Scarlet Snow, Pale Water

Chapter 5: Footprints in the Snow

February 20, the day of the ballot counting.

An unbelievable miracle occurred. Overcoming the persistent oppression and surveillance, the proletarian party achieved a historic leap forward, winning 18 seats. In the election office, the young people gathered around the radio hugged each other, cheering wildly. Koji and Yukino wept, gripping each other's hands tightly.

"We did it... We did it, Koji! Our words reached them!" "Yeah. We didn't have to use violence. Patient conversation and peaceful solidarity moved this country. Shintaro, did you see? This is our justice...!"

Koji's chest was filled with the radiant light of hope.
But that light of hope would be shattered in the most brutal manner only a few days later.

February 26, before dawn. Amidst a heavy snow that turned the capital pure white, the rebel forces led by Shintaro and other young officers rose up.

The outbreak of the "February 26 Incident." Shintaro and his men raided the private residences of high-ranking government officials, slaughtering them one after another.

Blood sprayed, dyeing the pure white snow a dark, reddish-black. "Long live the Showa Restoration!" To them, this was the

"justice of swift salvation" to rescue the starving populace.

However, the price of that violence was catastrophic. The rebellion was suppressed within days. Shintaro and the other officers were branded "traitors," court-martialed, and executed by firing squad.

Worse still, the military used this massive chaos as a pretext to decisively tighten its grip on politics.

Under the guise of "maintaining public order," the proletarian party's activities were completely banned, and the power of the 18 seats they had just won was stripped away. The society rapidly spiraled down a steep slope into a dark military state where no dissent was permitted.

A few days after the incident. In the imperial capital under a gloomy, leaden sky, where the faint scent of blood and the lingering odor of gunpowder still drifted. Koji sat in the slushy snow, slamming his fist against the ground.

"In the end, their violence ruined everything! All our hopes for a peaceful parliament, gone!"

Koji cried, tears streaming down his face. "Words without weapons are just trampled under military boots! Shintaro was right... we who have no power are only destined to be crushed!"

Yukino quietly knelt before Koji and gently wrapped her hands around his fist, which was soiled with mud and snow. Her hands were incredibly warm.

"No, Koji. Shintaro's violence may have seemed like it changed the world overnight, but violence only deepens the wounds. The justice they tried to build is like this heavy snow—it will melt away, cold and forgotten, when spring comes."

Yukino looked straight into Koji's eyes.

"But the fire of words we lit in their hearts, even as we swallowed that bitter, tasteless water, will never die. It may be invisible, it may be outlawed, but it will sleep like an inextinguishable seed deep in their chests.

I believe, Koji. I truly believe that a day will come when we can change the world together—not with fists, but with our words."

In the warmth of Yukino's palm, Koji remembered the heat of the plain water that had scorched his insides, and he remembered their starting point.

"The fire of words... will never die. Not as long as we keep it burning."

Koji took a deep breath and stood up with resolve. Taking each other's freezing hands and avoiding the blood-stained patches, they walked out onto the white snow where no one had yet walked, leaving their own distinct, steady footprints in the snow, one step at a time.

📖Reversechapter：https://note.com/ttukumoo/n/n9ca4a8fc0380
🌐OriginalJapanese：https://note.com/juicy_laelia8513/n/n8f1bc4eeb619

"Thank you so much for reading to the very end!"💗