On the next day, Frank and Alfred were brought from Sapporo back to Tokyo with a transport aircraft. The flight was smooth and nothing happened. The airplane flew over one of the few places in the south of the Sapporo which were, more or less, still safe.
The two men had a last look at the destroyed city and were just glad to leave this hell alive. General Takeuchi had finally said goodbye to them, as well as many other comrades. Furthermore, Takeuchi had thanked them for their valor in the fights for Sapporo.
Bravery medals decked their uniforms now. Both men were just silent and thanked God that they were allowed to leave Hokkaido behind them. Frank was so tired that he snoozed during the flight and only woke up, when they were near Tokyo.
The Japanese high command had arranged that they could stay again at the Taishis for the next month. Afterwards, that so called “special mission” was planned, but the whole thing was still top secret and they got no further informations.
The former businessman picked them up in the city center of Tokyo, shook their hands and drove home with them. But Masaru was taciturn and appeared depressed.
„Are you all right, Mr. Taishi?”, asked Frank.
„No!”, returned Taishi and quietly stared at the street.
The Japanese accompanied his guests into the house, briefly explained the fact that they could stay from now on in two rooms on the upper floor, and just walked off.
Frank and Alfred went up the stairs and didn`t see Mr. Taishi for the rest of the day. Taishi`s wife had also just briefly welcomed them, and had finally disappeared too. Something was wrong.
On the next morning, their host hardly said a word during the breakfast and also his wife and his daughter were silent. They wished the two volunteers a nice day and drove away with their car. About noon, the came back again.
Frank asked Alfred to stay in his room, because the Taishis obviously wanted to have their peace. They behaved very strangely. Frank furthermore assumed, that Mrs. Taishi had cried before the breakfast. She was, like the rest of the family, apathetic and depressive.
Frank and Alf did not ask, but already had a bad boding. The former child`s room of Kazuko, the son, was directly next to Frank`s bedroom and in the evening hours, the German heard a quiet sobbing, when he was on the way to the toilet.
Kohlhaas had a short look at the room and finally saw Mrs. Taishi, drowned in tears, in front of a photo of her son. Now everything was clear. Kazuko was dead. She noticed his presence and looked up at him.
„Come in, Frank!“ she sobbed. „He is dead. My son Kazuko is dead!“
Kohlhaas had no words, her voice sounded like a swarm of wasps, jabbing into his ears.
„I feel sorry for you, Mrs. Taishi!”, said Frank and tried to find a better answer.
„Okay! It is not your fault!”, whispered the mother. „Please leave me alone, my friend!“
He crept again back into his bedroom and quietly locked the door behind him. Now he knew it. Alfred had already anticipated the harm yesterday.
In the next days, Frank and Alfred tried to help the family where they could. They washed up, vacuumed the living room and did a lot of other things. That was probably their way to show something like condolence. However, it helped not very much. The house was still filled with an enormous cloud of mourning and depression, and all their help could not change the cruel fate of this family.
Mr. Taishi had gotten the message of the death of his son one week ago. It had been inconceivably terrible and the Japanese family had almost lost the nerves.
Mrs. Taishi had broken down and since this terrible day, she took countless tranquilizers and pills, in order to get along. Sometimes, Frank and Alf heard the three Japanese argue, on other days Mrs. Taishi just screamed hysterically.
Even an emergency ambulance had to come once, because the woman had collapsed. This whole situation was worse than the Saporro front for the two Germans. Finally, Mr. Taishi asked them if they would prefer a hotel, but Frank told him that they could deal with all this.
Often Mr. Taishi said to himself that his son had fallen for a better Japan, but these slogans, even if they were true, could not take the pain from his soul.
„He was one of best students of Mathematics in university!”, he told Frank, completely whacked and always crying.
“I just have no words...”, answered Kohlhaas quietly.
“Okay!”, Mr. Taishi wiped off the tears form his face and tried to hold his nerves. „Today we all go to Tama zoo of Tokyo. The whole family Taishi and their guests Frank and Arufred!”
Alfred nodded and gave the man another handkerchief. Perhaps, it was no bad idea to concentrate the thoughts on that. The grief would still come to the Taishis - often enough. Frank Kohlhaas knew this feeling all too well. The holo cell and the following liquidation of his father and his sister had given this feeling to him a million times.
„These rats, they just force this madness upon these good people. Just for money and power...”, he hissed quietly. Bäumer agreed.
“Do you think that dead people are still living in another form? You understand?”, asked Taishi with a tearful smile.
“Well, I hope so. I hope that we will live on somehow after our death”, returned Alfred. “Basically, I`m sure!”
„Then Kazuko is still here. He will also go with us to Tama zoo!”, said Taishi, embracing Bäumer with tears in his eyes.
The visit of the zoo brought them some kind of „fun“. At least, it drove the sadness back, for a short moment, and gave them some diversion.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Taishi still looked like a corpse, pale, with a bloated face, always close to another breakdown. Occasionally, Masaru Taishi had to give her some pills.
Nanami Taishi, the daughter, was silent and, so far, Frank and Alfred hadn`t seen her all too often. Except for a short welcome, when they had arrived, they had never talked to each other.
Meanwhile, she had become totally quiet and just looked around with her sad eyes. Actually, she was a pretty woman and probably about 20 years old. But now she appeared, as if all the pain of the world was lying on her shoulders.
Nanami was often at her boyfriend in the neighboring district, so that the two guests had nothing to do with her. If they had understood Mr. Taishi correctly, she also studied in Tokyo. Today, however, she was joining that strange trip to the zoo.
„Elephants!”
Mr. Taishi pointed at a group of gray giants behind a high fence. One of the animals, probably a bull, roared in deafening loudness and the other elephants went out of its way. Perhaps, this elephant was some kind of „World President“ in this compound. Shortly afterwards, they walked away and only Mr. Taishi talked to Frank and Alf. His wife and his daughter just trudged behind him, never saying anything. Sometimes Frank heard them cry quietly.
The Tama zoo was gigantic and impressive, all animal species of the world, at least those which had not yet been exterminated, could be found here.
Fishes, reptiles, mammals and multicolored birds en masse. The wolves with their shining white fur pleased Frank particularly well. He had never seen so many animals in his whole life before.
In his hometown Berlin were primarily rats which dwelled the garbage cans and the canalization. Those disliked creatures had followed the great decay of Germany`s former capital in the last decades.
After a while, they came to a terrarium full of little rodents, lying everywhere behind the pane. The animals had large, yellow teeth and a rough brown fur. They dozily looked at the visitors, giving them not too much attention.
How relaxed these little things were, as if there would be nothing evil in the world! The rodents looked just nice, and even Nanami had to smile for a short moment.
Subsequently, they went to a cafe in the center of the zoo and tried to relax too. Mr. Taishi brought Frank and Alf a hot cocoa.
„Will Sapporo be conquered by the GCF?”, he asked Kohlhaas after they had drunk up.
„Things look black... “, remarked Bäume
r, while he was hit by the venomous look of Mrs. Taishi.
She said something to her husband in Japanese and was again close to tears. Masaru stared at his German dictionary and was silent for a second.
„Please, say nothing more about this war, okay?”, he whispered. Afterwards, Mr. Taishi tried to direct the attention on other things, the Tama zoo was big and there was still a lot to see. They stood up silently and walked to an enormous hall full of colorful, loudly screaming birds. And there were insects too: Ants, hairy spiders, millipedes in considerable sizes and so on.
Thereupon, they went into an enormous complex with large aquariums. Sharks stared at them through the thick panes and swarms of multicolored fishes passed by. Mr. Taishi told Alf something about fish species and tried to find the right German words.
„When I was a child, I have fish with my father often. Understand?”, said the Japanese
„Fished…You have fished...”, said Frank.
“Fished!”, explained Taishi. „Japanese fish much!“
“Something like that...”, Kohlhaas smiled.
A moment after, Avaka took her husband to the side and walked away with him. She was crying again and her husband embraced her. „We must go now home. Avaka does not feel well!”, said Masaru and waved his guests nearer.
A new week began and a officer of the Japanese army asked the Taishis about Frank and Alf. The man explained that the two men should be brought to an army base in Chiba till the middle of December. But he still didn`t talk about that “special mission”.
In the evening, they all got a good message, that even pulled Mr. Taishi out of his state of mourning and lethargy for a short moment. Another revolt against the World Government had started on the Philippines. In the most important city of the country, Manila, a large crowd had besieged and finally attacked the seat of government.
Police and military could just barely quell the riot. Even some GCF units, had to be withdrawn from the south of Japan, in order to restore order on the Phillipines. Apparently, the population was also there no longer content with the policy of the World Government. The Japanese media spoke of an “open rebellion against the slave owners” and declared their solidarity with the rebels.
In the following weeks, there was even a bombing at a GCF base in Manila, with several deads. The Japanese television glorified the revolt to a “great victory”, while the international press spoke of “terrorism” and “fanatics”.
However, it was a fact that the GCF had big problems to find new recruits in China and Korea. Meanwhile, the World Government pressurized the sub-governors of the Asian regions more and more. Finally, a forced recruitement was commanded, what led to public protests in some parts of Asia.
“This rebellion is a great success, even for Japan!”, called Mr. Taishi and stared at the TV screen. His wife hissed something in Japanese and left the living room. The two guests didn`t say anything.
Then, Masaru looked at them and turned the television off: „Avaka says, it is my fault that Kazuko has gone into war! But it is not true! I did not want that!“
„Which mother ever wanted that?”, answered Frank quietly.
Mr. Taishi started to cry and brought a bottle of sake from the kitchen. “Perhaps, my wife is correct. However, my son Kazuko wanted to go to the army!”
Masaru`s wife finally returned and started a loud controversy with her husband. She seemed to be close to another emotional outbreak and was still streaming in tears. Avaka Taishi had not understood anything of the conversation in German, but she just knew that the had talked about this bloody war again.
Frank and Alfred went out of the room and left Masaru and his wife alone. Shortly afterwards, they heard the couple screaming and crying below. The two volunteers stayed for the rest of this day in their rooms. While the hours passed in depression and hopelessness, and Frank also mused about the sense of all this, the GCF started another great attack on the meanwhile flared out and tired Japanese soldiers in Sapporo.
Hardly 200 men of the “Niho no Yari” unit were still fit for action, the rest was dead or was lying heavily injured in the overcrowded military hospital barracks of the destroyed city. Frank and Alfred were glad that they had escaped the hell of Sapporo. Nevertheless, this war had already prepared the next bloody nightmare for them.
It was on 14.12.2031, when hundreds of thousands of GCF soldiers overran the outlying districts of Sapporo, and drove the defenders back to the inner city. It was a disaster. Now the Japanese entrenched themselves in the ruins and were waiting for the end.
Meanwhile, the food supply had completely broken down and an icy winter tormented the soldiers, while the shadow of death came slowly over them. Parts of the civilian population tried to flee to Honshu, through the few gaps in the circumvallation of the GCF. But the were massacred in great numbers by general Schwarzer`s soldiers.
Those who had still remained in the city, had to stay in cold house ruins or had fled into the endless metro tunnels, which were soon overcrowded with freezing and hungry people. Now the high command of the GCF had arranged, that all life in Sapporo should be wiped out with more and more chemical bombs. General Takeuchi already knew that the end was near.
He thought about hara-kiri and said to himself, that he had lived long enough. There was no more hope for him and the rest of his army. His old samurai sword which he had once gotten from his father, was always lying at hand, beside his bed. And it was only a question of the time until he had to use it.
„Frank, nice to hear you! How are you?“, Wilden was beside himself with joy, when he heard Frank`s voice on the phone.
“I`m not dead – so far!”, answered Kohlhaas soberly.
„What`s up with Sapporo? Things look black, right? I have seen a report on television...”, said Wilden, but he was interrupted.
“Things look black! Right!”, returned Frank. “But Alf and me are back in Tokyo. Thank God! That was like hell, and it is even worse now. All are hungry and freezing. The city will fall – soon!”
“You are at Masaru?”
“Yes!”
“How`s he doing?”
“How? He feels like shit, his son is dead!”
The older gentleman at the other end of the phone line was quiet for a short moment, Frank heard him inhale.
„That`s terrible. I don`t know, what to say...“
„Another fallen hero!”, said Frank cynically. “Anyhow, Taishi`s son is but one of many. Now, I`m waiting, when death finds me...”
“Don`t say such things, Frank! God, I`m so happy to hear your voice, boy!”
“What`s about the rest of our men from Ivas? Have you heard something, Thorsten?”
The village boss was silent again. This augured ill. „After Baastfeldt, also Dennis Müller has been killed. His brother got a shot in the shoulder and lies in a hospital in Matsue. His wound became inflamed, but he will probably pull through. The others are still alive. Sven wrote me that his unit has withdrawn to Honshu and is in Hiroshima now. There are still heavy fights, as he says!”
„Dennis Müller is dead too?”, inquired Frank again.
„Yes, unfortunately… “
„Hugenfeldt?“
„He also wrote me! Rolf was evacuated from Abashiri and is now in Morioka!”
„Okay! Now tell me, Thorsten, how could Taishi know about that bombing in Paris?”
Wilden hesitated and seemed to look for an answer. “Well, Frank...I just told him some...I'm sorry!“
„Pah! You have probably boasted with Alf and me, haven`t you?“
„I'm sorry!”, returned Wilden, somehow embarrassed.
“Shit, but we can`t change it anymore. In the future, I expect a bit more discretion from you!“
“Okay! Sorry again...”
Frank said nothing for half a minute and looked around in the dark living room of the Taishis. The family was not at home on this evening, because Mr. Taishi had suggested a trip to the cinema, hoping that his wife and hi
s daughter would get some more diverson.
„Thorsten, now explain to me again, what we do here in Japan! But in an understandable way please!”
At the other end, Wilden brooded and looked for a suitable answer. „Why do you ask me that now, Frank?“
“Why? Because I`m only surrounded by death and pain, since weeks. We kill them or they kill us. We defended any streets in Sapporo, in a city...Shit! I have hardly heard of this fucking city before all this insanity. Now tell me! What is the sense of all that fucking killing in that fucking doomed country, Wilden?”
The village boss paused and listened to Frank`s silent wheeze. „Do you like to live a free life in Ivas?”, he finally asked.
„What has Japan to do with Ivas?“, grumbled Frank nervously.
„Well, just think, if you defend the street „X” in Sapporo, Tokyo or somewhere else in Japan, you would fight for Ivas, for Berlin and for the whole world!”
“I shall think that? I shall think that, when I`m surrounded by dying women and children? When I shoot, stab and slay people? When I look into the glassy eyes of my comrades who got some bullets in their heads?“
“Frank, Japan is not “any” country, it is “that” country! It is the only country on earth which has freed itself from the World Government. It is that bulwark of freedom. If Japan falls then all our hope falls too.
All people who are pursued and tormented by the henchmen of the World Government look at Matsumoto and Japan in these days.
They think to themselves: „The Lodge Brothers are strong and have all the power in their hands, but they will fail against Japan. Japan will defeat them, because they are no gods, they can also bleed, fail and die!“
Frank gasped and pressed the receiver against his ear, while Wilden continued: „Japan is like a single viewer in a fully occupied cinema hall, during a propaganda film. This viewer suddenly jumps up in the last row and screams: „This films doesn`t show the truth! It shows us lies! Don`t believe them! They lie!”
All the other viewers are just silent and believe everything they tell them, but this single man shouts out the truth.
Do you really think that we will be safe forever? In our nice, little Ivas? Do you really believe this? “
The young man remained silent and Wilden explained: “If Japan will be crushed by the Lodge Brothers, the most important fortress of rebellion will be destroyed too. Japan is a world power, it has a high technology and can achieve a lot. It points the way for others, it is our light, our hope! Never forget that!”
“But I can`t stand it anymore. My nerves…“, said Frank.
„I wish, that I could help you, my friend. But it is your task to carry this burden – and I know, you will not break down!”
“I`m no hero, Thorsten. No, I`m just an ordinary, little human with a wasted life. From where shall I take the strenght for this eternal fight? Maybe I´m driven by hate, but hate is not the right motivation. The world system has murdered my father and my sister, and it has destroyed my own existence, but I`m full of doubts, Thorsten...”
Wilden tried to calm him. “My boy, we all have our hate. With good reason! But not the hate shall guide you, Frank. The faith shall be your leader!
But mind, Japan is our burning torch of hope. Soon our enemies will even come to Ivas, and they will strangle all free life under the sun in the long term.
What they plan for the future, is still more terrible than our present. They will increase the surveillance and the oppression, everywhere! And finally, they will come to Ivas to destroy it too.
Those devils plan to brand humans like animals, with implanted chips. They plan to kill billions of people with hunger and epidemics, so that they can control and enslave the rest much easier.
Do you want that? If we don`t stop them, there will be no tomorrow for no one! I have told you, who they are, Frank. They are the children of satan! Just look, what they have done to Germany, and Europe, and the rest of the world. But this is just the beginning of that hell on earth the want to bring upon us!”
Kohlhaas groaned and said: “I just want to come back home. Maybe you are right, Thorsten, but Sapporo was a nightmare!”
„Today, the battle is fought in Japan, and tomorrow perhaps at another place, but we must fight it. There is no other way”, answered Wilden.
„How`s Julia doing?”, asked Kohlhaas now.
„Well, she is already standing behind me and is waiting for you”, said the village boss laughing. „Now talk to my daughter, Frank! I`m more than proud of you, bye!”
The young man still talked to Julia for almost one hour and her voice was like balsam for his maltreated soul. Julia told him, that they all already looked forward to Christmas.
They were baking cookies and even a Christmas tree stood in their living room now. For a short moment, Kohlhaas imagined to be at home, far away from this terrible war. But then he remembered that he was still in Japan – and here was no Christmas. And the only one who gave gifts here, was the Grim Reaper.
Special Mission