REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 24 - Fog of War

Washington, D.C.: White House

"What on Earth is happening here...?"

President Roosevelt sipped a bit of his coffee with his face contorted. In the Oval Office, the president's office, was Fleet Admiral William Leahy, the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief. He is an advisor to the president, the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, and a moderate hard worker who somehow manages to keep the officers at the top of the Army and Navy together. Therefore, the best way to deliver an unfavorable report to the White House might be through Leahy.

"Hey, Bill, what have you found out?"

"I'm sorry, Mister President. We still have very little to go on."

"Huh..."

Roosevelt's perplexity was deepened by the anomalies in the Pacific Theater, of course. Most of the bombers headed for Tokyo were still missing, air bases in the Marianas had been disabled for some time after being hit by wolves. The Pacific Fleet headquarters in Guam was forced to retreat to Oahu. Furthermore, communications with the invasion force on Iwo Jima had not yet been restored, and even destroyers and escort carriers that went to scout the island were apparently sunk by kamikaze planes. At any rate, the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers were in jeopardy. And then there was the future of the war and his political career.

"There are several reports that the Japanese military has introduced a new weapon, though we have not been able to confirm this."

"Oh."

"The Japanese attack on Guam and Saipan was reportedly carried out by high-performance jet aircraft."

"Japanese jets...? What a nuisance. But aren't we already fighting German jet planes?"

"Yes. And we are almost finished with the Germans."

"Considering that... I don't see how a couple of new weapons could turn the tide of the war," Roosevelt, with a subtle pause, made a common-sense statement.

What was on his mind was the top-secret atomic bomb. But Roosevelt dismissed the idea that Japan could possibly be the first to develop it, which was about to be realized at a cost of two billion dollars and with the best of American science and technology. And if there had been a massive explosion on Iwo Jima, the now-lost destroyer that had gone there to scout the island would certainly have reported it as well. But if it had been a chemical weapon rather than an atomic bomb—Roosevelt then remembered a report he had only skimmed over earlier.

'It was about Germany mass-producing a powerful nerve agent, as I recall...'

When his thoughts reached there, everything connected in his head. Roosevelt froze.

"Could it be... that German nerve gas was used on Iwo Jima?"

"What—what do you mean, Mister President!?"

"Listen, Bill, it all makes sense. There were reports of German nerve agent production before, weren't there?"

"Yes, sir, there was."

"The Japanese have it. It is possible because they are Germany's ally. The brutal Japanese must have used the nerve agent on Iwo Jima to kill the fair-fighting Marines in a dastardly trap!"

"I see, I have lost contact with them because of the nerve gas attack..."

Leahy's face grew paler and paler.

"Do you see, Bill? In addition, the bomber squadron has something to do with this. The bombers had suffered unexpected losses over Tokyo and had made an emergency landing on Iwo Jima. If there is no record of them landing anywhere else, then by process of elimination, Iwo Jima is the only place they could have landed."