Across the waters of Kyoto Bay, warm sunlight spilled over the sea. A fishing boat had been working this area for an entire day, but the captain frowned as he gazed into the empty fish hold.
"Today's catch is far too meager." The captain shook his head, picking up his binoculars to scan the horizon.
The sea was unnaturally calm, causing a flicker of unease to rise in his heart. Twenty years of life at sea had given him an intimate knowledge of these waters, and this kind of abnormal silence often heralded some form of danger.
"Is it an aftereffect of the monster from a few days ago?" He subconsciously thought of the Kaiju attacks that had become frequent in recent years.
"One last net. After we pull it in, we head back immediately," the captain shouted to the crew on the deck.
The veteran sailors and a few younger crew members sprang into action, skillfully operating the netting equipment. The massive net was cast into the sea, slowly sinking into the dark, deep waters.
Ten minutes later, the crew began to haul it in.
"Captain! This net... it's too heavy!" An old sailor called out with a look of pleasant surprise, the muscles on his arms bulging as he strained against the winch.
The captain's eyes lit up. He hurried to the edge of the deck to help the crew crank the winch.
"A school! We must have hit a massive school of fish!" a young sailor shouted excitedly, working so hard that sweat poured down his forehead.
Everyone on deck beamed with joy, pulling the ropes of the net with all their might. The resistance from the net convinced them that this single haul would be enough to fill their boat to the brim.
The captain could feel the weight and shape within the net; it was an intuition born of decades of fishing. He quickly estimated the potential harvest in his head, a smile finally surfacing on his face.
"Pull! Harder!" the captain encouraged loudly.
The net was finally hauled onto the deck. The mesh opened, and a vast quantity of fish poured out, piling up in a corner of the deck.
As the captain looked over from a distance, the smile froze on his face.
"Something's wrong."
The fish spilling out of the net belonged to a staggering variety of species. Such a situation was almost impossible. Different types of fish usually didn't gather together, let alone appear in the same area in such a chaotic manner.
"What's going on?" The old sailor scratched his head, looking utterly perplexed.
The captain didn't answer. He stepped forward, carefully observing the fish flopping on the deck.
"These fish... they're a bit strange." His voice turned solemn.
The crew gathered around and began to take stock of the day's harvest. Suddenly, a young sailor let out a cry of alarm.
"What... what are these things?" He pointed at a fish, his voice trembling.
The group looked down, and fear began to spread across every face.
Along the sides of that fish's body grew protrusions resembling insect limbs. Near the gills, there were strange bony structures. It looked like some kind of mutated organism.
"Damn it!" the captain cursed. "Nuclear wastewater! It must be that damn nuclear wastewater they've been discharging!"
"It could also be the monster's blood polluting the waters!" the old sailor added.
"The government must know about this! They've been hiding it from us!" the young sailor added angrily.
Commotion broke out on the deck as the crew stared at the mutated fish with a mix of anger and fear.
"Wait." Suddenly, one of the younger sailors calmed down, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. He was the youngest member of the crew and the most analytical. "These... maybe we can sell them for a good price."
"What?" The captain looked at him in disbelief.
"There are many collectors nowadays who are specifically interested in weird creatures and things related to Kaiju," the young sailor explained. "If we can sell these mutated fish to them, we might make a huge profit."
"This single haul might be worth more than our income from the last several months combined!" he added, his eyes filled with excitement.
The crew fell into thought. The young sailor's words made them reconsider the situation before them.
"The kid has a point," the old sailor nodded. "Since we've already caught them, we might as well see how much they're worth."
Persuaded, the men picked up their tools and walked toward the pile of strange fish, preparing to sort and crate them.
At that exact moment, a scream filled with pure terror erupted.
"They... they're standing up!" A young sailor backed away in horror, pointing at the pile of fish.
The captain's eyes widened, unable to believe what he was seeing.
The previously limp fish suddenly struggled to their feet. The limbs on their bodies snapped outward, the sharp tips stabbing directly into the deck. Most terrifying were their mouths; the original fish mouths split open to reveal rows upon rows of needle-like teeth, resembling miniature meat grinders.
"My God! They aren't fish! They're monsters!" the old sailor screamed, grabbing a harpoon.
The strange fish let out ear-piercing shrieks, pouncing toward the crew like a pack of starving demons.
The captain reacted quickly, kicking away a fish that lunged at him while drawing the fishing knife from his waist.
"Grab weapons! Protect yourselves!" he roared, attempting to organize a defense.
But there were too many of these strange fish. They fanned out rapidly and began to swarm the crew.
One young sailor swung an iron bar, beating back a few of the creatures, but he was quickly submerged by more. His screams lasted only a few seconds before cutting off abruptly.
Another young sailor tried to run for the wheelhouse, hoping to call for help over the radio, but he had only taken a few steps before an especially large fish tackled him to the ground.
"No! Save me!" His desperate cries echoed across the deck, but everyone else was fighting for their own lives.
The old sailor and the captain stood back-to-back, barely fending off the attacks with a harpoon and a knife. But the monsters were relentless, pouncing in a never-ending stream.
"Captain... we're finished." The old sailor gasped for breath, several hideous wounds already visible on his body.
The captain didn't answer. He simply gritted his teeth and continued to swing his knife, thinking only of killing as many monsters as possible in the hopes of grasping a slim chance at survival.
But fate gave them no such chance.
In less than five minutes, every crew member on the fishing boat had been devoured by the strange fish, leaving behind only splattered blood and mangled remains on the deck.
The waters of Kyoto Bay grew increasingly dark. To a careful observer, the sea beneath the surface was thick with countless organisms moving with predatory speed and grotesque forms.
Crew members on passing fishing boats and cargo ships noticed the anomaly on the surface, but before they could investigate, their hulls became the targets of the strange fish.
Ship after ship was attacked. The monsters swarmed up from beneath the hulls; vast numbers of sailors were eaten alive before their broken vessels sank into the ocean depths.
A few ships managed to send out distress signals before being overrun, but no one responded.
As the sun dipped below the horizon and night draped over the sea, the strange fish began to surge toward the shore en masse. They rapidly occupied the Kyoto coastline.
Rescue units arrived in a hurry, only to be faced with tens of thousands of strange fish they were utterly powerless to handle. Police, firefighters, and Self-Defense Force soldiers—everyone appeared helpless before this sudden catastrophe.
Within a few short minutes, the once-prosperous Kyoto coastline turned into a literal living hell. Screams, gunfire, and explosions mingled together, but they were ultimately drowned out by the raspy shrieks of the strange fish.
The rescue units were forced into a retreat; their weapons were of little use against the endless tide of monsters. Now, the Self-Defense Force couldn't even protect themselves, let alone rescue civilians.
As night fell completely, the Kyoto coastline fell. Countless strange fish pushed inland like a rising tide.