Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole (出禁のモグラ)

The Tale of the Merfolk

Once upon a time,

a beautiful woman and an infant washed up on an island called Sameshima.

Considerably weakened,

the village chief and his son did their best to nurse them back to health.

The woman said she had come from across the sea.

The woman, who worked at a bean confectionery in town,

fell in love with the young shopkeeper and gave birth to a baby.

However, she was cast out and even had brigands set upon her.

2 Years Later

Two years later, the confectioner's men came to the island.

The shopkeeper and his wife couldn't conceive,

so they demanded the woman's child and took it from her.

They cut the woman down with swords and threw her into the sea.

As the men cast off to return home, the seas grew rough,

a storm descended upon them, and a horrifying merfolk appeared.

They abandoned the child and attempted to flee,

but they were eventually swallowed by the waves.

The merfolk's face was that of the woman,

but there was no trace of her beauty, as she'd become an unsightly malevolent spirit.

Following the instructions of Koetsu,

the priest who came to the island, the village chief's son said a prayer.

When they mummified the child's body and presented it as an offering, the storms calmed.

This is how Sameshima came to be known as Merfolk Island.

Don't move a millimeter!

The island's...

Our ancestors'...

Mother's... sacred festival...

That arrow...

Sir, you can't do this.

I've been watching you since you're so suspicious.

Is that what Mama told you to do, sonny?

Not only am I suspicious, I know everything.

An Oedipus complex fogey, an evil little girl, and a monstrous hag.

I doubt it'll do any good, but let me say the decent thing anyway.

You call yourself a company president, you fogey?

Who are you?

What did you do with the arrow?

What is that lamp?

Did you do something to the Moris' boy?

Why is the other one uninjured?

It doesn't make sense!

You think pretty clearly for a puppet.

You're wasting your potential.

You've got a way with words, and you're quick-witted.

Careful with that. Is that a knife for butchering fish?

You don't have many openings.

You practice a martial art, don't you?

You must've been raised well.

You even look pretty good for your age.

You'd be a desirable man if you were weaned.

Anyway, nobody wants to see a fight between a middle-aged man and an old-timer.

Let's not do this.

On top of that, you've got that boss hag and minefield girl behind you.

If this were a manga or anime, you wouldn't have any fans.

You gotta at least have a young handsome boss.

Don't insult my family!

Your family, huh?

Isn't this what it said?

With a head resembling an infant and the body of a woman, it lures men into the sea with its voice.

Goo-goo ga-ga.

"With a head resembling an infant

and the body of a woman,

Yes, yes!

it lures men into the sea with its voice."

Shriek Shriek Shriek Shriek

The unsightly merfolk

is your family!

Episode 11 "The Merfolk and the Bakeneko"

Anyone who mocks my family is a bad person!

Apologize!

Are you throwing a tantrum now?

You're a child in every way!

Wh-Whoa! That was close.

That thing is sharp.

Anyone who offers an opinion is an enemy of peace.

Mother was right.

Kirihara brought calamity to the island.

Calamity is a monster that arrives in human form.

That's how it works in the fairy tales Mother tells me.

And though his form was derivative, his bow skills were exceptional.

He's a true monster.

Everything Mama says is always right.

Our peace is being tested.

Do you have a mother? A family?

What? No.

I didn't think so.

You grew up to be a bad boy because you don't know a family's—a mother's love.

You're jealous of our family.

Poor thing.

Children who don't know the warmth of a family turn out wrong.

You don't realize that's you, do you?

You poor thing.

Mother always tells me that I know love.

That's important for human beings.

You don't understand? Poor thing.

I'm sorry to say it, but that means you're a bad person.

In the stories I love, those who don't know love are always bad people.

And bad people must always be defeated.

Everyone's always waiting for the moment the bad guys are defeated.

Defeating them makes me a hero.

I've been defeating the bad people on the island.

Mother always praises me, which makes me even stronger.

It's all about doing what Mama taught me.

You're the one who's crazy!

Thank you for saying something a bad guy would say.

I can defeat you now, right?

I cut through the bow so easily.

How?

In Japan, when people die, they're sent to one of the Six Paths or paradise.

The Hell Path, the harshest of all paths,

is divided into the Eight Greater Hells and the Eight Cold Hells, each with eight realms.

Additionally...

Actually, that's enough about that.

In the Black Thread Hell, one of the Eight Greater Hells, the dead are tied up with ropes.

This is one of the ropes they use there.

It's stained red with blood, but it was originally black.

It's not easily cut by objects of this world.

You really are crazy.

By the way, I've got a question for you.

Did your Mama not teach you the incredibly basic lesson

of not pointing sharp objects at people?

That sounds way worse than whatever she taught you about love.

Don't insult Mama, you monster!

I only know what I've been taught!

What kind of logic is that?!

Would you just...

...think for yourself for once?!

Mama...

Poor kid.

I'm glad I'm in my 30s right now.

If I were his age, that could have taken forever.

FWAP FWAP

Magi! Mori-kun!

Magi-kun! Mori-kun!

Even if I fired an arrow of this world,

I lack the power to exorcise an otherworldly creature like that merfolk.

Damn it!

Nice, boss! You got here in time!

Meow

Waaah

In that moment, it was clearer than it had ever been to me

why Ikebukuro-san deserved to be referred to as Ikebukuro-san.

I'd better not fail any of the professor's classes.

Sir! Kyo-chan!

Thank you for coming!

"Why is that thing shaped like a merfolk?"

How it became a mass of spirits aside, that was my biggest question.

Right.

In other words, this is its true identity.

Ikebukuro, I'll buy you a squid spinner later, so pull on the merfolk's head!

Squid Spinner

Motivated By Food

Nabeshima, don't let me down!

You're the coolest one here, so pull on the merfolk's tail!

Motivated By Coolness

Eek

Eek! The merfolk split into a human and a fish!

It's a shark!

Shark attacks have occurred in this area for a long time.

But around here, great whites and tiger sharks do occasionally appear.

There are even records from the Edo period.

Apparently the island itself used to be called Sameshima, or Shark Island.

What?

This describes the origins of the merfolk legend.

Since you grew up on the island, perhaps you've heard it.

It's a genuine folktale. There's even a priest who suddenly shows up.

And this was written by Kirihara Yutaro-san.

In other words, Yuhachi-san's father.

Great-grandpa's dad?

Yes. The contents were quite interesting.

Old Man Hanada got drunk and told me this story.

Old Man Hanada got drunk and told me this story. Generations before he was a child, the Samejimas' ancestors came to this island.

Generations before he was a child, the Samejimas' ancestors came to this island.

Apparently the island's legend is half-true.

The Samejima ancestor who was village chief sold the woman's

child to the confectioner's men.

The woman became distraught and chased after the boat, but she was attacked by a shark. The islanders struck the shark with harpoons, but they died along with the shark. The woman and her child died as well.

The woman became distraught and chased after the boat, but she was attacked by a shark.

The islanders struck the shark with harpoons, but they died along with the shark.

The woman and her child died as well.

Their dead bodies washed up on what's now known as Merfolk Rock.

Their dead bodies washed up on what's now known as Merfolk Rock. After my son Yuhachi was discharged, he remarked that he saw a merfolk.

After my son Yuhachi was discharged, he remarked that he saw a merfolk.

To summarize,

the island's dark history caused a part-human and part-fish mass of spirits to form,

and years of growth turned it into a minefield of a monster.

You see it often in fairy tales,

but when animals are near humans who die while experiencing powerful emotions,

the human's spirit possesses the animal and turns it into a monster.

Bakeneko are one such example.