Summoning Our Country - NHS Kai

Chapter 2: A Case of Isekai

Note: This is rose. This was one meaty one and we at the server are excited to get this out. Thanks for continuing to read this story. Have a rose ✿

As of April 22, 2022, this chapter has been rewritten

・・・

Prime Minister's residence, 3:50

"T-That can't be..."

Panicked hushes and murmurs with a dash of tears and groans perpetuated among the hastily worn suits and public clothing of the Japanese government heads gathered together for an emergency meeting that was supposed to discuss a response to a perceived attack. However, the picture shown on the big, flat-screen mounted onto the wall at the other end of the long room tells a different story. Surrounding the familiar silhouette of the Japanese archipelago were unfamiliar contours of never-before-seen landscapes. Less than an hour ago, the lines that draw out the Korean Peninsula, Sakhalin, Taiwan, and the features of the Asian mainland to the east were suddenly replaced by these alien geographical locations, as if the radars themselves had malfunctioned. However, this story was not an isolated incident; all capable radars across the archipelago tell of the same event.

One of the suited men seated amongst the row of Japanese gentlemen continued talking.

"Moving forward, multiple and independent on-the-ground observations compiled by the JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) have confirmed the impossible: the horizon is 5.54km out and the stars in the sky are completely different from those found in our star charts."

The display on the screen then changed to two pictures of a starry night meant to be compared with one another. The left picture had a subtitle that said "Supposed Sky as of 3:28," while the one on the right had "Actual Sky as of 3:28".

The reception was more or less the same, with hushes, whispers, and exasperated expressions with undeniable hints of anxiety and worry. None of the people present, not even those that were well-informed in the realm of astronomy, recognize the alien positions and characteristics of the stars seemingly jumbled together in random placements. As far as they were concerned, this was not their night sky.

The suited man that was talking, the head of the JMA, turned to his fellow officials.

"I think these are definitive proof that we are not under attack and that the hiccups in communications and early detection apparatuses were brought about by something else."

The officials all turned their gazes to the joint chief of staff, expecting a reply from the man which would either put them on the warpath or doom them to an uncertain fate. The joint chief of staff slowly turned his gaze away from the screen with a worried expression, one that was more disturbed than when he initially surmised that it was an attack.

"...I can say with confidence that none of these things are possible with any sort of weapon, current or imaginable."

The officials erupted into a flurry, debating amongst themselves in a panic as their understanding struggled to explain what was happening. The room was once more filled with upstart noise and hot air.

"Perhaps a coordinated cyberattack on all fronts by someone? A terrorist cell or North Korea, maybe?"

"That's already ruled out, though! The JMA has already confirmed that the sky above us itself has changed! We can go outside and check for ourselves if you want!"

"Do you understand what that could possibly mean? Especially with the other nations practically unreachable... meaning they're gone?!"

"I-I don't want to imagine that if anything..."