Chapter 6: Welcome To Mortkranken

You: (So this is Mortkranken...)

Only authorized personnel were permitted to enter Mortkranken's laboratory.

I parted ways with Luca and Kaito, and followed Jiro there.

The dusty cabinets were packed with medicine bottles of various shapes and colors, none I could recognize.

You: (There's so many anatomical models and preserved specimens...)

Jiro: We usually use this room to perform exams for staff and students.

Jiro: We did house visits for you though, so you've never had a reason to come here.

You: Right... So this is where you have the medicine that will break my curse?

I was almost giddy, filled to the brim with anticipation and worry in equal measure.

Jiro: You seem surprised. Don't you remember the prototype I gave you?

You: Prototype?

<FLASHBACK>

Jiro: One more thing. Here. Apparently this is a prototype.

Jiro: I was told to give it to you. Normally I should explain how to take it first, but...

<FLASHBACK END>

<FLASHBACK>

Romeo: New girl!! Care to explain those lovely fireworks from earlier?!

Romeo: What I asked you to carry for me was a weapon prototype!!

<FLASHBACK END>

You: Wait... That thing you gave me was...!

I gasped, finally connecting the dots.

Jiro: Well, it's fine if you forgot.

Jiro: The lab is in the basement. Ordinarily, only students from Mortkranken are allowed in and out.

Jiro: Please consider anything you see in there confidential.

You: Got it...!

I nodded, and Jiro led me to a flight of stairs at the back of the room that descended underground.

You: Wow... This place doesn't feel real...

In the center of the lab was a giant glowing pod that bathed the entire room in an ethereal blue light.

At each of the benches surrounding it stood a student in a lab coat, deeply immersed in research.

You: Are the things in those tanks all anomalies...?

Jiro: Yep. That one over there is a mermaid.

You: ...!

Jiro pointed to one of the tanks. A beautiful woman with fins floated quietly within, as though asleep.

You: A real mermaid... She's beautiful.

Jiro: Is she?

Jiro: It's said you can achieve immortality by eating the flesh of a mermaid.

You: What's that in the tank next to her?

Jiro: An amabie. It's said to have the ability to cure any disease.

You: ...Huh? If something liek that existed, wouldn't it mean...

Jiro: There's no such thing as a cure-all. Didn't you learn that in class?

You: Um...

Jiro: Oh, right. You transferred here, didn't you?

You: Yes. I must have missed that―