Death Scent

The floorboards at the bottom of the stairs shifted, rattling like whatever was underneath wanted to get out. He stopped dead in his tracks at the top of the staircase. The family stood around the break in the floor. Minamoto was doing his best to get his in-laws out of the house, but the old lady was frozen in terror.

"Get out of here!" Tachibana yelled. He leaped down from the stairs and landed square on the rattling floorboards. An audible groan came from the ground. He readied himself, preparing for a monster to surface.

Then two hands carefully lifted the boards, and a head rose out of the hole in the ground. To his surprise, it wasn't a monster. It was a regular man.

He looked around curiously, his eyes squinted as they adjusted to the light.

"Who are you?" Tachibana asked, too dumbstruck to think of a better question. The man looked up at him with large, pretty eyes. Half of his face was covered by a cloth wrapped around his mouth like a gag, but even with part of his face covered, it was clear that he'd been gifted with the gorgeous features of a prince.

The man didn't answer, just kept staring at him like a lost child. "Do you speak Japanese?"

He nodded. So it wasn't a language barrier. The situation was so odd that Tachibana found himself genuinely at a loss for words. The man looked around cautiously before hoisting himself out of the hole with long, built arms. Only when he'd fully risen to his feet did Tachibana realize that the squatter he had just encountered was almost seven feet tall.

"I- I don't even know what to say, to be honest. I guess you're a man of few words," he laughed nervously. The tall stranger, with blond hair and a striking beauty mark next to his eye, nodded. With one movement, almost sensually, he removed the cloth from his mouth so it hung around his neck. Long black markings were etched into his face, curving from the corners of his lips to his ears.

"Oh, I see. Haimono..." he smiled. The stranger was nothing to fear, just a victim of the sound waves like himself. He unwrapped the bandages around his neck to show his own markings. The squatter's eyes widened, and he smiled. "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak to you in a place we can mutually communicate."

The man nodded and pointed at the hole in the ground. So underneath the house, the man was able to speak? "Your condition isn't based on light, is it?" Tachibana asked wearily. He nodded. "...no good. Mine is triggered by darkness."

The mood became painfully awkward as the stranger rubbed the back of his neck with embarrassment. If Tachibana were to enter darkness, where the man was able to speak, his ability would be triggered, and he would risk killing him. The opposite was true as well; if the man let Tachibana speak to him in the light, he was also at risk of killing Tachibana. But the stranger was clearly used to this unfavorable ability, as he'd been using a gag to quell any noise that might escape him.

He took a scroll and ink from inside his sleeve and started writing quicker than Tachibana had ever seen before. His hand raced down the scroll like a madman, rapidly etching words into the page which were somehow legible despite the rush. If he were able to speak, Tachibana imagined he'd talk just as quickly as he wrote.

The scroll was one of the longest Tachibana had ever seen, yet somehow the man had managed to fill half of it in only a few minutes. He would need to carry around copious amounts of paper to communicate, but using it all in one conversation didn't seem very smart.

I am Araki, and I have been led here by the horrible smell underneath your dwelling. Please do not take offence. I'm sure it's no fault of yours. This scent has plagued my nose since I entered town, and since I am sensitive to smells, I could not tolerate it any longer!

The more Tachibana read, the more he realized the man was most likely a nutcase who knew how to present properly.

I am indeed afflicted with the deadly Haimono, but I am no threat to you. This has been my reality for as long as I can remember, so I am used to keeping my voice under control. Please allow me to continue to investigate underneath your home so I may find the source of this putrid odor.

"A smell...are you sure? I haven't smelled anything bad here, besides all the incense."

He wrote more in response. It is something only I would be able to notice. I have determined that the origin is located far underneath this building. My nose is better than anyone else's.

A scent strong enough to bother a guy with a sensitive nose, and the origin happened to be beneath the location he was searching for Gensing? It seemed too good to be true. "Do you know what gensing smell like?" Tachibana asked. "Also, how did you get underneath the house?"

I entered a tunnel system, which led me here. As for the scent of Gensing, I try to avoid them at all costs, so I am not familiar with it. But I have connected this scent to some vague memories of them, yes. I would say there are some similarities in the density.

"So there's a good chance that there are Gensing underground?" Tachibana's eyes lit up, and he held out his hand. "I'm an exterminator, and I'm working on a job here. Araki, would you like to assist me? That way you and I can both get what we want."

Araki shook his hand without a second thought.

The system underneath this building is very simple, but I didn't have much time to explore it before those fools started screaming.

Speaking of fools, Minamoto peeked his head in the shop door. "Who's that? A thief?"

"This guy is going to be assisting me. Tell your family it's safe to come inside."

With that, Araki and Tachibana climbed back into the hole. It didn't occur to him at first, but as soon as they'd entered the passages, he felt an immediate ache in his chest. The darkness closed in around them as they got further from the hole. He froze.

"What's the matter?" Araki asked, noticing that he wasn't following. Tachibana's hands shook, and he gestured for them to return to the surface. He wanted to grab a lantern. Araki wouldn't be able to speak, but at least he could explore without the fear that was already biting at his soul. "You can't speak in the darkness. Well, I don't see a problem." Araki shrugged.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, but that didn't matter at all. He'd long gotten over the embarrassment of his fear. It was childish, but something he couldn't help. Even Kengo knew. But now, he looked away from Araki in shame.

"Let's continue. I'll show you the way, but you better not make a peep."

Tachibana reluctantly followed Araki deeper into the tunnel. It was surprisingly tall, with enough room so that Tachibana only had to duck his head a bit to walk. But Araki, who was almost two feet taller than him, had to bend over.

Whoever had made these passages had a clear goal in mind, but it was a mystery. Why construct such complex tunnels underneath a few neighborhood houses? As they walked, he realized they were traveling downwards in a spiral. With each turn, they had the choice to branch off or remain on the path.

"When we stay on this loop, the scent gets stronger. I think when we reach the bottom, that is where they will be hiding."

By now, Araki had taken a clip out of his sleeve and put it on his nose. His sense of smell must be amazing, because Tachibana could barely pick up on any scent. This deep underground, it was faint but not clear or overwhelming.

After 10 minutes, they'd reached the bottom. There they were met with a cave, and Tachibana's nerves were finally eased by the glowing crystals that glittered inside cracked rocks and crevices.

They walked through the small cave and peeked their heads over a stone wall, which acted as a natural barrier between the first section of the cave and a much bigger back section.

His mouth fell open, and he felt weak at the sight.

Hundreds- maybe even thousands of Gensing eggs lay on the ground, covered in oozing goo. They glowed orange and green, excreting toxic sludge as they pulsed. No adult gensing was around, but he knew they must be lurking in the cave. Araki was covering his face with the collar of his shirt and holding his breath.

He signaled for them to leave, and the two men ran as fast as they could out of the cave. Tachibana out of fear, and Araki out of disgust.

No way...the guys at the bar were right. There was no natural explanation for what he'd just witnessed. Gensing didn't multiply on such a large scale. Usually, a female would have 1-2 children before passing. Someone was assisting them.

This would be the largest extermination he'd ever done. Usually, he only killed one or two Gensing, but now he was up against hundreds of eggs which could hatch at any moment, and the number of males and females capable of producing such an amount. Were they of human origin, or were they pure? The difference would determine whether he made it out alive.

Human-origin Gensing, or the first generation, were humans who'd been transformed into monsters. They were weak, slow, and their brains were not capable of complex thought. Their children, second-generation Gensing, were pure-blooded and smart. A huge difference.

When they got back to the hole, Tachibana was eager to lift himself out. He sat on the ground and struggled to get himself together. The combination of the darkness he'd just been soaked in for thirty minutes and the shock of finding a Gensing nest stopped him from thinking straight.

"Oji?" Kengo tapped him on the back, and he came back to his senses. Araki stood above them, watching him with interest. "Oji-Chan is scared of the dark," Kengo told him.

"Don't tell him that..." Tachibana grumbled. He laughed awkwardly and stood up.

Striving to maintain professionalism was hard when your line of work directly dealt with one of the things you feared most. And it wasn't a simple fear for him, no. When he lost the light, he could feel death catching up to him, and his grim reaper preparing to cut his life short. It was the kind of deathly fear that leaves you unable to think or move. But he always managed to push through.

"There's a large nest underneath the building. I think they were using the tunnels underground to enter your home. I'll have to go down there and kill them, but there are crystals around their nest which will make it hard to use my weapon," he explained to the family. Minamoto gave him a curious look.

"Why would a couple of crystals be a problem?"

"Err- they're in the way," he bluffed. They couldn't know he had Haimono. The light from the crystals stopped him from using his voice to kill the Gensing, so they would have to be removed first.

"I don't know what kind of weapon you're using, but it sounds fishy to me!" Minamoto squinted his eyes. His wife came up behind him with worry painted on her face. As they were arguing back and forth, Araki crept closer to Tachibana. Before he knew it, Araki was pressing his nose against his neck and...sniffing him?

"What- what are you doing?" he pulled away.

You should bathe.

"..."

"I knew it! That rancid smell was you!" Minamoto burst into laughter.

"Are you sure it wasn't the smell of your rotten personality?"

Minamoto snatched Kengo up, grabbing his legs and hoisting him onto his shoulders. "A-Ah!" he pulled Minamoto's slicked-back hair, causing the man to shout in pain and run out the door, nearly knocking Kengo's head on the doorframe.

"I'm taking your kid! Catch me if you can, smelly!"

"..." The group went silent. "Let's go sort out those crystals," Tachibana said to Araki. They returned to the dark tunnel.

- - -

By the time night came, they had finished clearing the cave of crystals. The minimal light they produced was not enough to trigger Araki's death voice, since he required complete sunlight to use his ability. But for Tachibana, who had to work in absolute darkness, they were a detriment.

Spending hours underground was doing damage to his psyche. When they finally crawled out of the hole in the ground, he was stiff as a board. It was easy to distract himself from the darkness by focusing on the crystals' light. Once those were all gone, he had no comfort to cling to- except the shirt Araki wore, which he held onto as they left the cave.

Tomorrow would be his last day here, so he'd need to work quickly to exterminate the eggs and, hopefully, the parents as well.

Seeing the nest with his own eyes proved that there was someone out there trying to spread the disease. His suspicions started growing towards the unnamed girl who'd been mentioned at the bar. How did she know about it? Unless she was involved...it didn't make sense. He pondered these thoughts, lying next to Kengo on the floor in the guest bedroom.

The boy had already fallen asleep an hour ago. He couldn't, so he watched the flame of the lamp beside them flicker anxiously.

Minamoto's wife. He hadn't seen her for a while. Where did she run off to?

He whimpered, rolling onto his side. He was nothing like Minamoto. That handsome guy who could probably have any woman he wanted, well, as long as he didn't show her his teeth. To be gifted with good looks and a beautiful wife arranged to marry you, but be so ungrateful...he was still annoyed.

Lusting after another man's wife was not Tachibana's forte. He always found himself playing the good guy. He didn't have it in him to steal, or to treat others poorly. But he couldn't help imagining her- pretty and pure as a water lily, drifting on the surface of a crystal clear pond. How her pearly skin would stain under his dirty hands, and her soft lips would press into his with the heat of passion.

What a horrible man he was. A dirty fool who couldn't face his own flaws. He was a danger to others. That he knew. Not only because of his voice, but because of his very nature. Yes, this man who could barely harm a fly was capable of killing someone. He knew these two things to be true at once.

He felt the deepest sorrow at killing a small animal, even if it be necessary to his job. He prayed every day for the souls of the humans he'd killed for work, and that they may be set free from the disease in the afterlife. But this was not enough to satisfy him. Deep inside, he knew he was a monster.

The exterminator who'd forsaken home had not left the comfort of his family for no reason.

He'd killed his best friends, and then he killed his parents too.

Just as he began to drift to sleep, a cold sensation swept over him and gave him chills. His foot was tickled by something slimy, and he jolted up. Grabbing Kengo in one quick motion, he whipped out his knife while holding the sleeping boy in one arm. Peeking in through the crack in the door was a single tentacle, which had crawled its way into his futon.

"No..."

A shriek came from the hallway, and the house awoke with noise.

"Fumiko!" Minamoto's voice pierced through the chaos