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Chapter 112 Part 1

Father’s Traces ~BEYOND THE TIME~

『Earlier this morning, the Metropolitan Police Department conducted a simultaneous raid on the headquarters and various branch offices of a religious group called the 『Saint Salvation Church』.

From this, they managed to take custody of a total of eight men who were confined at the headquarters and various branches in Tokyo.

The leader of the religious group, who is known as the Great Saint, Touhou Maria… real name Higashi Mako (42), and four of the executives were taken away on charges of abduction and confinement, sexual assault, fraud, etc.

The 『Saint Salvation Church』 had long targeted women who were married to men, teaching that all men and women would be saved under the guidance of the Great Saint, but it was said that there were problems with the method they employed to achieve it.

There was a suspicion that after having a female believer bring her husband to the church, the leader and a number of executives would sexually assault the man in the name of carrying out a ritual unique to the religious group….』

『A woman living in Chiba City was interviewed on suspicion of illegally taking boy’s allowance for two years after not reporting the death of the boy.

She told school officials and city hall staff who came to check on the boy, who had not attended school despite having completed enrollment procedures at a local elementary school, that he was feeling unwell and was resting in bed. She chased them away, saying he didn’t want to see anyone, but taking into account the safety of the boy, they made a report to the police, and upon searching the house, they found a child’s body, which had turned into skeleton, in the backyard.…』

『In order to address the issue of the growing number of women who are growing old without having the opportunity to come into contact with men throughout their lives, the opposition parties have been moving forward with the idea of jointly submitting a law on equal opportunities for men and women to get into relationships, which has been a pending issue for some time, at the next extraordinary Diet session, but some political parties are calling for further improvement of women’s status and reduction of men’s rights, reflecting the Men-sharing movement that is showing an upward trend….』

『Having seen an endless number of men fleeing from the country, the Chinese Communist Party government (Chongqing Communist Government), which is known for their poor treatment of men, are intensifying their accusations of the Republic of China (Nanjing Nationalist Government) and Japan, which are the main destinations of the refugees, claiming that both countries are using despicable means to lure men away from their country.

However, believing that they are making ridiculous false accusations while turning a blind eye to the blunders made by their own country, both the Republic of China and Japan ignored them….』

『The next news came from the entertainment industry.

The Taiwan concert by J-BOYS, a boy idol group which is extremely popular in Japan, was held from last week to this week, and ended with great success, attracting a total of 300,000 viewers over five performances.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of female fans gathered at Taipei’s airport to see them off on their return to Japan.

There was a moment when panic almost occurred as fans crowded into the aisles of the airport to get a glimpse of the group members, but the commotion was brought under control when it was announced that the group had already returned to Japan using a different airport.』

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After finishing dinner at home, Yuu was watching the public broadcasting news.

Except for his job-hunting years and the first few years of his career, he didn’t have the habit of watching TV every day.

Now, however, he watched the news every morning and night.

Much of the news reported were related to men.

That showed just how high the interest of the society in those matters.

On the table were today’s newspapers and the weekly magazines that he had asked Kanako and Touko to buy for him.

As of late, books on male-female issues had started to make their way into the bookshelf in the room.

In an age when the Internet was not widely available, the only way to look things up was to directly hit up newspapers and books.

In this sense, it was common to use the library.

Recalling the kindness shown to him by the beautiful, voluptuous, bespectacled librarian lady, he had the urge to visit the library, but when he thought that he might cause another commotion, he couldn’t help but find it troublesome.

As for why Yuu had come to show that much interest in the matters, a question occurred to him upon hearing the term men-sharing movement and witnessing demonstrations related to it.

What in the world was the men-sharing movement?

To begin with, the men’s situation was vastly different between now and in the past.

After the male population drastically decreased due to intermittent outbreaks of the Red Death, men had to resign themselves to be put under the jurisdiction of women, who had taken over the leading role in society, as sources of baby seeds for a long time.

Although there were differences depending on the country, region, or social status, he heard that there was even a time when they were forced to live lives where their dignity as a human being was trampled upon.

However, in the 20th century, the idea of male protection spread along with human rights ideas, and the treatment gradually changed, especially in Europe.

In short, their status changed from those who had their semen controlled in order to maintain the population without regards to their wishes, to those who were treated with hospitality and had their wishes respected.

Although it was difficult to eradicate serious crimes such as sexual assault and human trafficking committed by women, they devised protection system and strove to create a society that was hospitable to men.

The turning point in Japan was probably the 『New Law for the Protection of Men』, which was enacted in 1980.

Though, even before that, there had been a trend toward reformation, such as giving preferential treatment to foreign men and increasing opportunities for young boys and girls to interact, starting by increasing the number of coeducational schools.

While the treatment of men had come to be hospitable throughout the country, it was the majority of women who had to get the short end of the stick.

This was an era when the male to female ratio was approximately 1:30.

Simply put, if a man chose three women to marry, then naturally the remaining 27 women would be forced to lead a single life for the rest of their lives.

Those who had the opportunity to date and have sex with a man, even if only once, while they were young were on the luckier side.

In most cases, they gave birth to children through artificial insemination using cryopreserved semen.

Although it had not yet been scientifically proven, most boys were born only through natural insemination, and babies born through artificial insemination had a high probability of being girls.

For that reason, the term 『negative spiral of generational female-only families』 was born.

Blessed with no opportunities to get into close contact with men, who were precious existences, until they reached adulthood, they had no idea how to interact with them, so relationships and marriage were nothing but a dream within a dream.

And then, as the women grew older and older, there was no way they wouldn’t hold dissatisfaction toward the society.

「It’s society and the government’s fault that we have no fates with men at all!」

「Give everyone equal opportunities to come into contact with men!」

It made them want to scream as such.

And then, in some parts of the world, especially the inland areas of the Eurasian and African continents, in part due to the late spread of the Red Death, the idea of men’s protection was not very widespread, either.

Although there were differences in degree, there were countries that exercised the old-fashioned strict control over men.

Having learned that they would be treated with care if they moved to developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan, many men tried to flee from their country, but most of the time the countries were dictatorial and exercised strict controls, or they were far away from the safe areas, so the overwhelming majority of them were either captured before they could get out of their country, or even after they manage to get out, they were caught by another country and ended up in a similar situation.

When the reality of the situation became known to the few developed countries that accepted refugees, they voiced their condemnation, but as expected, they did not go as far as resorting to military force, so the situation remained the same no matter how much time passed.

In any case, women who were dissatisfied with their situations in developed countries began to think about modifying the male management system that still existed even today and introducing it into their own countries.

The world they lived in today, where many of the women who made up society were getting the short end of the stick and suffering from a heavy burden, was crazy.

Men who took advantage of the fact that they could live an easy life without having to work and have their wives provide for them were a burden to society.

It would be healthier if men, who were vainly eating up taxpayers’ money, were imposed with a certain amount of duty.

In other words, they ought to go back to old ways and have them take women as companions according to the ratio of men to women.

And calling out for these was the movement of sharing men by women for women, or the men-sharing movement for short.

It was said that the ideology of the men-sharing movement actually entered Japan before 1970.

In the beginning, it was nothing but a small force.

In fact, in the general election held in 1974, male-sharing party put up some candidates but were unable to win even a single seat.

It was in the late 1980s that the trend began to change.