Rising Rays of the New Century: Tale of the Japanese Empire

High School of Magic and Witchcraft

May 8, 2112

Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture

After the Golden Week holidays, school life had returned to normal for the students of the world, and in the 22nd century, Japan was a peaceful place, separated from the war-torn countries out there. In a room of a luxury condominium in Yokohama, Ryuji Hasena was slowly awakening from his bed at the time of waking up at his home.

"Ngg......"

He held up his hand to the mobile terminal on the bedside table. Then a hologram of an AI-equipped avatar appeared in the air.

"Good morning. Today is Sunday, May 8th, 2112. The weather is clear. You slept for 7 hours and 25 minutes last night, and your sleep may be a bit shallow. Let's work on improving the quality of sleep."

The avatar hologram explained the results of Ryuji's sleep depth and sleep time measurements. He rubbed his eyes and asked the avatar.

"...What's going on today?"

"Today you're scheduled to meet up with Mogara-sama and Tsutsumi-sama from the laboratory at the Yokohama Waterfront at 10:00."

"Okay, thank you very much. And can you open the window for me?"

"Yes, master!"

The deformed dragon avatar then disappeared. Immediately after, the dimming filter was removed from the large window pane, which looked like a wall, and sunlight entered the room all at once. Bathed in sunlight, Ryuji woke up clearly, yawned, and left the bedroom. He washed his face in the bathroom and walked down the hallway toward the living room, where the smell of coffee wafted through the air.

"...Good morning!"

"Morning."

Upon opening the door, he saw Teru wearing an apron. On the table was already this morning's main dish, Eggs Benedict, and a salad as a side dish.

"Today's breakfast is 400 calories. This is my first time cooking this dish, but I put a lot of effort into it! I hope it will please your palate..."

Eggs Benedict is a traditional English breakfast dish. Of course, it is not something that can be cooked in the automatic cooker installed in the kitchen, but something that Teru herself purchases the ingredients to make. In this age of automatic cookers, it was very rare for someone her age to be able to cook.

Ryuji sat down on a chair and brought Teru's dish to his mouth. At that moment, he marveled.

"...This is good! As expected of Teru."

"Alright!"

She gave him a big smile. Seeing her expression, a smile lit up Ryuji's face as well. Immediately after, he fiddled with the smartwatch on his left arm and turned on the TV.

"...The next news. At around 02:00 yesterday, an unmanned frigate of the Imperial Navy Coast Guard spotted a suspicious vessel in the Sea of Japan that appeared to be illegally entering Japan's territorial waters. No illegal immigrants have been confirmed to have landed. The Coast Guard will continue to investigate.

Since the beginning of this year, 15 cases of suspicious vessels have been detected, and exclusion measures have been enforced in 11 of them. All are believed to be illegal refugees from northeastern China and Primorsky Krai, and may have been influenced by the Black Dragon Army, which has repeatedly engaged in guerilla-style looting in the region. The Japanese government has issued a statement calling for the strengthening of security in the northeastern part of China and proposing military assistance measures..."