Project Sensuikan, 1990

Purpose: The destruction of Hy-Brasil has caused the anomalous community to turn on its head. Due to the creature's magic-seeking nature, the IJAMEA believes Japan may be the next target, if such a monster is to return. Our parascientists have discovered a method to allow our submarines to enter the world of the Tokage-tako, by using a sigil system recovered from ancient text, we have the capability of studying this world, and the demons that lie within.

The significant goals of Project Sensuikan are as follows:

• Exploration of IJAMEA Zone-001.
• Examination and analysis of material returned from IJAMEA Zone-001.
• Analysis of Tokage-tako entities.
• Discover the means by which a Tokage-tako entity entered our dimension.

IJO-256 ("Asahi") did a final check of his submarine, preparing for their descent. IJO-573 ("Iroha") and IJO-375 ("Ueno"), the two operatives under his command did the same.

"Have you made your final preparations?" General Sako said over the submarine's intercom, "Say your prayers, we do not know what exactly is on the other side, but know that you honor yourselves with your sacrifice."

"Understood, General Sako." Asahi responded, "Will we have comms on the other side?"

"No comms. You are on your own when you get to the other side. It is crucial that if the submarine is in danger that you return to us so we can examine your footage and data."

"Understood sir. Ueno will stay by the sigil. Iroha, come with me for the dive team. Permission to dive?"

"Whenever you're ready."

First the fog, then the bubbles, and then the water. The submarine's inhabitants examined their changed surroundings, watching their familiar home country of Japan be submerged under the deep water. The first to regain his bearings, Iroha began recording his surroundings.

"We're in some kind of weird water world? I'm not actually sure what's going on, everything looks just like where we set off, just… underwater."

"Yeah, that's supposed to happen. This isn't our Japan, its some sort of demonic copy." Asahi responded, having just recovered from the shock, "Get your shit together men. This is uncharted territory."

"But its not entirely unknown right? If its a copy of our world maybe there's some of our computers in there? Worst case scenario we just find out more about how similar this world is."

"Good point. Ueno, can you get us a bit closer to the harbor?"

"Yes sir." Ueno said, almost mechanically.

"Hey, Ueno, chipper up! Of all of the places we can go, at least everything is a little bit familiar here. What, are you worried that we are gonna get at your diary in there?"

"No sir, sorry sir. I will attempt to be more jovial, while still making sure to do my duty here."

"You're hopeless. Lets just get to the harbor."

The submarine floated around the water, back towards the harbor it came from. The doors to the facility were closed, sealed in a lockdown mode. Despite the lockdown, several large holes had been smashed in the large harbor facility. Despite the destruction, no bodies could be seen anywhere in this flooded coastal city.

"Iroha, put on your air tank. We're going in." Asahi ordered, snapping his own air tank on. "Ueno, continue collecting samples here. If we don't return in… say, 30 minutes, return to our Japan with the data."

"Understood sir." Ueno said, "Opening the airlock."

The two men left the submarine and entered the freezing water. Silently, they moved towards the facility. The nearest hole was in the housing area of IJAMEA Harbor-15, where both of the men had been housed for the past year and a half. While familiar on the outside, the housing was unfamiliar, with old furniture dotting the room.

"Command, be advised, the interior of the harbor facility looks a bit funny" Asahi reported, "From the looks of things, something unholy has happened upon this world."

"A bit melodramatic don't you think? Everything is just older… and underwater I guess. Though, I gotta agree, this place is real fucked up, something terrible was here."

The two men continued swimming through the hallways of the facility, searching for the Head Transcriber's room. The hallway split in two, on their right, the harbor and the left to their destination, the offices of the head officers. Moving left, the doors had all been sealed under the lockdown, so Iroha prepared the underwater breach. After a loud explosion rocked the facility, the two men entered the office.

"No hard drives anywhere in here." Asahi said into his microphone, "In fact, I haven't seen a computer here this whole time."

"Hey, look at this." Iroha beckoned Asahi over to the corner of a room where a vacuum-sealed binder could be found.

"Command, we believe there is something here that was left for survivors that nobody has taken. We're bringing it back to the submarine as soon as possible. They look like IJAMEA documents, but the water is too murky to really tell."

"Lets get back to the sub, we're sure to get a promotion for this find. And this place gives me the creeps, I want to get out of this shitty place."

The Japanese operatives exited the room, towards the hallway. As they swam down the hallway, Asahi noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"Command, we believe we have found something else. There appears to be a large stack of green spheres in the harbor." Asahi reported to his mic, changing directions to move to the harbor, "I'm getting closer to take a picture."

"Asahi, get back here, we don't know what those things are. They could be eggs. or something" Iroha said, grabbing Asahi's leg, "We shouldn't stay here long, we have valuable cargo."

"If they're eggs, all the more reason to document them. I am your superior officer here, it's my call."

On closer inspection, the iridescent green spheres contained something, five arms swirling in side of some green fluid. Hundreds of these eggs stacked on top of each other in a verifiable mountain of caviar.

"Command, we have found eggs, it seems life can exist here after—-"

Asahi stopped speaking, following Iroha's stare towards a large hole in the harbor, where five large eyes stared down at them. The creature, this demon, was at least 80 meters tall, with five long tentacles. The face was crocodilian, an unholy bastardization of animals, grown to a size rivaling the greatest monsters from any movie. The two men froze in the water, hoping that somehow, the demon that was staring right at them hadn't seen them somehow. The water was silent, almost silent enough that if they had listened, they could have heard a single egg fall from the top of the stack, and land on the ground next to them.

The creature jetted towards the pair, quickly closing the distance between the two parties. Iroha thrust the vacuum-sealed binder into Asahi's arms.

"There are still submarines in the harbor. Take it, go to Ueno, and get out." Iroha said, moving back towards the eggs. "I'll be right behind you if it isn't interested in eating me."

"Don't do this Iroha, we can both make it."

"Get out of here. This is what we trained for, its more important than me."

Iroha pushed Asahi towards the floating submarines, and started grabbing eggs to crush them in his hands. The only sounds Asahi could hear were his own breaths and Iroha's breath in sync with each other. Silent. Calm. Asahi took a final look back towards Iroha, and entered the submarine. Despite its apparent damage and age, the airlock opened, and Asahi stepped inside.

Iroha's microphone was still on, and Asahi could hear the still, calm, breath of the trained swimmer. Asahi turned off his speaker, just before the breathing would've been interrupted by the loud crack of a body breaking. The only sound Asahi could hear was his own breathing.

The power turned on and the submarine puttered alive. The busted up submarine puttered towards his own ship, and Ueno moved towards him as well. Asahi exited the old submarine and went into his new one. As Asahi entered the submarine, he wordlessly scraped the sigil off with his knife, then the blue world in his window turned into bubbles, then fog, and then the clear blue sky.