Tokyo Metropolis, Bunkyo Ward, University of Tokyo.
Summer vacation at Japanese universities usually ran from early July to late August.
It was September, and the University of Tokyo's third term of Reiwa 7 had already begun, but the once vibrant campus was now far quieter.
Although Tokyo had been fortunate enough not to become one of the Heavenly Origin Game's five arenas this time, the uproar it caused had inevitably struck at the heart of the country.
Rumors swept through Tokyo's streets, and people were on edge, much as they had been during the apocalyptic scenes three years earlier.
As long as the five great barriers in Sakurajima, Kobe, Sendai, and the other cities remained standing in Japan, every day, every minute, and every second dealt a heavy blow to Japan's economy and national security.
The University of Tokyo's students came from wealthy or influential families and had countless close ties to Japan's upper echelons. Word that Abe no Seimei planned to ferry Japan to the Pure Land on the other shore and transform a hundred million Japanese people into reincarnated bodies could be kept from ordinary people, but not from them.
Although the University of Tokyo had begun classes as usual, quite a few students had taken leave or failed to report to campus.
"Jumonji, you actually came to class today."
After their last afternoon class, Uchiha Naruto walked with Jumonji Hayato from the classroom to the University of Tokyo's Red Gate and remarked casually:
"I hadn't seen you these past few days. I thought you'd fled abroad like the other students."
If Uchiha Naruto remembered correctly, Jumonji Hayato's uncle by marriage was a minister in the current Cabinet. There was no way he hadn't heard the news.
"You haven't left either, Uchiha."
Jumonji Hayato's gaze was resolute as