章 37: Welcome Back
Kazuki brought me to a rather silent seaport in the southern part of Japan. Off the shore, I could see massive white platforms. This was the first time I had seen such an interesting form of settlement... On those platforms, there were many buildings; they weren't as tall as the ones on the Japanese Home Islands, but I could guess that a single one of those platforms could host at least a few hundred people.
Kazuki caught me looking towards the horizon carefully.
"Wonderful architecture, isn't it?" he said.
"Yeah..." I said. "But why?"
"Eh?"
"Like... What is the point?" I asked.
"You see... Japan is a rather small country for it's population. The Home Islands are no longer enough to live and work in, and we can only fill up the sea so far. These platforms are Japan's only means of creating new land." Kazuki said.
"I see." I said. "Looks so surreal."
"I know." Kazuki said.
I kept watching the platforms in silence for a long time.
"Are those platforms self-sufficient?" I asked. "Like... they can produce their own energy, food and such?"
"No." Kazuki said. "Most of them can, in fact, produce electricity for themselves; but for food, ores and such, they are dependant on the Home Islands."
"Makes sense..."
"I can't help asking..." Kazuki said. "Did you never hear of the Kansai Platform Incident?"
"The what? No, I never heard of it." I said.
"I am surprised... Anyway, it was one of the biggest disasters of the contemporary history." Kazuki said. "One night, one of those sea platforms broke apart into pieces and some sunk into the ocean, killing more than 3000 people."
"That's horrible!" I said.
"Yeah. The entire Japan woke up with the sounds of sirens. Many search and rescue vessels have been sent from the mainland to look for survivors. The whole ocean was covered in debris fields floating around." Kazuki said.
"Tell me more." I said.
"Japan received lots of international aid. The United States, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Canada... even China sent teams to help! But in the end, only about 200 people were rescued."
"Why did the platform fail in the first place?" I asked.
"At first, Japan suspected a possible submarine attack, but after a very long investigation, it is found to be an engineering error on their part. The monolithic structure of the platform could not stand an unusual variation in the water pressure during the season of peak tidal effects." Kazuki explained.
"It must have been hard..." I said. "I wonder how the engineers felt."
"The project's lead mechanical engineer commited suicide in the morning of the accident." Kazuki said.
I could not reply. If I was in that person's place, what could I do?
"Look." Kazuki said. "Your ship is here."
A passenger ship with red stripes was approaching the port.
"Yeah." I said. "I guess I have to now."
"Are you still sure that you don't want to go by a shuttle or something?" Kazuki asked.
"Definitely." I said. "We don't have oceans on Mars... not yet anyway. You know, I can always fly from A to B, but travelling by ship has a unique feeling. So, while I am still on Earth, I might as well try to enjoy it."
"I understand." Kazuki said. I walked to board the ship, Kazuki remained behind. Before I went in, we waved at each other.
After waiting at the port for quite some time, the ship left Japan's shores, made it's way between the sea platforms and headed to China.
- - - - -
After arriving in China, I got on a quadcopter and went to the embassy. When I arrived there, I saw something very unusual... and peculiar. There was a large crowd in front of the Republic's embassy. People were shouting and holding banners. It was a protest... but what were they even protesting?
The government quadcopter had the airspace clearance to land me right next to the embassy, so I wouldn't really have to deal with the crowd.
After the landing, Ling came running up to me.
"Sir, the police is in place. We have sealed the enterances, but the protesters won't leave! We can't push them back with so little men!" he said.
"Don't even try." I said. "Let them do their protest; just make sure to guard the enterances, and scan the crowd for any lethal weapons."
"Aye sir!" said Ling and was about to run back toward the police groups. I stopped him.
"Is the Chinese government informed?" I asked.
"No... yes sir!" Ling said.
"Eh? Which one? Are they informed or not!?" I asked.
"Well, we did not really report, but they surely can not miss such a big protest." he said.
"Make contact with the government forces and let them handle the rest." I said.
"Yes, sir!" Ling said and went away running. I walked closer to the main gate of the embassy, just to see what the protesters were protesting.
"TAKE YOUR WAR AND GO AWAY"
"LEAVE EARTH ALONE"
"FEDERATION <3 ALLIANCE"
I was in shock. This was one of the last things I could expect.
"I wonder what the media is telling them." I said myself. "I wonder if they can shout that loudly when it is their turn to be obliterated."
I didn't stand there for long, and entered the embassy to find Nuan. But as soon as I went inside, I came face to face with Eren.
He looked deeply into my eyes.
"Did you find out anything important, Commander?" he asked me.
"Yes." I said. "I have to make sure that this information is presented to the Alliance diplomats. I have to talk with our envoy."
"Not so fast."
My reflexes kicked in. I hit Eren with my right elbow, causing him to stumble away and fall down. He dropped the electrocution torch in his right hand, a powerful device which could immediately disable a person's nervous system in miliseconds. It could even burn the body if used for longer than a few seconds.
I grabbed the torch from the ground and jumped towards him.
"Security!" I shouted. "LING!"
"Wait." Eren cried in blood. "Listen..."
"You traitor." I said.
"The Republic... ordered me to kill you!" he said. "It is... not the..."
"You are lying!" I shouted.
"You have been revealed..." Eren was struggling to speak. "...as a spy... when in Japan..."
Both Eren and I suddenly noticed someone coming downstairs. It was... She was Nuan, and she was holding a gun in her hands!
At the same time, Ling got inside through the door with a police team following him.
クリエイターの想い 
Strawberry_Pancake
Strawberry_Pancake Additional Reading
Monolith(-ic): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monolithic
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