Chapter 10: Side Story 1 – Tanaka Rikka

Every year, about ten thousand Exiles are 'born'. At the same time, ten thousand people meet an untimely 'death'. Japan's relationship with our Exiles is a strange and complex issue, born about from the struggles of the families of anyone who had the misfortune of having a family member 'die'.

Like many other countries, we imprison them and isolate them from the world. From a sociological stand point, these people were far too risky to be left wandering about in society. More importantly, they were far too different in far too many ways.

My brother was a respected neurosurgeon, who had more or less completed his residency and had already made a name for himself, being one of the pioneers in developing the brains surgery techniques that is used extensively in the LiGHT process. His work had laid the standard and foundation to save the lives of many others, but he too was one of the first to have to suffer through it.

After his transformation and despite the reputation he had built up, the academic community shunned him. Their excuse was that he no longer could perform his duties as a surgeon now that he had a body of a child. They were right of course, he had lost all the fine motor controls required for the delicate art of neurosurgery.

Having been unceremoniously thrown out with nothing to his name, he had to find work elsewhere. He was nearing his thirties then, but  I was still only in high school when it happened. He kept it secret and tried his best to find work in Shizuoka where many Exiles of his time went to to find work, though at the time they weren't called Exiles but rather the Changed.

Most families would have taken them back in, but during such a time of financial crisis and political instability, many Changed chose to keep it a secret to lessen the financial burdens on their families. There were a few, and they were the vast minority, that disowned their family members who had changed, for bringing shame to their family, as if they had chose to do so in the first place. But there would always be irrational people like that, it didn't make it any easier to swallow though.

With a body of a five year old girl and the mind and legal status of a full grown adult, it wasn't hard to imagine what sort of 'work' he had found. There was a growing underground market that centred around the 'services' of these people and catered to a very select group of individuals with a unique taste. He had basically been forced into that industry after being turned away from anywhere else at all.

Most people just found the idea of a child speaking like an adult creepy, even if rationally they understood their situation. As the country was rebuilding after Exodus, the only places willing to put up with them were places of questionable morals, and these children would be exploited into all sorts of work from cheap or even free labour, to services for the stressed and repressed adults.

It didn't help that such Changed individuals already had a reputation for being violent and sociopathic. From the numbers alone, they made up only a small fraction of the Changed population, but because of the headlines of the few but frequent events surrounding them, many people were distrustful of them due to misinformation and general mass panic.

Psychologically speaking their behaviours were slightly altered from the norm due to the invasive brain procedure, only about five percent of them would actually be dangerous enough to pose a threat to the general population. But five percent of ten thousand was still five hundred. That was more than enough to set off a panic.

It was unfortunately a very common view, and so for several months my brother along with many others, worked in such underground industries in secret before my family found out about it only through sheer accident. A friend of ours had reported a girl who was introducing herself as my brother in the outskirts of one of these red light districts. Having traced her down, we discovered the full extent of the horrors going about silently in the prefecture.

Shizuoka had been one of the prefectures worst hit by the eX virus, and the entire population was in dire straits as they struggled to rebuild financially. A once vibrant first rate city had turned into a den run by the depraved and organised by a syndicate.

Black markets ran rampant here, and the city officials turned a blind eye towards the ongoings of the city, having rose to power through questionable means as their more competent predecessors and rivals long died from the virus or some other means, lining their own pockets from their ties with the underground, all the while lying straight through their teeth to the National Diet about the state of their prefecture.

Of course many other families like ours faced the same dilemma, but we were basically threatened with death should we ever do anything about it. Their underground network was vast. But the thought of my brother, now my little sister who was going about by her work name of Komachi, the thought of her in such an environment made my stomach churn, and against such threats I convinced my parents to take action with me.

I was living in Tokyo, and along with several other like minded families we planned to march the streets with photos and videos that exposed what was going on in Shizuoka. Many graphic scenes from exploitation in underground factories, and brothels with video footage provided to me by my sister. Most of the footage used was of her who sometimes entertained city officials in her room. I didn't bother to censor any of it, I wanted the world to see it. I would force them to see it, even if it hurt my own heart to see my sister have to stoop to such a level.

But we didn't expect much traction, people were just too dismissive of the Changed and assumed them to be consenting adults even if the business was somewhat distasteful so we were somewhat stuck. They were right because they had, without coercion signed the contract. It was technically legal, but I have to say that you don't need to use coercion to convince a desperate person.

It all changed when my sister found evidence that the underground market was dealing with actual child labour by exploiting families in dire straits to effectively sell their child and marketing them as Changed to avoid detection. With this new information, we planned our marches along this line of logic.

The movement was a success, and there was a national outcry that spread like wildfire. Investigations revealed thousands of similar cases even nationwide as other families joined us in our movement with accusations that they were forced into doing the same, and many government officials were forced to resign amidst the discovery that they had knowledge and involvement in such affairs.

Furthermore, rampant corruption was rife in the more rural areas, it was discovered that there were several arrangements made several years ago to redistribute vaccines to other parts of the population in exchange for money while thousands were still waiting in line to receive theirs in quarantined bunkers. Further allegations from people in the slums revealed that several public officials had lined their pockets by dealing with the underground in exchange of tax payment served to further fuel the fire.

The city of Hamamatsu was declared to be in a state of emergency and the police force was called in to lock it down soon after and we thought that would be the end of it. A friend of my sister, Keiko, tipped me off that the police were in on it as well, and that they were coming to destroy evidence. Komachi herself had been moved to a different den not exposed into the limelight while Keiko managed to escape with some others. During this time, many families that had taken part in the movement were being arrested for 'civil disobedience', they were coming for me too.

It was during this time that I met my first political ally, Tsukumoto Takeshi. He was a business man and very influential and rich, and funded most of my activities as I was making a run for it. His son too was a Changed and was being exploited against her will, and he didn't know who to trust. With his help and intel, I went about Japan protesting and protesting and exposed many officials while on the run. At one point I was the government's undesirable number one with a huge bounty on my head for my capture.

I was saved by the other families who had not taken part in the movement, as they secretly organised rallies across the nation and we were gradually picking up steam. We eventually made a march toward the capital and Shizuoka, there was a general air of tension as though a civil war might break out at any moment as many of the general population who either knew of a person who had been forced into the industry or had heard about them joined the movement and the military had been called in.

But even amongst the military there were many sympathisers. It was from them where we heard about most of the movements of the Shizuoka police and their plans as we headed to the capital and Shizuoka.

At this time, Mr Tsukumoto had openly declared himself in support of my movement along with other influential business owners and figures and former ministers who had been removed from power for asking too many questions, and he volunteered to lead the group to Shizuoka while I went for the capital. We numbered ten thousand each as we marched.

It was a hectic few days, but the Tokyo march was largely successful. We managed to force the government to its knees and bent their backs without breaking them. I managed to force several concessions about the treatment of the Changed under the argument that though they may be adults legally, their childlike appearance was exploited and led to this whole fiasco.

It would have been a landslide victory for us were it not for the disaster in Shizuoka. The local population that had been exploited by the underground networks and groups had become rather sympathetic of the Changed and offered shelter to those that managed to escape. This caused the local police force to start targeting them in raids and those that refused or deserted were prosecuted and punished harshly.

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When Mr Tsukumoto and the civil movement arrived, it became an unrest as the police used violence to suppress the protesters. It became sort of a tiny civil war as deserters of the police and the army defended the citizens using whatever firearms they could get their hands on against their former brothers in arms.

The death of Mr Tsukumoto several days later, along with several hundred dead and thousands injured was cause for outrage, and finally to quell the anger of the people, the Shizuoka police was ordered to retreat. But the damage was done, and the incumbent parties were quickly forced to resign or were removed by several Yakuza led forces and influential figures behind the scenes.

These Yakuza's were unrelated to the other problematic underground syndicates which were a network formed independently by individuals and rival Yakuza members hoping to exploit the economy and turn a profit and actively worked against the Yakuza who tried to protect them. I didn't really want to deal with them, but it was a necessity and their influence was far reaching. It was sufficient enough for me that their goals were in line in some part to my own.

A return to normalcy was soon underway as the new, more reasonable and capable party was elected. Still the general perception of the Changed weren't very good, though many now recognised that there was a huge problem in how we had so far dealt with them, which was a good step forward.

Although I started the movement because of the Changed, it was focussed more on the children who were taken and advertised as Changed as well as various forms of corruption rampant in the government. The Changed themselves were still stigmatised and this event simply solidified their status as societal outcasts, although to a much lesser extent now.

As one of the representatives of the movement, I reiterated the several deals and concessions made with the previous government and negotiated for more with this new government. Of course my sister helped out, I was only a high school student, and along with several others we managed to hash out the Exile agreement after two years of painstaking negotiations. In the interim as I negotiated several deals with my sister, it was made mandatory that they be allowed to work where they were willing and capable until we figured out what to do with them.

Sei who was an economist and former son of Mr Tsukumoto, calculated several economic policies under which the new 'Exiles' and their district that would be situated in Rebun Island, could prove beneficial to the economy on the mainland by providing means of cheap labour as well as national defence while the government subsidised their living arrangements, with the starting capital taken from Mr Tsukumoto's many assets as per his will that he had written before going to Shizuoka. He had gave his daughter sixty percent and he gave me the remaining to use at my discretion. Sei and I had collectively decided fund the Exile program with this money.

The Exiles themselves were stronger than the average person due to genetic enhancement in the LiGHT process. Not by much but significant enough that the justification for subsidising their food and living arrangements and education was that they would serve as conscripts and like the normal soldiers, would have their livelihoods assured even if they didn't do anything. It was a model inspired by Singapore where the whole male population was trained in the armed forces for national defence, but could also work after conscription with a small portion staying on as 'regulars' of the army.

I didn't agree with this part of the proposal, but Komachi and the other Exiles were all in favour so I was overruled, and provisionally it would secure extra funding to take care of the Exiles which I was heavily pushing for so I backed down.

Under this new policy, all Exiles would have their immediate needs taken care of or subsidised, while they produced and manufactured various vital components and parts for many different industries along with the other poorer citizens of the country. 

As the cost of their labour was cheaper, these industries could produce more and sell for less while maintaining their profit margins, which would drive the economy and eventually bring us back out of this rut while the rest on the mainland focused on construction and development. Furthermore the Exile salaries would be supplemented by their businesses with the mainland and hence their income for service could be minimal.

Several other policies aimed at the poor and less fortunate which were the ones most heavily targeted and impacted by the corruption of the previous government provided the backdrop for them to rebuild their lives by moving funding that was now free due to the Exiles taking care of defence with lesser pay, into the 'Hello Work' program and hiring many others in construction for the Rebuild Program. 

It would take several years but eventually they would be able to lift themselves out. The rebuild program too was aimed mostly at the slums, and then the roads and sewers that had been poorly maintained during Exodus.

First though was the implementation of the new currency to supplant the old one. It is still called the Yen but it was backed up by a stockpile of gold and steel to build trust and valued as it was before Exodus, before being converted back into a fiat currency.

The new government agreed on the condition that the military under their control, would be the one in charge of enforcement. It was less than ideal but sufficient for our purposes. However, they did not accept our proposal of social reintegration at that time saying it was too risky and too politically damaging given what had just occurred.

I was reminiscing on the past because of a strange letter that was delivered to my desk on this fine spring evening. Twelve years had passed since then and Exile district was thriving and we had just started the new academic term a month ago for the twelfth batch of Exiles. There were still many issues to be solved, mainly about the economy and the training of Exiles on the island but it was mostly smooth sailing.

The economy has been doing well lately, our relations with Southeast Asia and Germany were still going strong. America, or rather the East-Federation of States of America (EFA) and the Republic of America (RA) were still our close allies despite the ongoing tension on both sides. 

The letter was addressed to me specifically, written by Princess Sarah on behalf of the recently crowned, her royal majesty the Queen, Elizabeth III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

My political party was small and so I didn't really have much to do. We were mostly just concerned with legislative matters relating to Exiles and national defence and held little sway over much else. I still had a fierce reputation from my political activities all those years ago and had a sizeable base of support to ensure a few seats in the Upper House, so many of the parties usually would listen to what I had to say if I had anything to say.

They would listen, but whether they would act upon it was a different matter altogether. This letter though, might just prove to be a useful tool to force those geezers in the lower house into action, and we only had a little over a year to get it done.

I called the harbour and asked them to prepare a boat for me within the hour. I think my sister would be very interested in my little plan.

I remember something she said a long time ago, when I asked why she had kept the name Komachi despite being able to choose a different name just after the founding of Exile district.

"Komachi means a little town. Right now we are smaller than a little town, but its built upon many struggles and tragedies and I hope it would become something great. For me it hurts a lot, but I want to remember it so that this may never happen again." She said smiling gently. "Someday, there may come a time when this little town can be part of something bigger again."

She was so small then, but her shoulders seemed so wide and burdened with too much. After so long maybe we finally had the opportunity to do it.

"Plan 42 must not fail. I will not fail this time." I muttered as I brought an innocuous lookong file along with the letter and I left for Exile district.