Chapter Text
Date: October 17, 1936
Location: Itan Centre Outskirts
Time: ???
Tadano Hitohito was your average 16 year old boy. He was a student, studying hard in hopes of getting to a good college. He was also an older brother to his one-year younger sister Hitomi Tadano, and the one who takes care of her the most.
His dad works in the Itan City Centre with an office job, usually spending his days in overtime past 10pm to earn his family for their income, while his mother worked as a grocer, selling fruit and vegetables whenever she had the time to.
On January 16th 1936, the surrounding nations around Itan, Shibuya and Vanderk, were attacked by their neighbouring empire Yushuin. It led to a war between the 3 countries, which the powerful Yushuin managed to win within 4 months and despite the losses they suffered, they still looked like a mighty force.
Itan immediately ramped up rearmament upon the news that Shibuya and Vanderk were losing the war, but Yushuin hadn't moved in the past 5 months, their leader claiming that they would not proceed any further.
Nothing had changed since then, the residents of Itan continued living their peaceful and uneventful lives, even as the government had continued the rearmament ramping.
Today was the day that everything would change forever.
Time: 0647
Location: Tadano Household
Tadano stretched as he awoke. The sun was still down, and the entire street was blanketed in darkness. The only lights came from the very few streetlamps spread hundreds of metres apart.
"Hey, Hitomi. Time to get up." He prodded his sister on the bed next to him, only for her to drag the thin covers back over her body, leaving him to sigh and try again.
"Hitomi… It's time for school…"
"Fine…" She grumbled as she sat upright in bed, rubbing her rather groggy eyes before suddenly leaping out to go to the bathroom.
Tadano flung the curtains aside and leaned against the windowsill as he stared around down the dark streets. It was just going to be a normal day again…
The sudden whirring of plane engines interrupted his thoughts. The sound of it was nothing new, his neighbours were avid flyers. One of them even flew in the rather newly formed Itan Air Force in a fighter jet. He would usually share his experiences with Tadano, who would be fascinated by the way the new monoplanes worked.
However as the sounds grew louder, something was clear to him. This wasn't just one or two planes, it sounded like the entire Itan Air Force fleet of planes. Something was off. Very off.
He immediately stuck his head out of the window and his eyes darted all around the sky which was starting to lighten up. He saw nothing at first, but as the sound grew louder, he managed to locate its direction. But before he could do anything, a thundering blast shook the ground beneath him.
"Woah, what the-?"
He felt the wind slam against his face as another blast echoed from a few kilometres away.
Yushuin had brought war straight to Itan's doorstep.
Bombers flew overhead, dropping their payloads over the major city, while fighters swooped down like hawks chasing their prey, firing their machine guns into the houses, and Tadano had to swiftly dodge as bullets from a strafing plane struck the open windows, forming multiple holes on the wood.
"Hitomi! Mom! We need to get going, and fast!" Tadano sprinted down the hallways of his house, as Hitomi came flying out of the bathroom, and his mom out of her room.
"I heard explosions, what's going-?" Hitomi started.
"We're getting attacked, we need to get underground, now!" Tadano flung open the basement door and gestured to his sister and mother to head down first.
Another bomb fell directly behind the house across the street, and the sound of the blast filled his ears as he saw the remains of that house engulfed in smoke and fire, before he slammed the basement door shut.
"We're getting… attacked?" Tadano Jeanne looked at her son, panting as worry built up in his expression.
"We are… Yushuin is attacking."
"Knew those bastards were lying through their f#&$-#g teeth." Hitomi cursed as another blast was heard.
Overhead, the blood-curdling screams of men, women and children alike were all heard between the blasts of bombs and the strafing of planes, which Tadano assumed were littering the pavement with bullets. He gulped.
All the trio could do was sit and wait for the rain of fire to end.
Time: 0657
Location: Itan Central Business District
Hell had awoken on Earth, bombs fell by the dozens and bullets rained down by the thousands as the buildings in the Itan City Centre found themselves the target of these strikes.
People ran down the streets towards whatever form of bomb shelter they could find, as buildings all around them were levelled or torn to shreds from the inside out.
"COME ON EVERYONE, GO!" Tadano's dad flung the emergency staircase wide open, as dozens of office workers streamed into the stairwell and bolted down the stairs of the high-rise building.
As the number on the wall grew smaller, Tadano's dad silently prayed.
Please, tell me my family is alright.
When he finally made it to ground level and bolted out the building, the horrors were plain for all to see.
Bodies were strewn like ragdolls across the pavement as fire and smoke could be seen in virtually every direction. Emergency workers were on the scene to try and assist anyone they could.
"This way to the bomb shelter!" He could see an emergency worker yell over the screaming crowd, and he hightailed in that direction.
It wasn't easy in the slightest, as bombs were still falling as though doomsday had begun, with overconfident pilots swooping down to strike at anti-aircraft vehicles and civilians.
Seconds felt like hours. Each step could mean one step closer to safety or one step closer to death. It seemed endless. Maybe it was endless. But all that mattered in his mind was getting to safety…
He was so focused on getting to safety that he ended up tripping on something jutting out of the ground, injuring his elbow in the process, although that was the least of his worries.
"Ugh, what the-?" He turned back to see what he had tripped on and his eyes widened in absolute horror.
It was a bomb, clearly over 100kg, which had lodged itself into the earth.
I've got to run, and now!
Immediately he stood up, and began sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him. But within a matter of seconds…
"BOOM!"
Time: 0727
Location: Tadano Household Basement
The ruckus seemed to finally have ended. An eerie deafening silence filled the air for the next several minutes as the Tadano's finally got up and slowly stepped out of their basement.
It was absolute carnage. Houses were levelled across most of the street. Bodies littered the ground and some slumped on windowsills of surviving houses. Children started crying, as survivors began searching for their loved ones, either to find them well and alive, or dead.
"This is awful." Hitomi commented as she gripped her mother's left arm for support. Tadano couldn't even make a sound, he just stared. He didn't want to believe it, he wished it was just a nightmare. But little did he know his living nightmare was going to get worse.
"Do you think… that dad… is alright?" Hitomi asked nervously.
Tadano bit his lip. Right. Dad's at work…
"He'll be fine." Tadano swallowed. "I know he will."
He didn't even feel confident in that statement.
Time: 0803
Location: Itan City
Newspaper companies whose buildings weren't blown from the inside out began printing headline after headline, as Emergency workers began working around the clock to help any survivors or to recover bodies of the dead.
Meanwhile, the Tadano's sat inside their somehow rather intact house, which only suffered destroyed glass windows and a slight opening in the corner of the second floor. They waited for any news from their dad, praying and hoping that he would be alright, and that he'd come home safely into their worried and loving arms.
“Do you think… that dad might have…?”
“NO!” Hitomi had barely started when Hitohito and her mother shut her down. This time she knew better, and Hitomi kept her mouth shut and bowed her head.
“Sorry.” She muttered.
“It’s fine.” Tadano sighed. “I understand what you mean. It’s a slim chance he’d make it out alive. But he’s dad. I believe in him, that he’d make it through this ordeal and come home to us. He always does.”
Tadano didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he was pushing down all forms of fear that his father may have been caught in the crossfire. He didn’t want to believe it. And he very well knew his mother didn’t want to either.
Minutes went by, which turned to hours. Their confidence plummeted. The fear began to build itself in their minds. The only news they got was that the Central Business District of Itan was caught in the firestorm and that the building their dad worked in was destroyed in the attack.
Silence was the staple for the many hours among the trio. Outside, firefighters attempted to put out the flames while rescue workers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings looking for survivors.
Maybe he really is…
No no no! Snap out of it Hitohito! Your dad is fine, he’ll make it out and head back home to us!
But what if…
Don’t think about it.
But…
DON’T THINK ABOUT…!
A sudden ring from the landline snapped everyone out of their trance, and Hitohito was the first to pick it up, sprinting over to the landline and nearly crashing full force into the table it sat on.
"Tadano residence speaking…" He panted, heart racing, anxious for whatever may come.
"We've got some… news, to bring forth to you." The voice on the other end replied.
“Is-this-about-my-dad?” He spoke so quickly it was a miracle the caller could make out his sentence clearly.
“Yes, I’m afraid it is. I need you to come down to the hospital immediately.”
“Just tell me the goddamn news, please.” Tadano was virtually on breaking point.
“Well… I… I’m really sorry.”
Time: 1147
Location: Itan City General Hospital
The Tadano's sprinted down the corridors of the hospital, running by blurs of medical personnel rolling stretchers towards the A&E.
They stopped outside one of the wards, where a doctor was there to greet them. He had already told them the news, now they were here for the confirmation.
With a grim look, he gestured for the Tadano's to enter the ward.
"We're really sorry for your loss." The doctor repeated the same line he had said over the phone, as he walked over to the side of the room, leaving them to grieve over the death of their father/husband.
"How…?" Tears welled in Hitohito's eyes as he looked down upon the blood-stained white blanket covering the dead body of his father.
"A 150kg bomb detonated about 25 metres away from him." The doctor sighed as he handed Hitomi her dad's briefcase and Hitohito his belongings. And with a deep bow, he left the ward, clearly not wanting to be there with a family that had just lost their father.
Tadano looked at his dad's soot stained watch in his palm. The hour and minute hands read 7:01, the time in which he was struck down by the bomb that he had tripped over.
But why? Tadano thought, tears blurring his vision. Just… why? This was not how everything was supposed to go… It can’t be… Please, this is all just one sick nightmare…
Unfortunately, it wasn’t. He tried pinching himself but to no avail. Beside him, he heard his mother fall to her knees and crying up a river, as Hitomi kneeled beside her with tears in her own eyes too.
He placed down most of his dad’s belongings, until only the watch and a pendant remained.
The young Hitohito took one long look at said pendant. Its chain wasn’t broken, although it was stained with asphalt and soot. Inside the plastic casing was a tiny picture of the whole family together many years ago…
Dad…
Hitohito felt his hand curl and ball itself up into a fist, which trembled with grief and anger.
He'd make Yushuin pay for this.
And he knew the entire nation of Itan would feel the same rage.
We will never forget…