REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 7 - Dawn

Iwo Jima: Iwo Jima Air Base

Anomalies on the Japanese mainland and a sudden air raid on Tokyo. This flurry of information reached Iwo Jima. The Self-Defense Force officers posted to this isolated island in the middle of the ocean were anxious to hear the news. The island was said to have suffered considerable damage, and communication with the rest of the world had been cut off. A US Navy petty officer who was staying at the base was astonished to see a B-29 in a large photo. His great-grandfather had been a rear gunner on a B-29 and had crash-landed on Iwo Jima.

But there was an equally puzzling phenomenon. The sea around the island, which had been empty for some time, began to radiate strange radio waves.

"It's... calling out in plain English."

The radio operator, listening to the frequency in question, tilted his head as he made a report. The radio signals were not coded, but rather simply Morse code. The signals, such as "TF 56, respond," or "5th Marine Division, where are you?" and so on, were being actively sent from about a dozen nautical miles offshore. Task Force 56 and the 5th Marine Division were the same units that had fought over Iwo Jima during the last war. Their commander was Lieutenant General Holland Smith.

"We have one ship in the waters around the radio source."

An officer who had rushed to Mount Osaka in the middle of the island, also spotted something in his night vision and radioed in.

"Ah, I've got another one... it looks like a frigate!"

"Do you know the type?"

"Checking... huh, it's a Fletcher!?"

The officer could not believe his eyes. However, there was no doubt about it from the five single guns, the placement of the torpedo tubes, and the shape of the bridge. He was into a game of anthropomorphizing naval vessels, but he had made a good number of models as well. But why is one right in front of them? Even the John Rodgers, which was transferred to the Mexican Navy, was decommissioned in 2001.

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Pacific Ocean: over the Mariana Islands

A C-2EB electronic reconnaissance aircraft of the Air Self-Defense Force was looking down from the stratosphere at dawn. Of course, the main use of the C-2EB is its powerful radio eyes. With its eyes that could see over a wide area, it was chasing a B-29 fleeing at full speed, and it ended up over the Mariana Islands. The B-29's full speed was only a little more than 60% of the C-2EB's cruising speed, and it was not possible to fly economically, which was a nuisance. In addition, the GPS was not working. They couldn't receive any signal at all.

'What is wrong with this place?'

Kazuto Nakanishi, the Captain in charge of the aircraft's electronic warfare, wondered as he looked at the terminal screen. The international airports of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, as well as Andersen Air Force Base, a major American base, seemed to have disappeared somewhere. From a distance, the airports seen by the radio eye were brightly colored with radio waves emitted by surveillance radar equipment and various navigational support facilities. However, at present, no such radio signals can be found. Instead, primitive radar waves, guidance beacons, radiotelephones, and wireless telegraphy filled the Mariana Islands. Moreover, the state-of-the-art analyzers on board the aircraft were matching the characteristics of the equipment used by the United States military during World War II.

"Ah... the target has started transmitting."

The onboard radio operator, who had been listening closely, reported that the B-29's radio operator had initiated a radio call.