Chương 4: The Forbidden Protocol — Project Re-JAPAN

"These right here. Step right up for the grand reveal!" With a single flick of gennai's smoking pipe, the floor of the executive office split open, and six capsules rose from the subterranean level. With a heavy pshhhhh of venting exhaust, the glass cylinders slid open. What lay inside were not human. They were meticulously crafted humanoid frames—androids—constructed from silicon skin and synthetic musculature.

"This is…" I swallowed hard as I looked at them, one by one. A noble-looking man holding a ritual baton (shaku), radiating an aura of absolute aristocratic authority. A young warrior clad in heavy feudal armor, oozing pure bloodlust. A woman draped in a twelve-layered ceremonial robe (juni-hitoe), her eyes clouded with deep sorrow. Every single one of them featured the wildly exaggerated traits of those "Historical Legends" I had seen in textbooks, but flawlessly fused with cutting-edge, cyberpunk aesthetics.

"Code name: Re-Legends," Yari explained.

"Using gennai's technology, we have recreated the personality data and physical capabilities of these historical figures. Furthermore, they are historical-revision androids enhanced with future technology—literally out-of-place artifacts (OOPArts)."

"Enhanced…?"

"Damn right! They ain't just cheap copies. For example, that Ushiwakamaru over there is packed with a 'Gravity Control Unit,' making his legendary eight-boat leap entirely possible by outright ignoring the laws of physics. And that Himiko over there has a 'Weather Control System' installed, letting her summon rain whenever she pleases."

"What the hell is that?! Those are just straight-up cheats!"

"Damn right they're cheats! Our opponents are stubborn relics of the past. If we don't show them overwhelming 'Miracles,' history ain't gonna budge an inch!" I felt dizzy. A gravity-manipulating Ushiwakamaru. A weather-controlling Himiko. This wasn't historical revision. It was the absolute destruction—the outright violation—of history. If we dropped such absurd anomalies into the past, it wouldn't just rewrite textbooks; it would rewrite the fundamental laws of physics.

"I can't approve this… This is absolute madness," I squeezed the words out of my throat.

"Prime Minister, you claim you want to save Japan, but are you trying to completely tear it apart instead?" This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. In response to my question, Yari allowed a few seconds of silence to fall. Then, he slowly walked up to me, peering into my eyes from point-blank range. The pale blue light deep within his pupils was now blinking fiercely and unmistakably.

"Kataru-kun. Looking at modern Japan... do you find it beautiful?"

"…What?"

"These citizens, living as if they are already dead. This nation, constantly gauging the moods of foreign powers, having lost all its pride, existing merely to consume. Can you say from the bottom of your heart that you love it?" I couldn't answer. I wanted to love it. But I couldn't. That very dilemma was the root cause of my chronic stomachaches and the reason I could no longer write novels.

"I do not love it," Yari stated unequivocally.

"However, I cannot allow it to cease functioning (die). I exist... for the sole purpose of managing this nation."

"…Prime Minister?"

"Therefore, I will do it. If it is not beautiful, I will rewrite it as many times as it takes until it is. That is the duty of the Administrator." His words contained an unearthly resolve and a freezing, absolute isolation. I realized it then. This man—no, this entity —was dead serious. Transcending any concepts of good and evil, he was single-mindedly seeking the solution to the equation of "Japan's Survival." And "Historical Alteration" just happened to be the calculated output.

If that was the case, someone had to step on the brakes. No, we needed someone to grip the steering wheel while pumping the brakes, making sure this runaway juggernaut didn't plummet off a cliff. That was something an AI couldn't do. It was a job only I, a human, could perform.

"…Understood." I let out a massive breath, steeled my resolve, and raised my head.

"I'll cooperate. However, I have a condition."

"Let's hear it."

"I handle the final scenario approval. If you mess with history using only your cold calculations, it's guaranteed to turn into a disaster. I will compensate for the variable known as human 'Emotion' by acting as the story's Narrative Validator." Yari raised an eyebrow, a soft"Hoh" escaping his lips. And then, for the first time today, the corners of his mouth lifted by about five millimeters—he smiled, clearly amused.

"Very well. You have a deal, Narrative Architect."

"Heh, now that's what I'm talking about! I'm counting on you, brother Kataru!" gennai blew a sharp whistle.

"Then we commence the operation immediately," Yari turned on his heel and stood before the first capsule. Sleeping inside was the android of a highly intelligent-looking young man, holding a ritual baton and wearing a crown that resembled a high-tech headset.

"The first target has already been decided. We will plunge our scalpel into the root of this country's lesion... the primary cause that brought about this 'Cognitive Paralysis'."

"The cause of the cognitive paralysis?"

"Correct.

'Reading the room.'

'Never disrupting the harmony.'

'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.'... We are going after the man who coded Version 1. 0 of the Japanese OS." I looked at the name engraved on the capsule's nameplate and gasped. There, etched in the metal, was a name everyone knew—the name of the ultimate legend who had even become the face of Japanese currency.