ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Shadow of Illusion

Murata and Kawamoto's Room, Snow City Inn 3F

Murata had brought Anna to his room to calm her down after her shocking confession and to ask her more about her true intentions. It was convenient that Kawamoto, his roommate, had opened the room for dinner.

"Well then..."

After sitting the maid on a chair, Murata sat down on the chair facing her, and in a slow, admonishing tone of voice, Murata spoke to Anna.

"First of all... I am not a government official, nor am I a diplomat. I am just a private citizen hired by the Japanese government. I have no right to have an opinion about the Japanese government or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"...!"

Murata explained his situation. Hearing this, Anna looked somewhat astonished.

"If you really want to go to Japan, you will have to go through the proper procedures, apply for and obtain a visa at the Japanese embassy in Sactoa, and then travel to Japan on a trading vessel."

He explained the formal procedures for entry into Japan for people from the other world.

"If you want to receive social security in Japan, you must obtain residency status for at least three months. If you want to become a Japanese citizen and live a fully 'Japanese' life, you must live in Japan for at least another five years."

He described the minimum requirements for foreigners to enroll in the National Health Insurance program, part of the universal health insurance system, and for naturalization into Japan.

"And if you think Japan is some kind of Shangri-La or Utopia, it's not. Life in Japan is probably not as easy as you think it is."

Murata's advice is correct. It is highly doubtful that she and the rest of the world's inhabitants will be able to adapt to life in Japan, where common sense, living standards, and values are so different from those of the rest of the world.

"And you wish to go to Japan on that basis...?"

"..."

Anna nodded deeply at this question.

"Then tell me what you want when you got to Japan..."

Murata asked Anna in a gentle tone. Anna's face revealed the emotions she had been hiding and she began to explain why she wanted to go to Japan in a voice laced with sadness.

"...I'm...!"

Anna choked at her voice. Immediately afterwards, she finally speaks her truth.

"...I... don't want to die yet...! B-but... I heard that if we go to Japan... we will be saved! ...That's why!"

"...!? What do you mean?"

Murata was shocked by the unexpected statements that came out of her emotional outburst, but calmed Anna, who appeared to be crying. She seems to have calmed down a bit and begins to explain the details of what she said.

"I think even you are aware of this... The duties of the maids in the Snow City are to take care of the guests, which includes comfort for the nobility... In other words, we are high-class prostitutes selected, trained, and prepared by the state from among servants, prostitutes, and girls who were sold to deal with state guests staying in the Snow City..."

Anna talked about her background.

Originally she was the youngest daughter of a poor peasant family near Sactoa. She was well known in the neighborhood for her good temperament, but as the youngest child and daughter, she was compared to her older brothers who could do hard work, and her parents treated her ill as a dirtbag. One day, when she was 13 years old, a tax collector happened to see her and suggested to her parents, 'Why don't you go to the tax office and see what you can do?' He asked them if they would be willing to sell their youngest daughter to the government. Her parents, without hesitation, immediately nodded at the amount of money offered.