REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 55 - War Results

Yubari City, Hokkaido: Open-pit coal mine

Lunch break was almost over, so Tajima, a former tanker truck driver, was getting ready. The pork cutlet set meal with deep-fried pork was quite tasty, and it seemed to give him a boost for the afternoon's work. Tuna steaks and whale cutlets were also quite good, but manual laborers still need pork and beef.

'Alright... let's go and dig a lot of coal!'

Tajima emptied his leftover Fanta in high spirits.

Fanta originated in Germany—of this period, where it was developed due to the unavailability of Coca-Cola during the war. Arashima, who is good at wheel loaders, told this trivia to him, but he wondered what would happen in the case of modern Japan, which was somehow thrown into World War II.

The TV in the rest area was tuned to NHK, and the NHK announcer was just talking about Germany. According to history, Germany should have surrendered by now, but they were still fighting the war even after the fall of Berlin. He was scared because he heard that a lot of Jews were killed, but still he thought it would be a boon for Japan if they would hold their ground here.

"Ah, new news has just come in," the NHK announcer suddenly said, drawing the attention of the rest area to the screen. "According to the information we have just received, the Air Self-Defense Force has just bombed several nuclear facilities, research facilities, government buildings, and financial institutions on the American mainland, destroying all of them."

"Woah!"

Tajima gasped. His friends were all cheered.

"According to the Ministry of Defense, there was no damage to the Air Self-Defense Forces' B-747A bomber. The Ministry of Defense also said that details are still being analyzed, but it is believed that the United States has completely lost its nuclear development capability. We will have more news on this later."

"We can't lose either!" the group leader shouted, as if he was representing all of them. "Can someone please put on some good music?"

"I'm on it."

Several people reached for their smartphones at the same time, Tajima was the first among them. It was a very upbeat march that everyone was familiar with. It was often played at base festivals.

"Ooh, nice taste. Play it on the juke over there."

"Okay!"

Tajima launched the app, selected a song, and the smart jukebox started playing the music at high volume. Needless to say, it is "Gunkan" that was playing. It was just like the great headlines of long ago, but no one was trapped in such an old story. And there was no reason to doubt the SDF's success.

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Tokyo Bay: off Haneda Airport

"By the way... Tokyo is lonely."

The captain of the B-747A, which had flown to North America and completed its bombing run, muttered.

The late-night metropolis, which used to be like a nightless city before the time-space cataclysm, has become much darker as a result of power conservation. Except for a few skyscrapers, there is no light in the city, and only a few outside lights are shining due to security concerns.

"Well, I'm sure things will be back to normal soon," First Lieutenant Takako Amano, the co-pilot, said in her usual cheerful voice. "After all, we blew up the bombed facility."

"Yeah."

Saida reflected on the nearly full day of flight from the time of the sortie until now.

It was a very long flight. The extra fuel tanks and bomb pods had made the plane somewhat unstable, and they had flown in formation over the North American continent without the benefit of weather satellites or GPS. It also worked closely with its allies to blow up multiple targets, and then returned against the jet stream. As explained in advance, there was no interception, but if there was any trouble beyond the date line, it would have been hopeless to survive the flight. Saida also hoped that the flight would be successful.