The net itself was assembled in one-hundred-foot sections called tans. One hundred and sixty tans had been sewed together to create a single nagashi-ami. A white buoy marked the beginning and end of each separate tan. Positioned beside each buoy was a red numbered flag, a miniature battery-powered strobe light, and a radio antenna that signaled a direction-finder located in the Hari Maru’s wheelhouse.
A thick, grey fog shrouded the calm sea as the net was tossed overboard. Deployment took over an hour.
To insure good fortune, the sen do made certain to soak the net with sake, which was stored beside a small Shinto altar near the bridge.
The youngest fishermen currently aboard the Hari Maru were a pair of seventeen-year-old twins — Toshi and Yukio Tanaka, born in Naha, Okinawa. They came from a long line of squidders, among whom was their uncle, the ship’s present sen do This was only their second working cruise, and both impressionable teenagers looked at this event as a great adventure.
This was especially the case when the net was fully deployed, and they anxiously stood at the rail, waiting for the first squid to be pulled in.
“This is some morning,” observed Toshi as he gazed out to sea.
“The fog is so thick that even the sunrise will be veiled from us.”
Yukio seemed uneasy as he voiced his reply.
“What did you expect, brother? The sea here is perpetually shrouded.”
“I hope that you still don’t think that this portion of the sea is haunted by demons?” asked Toshi lightly.
Yukio’s serious tone did not falter.
“You may laugh all you want, Toshi. But for me, this area will always be Mono Umi, the sea of the devil.”
“Oh come now, Yukio. You’re beginning to sound just like a superstitious old woman.”
“Then why are the other fishermen so somber this morning?” questioned Yukio.
“Even Uncle seems affected, Never before have I seen him bless our net with an entire bottle of sake.”
“I blame it all on the Americans and Canadians,” reflected Toshi.
“If it wasn’t for their unfair protectionist laws, we’d be fishing in safety off the coasts of California or British Columbia, instead of in these treacherous waters.”
“Then how do you account for the hundreds of ships and planes that have mysteriously vanished while traveling over this portion of the Pacific?” asked Yukio.
“One only has to look at nature for the answer to that question, Yukio. The floor of the ocean beneath us is ringed with underwater volcanoes and deep trenches scoured by powerful currents. This region is also no stranger to sudden storms and freak waves, that can swallow a ship in the blink of an eye. All of these naturally occurring phenomena could be responsible for the disappearances that you speak of.”
Before Yukio could respond to this, their uncle joined them at the rail. The Hari Maru’s sen do was a powerfully built man, with a full, black beard and gentle brown eyes. A veteran mariner, he intently scanned the fog-shrouded seas, centering his gaze on one of the blinking strobe lights, just visible in the near distance.
“Well nephews, what do you think of this glorious morning?”
Toshi was the first to answer him.
“My brother fears that there’s a demon lurking below these waters, Uncle, just waiting to swallow us up at the first opportunity.”
“You don’t say,” replied the sen do whose kind glance turned towards Yukio.
“Have no fear of the Mono Umi, nephew. When I was your age, I too heard the frightening tales of the sea demons that supposedly inhabited these waters. Many a horrible nightmare has since been filled with visions of a ferocious dragon, which comes to the ocean’s surface to seize my fishing boat, and drag me and my crew down to the dragon’s underwater lair. But here I am an old man already, and still this tragic prophecy has not come true.
So set your mind at ease, Yukio, and know that the only monsters in these parts are right here in your head.”
Yukio managed a slight smile. Satisfied that his message got through, the sen do looked to his watch and added.
“The sun will soon be breaking the eastern horizon, and with its arrival the squid will swim up to the surface to feed. If I were you, I’d go below and get some hot tea and rice in your bellies, for all too soon there will be no time for such a luxury.”
Quick to follow their uncle’s advice, the twins climbed below deck and joined the other fishermen in the galley. They were in the midst of enjoying a large bowl of fish soup, when the Hari Maru’s air horn sounded twice. This was followed by the shrill blast of a whistle and the sen do booming voice.
“Come on, lads. To the nets with you!”
Gulping down a last mouthful of soup, the twins rushed from the cabin and gathered on the stern. The net was already in the process of being pulled aboard.
Its corks and weighted line were drawn through separate rollers, so that the four-and-a-half-inch mesh could be grasped by the fishermen and yanked onto the main deck amidships.
Toshi and Yukio took their positions beside the rail and watched as the first squid was pulled in.
“Ika! Ika!” shouted the excited sen do who brought his whistle to his mouth and blew out a series of spirited blasts.
The squid plopped down onto the deck beside Yukio. Its sleek, oblong body was over two feet long, and as it brushed up against Yukio’s boot, it shot out a spurt of jet black ink, this being the creature’s primary defensive mechanism.
“My, that one’s a beauty,” observed Toshi as he bent down to pick up the squid by its head.
“It must weigh a good five pounds!”
Both the twins admired its purple, tube like mantle.
The squid’s head had a pair of clearly discernible eyes, and a beaklike mouth, with two long tentacles and eight shorter arms protruding downwards. One of these shorter arms attached itself onto Yukio’s arm, and he quickly yanked the sucker free.
Hundreds of similarly sized squid soon covered the deck, that was awash now in black ink. The sen do seemed particularly pleased and as he passed by the stern, Toshi breathlessly addressed him.
“What species of squid are these. Uncle?”
“We call them neon flying squid,” he answered.
“Why’s that?” asked Yukio.
The sen do grinned.
“Believe it or not, these creatures give off a bright flash of light while pursuing their prey of small fish. I’ve once seen this miraculous sight myself, while watching a hunting squid break the surface of the sea and leap through the air.”
“Aren’t they in danger of being over fished if we continue taking them in these numbers?” asked Yukio.
“Not this species,” replied the sen do “I’ve been told that each female produces as many as half a million eggs during their one-year life span.”
A sudden grinding noise broke from the stern, followed by the rending sound of tearing net.
“Stop the rollers!” shouted the sen do his tone filled with concern.
“What in the world is going on back there?”
“We’ve hit some sort of snag!” replied the crew member who operated the roller mechanism.
Both the sen do and his nephews quickly joined this individual, who was positioned on the aft-most portion of the Hari Maru’s stern. As the roller ground to a halt, they collectively examined the torn net, whose shredded remnants extended well out to sea.
“There’s a good mile of net still out there,” said the roller operator as he pointed towards the fog-enshrouded waters at their stern.
Even though the sun had long since risen, the thick fog completely veiled the horizon in all directions. A ghostly, milky white radiance hinted that a new day had dawned, with the only evidence of the surrounding ocean being the occasional slap of a passing wave.
“Perhaps we’ve caught a whale out there,” offered Yukio.