Cherry Blossom Country,
The Tomari Nuclear Power Plant, the Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant, the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, the Ukishima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, the Ukishima No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant.
The Tokai Nuclear Power Plant, the Hyogo Nuclear Power Plant, the Shiwa Nuclear Power Plant, the Mibei Nuclear Power Plant, the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant.
The Kobei Nuclear Power Plant, the Kashima Nuclear Power Plant...
Twenty nuclear power plants had been destroyed in a single night.
Overnight, two-thirds of Cherry Blossom Country's power grid had been crippled.
Emperor Shinjin, his son, and Prime Minister Koizumi Taro all knelt before the Heaven-Worship Shrine. Those twenty plants accounted for every nuclear power plant in Cherry Blossom Country.
All of them had been wrecked in less than a day. Once they ruled out human involvement,
the only explanation they could think of was ghosts and gods.
So they knelt before the shrine and prayed for forgiveness from the spirits and protection from their ancestors.
Meanwhile, the young people who had suddenly lost their electricity took to the streets in fierce protest. Those protests soon spread throughout Cherry Blossom Country.
Emperor Shinjin, who had already intended to use this opportunity to force Koizumi Taro out of office, naturally would not let it slip away.
Knowing he was powerless to turn things around, Koizumi Taro made no attempt to resist.
He was lucky enough not to have been forced to commit seppuku. He understood that better than anyone.
To prevent Emperor Shinjin from making him a target again on some future day when the emperor was in a foul mood,
he sold off all his property for next to nothing on the very day he stepped down, then moved his entire family to Treasure Island in the Xia Kingdom. Compared with the Xia