Volume 5, Jinnai Shinobu's Apocalypse — Side A — OP_code "Personal_apocalypse". Part 31-38
This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu
Part 31 (Day 10/04 11:17 - 11:40)
What…happened?
It took me quite a long time to catch on.
“…”
Everything looked turned on its side, but that was because I had collapsed onto my side. Also, a nearby concrete wall had been destroyed to the point I thought a dump truck had crashed into it. The wet feeling in my hair told me a basketball-sized chunk had hit me.
There was nothing we could do.
The fox couldn’t do anything, the tanuki couldn’t either, and not even the Zashiki Warashi could despite how ferocious she had grown.
Someone had stepped in through the crumbling wall and knocked those three down just by swinging his arm. The rules said Youkai couldn’t be harmed by normal means, but that no longer applied. They were punched, they were kicked, and they were thrown away. That was the kind of primitive violence that ruled the world here.
“Hm. Is that all?”
After seeing a growing pool of blood approaching the USB memory stick that had fallen to the floor, the person silently crouched down and picked it up.
The person was a gray-haired man who appeared to be in his fifties.
He was not Japanese. He was clearly white and his graying hair had likely been a lovely blond originally. Even on the subtropical island, he wore a thick military-style coat that fit him perfectly. He also wore leather gloves.
“Who…are you…?”
“Now, then. Where should I begin? Would the term Kechibi be enough to tell you I’m not with them?”
The gray-haired man dutifully answered my question as I remained on all fours.
Shortly thereafter, I heard a roar. The altogether bloody young man (from the Usuhiki Warashi group) stood up wielding a handgun and did not hesitate to pull the trigger. Sharp gunshots quickly filled the enclosed space.
But the gray-haired man did not seem to mind.
He took a casual action much like a child jokingly performing a lariat, but that was all it took to smash the building’s thick loadbearing column. A gray deluge poured down with tremendous force and swept outside the building, taking the bullets and the bloody pulp with it.
It was hard to believe a normal human had done that.
The gray-haired man’s shadow wavered and the number of arms on the shadow grew to four.
“So this is the Obou-Jikara. It sounded like a musty old legend, but ‘when in Rome’ as they say.”
You’re…kidding.
That was related to the story of a Youkai called the Ubume.
An Ubume looked like a young woman holding a baby on the roadside. She would ask passersby to hold the baby, but then the baby would grow heavier and heavier and eventually crush whoever had agreed. The Ubume was a deadly Youkai.
However, anyone who managed to continue holding the baby to the end was said to obtain superhuman strength known as Obou-Jikara. It had looked like his shadow had grown four arms, but did that mean what I thought it did?
Humans could not kill Youkai, but what if the power they used relied on a Youkai? Did that mean he could take down even the Zashiki Warashi on her rampage?
“You are right to feel fear. Humans have a bad habit of glorifying those who struggle against fear to the point of numbing themselves to it, but fear is a biological signal telling you to avoid some kind of danger. It is best to obey it.”
As he spoke, the gray-haired man raised the translucent red USB memory stick and checked to see if any blood had gotten on it.
Not good.
This cannot be good.
“It all began with a certain turning point for this nation. Once your precision machinery industry suffered a decisive loss, you entered a period of chaos as you shifted to the ultra-high precision primary industries…aka running Intellectual Villages.”
“…”
“At the time, fear filled the nation of Japan. You had lost your economic superiority and the economic foundation began shifting to China, Korea, and other southeastern Asian nations. Investors lost faith in the yen and moved their money elsewhere and the foreign companies fled the Tokyo Stock Exchange for fear of being caught in the middle when the nation went bankrupt. Japan knew it would be abandoned, which would be fatal for a nation with less than 30% self-sufficiency for food. That was why those in power reversed their thinking. If they created a system that did not allow anyone to abandon them, they could continue to prosper. That was the way they saw it.”
This was so sudden that I honestly couldn’t keep up.
However, that wasn’t due to the gray-haired man. The scale of the issue had just grown so large. And I felt like a fool for not realizing it.
“Oh, the system itself was simple enough. The basic traits of an Usuhiki Warashi aren’t that different from those of a Zashiki Warashi. The main point is that they bring fortune and prosperity to the house they live in. Boy, do you know the currency used during the Edo period when the story of the Usuhiki Warashi and Zashiki Warashi spread?”
“Wait…a second.”
“The Oban and the Koban, both of which are symbolized by gold. And where else is gold used besides for decorations and currency?”
“Are you talking about integrated circuits and cable ports?”
“The Usuhiki Warashi can control pure gold. And by moving a piece of gold thinner than a hair only half a millimeter, one can prevent hardware from making contact and destroy the data passing through that hardware. And if copper coins are included too, the range of effects grows considerably. But regardless, this applies to hard disks, flash memory, and even the magnetic tape reels that big data companies have been returning to. After that, it is no different from ballistic missile defense. They need only say the following to the world’s investors who were protecting their assets with the Japanese yen: ‘During the next few years while Japan gets back on its feet, if we detect anyone transferring a significant amount of money out of Japan, we will destroy the Tokyo Stock Exchange hardware corresponding to the cluster of data belonging to that individual. Those deals are carried out in less than a millisecond and intentionally slowing them could put you hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, so it would be best to cooperate with us.’ …I suppose you could call it a new form of intimidation diplomacy.”
That was the original form of an old system.
But in modern times, that relic was no longer needed. The country had already recovered using the ultra-high quality brand-name vegetables of the Intellectual Villages.
“The islanders who attacked you had likely unearthed that old system somehow or another. And they were thinking of a way to use it. The automatic detection of large sums of money being transferred was likely what they wanted. Maybe they wanted to copy the movements of big-name investors and win big in the stock market or maybe they wanted to sabotage the trading data of the VIPs enjoying the casinos. To be honest, that would hinge on whether their goal was profit or revenge.”
“Then…”
Still on the floor, I desperately moved my lips and spoke in a groan.
If I didn’t do that and keep my focus on the outside world, I probably would have passed out.
“What are you trying to do by slaughtering them?”
“That is simple!! Just think of it as upping the scale a little.” The gray-haired man spread his arms. “Japan was in such a pitiful state back then, but you got back on your feet thanks to your hard work. It may look like your economy is focused on the agriculture of the Intellectual Villages, but it is high-quality industrial technology that supports those villages. Once Japan’s computer technology won back the world’s trust, many nations adopted it for their financial trading systems. Which means?”
“…”
My mind went blank.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t come up with an answer. It was that the idea in my head was just too ridiculous.
But the nightmarish answer still came.
“The Package for small-scale hardware damage using an Usuhiki Warashi was limited to Japan, but it can now spread through the high-speed circuits and around the globe. Billions of dollars change hands each millisecond and all of that stock trading will be cut off for about seven days. That would be a fatal blow to the world. The former bursting of the bubble will seem like nothing in comparison.”
He wasn’t trying to spread chaos.
He wasn’t trying to make someone lose something.
“You mean…you’re trying to…?”
“It would be one thing if it was a true accident, but if a system built by Japan destroys Japan’s own devices, responsibility will naturally fall on Japan. Unlike data or software, it is easy to add up a sum of damages with physical hardware. Now, what will happen to Japan then? I predict it will be put on a very good sale indeed.”
He was talking about the sale of Japan, the hijacking of an entire nation.
“This device itself is quite simple.”
He sounded amused as he waved the USB memory stick.
That was the key to it all and the source of it all.
“Would a high school boy know what a hardware key is? Instead of using a password, an exceedingly complex formula is stored on flash memory and used as the key to prevent illegal access. They are fairly common for online banking or stock trading.”
“What…about it? What does that hardware key give you access to? What does it have to do with what you were talking about!?”
“Ha ha. It’s simple. Goldmine Island has constructed a giant virtual city around their VR casino. Avatars can move freely about, buy land or buildings, and open up stores to sell ‘used clothing’ for the avatars. It is nothing but a form of entertainment, but this is an access key for one portion of it. It gives you free access to a room not accessible any other way. It is a child’s room filled with toys and candy.”
An avatar shop in the virtual city.
A virtual children’s room filled with candy and toys.
Don’t tell me…
“It would seem you have figured it out.” The gray-haired man seemed to be enjoying himself. “Just like the Zashiki Warashi, the Usuhiki Warashi is a Spirit composed of the children killed to conserve food during a famine. And in the mountain villages of Tohoku, it is said people would intentionally create children’s rooms for them so they would stay longer and protect that family. That idea was virtually recreated and the Usuhiki Warashi is controlled by rearranging the zeroes and ones composing the room’s layout as well as the arrangement and numbers of toys and candy. And this is the controller key that provides administrator access. No key is needed to enjoy an online game like normal, but it is needed to correct a bug or add additional features. Now do you understand the link between their Package, the Usuhiki Warashi, and this USB hardware key?”
The man added that there was of course a “delete” command that would cause the entire system built around the Usuhiki Warashi to fail and fall apart.
“To put it simply, this USB hardware key provides complete control of the Usuhiki Warashi. Long ago, this Usuhiki Warashi was closely related to that national suicide system, so it can do quite a bit. It truly can destroy Japan, but it can also crush the entire national suicide system at the flip of a switch.”
“So it can be used as a self-destruct switch for that extremely dangerous Package?”
“Ha ha. What a lovely comparison! Perhaps I should use it in the future. The islanders who unearthed the system while imagining they were some secret organization seemed to have moved just this hardware key elsewhere. It was likely to prevent one of their own from betraying them and hijacking the Usuhiki Warashi, but they eventually began to wonder what would happen if a foreign force like us happened to steal the hardware key.”
“…”
“That was why they snuck it back onto the island to ensure its safety. They didn’t want anyone else to get their hands on it and they wanted to maintain stable control of the Usuhiki Warashi at the core of the national suicide system that they had started to lose control of. Of course, this is only a nuisance to someone like me who actually wants the suicide to occur. It is fortunate I managed to retrieve it before it was used. …If I destroy it, nothing can stop the system from running out of control. This is all I needed to declare checkmate.”
As he spoke, the man broke the USB memory stick in two, dropped it to the floor, poured a can of lighter fluid over it, and set it ablaze.
I had been wrong.
I doubted this gray-haired man was right about the dead group’s reason for abducting the Zashiki Warashi to get the hardware key.
It may have begun with that kind of greed or desire for revenge, but they had eventually noticed a greater evil and they had tried to put a stop to it. They had wanted to get that USB memory stick even if that meant destroying the Package they had built.
And…
I…got in their way?
“No, that can’t be true.”
My shaky voice rejected the man’s words.
Or rather, I wanted to reject them any way I could.
“No matter how much I threatened to destroy the hardware key over the phone, they didn’t react! If it really was the safety they needed to stop that national suicide system, they would have…”
“Ha ha ha!! That was obviously just an act so you wouldn’t realize what they were after. They were probably sweating bullets every time you shouted at them over the phone.”
There was nothing more.
My pathetic denial just wasn’t enough.
“Now, nothing remains to stop me,” said the man. “There is no spare hardware key, so it shouldn’t take long before the national suicide is complete.”
With that said, he turned around and made his way outside.
He was escaping out through the giant hole he himself had made.
“Wait!! Who even are you!?”
“You will know before long. You are a student, aren’t you? Then just look up at the flag flying in front of your school. Before long, you will see something other than a red circle there.”
“You…”
I tried to draw his attention.
It may have been meaningless. We had already lost the hardware key needed to access the virtual children’s room that controlled the Usuhiki Warashi. Even if I tore out the gray-haired man’s windpipe with my teeth, there was no stopping the national suicide.
But for some reason, I desperately called out to him.
Yes, that’s right.
I didn’t have an actual idea in mind.
I was simply afraid of being left behind.
“Why are you letting me live?”
“Ha ha!!”
The man laughed loudly, but he did not stop walking or even look back.
He kept his back to me as he answered with laughter in his voice.
“Why would I kill you? The more slaves the better.”
That was all.
There was nothing I could do.
I could not even get up from the floor as the gray-haired man vanished from the abandoned building.
Part 32 (Day 10/04 12:00 – 12:30)
Some kind of conclusion was reached without my knowledge.
Part 33 (Day 10/04 12:30 – 13:09)
“We will be interrupting this program for some breaking news. Today at noon, accidental explosions occurred in chemical complexes in Kitakyushu, Hiroshima, Fukui, Kobe, Yokkaichi, Kawasaki, coastal Chiba, Kashima, Sendai, and Hakodate. Police have announced that they are investigating it as a possible large-scale cyber attack rather than simple accidents. Currently, the firefighters are working valiantly to put out the fire, but the situation does not look good. Anyone living in the neighboring areas are urged not to go outside to view the disaster. Inhaling the chemical smoke would be very dangerous. And even those who live outside the specified areas should avoid going outside if at all possible. Many dangerous chemicals are continuing to escape and the Meteorological Agency says the winds will carry them across the entire country. …Oh, we have just received more information. Similar explosions and leaks have been confirmed at 192 of the country’s chemical factories and storage facilities. The number of casualties is unknown at this time. We will announce the locations once a list of names has been confirmed. The government has begun an emergency meeting of the Cabinet and decided to create a countermeasures team. Chief Secretary Nakaue of the ruling party is strongly urging the nation to wait for a definite announcement and not to follow dangerous speculation. …I’m sorry. We have even more new information. We have just received word that heavy tankers cruising near Japan are bursting into flames one after another. No accurate number is known. We will provide more detailed information once it is available. The Ministry of the Environment made an announcement a moment ago. They are rapidly performing water quality tests around the country and will resume drawing water once its safety has been confirmed. Anyone who uses a well rather than the water service, please avoid drawing drinking water if at all possible. Foreign websites are already expressing their doubts about the brand-name image of Japanese agricultural produce, so the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries will soon make an announcement to sweep away such speculation. I repeat: please do not do anything until more accurate information has been announced. Large traffic jams covering more than fifty kilometers have been confirmed on Kitakyushu Expressway, Hanshin Expressway, Tomei Expressway, Shuto Expressway, Kan-Etsu Expressway, Joban Expressway, Tohoku Expressway, and other major roads. Attempting to flee the contaminated regions exposes you to the possibility of breathing in chemicals from the atmosphere, so please stay indoors. More new information? This time, large explosions have been confirmed in oil storage companies in Kitakyushu, the Seto Inland Sea, and Aomori. The number of casualties is not known at this time. Details will be provided when they are available. The Meteorological Agency just released a satellite image. The Japanese archipelago is almost entirely covered by black clouds, but it seems they are all some form of contaminating…”
Part 34 (Day 10/04 13:09 – 13:30)
I was in a complete daze.
The news coming from the inn’s TV was all so insane that it didn’t feel remotely real.
Almost the entire Japanese archipelago had been covered in pollutants like someone had filled in a coloring book picture.
Heavy footsteps had been stomping around behind me for a while. My parents were constantly trying to contact someone, but the phone lines were so overloaded they couldn’t get through. Their voiceless impatience seemed to point to the enormity of the situation.
The country had struck a nice balance with the ultra-high quality agricultural produce supported by the Intellectual Villages, but that was all coming to an end.
I couldn’t quite grasp what that meant.
“Now that the national suicide system has been used, the nation of Japan will be sold off to other countries before long. There was not a single thing we could do to stop it.”
A young girl’s voice reached my ear.
For some reason, I held a cellphone to that ear.
Odd. I thought the phones weren’t getting through?
“The nation of Japan’s value will drop to zero and anything remotely useful will be stripped away, so acquiring us will mean taking on a massive debt. Pointing that out was the only way we had to drive back the buyers.”
I recognized the voice.
It was the girl who led the large organization named Hyakki Yakou.
“We have established that none of Japan’s land or the nearby seas will be fully decontaminated until nearly fifty years from now. Advances in technology should shorten that somewhat, but for the time being, no one can set foot on this land. The environment will become unlivable without wearing a spacesuit. No matter how low the island nation’s value may have dropped, no buyer will want to take on the cost of a fifty year decontamination. In that time, we must reconstruct the power needed to take back the nation we have lost.”
That was when it all finally came into focus.
Oh, I get it.
This is what happens after we were put in checkmate and the game is already over.
“Jinnai Shinobu. You need to leave this country immediately. It does not matter where you go, but you need to lie low until the time comes to buy back the country.”
I still held the phone to my ear, but her voice no longer reached me.
Instead, thoughts raced through my mind.
My eyes met those of the Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata. That Youkai shared a house’s prosperity, silently watched it rise, and left as a sign of its decline. She simply stood there like always. Except this time, she was watching our ruin.
That told me that this was the end.
We would be leaving here. In the worst case, we would be unable to leave and we would die here, but if we were to survive, we needed to work toward leaving the country.
But Youkai were different. No matter how bad the environment got, they could live like normal. And I doubted a Japanese Youkai formed from Japan’s environment would be able to cross the national borders.
“I will be back.”
So this was the end.
So this was goodbye.
“I won’t give up on you!! No matter how many years or decades it takes, I will be back!! So…!!”
There was nothing I could do.
On that day, our story came to a complete stop.
Part 35 (3rd person — Day??/????:?? -??:??)
Kotemitsu Madoka thought about how much time had passed since then.
The large meeting room of New York’s UN Headquarters building was normally only seen on the news, so it was a strange sight for a normal person like her to be standing there. Regardless, she did not feel overwhelmed.
She knew that those with true influence did not attend meetings in places seen on television. She also knew that she herself had transformed into one of those with true influence.
It was currently two in the morning, so it was an extremely unusual time for a meeting.
Nevertheless, all of the seats for all of the member nations were filled. They all knew just how much they stood to lose by not being here.
Madoka stood in the center of the circular meeting and she spoke.
“How about we finally settle this?”
She challenged the world with a microphone in one hand.
“That was a message from ‘him’. ‘He’ said it, so don’t you think it is about time the world began to act? …I am sure you have already realized that, if we continue to stagnate by failing to think, we will shrivel up and die.”
Despite her disrespectful way of speaking, the listeners immediately took it all in. I’ve gotten pretty good at giving speeches over the last ten years, noted Madoka.
“We have easily used up all of this planet’s resources: oil, rare earths, water, and even food. Yes, we kept thinking the oil would continue to last a little longer, but we are truly seeing the bottom there. And unfortunately, we now know the moon contains far fewer resources than we had hoped and we are still a long way off from manned mining of Mars. So what are we to do?”
She looked around at them all.
The surrounding listeners all gave her distressed looks. These were their true faces that they could never show the TV cameras for fear of creating social unrest.
“Currently, unmanned robots are the foundation of our space development technology. That is how we designed it. And ‘he’ is the leading individual in that field. Without exaggeration, ‘he’ can be found at the source of almost every theory there. And ‘he’ has found an answer. This is undoubtedly the correct method.”
The listeners were drawn in half by Madoka’s eloquence and half by ‘his’ name.
“The moon is insufficient and we are a long way from manned mining within the gravity of Mars. That is why we have set our sights on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Those countless asteroids are made of ice and minerals. First, we will fire missiles there with your cooperation. And when the many asteroids are swept toward the Earth, we will match their relative speed and perform the necessary mining with unmanned robots. That is a simple explanation of ‘his’ plan.”
Some feared it was unrealistic, but she had of course expected that.
“This is entirely possible using ion engines that can provide weaker propulsion for longer periods of time and using the strategic weapons all of you have in excess. More importantly, this is not just a plan to delay the inevitable. ‘He’ said that making use of the asteroids and reusing the proper resources will provide a realistic solution to the problem of manned mining of Mars.”
The distressed tension filling the room gradually ebbed. A realistic wall had been tormenting these people and they no longer had any way to think on their own, so they just wanted someone – anyone – to give them the answer.
But it was true that one of them was none too pleased with this answer.
A certain country had imprisoned ‘him’ and was using ‘him’ for itself. Not that they would have ever officially admitted it.
That was why Kotemitsu Madoka said what she did next.
“As I said, this is all what ‘he’ has said.”
Part 36 (3rd person — Day??/????:?? -??:??)
The extreme east of Siberia in Russia was a white hell entirely covered in blizzards. A certain research facility was located at the center of a military facility that would never be found on any map.
Those involved called it the Robot Factory.
“He”, Jinnai Shinobu, had long been imprisoned there.
Despite being a research institution for unmanned robots, it was almost entirely filled with a high power supercomputer. The collection of parallel processing devices was large enough to fill a soccer field and that was where his theories took form. Afterwards, they would actually be built in a different workplace located somewhere with an eight hour time difference.
During the past ten years, his days as a boy had ended.
He wore a lab coat over a cheap suit as well as thin glasses. His hair was still dyed blond, making it about the only thing unchanged, but it had gradually diverged from his overall atmosphere as he had aged.
The supercomputer cost as much as five or six large amusement parks, but he rudely rested his feet on the console while sipping bitter coffee from a mug. Suddenly, he looked up toward the ceiling.
He was creepily monitored twenty-four hours a day, but that eerie gaze had just vanished.
The reason was obvious.
The thick door was supposedly locked several times over, but some great strength knocked it inwards. Next came a few bloody soldiers. Lastly, a woman with a glamorous body stepped inside.
“Hishigami Mai, hm? You haven’t changed,” he said. “I mean it. Why haven’t you aged?”
“My body allows for replacements.”
“And why are you wearing a tank top and hot pants in arctic Siberia?”
“I was wearing a coat with the perfect insulation of a thermos, but I threw it away partway in because it was soaked with blood.”
Despite this meeting with an old acquaintance, his expression remained unchanged.
All he did was lower his gaze from the ceiling to the mug.
“Why are you here?”
“Did you really think we wouldn’t notice what you’re trying to do?”
“Then I see no reason for you to stop me.”
“It’s too soon to start moving. The Japanese people were scattered around the world on that day, but a lot of them have grown accustomed to their new lives as they wait. Your actions could easily rob that of them.”
“I see.” Jinnai Shinobu took a sip from the mug. “Then will you kill me?”
“That too would be a problem. It would change things too much. After all, all space development now comes from you. Or more accurately, you and Kotemitsu Madoka set it up that way. Sometimes you even buy out a rival research institute or hack in to alter their research data.”
“Then what will you do?”
“How about I put you to sleep for a few years? Not letting you live but not letting you die would be best. …To be honest, getting it just right is tricky. That’s why I was chosen instead of Mr. Illness Magic.”
“I see.”
He did not even turn toward her as he spoke.
“But you are not enough to defeat me.”
With a sudden explosive sound, a nearby wall was destroyed by a tremendous force and an eight-legged crab-like weapon rushed in. The silver monster acted as a shield for Jinnai Shinobu.
Hishigami Mai whistled.
“Using space development tech for military purposes? You’re like a villain from an American comic book.”
“I was never interested in space. I needed the technology to efficiently decontaminate that country and the military might to push back any other countries that try to interfere. It just so happened that robots were the answer I arrived at.”
“But a piece of junk like that can’t kill me.”
“Then how about I give it a power up?”
As soon as he spoke, a gust of wind surrounded him like a small tornado. Once the wind settled down, a woman leaned on his back with her slender arms embracing his neck. She was not human. She had horns on her head, wings on her back, and a tail on her hips.
Mai gave a ferocious smile.
“The Succubus, hm?”
“Yes, yes. Hello, everyone. The Japanese-made Youkai may not have been able to leave, but demons like me cover the entire world. My master has been quite loving to me☆”
“I see, I see. Hah hah!! So this is why Kotemitsu Madoka has been taking such obvious action over the past ten years. You’ve been using that demon’s power to cheat, haven’t you!?”
“It isn’t just her. I dealt with Kotemitsu Madoka directly, which doubled as a test, but the illusion of making love can be transmitted over the internet as well. It is most effective against any woman without your level of resistance. I’m sure you would be shocked if you knew the number I had ‘won over’ to achieve my goal.”
“Hm. So did you seal the Succubus’s power in that piece of junk to create an unmanned weapon that uses supernatural and paranormal powers?”
Mai casually clapped twice.
“If so, that had the opposite effect. I specialize in that sort of thing, so I’m oh-so-thankful you felt the need to bring this into my territory. Now, it’s about time I finished with you.”
“She isn’t what it uses. The Succubus is only the primer.”
“?”
“Do you remember the Australian witch that showed up that one time? And do you remember how she was defeated using the Succubus’s name and a certain postcard?”
“You don’t mean…”
“The names of two different demons were used to trick that witch. One was the Succubus’s and the other belonged to a much more powerful demon that almost ranks in as one of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“You don’t mean…!!”
“Tselika Wien Alpha Chelydia Lumidrier, empress of the empty throne not part of the seven seats. Reveal your majesty in accordance with your master’s will.”
The world was compressed.
The mere manifestation was all it took to break one of the main parts of Hishigami Mai’s utterly modified body.
A sound more disturbing than the breaking of every bone in her body rang out again and again with more regularity than the ticking of a clock. New life now resided in the silver crab-like weapon.
“Now, then.”
Finally, Jinnai Shinobu removed his feet from the console and stood from his chair.
But he did not bother looking at what remained of Hishigami Mai.
With the Succubus clinging to his back and the unmanned weapon containing one of the strongest demons to his side, he gently shook his mug and spoke.
“I suppose it’s about time to head out into the world once more.”
Part 37 (3rd person — Day??/????:?? -??:??)
When word secretly reached them, some of the standing member nation representatives trembled.
Kotemitsu Madoka ignored them as she continued speaking.
“If everything has gone as planned, ‘he’ will already be free and travelling through the world as ‘he’ pleases.”
She spoke slowly and skillfully.
“To put it another way, any nation could now become the leader in space development. Which nation will accept ‘him’? This could influence your entire history for the next century.”
Every one of them obviously wanted this.
Instead of going through the proper process and waging war over it, they were about ready to begin a scuffle in the meeting room right here.
“There is but one price,” said Madoka. “Permission to decontaminate that country that we lost and the authority to directly manage the reclaimed land. That is all. If you support us on this, you will become the victor of this era.”
Some nations did not want that.
Others still wanted that island nation for themselves.
But anyone who opposed this plan would become the loser of the next era. They would be thrown from the space development race and they would wither away as they tried to rely on this planet as its resources dried up.
They had only one option.
They could only hold each other in check while they grinned and supported that nation’s revival.
“Then I will leave it at that.”
Kotemitsu Madoka answered their silence.
As she slowly began to leave, someone asked a question that strayed from the main point.
That plan would cost a massive amount of money and she was funding it with the massive amount of assets she had gathered from around the world. So someone asked why she was willing to go this far.
She slowly looked back and soft words flowed from her mouth.
Part 38 (3rd person — Day??/????:?? -??:??)
And after making use of everything and making an enemy of everything, “he” returned to that place.
He saw that nostalgic rural scenery and he saw the kind of thatch-roof Japanese house one would see on an old postcard. With his entire body contained within a spacesuit, he could not breathe in the air or feel the ground beneath his feet, but he had returned all the same.
The fields and paddies were less disturbed than he had expected and the houses had also survived. The Youkai living there had likely continued to maintain them even after all of the humans had evacuated.
“Hi.”
His muffled voice spoke.
A Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata sat on the porch like always.
She had likely been waiting there every single day for the last ten years. As she fanned herself with a Japanese-style fan, she looked up and smiled ever so thinly.
“Oh? I see you’re the type to dutifully keep your promises.”
“It’s still going to take some time, but I’ve shortened it by quite a lot. The original environment should be back in about another ten years.”
“I see. I had never thought you were stupid, but still…”
“This technology is technically meant to allow humans to live on the moon or Mars…or that’s how I camouflaged it, at least. Well, this is still a lot closer to home than outer space.”
“But it looks like you managed to spin the dial all the way around back to idiot. You didn’t have to go this far to stick with us Youkai.”
Still wearing the spacesuit, he sat next to her.
“Once it’s all over, let’s begin it all anew…Yukari.”
He spoke a single name.
Instead of calling her an Indoor Youkai or a Good-for-Nothing Youkai, he used her name.
He was not just taking back the lost time; he was already thinking about what came after.
“Yes,” whispered the Zashiki Warashi as she slowly waved her fan. “If it led to this, then maybe that ending wasn’t so bad after all.”
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