REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 74 - Departure to the Frontline

Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture: Chinese restaurant

Docked at the Osanbashi Pier at the Port of Yokohama was a car carrier that should have lost its job. Toshiaki, who worked for a car dealership and was now on special leave, was supposed to board one of the ships soon. For some reason, he was hired as a temporary member of the Self-Defense Force and was to wear the rank insignia of a special sergeant.

His job was to manage the vehicles that were still being loaded—trucks, special vehicles, and 4WD vehicles equipped with guns and other strange things. Before landing in North America, they were just fixed on board, and during that time it seemed to be training on onboard physical education and practical work. They took it seriously, but they just do their normal jobs. That's what he explained to his sister Tomoko.

"I'm going to the battlefield, for a change, but it won't be anything," Toshiaki, who had grown a bit of a muscle, spoke as he took a bite of his pork rib noodle.

Near the port of Yokohama, where many of the Japanese were going off to war, some restaurants were open. To be honest, he had no idea how the Chinese people in the restaurant feel about the current situation, but at any rate, the taste was just as good as before.

"I'm worried about the time-space cataclysm, but someone has to go."

"Well, I guess so."

Tomoko looked at the noodle bowls, bean-curd soup, shrimp chili, etc. on the table. In order to regain what was once a minor happiness, her brother is heading to North America. Although there were still only a few dozen casualties from the war, as the day approached, she became a little worried about it and wrote on a strip of paper that she hoped her brother would return home safely.

"Just in case, be really careful, okay?"

"As long as I do as I'm told, I won't die, probably," he smiled. "When I get back, what's the name of that girl you're always hanging out with?"

"Chie?"

"Oh, yeah, introduce me to Chie."

"Eeh, brother, what are you planning to do...?"

Tomoko was taken aback. He had said that to her before and she had responded that she didn't want to do it because it would disrupt their friendship.

But a clear refusal here may not be a good thing. Besides, these days, SDF personnel, even temporary ones, were MMKs – an old term meaning "popular and irresistible," which had recently become popular. She was sure he'll get a girlfriend there anyway since he's now a sergeant.

"Okay, I'll think about it."

"Oh, thanks."

With a big smile, her brother downed his bean-curd soup. If she still remembered it when he come back, she'll give it some serious thought. Tomoko thought as she picked at the shrimp.

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

Hino City, Tokyo: Cat Café

Rear Admiral Kazuchi smiled as his second son, Kento, played with a cat. He was a third grader, a child born much older than his age. Born in an environment where both his mother and his older brother, who was more than a year older than him, were Self-Defense Force officers, Kento had grown up to be a child who loved cats as much as he loved being in the yacht club as a "government product."

While petting a rather fat tabby, Kento was reading a picture book with great interest. It was about the strange fate of a sailor cat named Sam, donated by Kazuchi before the time-space cataclysm. Sam, originally named Oscar, was a male cat on the battleship Bismarck. After the ship sank, he was picked up by the Royal Navy and moved from one ship to another, from the destroyer Cossack to the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and finally settled in an office in Gibraltar. The sailors thought he would be safer on land because every warship he went on sank.