Closeup of SCP-2457 sample.

Item #: SCP-2457

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2457 is to be stored in a cryogenic storage unit at Sector 5 of Site-44. Sample requests for testing purposes require authorisation from Project Head/2457.

Hosts carrying SCP-2457-A are to be taken to Class E wards with survelliance cameras installed. Medical staff are to monitor the health status of said hosts, with daily checkups during the hosts' second and third trimesters. When a given host undergoes combustion, other personnel (if any) in the respective ward are to evacuate. After combustion, a response team is to collect the remnants of SCP-2457.

Carcasses of SCP-2457-A iterations are to be stored in a cryogenic storage unit at Site-44 Class-E Morgue. Access to said carcasses requires authorisation from a Level 2 personnel.

Description: SCP-2457 is a sample of human sperm cells coated in a cryoprotectant semen extender, with a total volume of approximately 5 mL. Analysis of SCP-2457 reports no indication of illness or other abnormalities. The identity of the sperm donor is listed as Mr. ████████ ██████ (hereon listed as PoI-2457-01), a resident of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. When utilised for artificial insemination, there is a 100% success rate of impregnation given that the host is fertile.

SCP-2457-A is a human foetus resulting from the use of SCP-2457 for artificial insemination. All iterations of SCP-2457-A are consistently male and genetically identical, regardless of the hosts of respective iterations. Genetic comparison between SCP-2457-A and PoI-2457-01 indicates approximately 50% DNA overlap between the two persons. Furthermore, all iterations of SCP-2457-A have been diagnosed with anencephaly.

During the third trimester of the host's pregnancy, the host will undergo spontaneous human combustion. Fire generated is shown to be unable to be extinguished via fire extinguisher or water. Thermal imaging indicates that the combustion originates from the host's pelvic cavity.

SCP-2457-A will remain unburnt during the combustion of the host, but it will inevitably expire following the host's expiration due to interruption of gestation. In addition, following the host's expiration, SCP-2457-A's carcass is split into seven portions: head, left and right arms, left and right legs, upper and lower torso (cut off at waistline). Cause is unknown, although wounds on SCP-2457 suggest the application of a bladed object on the carcass.

SCP-2457 was recovered from the █████ Sperm Bank in Shizuoka, Japan on ██/██/2013. After the spontaneous human combustion of Mrs. ██████ █████, Foundation operatives were able to identify the source as SCP-2457 and acquire it after fabricating reports that it is an HIV-positive sperm sample. The death of Mrs. ██████ █████ was officially reported to be the work of an anonymous murderer.

Addendum 2457-1: Interview Log 2457/PoI-2457-01-1

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Interviewee: PoI-2457-01

Interviewer: Agent Kensuke Shirokawa

Foreword: Interviewee is listed as the donor for SCP-2457. The following interview is part of preliminary investigations to comprehend SCP-2457, and is originally conducted in Japanese.

<Begin Log>

Agent Shirokawa: Sensei, please begin by stating your name and profession.

PoI-2457-01: ████████ ██████. A kannushi1 by profession. Head of the █████ Shrine in Hamamatsu, inherited from my father.

Agent Shirokawa: We are here to discuss your visit to the █████ Sperm Bank in ████. Do you acknowledge that you were there on ██ ██████?

PoI-2457-01: Yes, I was there.

Agent Shirokawa: And you were there to donate your sperm. Is that so?

PoI-2457-01: Ye-yes, I did that.

Agent Shirokawa: Recently, several women had died under mysterious circumstances. All of those persons share one common factor. They used sperm donated from you.

PoI-2457-01: I haven't been to Shizuoka City since my initial trip. I did nothing, officer.

Agent Shirokawa: Understood, sensei. Though this may be personal, it is certainly unusual for you to be donating your sperm. Most kannushi tend to have their son succeed the shrine.

PoI-2457-01: Uh, that position is not necessarily hereditary after the war.

Agent Shirokawa: Your wife2 said you two were trying to have a son, a male successor specifically. Sperm donation does not allow you to legally recognise any child birthed using your sperm. So why did you choose to do it?

PoI-2457-01: …You will not believe it if I tell you.

Agent Shirokawa: Try me, sensei. I've seen my fair share of the unbelievable under my current employer.

PoI-2457-01: Officer, do you believe in the kami?

Agent Shirokawa: Perhaps not in the same way as you would, but that is not relevant. Please continue.

PoI-2457-01: Okay… As a kannushi, my role is to be a bridge for the kami to enact their will in the mortal world. Sometimes, it can be very direct and all encompassing.

Agent Shirokawa: Possession?

PoI-2457-01: Yes. Ah, even among my colleagues, few can fathom the presence of the kami. It's sad, really.

Agent Shirokawa: Indeed. So, when did it begin to interact with you?

PoI-2457-01: Uh… it's a bit embarrassing, but I was confronted by it since I was a child. Thought I was going crazy, but it's clear to me now.

Agent Shirokawa: Ah, so were you possessed during your childhood?

PoI-2457-01: No.

Agent Shirokawa: So possession was a recent event. Am I correct?

PoI-2457-01: Yes. It happened sometime before my trip to the sperm bank in Shizuoka, up till the end of my trip to that sperm bank.

Agent Shirokawa: During your possession, who was in control? You or the kami?

PoI-2457-01: Uh… t-the kami. It is possession, after all.

Agent Shirokawa: Only clarifying, sensei. So the kami assumes complete control over the vessel, or you in this case?

PoI-2457-01: Yes.

Agent Shirokawa: Would that include memory? As in the kami's memory overriding yours?

PoI-2457-01: Uh, sure.

Agent Shirokawa: Ah, there is this discrepancy regarding how this particular kami would know how to enter the sperm bank and successfully file in the needed paperwork. After all, you claimed that it overrode your memory then.

PoI-2457-01: The kami have their ways of surveying our world. It is erroneous to think of them as ignorant to our world.

Agent Shirokawa: But do you know why the kami had possessed you?

PoI-2457-01: He called for me, and requested for my assistance. He wished to be manifested by childbirth, a wish he bore to me since my youth. As a servant of the kami, I oblige and wait for a suitable opportunity.

Agent Shirokawa: Sensei, if I may enquire, why didn't it target your wife? Getting her pregnant would be easier than dropping by a sperm bank and leaving your sperms indefinitely.

PoI-2457-01: Aa… I was not in total control back then… I would know nothing…

Agent Shirokawa: Can we speak with that kami? For it to provide its stance.

PoI-2457-01: You can't. Please don't.

Agent Shirokawa: Why not? Is it possible?

[PoI-2457-01 remains unresponsive for approximately four minutes; vocalisations limited to filler words such as "ēto" and "ano". Agent Shirokawa continues to probe PoI-2457-01 due to his lack of response.]

PoI-2457-01: Uh… it's awkward to admit this, but I made the choices. I chose not to involve my wife. I chose to resort to a sperm bank, to at least fulfil my covenant with him.

Agent Shirokawa: To be born?

PoI-2457-01: Indeed, he took residence in my seed and left me to fulfil my part. My seed became a yorishiro.3

Agent Shirokawa: I know it is a bit personal, but given the sperm sample's potency, you can have your son easily. What stopped you?

PoI-2457-01: The women who died. Did they die by fire?

Agent Shirokawa: How did you know that?

PoI-2457-01: He is certainly Kago-no-Tsuchi,4 whom my shrine is dedicated to. I am certain he will burn my wife, as he did with Izanami. Cannot allow that happen to my wife.

Agent Shirokawa: But if you know what's going to happen, why agree to the whole deal?

PoI-2457-01: It is disrespectful for a kannushi to reject the kami. It is not right of me to expel it on my own and dispose of it. I thought that a sperm bank would still fulfil the covenant… in a way.

Agent Shirokawa: By letting another woman pay the price?

PoI-2457-01: I sincerely pity the women involved, but none of the parties involved bore any malice in their actions. The kami are not like us. They are Nature itself, and their natures cannot change at all. Like how fire is always fated to deplete the source in which it sprung from.

Agent Shirokawa: And after donating your sperm, did anything odd happen to you?

PoI-2457-01: He no longer spoke to me. I guess he felt that I did my part.

Agent Shirokawa: Understood, sensei. But we would like to conduct a medical examination of you, for safety's sake?

PoI-2457-01: [sighs] I will offer whatever I can.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: PoI-2457-01 is scheduled for medical examination at front company Shimamura Contagion Pharmaceutics on ██/██/2013. Amnestic treatment will be held pending results of analysis.

Addendum 2457-2: Below is a transcript of PoI-2457-01's medical examination results.

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DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

X-ray of PoI-2457-01's torso. Notice the growth of tumours in subject's right abdomen.

ATTENDING PERSONNEL: Dr. Jirou Ueda

DATE: 21/10/2013

SUBJECT: PoI-2457-01 (Mr. ████████ ██████)

SPECIES: Human (Homo sapiens sapiens)

SEX: Male

ETHNICITY: Japanese

AGE: 48

WEIGHT: 69.4 kg

HEIGHT: 1.64 m

NOTABLE DETAILS: One mass of tissues identified in subject's abdomen. Bears no analogue to known human organs. Appears to vestigial w.r.t subject's body.

With consent from Ethics Committee Liaison and the subject, operation to extract said mass is authorised. Mass of tissues successfully extracted without complication. Further analysis identifies developmentally mature solid tissues, notably those of the brain, skin and hair follicles. DNA analysis identifies 98% genetic match with samples from SCP-2457-A.

Footnotes

1. The person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine (jinja) as well as for leading worship of a given kami.

2. Prior to this interview, an interview with PoI-2457-01's wife (Mrs. █████ ██████) was conducted. For more information, see Interview Log 2457/PoI-2457-02-1.

3. Denotes an object capable of attracting spirits called kami, thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies.

4. Shinto deity of fire. In the Kojiki, Kago-no-Tsuchi caused the death of his mother Izanami. After that, his father Izanagi killed Kago-no-Tsuchi by chopping him into eight pieces.