"Hello, Orihara-san. Thank you for coming today." The man said as he held the door open for the raven. "Please, come in."

"Thank you." The black-haired man, wearing a black coat with tan fur trimmed around the edges of every opening, walked in with a thin smile. "You hold quite the demand, Mr. Nanasaki. I usually don't meet outside of the office."

"I know and I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, as I said in the email, my way of paying you for your information isn't something I can hand over without your input."

"Yes, I am aware."

Orihara Izaya had received an email from this man nearly a week ago. He had asked Izaya to give him any information regarding the nature of a rival corporation as well as any scandals that could be true about his family members. He made it very clear that he wanted this information so that he could boot his father and brothers from the positions they were and make it solely his company. Removing them would be easy, however, there may be people more qualified than him. Hence why he wanted information on the rival company. He wanted what they would need to stay afloat since it seemed like they were close to bankruptcy. If he managed to absorb the company into his and make it a prosperous entity without his own, the board of directors would have no choice by to praise him and reward him for his efforts.

Izaya, of course, pointed out this was a hefty demand and would need a hefty payment. And after a quick check of his bank accounts, Mr. Nanasaki wouldn't be able to pull that much out without his family noticing. So, he enticed Izaya with a gift instead of payment.

[I have a very rare specimen. A creature of legend, right in the palm of my hands. If you hold interest in the Black Rider of Ikebukuro, I can assure you, you'll have interest in this. If you would be so kind as to come to XXXX address in Chiyoda to see this specimen, I'm sure we can work something out.] Was what the man had sent in his email.

Something on the same level of The Black Bike? The headless rider of Ikebukuro? The Valkyrie? The envoy of death? Izaya was indeed enticed. He was more than willing to see what this man was selling.

"So, let us get down to business." Izaya said, looking over his shoulder at Mr. Nanasaki. "This rare specimen."

"Yes, right this way, Orihara-san. Follow me."

Mr. Nanasaki walked past the raven and headed to a doorway on the other side of the living room. Izaya had both hands in his pockets. Both hands were firmly gripping flick blades just in case this was a ruse.

The man opened the door.

They entered a very empty and dark room. There was no furniture in this room. No appliances or electronics.

There was, however, a fish tank. A seven-foot-tall fish tank with a four-foot wide base. It was filled to the brim with water and the lid had a padlock on it to keep it shut.

What was in the fish tank made Izaya's eyes widen.

A man was it. He had pitch black hair and eyes that rivaled blood. His ears were pointed, with webbings along the crease to connect with his head. And he lacked legs. Instead, a completely black-scaled fish tail was there. Along what would be his thigh were small flippers with fins. And the tip of his tail was a fin so girthy, it looked no different than an umbrella.

"Quite the beauty, isn't it?" Mr. Nanasaki stated. "I got this from a fisherman in Puerto Rico. He was desperate to get rid of it. Told me this tale of finding it in hopes of making money off it. Instead, it ate his eldest son and mother. He said he couldn't kill it no matter how had he tried. Stabbing it and poisoning the water didn't work. And he couldn't just release it for it to doom some other unfortunate soul. So, he kept it locked in his chicken coop with a bucket of water. I offered to take it off his hands, paid a hefty price for it. And had it sedated and sent over here."

"How long have you had it?" Izaya walked up to the tank. He put his hand on the glass as he looked the creature up and down—looking for any breathing hose or rubber stitching.

The creature gave Izaya a side-long glanced. Then turned his back on him. That was all the creature could do as the tank was only just big enough to fit his body in. Even with seven feet, the poor things tail fin was bending against the floor of the tank unless he angled himself so it was in one of the corners.

"I've had it for going on 12 years now."

"12 years, really? Has it eaten anyone since?"

"Nope, I've been very cautious. Although, not so cautious enough sometimes."

Mr. Nanasaki rolled up his sleeves, displaying grotesque scars that were obviously bite marks.

"Hm. Might I ask why you haven't gone public with this thing?" Izaya circled the tank.

"I didn't want to be berated by paparazzi or PETA activists. Scientists and ichthyologist. It would be such a headache and eventually someone would try to take it away from me. So, I kept it to myself."

"And why are you willing to part with it as payment?" Izaya couldn't see any flaws with this creature. There were no hoses anywhere, no breathing apparatus's, and no disconnected lines. This thing was authentic.

"This is more important. This is my life goal, finally within my grasp. And I've become bored with this thing. It was fun at the beginning, having a fairytale creature in my very house. But it was such a hassle to keep it healthy, to feed it, to have my guard up every time I walked in the door. It's reactions when I play with it aren't even fun anymore."

"Why do you refer to it as it, out of curiosity. It looks like a male to me." Izaya pointed at the lack there of breasts.

"Oh, it's hermaphroditic."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it has a penis and a vagina. You can probably see them if it were to turn around. Here. Hey!"

Nanasaki beat on the glass. The creature put its hands to its ears. Izaya saw that each finger had webbing in between to connect them to the next digit.

"Turn around! Let our guess look at you properly."

The creature looked over its shoulder with a glare that sent a chill down Izaya's spine.

"Turn around!" Nanasaki banged on the tank again.

The creature let out an inhuman screech and lunged at the glass. Its hands slammed against the layer with a hard smack. Izaya refused to flinch. The creature bared its fangs at them, a layer of pointed teeth similar to sharks came from its gums to cascade over his normal, human teeth.

"See, there's three slits right in between where it's thighs would be." Nanasaki pointed.

Izaya looked but he couldn't see anything. The black scales didn't display any slits. "Ah, I see."

Izaya just decided to take his word for it.

'Should I be concerned by his definition of 'play with it'?' Izaya scrutinized the creature. He was looking for any bruising or scars.

The creature definitely had scars. Multiple scars that were very obvious against his porcelain flesh. There were strips of scales that were missing in replacement of scars, as well. However, they were not from human hands. They were bitemarks and claw marks from animals. Nothing from a knife. What's more, all its fins looked like they were rotting away. The edges were no longer rounded like they should be. There were long strips leading all the way down to the muscles were missing. It looked like some small fish had been haphazardly eating away at his fins.

"Well, Orihara-san. Is this creature adequate payment for what I need?"

Izaya glanced at him. Then looked back at the creature. "Yeah. I would think so."

Nanasaki grinned happily. "I'm glad. I shall make the proper arrangements to have it shipped to our address."

"Actually, not to my address." Izaya said and pulled out his phone. "Send it to this place."

A small-sized shipping truck reversed into a warehouse on the south side of Ikebukuro. There was a worker who was signaling for the truck to move back. Then he gestured to stop once the vehicle was completely in the warehouse. Within minutes, they had the truck door open and were in the process of strapping a seven-foot long by four-foot tall crate onto a cart.

"Be careful," one of the workers said. "It's fragile."

The workers responded with nods and okays.

Izaya stood to the sidelines, watching quietly.

The worker carted the crate out of the truck.

"Where would you like this?" One of the men asked the raven.

"The eagle's nest, please." Izaya pointed up to the office that overlooked the empty warehouse.

"Got it."

The men headed over to the stairs. With two people in the front and two people in the back, they went about pulling the cart up the steps. It was slow and the workers were giving their best effort to move the heavy item. But they did so without complaining. Within twenty minutes, the task was done.

The four men walked down the steps. They went back inside the truck and went about strapping down a second crate. This one was about nine feet long, six feet tall, and five feet wide. It would barely fit up the stairs—Izaya had measured it before making a purchase on that item.

The workers carted the crate out of the truck. Slowly, carefully, they pulled the huge item across the warehouse and up the stairs. Two in the front and two in the back again, they pushed and pulled the big package up the steps. In another twenty minutes, they returned.

And again, they headed to the truck to pull out the last giant item of Izaya's order. A square with that was five-by-five feet. They repeated the process of strapping it onto the cart, carefully pulling it out of the truck, carting it across the warehouse to the stairs, and straining to pull the heavy item up the steps to the office.

Two workers went into the truck. One picked up a two-by-two box and the other put a six-by-two box on a hand trolley. They left the truck and went up the stairs after the cart.

Another twenty minutes the workers came down, a few of them wiping their brows on their arms. Izaya walked over to the driver, who he knew was the manager. He pulled out several 10,000 (100 USD) bills and handed them to the man, giving his thanks. He then gave a 10,000 yen to each worker—two 10,000's to the four workers on the carts—and waved good-bye as the men got into their truck and drove off.

Izaya sighed now that he was finally alone. He walked over to the entrance and grabbed a chain. He pulled on it. The metal doors began to close shut, sliding across the concrete loudly. The doors shut with a metal clank.

The raven turned and headed to the stairs. He stopped and picked up a crowbar and a duffle bag that Izaya had placed by the steps before the workers had gotten there. He then ascended the stairs.

The three crates were put in the center of the room while the boxes were placed on the seven-by-four. The workers had left the hand trolley—as Izaya had asked for—by the biggest crate. Izaya went straight over to the seven-by-four and picked up one of the boxes. He moved one onto the ground. Then the other box. He shrugged off his duffle and tossed it towards the five-by-five tank.

Izaya knelt in front of the seven-by-four crate.

"Hey, this is going to get loud. So, cover your ears, okay?"

There was no response.

Izaya stood. He slammed the end of the crowbar into the seam of the crate. The tip barely disappeared into the wood. He pulled it out and slammed it back in. The tool went deeper, to the point Izaya could successfully push the crowbar up. The wood groaned, Izaya groaned too, as the raven pried the crate apart.

Izaya paused to catch his breath. He took off his coat and tossed it onto another crate. He went back to pulling. He groaned heavily as he pulled. His teeth clenched, his hands ached from the strain. The side finally separated from the crate. Izaya let out a call as the side suddenly gave away. The wood clattered to the ground loudly.

The mermaid, still in its seven-foot tall tank that was lying on its side, was visible. It had its hands over its ears like Izaya had asked it. Once light filtered into its tank, the creature opened its eyes. It took its hands away and looked over its shoulder at Izaya. Around its mouth with a leather strap in order to keep its mouth shut. Mr. Nanasaki had put it on before shipping it off for Izaya. He had also put a thing similar to a mouth guard in the creatures' mouth. It was metal and it latched around its teeth so the mermaid couldn't open its mouth. There was a lock on the front of it and Izaya had the key in his pocket.

"Keep your ears covered. I'm going to remove another wall."

The mermaid stared at him for a moment. Then did as asked and put its webbed hands over its pointed ears. Izaya smiled. He walked around the tank and gently pushed the crowbar in between the tank and the wood. It didn't take nearly as much effort to wedge this side off. It was still a strain, and the nails groaned to being pulled, but Izaya didn't have to exert himself nearly as hard as the first side had.

The wood fell to the ground with a single, loud thud.

Izaya exhaled. "Okay."

He put the crowbar on the ground and knelt down.

"Hey," Izaya put his hand on the tank.

The creature removed its hands from its ears.

"That crate," Izaya pointed to the biggest crate, "Has your new tank in it. You should have much more room than this. And that," he pointed to the box, "Is a cylinder filled with salt-water. I doubt Mr. Nanasaki changed your water often, from the state of your fins."

Izaya pointed at the erosion around the tip of each of its fins. The mermaid looked down at itself then back up at Izaya.

"I've got plans for you. However, in order to enact those plans, I need your cooperation."

The creature said nothing. Izaya wasn't sure if it could talk but even if it could, the locked mouth guard kept him from trying. Instead, Izaya heard a low hissing coming from the creature.

Izaya sighed and stood. "Alright, you just stay there and don't do anything suspicious. I wouldn't want to electrocute you."

Izaya held up a small remote. Nanasaki had told him that the mouth guard had small tasers in it, that will shock the creature through its teeth. It wouldn't kill the mermaid, that was sitting in water. Nanasaki didn't know how, but he assumed it was because the creature had the characteristics of an eel. So, a shock wouldn't kill it, but it would hurt it immensely as the teeth were far more sensitive than other parts of the body.

The creature hissed at Izaya again. But it did nothing. Instead, it rolled over and turned its back on the raven.

Izaya chuckled. He tossed the remote onto his coat so as not to accidently press it in his tight pants and turned to the other crates.

The raven sighed before going to work on the task he had set for himself.