Tokyo - The Heart of Yamato

July 29th, 2002 - Tokyo - Yamato Empire

They were definitely in a harbour now. For the past few hours, the sounds coming from outside the hull had begun to slowly grow louder, and now, despite being in the heart of an armoured vessel, Hasegawa was overwhelmed by the sounds of foghorns, seagulls, and random chatter and yelling. For the entire journey, there had been nothing to hear, except for the occasional instruction from the woman who called herself Myōkō. 

Hasegawa had spent the entirety of the journey reading through the "Yamato Guide to Foreign Languages", primarily focusing on the section titled "Oceanic Standard". It was obvious that this was the equivalent of English in this world, and, while he wasn't fluent, he knew some of it from school and his job. After spending two days (he assumed it was two days because he had been taken for six meals) learning the language, he hadn't gotten to the point where he could reliably make standard daily conversation with an English-speaker. Or at least, that was what he thought.

After about an hour of being in the harbour, Hasegawa felt something hit the side of the ship. The ship went still immediately, and several more impacts followed. Based on the setting and the lack of damage, at least as far as he could tell, it was probably just mooring buoys bouncing off of the side of the ship as they settled into place. A few minutes later, the door to Hasegawa's room swung open. 

A man walked in, rifle in hand, He was wearing a khaki uniform, with black boots and a brown cap. A second man walked in after him, dressed in the same uniform, and also carrying a rifle. The first soldier grabbed Hasegawa by the arm and began to pull him.

It didn't seem like anything good would happen if Hasegawa resisted, and, even more than that, he was too confused and scared to really do anything.

The soldier dragged him out into the hallway, where half a dozen more soldiers were waiting, blocking the hallway in both directions. Among them were two women. One, with auburn hair in a black uniform, and a braid over her left shoulder, he recognized as Myōkō. The other woman was slightly taller, and wore a similar uniform. She had long black hair that flowed down almost to the ground, and what looked like a submachine gun strapped to her waist.

"This him?" the woman asked Myōkō, nodding in Hasegawa's direction.

"Yes, Admiral." Myōkō replied. She was standing off to the side, and a bit behind the other woman. It was obvious that she was outranked here. 

The woman stepped forward, until she was almost face to face with Hasegawa. 

"So then, you are the mystery man named Hasegawa Kenji, right?" She asked the question, but it was obviously rhetorical. There was no doubt that Myōkō had already told her everything that there was to say about Hasegawa.

"I am Rear Admiral Haruna, of the Imperial Yamato Navy." She continued speaking, tapping her finger on the submachine gun at her waist. "I am the commander of the defences of Tokyo, the capital island of our empire. As such, even if you have  been brought here by a member of our navy, I need to make sure that you aren't a threat."

She turned around, and walked over to Myōkō. 

"Until I determine that he is safe, the two of you will be detained in the Naval Mansion. It's all standard procedure, not that anything like this has ever happened before. Do you understand, Captain?"

"Yes, Admiral." Myōkō's response was short and simple, and it obviously satisfied the woman. 

She turned to go, and the soldiers parted to let her pass. After she had departed, the soldiers grouped up around Hasegawa and began to pull him down the corridor, with Myōkō following close behind them.

They brought him above deck, and he got his first look at Tokyo. From where he stood on the ship's deck, it looked like the shore curved around the harbour, almost completely encircling it. Directly ahead of him, a large mountain rose up straight from the waterfront, with a traditional Japanese castle spread across its upper half. 

The harbour covered the entire waterfront. About a third of the harbour, where Hasegawa currently was, seemed to be the military docks. They were about half full, but all of the occupied berths had vessels ranging from submarines to aircraft carriers resting in them. The waterfront was lined with identical concrete buildings, and uniformed men and women covered the street, going about their business. 

Another third of the harbour seemed to be for civilian vessels, and had mostly fishing trawlers docked in it, though some passenger and cargo ships seemed to be resting there as well. The waterfront there seemed much more alive, with street markets and random ramshackle stalls stretching across the entire length of the section.

The final third, Hasegawa had recognized instantly. Even though large walls blocked it from the rest of the island, and breakers had been put in the water around it, he could see the cranes the towered above them. It was a shipyard, and a massive one at that. He would have liked to explore it, but the soldiers shoved him into the back of a truck on the pier, shutting the door behind them, and cutting off his view.