Arrival

A cool breeze wafted in. Strange, because the windows were always closed, and the air conditioner had broken a few days before, and the manager hadn't gotten it fixed yet. The air was salty, a quality not usually attributed to city air. 

A loud sound, like an explosion, came out of nowhere. It must have been a car crash on the street below the office. A shrill whistling noise followed it, like a boiling kettle, and then another explosion erupted, mixed with the sound of metal being crushed.

Hasegawa Kenji opened his eyes. He was lying on a small piece of rock about three meters across that sat about a meter above the surface of the water. The water was an ocean, stretching as far as the eye could see in all directions. 

A plume of smoke was rising from a small grey vessel that looked like a Second World War-era destroyer, and it was retreating towards the horizon, with a similar looking vessel beside it. 

Pursuing them was a much larger ship, with a narrow, curved bow, three twin turrets in the forward position, and a large superstructure that led into an angled funnel. The rest of the ship was hidden from view by the funnel, but Hasegawa knew from what he could see that it was either a Myōkō- or Takao-class heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. 

Except that that was impossible. They had all been sunk almost 75 years earlier by the Americans after the war ended, so how could he be seeing one right now? Or, he could be dreaming. That would also make sense. After all, he had just been taking a break in his office in Yokosuka, and had probably fallen asleep.

Except, it felt so...real. The feel of the breeze, the smell of the ocean air, it was too real to be a dream. If this really was real, then it raised the question of how Hasegawa had gotten here, and what was even going on. 

While Hasegawa was thinking, the two destroyers set smoke screens and succeeded in escaping from the cruiser. Its prey lost, it began to turn around, returning to its home port. Deciding in an instant that he didn't want to be left on that tiny rock, Hasegawa stood up and began to wave his arms hoping to catch its attention. 

The cruiser seemed to see him at the last moment before it completed its turn, and made haste to circle around towards him. It quickly approached him, headed on almost a collision course, breaking away less than a hundred meters away, slowing and stopping with the rock off of its port bow, dropping its anchor into the ocean.

A ship like this would normally be crewed by almost 800 men, yet there wasn't a single person that Hasegawa could see. Then, a door at the base of the superstructure swung open, and a young woman walked out towards the railing. She was wearing a dark uniform, and her auburn hair was cut to her shoulders, with the exception of a loose braid that hung over her left shoulder. She had bright green eyes, and wore a black cap with a gold crest on it. 

She called down to Hasegawa, "Who are you and what are you doing here? This is an active war zone right now."

Her voice was sharp, and she seemed annoyed by his very existence. 

"My name is Hasegawa Kenji, and I just woke up on this rock a few minutes ago."

She raised one eyebrow, doubt evident on her face. "Do you have any documents to prove your identity and nationality with?"

"Yeah, I have my passport right here. Do you need it?"

"Passport? Which nation is it from?"

"Japan."

Her other eyebrow raised at that, like she thought he was making it up. She rested her chin on her hand, evidently contemplating something. After about 30 seconds of thinking, she gave a long sigh.

"Alright then, Hasegawa-san. I'm taking you under my protection as a person of interest. You'll be coming with me to the capital of the Yamato Empire. Oh, and just so you know, I'm the Myōkō-class heavy cruiser Myōkō. Feel free to come aboard."

With that, she dropped down a rope ladder to Hasegawa.