The 7 regions of Japan

On a hill in the Citadel, under one of the few trees that had not been consumed by soil pollution, a group of children sat in a circle on the ground. 

Standing in front of them, adjusting his glasses, was Master Hideo. He was a thin man with blond hair. In his hands he held not a digital tablet or a textbook, but an old paper map, yellowed and held together with tape.

“ All right, class. ” said Hideo, tapping the map gently with a wooden stick. “ I know the sun is strong today, but we need to concentrate. It's time for a pop quiz. ”

A murmur was heard from the children.

“ Come on, come on. This is vital for you to learn about the new Japan. ” insisted the teacher with a gentle smile. “ Who can tell me how our country was divided after the Great Calamity? ”

A young boy raised his hand enthusiastically. “ Me, teacher! After the Oni appeared and took control, Japan fragmented into 7 Sectors. Each sector has a different climate and monsters."

“ Excellent answer ” nodded the teacher. “ Now, let's go deeper. Who can name the regions and their dangers? Let's start with the north. ”

A girl with pigtails stood up. “ The first region is Hokkaido. Now they call it ‘The White Desert."

“ And why is that? ” asked Hideo. “ Because it never stops snowing there. ” replied the girl. “ They say that the Oni there are ice giants and that if you stand still for at least ten seconds, you freeze and break into many little pieces. What's more, there are savage humans who don't obey the Kijin.”

“ Correct. A white place. ” said the teacher, pointing to the top of the map. “ Let's go down. Where are we now? ”

“ Here! ” several shouted at once. “ In Sector 0! ” said an older boy. “ Exactly, in the Kanto region.
” Here are the walls of Tokyo and the Citadel. "

“ And the creatures? ” asked the teacher. “ Here they are... mixed ” said the boy, wrinkling his nose. “ There are many Gakis, mutant rats, and gray Oni. They are weak compared to the others, which is why the Kijin can keep us safe here. But there are too many of them. ”

The teacher nodded proudly. “Good. Now, westward. Region 2.”

“ I know that one! ” interrupted another student. “ It's Osaka. They call it ‘The Iron Foundry. My dad says the sky there is black from the smoke. The Oni enslaved the factories and merged with the machines. They're metal monsters.”

“ Very well. And next to it, Region 4. ” Hideo continued, pointing to the old capital. Kyoto.

The group fell silent for a moment. Even the children knew that this place was different. “ The Mirror Maze” said a girl in a low voice.  “There are no machines there. There are ghosts. They say that if you go in, you can't find your way out because the streets change places. It's where the witches live. ”

“ Exactly... the danger is more spiritual ” Hideo said, lowering his voice. “ Let's keep going south. Region 6 and Region 7.” 

“ Region 6 is Hiroshima, the Land of Ashes ” said un niño. " It's a giant graveyard. And Region 7 is Kyushu, the ‘Frontier of the Flood. It's all flooded and full of sea monsters that eat ships. If you ask me, the latter is the most dangerous of all. "

Teacher Hideo lowered his pointer, looking visibly satisfied. “I'm glad to see you've been studying. Knowing your enemy is the first step to- ”

“ Teacher. ” interrupted the girl with pigtails, “ you skipped one. The center of the map. Region 5. ”

The teacher looked at the center of the map, where Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures were located. “ Ah, yes. The Chubu Region. Or as we call it now: ‘The Throne of Origin. "

“Why doesn't anyone go there?” asked a boy.

“ Because it's the epicenter ” explained the teacher, removing his glasses to clean them with his shirt. “ It's a largely unexplored area due to the density of the Miasma. No human has ever returned from there. What little we know is thanks to high-altitude reconnaissance drones and old satellite images.” The teacher sighed and looked at the horizon. “ut even technology fails. The images always come out distorted or full of static. However... in the few clear photos we have, something has been seen..."

“ What? ” asked the children. “ A black castle floating above the area, and it has even been seen above the crater of Mount Fuji... and around the lake, there are colossal stone structures. They look like chairs. Giant empty thrones. Their purpose is unknown, but nothing good comes from there. ”

A few meters away, leaning against a cracked concrete wall, someone listened to the lesson.

He was a young man of about seventeen. His appearance stood out amid the gray gloom of the citadel. He had white hair tied in a high ponytail, with two long strands framing his face, but the most peculiar thing was the tips dyed a vibrant green.

He wore his typical outfit: a tight-fitting hoodie over a black compression shirt, a lightweight tactical vest full of empty pockets, wide Hakama-Cargo pants that were tight at the ankles, and reinforced fingerless gloves.

Ken Kurosu was holding a heavy box in his arms, but he stood motionless, mesmerized by the description of the Throne of Origin.

" Giant thrones... " he thought. "Could that be where...?"

However, a sharp, painful blow to the head interrupted his thoughts. “ Ouch! ” Ken almost dropped the box, stumbling forward.

Behind him stood Chief Saito. He was a short old man, his back bent with age but his arms seemingly made of hardwood and gnarled roots. Despite his age, his cane was used more to hit distracted young people than to walk.

“ Stop daydreaming, you brat! ” Saito shouted. “ You're blocking the way! Those boxes aren't going to walk themselves to the warehouse. ”

“ Hey, old man! ” Ken complained, rubbing his head with his shoulder. “ That hurt! How can you be so heavy handed at your age? ”

“ It hurt because you have a thick skull! ” the old man grumbled, though his eyes sparkled with affection. “ Get moving. The inventory has to be ready before nightfall. ”

Ken snorted, readjusting his load. “ Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. What a temper... ”

Without another word, Ken obeyed and walked toward the building.

The supply room was an underground bunker. Lighting was kept to a minimum to conserve energy and prevent heat-sensitive food from spoiling. Metal shelves reached up to the ceiling, most of them empty or filled with dented boxes.

Ken left the box where he had been told to, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The silence in the room was heavy.

Saito, who had followed him silently, approached a bookshelf and took out something wrapped in paper. “ Here. ”

Ken caught it in midair. It was a piece of bread. It was hard and a little stale, but at this point, it was a delicacy. “ For me? ” Ken asked, surprised. “ You didn't eat breakfast. I saw you.” Saito said, leaning on his cane. “ Eat. You need strength if you're going to keep working all day. ”

Ken didn't hesitate. He quickly took a bite of the bread. As he chewed, he noticed Saito staring at him with an expression he didn't quite understand. “ What? Do I have crumbs on my face? ”

“ You look a lot like him, you know? ” said the old man. “ Like Takeshi. You have the same stubborn look when you think no one is watching you. ”

Ken stopped chewing. His older brother's name hung in the air. Ken looked down. “ No. ” he said, his voice losing its usual tone. “ I'm nothing like him. Takeshi was brave. He faced an Oni with his bare hands to save me. He was a hero. I... I'm just a box carrier. I'm a long way from being like him.”

Saito sighed and, with a quick movement, gave him a gentle punch on the chest, right above the heart. “ Stop talking nonsense. It's true that Takeshi was strong. But you have heart. You should have more confidence in yourself, Ken. Brute strength isn't the only thing that defines a Kijin. ”

Ken looked up. The old man's seriousness disarmed him for a moment. He forced one of his carefree smiles and shrugged. “ I'll try, old man. I'll try. ”

Unfortunately, the sound of the watchtower bells echoed through the walls.

Ken and Saito's eyes met. They both knew what it meant. “ They're back. ” Ken said.

Ken ran out of the warehouse, taking the stairs two at a time to reach the surface.

The main square of the Citadel was filling with people. Everyone was running toward the main gate to the north, an immense barrier of reinforced steel and hydraulic pistons that separated the safety of the fortress from the hell outside.

Ken arrived agitated but with a hopeful smile on his face. “ They're here! ” he thought. “ They must have good news! ”

The pistons hissed and the enormous doors slowly opened. The red and bloody evening sun illuminated the entrance.

Ken felt a pain in his stomach. What for? he thought, gritting his teeth. So much death for a little gasoline?

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Saito had come up behind him. “Poor young people...” murmured the old man, his voice reflecting deep sadness. "They have to fight a war that adults should have fought. We failed to protect the world, and now you must pay that price with your lives.

Ken didn't respond immediately. He looked at the survivors, who were dirty and broken. He knew Saito was right, but he also knew that blame was useless. The adults couldn't do much more than loot the ruins. It was his generation's turn. It was their duty to regain the pride that had been stolen from them.

“Even seeing this...?” Saito asked, watching the boy from behind. “You still want to join them, Ken? You want to end up like them?”

Ken clenched his fists so tightly that his gloves cracked. His eyes, fixed on the wounded, burned with a mixture of fury and determination.

“Of course I do,” Ken said. “They, those things out there... they took my brother. I have to find him. And if I have to burn every corner of the seven sectors to do it, I will.”

Saito said nothing, just squeezed the boy's shoulder one last time before walking away to help the medics, leaving Ken alone with his thoughts.