The Sound Empress: Chapter 3
Brief synopsis: Kari and Nari head to the National Diet building, where a series of protests are occurring. We reveal the purpose of the can that Kari had, and we meet the emperor, who is in trouble.
The next day, I prepared myself well. I had a good breakfast, filled with pancakes and another thin slice of fish. Marcus also had a piece of the fish, which was the last of it. The fish was small, but it was one of the best I’ve ever had. I had on the best shirt and pants that I had in my sparse wardrobe (I was never a big fashion person, unlike other people of my age who have to have the latest clothes and accessories), because of the chance that I might be speaking to high government officials. After eating and washing up, I packed a few things into my purse: a can opener, a few cans of cat food for Marcus, and the can of tea I drank yesterday, as proof of “purchase”. Then I waited for a bit, whilst watching the news. The news showed some protests going on in front of the National Diet, protesting against the emperor’s policies.
“Oh shoot,” I directed that to the television, “that’s exactly where I need to go. Hopefully those protests don’t turn violent, otherwise, I could be in…”
Just as I was about to finish my sentence, my cellphone rang. It was Nari. I decided to pick up the phone and answer. Nari started off:
“Just a reminder that I will be at your door in 5 minutes. Make sure you are dressed appropriately.”
“Thanks, I’ll be waiting right outside the door. I hope you don’t mind a furry companion joining us.”
“Don’t care, as long as you don’t take too long getting in. I’m on a schedule. See you in a few minutes.” She hung up.
I put the cellphone back into my purse, and I placed Marcus on a leash. I then double checked that I had everything. Clothes? Check. Cellphone? Check. Key for the apartment? Check. Food for the cat and the tools needed to give the cat said food? Check. Looks like I have everything I need.
I then exited the apartment and locked the door, and eagerly awaited for Nari. A few minutes later, a blue Mitsubishi van adorned with the logo of the courier company that she works for showed up. She honked the horn, just to ensure that she was here. Clearly, I already knew she’d be there (I wouldn’t be outside if I didn’t know). Now, I tried to pull on the passenger door, but it was locked. A quick pop occurred, which unlocked the door.
“Hi Kari! What’s that furbaby doing with you?” Nari sounded in a happy tone.
“That’s Marcus,” I replied while I struggled to get in the van, “who is owned by Boni. She is presently in Shanghai, visiting her family.”
“Cool!” I clicked the seat belt into place, and then Nari continued. “Ready to head to Tokyo?”
“I am ready. Hopefully the cat is too.”
Nari turned off her hazard light and began to drive off. Marcus got really nervous as we got going, and started to dig his claws into my right arm. While uncomfortable, this didn’t cause me to scream out in pain.
“We are going to be taking route 1. It’s the fastest way to get to our destination,” Nari said.
About 35 minutes later, we could see the building that we needed to get to. Nari has some letters from concerned citizens that she needed to deliver to the representatives deliberating there. However, our progress came to a grinding halt.
“What’s going on in front of us?” Nari questioned, although it didn’t seem to be directed to anyone in particular. I replied:
“I saw the news before we left our house. Supposedly there is a peaceful protest going on right in front of the building, because of the emperor’s unfavorable policies. What policies though, are beyond me.”
“Hmm… Ok, I have another way to get to where we need to go. What we will do is turn around, and park by that building,” pointing to the library, “and then walk around the back of the building and enter through the back entrance.”
We had to drive another three to five minutes to find a parking spot. This makes sense, as Tokyo is very densely populated, and as a result, a lot of cars need parking spots. Considering the size of most cars here, and the size of our van, it would be hard to get a spot. But, after some time, Nari was able to find a spot.
We then got out of the van, sans cat. Nari told Marcus to stay in, as the National Diet building has a strict no pets policy. Next, Nari opened the back of the van and got several parcels of letters.
“Here, take these.” Nari gave me some of the parcels to carry, as the amount of mail was a bit overwhelming for just her to carry by herself a significant distance.
As we crossed the street encircling the building, a few explosions could be heard. I deduced that the protests had become violent. We would need to move quickly, to ensure we wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
After a few minutes we entered a tunnel that would take us into the complex of buildings that comprise the central government of Japan. We were a bit winded, so we stopped and made sure that we got all the mail. We thoroughly checked the parcels, and we did not find anything missing. The checking allowed us to catch our breath enough for us to carry on through the tunnel to the other side, where the post office was located. Inside the post office, there was a friendly man at the kiosk, although only the top of his head was visible, as he was hiding. Supposedly, he must have heard the explosions outside, and so he wanted to seek cover. Nari then tried to call for him.
“Hello?”
“Go away. We are presently in lockdown due to the situation outside.”
It was clear the clerk was scared. He wasn’t sure if we were part of the protesters that sought refuge in here. Nari tried to dispel these fears:
“Look, we aren’t protesters. I am Nari, part of the ABC Courier service based in Ayase. I am with a friend of mine. An important government official summoned her to come here, and I helped her to come here.” That second bit was a lie, but he probably wouldn't buy that I am here because a beverage from a vending machine told me to come here.
“Oh!” the clerk said, “I know you. And I can see you have some parcels that you are delivering. Please, place the letters on the counter. I will get these to the appropriate people, right away.”
We then placed the various parcels on the counter, and then the clerk took them. He then traveled into a back room, where various workers would sort the parcels. After a minute he came back.
“Thank you for your business. We hope to see you again,” the clerk said, grateful that we weren’t going to cause any damage. I was a bit disappointed though, as he didn’t help me in my quest. I interjected at this point:
“Hold on. What about my query, about me entering the National Diet to claim my reward?”
“What reward?” the clerk stated, confused.
I pulled out the can of beverage that told me to come here. Then I said: “This can has a message stating that I won something, and that to claim it, I needed to come here.”
“I’m sorry, I know nothing about this. I suggest going out of this building through that door in the back and into the House of Representatives. Maybe someone in there can assist you further. Good day.”
The clerk then went back into hiding. Clearly there was still some risk. We then heard another explosion, this one large enough to shake the floor. We decided to seek refuge underneath a bench, while the protests went on.
After what seemed like an eternity to me, but was only a couple of minutes, we emerged from the cover, and proceeded towards the House of Representatives. Upon exiting through the door, we entered a large room, which was a large lobby area, where the press and the lobbyists would go to await the decisions made by the legislature. Preceding further down is another door, which leads into the deliberation chamber. It was closed, with a guard standing in front of it. We slowly made our way towards the door, and as we were making our way, the guard barked out at us:
“Halt! No commoners allowed inside of the chamber while a session is in progress.”
I was shook up about this.
“Can’t you grant an exception for us? We are on official business.”
“No! No commoners allowed. Even if it is on official business.”
“Look, I was told to come here from a recorded message.” I pulled the can of tea that had the message. “This can, which I purchased from a vending machine, told me of a potential reward I could claim, if I came here. I’m not sure who I’m supposed to talk to to claim it, but perhaps you would know?”
“A can?”
The guard bursted out laughing at this point. After a good solid minute of him laughing and attempting to catch his breath from the laughing, the guard spoke again, with more intensity than before:
“That has to be the most farcical thing I have ever heard. A can, with a message, to come here! Look, I’m not trying to say things out of spite, but you need to reevaluate, and tell me the true reason why you are here, before I escort you out of here.”
I stood there, dumbfounded. That was the true reason I was here.
“Well?” the guard said, slowly getting closer to me.
Just as I was about to answer, the chamber doors opened. A flood of people came out, presumably after they completed a vote. One of the representatives did stop to wonder what was going on. He was a short, stout man, wearing a suit, much like all of the rest in the chamber.
“What was the ruckus going on here? I could hear all the way on the other side of the room I was just in!” the representative said.
Kari replied back: “I was talking to the friendly guard that was at the door to the chamber, trying to see if he could lead me to the person that would give a reward that was promised to me from this can of drink.” I reveal the can to him.
“That can of drink is actually part of a new system of disseminating information to certain people. Those can be found from various machines throughout Japan and its territories. However, most people choose not to buy said drinks, simply because vending machines are a bit taboo here. If you give me the can, I can determine what was recorded.”
I handed the can off to the representative. He inspected the can closely, looking at the various markings, and the feeling of the grooves on the can.
“Based on the can you presented me, the message that it presented said that if you heard the message, congratulations, and to come to the National Diet to claim your reward, which was in the hands of the emperor. There were a few horns played after that dialogue, to pad out the recording, but these are unimportant.”
“Oh!” I blurted out, “that’s great that you know what was recorded on it, just by feeling it.”
“Well, actually, I was around to see the message being recorded.”
A short pause ensued.
“Do you want to go see the emperor now?”
Both me and Nari nodded our heads in agreement. The representative then motioned his arms, as if to tell us to follow him.
This walk seemed longer than the walk that we took to get into the building in the first place. We had to go through winding halls, various rooms and we even got lost in the labyrinth that is the National Diet. But eventually, he successfully navigated us through the buildings, to bring us to the emperor’s chamber. Upon reaching his room, a gong could be heard. We did our curtsies to show respect to the emperor. The emperor was not exactly impressed by our presence, even though we were showing the utmost respect.
“Representative Takagi!” the emperor said, with a scowl on his face, “why did you bring commoners into my chamber?”
“Your imperial majesty,” Rep. Takagi said, “the commoners here have found one of the imperial recordings, from a vending machine called the Sound Dispenser.”
“What? I don’t recall ever establishing it.”
“Non-sense, this system was established to deliver news to the people through another method, in the case television or the Internet were ever unreachable.”
“I do recall establishing a system in the case of that emergency, but I don’t recall ever doing it through cans of drink.”
“Yes, you did, your majesty. You had deemed it to be the most convenient way of disseminating information.”
“Preposterous. Get these citizens out of here, pronto.”
“WAIT!” screamed one of the guards protecting the emperor.
“Excuse me? Where are your manners?”
“Look, I see the can clearly in the representative’s hand. There was a reward available to be claimed, if someone was willing to complete a task. Think of it like a bounty, for instance.”
A bounty? I clearly thought this was going to be something that they would give to me, just for the troubles of coming here, not for doing something for the benefit of the Japanese government.
“Let me explain what is going on. As you know, the emperor of Japan is a title that was first claimed by Jimmu back in the 600s BC. Jimmu had claimed that he gained the power to rule through the sun goddess Amaterasu. Since then, when the emperor of Japan dies, there is a procedure for the next emperor to be crowned. As a result, every emperor is viewed as being a legitimate ruler of Japan.
Now, some people don’t like the emperor. This is fine, as people are free to have their own opinion of the government. But some people go quite a bit farther than expressing their opinion.
There is a group of people that are part of a group called the Korean Origin Force, which claims that Jimmu was not a legitimate ruler, which in turn undermines the legitimacy of the emperor now. They claim that because of that, the current emperor of Japan isn’t legitimate, and that the first emperor of Japan was actually a Korean. We don’t know who is leading this movement, or where the movement is originating from.
Now, the mission, for anyone who wants to accept it, is as follows: learn more about the Korean Origin Force, through any means necessary, and find the headquarters of the group. Once found, the person needs to infiltrate the organization and destroy it. When the undertaker does so, that person would need to return back to these chambers. If successful, then the person will be viewed as being a true successor of Japan, and will be named the next emperor or empress of Japan.”
A silence filled the room at this point. I needed to think about this, whether I could undertake such a large task. After some time, I decided:
“Yes, I would be willing to do it, provided I can have assistance from my friend, Nari.”
“Very well. Now unfortunately, since we have some riots going on in the country, we don’t have any spare resources to dedicate to your quest. You will have to figure this out pretty much on your own. I hope this doesn’t alter your decision.”
I immediately became unsure. Without government help, I might hit a roadblock at some point and I might not be able to solve the issue.
“Kari, don’t worry. I know some people in the government that could help us,” Nari said to ensure me.
“Are you sure?”
“When you have been in the business of delivering parcels to government officials, you build connections. These connections could be useful later on.”
With confidence, I then talked to the guard: “The lack of government support won’t be an issue for me and Nari. We will be able to perform this quest. I do have a question however. Do we need to have this done in a certain time frame, or can we take our time to collect clues and plan out our moves?”
The guard contemplated the question for a moment. He then said:
“We would like to have the deed done while the emperor is still alive. Although I believe the emperor will live for a long time. So, please, take however much time you need to complete the task.”
The guard grew quite boastful at the end there. Was he that confident that the emperor would survive for a while?
Personally, I didn’t think so. When you have a riot right next to the place where the emperor works, you have to question your own life. You can’t take it for granted. However, despite my doubts in my head, I had to take the words said at face value. Time is an important resource. If you have plenty of time, you can take your time in making plans and ensure everything follows suit perfectly, instead of rushing and praying that nothing goes wrong in the process.
“Okay, that is good to hear. We will make our way out now, and start collecting some clues.”
We then paid our respects again to the emperor, as he allowed us to be in his presence for a considerable time, and then the representative led us back to the place where he met us. He then ran off, leaving just me and Nari alone in the room. At this point I looked at my phone for the time. Already a few hours had passed since we left the van. Hopefully Marcus is okay, and Nari won’t be in trouble for not reporting in time.
“Hey, Nari.” I said, “don’t you have any other deliveries today?”
“Nope, this was the only one.”
“Good. I didn’t want you to get in trouble for the thing that you did for me.”
We then slowly made the trek back the way we came, through the post office, through the tunnel, and then onto the street, towards the library, to return back to the van. When we got there, we saw Marcus trying to scratch the window, as if he wanted to escape. I carefully opened the door and assured him that we were in the place a bit longer than expected, and apologized for that. Next I pulled out a can of cat food and the can opener from my purse and fed it to Marcus, which calmed him down pretty quickly.
“So, now where?” I said towards Nari.
“Well, I need to bring the van back to Ayase to be serviced and filled up with petrol. So what I will do is take you home, and then I will return back to base.”
The ride home, unlike the ride here, was quite uneventful. But it was full of thoughts. Where am I going to find these clues?