The Battle of Bun’ei. Prologue

In the far north of Japan, where the mountains huddle close and the wind sings through the pines, there lies a small village, half-forgotten by the world.

Snow falls here for half the year, soft and endless, blanketing crooked roofs and narrow lanes, muffling the sounds of life until all that remains is a hush—a silence so deep it seems to hold the breath of time itself.

The houses are old, their wood darkened by countless winters, their windows glowing faintly with the golden promise of warmth. Smoke rises from chimneys in thin, hopeful threads, curling into the pale sky. The people move quietly, wrapped in layers of patched clothing, their faces marked by the gentle resignation of those who have learned to expect little and endure much.

There is a sadness here, a sadness as old as the mountains, as wide as the snowfields. It is not the sharp pain of loss, but the slow ache of longing — the sadness of all mankind, woven into the fabric of daily life. It lingers in the empty fields, in the silent shrines, in the laughter that never quite reaches the skies.

Yet in this quiet, in this poverty, there is a kind of peace. The village endures, as it always has, through storm and hunger and the slow passage of years. And when the snow falls at dusk, turning the world to silver and silence, it is almost beautiful — the sadness, the stillness, the small lights shining bravely in the dark.

…And into this gentle, aching stillness, a storm of mad bureaucracy and international misadventure was about to descend.

Chapter One