Gate – Jietai Kare no Chi nite, Kaku Tatakeri Vol 2 Chapter 18

It was 4am on a winter morning, and the sunrise was a long way off.

The printer whined and clacked as it spat out the final copy of ma.n.u.script, while the room’s owner, finally free of the tension that had gripped her for so long, pa.s.sed out in front of the PC monitor.

Itami gently covered Risa’s sleeping body with a magical girl-print blanket, and looked outside, at the world beyond the window.

The lights in the apartment were out, in order to eliminate the possibility of being silhouetted by them, and thus more easily spotted by the enemy.

So far, there was no movement within the area he could see.

Just then, the newspaper delivery bike’s 4-stroke engine began ringing through the streets below. A taxi deposited its drunken pa.s.senger at its doorstep, and a loud argument about meter fare began. It should be about time for people on the night s.h.i.+ft to be heading to bed.

And so, the sounds of daily life returned to the city as the sun came up.

The Prime Minister’s Residence

“I’m sorry to disturb you during your rest, but Mr. Prime Minister—”

“What’s the matter?”

The Prime Minister was dressed in pajamas, which rustled as he reached over to bring his telephone’s handset to his ear.

“The guests from the Special Region have vanished.”

“When did this happen?”

“Around 2300 last night. Ichigaya Park, where they were supposed to stay, caught fire.”

The Prime Minister looked to the clock beside his bed. It was now 5 AM.

“Why did the first report take so long to come in?”

“Sir, I apologize for the delay, but we needed to properly grasp the situation and that took time.”

“Then, what have you properly grasped with your time?”

“Sir, the fire at Ichigaya Park was caused by arson.”

“Who did it?”

“We’re not sure, but we think it’s probably—”

“What you think isn’t important. Who’s in charge down there?”

“He’s been hospitalized.”

“Was he injured? Was there combat with enemy forces?”

“We’re not too sure about that.”

“Cheh. Then, are the guests safe?”

“...We’re still searching for them.”

“Are you an idiot?”

“I’m sorry, but everyone responsible is currently doing their best.”

“No, I asked if you were an idiot.”

“Sir, sir, what did you just say?”

The Prime Minister scoffed. “Hmph, never mind,” and hung up.

When he took the post, the Prime Minister was already prepared for the grave duty of taking command of disaster management in the event of an emergency, and he was also ready to accept calls which might come at all hours of the day. However, he was also bothered by the fact that the government officials who were his arms and legs were effectively paralyzed.

The cabinet officials under him could be considered the elites among the elites. Going by their individual backgrounds, each of them was very impressive. In terms of their ability to manage and run an organization, they were at the top of their cla.s.s. However, there were times when a situation happened which demanded immediate action, and a decision had to be made in a split-second. These officials would mutter “Huh? What?” while waffling around and wasting a lot of time, which showed how useless they were in emergencies.

Worse still, they were incapable of dealing with irregularities in daily operations. Although public servants mainly did administrative work, there were more and more cases where they could not even handle things like “There’s a problem in the annual income records”.

That being said, in times of peace, spending more time on these problems was fine as long as said problems were resolved in the end.

However, this was hardly a time of peace, especially since the international situation around j.a.pan was getting more and more hostile.

As soon as the battle conditions within the Special Region took a turn for the better, the nations on this side of the Gate — America, China, Russia, the EU, India, the Middle East, and South America — began sending their representatives with the message, “Let us discuss the matter of the ‘Gate’.”

America was the first country that had openly expressed their designs on the Gate, and these uninvited guests had not even waited for their host to serve them, but helped themselves with their own oversized bowl. One could say that they were doing as they pleased. In the face of this, the host had no choice but to keep providing food to fill their appet.i.te.

The heads of state in the EU did not wish to let j.a.pan have sole sovereignty over the Special Region, and they had begun imposing sanctions and other measures to voice their opinion. The resource-producing nations like Russia, China, the Middle East and South Americans were united in their demand that the UN should manage the Gate.

The resource-producing nations feared what would happen if the technologically advanced and economically robust j.a.pan got their hands on an effectively unlimited supply of natural resources. It might lead to their own countries losing influence on the international scene.

However, a demand to let the various nations manage separate parts of Tokyo, much like how the Allied powers had done with Berlin after World War 2, was ridiculous beyond considering. After all, unreasonable demands were only used as suggestions for a more sensible alternative.

The main problem was that certain influential groups within the country actually welcomed the increased international scrutiny.

The ruling and opposition parties, various NGOs and countless religions had already expressed their desire to enter the world on the other side of the Gate. They also wanted the guaranteed rights to observe and act freely in the Special Region. The ma.s.s media also wanted unregulated access for their personnel, and even permission to freely speak and interview the relevant people who had been to the other side of the Gate, and so on.

All these demands had come about because of yesterday’s Diet session. The words of the girl who called herself a “demiG.o.d” and who claimed to be over 900 years old had shaken the world.

The phones were ringing off the hook from magazines, media outlets, talent agencies and even strange religions requesting a meeting with them. One could not help but laugh at this farce.

And so, all these voices seeking full disclosure put a lot of pressure on the government.

The reality was that if the weight of public opinion was not carefully managed, once it was joined with the overseas voices which sought a sharing of power, a lot of previously inconceivable demands might become reality. The international community was like a rowdy cla.s.sroom, and the UN, in the role of the teacher, was ineffective at maintaining order. Unless the students wrote a suicide note filled with their hatred and suffering, the police would not intervene. And of course, there was no international police in the real world, so it was the same as saying that n.o.body would try to manage the situation. As a result, the children in the cla.s.sroom could only make friends with strong colleagues, and ensure safety in numbers for themselves in this world.

The first nation they would need to deal with would be their ally America, followed by the EU, with whom they had good relations. It appeared that there would be a need to give them the benefits they wanted. In reality, they still did not know enough about the Special Region, so even j.a.pan itself would have problems trying to dominate and develop the land as was planned. Frankly speaking, all j.a.pan needed was to control the important areas of the Special Region. The rest could be left to the EU and the US.

The main problem now was Russia.

Russia employed hardline diplomacy, with their natural resources as their bargaining chip, and their methods had set the EU and other Western nations against them. The EU’s interest in the Special Region was largely fuelled by their desire to stop being at Russia’s beck and call. Once the EU could get their hands on a stable supply of resources from the Special Region, they would no longer need to heed Russia’s demands.

Of course, if this happened, Russia would be in trouble, which was why they were demanding that the United Nations administer the Special Region. To Russia, it would have been best if the Gate had never existed, and thus they were the ones who had to be watched most closely. They were a nation who could calmly sink a cruise liner or fis.h.i.+ng boat, if the situation went out of control, they might even launch a SLBM to destroy the Gate and everything around it.

The thing about Russia was that they could not let the EU handle talks with them for fear of giving them a reason to take drastic measures, mainly because the Special Region would greatly reduce Russia’s influence over the EU. As such, they would need to say that “we are taking this point into consideration, so please be at ease”, while also implying to Russia that they would not escape unscathed if they tried to take action.

China, on the other hand, did not resent the existence of the Gate like Russia did. A lot of factors had led to that decision. China was a country which both imported and exported resources. It was a country which had the foolish goal of giving all 1.3 billion of its citizens a happy and prosperous life. It was a goal that had devastated its resources and its environment, and which would still require ten times the current amount of materials and energy to achieve. This was because controlling 1.3 billion people was an arduous task, even for a country like China. Perhaps it was a necessary step to unify the country, but after long years of biased education, the egos of the Chinese people were growing without limit. Chinese ways of thinking, their nationalist spirit, an excess of racial pride, the one child policy which ensured any children would be spoiled rotten, all these combined to create an excess of ambition which could not be satisfied by their current poverty. Much like the stars of the American and j.a.panese shows they watched, they wanted to drive expensive cars and enjoy affluent lifestyles without wanting for anything. At least, they wanted to, but as members of the mighty Han race, they were forced to live more miserably than the Koreans or the j.a.panese. This created resentment in the 1.3 billion, and much of this resentment was directed at the inequalities within their nation. After all, they belonged to such a great country and were proud Han citizens, but they could not live comfortable lives.

This acc.u.mulated resentment demanded an outlet.

They had no cultural influences to rein in their greed, and their egos were fragile without any natural ability to protect them. They saw the ones who pointed out their true face as the enemy, and turned their excess of egotism into what they called “justice”.

Dissatisfaction like this had to be vented.

A democracy like j.a.pan could peacefully demand a change in government if they were unhappy with it. But a dictators.h.i.+p could not be changed by any force short of violence, which was why people under dictators.h.i.+ps often revolted violently. This was the worst nightmare of China’s leaders, especially since the seemingly impossible dissolution of the Soviet Union had occurred just recently. As a result, they desperately tried to soothe the people’s anger, and did their best to satisfy their unlimited desire for more. They constantly told the people, “The future under the Communist Party will be a bright one, the party promises a wealthy and wonderful future for all its people, all nations will revere China as their ancestor and bend their knee in respect.”

j.a.pan could not avoid making contact with a China like this. Therefore, rather than risk messing the situation up, peaceful coexistence was the most beneficial relations.h.i.+p for the two powers.

The bait they would use for this would be the Special Region.

Since China needed to obtain resources by any means necessary, they would take it by force, or if that was impossible, they would try to build an alliance with j.a.pan and beg them for a share of the prize. China was currently at a stage where they were both guarded against and envious of j.a.pan and their exclusive domination of the Special Region, but in the future, they would try to get closer to j.a.pan. In doing so they would reveal their true aims.

In a sense, it was like crossing a log bridge.

They were hoping for the other party to react the way they wanted, and they knew that trying to force the issue would result in both sides being severely hurt. Therefore, it was only common sense that they would try to change their att.i.tudes and bow their heads while politely asking “Please, may I have a little”. To achieve that aim, one might expect that they would put on smiling faces and surround themselves in an air of congeniality while shaking hands with the other side. However, the situation was not that simply explained. The basic approach China took toward j.a.pan was “If you want to shake hands, step forward first”. The officials of j.a.pan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were the sort who would respond to overt displays of force with shows of their own, but when they encountered someone who extended their hand in friends.h.i.+p, they would graciously take a step back, which played right into their enemies’ hands. Because of this, China was very willing to incite all manner of small disputes, secure in the knowledge that they would end with a shaking of hands and a signing of agreements. Perhaps the only way to counteract China’s strategy would be to stand up to them with grim determination, and the resolution not to take a single step back. However, there was probably n.o.body in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that had the courage for that. As the current Prime Minister thought about this, he could not help but think that the previous Prime Minister, Hojo, must have endured a lot of this. “Could it be that letting me become Prime Minister was a trap so I would take all the blame for this?”

“In the end, the important thing isn’t one’s educational record, but their personality.”

The previous Prime Minister was reviled by the opposition, but he was an effective strongman leader who forced the policies he liked through parliament. At the time, the relations.h.i.+p between the Cabinet and the rest of the government was tense, and he had made it onto the previous Prime Minister’s staff by being his Chief Cabinet Secretary. Although he could have done as he wished with his position, that was only possible with the backing of the previous Prime Minister’s unwavering stance.

The most distasteful thing was that when it was his turn to be the Prime Minister, he wanted to take others’ views into consideration and produce a more welcoming and inclusive regime, but for some reason, his cabinet members kept being suspected of corruption and other crimes, while all the dirty linen from the previous administration was dragged into the light one by one, the party bosses shot their mouths off without grasping the situation, and problems kept coming up in the various ministries. It made him want to give up on the whole thing.

The first problem was: Why had the important news that “The guests from the Special Region have gone missing” taken so long to make it to him?

The second problem was: Why had it taken so long just to verify that information? How incompetent were they?

A few minor errors in the first report were fine. The important thing was that people had to be informed that something was going on. Swift and timely news was invaluable, since at the very least the person receiving it could make the necessary preparations to handle it (both physically and mentally).

Accurate details could be left to the second and subsequent reports. With concrete information, they could make an effective response. Therefore the follow-up reports had to contain more information and clarify doubts in the earlier reports. What this all meant was that the speed of reporting in this incident was too slow, and said reports were not informative. Frankly speaking, the whole thing reeked of going through the motions and it was shoddy work which was done to shuck off one’s responsibilities as quickly as possible.

“I need to lecture them about this.”

He said that, but the fact was that in his position as the Prime Minister, there was no way he could pretend that he knew nothing about this. The guests from the Special Region were potentially their key to ending this war, and important factors in establis.h.i.+ng good relations between the Special Region and j.a.pan after the war was concluded. More importantly, the three of them had made a big impact in the public eye. If anything happened to them… just thinking about it made his head hurt and his scalp itch.

Therefore, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

After a long series of rings, someone finally answered.

“Kanou, sorry I got you up so early.”

“Oh good, you’re up already? I was worried that I’d be disturbing you by calling so early, but the way things are, I can’t help but give you a call. Since we’re in the same situation, I hope you’ll forgive me for this. After all, I was just woken up too.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about our guests from the Special Region. As you know, there’s been a lot of noise ever since they arrived. Our guests were scared off by the noise and ran. It would be good if they were fine… yes.”

“Eh? Oh, about that… I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I only just heard about them myself.”

…

“All right. In truth, I’m really worried about the people handling this operation, they’re a real pain in the a.s.s. I hope you will accept the position of Minister for Special Area Incident Countermeasures.

…

Yes, I’m sorry I need to push all this troublesome business to you.”

…

“Yes. Then, please take care of it.”

Prime Minister Motoi switched off his cell phone and cursed loudly, saving a couple of choice lines for Kanou. “I’m going to quit, I’m going to quit, screw this!” he grumbled as he got back into bed.

The veil of night was finally pulled aside, giving way to the day.

The TV was showing a couple of irresponsible commentators talking about everything and nothing. There was no meaning to their mindless prattle. In order not to wake up the sleeping people, Itami turned down the volume of the TV set. Besides that, he had to tread carefully so he wouldn’t wake up the people sprawled all over the floor. With careful steps, he made his way to the kitchen of this small apartment, where he began making french toast with bread, milk, eggs and other ingredients from a nearby convenience store.

Itami could only make a few recipes, usually related to roasting or frying things, and when it came to seasoning his food, he was limited to simple methods like adding sauce or sprinkling salt. Complex seasonings were beyond him. If he absolutely had to flavor something, he liked to use bonito fish sauce bought from a supermarket.

Therefore, to put it nicely, sous-chef Itami’s simple dishes brought out the natural flavor of the ingredients, and the only utensil he really needed for this dish was a frying pan.

If Itami had to make dinner, he would buy the cheapest Australian or American meat he could find, fry it lightly, season it with salt and pepper, and eat it without any further preparation. Most of the time, he ate frozen vegetables from a bag, but if he felt like enjoying some fresh vegetables, he would buy a head of cabbage, and chop it up into large chunks. He would usually prepare four portions of rice at a time, then put the rest in fridge and reheat it with the microwave as needed. In summary, Itami did not carefully prepare his food like a chef, but instead chose to cook simply and eat without ceremony. Granted, it was not gourmet food, but neither was it inedible. Itami’s att.i.tude toward food was generally “good enough”.

After sorting out everyone’s messily scattered luggage, the center of the room was clear enough to set up a folding table, upon which Itami placed the bowls and plates for everyone.

Tomita was snoring loudly, having finished an all-nighter, while Kuribayas.h.i.+ woke up to go to the bathroom and then went back to sleep. By the time the two of them came round, the breakfast Itami made had gone cold, but they did not seem to mind. Piña, Bozes and Rory rose earlier than the others from the Special Region. Rory knelt in front of the window, basking in the sunlight as she prayed. Piña and Bozes, on the other hand, were startled by the TV at first, but because they could not understand the language of the news and other shows, they quickly lost interest, and turned their attention to the mountain of doujins.h.i.+ in the apartment.

“Your, Your Highness! This is!”

“U~mu. I didn’t expect this world to have art of this quality…”

“Your Highness, this is another world.”

“That is true.”

“...”

“...”

“If only I could understand the words here.”

“Your Highness, allow me to come to this world to learn its language.’

“How cunning…”

“But once I learn the language and return, I will surely translate these works for Your Highness.”

“...”

“...”

“Uu, umu.”

Itami had been looking for an opportunity to cut into their heated conversation.

“Well…” As he made the sound, Piña and Bozes immediately put down their manga and looked up with shocked expressions on their faces. Rory, having finished the morning prayers she took so seriously, turned to Itami with a curious look on her face.

“I’ve made breakfast, do you want some?”

Defense Ministry Special Area Incident Countermeasures Minister    Kanou Taro’s Residence

While Itami’s group was having a Western-style breakfast of french toast, Kanou was having a traditional j.a.panese breakfast of natto and miso soup. (Kansai readers, feel free to disagree)

His secretary Noji was carrying all the secret doc.u.ments from Tarou’s office with him as he entered the room. “Good morning, sir,” he said.

“Your Excellency, this is the itinerary planned for today—”

Just as the secretary was about to open up his folder, Kanou took a mouthful of his miso soup. “Sorry, cancel it all.” He said this in a special tone of voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“This morning, the Prime Minister called me. We’ve lost track of our guests from the Special Region, so resolving that problem is now our top priority.

“How could that be!? The Prime Minister himself said that he would be taking charge of it himself and took it from the Ministry of Defense to his office because he said there would be peace talks! And now that something goes wrong, he throws it back at us?”

“Oh, is that your opinion? What a coincidence, I was thinking the exact same thing.”

Well, it was obvious enough. The Prime Minister wanted to end the war with incredibly favorable terms to himself through the JSDF’s superiority, and then claim credit for that achievement. Although it was not wrong for a country’s leader to think that way, it was the Prime Minister’s fault for pa.s.sing off the matter like a hot potato once something went wrong. It spoke of his utter lack of guts.

As he chewed his seaweed and natto, Kanou grumbled along those lines.

Secretary Noji replied, “Yes, it is as you say,” and then withdrew his cell phone to inform various people that the parts of their schedules which pertained to Kanou would be cancelled.

“Ah, Noji, could I trouble you to go to the office and fetch me the data on the guests? Also, help me check on the Prime Minister’s condition. Matsui, go organize a meeting for the people in charge and contact the relevant ministries. Apart from that, ask Intel Branch about what’s going on. Inform me directly if there are any changes in the situation.”

“Ah, yes, sir.”

Noji returned his phone and his notebook into his pockets before leaving, and Matsui the second secretary began calling people in his place.

“All right, then we’ll spend the day having fun.”

After finis.h.i.+ng breakfast, Itami spoke to the girls from the Special Region, who were watching the TV. Currently, a repeat of yesterday’s interview at the Diet was airing.

“Well, although you said we would be having fun, we can’t really let ourselves go, right?”

After the way they were followed yesterday and how their hotel caught fire, Kuribayas.h.i.+ reminded Itami that they could not be careless, given that there were enemies around.

However, Itami shook his head. “My motto is ‘eat, sleep, play, and relax’. Life is everything that happens in between!”

But that’s not the problem, Tomita thought as he tilted his head. However, if the highest-ranked officer on the scene ordered them to “spend the day having fun”, he could not say anything else as a Sergeant First Cla.s.s, could he?

“In any case, if there’s really an enemy gunning for us, even if we hide in here, we’ll still be in danger. That being the case, we should go have fun in a place with lots of witnesses, right?”

Although Itami’s reasoning was quite persuasive, there was the feeling that it was sacrificing something important. Naturally, Tomita and Kuribayas.h.i.+ were not workaholics, and as young people they wanted to go shopping and travel. In the end, everyone accepted Itami’s declaration with a shrug and a “Well, that’s fine too”.

The question now was not whether or not to go, but where to go.

“Good, good! If we want to buy stuff, we should go to s.h.i.+buya and Harajuku!”

The person raising their hand and shouting a suggestion was Risa.

Her desire to shop must have been some sort of predator’s compensatory behavior — now that she had money after being poor for so long, her habits of scrimping and saving had inverted into a powerful desire to buy things that filled her mind.

“And why should we use your suggestion?”

“Ehhhhh~~~ aren’t I one of your friends? Are you bullying me? Huh? Are you?”

“No, I’m not bullying you. If everyone approves, then we’ll go with it.”

“Woohoo!” The happy Risa aside, Kuribayas.h.i.+ also wanted to go shopping. As for Lelei and Tuka, they said “As long as there’s clothes and underwear” after they were told about Harajuku and s.h.i.+buya. Rory, on the other hand, seemed completely uninterested until Risa muttered something about “Black Goth… you look good as you are, but there’s a shop in s.h.i.+mokitazawa which specializes in this sort of thing. Want to go?” After Kuribayas.h.i.+ translated her words for Rory, her att.i.tude made a 180 degree turn and she was eager to go there too.

As opposed to the girls, who wanted to go shopping in s.h.i.+buya, Itami said, “As for me, I want to visit Akihabara and Nakano...” His intentions were pretty obvious from the names of those places.

“I’m fine with going anywhere, but Bozes says she wants to find out more about this world, so I was planning to take her to a library.” Tomita was simply relaying Piña’s and Bozes’ opinions, but in truth, he must have been planning a library date of some sort.

The way things were, it looked like everybody’s plans would not mesh up.

Itami looked quietly at Risa’s face. His sixth sense told him, no, it screamed at him, you must not go with her, you absolutely cannot follow her. As a man, going shopping with girls would only result in a terrible fate for him. If he did not have the resolution and the ability to lose himself in the experience, then it would be better not to go in the first place.

“In any case, we’ll all do our own thing in the morning. After factoring in some additional buffer time, we’ll meet at s.h.i.+njuku Station at two. It might be a bit late, but we’ll have lunch there. In the evening, we’ll go bathe in the hot springs, and at night, there’ll be a dinner party!”

And so, Lelei and the others went shopping on the streets of another world.

Itami was moving alone, and after parting ways with Tomita, Piña and Bozes at the library, Rory, Tuka and Lelei set out for Harajuku with Kuribayas.h.i.+ and Risa.

Although they had seen it several times, walking in such large crowds made them feel like being swallowed alive. Lelei stuck closely to Risa, and the first shop they entered was a clothes shop.

“Well, you didn’t have to torture yourself by wearing this…”

After Risa said that, she stripped Lelei naked, removing her robes in an instant, and she had a look on her face like a s.e.xual offender. It was a wicked smile that seemed to say “Uhehehehe, it’s okay, right, it’s okay right?” Risa brought out all sorts of clothes - kawaii-type, gyaru-type, natural-type and more for Lelei to wear, and it looked like Risa was dressing up a life-sized doll.

She put clothes on and took them off, took clothes off and put others on. Judging by Lelei’s expression, the outfit that made her react the most was a simply designed blouse that reached down to her legs (or perhaps it was just a shortened dress), with a pair of pants that ended at her knees. The clothes were long enough to cover up the curves of her body which embarra.s.sed her, but at the same time her pants were made of a body-hugging material which exposed the lines of her thighs. It was a small gamble in this otherwise safe ensemble.

“Hm, but since we’ve come all this way…”

She picked out blue, yellow and pink clothes — colors so bright they could strike men blind — for Lelei to wear. Risa’s aim was to select cute, yet practical clothes for Lelei to wear in Tokyo’s winter. But Lelei’s favorite color was white, so in the end she only ended up picking white clothes. In the end, it was a girl clad in white from head to toe who appeared before Risa.

“This is white, that is white, doesn’t everything blend together?!”

To counteract that, Risa suggested that she select clothing with extra decorations and embroidery.

In the end, her top was still white (although Risa pranked her by selecting an item with a particularly revealing back. It exposed her slender shoulders and radiated a coquettish charm). Her leggings were white as well, but Lelei ended up getting a pair edged with lace and ribbons.

In contrast to that, Tuka had been happily strolling through the aisles, helping herself to whatever she liked. Although her stretchy T-s.h.i.+rt and jeans were pretty good, she was worried that she would accidentally expose her belly b.u.t.ton, and also that she would be losing out if she bought less stuff than Lelei. However, the clothes Tuka picked were all T-s.h.i.+rts and dresses which emphasized her figure, suggesting that she must have been quite confident in her body. Although she was different from the brainless t.i.tty monster Kuribayas.h.i.+, she still had obvious curves and body lines. She picked the color which forest elves most preferred — gra.s.s green.

Risa took a look at Tuka’s waist, and gave her a belt. She also considered how to protect her from the cold, and debated recommending a jacket for Tuka to wear over her other clothes.

After Tuka and Lelei finished trying on the clothes and stepped out of the changing room, Risa and Kuribayas.h.i.+ went “Ohhh!” at their new styles.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed Tuka and the silver-haired Lelei looked like a pair of foreign models, and they were swiftly surrounded by the shop’s customers, while the interior of the clothes shop had the atmosphere of a modelling runway. The staff realised that they had brought in a lot of customers, so they treated them pleasantly.

And so, Lelei calmly swept a flower-patterned camisole and other clothes into her basket. For Tuka, she had a deep-V side cut dress and other s.e.xy items of clothing.

The people who had watched the National Diet live telecast or the morning news could not help but wonder, “Are these the girls from the Special Region?” out loud as they saw Tuka, Rory and Lelei. As they went to pay for their purchases, the shop gave the five of them special treatment and a discount, as thanks for bringing more customers in.

By the way, each of them paid for their own things. Earlier, it was mentioned that Lelei was receiving a salary for working as a translator for the j.a.panese government, but Tuka was also employed in picking suitable places for logging and finding water sources (finding water sources was an important job), as well as playing the role of a consultant. Rory, on her part, had been hired as a religious consultant to avoid accidentally violating the Special Region’s religious taboos. As a result, the three of them had a lot of j.a.panese yen which they could not spend in the Special Region.

“Next up, underwear! Then the black Goth shop! And jewellery!”

After hearing Risa’s declaration, the five ladies continued on to a shop specializing in underwear.

Elsewhere, Piña and Bozes were headed to the library, led by Tomita.

After seeing the sheer quant.i.ties of books within the library, the girls’ eyes were as wide as dinner plates. They were deeply struck by this country’s ability to make such a huge amount of books freely available to the public.

“Then, what kind of literature were you looking for?”

There was a nearly limitless variety of literature on this side of the Gate. However, because the girls were not fluent in j.a.panese, they could not read the words here, so they should naturally prefer pictures or videos. At least, that was what Tomita thought, but the two of them instantly replied in unison.

“Art!”