NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 110



Only Krnovel

All is well on the northern front (4)

A Tokyo morning, when the cries of soldiers bravely running through the battlefield and the earth-shaking roar of gunfire have subsided.

It’s already been a week since the Army and Navy started manhunting with guns pointed at each other.

In other areas outside of Tokyo, the damage caused by the earthquake was somewhat recovered and life was returning to normal.

“I can’t just stay still like this. I can’t just stay still.”

Someone had to put an end to this madness.

That is why Kita Itki, representing the 100 million subjects of the Empire of Japan, went to the Imperial Palace to meet the Emperor.

His journey could hardly be described as smooth.

There were many people who disliked his behavior before the earthquake, and his behavior of attracting people’s attention and making trouble was enough to make many enemies.

In particular, high-ranking officials in the Ministry of the Army and the Ministry of the Navy, who had turned Tokyo into a small battlefield, openly tried to block Kita Itki from meeting the Emperor when he heard the news.

But that didn’t stop Guitar Itki.

He was a man who achieved his goals even if it meant abandoning everyone under him.

What’s scary is that those who were abandoned and died didn’t blame Kita Itki.

Well, anyway, Kita Itki entered the Imperial Palace, walking on the red carpet mixed with the blood, sweat, and tears of countless people.

Crown Prince Hirohito, who had already heard all the news and was vaguely aware of the situation, welcomed Kita Itki and met him face to face.

And now.

“… … Then, what should we do about this?”

“There should be no more bloodshed in Tokyo.”

“It’s easy to say, from a baby just beginning to babble to a wise man who has understood all the principles of the world, it’s not that difficult to just talk.”

Hirohito advised Edo Kita Itki to stop talking nonsense and to speak his mind.

The corners of Kita Itki’s mouth went up.

“There’s an easy way and a hard way. Which one would you like to hear first?”

Hirohito hesitated for a moment at Kita Itki’s words, then asked with a serious expression.

“What is the standard for easy and difficult?”

“That’s exactly what it is. It’s a division of the things that His Highness the Crown Prince can do into easy and difficult things.”

“… … Let’s start with the easy ones.”

“After all, easy things are better than difficult things. That’s an excellent choice.”

Hirohito’s forehead wrinkled slightly as he felt slightly uncomfortable at the sight of Kita Itki teasing him.

“Just keep talking.”

“As ordered.”

Kita Itki took a sip of tea to clear his throat, then glanced at Hirohito.

“Before I lay out my plans, I would like to ask Your Majesty for one promise.”

“promise?”

“Yes, that is my promise to listen to everything I say without interrupting.”

“What’s so difficult about that?”

“I think it will be difficult for Your Majesty.”

Hirohito was slightly angry at Kita Itki’s appearance, which seemed to be belittling him, but he shook it off with a light breath, as befitting the successor to a country.

“I promise.”

Then, as if he had been waiting, Kita Itki’s mouth opened and he said.

“His Majesty the Emperor may return, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.”

Hirohito felt a sudden anger rising inside him, but he suppressed it with the patience he had diligently cultivated.

“… … .”

“When His Majesty the Emperor passes away, it is only natural that a state funeral will be held. However, since Tokyo is in such a mess, His Majesty can just say that we should move the capital somewhere else until the chaos in Tokyo has subsided.”

“… … .”

“If that happens, the Army Ministry and the Navy Ministry will have no choice but to stop what they are doing. Why? Their original purpose was to somehow secure His Majesty the Emperor and drive their opponents into treason. However, if His Majesty passes away and His Highness decides to move the capital, the world will see it as the Army Ministry and the Navy Ministry abandoning the capital.”

“… … .”

“If that happens, the Army and Navy will naturally be criticized by the people as traitors, and those who have lost their justification will have no choice but to quietly turn their backs.”

“… …Is it the end?”

“Yes, for now, that’s it.”

As soon as Kita Itki finished speaking, Hirohito raised his right hand and slapped him on the cheek.

“How rude.”

“I hear that often.”

Even though Kita Itki was hit in the cheek by Hirohito, he didn’t even touch his red, swollen cheek as if he didn’t care at all.

He just smiled and asked Hirohito.

“If only His Majesty the Emperor could sacrifice himself, this situation could be put to rest. How about that? With His Majesty the Emperor’s great sacrifice, all the animals in the pen could be freed from their suffering.”

“That’s nonsense. The bandits outside the palace stopped fighting because of my father’s death? It would be quicker to find a cat that can talk!”

Hirohito was slightly excited.

Well, it was like saying that this situation would only end if the parents died in front of their children, so who wouldn’t be upset?

A normal person would have either apologized at this point for his slip of the tongue, or explained it well to Hirohito and appeased him, but Kita Itki, a madman born of the Japanese Empire, was a little different.

“Your Majesty, I know it may be presumptuous of you to ask, but a cat that understands human speech can easily be found at any moment.”

“what?”

“meow.”

Hirohito’s excitement at the moment progressed to anger, bewilderment, and then absurdity.

“… … Are you kidding me?”

“How many people in Japan today can be called human? Except for His Majesty and a few high-ranking officials around him, they are just animals in the vast pen called the Japanese Empire, and among them, I would be like a cat in boots who causes trouble.”

“I absolutely cannot listen to it.”

Hirohito, who was tired of Kita Itki’s words, was about to leave as if he had nothing more to listen to, when Kita Itki’s words struck the back of his head.

“Are you going to just listen to one thing and leave?”

“I don’t think I need to hear the rest. It was hard to get here. If you want, you can stay until things calm down.”

“Why should I stay here when I have something good to offer? As soon as I finish my work, I will leave again.”

“Is that so? Then it seems like you’ve finished your business, so I’d like you to leave the palace now.”

Hirohito seemed to have no intention of talking to Kita Itki any longer.

“Please hold a royal meeting.”

“… … ?”

The Imperial Conference was a conference in which the Emperor called together senior government and military leaders, cabinet members, and military leaders to discuss the start and end of war, and was a right of the Emperor guaranteed by the Constitution of the Empire of Japan.

In other words, with just a single word from the Emperor, he could gather together all the government and military figures, as well as the shady elders who enjoyed backstage politics in hiding.

However, the problem is… … .

“Are you saying we should start a war now?”

This is the meeting that determines the ‘beginning’ and ‘end’ of the war.

So, if you think about it the other way around, Kita Itki’s argument for holding a royal conference was no different from calling for war.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, isn’t the war already in full swing?”

“what?”

“Oh, really? Why are you pretending not to know? If you really don’t know, open the window and look down at Tokyo right now.”

Kita Itki got up from his seat and opened the window of the meeting room wide.

Originally, there should have been lush grass, beautiful flowers, and trees there, but all that was left were the rubble of collapsed buildings, citizens searching through the rubble in the distance, and guards pointing their guns at people.

“I have never been to a battlefield because of my eyes, but I think that if war were to be seen with the eyes, it would look something like this.”

“… … .”

As he said, Tokyo today is a battlefield.

If we insist on defining this situation as a war, the Army and Navy, who started this, can be said to be criminals and traitors who waged war without the Emperor’s approval.

Whether they will admit it or not.

“They are the ones who fought each other because they didn’t trust each other, and ended up pointing guns at each other. Do you think they would come if I called them?”

“Just make them come.”

“That’s easy to say.”

“It’s easy to say because it’s easy.”

Kita Itki smiled broadly and spoke to Hirohito.

“Your Majesty, please personally visit the War Department and the Navy Department and announce the opening of the Imperial Conference. Then, they will have no choice but to get off their heavy buttocks.”

“… … Go yourself?”

Kita Itki is now acting as a messenger to the Crown Prince of a country and is urging him to bow his head to the military.

If Hirohito went to the Army Ministry and the Navy Ministry in person to announce the opening of the Imperial Council and summon them, they would have no choice but to come.

Even if things were completed well, as time passed, the titles of Crown Prince and Emperor, who bowed down to the military, would follow Hirohito around like a label.

“This is the hard way.”

“… … .”

After finishing speaking, Kita Itki stood up from his seat.

Then he bowed his head respectfully to Hirohito and said his last words.

“The choice is yours, Your Majesty.”

“Hey!”

Hirohito tried to catch Kita Itki, but he quickly ran away as if he was busy with something.

Hirohito stood there blankly for a long time, like a child who had been given an impossible task.

In my head, I kept repeating what Kita Itki had said, thinking about the possibility of it coming true and what would happen as a result, and I held my pounding head with both hands.

And when the long silence ended, Hirohito’s eyes caught a glimpse of Tokyo beyond the window that Kita Itki had left open.

During that time, the war that had been blocked by the thick walls of the Imperial Palace was visible.

“… … .”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

At that time, Hirohito’s mind was very complicated.

The attendant came running to find him and fell face down on the floor.

“majesty!”

“What’s going on?”

“Kwantung Province… … . They say something has happened in Kwantung Province!”

“Gwandongju? What kind of trouble is this that happened in a place that was perfectly fine? Could it be…?”

Hirohito imagined the worst.

What happens in Tokyo isn’t just a struggle within Tokyo, but it’s a struggle that sweeps across the entire Japanese Empire… something like that.

“It is said that a group of traitors plotting for the independence of Joseon attacked Dalian and Lushun in the Kwantung Province, killing or injuring hundreds of soldiers, and capturing the commander of the Kwantung Army and the governor of Kwantung!”

“what?”

Hirohito momentarily gestured to his attendant, wondering if he had heard something.

“Bring water to wash your ears.”

Then he washed his ears with the water the servant brought and asked the chief servant again.

“What happened to Kwantungju?”

“Attached by a group of traitors who were plotting for the independence of Joseon… … The commander of the Kwantung Army and the governor of Kwantung were captured, and hundreds of soldiers were killed or injured… … .”

“… … .”

At that moment, the string of reason that had been pulled taut deep within Hirohito’s chest slowly loosened, and unprecedented anger surged up.

“What on earth are the soldiers of this country doing that they fight against each other and cause such humiliation to a group of traitors who are not even foreign enemies!!!”

The anger that had been welling up in my chest soon poured out into the world.

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 111