Washington, D.C.: White House

"You still don't know what's happening on the West Coast?"

"I find it hard to believe... not one reconnaissance plane has returned."

Army Chief of Staff Marshall continued in a trembling voice in front of the astonished President Truman.

He was not lying. The air forces, which were still supposed to be in the tens of thousands, were about to become an object in the shape of one airplane. The fuel storage was targeted first, so they could not fly because they ran out of fuel, they did not know where the spare parts were, and the communication network with the base was a mess, so orders could not reach them. Even so, when they did manage to send out a reconnaissance plane, it would disappear long before the target at every turn. The rate of planes not returning was an astonishing 100%.

"We have only been able to obtain a few eyewitness testimonies and photographs. We have also not been able to consolidate and analyze them properly due to the destruction of the local command center and the disruption of the telephone network..."

"Damn it, why?"

"The Alexandrians' air power is so overwhelming—"

"That's not the point!"

Heckling. Everyone was devastated, and words fail to carry over.

The conference room in the White House's underground bomb shelter was filled with a heavy silence, which was abruptly broken after a while. At that moment, everyone around the table braced themselves. They thought it was another one of those news, as they had been getting either sad or bad news recently. Then, as expected, Secretary of State Stettinius paled and stiffened when he was being whispered to.

"What is it now?"

"It seems that that rotten pig of a country, the United Kingdom, has decided to leave the Allied Forces."

"What, are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. I regret to inform you that I have it on very good authority..."

"GRRR, those shameless ingrates!"

Truman was so livid that he smashed various items on the tabletop, throwing them to the floor.

It had only been a little over a month since the Soviet Union and Great Britain had confirmed the establishment of a united front against Japan in Philadelphia, and this was a rare betrayal in world history. France, the Netherlands, and others will probably follow suit. At a time when mankind must unite to fight, all of them were the first to flee, and he had no idea for what purpose they protected them from the Nazi tyranny and liberated their lands. But while he was furious, the sober part of Truman was beginning to think about damage control.

"Oh, right, and what about the situation in Mexico?"

Truman asked about the neighbor who betrayed him first, after a moment of raging.

"Did you get rid of that bastard Camacho?"

"Army troops are currently engaged in Mexico City... we expect them to capture the government offices shortly."

"I see. Get a head start in Canada and Cuba. I won't tolerate any more selfishness," Truman ordered.

Stettinius looked like he wanted to say something, but was silenced by a glare. Then, when he saw that Marshall had run the liaison, Truman sighed. After a few seconds of morbid silence, he stood up with a heavy heart.

"Do you need something, Mister President...?"

"I'm going for a little walk outside."

Truman left the conference room with his escort and a gloomy look on his face, with no one to blame for the danger. The secretaries and military commanders had not given up on the president they were to serve. It was just that they all felt equally helpless and vaguely hoped that the bombers would not target them when they went out on a whim.

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

Stockholm: Soviet Union Embassy

"What in the world is going on?"

Alexandra Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Sweden, wondered to herself.

Japanese Ambassador Satō, who was originally in Moscow, had been drinking himself to inebriation for a while after the breakup of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, but he had regained his good mood when Japan started winning in a very unusual way. To her eyes, a woman who knows a thing or two about romance, he looked like a dull man who had suddenly become popular with beautiful women and won the lottery.

However, at the peace talks just now, Satō was perfectly above it all. In fact, he looked as if he had undergone a lobotomy. In the case of the previous example, if the beautiful woman had been a monster, a figment of chaos, or an Alexandrian, he might have behaved like that.

"Well, what have you found out?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I honestly have no idea," the red-faced secretary nodded. "But I can imagine some things."

"What do you mean?"

"Talking about aliens or people from the future aiding Japan... it might make sense if those forces are in form control of the Japanese government, or are puppets of the Japanese government, and they have just now been informed of the fact. Even the preliminary negotiating team seemed to be acting strangely."

"I see. It's possible given the circumstances."

"The situation is very plausible. They may be from the future or aliens, but they are not communists. Communism is supposed to be the final stage in the progress of civilization."

"It's one word too many like that keeps you off the career track," Kollontai laughed at the secretary, impressed at how idealistic he was.

He was in fact exiled abroad for being too critical of the party, but he was probably in a better category because he was not the target of a purge. In that sense, he too may have had at least a modicum of luck.

"But, well, I think it's a hypothesis that might calm his stomach a bit."

"That's for sure."

Imagining Satō's despair actually made her feel better. But if that were the case, the Japanese, as much as it vexed her at the moment, would also be the victims of a transcendent being. This awareness, Kollontai thought, might be important in the future when the peoples of the world begin their struggle to remove them.

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

London: Prime Minister's Office

Churchill was still in his office due to the cancellation of the election. He became grumpy as soon as he read the report compiled by the Royal Society.

First of all, they need to get a long-term perspective on how to relate to Japan, which seemed to be receiving support from the future. He ordered a study to be conducted as soon as possible, but it turned out to be a series of hopeless statements. The chances of winning were astronomically low, so they had no choice but to endure the situation in silence. To put the conclusion in a nutshell, that's how it went down. What was more frightening than anything else was the fact that such a dark period was expected to last at least several decades.

"The terms of peace they have proposed... to be frank, it is difficult to imagine feeling anything but disgust," Churchill looked incredulous. "But unfortunately, it's not so much insane as it is internationally legal. Isn't that right, Mister Eden?"

"Yes. Based on previous cases, I would say it is somewhere between the Treaty of Portsmouth and the Treaty of Versailles," Foreign Minister Eden responded, referring to the attached sheet.

As far as the preliminary negotiators that came to Stockholm were concerned, harsh conditions such as the transfer of interests in oil fields in the Middle East, the export of enormous amounts of coal and other mineral resources, and mining rights in various colonial areas were demanded. However, there were no reparations, and the current status of the territory east of Burma was recognized, so it appears to be a peace agreement of approximately three to seven. Although the restrictions on nuclear power and rockets are a concern, the demands seem quite modest for a country that is in the process of dismantling the New World. Considering that the debt to the United States would be extinguished, change might be in order.

"Suppose, Professor Dale."

Churchill tasted a bit of his cigar and asked Henry Dale, the president of the Royal Society.

"This would be a contradiction. They are capable of crushing the colonizers with ease, yet they have sent us only this level of demand. If Japan and its accomplices from the future were as terrifying as you think, we would have received threatening letters that would make even the Treaty of Versailles look like a love letter, but they are not. Then the premise is somehow flawed, no?"

"There are certainly many aspects of it that are difficult to explain."

Dale honestly and courteously admitted, while rebutting the ministers in line.

"But Prime Minister, compared to the enormous impact of our contact with the future, we may be able to determine that this is an error."

"What do you mean?"

"See Appendix II... the details of Japan's contact with the future, including its veracity, have not yet been completely elucidated. However, in order to evaluate the impact of the contact with the future, which is quite absurd, we have conducted a hypothetical study with our members and prominent figures from various fields, assuming that the British mainland today exists in the world of 1905. Here is a summary of the national strategy derived as a result of the study."

"Oh..."

An unrealistic assumption, but an interesting one. As Dale explained, the cabinet members read through it.

The first possibility was openly mentioned: world domination. 1905 was not long after the Wright Brothers had flown the world's first airplane, so the armies of the time would be destroyed before they even knew what was happening if they clashed. While some casualties would occur in ground battles, in sea and air, casualties would not even be possible in the first place. In just a few years, the Union Jack would be universally flown over the Earth. It was a painful read, but on the other hand, it was also filled with an intense sense of dread. The extraordinary predicament of the Allies, soon to leave the war, could just as easily have been recreated by replacing the main character with Japan and setting the story 40 years in the future.

"What, you think we are dealing with a future Japan?"

"Minister, this is a hypothetical study based on an impossible premise. Please bear that in mind."

"Hmmm..."

Dale continued his explanation while the cabinet members groaned dizzily.

The next chapter, which was considered an indirect approach proposal, was more fearless and cunning. Military force was an option, but above all, products, technologies, concepts, and information that are commonplace today would be devastatingly impactful in the world of 1905.

"Imagine how much more efficient an investment could be made by someone who knew in advance the results of a horse race, the winning numbers of a lottery, the location of an unexploited oil field, or the patents that would be applied for in the future. And how overwhelming they could be if they worked as an organization."

Everyone who heard these words gasped in unison.

"I said earlier that the theory of a future Japan is impossible, but this futuristic organization, which I named 'Big Brother,' borrowed from a writer who participated in our research, is certain to exist. Big Brother, who can easily maneuver the world in either war or peace, who monopolizes capital, power, and all other forces to an insane degree, and who reigns as the absolute world power, is standing before us."

"Therefore, no matter how lenient the terms of the peace may be, there can be no problems... but it can be a trap," Churchill grunted, sounding all at once like an old man, and Dale silently nodded.

There seemed to be nothing left at the bottom of Pandora's Box, and everyone in the room shared an unbelievable sense of despair. In addition, they felt suicidally cursed for having been informed of the existence of people from the future, but not having been aware of the fundamental threat until now.

"In light of these circumstances, it is perhaps more puzzling that Japan continues to wage an unusual and brutal war."

"They are showing their fury by slaughtering the mightiest of them all... the former president of the colonists, without consulting us at all, announced that he would annihilate Japan as a nation and then died shortly after that," Churchill weakly sighed in exasperation.

As far as he could recall, he was a man who was a combination of a missionary and a lawyer squared, and he has pushed around a lot in every sense of the word. In the end, he left behind an oversized bomb, which was not at all pleasant. However, no amount of cursing Roosevelt was going to improve the situation, so he managed to put them to the back of his mind.

"Well, that's just as well. Both peace and war are lethal traps, but since we must still avoid exile or extinction, we have no choice but to choose peace, which seems to have all the vices of the world poured out of it. Is that, in short, what you are saying?"

"Indeed, I am afraid so, Prime Minister."

Dale was also strangled by his own words.

"We are in the worst prison imaginable, made of twisted time."

"Then we must now begin the longest and most painful battle in history to escape from that prison," Churchill barely managed to declare. He had no idea, however, how long it would last.

He had once said, shortly after becoming prime minister, that he hoped that a thousand years from now people would say that this was the finest hour for the British Empire, in the face of the looming threat from the German Luftwaffe. Perhaps this earnest wish will be fulfilled with a malicious twist of meaning.

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

In Chapter 96, the Allies begin to crumble in many ways.

Chapter 97 is scheduled to be updated on Tuesday, September 22. Thank you for your continued feedback, bookmarks, and ratings. I also apologize for the slight delay in the update time.

Now, one part of the "Jigoku" mentioned in the title has been revealed. In the story's world, it is more correct to assume that it is impossible, but it seems that it would be a truly extraordinary thing just to have an organization that can collectively handle future information and acts in accordance with it. However, this may also mean that there is no conspiracy theory organization like SERN because there is a tremendous phenomenon like that.

In fact, when I was writing this, I also subtly felt the greatness of Aramaki-sensei of the 'no Kantai' series. Although his approach to his universe is one in which a ton of weapons and technology have been deployed, there are many people from the future there, so it is rather rational for them to be like that.

- Kujaku Aoi