Cent. Calendar 05/06/1639, Prime Minister’s Residence, Tokyo, Japan, 18:00

As the sun set on what had been an eventful day in Louria, Prime Minister Takamori Hideaki and his cabinet were called to be briefed on the results of Operation Zanzibar and what had transpired in Gim. Eager to find out what had happened himself, Takamori was the first one in the meeting room. The sound of his hand rhythmically tapping the table was the only sound that permeated in the empty room. He remembers the countless meetings he had had with his cabinet in the room since the day of the transfer a month and a half ago. Understanding that the operation had a risk of blowing up in their face, Takamori still greenlit its execution, as the dire economic situation in Japan meant that a prolonged deployment of men and equipment more than the minimum would be fewer resources towards other important avenues, like healthcare, food production, law enforcement, etc. If the war did not end immediately and on their terms, things would spiral out of their control.

As the rhythm of his hand tapping began to pick up, the beat was finally broken by the sound of the door opening and then the footsteps of his cabinet. Walking behind the ministers taking their seats was a man in a suit whose urgency and poise were more than apparent from his sleek movements moving past the ministers and their aides with minimal contact. Emerging at the other end of the table to face the ministers and Takamori, the man adjusted his glasses and coughed before speaking.

“Prime Minister, if I may.”

Confused at his presence since he was expecting someone else, Takamori took the time to ask.

“Asada? I have not been informed of your return.”

Despite being National Security Advisor, Asada Taiji hasn’t been present in the meetings until he was involved in a traffic accident during the day of the transfer, breaking a rib bone and an arm. While he received the minutes of meetings and reports as he recovered, he decided to attend this particular meeting. The result of the accident was still apparent as he carried his left arm around in a cast.

“Forgive me, Prime Minister. I decided to return on short notice of my own volition after hearing of what happened with Operation Zanzibar.”

Giving out his hand as a gesture of affirmation, Takamori signed to Asada to get on with it. Asada then got his aides to distribute the documents detailing the outcome of Operation Zanzibar. As soon as they got their hands on it and began perusing through the pages, Asada coughed before starting.

“At exactly noon six hours ago, the advanced elements of the Lourian army crossed the Louria - Qua-Toyne border, commencing their assault on the town of Gim.”

Asada then turned to his back, where a map of the battle was projected onto the blank sheet on the wall.

“The JGSDF’s 2nd Division responded accordingly, annihilating the Lourian army, its wyvern airborne units, and its fire support in the form of mortars. They’ve confirmed around 15,000 casualties on the Lourian side while Japanese and Qua-Toynian forces suffered none. However, the town of Gim suffered considerable damage to much of its infrastructure due to the mortar bombardment.”

A collective sigh emanated from the ministers. Some of the sighs contained relieved tones, while some had hints of sorrow. While they were all content with the lack of loss of life on their side, 15,000 was still a very big number. Moreover, the fact that Gim still suffered damages worried some ministers about dealing with certain voices that are calling for the JSDF to handle responsibility for the damages. Not everyone wins, even in a lopsided engagement.

“Did we completely annihilate them?”

Sanda Tomoya, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, raised his hand and asked.

“No. During the sweep, Qua-Toynian soldiers happened upon Lourian survivors, who immediately surrendered to them. They are currently totaled at 57. Fortunately, there have been no altercations from the sweep as the Lourian soldiers were all shocked from the bombardment.”

Some of the ministers, including Sanada, nodded with varying levels of contentment. Having some survive the encounter may be good for persuading future plans on attacking them. Then again, the toll on the mental health of these survivors is worrisome. Some people are definitely going to cry about this, thought some of the ministers.

“On another note... Ine, an observer, sent by Princess Llanfair, has remarked that our artillery strikes on the Lourian positions have caused unfortunate damage.”

Perplexed by the wording of the statement, the other ministers looked in confusion and grave anticipation at Asada. Sighing deeply, Asada continued.

“According to her, the mortar positions were manned by civilians-the camp followers of the Lourian army.”

Hearing the c-word, the ministers’ faces suddenly turned pale. The first war in 70 years, and they’ve already made attacks that did collateral damage. While the thought of getting those civilians killed was horrible, the ministers all had one concern above all else: the backlash from everyone in the country. The pacifists are all going to have a field day. For the sake of moving on with the presentation, Takamori waved at Asada to continue.

“More pressing, however, are the remains found among the wreckage of the mortars. According to the Qua-Toynians and surrendered Lourians that examined the remains which still had uniforms, they all said that those were the uniforms worn by soldiers from the Parpaldian Empire.”

Willing to distract themselves from the prior issue, the ministers then shelved it mentally before taking in what Asada said in full. They then scratched their heads at the diplomatic issue this could present. While they were aware of rumors that the Parpaldians were helping the Lourians in exchange for influence, they weren’t expecting them to provide arms and men directly. For such a diplomatic issue to come up despite not yet contacting the Parpaldians was indeed a headache. Thinking of something to soothe the worries of everyone, Takamori spoke up.

“If the Parpaldians aren’t public with their armed support for Louria, then they might rather sweep their casualties under the rug rather than directly pin the responsibility on us. Doing so could implicate them in this conflict.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Agano Kenzo, feeling that the Prime Minister’s statement was too optimistic, countered.

“With all due respect, Prime Minister, I still think we need to be cautious with regards to that. It’s no secret that the Parpaldians are hegemonic, so they still might hold us responsible for this.”

Nodding in agreement with Agano’s statement, Takamori then ended the topic so that they could move back to Operation Zanzibar’s results. Asada continued to speak.

“At 12:15, our JASDF contingent took off from Naha to proceed with the decapitation strike on Louria. At approximately 13:20, they conducted an aerial refueling with a USAF tanker before proceeding to their objective. At this point, one of the fighters had to return due to a canopy malfunction.”

Hearing the canopy malfunction, the other ministers sighed and chuckled. All too often, they heard of JASDF fighters suffering such malfunctions in missions. While amusing, it was still serious, and it highlighted the delicacy of the SDF’s equipment, now made even more pressing by the disappearance of international suppliers. Takamori then looked to Minister of Defense Okada Masako.

“Get the ASDF to investigate this issue. We need to lessen the occurrence of these incidents in the future.”

“They are already investigating.”

Okada replied with promptness and brevity. Asada then continued.

“At approximately 14:10, the fighters reached the capital, Jin-Hark, uncontested and dropped their payload. After the bombing and subsequent analysis of the wreckage, the pilots all concluded that King Hark Louria XXXIV was killed, and refueled before returning to Naha. Their conclusion is corroborated by representatives of Lourian lords, who were leading the main Lourian army, coming to the border to sue for peace. According to them, the king was killed in an attack, and they wanted to cease hostilities with Qua-Toyne and Japan.”

Happy with the success of Operation Zanzibar, the ministers applauded. After four hours of hostilities, the Lourian War could finally conclude in their favor. Them taking the risk had paid off. While he too was glad about the peaceful outcome, Takamori ought to bring the meeting back to earth.

“A crisis averted is indeed a cause for celebration, but the peace hasn’t been settled yet. Who’s on the ground on our side?”

Agano responded to Takamori’s question.

“Our ambassador to Qua-Toyne, Kuribayashi, is now at Gim to discuss terms. As for Qua-Toyne, they have sent several of their High Council members. We will scrutinize the terms before it can be set in stone.”

Content with the plan of action, Takamori clapped his hands to signal the end of the meeting and the beginning of the backlash.

“We can’t be too happy with this outcome. Once this goes public, we must anticipate that many of our countrymen will not appreciate this move. This meeting is adjourned!”

Cent. Calendar 07/06/1639, National Diet Building, Tokyo, Japan, 10:00

“What do you say to this blatant use of excessive force?!”

“Japan is not the United States! This is clearly an act of aggression!”

After details of Operation Zanzibar were made public, the entire country exploded into chaos. Pacifism-leaning politicians, peace advocates, non-Japanese Asian populations, and survivors of the Second World War all cried out in unison their denunciation of the operation and those who greenlighted it. While the outcry was as bad as they anticipated, the cabinet was taken back by the fact that they all denounced the act of bombing another country’s capital more than the collateral damage facets. Being summoned to the Diet to provide a statement and answer questions, Prime Minister Takamori Hideaki stood in hot water as he faced countless cries of anger from the Diet. While Diet members from his own party tried to defend him and his actions, they were mostly sparse and weak to the generally powerful negative response put out by the rest of the Diet. Keeping his hostile emotions under the blanket of a non-moving poker face, Takamori responded to questions regarding his involvement in the operation.

“...Yes. I gave the operation a greenlight.”

Before he could even finish the sentence, the Diet erupted into flurries of insults, questions, condemnations, and other obscene literary remarks.

“So you did facilitate the bombing of another capital!”

“Fucking ultranationalist scum!”

“Do you intend to reverse the 70 years of progress towards peace which we have carefully constructed?!”

“Thank goodness I didn’t vote for you!”

“How do you think other countries in Asherah will take this?! Japan is not a warmonger!”

“We agreed only to the deployment of the Self Defense Force! This operation, which did not even pass through us, is a case for abuse of power!”

Takamori, who was internally fuming, could only bear to show some of his animosity by scratching his head in frustration. Taking a deep breath, he started to speak, holding back his own obscene remarks.

“I made the decision to give the operation a greenlight since it was the best option in ending the conflict, considering our limited resources.”

Hearing this, the Diet had more than enough comebacks to hurl at the Prime Minister.

“The best option?! Did you not consider its constitutionality?!”

“We could have settled this diplomatically!”

“Japan does not want any blood on its hands! We should have exercised more caution!”

“Just resign, damn it!”

In the sea of voices, this line commanding the Prime Minister to resign stood out. Soon, the other lines were drowned out by repeated calls for resignation with varying degrees of anger and sarcasm. To this, Takamori lost some of his cool, tearing off his facade of composure with a deep sigh. He then spoke out.

“Resign? RESIGN?!”

The frustration in the Prime Minister's words was evident as his voice, helped by the microphone and speakers, resounded across the halls of the Diet chamber. Intimidated, most of the Diet members stopped shouting and froze in their seats. Without wasting a moment, Takamori pressed on.

“In these trying times of hunger, suffering, and melancholy, you want to plunge the country into a political crisis?!”

Some Diet members were hoping to resume their contesting of the Prime Minister, but Takamori did not relent.

“While our countrymen are out there toiling away blood and sweat to provide food on the table for themselves and their countrymen, you dare bring up politics?!”

Pressing his voice to be louder to silence the remaining dissent, Takamori continued.

“A danger that would have plunged Japan deeper into crisis has just been taken care of. It is not political nor for the sake of furthering any of our political goals. It is simply for the good of our countrymen and the different peoples that are stranded here.”

“But you fail to understand the cons-”

Suddenly, a loud slam echoed throughout the chamber. Takamori, shedding away the last of his composure, slammed the podium in controlled frustration.

“Let me finish, goddammit!”

Takamori continued without sparing time for the Diet members to resume their offensive.

“Trade with the Rodenius continent remains open, allowing food to begin returning to pre-transfer levels. Peace is now guaranteed on the continent.”

With the Diet now listening to him, Takamori felt a sense of victory as he pressed his points forward.

“You can debate the politics and constitutionality of our actions in the past week, but the effects are undeniable. Louria is pacified with little blood shed on their part, on our part, and on the Qua-Toynians’ part. With that out of the way, our most pressing domestic concerns still hang over us: nonrenewable energy sources, raw materials, new trade partners that can buy our more sophisticated goods...”

The Diet members scratched their heads. Most of their constituents are part of industries that are hit hardest by the abrupt transfer of Japan to Asherah. While the countries within their sphere are a welcome boon, they are by no means big economies that can afford or even support the sophisticated, manufactured goods the industries of Japan produce, even when combined together. To this end, the past one and a half months have been harsh on their wallets, which now contain practically valueless currency that can’t be exchanged. Plans of investing in the modernization of the countries around them have been drafted, but they hoped to find peoples and countries that are already modern enough. At this point, the Diet has largely been pacified on the Louria issue. However, one man stood up to remind Takamori that his victory wouldn’t be complete.

“If I may, Prime Minister. While I can admit you and your cabinet’s decisiveness have saved us from having to again endure a cup of rice a day...”

Yukino Tadao, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, spoke out. Touching on the food shortage, Yukino inadvertently put his hand above his stomach as it subconsciously growled from remembering the rationing. Hearing his words, the other Diet members, who have also been subjected to the rationing to satiate the demands of equality from their constituents, felt their own stomachs growl.

“...I cannot overlook the fact that Zanzibar’s objective was to kill the sovereign of another country.”

Yukino’s calm voice added to the resoluteness of his statement, resonating not only within the halls of the chamber but also in the minds of everyone, including Takamori. Most of the opposition nodded in agreement. Unfazed by his former election opponent’s bold display of resistance, Takamori continued to look at him.

“There are consequences, Prime Minister.”

“I hide nothing and blame no one else. I will eat your consequences for breakfast.”

A scene of an immovable object meets an unstoppable force suddenly manifested in the halls of the Diet. Seeing their party leader being undaunted in his stand, the Diet members of the majority, the Liberal Democratic Party, gave a round of applause. Those on the Nippon Kaigi, Japan’s famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) ultra-conservative group, gave a standing ovation to Takamori, cheering him on as a champion of Japan’s sovereignty. The opposition members, not wanting to be drowned in the cheer of what they deem ultranationalists, championed Yukino for taking a stand. As Takamori basked in his victory, Yukino muttered to himself as he surveyed the Diet chamber.

“You can run wild for six months, Takamori. After that, do not expect such success.”

Around that same time, outside the Diet building

As Takamori spoke in the Diet chamber, protests continued in full swing all across the country. Most of these protests were in response to Operation Zanzibar as the majority of the peace faction considered it ‘an attempt at the revival of Japanese militarism.’ Little of the protests were about the collateral damage in the entirety of the war, much less than what Takamori and his cabinet expected. While much of the Japanese people not involved in the protests remained undecided on the issue, a sizable counter-protest to the peace faction protests also came out in support of the Takamori cabinet.

One of the places where these two sides clashed was directly in front of the Diet building. On one side were the protesters that were against the operation. While the protest was led by ethnic Japanese proponents for a peaceful solution to the Lourian conflict, a significant portion of the protesters were East Asians who have either normalized into Japanese society or are part of the now stateless foreigners that were in Japan when they got transferred to Asherah. The protest was peaceful, only gathering together to sing along with a well-known Japanese rapper. On the other hand, counter-protesters supporting the Takamori cabinet’s decision to push through with Zanzibar gathered opposite to the peace faction protesters. They were made up of ultranationalists and led by a member of the Nippon Kaigi. They were more boisterous, and the mood among them was celebratory, with multiple protesters waving big rising sun flags as the others cheered them on. Caught in the middle and keeping the peace were two police officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police standing guard close to the middle of the two crowds of protesters.

“When do you think the Prime Minister will finally stop speaking?”

Tall and lanky Meguro randomly asked his partner, Sannomiya, visibly tired of the situation of having to deal with protesters for days on end.

“Beats me.”

Short and bulky Sannomiya disinterestedly replied as he picked his nose. Much to their relief and disappointment, the two crowds of protesters have been more or less cordial with the other’s presence, if not ignoring them completely. Tokyo alone was host to many of these protests, as well as countless other forms of unrest with varying degrees of violence unrelated to the Diet appearance of the Prime Minister. Due to this, only Meguro and Sannomiya were able to be present at this moment in time to monitor hundreds of protesters. As Meguro yawned, his nose was stimulated by the saccharine smell of plum. Looking to his left, he saw Sannomiya munching on a plum onigiri.

“What the fuck? How the hell do you have an onigiri?!”

“Mom sent me a lot yesterday. The rationing in the countryside is a lot less harsh than here.”

Sannomiya replied with his mouth stuffed with chewed and unchewed rice and plum.

“Fatass motherfucker. I can’t even get more than one cup of rice a day since the rationing in my district has become stricter over the past week! Mom even refuses to send shit my way!”

As Meguro ranted, Sannomiya muttered “uhuh” as he stuffed his mouth with another onigiri.

“You had another?! Gimme some man! My stomach is killing me!”

Skipping all forms of respect and diplomacy, Meguro went straight to trying to snatch the onigiri from Sannomiya’s hand, who despite his bulky build, reacted swiftly to distance the onigiri from Meguro.

“Fuck off. This is mine.”

Before the police officers could duke it out, they heard a scream from one of the protesters on the pro-Zanzibar side.

“...‘I will eat your consequences for breakfast.’ HAHAHA!!! Takamori got that bastard Yukino good! BANZAI TAKAMORI!!!”

In response, the entire crowd of pro-Zanzibar protesters cheered “BANZAI TAKAMORI!!!” As loudspeakers were brought to the scene, the two officers let go of one another as they similarly assumed the same thing: bad things were about to go down. Before they could fix their attire, the loudspeakers blared to life, filling the air around the streets of Chiyoda with the tune to Battōtai.

“WARE WA KANGUN WAGA TEKI WA...”

As the protesters sang along to the march, Meguro and Sannomiya approached them.

“Turn that off! You are disturbing the peace around here!”

Before some of the protesters could respond to them, other pro-Zanzibar protesters started hauling objects at the peace faction protesters, who also asked them to turn the music off. Seeing this, Sannomiya darted to their direction as Meguro tried to persuade the pro-Zanzibar protesters to turn the music off.

“Hey, hey! That’s against the law!”

Sannomiya’s efforts proved futile as a fight broke out between several of the protesters from both sides. Some who voluntarily tried to stop the fight got served fists in return for their good intentions, prompting them to drop all hopes of any peaceful conclusion and instead join in the brawl. As a police officer, Sannomiya stepped into the thick of the fighting.

“Dammit, stop! All of you!”

As he tried to create a divide between the two groups with his large body, he was subject to kicks and punches not intended for him, suffering some injuries. In a matter of seconds, he was overwhelmed and Meguro, having only noticed what was happening, ran to help his partner out.

“Not this again, Sannomiya...”

Picking up his comms, he radioed in for help as he ran to try his luck in pacifying the devolving situation.

“This is Meguro. Requesting back-up at...!”

Cent. Calendar 07/06/1639, Camp Higashi Chitose, Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan, 20:30

“Hello? Akiyama?”

Leaning on his chair in his office at Camp Higashi Chitose in Chitose, Hokkaido was Major General Ouchida Kazuki, commander of the 7th Division of the Japan Ground Self Defense Forces. He picked up his phone to call his friend Major General Akiyama Hayate, commander of the JGSDF’s 2nd Division, the elements of which were deployed to Qua-Toyne in anticipation of the Lourian invasion. Hearing what had happened, Ouchida worried for his longtime friend and decided to give him a call after some time had passed so as to not bother him in his work handling the mess after Operation Zanzibar. To his relief, Akiyama’s familiar voice responded to him through the phone.

“Good timing. I was about to call it a day.”

Despite hearing that his voice was still seemingly alright, Ouchida couldn’t dispel his anxieties.

“I heard what happened.”

To this, Akiyama chuckled.

“Heh... So you’ve seen the report then.”

“Mmm” muttered Ouchida. He could assume that it must have been difficult for everyone at Gim after hearing of the collateral damage. Not only did they fire the first shots from Japanese guns in a conflict since the guns of the old Imperial forces went silent 7 decades earlier, their shells were also the first to kill civilians in 7 decades. The war concluded in extremely favorable terms for them and no one could snatch that feat from Akiyama and his 2nd Division. However, in the process, they also cemented their names in Japanese history as the first to kill, both civilians and combatants, since the dreaded war of their grandfathers. To the Japan of the present, which was ingrained with 70 years worth of anti-war sentiment, this was a massive blemish. Ouchida trembled as he struggled to imagine the burden on Akiyama’s shoulders.

“42. Forty-two confirmed identifiable remains of non-combatants.”

Akiyama paused, inhaling deeply, which could be heard by Ouchida on the other side of the line.

“IDENTIFIABLE. Goddammit. Do you get that, Ouchida? IDENTIFIABLE.”

Ouchida sank in his seat as he heard Akiyama sniff at the end of the sentence.

“My men had to sift through maimed body parts... in shifts too since none of them lasted 10 minutes without breaking down or throwing up.”

Ouchida himself felt a tear build up at the end of his left eye, hearing his friend on the verge of breaking down.

“And yet in the end... we can only bring justice and peace to 42 people by identifying them... the rest... remains were either too charred, too small... Hell, maybe the only thing that’s left of them is the smell of blood and burnt flesh we inhaled when we were there. FUCK!!!”

Ouchida covered his now teary eyes with his left hand as he heard a crash on the other line.

“Those damned people that sent me shit and death threats... saying things like ‘You have brought shame to Japan!’ or ‘As expected of Japanese soldiers!’ to ‘Fucking kill yourself!’ Maybe they could help out by being here and offering some advice, right?”

Sniffing and clearing his throat with a cough, Akiyama continued.

“And yet if I spent more time confirming the civilian presence, I could have put Japanese and Qua-Toynian lives in danger... then they’d still cry out I’m a war criminal.”

Hearing his friend silently mutter inaudible yet worrying sounds through the line, Ouchida finally spoke up.

“You did what you thought was best and as it stands, it was the best outcome possible. You handled it well.”

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Ouchida continued.

“Our mission is to defend Japan, its sovereignty, and its citizens. We are obligated to follow the rules and laws of war, but our duty ultimately lies with the defense of Japan. That is what you carried out. Japan has been kept out of the Lourian crisis, and no Japanese lives are lost.”

Silence.

In the sombre yet uncertain tranquility of the muteness in the line, interrupted only by background static, Ouchida waited for Akiyama’s response. After a full ten seconds without anything from him, he called out to his friend.

“You there? Akiyama?”

“Yeah. Thanks for that.”

Another round of silence followed as the two division commanders tried to come up with something to disperse the unease that had built up. Akiyama emerged victorious as he decided to be content with Ouchida’s simple persuasion.

“Uh... Thanks for that, Ouchida. Sorry for my outburst earlier. I’m still...”

“No, no, it’s fine. This is an off-the-record conversation between friends and not an official call. I was just concerned...”

With the tension relaxed, Akiyama opened up.

“Heh, I bet you wish you could have been chosen to deploy here. We’re gonna do some drills, and the temp here is hitting 30!”

“Unlike you, I’ve been bred for real winter ops, so I actually don’t mind!”

Sharing a laugh with each other, a sound that had been alien to both of them since the transfer, Ouchida and Akiyama genuinely felt that the situation would get better with time. As Ouchida thought of ending the call, one of his subordinates popped in through the door and silently mouthed, “There’s been a situation.”

“Ah. I gotta go. Shit happened again.”

Cleaning up his mess, Akiyama fixed his posture and stood up.

“Ah, of course. I, too, gotta attend to things.”

“See you when you get back.”

“Sure.”

Dropping the phone, Ouchida stood up and put on his commander cap.

“Alright. Back to work.”