KIMI NO NA WA: (or) HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
"Taki… Taki…" whimpered Mitsuha. Her younger sister, Yotsuha slid open the door and observed in shock. Tears in her eyes.
"Hey, what's going on? Big sister?" Yotsuha rushed ahead, shaking her sister up from her dreams.
Mitsuha woke up a start. She realised the tears in her cheeks, cooling her face as the morning sun wiped away her nightmares.
"What happened?" the younger sister inquired.
"Taki…" Mitsuha mumbled.
"Isn't there a song…"
Yotsuha was cut short by Mitsuha grabbing the little sister's shoulders with agitated looks.
"Taki, that's his name." Mitsuha bellowed.
"Who is that?" Yotsuha asked, equally yelling.
Mitsuha realised she had less time to act. She looked at her watch and observed a morning time of 08.30 JST, dated 16th October, 2014. There was still time. The autumn festival was supposed to happen in the evening hours, when the meteor splits and the fragment annihilates Itomori, a town in the hills.
"…the United States Airforce has been ever vigilant since the advent of 'the Bomb' under the hands of the Soviets, keeping cover of the air for over sixty years. Though no one knows what the Russians have plans in mind, having caught up with the Space Race, landing their own on the Moon, the curtains and boundaries of the west splitting Germany in two since the end of the Second World War has ever been the region of scrutiny. B-52s responsible for the bulk of Vietnam are yet said to be in the aftermath skies, ever vigilant…"
"Some things never change." sighed Grandma Hitoha, turning down the radio.
"Grandma, why do you listen to the radio?" complained Yotsuha, looking worried after her ordeal with her big sister.
"Back when I was young, all we had were radios… (sigh) I doubt there's anything better on the TV. Your father running his campaign… This radio's been my companion for many years." explained Grandma.
Mitsuha showed after brushing her teeth, wide-awake despite the fact she got the fewest hours of sleep. Grandma Hitoha was tired to ask of the commotion moments back. All she remembered was the radio that made her worried since she was a child, reminding of the impending threat of the Soviets and later the North Koreans for sixty years and more.
"Communists…" she mumbled.
"What?" Yotsuha asked confused.
"Look boys, I ain't much of a hand at making speeches. But I got a pretty fair idea that something doggone important is going on back there. I've uh, got a fair idea of the kind of personal emotions that some of fellows may be thinking. Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human beings if you didn't have some pretty strong personal feelings about nuclear combat. I want you to remember one thing. The folks back home are counting on you. And by golly, we ain't about to let them down." relayed Major T. J. 'King' Kong, Commander, B-52 Stratofortress, 843rd Bomb Wing.
"…Right. Now, General Turgidson, what's going on here?" asked the President.
"Mr. President," began the General, "about 35 minutes ago, General Jack Ripper, the commanding general of Osan Air Force Base issued an order to the 34 B-52s of his Wing which were airborne at the time as part of a special exercise we were holding called Operation Dropkick. Now, it appears that the order called for the planes to attack their targets inside Russia. The planes are fully armed with nuclear weapons with an average load of 40 megatons each…"
Plan-R in motion.
"Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: – One forty-five calibre automatic – Two boxes of ammunition – Four days' concentrated emergency rations – One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills – One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible – One hundred dollars in roubles – One hundred dollars in gold – Nine packs of chewing gum – One issue of prophylactics – Three lipsticks – Three pair of nylon stockings… Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff." mentioned Major Kong, to his crew.
Taki. Taki. Taki. It's okay. I remember. I'll never forget! Taki. Taki. Your name is Taki!
"Tessie!" Mitsuha bellowed, looking behind to find her friend Tessie, on his scooter.
"Mitsuha! Where've you been?" Tesshi asked annoyed. He carried the luggage of explosives intended to blow up the Itomori power station.
"Are we ready?" Mitsuha asked, looking up the road. The station was a few distances away from their location uphill.
"Forget that. Haven't you heard the news?"
"What news? The meteor?"
"No, but worse."
The town siren went off that moment.
"What's going on?" Mitsuha was perplexed.
"Soviets, that's what's going on." Tesshi replied, "Soviet bombers were seen in our airspace. Something must have gone wrong."
"But the meteor…"
"No one's gonna care about that. We need to run. Everyone's gonna run." Tesshi hastened, "Get on."
"Look!" Mitsuha pointed her finger above the hills north.
"That's a bomber!" Tesshi observed, "They are here."
"Where are the Americans?" Mitsuha asked.
"No time. We need to get out of here."
The bomber banked south-east turning towards Tokyo. The bomber was damaged after an aerial fight against American fighters, barely surviving a missile that should have brought it down if had gone differently. And yet, unaware of the town, the technical difficulties of the aircraft slammed open its bomb bay doors dropping an incendiary bomb. The whistling sound of the explosive sang from high pitch to low.
The ground shook.
Mitsuha and Tesshi turned around and looked at the flames above the hill. Mitsuha turned around and saw the lights go out throughout the town.
"Military drill? All the lights are going out." she said.
"Are you kidding? That plane took out the power station." Tesshi replied surprised, "What the hell had it got to do with our town's power supply?"
Mitsuha got onto the scooter. Tesshi was reminded that they had to scram.
"Let's meet Sayaka and get out of here."
Mitsuha couldn't agree more. The bomber seemed the last straw for the civilians of Itomori to retreat before it's too late.
No one cared about the festival anymore. Helter-skelter was the word. Everyone forgot the meteor. Mitsuha considered it an accidental coincidence as she saw the running crowds. They all believed Itomori to be targeted by the Soviets, but no one could tell the reasons behind it.
Tesshi pushed the brakes, finding his father on the road with his company workers.
"What are you doing here?" asked Mr. Teshigawara.
"Escaping. Ain't that obvious?" Tesshi retorted, "That bomber dropped the bomb on the power station."
"Of course they did." said Mr. Teshigawara, "The news is all around the past hour."
"What news? The meteor?" Mitsuha asked.
"No time for pleasant comet sights, young lady. The autumn festival ended the moment the Americans dropped a nuke inside Russian territory."
Tesshi and Mitsuha gaped in terror.
"Glad the one dropped on our power plant wasn't 'the bomb'."
Mr. Teshigawara mentioned everyone's heading for shelter out of town, as they expected the town might have been targeted.
"We need to get out now. The comet may break any moment." Mitsuha told Tesshi.
"The Russians are retaliating, Mr. President." reported National Security Advisor, Mr. Staines.
"Ain't that obvious? We just dropped a nuke in their turf." replied General Turgidson.
"Elaborate." President Muffley listened, "Don't tell me it's the Doomsday device?"
"We haven't confirmed yet, but it seems there's an unknown entity heading in from the sky, towards a Japanese town called Itomori." said Mr. Staines.
"I heard there was a comet in the sky." the President mentioned.
"Goddamnit, don't tell me the Ruskies have done something with the comet." bellowed General Turgidson.
"As I have said, we are yet to verify the source." said Mr. Staines.
"It could be an ICBM, Mr. President. I have no love for the Japs but it won't look good for us should the Ruskies drop 'the bomb'." said the General.
The announcement of the pre-planned power station explosion was laid off. Everyone knew the Russians wanted retaliation for the American attack on their soil. Japan relied on the yanks after the Second World War, having survived communism and hoped the Soviets hadn't advanced beyond the Kuril Islands.
Sayaka, Mitsuha, and Tesshi's classmate showed up with tears in her eyes.
"I couldn't do it." she sobbed, "I heard of the Russians. And 'the bomb'."
"Doesn't matter. Everyone's leaving according to plan. And we aren't convicted criminals." Tesshi replied, "Let's just believe Mitsuha's meteor shall fall."
A few hours passed. Mitsuha had reunited with her family and saw that her friends were in the same boat. A happy ending, she believed. No one's going to die.
And at that moment, everyone saw the comet split whilst the magnificent view in the night's darkness.
"That's it." Mitsuha bellowed, sending shivers down her spine.
Tesshi and Sayaka couldn't believe their eyes. Mitsuha had been right all along. Her family had remembered her warning of the event. They walked ahead and observed the revelation unfold with the glow of the split meteor that turned a different direction.
"I can't believe it." said Mitsuha's father.
"You said our town is going to be destroyed?" Tesshi asked.
Mitsuha returned a sad nod. The town could not be saved regardless of how much she could have tried. But that didn't bother her. Her family was safe. Her friends were safe. The people of her town were safe. She continued to stare at the descending meteor, low on the horizon, until an unexpected sight forced her eyes to move southward. She saw a small object flying with a yellow hue.
President Muffley pondered, and observed the Soviet Ambassador, Alexei, in panic, failing his diplomatic mission. Alexei should have been glorified of the Soviet retaliation, if not for the Doomsday device switched into motion.
"We must act now, Mr. President!" urged General Turgidson.
"Alright, alright. Do what you must." the President gave the go.
General Turgidson rushed off leaving the President with Mr. Staines. President Muffley looked around and felt something amiss.
"Where's Dr. Strangelove?" he asked.
"What's that?" asked Yotsuha.
Tesshi, Sayaka, and the others saw the flying object heading north.
"That my dear, is a revelation of the atoms and the nucleus."
Mitsuha and Yotsuha turned around to find a man sitting in a wheelchair. They couldn't understand his German-accented English.
"This here is Dr. Strangelove." Mitsuha's father introduced the man, "He's helped us coordinate the escape once the Americans learned of the bombing at the power station."
"Looks like everyone's going to live in bunkers and mineshafts."
Mitsuha observed the strange man with the strange paralytic grin on his face, trying to understand his words.
"What do you mean, Doctor?" asked Mitsuha's father, in English.
"A wondrous night before the new age!" Dr. Strangelove bellowed much to everyone's surprise.
Mitsuha and her companions returned their gaze back upon the sight ahead. The yellow object flashed as it struck the falling meteor head-on.
"That's an ICBM!" recognised Tesshi right before the flash.
"What's going on?" Mitsuha yelled, as the ground began to shake.
"What do we do, Doctor?" asked Mitsuha's father, in English.
"Sir! I have a plan…" Dr. Strangelove forced his arms, and to his surprise found himself standing on his feet, "Mein Fuhrer… I can walk!"
MONTAGE OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS… BGM "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn.
Disclaimer - The characters and recounts that are mentioned in this story are completely fictitious and do not represent any person or event in real-life.
