Wanshu Nights

Wanshu Nights (1965) is an alternate history novel written by Hinoan author Fujioji Kiyomichi where the Niihama Pact won the Second Escar-Varunan War. The story occurs in 1963, twenty years after the end of the war in 1943, and is set in occupied Chisei, specifically in Wanshu. The novel revolves around a Chiseian Tokkeitai officer investigating a plot to murder the Crown Princess of Yamatai.

Though celebrated by Hinoan critics at the time, the sensitive subject matter of the book caused it to become largely obscure in Yamatai and banned in Chisei when it was first published. In 1978, the book unexpectedly gained a cult following after it was shared in a Niihama Technological University reading club, and saw a major growth in popularity in Yamatai. The book was nominated for a belated Yamataian National Literature Prize in 1982 and was also awarded the Michiko Fujimura Award in 1986, three years before Fujioji's death in 1989. A staunch Hinoan nationalist with anti-Yamatai views, Fujioji refused these awards and refused all interviews from Yamataian fans until his death, pointing out that his book was only popular in Yamatai ironically due to the very Yamataian nationalism and historical revisionism that he was criticizing with the book.

A film adaptation was created in 1996, but failed in box offices.

Background
In the novel's alternate history, Kuiju did not open a new front with Arshavat in 1939, instead focusing on the invasion of Chisei. With Kuijuan troops committed to Chisei and arriving to aid in the Battle of Eito, Yamatai is able to capture the Chiseian Grand Queen and secure a Chiseian surrender by 1943. A war between the Niihama Pact and Arshavat from 1949 to 1953 resulted in Arshavat also becoming partitioned between Yamataian and Kuijuan zones. An Arshavati rump state exists to the east, bordering Amphia.

Though the Niihama Pact still exists, both Yamatai and Kuiju are increasingly intolerant of the other. The Kuijuan occupation of West Chisei is considered an affront to the Yashiman unity that the Yamataians sought, while Yamatai's continued occupation of South Arshavat is likewise viewed negatively in Kuiju, as Yamatai's total control over the Crosswind Sea and sea links to Amphia make Kuiju vulnerable to Yamataian manipulation of international trade.

Yeongseon is briefly mentioned disparagingly as being essentially a Yamataian puppet state, while Chanha is also mentioned in a news broadcast to have recently joined the Niihama Pact, though little details are provided. A scene set in Yeongseon does appear in the sequel, however.

Plot summary
The book opens with a prologue involving a Chiseian schoolgirl on a mundane journey from her home in the suburbs to her school, detailing the realities of life in the Greater Yashiman Empire. The narrator implies that life is not particularly good, but not very uncomfortable either, with the new post-war generation no longer understanding the concept of Chiseian independence. Signs of an upcoming celebration are also evident; the Yashiman Crown Princess is to visit Wanshu in a few days.

It is November 1962, Imperial Year 2842. Sub-Inspector Nakamoto Eiji, an ethnic Chiseian member of the Wanshu Police Department's homicide section, is interrupted in the middle of a family dinner by a manslaughter case in a Suwashi district izakaya. Upon arriving at the scene, Nakamoto initially suspects a bar brawl gone wrong, but soon discovers that the man was intentionally murdered. After sending the body back to headquarters for an autopsy, Nakamoto sleeps overnight in his office, thinking about the conversation he had been having with his family; his son expressed his intention to join the Imperial Navy to travel the world.

The next morning, Nakamoto abruptly finds himself off the case. Imperial Army Kenpeitai officers barge into the police headquarters and take over the case, with Nakamoto only managing to overhear that the dead man was actually a high-ranking Imperial Army officer. Nakamoto finds himself now under the command of the inflexible Yamataian Kenpeitai Colonel Inugane Hiroshi, who instructs Nakamoto to focus his efforts on searching for dangerous foreigners.

Inspector Masuda Go

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