Act I: Our Slumber is Over

[Ayzek]

And the Shimazu Councilors responded with a standing ovation, as the Consul's speech penetrated them to the soul and spoke straight to its heart. Never before and never again would such an awesome, resonating argument for globalization and regional integrity echo in the halls of the Shimazu Council Building--perhaps nowhere in Chikasu. As the cheering and and clapping slowed, Chairman Tanaka said, "Councilors, that was Mr. Daichi Akiya--" It was a mistake to mention his name, as it again spurred the Council into a frenzy.

It was a shame such a powerful speech was wasted on the choir and would never reach a wider audience due to the closed-door nature of the session.


Date: 1 Tolven 1587
Time: 8:10 A.M.
Location: Nonsan, Autonomous Shimazu State, Chikasu

Taichi Kamiya was an active youth in his second year of high school. In a band and an avid football player, he rarely made it home before dusk. Yesterday, however, the schoolteachers had urged everyone home due to the forming protests. The anxious tone of the teachers' texts had made him curious and Taichi had spent yesterday reading about the protests and the treaty behind it. Even now, over an omurice and strawberry milk, he was reading the latest news on his smartphone: "Shimazu Council urges the Senate to pass the trade agreement."

"What's wrong?" asked his father, Susumu, who noticed the raised brows on his son's face. And the almost untouched omurice.

"Ah," Taichi replied, "this trade thing." He passed his phone across the table to his father. "It's crazy how people are getting so excited about it."

"Mm," his father hummed as he took the device and scanned the article. "My coworkers are talking about it too. I think a few of them joined the protests too."

Taichi nodded. "It's only a trade agreement though, why are they getting so worked up?"

Susumu chuckled and passed the phone back. "Good question." Susumu was ethnically Kazemuran, though his wife was Chikasun. They'd met during the influx of Chikasuns into Shimazu in the 50s and grew up together ever since. "It could be based on patriotic sentiments," he continued, after taking another spoonful of his own omurice. "A lot of Chikasuns are afraid of Kazemura's economic power, while a lot of the older Shimazu still want Shimazu to secede from Chikasu and join Kazemura. Eat your food."

With another nod, Taichi finally touched his breakfast. "Is it true that the agreement favors Kazemura?" he asked before a spoonful.

"I haven't read it," Susumu answered, shrugging. "They say it does, and I could definitely believe it. There's a lot of Kazemruan businesses operating in Shimazu, and that may be why the Council favors the treaty. Have you heard that the Senate dismissed the subject in an special session this morning?"

Taichi shook his head.

"That'll be very bad for the President. They suspect that the special session was at her urging, and now that it's failed...there'll likely be a backlash. She's already on thin ice, and trying to shove an unpopular agreement through an extraordinary session will really turn the public against her. It will be a long week."