Read Online United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas - Free Book Online

officers congratulating him. Mutsuraga was invited to be part of the elite student group, Sumera (a play on the Japanese word for Emperor as well as a reference to the first known civilization, Sumeria), straight from Tokyo Military Academy, which was a big deal.
    “You didn’t do a good job,” Agent Tsukino said. “When he was teaching there, he had you reprimanded multiple times for being lazy and undisciplined.”
    “He was a harsh teacher.”
    “He was harsh because he was one of our best. He served with distinction in Mexico and was a brilliant tactician,” she said.
    “Of course. And after the armistice, he founded Shudarin Design Works and created some of the best war simulations in the Empire. Everyone wanted to work at Shudarin, and not just because of the amazing perks.”
    “You’re familiar with his games then?”
    “Very,” Ben answered. “I helped him on some of them. Minor stuff that was mostly thrown out because of sloppy coding.”
    Ben examined another picture of Mutsuraga and his daughter on a fishing excursion. Claire looked unhappy and bored.
    “I’ve read the reports of his wife’s accidental death in San Diego,” Akiko said. “Our soldiers bombed a civilian market that was mistakenly reported as a rebel stronghold. Media reported it as a terrorist attack, but everyone within the corps knew the truth.”
    “It was a confusing time.”
    “Did you know her death caused a massive escalation of the conflict?” Akiko asked, not so much to verify the facts, but to collate their knowledge.
    “Like I said, it was a confusing time.”
    “The records are very spotty. Mutsuraga was eventually relieved from his position, something that seems highly unusual. A military officer removed during wartime? But no explanations are given. Anything you’d like to add to the official line?”
    “You’re talking about matters above my pay grade. I was only a lieutenant then.”
    “And you were sent away as well with Claire.”
    “The general asked me to take care of her. I did my best.”
    “A few years after that, Mutsuraga tried to develop a game with a non-Japanese protagonist, showing the San Diego invasion from their perspective. It was a ludicrous effort at empathizing with the natives. There was another game about a kamikaze pilot who had doubts about his mission and, at the last moment, decided to refrain from the act.”
    “I’ve never heard of either.”
    “That’s because they were censored,” she said. “Rather than cause a scandal and be arrested, he was given the option of going into retirement or committing seppuku . To the chagrin of many of his superiors, he chose retirement. But he secretly began development on a new game.”
    “ United States of America ?”
    She nodded. “It’s a cancer.”
    “Fortunately, we’ve eliminated cancer.”
    “Except from the mind.”
    Akiko went to a desk and picked up a portical. Their triangular edges had been shorn off, indicating they were separated from the EKS. “Claire Mutsuraga’s portical.”
    She handed it to Ben, but Ben looked at the bed, which was covered with plastic from forensics to seal it off from contamination.
    “Is that where she did it?”
    Akiko shook her head. “In the bathroom.”
    Ben walked to the bathroom.
    “It’s already been cleared,” Akiko said.
    It was a tiled cube of normalcy, designs of furry beasts on the wall, dry towels, clumps of fallen hair collecting in the sink.
    “In the bath tub?” he asked.
    She nodded.
    “Was there anything unusual about her death?” Ben wanted to know.
    “Unusual?”
    “Anything to indicate it was anything but suicide?”
    “No. I checked thoroughly. So did forensics.”
    Ben placed his fist against his mouth, closed his eyes, and fought back memories. “She deserved better.”
    “Did she?”
    “Yes.”
    “Was your relationship with her romantic?”
    “What? Not at all. I told you, she was like a sister to me. She’s a lot younger than me.”
    “According