Vol 2 Chapter 19 (1/2)
Tokyo, shi+njuku Ni-chōme
Once, this place had been holy ground, but now, it was no longer sacred After taking the Marunouchi line to the shi+njuku-gyoe the , one would come to a place where one could find all sorts of rare anime posters, wallpapers, postcards, and even animation cels for sale
Soht say, “Aren’t these stores a dime a dozen everywhere, like in Akihabara, Ikebukuro and so on?”
The reply would be, “No, no, no It’s convenient to you because you’re living in the present day Back then, Akihabara was considered a si street, and Ikebukuro didn’t have a place called ‘Oto thes At least, until a irl, defiled her body with his carnal lusts, and then murdered her, whichpervert’”
Yes, this incident happened about 20 years ago
“Back then, I’d just gotten married, and I lost the election”
The oji-san in the western suit sighed as he recalled the good old days
In a wistful tone of voice, Itami replied, “I was just a middle schooler back then”
Neither of them looked at each other, but instead, they looked up to the building that had once been a sanctuary for people like them
“Although, I didn’t expect you to come without SP Why so low-key?”
“What are you talking about, don’t I have the strongest bodyguard by my side?”
“Your Excellency, are you kidding or are you serious? Although either would be kind of disturbing…”
It was only now that the two of them turned to face each other, and their handshake
The twothe entrance fee, they entered the gates of the shi+njuku Gyoen It was a working day in winter, so there were few people walking around inside the national garden One could feel the crunching of dead leaves underfoot as one walked along the footpaths
“To think, the brat fro man”
“To think, the oji-san fro”
“You don’t have to call me Excellency or any of that”
After all, they were comrades in arms, and there was no need to act like people they were not It was a co from the jealousy of politicians or their fake, insincere smiles
“At that ti like that, and that setever since”
“Is that so?”
“When I was still in a, but a certain old guy reco me on it”
“But didn’t I treat you to a meal in return? After all, since you were too scared to touch seinen a, that ht?
“Speaking of which, that ot animated”
“Is that so?”
Kanou Taro snorted in laughter
“And after that, you read all the a I recommended you”
“Yeah Every tankoubon I borrowed frounhost town, that was really good”
“I told you, right? That series esome”
And so, the two otaku spent their tioes, ti fun
“Ah, it’s about time”
Before they knew it, they had spent an hour chatting Because of Kanou’s line of work, it looked like he would have to make a move soon
“Oh, this is—”
Ita the size of a phone book inside
“Thanks I haven’t been able to visit a bookstore lately”
Kanou waved as he left, saying “That’s it, then” But after a few steps, he suddenly turned around “Ah, I aluests well?”
“Yes, they are”
“Youfroave us a lot of trouble too It seems someone tried to reach out to you, so we slapped theood beating Anyway, after this, resuinal plan”
“What’s the situation like?”
“I think it was your previous unit, SFGp, right? Just leave it to theo to that hotel This is a direct order from the Defense Ministry’s Special Area Incident Countermeasures Minister”
It was rare for Kanou to use the word “order” Hearing that filled him with relief, because he could feel Kanou’s deter that order as ato take up the responsibility that ca to do so, then he would not have given an order, but instead said so to ask of you” or “I’d like to discuss so, he could just blaet away scot-free In that sense, hearing an order like this was so that put Itami’s mind at ease, because fro the best possible backup Granted, the word “order” sounded cold-blooded, because it was a command from a superior to an inferior, but when you took a step back and looked at it, that was a realistic thing to say
As Kanou walked away, Itahest form of respect he could show
Thepoint, Itahed That was because they were all carrying lots of stuff
“Ara~ it’s been a long ti~” Risa said that, but could a si at the clothes, accessories, women’s products and so on, Risa alone had prettyall the money Itami had lent her, but she insisted, “No problem, there’s still the money from the winter Comiket!”
Tuka was also carrying a bag that came from an outdoor product shop, as well as a compound borapped up in paper from a sports product shop As expected of a Forest Elf, everything she bought was related to the outdoors “This bow is awesome!” she enthusiastically proclaimed
Predictably enough, Lelei had bought about a dozen sets of books “Books are important,” she quietly said
Apart fro a box with a notebook coht a coet a power supply in the Special Region
Rory had her huge halberd to carry around, so she bought correspondingly fewer things She was carrying a paper bag stuffed with black-frilled ribbons, earrings, assorted clothing and other accessories She proudly declared “picking out these things was difficult”
In contrast, Piña and Bozes, who had spent their time in the library in search of art, were very jealous of Rory and the others, who had gone shopping Piña and Bozes could not bring any distinctive souvenirs ho for so, but they did not find it They sees, but it seemed like it was different from their expectations”
There was a command center under the Rocky Mountains in the United States of America, built to direct the US Army in case of a nuclear war
In novels and movies, this place would have a darkened interior, lit by the ht, with constellations of target icons and travel paths all over the liquid crystal displays
In truth, the interior of the JASDF’s Air Defense Command did look like that
However, unlike the above two exaional command center at Ichinotani — the room that was sometimes called the Situation Room — looked more like a fil roohtly-lit room, and the rest of it was filled with display monitors In addition, the room was filled with uniformed officers who constantly e LCD es in the situation Currently, thetoward the Ishi+gaki Islands off the southwest coast of Kyushu, as well as the positions of two F-15s that had been scrambled to intercept it In addition, the location of a nearby unidentified submarine was shown in red, while not far away fro a friendly submarine in pursuit
There was a line in a certain detectiveroo rooms were now linked to the scene of the action in real-ti ability of the active personnel — ere immersed in the action and had a limited field of vision as well as intel — the rear echelon would e picture to provide command and support
The Special Area Incident Countermeasures Minister, Kanou Tarou, stepped into this room He was followed by suited councillors, uniformed officers, and his other support staff
“Good , Minister”
This location was active 24 hours a day, with people working in it around the clock, but regardless of what the clock said, the standard practice was to greet people with “Goodout of a TV talent show, but it lightened the serious military mood in the air and allowed people to relax
Kanou raised his hand and replied “Morning”, before he was led to the temporary place in the command center that had been prepared for him, and sat down
“I a officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ryuuzaki Pleased to meet you”
The uniformed JSDF officer who had appeared in front of Kanou introduced himself
“To be honest, I didn’t expect ht like this”
As he told Ryuuzaki about his thoughts, he removed his jacket and handed it to a JSDF servicewoman for her to put it up on a rack
“True, a lot of people think wars are like in the e forces clash with each other for days But warfare in this day and age can be divided into two uerilla combat The second is like the Gulf War, where you prepare before the battle and scout out the ene starts, you take down the eneht I think the only places you can find the old style of warfare are incountries”
Ryuuzaki cited the American forces in the Middle East as an example
In the past, guerilla warfare took place in the jungle, where both sides could barely see their hands stretched out in front of theh the dense brush In this heavily wooded environment, they concealed themselves and mounted hit and run attacks or aer like this The ene innocent civilians and wear suits or nor fire, or they would blow up cars, and sometimes they would even plant bombs on children’s backs and turn them into suicide bombers Sometimes these were called kamikaze attacks, but unlike actual kamikaze attacks, the suicide bo but common terrorists
In order to deal with situations like this, there had to be a way to tell the enemy from innocent civilians Then, they would need to destroy the ene cancer A the masses of healthy cells, there were a few cancer cells, but leaving them alone was not an option
The aim of the police activity was to find where each and every cancer cell was hiding
The military, on the other hand, would reical precision For instance, if one had cancer of the knee, a was an option, but such e In order to avoid har the healthy portions of the body, extreone all-in in the Middle East, but the security situation there showed no sign of recovery Siion If one began an operation without knoas going on and simply flailed around with the knife, the Middle East would not be cured, much like a patient with metastatic cancer And if excessive force was used to cut chunks off here and there, they would be censured for involving innocent civilians in military operations
“And so, in that sense, e are doing now can be considered to be the first type ofthat I forgot to put the situation on screen”
The WACthe operations console nodded, and clicked her mouse a few times
Athe Izu Peninsula, appeared on the main screen It started at 100’000:1 scale, but then it zoomed in, from 50’000:1 to 10’000:1 and so on, and at the saerEventually, the entire EL display was do the mountains
“This Sankai Hot Spring Resort, famous for its delicious food, beautiful scenery and its open-air hot springs This seeht’s events The rules are very si here and prevent ene Our men are already in place”
Spinning icons appeared in thethe resort, each representing a trooper’s position The ♀ icons represented the enlistedcircle within one of the ♀ icons represented an officer
Kanou exclaimed, “Ah, so it’s just like Ghost in the Shell”, and upon hearing this, Ltc Ryuuzaki nodded to the operator
“Then, what are the guests doing? Are they bathing in the hot springs now?! Oi, can any of you get s? Cheh, none of you, huh?”
The uniforhter, but it had the effect of dispersing the tension in the air However, after a service woman mentioned, “This is sexual harasshtened back up The hitherto relaxed Kanou hurriedly rearranged his tie
“Then, surrounding the Sankai Resort are our country’s top men, the Special Forces Group”
“Oh, that was Itami’s former unit”
“Dare I ask how Your Excellency came to know such a man?” However, as Ryuuzaki turned and saw the thick Couessed as much”
“Although, I would like to clear up a possible misconception with you The men of the Special Forces Group are not all SEALs, modern-day ninjas or supermen or other such combat experts Of course, most of them are combat specialists, but some of them were chosen for their other special skills For instance, some of them are computer experts, locksmiths, drivers or riders Soht be skilled in psychological ops and winning hearts and minds”
“Was Itami such an expert?”
“Yes He is extraordinarily proficient in running away fros he didn’t like His skill in that field was so outstanding that even with a full security perimeter and Special Forces Group trackers, we still could not capture hi exercise with hiet, but it was a failure because it was too difficult”
“How is it that the reports I’ve read are so different from what you’ve said?”
Upon hearing this, the servicewoh, while so by the side held their bellies and tried their best not to join her
“Your Excellency, was this inforiven to you by soal means, please destroy it, and then tell us how you obtained this infor the leaks in our security”
“What’s this all about?”
“Personal inforalexperts, but typically, ill add false inforets a hold of them For instance, the standard deception profile will paint an individual as a close coical warfare expert, an expert marksman, a HALO and HAHO-trained parachutist, a world-class diver, a demolitions specialist, and other details that reses a ?”
“Ah, indeed, that hat I saw But ould you do this?”
“The following is a national secret, but because you are the defense minister, I will tell you Please listen carefully It is a joke”
“A joke?”
“Yes, a joke Well, it is also a fore on a lazy bum as him, but on the surface, it is part of the sche”