The Shogun

Chapter 1 : The Beginning of the End

Now

Location: Main Office, Juzo News

"A flight from Musutafu to Kagoshima city, from there a train to Makurazaki city, from there we take an overnight catamaran to the coordinates 29°24'N 125°54'E which gives us Nabu Island", Shido says as he looks up from his holographic computer to his boss. He then adds, "From there, we have to climb Mount Shiroyama, and find a cave which looks as if 'it has its own ecosystem but with human touch' and in that we have to find a 'cherry blossom that doesn't fall' , and about 50 meters North from that cherry blossom, 'under the glow of god rays of dawn' is where the statue is buried". Akira nods a hum as he looks at information, Shido has found out and he says, "Good. Arrange a team, and join them and get to this place as soon as possible".

"Sir, are you serious?" Shido asks in surprise. Shido Takamiya considers himself a practical man. Well he had to be, considering he was the one who handled the finances of the news station. Standing tall with his long blue hair reaching his neck and amber brown eyes, he says, "With due respect, just because that hag is saying, that doesn't mean that we can do that".

But the stress of handling finances of such a large news station, also made him come off as a disrespectful guy. The man is a kind one, in fact he respects Seiran a lot. His mother was the one who introduced the author to him, and it was safe to say that he was hooked. If one would visit his apartment, they would find a collection of books written by different authors, and his favorite book among the bunch was, 'The Generation Before Us' which was written by Seiran herself. Akira forgetting these facts about, grows a bit annoyed and says, "The woman inside the Archives Room is Seiran Kobayashi. So I am damn serious!"

Shido simply sighs at his boss's outburst. He kind of expected him to come in the senior journalist's defense. Knowing that he would still lose this argument, he says, "Sir... I know that you are serious, but look at the situation at hand. There are confirmed 21 caves in Mount Shiroyama. Determining which cave would be our target would definitely take some time. Not only that, but we are planning to dig in a cave. Even if we are able to determine the cave, we won't be able to get the excavators over there, and all the work would be manual. Finding the diggers skilled enough to remove the statue perfectly, is something I can do, but getting necessary equipment, their transportation, their accommodation and their rations will cost us a lot. Not to forget, Nabu Island is just 100 miles from the Chinese waters and about 150 miles from the International waters. A project this big would definitely catch some attention from unwanted companies".

Akira simply looks at Shido but doesn't say anything. Even though he didn't want to believe it, he knew that his subordinate was right. The elderly man simply flops on an empty chair and in a calm voice, he says, "I know. I know that very well. Do you know that it was my father who created this news station?"

"I do. Tokuda Taneo-san was an ambitious man", Shido says to which Akira replies, "You know... for a time he was kicked out of his own company and for some mysterious reason, he won his ownership back. My father advocated for unfiltered information available to the public, but deep down I knew that he was hiding something. He never told me what it was and that secret died with him. But when I took over this company, his ideologies became mine".

He continues to say, "Even Seiran is hiding something for sure. I have known her since my University days and she is my good friend. All I knew about her was that she had a lover who died and she swore to never look at any other man. I know that she was born on December 21st 2319 and that she used to have a brother. That's it! That is all I know. Who was she before we met? Where did she come from? Who were her parents? I don't know anything about that. Still I didn't bother to ask, because she is damn nice! Always helpful! Always had a kind word!. But now... I can't let this go. I want to know what happened back then. I want to know why no one talked about this. I want to know what had happened that made our world like this. For more than 50 years, the world has been confused about it and Seiran is key to that answer".