The end of March was fast approaching. It was spring, several months after the catastrophe in December, and Yu Ichinose was still in Maizuru. It wasn’t like he had any places to be or a way to get there anyway.
“Figures that all the boats and planes got burned up by the dragon.” Yu stared lazily at the sunset.
“Probably shouldn’t chance taking the roads. Too dangerous,” said Ijuin, sitting next to him on the grass. “Especially through the mountains. I hear lots of Anomalies are wandering around places like that.”
“Yeah, it takes them about a month or two to disappear once they arrive.”
“Right. Until they run outta magic. Use too much of it and they’ll get forced back to the other side. Like before.” The two boys got together to exchange information like this often. Their plan needed to be airtight. “No way am I spending the rest of my life in this rotten place! I can’t wait to bust outta here and run off to Kyushu or Hokkaido! If we can’t make it home, I mean.”
“I can’t go back to Kanto, Ijuin. It’s a pile of rubble now, and flooded even worse than here.” Compared to his hotheaded, Yokohama-born, Yamate-raised friend, Yu the Tokyoite city boy was quite calm.
The two watched the sun set behind a distant ridgeline from the top of Mount Gorogatake—the best seats in the city. Its brilliant, crimson rays stretched as far as the hills of the old province of Tamba and glistened on the waters of Wakasa and the Sea of Japan to the north.
But it was hardly a moving spectacle.
“Things will never go back to normal, will they?”
“Professor Chloe says that the five elements of Honshu—what were they again?” Ijuin racked his brain. “Earth, water, fire, wind, and...void? Anyway, the water element’s out of whack, and that’s why the rivers have been flooding. She said a bunch of other mumbo jumbo too, but I don’t get any of that magic-speak. Ex-mages, am I right?”
As the sun approached its final moments above the horizon, the sky burned red, illuminating downtown Maizuru as it rippled beneath the waves. Most of the city was dotted with hills and mountains, but the majority of the flatlands in between were now completely underwater. The summit they sat on was too high to conveniently launch any boats from, but they very well could have elsewhere. If only they’d had one.
Seven or eight meters below the clear surface, the vestiges of society rested on the ocean floor—the harbor, houses, the Maizuru Line railways, the train station, cozy shopping districts, temples and shrines, the old castle town, and even the ruins of the Defense Force base.
Yu sighed. “Just like Kanto. I can’t believe it happened again.”
“Wonder if it’s like this all over Japan,” replied Ijuin.
“We’re definitely not the only ones without water or electricity, at least.”
“Yeah, not a chance. Everywhere’s on its last legs. Pretty much all of Honshu’s on the brink, and things aren’t getting any better. Radio would be nice, though.”
“The portal-keeps interfere with the radio waves too much, so that might be a tall order.”
The boys picked themselves up and trudged across the mountaintop. What once was Gorogatake Park and then a Defense Force research facility, was now serving as a provisionary outpost for surviving members of the Force. A large warehouse acted as shelter for civilian refugees who had arrived via rescue boats.
“Didn’t some new people show up not too long ago?” Yu muttered.
“Yeah, they drove all the way here from Fukui prefecture. There ended up being less rescue boats than they said they’d have, so it doesn’t surprise me that some people missed their shot. No one’s gettin’ any food or help sitting at home,” pointed out Ijuin. “Sooner or later, Anomalies come knocking.”
“And anyone still around Maizuru’s gonna be here.”
“Think we’re at what, like, a hundred people? About seventy left in the Force, but you know what I don’t get? Why the military guys get beds and dorms while we and the refugees gotta squeeze into that warehouse like sardines! Just ain’t right,” Ijuin griped, as they arrived at the shelter.
With dozens of families crammed into the building, sharing tiny blue tarps littered with their personal belongings, there simply wasn’t enough space to go around. People were exhausted and tense; it would only take a small spark for an altercation to break out.
Yu didn’t share his friend’s sentiment entirely. “At least Aliya and Professor Chloe get to keep their distance from this place.”
“Yeah, true. There’s been a lotta bad blood with the elves lately. ’Specially from Takeda. That guy’s gonna cross the line one o’ these—”
“Quiet!” Yu hushed. “He’ll hear you!”
Leading Private Takeda sauntered up to the boys with his trademark tank top and pierced ears. His tanned skin and blond-dyed hair made him out to be more like a punk than a soldier, but he was a surviving member of the Force, and that made him valuable. Not to mention the fact that his charisma made him a favorite with the higher-ups. Unfortunately, though, he never extended that kindness to the small fry.
Yu and Ijuin, who were all too familiar with his abuse, prepared themselves for the worst.
“Hey, chumps,” he spat. “Got a job for you.”
“Sorry, we can’t. Professor Chloe is waiting for—”
The twenty-five-year-old smacked Yu with his open palm before he could even finish his sentence. Hard. He stumbled on his feet while Ijuin stiffened like a board.
“Didn’t ask for your opinion. I don’t give two shits about some pointy-eared bitch’s experiments. You know what you need to do? Make yourselves useful and bring that woman and her daughter over to us. Got a few words for those Anomaly-breeds,” Takeda snarled. “Maybe I’ll make ’em my slaves, get some payback for what they did to Japan. They’ve got some fine bodies, after—”
“The professor is on our side,” Yu interrupted, unable to contain himself any longer. “And the experiments are on the colonel’s orders, not—”