They had fallen to their knees. They were shaking and shuddering with smoke billowing out of parts of their mechanical bodies.

“Uha... ah...”

Krrsh!

Then there was suddenly a loud snapping sound as the ring on the secretary’s right hand shattered. As it fell to the floor in countless pieces, I realized that what looked like a ring was actually filled with tiny circuit boards.

Then, Squallow...

“G-Gaah...!”

He was moaning in pain as his body continued to smoke, yet it felt like the light had returned to his eyes. He was trying to turn his head, but it only moved in stuttering fits, so he turned his whole body to face Fam.

“Gwah... F... Fam...”

He finally said her name.