Sheltering in Place: The Jeweled Voice

I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, let me defile thee: for my head is empty, and there's not much else to do around here anyways.

Neon Song of Solomon 5:2

- - -

"The Emperor is giving a speech at 7."

Hitomi's nostrils filled with hot soup, which sprayed and dribbled onto the table just as Sakura was setting down her tray - luckily the girl hastily pulled it back up, even as Hitomi began coughing and hacking.

She hadn't meant to breathe her soup instead of drink it, but Sakura had just said the most absurdly impossible thing.

"Are you serious? The Emperor? Of Japan?"

Sakura sat down next to her, rolling her eyes.

"No, the Emperor of Rome," she said sardonically, "Yes, the Emperor. Of Japan."

"What, why? I mean, did you say at 7? It's 6:56!" Hitomi replied in confusion, looking at the big clock on the far wall. She had stumbled on the response because she instinctively went for the phone in her pocket, but it wasn't there, of course, thanks to the blackout.

"Yeah, I mean, they just announced it. It'll be an 8PM broadcast in Japan, so it should be on the TV in just a few." Sakura pointed to the TV where people were already sort of gathering around. It had been switched to an NHK channel, and there were a pair of two very well dressed newscasters she didn't recognize making light conversation in anticipation of the speech.

"Turn it up!" she called out to the fellow with the remote, who obliged her.

Someone else hissed, "Ssshhhh!" Miming the motion of being quiet with a finger on his lips.

Rude.

"What's he going to speak about? Do you think?"

Sakura shook her head: "Who knows? And why not the Prime Minister? But, I can't believe it's not related to everything going on, so... Yeah. Anyways, where were you this morning? You weren't on your couch when I woke up, and you'd taken your laptop."

"Oh. Uh, I just wanted to get some coding done so I hung out in the IT room for a bit; I couldn't get back to sleep, ya know?"

"Write anything interesting?"

Hitomi nodded, happily, "Yeah, I was working on this cool network packet decoder and -"

"Sssshhhh!" someone hissed again, very loudly, "It's starting!"

Suddenly the broadcast footage switched to a beautiful waving Japanese flag, its crimson sun dancing on the peaceful, white background as a soft breeze made the fabric wave. In the background they could hear the national anthem - "Kimigayo" - start to play in its dramatic undertones.

Oh!

Uh, OK, lots of people around them had stood up, putting their breakfasts to the side. They were standing at attention towards the TV. This was a first for Hitomi, it was almost just like how American school kids all stood for their Pledge of Allegiance!

Hitomi quickly rose as well, along with Sakura, who seemed surprised by the group's reaction. An embassy working even went as far as to grab the Japanese flag standing in the other corner of the room and quietly, but with great dignity, bearing it to the side of the room with the large TV, standing and holding it in place until another embassy worker carried over its mounting base. They set it inside together.

She was honestly shocked at the sheer level of national patriotism she was seeing around her.

Hitomi wondered at that - what was "Japanese", really? Was this the sort of pride she should have?

The anthem continued to play, forcing her to reflect on her sense of patriotism. To Hitomi, well, it was a really strange song. It's cadence was slow. It felt old and archaic. Almost worshipful like a hymn but rooted in the military might of the bygone days of the former empire.

Heh, it sounded like one of those crazy songs from North Korea you could watch on YouTube.

Whoa. Blasphemous.

Maybe she wasn't very good at being Japanese? But that's how she felt.

Thankfully, everyone was just listening to the "official" version right now, so she was spared having to break out her singing chops. Honestly, everyone singing it together during assemblies or graduations made it sound super creepy in her humble opinion.

Heh. One of her teachers got formally written up for refusing to sing it once during her 1st year at school. Minako never sang it either: she just mouthed along and elbowed Hitomi to try to mess her up when she did the right thing and tried to dutifully sing along.

The music faded out with the flag, and the sixteen chrysanthemum petals of the Imperial Seal of Japan, gold on red, appeared briefly on the screen, when it disappeared she could see the Emperor of Japan himself, standing at a beautifully polished wooden podium in front of the National Diet building in Chiyoda.

No one sat back down.

You could hear a pin drop, but only the gentle sound of distant cicadas could be heard.

The Prime Minister, as well as the Empress, flanked the Emperor on either side.

They both stared straight ahead.

He spoke:

"Our Good and Loyal Subjects," he began, sending a thrill through Hitomi's body.

This was history.

"It has been seventy four years, eleven months, and twenty-six days since our beloved grandfather, himself Emperor, announced, after great and sorrowful contemplation of the state of the Empire and generally the condition and disposition of the world at that time, the acceptance of the provisions of the joint declaration of the United States, Great Britain, and what was once the Republic of China."

My god. A direct reference to the Surrender. The end of World War II.

"Now, even as it was then, we strive for the common prosperity and happiness of our beloved nation, and, in nearing seventy-five years of charting a course of peace in and about our many waters, have come to strive for those same liberties and joys for all nations."

The Emperor paused, looking deeply through the camera at his unseen audience.

"We also now, even as we did then, hold the security and well-being of our subjects as our most solemn duty. A duty now passed, through the democratic principles we have all come to cherish, from the Imperial family alone instead into the hands of her people, to jointly share our tragedies and our triumphs."

"Today we find ourselves, not only as a nation, but as members of a great global community, entering into a perilous window of history. It is a narrow gap we thread through time replete with events so extraordinary, so auspicious as to defy the very nature of human perception and belief. Yet it is within this moment that we, the people of Japan, will be remembered for our forthright action, our unyielding resolve, and our commitment to the upholding of the very tenets of civilization."

War. Were we going to war?

With who?

"I shall tell you the truth as I have and your duly elected leadership have come to understand it."

The truth?

"We find ourselves subject to a power we do not understand. Perhaps we cannot ever understand it. Our world has been visited by a being of inhuman ability. A being that alleges itself to be the representative of a yet even higher power. It has not claimed to come in peace or benevolence. Instead, it has unleashed great violence upon us. We, the State of Japan, along with all civilized nations of Earth, reject and denounce its actions, motives, and judgment. We declare for all the world to hear: We are not afraid."

Hitomi grabbed Sakura's hand without thinking about it, gripping tightly.

"And we are not alone."

She felt something rising in her, some sort of... hope, mixed with pride.

Hitomi wanted to believe in the Emperor, for the first time ever in her life seeing the royal family as something more than just a perfunctory legacy of their constitutional monarchy.

"Though we have been consumed by our enmities and hatreds, our bitter histories and heinous actions, even pitting the dear lives of our cherished friends and families against one another; it is time to put these childish squabbles away, that we may face a truer threat together, united in common cause."

"Today I come before you, on behalf of the duly elected government of Japan, to announce the formation of a new political and military alliance between the State of Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of China, and the People's Republic of China."

"The Pan-Asian Union."

People, everywhere in the room, young and old, gasped - unable to believe what they were hearing.

"Even as the European Union showed the world the way to unite the common economic and social systems of its disparate people across its namesake nations, so now we too enter into a new era of mutual prosperity and shared interest with our historical friends and foes."

Hitomi heard clapping, people were trying to talk to each other, but they couldn't stop listening, the Emperor simply wasn't done yet.

"My people. We do this because we are at war. With what we do not understand. Even now our greatest minds study phenomena simply incomprehensible a few days ago. They have appeared from and disappeared into thin air, they speak into our minds in our own languages, they leave behind incomprehensible artifacts that defy physical law, and they even rob us of the comfort of our dreams."

"We did not choose war. This war was thrust upon us. But it is a righteous one. For we will not go meekly into that darkness that they would prescribe us."

"They are the enemy."

"We will unite with any nation who seeks to oppose their actions, beginning with our neighbors, who are the first to stand and rally."

"We will have a seat together at the table, in one year, when our enemy returns again, to seek answers from it. We will accomplish this by all means at our disposal."

Hitomi's mind spun: this was it, that was the true reason. The combined strength of all four nations meant the United States would be forced to cede one or two allotted questions to the PAU. After all, the angel would return to New York City, and she could only imagine that America would turn the UN building into a well guarded fortress beforehand.

"Now, I will share with you the fruits of our negotiations and the changes that will immediately affect the regional makeup of the Pan-Asian Union, namely:"

Hitomi breathed in sharply, wondering what the Emperor had traded or been traded to make this alliance a reality.

"It is resolved, that the Republic of China, colloquially known as Taiwan, shall become a jointly administered special administrative state; autonomous in all local decisions, and a new federal structure to administer the Pan-Asian Union."

"Elected leadership from each member government will choose a single representative who will hold a single controlling vote for the disposition of jointly held resources, as well as arbitrate disputes among member nations. Taiwan hereby relinquishes its position as the legitimate government of the state of China, and its independence is recognized by all member states."

"It is further resolved that Japan cedes the disputed Senkaku Islands to Taiwanese control, our gift to the military alliance we have formed, where naval bases will soon be constructed for patrolling and safeguarding our mutual borders."

"It is further resolved that I, the Emperor of Japan, formally apologize to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea, and to all nations so afflicted, for all wartime crimes committed by the soldiers of Japan during the Second World War."

People were crying out in shock. This was blasphemy. Madness. Weak. Inconceivable.

And then, the Emperor bowed, deeply.

And held it, for a count of ten seconds.

They were stunned, unable to formulate rational thoughts.

He rose again, and solemnly continued speaking:

"It is regrettable, on such a celebratory day, when old hostilities are finally put to rest, and the arms of brotherhood open wide, that I must report to my countrymen a most terrible and lamentable affair that threatens the stability of not just our own dear nation, but of the newly born Pan-Asian Union itself."

"While all information has yet to come to light, we share with you all today that the leader of the People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea, as we think of it in the everyday usage, has been overthrown by his own military, who have established a new junta state entitled the Democratic Loyalist Republic of Unified Korea."

More gasps, and Sakura's hand gripped hers tighter.

"I further regret to inform my countrymen that our satellite imagery reveals that many of the internment camps holding political prisoners and dissidents, as well as numerous towns and cities around its borders, have already been reduced to ruins. A great famine was already decimating crop yields, and now the people of North Korea flee towards its borders, both north and south, only to be mercilessly cut down by the entrenched forces of the military leadership."

"Our negotiations for a peaceful transition to a democratically led government have failed."

"And, to our combined horror and outrage, all of our member nations have been threatened with nuclear attack."

"Do not be fooled: these are the words of desperate men holding the last scraps and vestiges of power. They may, indeed, have the capability to strike at our countries with weapons of terrible strength, but I say to you again, my people: do not be afraid."

"We, the Pan-Asian Union, announce that we do not recognize the Democratic Loyalist Republic of Korea. We recognize only the Republic of Korea, unified both North and South, and formally declare war against the usurpers who would threaten their own people."

"And together, we shall prevail."

War. Not just against angels: against their fellow men.

The Emperor paused, gently taking his glasses off his face and placing them in his suit's breast pocket, staring into the camera with a sorrowful but firm gaze.

"We are threatened from foes within and without; of this Earth and not. However, we unite in the totality of strength. We devote ourselves to the construction of a new future, one where all mankind is free from fear and tyranny. Together we will cultivate the ways of rectitude and foster the nobility of spirit that birthed each of our great nations. With great resolve we step forward into this new dawn."

"And on that last day, when each of us fall, our last breath breathed, our strength fled, even if we enter into oblivion, we will live on. In the memories of our friends, in the hearts of our families. We will live each day as though it were our last, and we shall not fear."

"I bid you rest, for on the morrow we rise, together, reborn as a people renewed in purpose."

He stepped back, a single pace, and then bowed again.

The Chrysanthemum Seal appeared again for a few moments, and then the view returned to the two stunned newscasters, who seemed to flail for many obvious seconds, unsure what to say.

Sakura let go of Hitomi's hand.

She ran out of the room.

Hitomi chased after her, seeing Sakura's heels fleeing down the hallway.

She ran after her into the women's bathroom, skidding to a stop just as Sakura fell to her knees in front of a toilet.

Sakura released her partially eaten breakfast into the bowl.