The DDS Volume3 Chapter3 No4

We should go back to the early morning of 9 October.

Two weeks have passed since the entry and exit ban was lifted, but international flights to and from Narita Airport are restricted to 24 flights a day.
The government put all of airport of Japan on full alert because the source of the Great Destruction was found to be a mage who came to Japan from the USA. The north and south wings, which until just a few months ago were receiving nearly 20,000 international travelers a day, are now full of SDF officers and policemen. In such a situation, only in the Arrivals Waiting Area on the ground floor of the terminal building was there the same buzz as in the past. All were there to welcome family members who had not been able to return home from abroad due to the entry ban order.
It was about an hour after the announcement that JAL Flight 175 from Los Angeles have arrived. The first group of passengers who had completed inspection and quarantine revealed coming through customs.
The people in the waiting room were rushing towards the arrivals exit. Lovers, parents and their children hugged each other in public, confirming that they were safe. With his back to the whirlwind of cheers, a tall businessman with silver hair strode off towards the taxi rank. Tadayoshi Nakajima. He is Akemi's father.

“To the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office,”

Tadayoshi said shortly, as he sat down in the rear seat of the taxi.

“Are you going to the search headquarters for disaster victims?” The driver, who seemed to like talking, reminded him in a light voice and stepped on the accelerator.

The Search Headquarters for Disaster Victims is the section that follows up on the disappearances of missing people in the western part of Tokyo, which has been destroyed.

“Why do you know it?”

“I have carried many passengers a day who have returned home because they are concerned about the safety of their families, so I can tell by looking at their faces. I know that you had been able to get your plane ticket after great pains and you have just returned home."

The driver drove the car onto the Higashi-Kanto motorway.

Without speaking, Tadayoshi has been looking out of the window at the buildings under construction and the vast expanse of farmland.

The driver, as if reading Tadayoshi's mind, said: “You know, when I drive around here, I wonder if there really was a great destruction. It was only the area from Shinjuku to Tachikawa that was damaged. Even so, the death toll was 700,000 and the number of those missing 800,000, so it's a scary story.”

The driver noticed Tadashi's stern gaze in the rearview mirror and hurriedly closed his mouth.

Two hours later, the taxi arrived in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Marunouchi, and for the first time Tadayoshi felt the Great Destruction close at hand.

The crowds of people wanting their families to be safe could not be accommodated in the vast area between the southern end of Tokyo Station and the northern end of Yurakucho Station, but had overflowed into the Yaesu Exit area.

After getting out of the car, Tadayoshi was puzzled by the long queue of people. As the driver noticed it and approached. “It won't take as long as it looks, because the online system to search for the safety of victims and where they are being housed is in full operation. The queue is organized by address, so don't make a mistake. I've been in line here before."

As Tadayoshi realized that the driver had also lost his family members in the Great Destruction and rushed to speak to him. But at that time the car had already made a U-turn.

Tadayoshi passed through the maze of cobblestone streets that was made between more than ten government buildings, he got to the end of the queue with a plaque saying that it was for the Kami-ogi area of Suginami Ward.

True to the driver's word, in just over an hour Tadayoshi was able to reach the search system terminal.

A young female employee asked in a clerical voice: "What is the name of the person you are looking for?

“Nakajima…Akemi and Yukari, please.”

Tadayoshi said each words prayerfully. To the sound of his voice, the tapping on the keyboard sounded. After a short time,

“Your old address is □□□, Kami-ogi 3-chome, right?” “Yes.” Tadayoshi nodded, his eyes fixed on the mouth of the female official as if in prayer.
However, ”I am sorry to inform you that Yukari-san was reported dead on 12 August, and Akemi-san is missing. As for Akemi-san, we will inform you as soon as we receive a report from him or public institutions."
The voice of a calm female official sounded as if it was a knock on the head.

Tadayoshi was unaware that he had been standing there for so long, so there were series of irritating coughs from the back of the queue.

“Excuse me, I'm staying at ......” 

Tadayoshi didn’t wipe the sweat that had broken out all at once but finally opened his bloodless lips,

The female employee silently handed a printout of the search results to him.

As he turned on his heel and looked at the printout with horror, Tadayoshi's eyes were suddenly drawn to the date and time of his wife's death.

“12 August? The Great Destruction had not yet begun at this time, had it not? Why didn't Akemi contact me? ”

Something mysterious and black was beginning to erupt from the depths of his heart.