"Shibuya Station next. Shibuya Station next."

I suddenly wake up from having dozed off due to feeling tired with all the research I did today.

No breaks for me, I just keep on helping with doing researching on this... rather special subject.

Doesn't help that I'm the youngest one among so many old men, and also the most enthusiastic as well due to that this subject actually intrigues me a lot.

Apparently since ancient times, we've had so called Titans traversing this planet of ours, some of the researchers I work with even having claimed that some are very much active even today, just holding to themselves instead before a potential threat emerges, thus these Titans doing so as well to defeat this threat.

It has really intrigued me, as it always just seemed like fairy tales that gigantic creatures actually do exist, even though I have never seen any of them myself, only ever having seen a photo of apparently the most well known Titan to exist out there.

Their, or rather his, name? Godzilla.

Apparently dubbed the "King of the Monsters", he is the dominant alpha predator to traverse these lands. But again, just a photo of the big G's dorsal plates, so I do not know how he looks like overall.

But that's basically were any other information about him or any other Titans stops, as the adults I work together still deems me too young to fully comprehend these gigantic beasts.

It's a bummer, but it doesn't prevent me from still looking more into it, though now I really don't want to lay more stuff on me as I just want to focus on getting home, which is close to the bustling cityscape of Tokyo.

It's not only my comfy home waiting on me though, I also happen to have my girlfriend as well waiting on me at the station in the capital city.

She is none other than Touko Kirigaya, the guitarist of the band Morfonica.

I met her back when I temporarily worked part time at livehouse CiRCLE, as I needed some extra funds to be able to pay for the course I wanted to take in order to be able to help with researching the Titans.

I became good friends with many of the band girls in that time spam, but love began blooming between me and Touko, a love I thought wasn't even possible.

But alas, we ended up falling so deeply in love with each other that it basically would've been strange if we didn't end up realizing our feelings for each other sooner or later.

It's probably the best decision I've done, because every day has only been amazing after she came into my life.

We care a lot about each other, and we don't hold back on showing our strong affection we have for each other.

It was kinda sad the day when I soon resigned after getting the necessary funding from the part time job, but not many tears were spilt due to the fact that we all could remain friends either way, and with Touko, remain as lovers.

I myself moved here to Japan from Sweden after my parents had passed away from an apparent accident. This accident having seemingly been caused by a Titan.

But even when I ask around to fellow researchers around the building, I never get a reply on which Titan could've been responsible for the sinking of the boat my parents were on.

It's not that I want that Titan hunted down by any means, rather I just got enthusiastic overall learning that they exist. It may not be a way to by any means repay my parent's deaths, but they would've wanted me to move on and find something new from someone else's death.

I still miss them though at times, but after I met Touko, I've been happier than ever, and again, something else they would've wanted me to be when moving on.

With all these thoughts in my head, I get off the train and head upstairs to soon see the usual Shibuya Crossing, a ton of people as usual passing here and there and back and forth.

I could already see Touko from where I stood, as the Hachikō statue was going to be our meeting place, quite like many others.

Walking up towards her, I can spot that a middle aged guy is apparently also going up to her. Geez, guess some people just cannot keep to themselves, huh?

"Hey there, aren't you Kirigaya Touko?" The middle aged man asks Touko as she turns her attention to him after scrolling through her social medias a little. "You go by the name TOKO on SNS, right~?"

"Oh, well, that's right..!" Touko replies, though in less lively manner as she immediately sense danger from this man. "I can't talk much more though, I am waiting on my boyfriend-"

"Now, now, he maybe isn't even coming, because you've been waiting for a few minutes now." The man says as he begins touching Touko's arm a little. "Why not keep me company for a little while, Touko? I would love to hear more about you and your band-"

"Get your filthy fucking hands off my girl!" I sharply tell the man as I had ran up to them, intervening what this man was going to do. "And go flirt with women your own age!"

"Tch, it's always that they come and intervene just as the plan almost goes through." the man says as he pushes Touko while walking away, almost making her fall over, but I am fast enough to catch her.

"I'm so sorry Touko I didn't come sooner..." I tell her as I hug her. "Had a little extra stuff to do, hence my later arrival by a few minutes."

"No, it's fine Stephan, the most important thing is that you came~" Touko tells me as she stands up straight before grabbing me by my cheeks and kisses me a few times. "Had he tried anything more, I would've done those defense tactics you taught me, so I think I would get away just fine, haha~!"

"Hehe, true. I'm just happy you are fine though, my beloved."

"Mhm, but you are still my lovely hero~"

"I mean, I am not that heroic-"

Touko kisses me again, this time directly on my lips as she let's out a giggle.

"The fact alone that you would've intervened even if it wasn't me is heroic enough in my eyes~"

"Right, I see..." I replied as I can't help but to blush from Touko's compliment.

She holds me in quite high regards, despite me just being one grade above her, but I guess it's normal to do when you love someone. I after all hold Touko both near and dear to my heart and in a very high regard, as I often see her as the best thing to have ever happened to me.

"Right, leads head to the next subway train to get to our part of the megapolis, shall we?" I tell Touko as she nods and grabs my hand before we head downstairs again and into another direction to get the subway train that goes to Shinjuku where we two and most of the other band girls lives.

As we get on the train and get a seat in it, we chat with each other a little about our busy week we've had respectively.

"Oh yeah, anything new about the Titan you are looking after?" Touko asks me as I can just heavily sigh and shake my head. "Aww, I see... I'm sure you'll find out more about it though, will probably just take some time!"

"Yeah, I know. Not everything comes to you in an instant after all." I reply back to Touko as I wrap an arm around her shoulder as we inch closer while still seated. "I have the patience mostly because of you. You always make me calm, and I just always smile around you."

As I say that, I can't help but to smile seeing Touko look at me as she listens to me and smiles back to me, an even greater smile actually.

I kiss Touko on her forehead before she wraps her arms around my neck so I end up sharing a passionate kiss with her instead. We just can't help sharing a kiss from time to time, and Touko is very happy with me around as well, so we both find a lot of happiness in each other.

There just isn't anyone else like Touko, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

With the train soon coming to a halt, we step out of it and directly begin heading into the direction where Hazawa's lays.

"At these hours, I'm pretty sure Ran is with her friends and bandmates at the café, most likely discussing their next plans!" Touko says as she looks to me. "They will probably like seeing you, a lot of the bands miss having you around after all!"

"Miss me, eh? Thought they would hate me for leaving and never want to see me around again."

"Nope, actually not! You stated your reason after all, and none of us wanted to stop you from pursuing your dreams, especially not me~"

"Haha, thanks Touko." I reply to her as we smile at each other before arriving at the café, and it looks like it normally does.

However, a TV has been put up in the cafeteria now, most likely to be in the background as white noise or for people to follow the news.

The two of us sit down by a smaller table, as it appears to be not so crowded at the moment, hence why Tsugumi did not come up to us or anything to let us have decided seats.

Speaking off, her bandmates in Afterglow are indeed here, though sitting a little further away from us, so they haven't noticed us yet.

As Tsugumi walks up to us, she gets happy seeing that I am taking some free time to be around here instead of in another place entirely.

I order the usual chocolate cake together with freshly made orange juice, while Touko goes for what is the newest thing on the menu.

"Gotta check if it can become the next big thing, you know~" Touko says as she winks and giggles at me, and I can't help chuckling out myself at my girlfriend's usual trend seeking she tend to do.

"Hey man, long time no see!" A voice suddenly calls out, and we spot that it's the others in Afterglow approaching us to greet me. "Finally back in freedom after a long time of school and researching, eh?"

"Phew, quite so." I reply back as we all laugh. "Hope it's going well for you girls with your band."

"Well, it's... the same as always." Ran says hesitantly, not wanting to sound too repetitive, as she already knows I've heard that line quite a lot whenever I asked Afterglow how their practice was like. "Otherwise, I think we are rolling quite well."

"That's great to hear." I tell her as I nod in acknowledgement as she gives a nod back to me.

"Breaking news! Latest reports has claimed that what appears to be a giant egg has washed ashore at the beach close to the local harbor!"

We all turn our attention to the TV suddenly blaring out from a news flash, telling a story that sounds extraordinary for many, but I have my guesses what this egg is from my time of researching.

As the TV still has our attention, the news helicopter appears to have arrived at the place, and with them filming the supposed giant egg, we really can see it was no joke.

"I-it's massive..!" Himari says in shock as she, like the rest of us are glued to the TV screen. However...

"That's what she said." I say as I chuckle a little as the others except Touko becomes flustered. "I'm just kidding girls, don't worry."

"Though that was definitely what I said to you a few weeks ago~" Touko says as she teasingly smiles at me, making me begin blushing instead.

"Whoa, wait. No way..." Tomoe says as the other present Afterglow members also looks in shock at me and Touko. "Wait, you two actually have done... that?"

"N-no, don't get the wrong idea here!" I begin saying in my defense. God Touko, don't imply to them what we did a few weeks ago..! "We have not done any sort of, well, copulation, per say..!"

"Well, we still did something, y'know~" Touko says as she winks and licks her lips a little bit. God, how embarrassing from talking about a giant egg, to me and/or Touko potentially revealing what we did last week.

"What did you two even do?" Moca asks nonchalantly as she still hasn't caught on yet what we were talking about.

"Alright fine! Touko... Touko sucked me off!" I tell the other band girls as they are completely flushed in their face.

"No shame in admitting, Stephan~ But yep, I did indeed suck him off~" Touko says as she winks at me again, making me blush even more.

I remember clearly how it all felt and the extreme intimacy there was between us two when she gave me head. She went all in with me after I had admitted I felt a little aroused that day...

"Update! It appears that the giant egg is moving!" The news anchor suddenly calls out as we all lay our attention on the TV screen again. And again, the news helicopter showing in detail that the egg is definitely beginning to move and thrash around.

Whatever is in there wants to be born, and I might know exactly what will hatch..!

As I fumble in my school bag that I also brought to my research job, having a pin on it with the name of the organization I work for, Monarch, I soon find my notes I had written about the various Titans known to exist.

Frantically I skim through the pages of texts and smaller illustrations I've done of the various mentioned Titan to find this exact egg we are seeing right now on the television.

Touko sits beside me and helps me look after the giant egg more in detail. Not long after, she finally sees it and points it out to me.

"Thank you my beloved." I tell her as I read what I've written down. "Thought as much..! From that egg, a larva of the legendary Titan Mothra will hatch!"

"Mothra? Wait, will it be some kind of giant moth?" Tomoe asks, confused over what I had just said.

"Yes, it appears that she is indeed a giant moth. Apparently she has been dubbed the "Queen of the Monsters" as well." I tell everyone, as there is no need to have withheld information anymore due to the fact that a Titan is literally being recorded for the entirety of Tokyo, maybe even Japan as a whole, and a ton of people gets to get their first glimpse at a live Titan.

"The queen? So who's the king~?" Touko asks me as I hesitate a little. Should I really tell that much about this, considering that Monarch tries their best on keeping the amount of Titans that exists a secret..?

"I will tell you Touko, after we begin heading home." I tell her as she nods, understanding why. "I hope none of you find any offense in me not telling the rest of you. Mothra is as much as I can share about Titans, only due to her sudden appearance."

"Don't worry, we understand. Monarch is known for it's secrets after all." Ran replies to me as she nods in acknowledgement. "And you trust Touko the most, so that's understandable as well why you only share with her."

Soon Tsugumi arrives with the orders me and Touko had ordered, with her also seeing the news now of the giant egg that is about to hatch at any moment.

"The giant egg keeps on moving, and there is no telling whether it will hatch right now or that whatever is inside just wants to move a little!"

"They are continuing being fascinated I see." I say as I look at the TV again. "I think it will actually hatch, so let's stay here for a moment and watch this event unfold."

As we continue looking on in anticipation, we soon see the egg getting a few cracks in it. The larva is finally coming out of the egg!

"The egg is hatching! What a wonderful thing to see!" The news anchor says in excitement over seeing the footage himself. "New, wonderful life, hatching right in front of us..!"

The Mothra larva finally comes out, letting out a smaller screech as she continues on breaking out from her shell prison.

Once fully out of the egg, we all get a good glimpse at the "Queen of the Monsters".

"Wow, she really looks like a giant moth larva, no kidding!" Tomoe says as the others nods, while I can only chuckle, as I had already seen how she looked like in illustrations. "And she is quite huge herself. Scary almost, haha..."

The helicopters keeps on circulating the larva, while she is looking around, most likely confused where she had ended up.

"Poor larva, she looks lost..." Tsugumi says as I nod, as I think I know why.

"Typically, Mothra resides at Infant Island, being worshiped by the natives there." I tell the others as they are listening to what more I have to say. "But they must've been careless or something else must've happened for the egg to fall into the ocean and soon float here."

"So Mothra depends a lot on the ones worshiping her? Huh, sure sounds like someone..." Ran asks before muttering the last part, but I shook my head.

"No, she is very much on her own, but she is more likely to listen to their pleads of help. That is compared to any other Titans." I tell everyone as I sigh. "Out of the Titans we know of, she is the only one known to fully be able to co-exist with humans. Any other Titans do not care about what we are, as long as we don't do anything towards them."

But what troubles still though, why today and right now? Why has Mothra's egg made landfall, and why did it hatch? As it only hatches if... the original Mothra dies.

My phone suddenly rings, blaring out "Daylight", a song by my girlfriend's band. I pick it up and answer it, as it appear to be one of my colleagues at Monarch.

"Hey, something up?"

"S-Stephan, you have seen the news right..?"

"Yeah, a Mothra larva just hatched out from an egg from the original Mothra, how so?"

The colleague clears his throat, before continuing on.

"Infant Island is gone..!"

"What? A island can't just up and disappear-"

"No, gone as in completely wiped out! Someone or something has destroyed it, obliterated it fully!"

I had to take a moment to sink in what he had just told me. Infant Island is gone from existence, most likely along with the native people, thus the reason why the egg came here was because it must've been them pushing it into the ocean for it to survive and get away from the destruction.

Mothra might have also died in whatever made the island go under, but for now I can't say for sure, none can.

"Have you guys sent out any rescue boats and helicopters to see if any of the native people perhaps are around, swimming to possibly keep themselves alive?"

"We have, we have! We are still awaiting reports, so right now we have no idea if anyone is still alive!"

"Right, you can message me later about survivors and findings, I will be a little busy of me, so that would be appreciated."

"Understood, have a good continued day!" The colleague replies as he hangs up the call and I put back my phone in my pocket. 

"Monarch stuff, I will not share any further." I tell everyone in Afterglow as they nod in acknowledgement, before I look to Touko. "I will tell about it when we get home to me, okay?"

"Alright, seems it's something quite big you heard about, so it will be interesting to hear!" she replies as we take and finish up the rest of our respective orders. 

The news are still going, and the Mothra larva begins crawling away, most likely not wanting anything to do with all the humans circulating around her. If she finds a suitable enough place, she might wrap herself in a cocoon even, as she basically is a giant moth.

"Well, the show's over. Me and Touko will be on our way home, very nice to have meet you guys." I say as me and Touko stand up from our chairs and wave our goodbyes to the band.

As we head home, I finally decide to tell Touko what I were told, as much in detail that I can without accidentally revealing way too much.

"Mothra didn't come here out of any accident, she came here because she needed to survive."

"What, why..?" Touko asks me as I soon go on to tell her that Infant Island is gone, reduced to atoms, and no one knows yet what caused this. "That's horrible! So you mean that Mothra's home is now in ruins?"

"Quite so, a bunch of rescue boats and helicopters will get out there to check if there are any survivors."

"I hope at least there are some survivors among the natives."

I nod and agree with what Touko had just said, even if it's very wishful thinking. But this could perhaps also lead to Monarch discovering what the cause of the destruction is. An island does not fall into ruins just like that, after all.

Arriving at my home, which is a smaller house not too far from Touko's home, which also happens to be the local kimono shop, we enter and take off our shoes, before I carry her bridal style to the living room. We both smile at each other as she let's out a few small giggles before we sit in the couch in front of the TV.

"So, about there being a king of the monsters..."

"Oh yeah, you said you were going to tell me about that~!"

"Mhm..." I begin as I take out my notebook again and show her an illustration. "There he is."

"Hmm, you only see what appears to be the fins on that Titan." She replies as I nod. "Oh wait let me guess! He hasn't been seen out of the water yet!"

"Damn, I should ask Monarch to recruit you as well. They accept more high schoolers besides me after all."

"Oh stop it you, I am not that kind of expert, haha~!" Touko tells me as she laughs her usual beautiful laugh.

"You are the most beautiful person ever, did you know that, Touko?"

"You can say that again and again, and I will never get tired of it~"

Closing our faces to each other, we soon tilt our heads to as usual share a very passionate kiss. Having Touko in my life is the only reason I don't get stressed out by everything, as long as I know she is here, and happy and healthly, I couldn't ask for anything better.

"You are irreplacable to me, Touko, I love you so much..."

"And I love you so much more..."

We share a small talk before continuing on with kissing, though I feel my phone vibrating a little. But just one more minute..!

After we finish up with our usual, rather long passionate kissing, I take and look up what I got sent about survivors and findings on Infant Island.

"A few surviving natives it seems, but the Mothra imago's body was found floating lifeless close to the actually still kinda in-tact island." I say to myself while Touko is resting against my shoulder, napping even as it has been a long week for her as well.

Caressing her hair and tilting my head against her's, I can't help but to feel that warmth I always feel with Touko. She is a great comfort for me, really, and I just cannot stress it enough...

I soon get my attention on my phone again, seeing that a second message had been sent to me.

Though this one has a quite odd image attached to it; In it, a crater is shown, most likely in the middle of Infant Island, but what looks like a meteor is in the middle, only that it still looks like it's burning.

"A 'strange behavior' for a large meteor that entered the atmosphere possibly several hours ago, huh?" I again say to myself as I keep my eyes on the attached image. "It's way more massive than the size of Mothra's egg, could it possibly contain something..?"

I keep on thinking and thinking, but I just cannot come to a possible answer. I find it tragic though that Infant Island's annihilation was due to nature and cosmos being, well, what they are really.

I say my thanks to the one from the rescue team that sent me all this info, before I put my phone down again and go back to caressing Touko's hair.

"You seem troubled, was it something they said?" Touko suddenly asks me as she probably noticed me going slower with my caressing.

"Kinda troubled, yeah. A huge meteor was the reason Infant Island met its doom." I tell Touko as she nods and let's me go on. "But for some reason, the photo I were sent just make me have one strange vibe about it."

"Relax for now and take it easy, Stephan~" Touko tells me as she hugs me. "You must be too exhausted..."

"Yeah, I think I am really..."

"Then I have right thing to do~!" Touko suddenly replies as she grabs my cheeks and I fall onto the couch with my back first while she is beginning to kiss me all over, which tend to energize me a lot. And ho boy, does it energize me indeed~!

Not too long after, we decide to just take a nap on the couch while hugging each other, my entire face being covered by kissmarks from Touko's kissing. As she is laying on top of me, she really clings hard onto me, and I return a hug that is just as clingy and warm.

These kinda moments with the love of my life is everything I could ask for, because there just isn't someone like Touko and I'm forever grateful that I met her...

Touko Kirigaya, my beloved.

Meanwhile at the destroyed Infant Island...

"Easy now, easy! I know we have to work fast with the containment of whatever is inside that meteor, but we can't just throw everything everywhere!"

"Yes sir! Understood, we will take it more easy with the constructing of the walls!" A Monarch employee replies to the man controlling the current operation before he goes back to helping his fellow colleagues.

"We cannot let Titans move around freely without that we take on some action as well and prevent them from doing any harm!" The boss says as he looks at the other employess. "Soon enough we will know if something is in there or not, for now, we have to contain it."

Snickering to himself as no one is watching, he takes out his phone, and begins typing something on it.

"He has arrived safe and sound, and we are currently containing him. I will unleash him when the time comes and your people send the promised Titan to Earth."

Meanwhile at the bottom of the sea...

While all this is going, someone else can sense the vibrations coming from the meteor, and also sense that Mothra has passed away due to a meteor.

But he does not choose to react and make landfall just yet, as the tiny humans are already trying to contain the meteor that caused a slight disturbance around him earlier when it made impact.

The Titan nods to himself, at least satisfied with that and also with the fact that Mothra remains alive as a larva, before going back to a slumber, anytime ready to strike when a new alpha predator rises up and tries taking his title as...

King of the Monsters

//To be continued//