79. After the meeting

Having somehow managed to shake hands with Prime Minister Hando—his palm slick with sweat—in front of the reporters, I quickly left the Prime Minister's residence and returned to the Embassy. Naturally, I’d instructed Ain to proceed with the renunciation of citizenship.

On the way back to the Embassy, I passed by the street in front of the Embassy grounds, where a procession of several hundred 'citizens' was marching, led by a banner. Most of the placards they carried bore slogans like “Aliens, go home,” “Agirakana NO,” or “Alien Go Home.” Among them, however, were a few placards written in unfamiliar □〇 characters and others in simplified script—unintelligible to me.

I’d always assumed that police officers would be present, directing the demonstrators so they didn’t spread too widely across the road. But there wasn’t a single officer in sight.

The demonstration marched slowly across the road, and I passed them in a car—only to be stared at through the windows, hands reaching out to slap the glass, as if the vehicles were somehow animate. It was impossible to see inside the cars, which made it all the more irritating. When the demonstrators noticed the diplomatic ID number starting with 999, their chants grew louder, almost triumphant.

Beneath the large red characters reading “Citizens’ Association for the Protection of Japan,” smaller text in the same font declared “Japan Labour Party”—a party, as I recalled, one of the core members of the current coalition government. I had previously heard from Ain that demonstrations in this area were restricted, but either I’d misheard, or else the organizers with megaphones were shouting repeatedly, “Aliens, go home.”

"Quiet, please. I didn’t notice it while inside the Embassy, but seeing it up close like this, it’s quite the nuisance."

"I apologize— I’ve repeatedly requested the Japanese Government’s Public Security Bureau to prohibit demonstrations in this vicinity as they once did, but I’ve received no reply."

Ain’s apology was pointless, so he let it go.

"Whatever your intentions are in trying to exclude us, it’s clear that Japan’s influence from neighboring countries has grown considerably compared to before."

"Captain. The ground troops accompanying us have requested orders. Forming a mob like this is obstructive— shall we issue an eviction directive? For now, the collection of all individuals’ biometric data has been completed."

We don’t have police authority on this planet, so that’s not feasible. If they’d step inside the Embassy grounds, that’d be another matter—but the gate guards are ordinary civilians we’ve hired ourselves, and we’re certainly not letting in a mob like that. They’re a nuisance, but they’ll disperse when the time comes, right? As long as they’re inside the Embassy, we can ignore them. I know these protesters don’t represent the whole world, but it’s still draining, isn’t it?

Ain, check with Ichijō about immigration. See how much we can expand the capacity of the temporary reception facility we’re currently building. Let’s push for the maximum possible increase—ideally, raise the annual immigration quota to twenty thousand, no, fifty thousand as soon as possible.”

“Understood.”

“What kind of response do you think this group would have if we disclosed the planet’s actual conditions to them?”

Maria threw a direct question at me.

“They wouldn’t come begging for help, would they? The actions they’re taking now probably aren’t even their own decisions—more like reflexes.”

Then Maria tilted her head toward me, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Major Maria, Earthlings are fundamentally different from us. It’d be better to understand them as being this way.”

Most Earthlings, no doubt, were exactly like Ain had said. I found myself oddly convinced.

Back in the Embassy’s Office, I sat at my desk, cooling instant coffee in a mug with my breath, thinking about the day’s events.

Fuh.

The force of my breath blew out as a sigh. On the monitor atop my desk, news about today’s meeting scrolled by aimlessly.

Today, Yamada Keiichi, Representative of Agirakana and Agirakana’s Ambassador to Japan, visited the Prime Minister’s official residence and held talks with Prime Minister Hantani and other senior cabinet members.

According to a government announcement, after prolonged negotiations between the Prime Minister and other officials and Agirakana’s Representative, the Japanese Government has agreed to accept repayment of the one trillion yen loan previously extended to Agirakana. Additionally, Agirakana has agreed to pay an annual fee of two billion yen for the use of the land formerly leased to the Agirakana Embassy from our country. Furthermore, it appears an agreement has been reached regarding the relocation of Agirakana’s spacecraft currently orbiting above Tokyo, to be completed in the near future.

We must consider the future of those who dwell upon this world—though, perhaps, I should simply defer the appointment of my next Agirakana fleet commander. Since he lacks personal entanglements, he might reach a more rational conclusion than I would.

The agreement was kept for the sake of agreement—financial arrangements with the Japanese Government were executed immediately.

Since I’m stationed at this Embassy, the light cruiser Klein is currently in a geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers. At that altitude, one can reasonably assume most contingencies can be managed, so I’ve ordered the Blaze above Tokyo to relocate to above the Moon’s AMR by twenty-two hundred hours.

It’s said very few noticed the long, slender moon—stationed over Tokyo for over a decade—quietly shifting position during the night.

The foreign exchange and stock markets, it seems, saw a flurry of speculation and wild swings after the announcement of the talks between me and the Japanese Government—though by afternoon, they had more or less settled back into a tentative calm. Stocks and forex stabilized, more or less, but overnight, overseas rating agencies—S&O, O-Diz, and others—unanimously downgraded Japanese government bonds by two notches, sending bond prices into freefall and triggering a sudden, sharp depreciation of the yen. The forex movement, however, wasn’t as dramatic as one might expect.

By late afternoon, economic groups within Japan began voicing concern through media outlets over the government’s handling of Agirakana, and within the government itself, there was palpable bewilderment at the unexpected domestic and international backlash.

The government’s inability to predict even such a basic outcome became glaringly apparent—both domestically and abroad—and the sitting administration, already derided by the economic sector, found itself plunged into crisis with alarming speed.

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