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Chapter 82 – Spring Bullet Tour? (4)

We arrived at our next destination, Hiroshima.

From Aioi, we returned to Himeji, then took an-overnight train to Hiroshima. We arrived in the middle of the night, but since accommodations had already been arranged, we met up with Torasaburou there, exchanged a quick greeting, and went straight to bed.

Hiroshima is next to Choshu (Yamaguchi Prefecture) and is the leading city in the Chugoku region, so it’s one of the bases of the Ootori zaibatsu—its stronghold, even. There’s a bank under its umbrella here, and many branch offices of affiliated companies.

On the flip side, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the Ootori are less hated by the Choshu faction and more just excluded altogether, so we barely have any footing there.

That’s why Hiroshima City, which developed significantly after the Meiji period, can be said to be practically home ground or a power base for us.

(And precisely because of that, it’ll become one of the causes of the Ootori’s complete collapse in the war.)

Regardless of Ootori’s future potential, I made a brief courtesy visit to the Hiroshima branch. And right after that, we headed to the next destination.

It was located in the eastern part of Hiroshima City, where our headquarters would be in my previous life. Apparently, because the Ootori expanded the business aggressively after taking it over in 1926, this move had been pushed forward by several years. Still, the fact that we ended up in the exact same location—even ahead of schedule—feels almost like fate.

And before me stood what appeared to be a newly built, unexpectedly large factory. The company name was “Toyo Kogyo.” It hadn’t yet become the “MAZDA” I recognized from my previous life.

“We’ve been expecting you.”

“Hey, Matsuda-san. This here’s the Ootori family’s hidden gem.”

Since Torasaburou had already arrived in Hiroshima the previous evening and met with him beforehand, their greeting was brief.

But for me, it was our first meeting, so I switched into full polite-cat mode.

“I’m Ootori Reiko of the Ootori Count family. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m accompanying my great-uncle Torasaburou for social studies.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Matsuda Juujirou. Such a polite greeting despite your young age—I’m quite impressed to hear you’re here for social studies.”

(Hmm? That’s not a Hiroshima dialect, is it? But he also spent a long time in Osaka, so maybe there’s some Kansai accent? Could it be that he’s intentionally using standard Japanese?)

People in this era mostly spoke in their native dialects, but I decided to take it as a gesture of consideration for me, being from the Kanto region.

However, my relatives had no such consideration whatsoever.

“Hey, Reiko. No need to play coy. Matsuda-san’s practically family. And you too, Matsuda-san—no need for such stiff formality with her.”

(Well sure, Torasaburou, you’re machine buddies with him, so that makes sense… And honestly, I do kind of like that about you.)

I glared at him with a side-eye full of silent reproach—but, as always, it was like water off a duck’s back.

Having no choice, I let out a light sigh and started over.

“Um, Matsuda-san. Is it alright if I speak more casually?”

“Ah, yes. Feel free. I’ve been holding back my own accent, so I suppose it works both ways.”

“Your accent… is it Hiroshima dialect after all?”

“Yes. While I was in Osaka, I picked up a pretty strong Kansai accent, but once I came back, I naturally switched back to jaken no Hiroshima speech.”

He said that with a playful grin.

He still seemed to be treating me like a child, but at least he glanced toward Torasaburou for confirmation.

“What is it? I already told Matsuda-san he can treat you like an adult. I also told him to send over money, imported cars, and machine tools to your place.”

(So I really don’t need to play the polite little girl, huh?)

“That’s how it is. If there’s anything you need, just say the word. Next year or the year after, we’re planning to purchase an entire Ford production line, so it’d help if you could secure the land and workforce for us.”

Matsuda-san’s previously relaxed face instantly shifted to one of surprise—”Eh?”

And to make things worse, Torasaburou added fuel to the fire with a smug grin.

“Don’t worry. Ootori will be the first to bring in the line. And we’ll also have Ueno-san come back here again.”

“R-right…”

“Oh, that reminds me—has Ueno-san come by here recently?”

“Yes, he’s come by and given us a great deal of guidance. This factory wouldn’t have been possible without Ueno-san. It was truly an eye-opening experience.”

(Yeah, that’s the ‘Father of Efficiency’ for you. We owe a lot to him too.)

However, because Ueno Youichi—the “Father of Efficiency”—has been busy visiting various Ootori Group and affiliated companies, he apparently doesn’t have much time to write books promoting efficiency. On the other hand, there are things you only understand by actually doing them, so there’s no doubt that he’s written different kinds of books from the ones in my previous life. In fact, there are books that go into detail about the Ootori Group.

And today, part of the reason we came was to inspect whether it’s really feasible to install a full Ford-style production line, and to see some of the actual results for ourselves.

So we talked as we were given a tour around the factory.

“And what are you currently producing here?”

“Mainly what we call ‘auto-sanwheels’—small, three-wheeled trucks that we develop and manufacture. That line over there is for the new model; it’s where we’re producing our latest product.

You’ve imported various four-wheeled vehicles through Ootori, but for us, making larger cars is still a bit difficult. And even if we did make expensive cars, there aren’t many buyers for them in the countryside.”

“The only reason Ootori’s cars are selling is because landlords want to show off, after all.”

“Still, the fact that you found a market is impressive—just what I’d expect from Ootori. That said, for cars to become widely used, we’ll also need paved roads and a widespread network of gas stations, so it’ll still take time.”

“In Tokyo, the number of cars is gradually increasing though. Hey, Torasaburou, how about we have the government start building asphalt roads? That waste oil from Ryouga—you’re either selling it cheaply to shipping companies or just dumping it, right?”

“That could work, but if we’re going to make paved roads that aren’t concrete, we’ll need vehicles specialized for grading and paving. Even before that, we need factories that can produce asphalt for road construction. And if we want to do it all at once, we’ll need a huge number of heavy machines. Don’t get the order wrong.”

“Ah, right. So I guess we start with Komatsu-san’s place, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“…Um? Has this kind of discussion already reached the Ootori central office?”

To us, it was just a casual conversation with Torasaburou, but to Matsuda-san, it seemed more than a little shocking.

As for me, I still can’t get used to the dusty, unpaved roads everywhere—but that’s the reality of this time period. Paved roads are still rare. Tokyo had a rapid increase in paved roads thanks to post-Great Kanto Earthquake redevelopment, but rural areas are far behind.

Even National Route 1—the Tokaido—was still nothing more than a gravel road that turned into a muddy mess after heavy rain.

And at this time, asphalt paving was still a technology that hadn’t spread widely—paved roads were made of concrete. That’s probably why roads in old urban photographs look white.

“Yeah. We’ll handle the roads and gas stations on our end, so just focus on making and selling the vehicles. We’ll have the other Ootori companies handle the advertising.”

“Y-Yes. Reiko-sama, you really are the one overseeing all of Ootori, aren’t you?”

“I’m just the one asking for things to be done.”

“Well, she sees too far ahead. If you don’t put someone in between, things spin out of control,” Torasaburou added with a wry smile, wrapping up the exchange.

Behind him, old man Yagami wore an expression like, “Of course she does.”

I don’t get it.

Even though we kept talking afterward, it didn’t take as long as expected, so we took our leave from Matsuda-san’s place and crossed Hiroshima Bay by boat.

Our destination: Itsukushima. Though with all the traveling involved, it still took about two hours.

The nominal reason was that since we’d come all the way to Hiroshima, we might as well pay our respects. Naturally, as representatives of the Ootori Group and the Ootori Count family, we offered an appropriate amount as a tamagushiryou (ritual offering).

After finishing our visit at Itsukushima Shrine, we transferred to another boat and continued farther out to sea. The destination: Etajima, the holy land of the Navy—and beyond that, Hashirajima Anchorage.

The visit to Itsukushima Shrine was half a cover. My real objective was to observe the Navy.

Of course, we had already secured the Navy’s permission. In fact, the ship we were on belonged to the Navy, and it was being operated by Navy officers and sailors. This was probably part of their thanks for the oil.

However, since we’re civilians, we weren’t allowed to tour the Naval Academy. I’ve never regretted not having any Navy members in my family or clan as much as I did today.

Still, since this is a whirlwind tour, we didn’t have much time anyway. So the plan was to get a look at the Combined Fleet anchored off Hashirajima and then pass by the coast of Kure on the way back—a kind of cruising tour.

“Oooh!”

Not long after leaving Hiroshima Bay, Japanese Navy vessels began to come into view in the distance.

Over there, one ship; here, another; four ships lined up in this direction, and two more side by side over there—the ships of the Japanese Navy were calmly anchored all around.

Some ships were even slowly moving. When it came to the larger ones, just seeing them in motion was already impressive.

But most of the ships didn’t match the ones I remembered from photographs or illustrations.

The only familiar sight was the Houshou, who even appeared in a famous anime film. Nagato and Mutsu, for instance—the forward of their two smokestacks was oddly bent. The versions I knew only had one smokestack. Their bridge structures were also quite different. Actually, most of the battleships had noticeably different bridges and other details. Overall, they all looked slimmer.

Among the cruisers, the light cruisers all felt vaguely familiar, but they looked so similar that it was hard to tell them apart without getting really close. The only ones I could recognize without being told were the Tenryuu girls. As for Yubari, she was in Yokosuka, so not here.

On the other hand, I was pretty surprised when I was told which ones were Furutaka and Kako—their guns were totally different from what I remembered. And as of now, the newest ship is Nachi, who actually entered service in Kure ahead of her eldest sister, Myoukou. Her other sisters are apparently scheduled to be commissioned later this year.

Among the destroyers, there were a few Fubuki girls, but the rest were of the Mutsuki-class or the Kamikaze-class, and from a distance, they all looked more or less the same. I also recognized some familiar-sounding names, but it turned out many of them were older-generation destroyers.

The most eye-catching ship—or at least the one that looked completely different—was Kaga. Her flight deck was in three levels, with a gun mounted in the middle. I heard Akagi had a similar structure, but she was stationed in Yokosuka rather than Hashirajima.

“This isn’t all of them, is it?”

“Even though this is considered sacred ground for the Navy, not even half of the fleet is here.”

“I see. But still, it’s really amazing.”

The three of us each watched with our own thoughts and impressions—but for some reason, the two muscle-heads with us stayed completely silent.

“Hey, Yagami-occhan, is something bothering you?”

There was a brief pause before Yagami-occhan raised an eyebrow at my words and finally opened his mouth.

“…Yeah. If they’ve got the resources to build such a luxurious fleet, I wish they’d spare some of that for the land—no, for the continent.”

“I see. I guess you’d think that way, being stationed over there.”

“Well, not exactly. Still, I do think this is a pretty extravagant sight in its own right.”

“Don’t pout like that. I’ll have them develop new tanks too.”

“You’re even doing that?”

For once, Yagami-occhan looked genuinely surprised.

Still, he kept his tone restrained—so I decided to surprise him a bit more.

“I’m planning to talk to Komatsu about it too. You didn’t know?”

“I only heard the destinations, nothing beyond that. But isn’t the Army Arsenal already developing tanks?”

“Sure. But at this rate, they’ll be outdated when it really matters. We need to build something with potential for the future.”

“As expected of our Princess.”

Though I hadn’t asked, Wan-san nodded along, arms crossed.
He wasn’t fazed by anything I said, nor did he seem the least bit bothered by the massive fleet in front of us.

I mean, the guy isn’t even swaying in the slightest on this boat. His physical balance is ridiculous—it’s almost impressive how stable he is.

“Thanks. But honestly, I feel like you could beat that tank yourself, Wan-san.”

“If that is your wish.”

“Ahaha. Please don’t actually fight a hunk of metal. Your body is far too precious.”

“Your concern for someone like me humbles me beyond words. But when you speak of a precious body, surely you mean Your Highness. You, above all, must take great care of your health.”

“Thank you. But you two must be bored, right? Babysitting a kid in peaceful Japan like this?”

“Not really. For me, this is half like a vacation, too.”

“I’m glad to hear that. And you, Wan-san?”

“This is actually my first time in Japan. Everything I see and hear is fascinating.”

He didn’t look it at all, but I guess he was enjoying himself in his own way.

“Well, the day after tomorrow we’ll be staying at Arima Onsen, and then we’ll head to another hot spring in Hokuriku. So take turns and relax a bit, alright?”

Even though I said that, Yagami-occhan just shrugged, and Wan-san gave a deep, polite bow, saying, “I appreciate your consideration.” I mean, I get that they’re on duty as bodyguards, but still—it wouldn’t hurt to say something a little more friendly.

(Maybe they’re secretly fighting shadow battles behind the scenes where I can’t see them… Nah, probably not.)

Matsuda:
In real history, they started producing three-wheeled vehicles in the 1930s. They only got into four-wheeled cars after the war.
It’s interesting how most Japanese automakers originally came from entirely different industries.

Auto Tricycles (Auto Sanrin):
Originally developed from motorcycles. They’re the ancestors of kei-trucks.
Lightweight, inexpensive, durable on rough roads, and tolerant of overloading.
Mazda and Daihatsu are probably the most well-known manufacturers.

Itsukushima Shrine:
One of Japan’s tourist spots that never disappoints.
Among Japan’s architectural World Heritage Sites, it’s one of the flashier and more striking ones.

Etajima, Hashirajima, Kure:
The Imperial Japanese Navy’s home base, sacred grounds, and eventually its final resting place.