REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 118 - Leviathan Holding Its Head

Omitama City, Ibaraki Prefecture: Hyakuri Air Base

"Come to think of it, was it like this on that day too?"

While gazing out the window at the runway covered by the night's veil, Major Kubota muttered aimlessly. There was tension due to the increase of Russia's "Tokyo Express," but there was nothing particularly different about the scramble standby. It was suddenly broken when he ran to his F-2A, the world had already changed decisively.

As for what happened afterward, there may no longer be a need to record it. If there was one thing to say, it would be that the opponent who had to be intercepted urgently no longer existed. In order to maintain the unit's readiness, occasionally planes from Misawa or Chitose would fly in pretending to be of unknown affiliation, but to be honest, it was rather dull. As a result, the time from issuance to attachment of the order to the aircraft had slightly increased. However, most of it was probably due to the fact that during the previous war, there were no air defense missions except for the initial air raid.

"It seems like everything is a thing of the distant past."

"Well, things have stabilized in Japan, in many ways."

Captain Takeda, a wingman pilot, replied while reading a textbook on aerodynamics.

"Although the outside of Japan is still in great chaos."

"That's right."

While giving a non-committal reply, Kubota turned his eyes to the television in the waiting room.

Reports were coming in that Yi's Korea would likely become independent, following the pattern in Manchuria. There were also discussions about the status of the army and navy soldiers who were formally under the command of the Emperor, as well as complicated news such as Estonia's temporary government leaking information about the collapse of the Soviet Union while making demands for independence, causing a great uproar. And then, the camera moved to a large public television set up somewhere in a plaza, showing a crowd of almost black mountain proportions. They were people who were planning to listen to President Truman's speech, which was about to begin shortly.

"It feels like we're back in the Shōwa era."

"Major, this is exactly the Shōwa era."

"Oh, I see."

Kubota laughed at Takeda's accurate remark. Immediately after, the camera moved to New York, which had become a semi-ruin. While the commentator was talking about this and that, a person in the midst of the commotion appeared in the venue, and a storm of boos erupted. However, stones were not thrown because of the thorough pre-check of personal belongings, as well as the warning that "if you try to throw something, you will be blinded by a strange force." If that's the case, the person who was about to take action and became the prey of the low-power VALS system might have gone out of the screen.

"The future looks difficult."

"Really—huh!?"

A frantic voice leaked out as something outrageous interrupted the TV. Kubota's dynamic visual acuity immediately captured the object and identified it as a white-painted passenger car. However, a passenger car is something that runs on the road. The one on the screen had something like a rocket attached to it, and it was flying through the air with a thick plume of smoke. It was a scene that was beyond comprehension.

And then the passenger car, which had no means of flying, was sucked up onto the stage in a magnificent manner.

A huge explosion. The venue immediately became a scene of chaos, and people scattered like spiders' silk. Kubota understood what had happened, but he couldn't understand it.