Genzan: Genzan Air Base

"Munakata, you were right..."

Sub-Lieutenant Kobayashi, also a member of the 13th class of Navy Reserve students, murmured to himself as soon as he returned to the officer's quarters.

He had been one of the people who had witnessed the dramatic changes in the homeland when he crossed the Sea of Japan on a special passenger ship that had recently arrived at Genzan Harbor. In relation to the Japanese government of the Reiwa era's disclosure of the Time-Space Cataclysm to the world, information was beginning to be released to military personnel on active duty in advance, and the entire country was in turmoil. If someone was willing to risk their lives to fight for their homeland, they would end up becoming like Urashima Taro in a group without even realizing it. Anyone who could remain calm in the face of such a reality would be nothing but a madman.

"I also met with you, who has become very old."

"Is that so? I have lived a long life, haven't I?"

"People were so happy to see you... but it's too strange. Why are there two of the same person?"

"That's my line."

"Right, my bad."

With an apology came a heavy silence. Kobayashi, feeling somewhat desperate, took a sip of his treasured brandy and said, "But I died in battle in May of this year and was enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. The world has become too strange, and I can't catch up with the understanding... Are you saying that it's better to die in battle even now?"

"Hey, don't jump to conclusions."

Munakata thought it was an inevitable reaction while deeply worried about his comrade-in-arms.

He had known the truth for nearly six months and had been vacillating and unable to speak about the incredible facts, or even been thrown into a frenzy. However bizarre and fantastic it may have been, the conclusion was that there was no choice but to accept it. On the other hand, Kobayashi had just begun to realize it, and still needed more time.

"But really... we can only think that we're already dead, can't we?"

Kobayashi murmured with a blank expression, and after a while, his expression returned to somewhat normal.

"Hey, what are you planning to do from now on?"

"I graduated from the Toshima Normal School, so I thought I'd become a match teacher if I became a reserve. Well, it'll probably be in Korea or Manchuria, but both places still need a lot of middle school teachers."

As he spoke, Munakata remembered his meeting with his older counterpart who had lived beyond 100 years old. In the original timeline as well, he had become a teacher after the war. Moreover, it seemed that the current Prime Minister of Japan in the Reiwa era, who is now leading the country, had emerged from among his former students.

"Besides, I don't know the cause of this Time-Space Cataclysm, but maybe in a few decades, a genius who can solve them will be buried around here. I want to make sure that such talent isn't left buried."

"In a few decades, huh... it's not like the world will immediately return to normal," Kobayashi disappointedly remarked as he gazed out of the window, as if searching aimlessly for his homeland on the other side of the Sea of Japan and time.

But after a while, Kobayashi's gaze returned to his immediate surroundings. He took another sip of brandy, which seemed to act as a kind of tonic for him.

"So I guess I have to find something I can actually do..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geneva: League of Nations Headquarters

Since the outbreak of World War II, the League of Nations has ceased major activities. The Palais des Nations, which was completed nine years ago as the headquarters of the organization, has suddenly come to life after having been virtually empty for a long time. This was because Japan, which had rejoined the League, sent Naotake Satō, who had been reappointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the Palais des Nations and began negotiating with the Allied nations.

While the arrangements are presentable, the diplomatic dealings were far from the aesthetic of diplomacy commonly imagined, as it was a form of blackmail by Japan, which had single-handedly brought the world to its knees—or the forces, likely a group of future people, lurking behind it. The demands were for fossil fuels, mineral resources, and food as wartime reparations, or to be sold at the offered price, and those who refused would face the death penalty on a national scale. During the Japanese-British foreign ministers' meeting, however, British foreign minister Anthony Eden was stunned by an unexpected sentence.

"Permanent world peace...?"

"Yes, that's right. Isn't now the time to build the dream of humanity, as the world war is about to end?"

"Perhaps," Eden nodded, controlling the emotions that welled up inside.

"Please take a look at this."

Satō showed an odd panel with a creepy smile.

The picture depicted a melting pot with the words "Abandon War," in which Nelson-class battleship, Defiant fighter, and Covenanter cruiser tank were thrown in, followed by images of railway cars, cargo ships, automobiles, and other items.

"If the war ends, every country will reduce its military, won't it? How about taking it a step further and having all countries gradually reduce their military to the necessary minimum? We will abolish all offensive weapons, such as battleships, attack aircraft carriers, and heavy bombers, and reduce the number of tanks and artillery in stages, and redirect the resulting surplus to civilian use, realizing an era of peace and prosperity."

"I see, that's idealistic," Eden said, adding inwardly. 'For your country, that is.'

They were being demanded to cut back not only on atomic power and rockets, which would undoubtedly have been carried over into the future, but also on all other military assets. It was said that Ieyasu Tokugawa, who had opened an era of the shoguns that lasted for more than 200 years, had made peace with the Toyotomi forces, which was holed up in the impregnable Osaka Castle, and filled in the moat as a condition of the peace settlement. It was undoubtedly similar to what was being planned now, and their position was much worse than that of the Toyotomi army at that time.

"I think it goes without saying, but..."

Whether Eden knew Satō's true intentions or not, Satō prefaced with that statement and said, "Our country is also considering reducing our military size after the United States surrenders. The army will be reduced to 200.000 soldiers, and both the navy and air force will be reduced to 75.000 personnel."

"Oh, I didn't know your country had an air force."

"We... recently established one. In any case, our main naval vessels will be scrapped, including battleships and attack aircraft carriers. Instead, we will have 80 escort ships, including four light aircraft carriers. We are planning to have less than 1.200 planes, including fighters, transports, and ocean surveillance planes, and we would like to have about 1.200 tanks in the end."

"That's quite modest."

"Yes. At the recent foreign minister's meeting with the Soviet Union, I explained the global disarmament plan, and we received a positive response."

"If that's the case... we can't afford to fall behind," Eden said, plastering a smile on his face and suppressing his stomach pain.

Although the numbers seem very restrained in quantity, as usual, the fighter planes are likely to be supersonic jets of the future, and the transport planes are probably strategic bombers that drop bombs with pinpoint accuracy on London and Moscow. It was a terrible deception. Even if the disarmament was a lie, they couldn't restrain Japan, so it wasn't clear if the proposed numbers had any meaning.

'But what happened?'

Eden glanced at Satō's hollow, lifeless expression and found it as perplexing as ever.

At the same time, it was also terrifying. Not too long ago, he went to Tokyo and likely encountered the envoy who had contact with future people. Upon hearing the information they brought, Eden might lose his own courage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pacific Ocean: off the coast of Panama

"What is this cooperation plan or whatever it is called...?"

A grunt of dismay escaped from the operations room of the amphibious assault ship USS America's command center. The voice belonged to the Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Trost. Although the CNO is normally an Admiral position, it is also a temporary one, and no one cares about that. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that he has lost the luxury of worrying about it.

"We'll let the SDF perform an aerial show over the Washington D.C. and make it look like we got rid of them good. What a joke."

"I think they were thinking of us, in their own way," Lieutenant General Fargo who was there to take command deadpanned. "It's not that crazy of a move. Compared to Saipan, they are in a better state of mind to accept the 'United States military from the future.' Our ancestors may be clinging to straws, and the theory of future intervention is gaining ground. If they can see we getting rid of the bombers that have so far rendered them helpless, I am sure they will welcome the arrival of powerful reinforcements."

"But just when their expectations are at their highest, they will be betrayed in the worst possible way."

"That's right," he gravely nodded and took a glance at the printed draft of the proposal from the Japanese government via Akasaka, which was laid out haphazardly on his desk.

The plan called for a peaceful deployment to Washington D.C. after convincing the provisional government army to believe they have allied with the enemy through a sloppy playacting war. The plan involves publicly announcing the Time-Space Cataclysm while simultaneously launching a surprise attack on and occupying the White House. The proposal argues that this would result in minimal casualties for the provisional government army and could potentially reduce psychological trauma caused by shooting one's own ancestors. Various details regarding this plan have been scattered throughout the text.

However, the two leaders saw that it was only an optimization of a small set of conditions. Even if the war ended with a surprise attack, they were completely indifferent to the resulting devastation of public sentiment. Perhaps the Japanese government's view was that as long as the provisional government army was suffering, it was good enough. They were able to slightly suppress the fierce war for the sake of future research resources, but ultimately, it did not matter what happened to the 1945 Americans.

"Anyway, we'll assault and occupy Washington D.C., and secure President Truman. There's no other good plan, any clumsy trick will only make the situation worse."

"Come to think of it, this reminded me of Saipan."

Trost's face contorted at this sheer irony.

"You could say that our positions have been reversed since then. While the Japanese government aimed to completely eliminate TF 58, we chose to minimize the immediate casualties and got it through direct negotiations with the Prime Minister. It might be seen as payback."

"Indeed, that could be true," Fargo snorted and recalled that time.

When they first faced the Time-Space Cataclysm that they still couldn't explain, it was an impossible task to make accurate judgments and act accordingly. It was also hard to imagine making other judgments in that situation. But it was true that they had only been thinking about minimizing immediate casualties, and the difference in conclusions could also be attributed to differences in positions. In that sense, they had to avoid being trapped by local optimal solutions again.

"In that case, we cannot accept this offer. Is that okay?"

"Without a doubt. Everyone came here prepared for that."

Trost also confirmed his own understanding and declared so.

"Moreover, we must bridge the gap between the 21st and 20th centuries no matter what. When Ray wakes up, he'll probably be angry if there isn't a bridge like this... but it's probably the best bridge we can have."

"That's right. Then let's inform the President of our decision."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the midst of determining the disclosure policy for the Time-Space Cataclysm, Chapter 106 forced the characters to face the world in various ways.

Chapter 107 is scheduled to be updated around December 4th (Fri) to 6th (Sun). Thank you to all readers for your feedback, bookmarks, ratings, and more. It's almost the one-year anniversary since serialization began.

Regarding disarmament, you may have seen or heard some numbers somewhere. As for Japan's arguments during the Second London Naval Treaty, there was a proposal to scrap or significantly reduce attack-type vessels such as battleships, aircraft carriers, and heavy cruisers (how seriously they advocated for this, I wonder?). If you were born in 1945, you might remember this. As mentioned in the story, these numbers don't really have any substantial meaning.

As for the USFJ, now known as the Provisional United States Government, it may be a difficult problem to determine the optimal course of action, including whether it is even a viable option.

- Kujaku Aoi