prof | Let's Play Umineko Chiru, Episode 7 Scene 5: The Beginning

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Ushiromiya Jessica

Krauss and Natsuhi's second child.

Lion has been chosen as the successor to the family headship, so Jessica dreams of pushing the family responsibilities onto Lion and leaving for the city herself.

Apparently, even this massive change to her environment, which was brought about by her not being an only child, hasn't changed her personality.

...So, are you Kinzo.

It's how grandfather looked in the past. I've seen photos. Just what on Earth...

It's the theatergoing power that Bernkastel gave me. Don't try to understand.

I'll just get a headache?

You're getting the hang of this.

Grandfather...

...I didn't want to succeed the Ushiromiya family headship. My being chosen as the head was nothing more than a prank of fate.

In the Great Kanto Earthquake, those in charge passed away, and you were selected from the branch families.

That's correct. After all, grandfather was wise despite his youth, and he already possessed a dignity fitting for the headship.

Fuhahahahaha... ridiculous. Those greedy elders kept looking out for their own personal interests and couldn't decide on a new head at all. It was as foolish as arguing about who the new captain should be on a sinking ship.

So, since you had no connections with anyone in the main family, you were selected right out of the blue.

It was all very pathetic. The elders didn't care who they dragged in as long as it wouldn't benefit anyone of them particularly.

So, they just happened to hear that someone in one of the branch families had six toes, and decided that would do well enough.

Precisely. The elders didn't care what sort of novice became the head, as long as they could make him their puppet. In fact, the more this person was ignorant of how to lead, the better it would be for them.

Grandfather...

Lion, it's quite different in your case. You will be the one who inherits everything I have. That is the fate you were granted on the day of your birth. That is why I gave you that silver ring and raised you so strictly. You are quite different from me. You are already a splendid successor, of whom no one could be ashamed.

Y... Yes, sir...

A puppet for a head... I doubt that could've been easy.

It lasted for so long, that span of gray days. That dizzying stretch of time I spent dead, like moss growing on a rock...

The years spent as a puppet aged Kinzo's body, but not his mind. He remained young at heart, but on the outside, he was someone he hardly recognized in the mirror.

A wife was picked out for him, someone he had never met.

Kinzo feels no connection to the world he's become a part of.

I can't believe it. To think that you, the one who has been praised for being such a bold and wise ruler, lived life like that for so long...

There is nothing so long and faint as a life you do not live for yourself. And yet, it slides on by in the blink of an eye. Do not forget this.

A life... you live for yourself...

Living means having your own will. You were probably dead during that time.

Precisely. I wanted to live. No, I wanted to die. How can a puppet die?

...By cutting the strings.

Kinzo was 'allowed' by the elders to avoid conscription - they needed him alive as a puppet.

However, he was easily able to escape their control at this point.

He had finally found a time and place where he could die.

I thought that if I was going to die anyway, I should try to be of some use to my country... no, that's a lie. I probably just lacked the willpower to end my own life. War was a suitable excuse for death.

I heard that grandfather had knowledge in public works and construction, so he was tasked with setting up facilities for the Navy construction team.

And what a foolish mistake that was. If only I had just said that I had no useful skills, I could have been sent to the dangerous front lines right away...

So, you didn't need to go to the front lines?

Some of the others were overjoyed at their luck. It was the opposite for me. I had only wanted to get drunk on the liquor known as dying for the sake of one's country. The US planes did nothing but cut across the skies of that forgotten island. They didn't have even a bullet to spare for me, much less a bomb.

Is this the time you met Beatrice, grandfather?

Correct. She came to me from the sea...

So, you met here, on Rokkenjima?

What's going on? I heard that Rokkenjima was uninhabited until you bought it, grandfather. I never knew there was a Japanese military base there.

Ah, yes, you could hardly call that a military base. It was just a cave. I was one of the guards of that cave.

The latter part of World War II.

The Japanese Navy had a plan to build a string of hidden bases on various islands, loaded with secret weapon - the Kaiten Manned Torpedo.

Just what sort of fool decided it would be a good idea to plant a base on this desolate island to better preserve its secrecy? Ridiculous. I could never understand what the higher-ups were thinking, and I didn't particularly want to.

So, you were tasked with aiding in the establishment of that base?

Establishment? Certainly, if you call digging out a cave 'establishment'. Not only that, the base was abandoned before its completion.

Why?

Wahahahahaha! Because at that time, Japan no longer had any submarines large enough to transport a Kaiten Torpedo. How truly laughable. What's the point in having a submarine base if there aren't any submarines left? If there's one thing that never changes, it's politicians and their meaningless projects.

One could say that the base was too well-hidden - it was hidden so effectively that the higher-ups all forgot it existed.

The opposite was true for Kinzo - he was being deprived, day by day, of his opportunity to die to the American forces.

The commanding officer beats up Kinzo again. Anger is his only refuge from fear of the enemy.

It's the same way for most of the soldiers here.

Kinzo lacked this anger. After all, he had no fear of death to hide from.

On another day, First Lieutenant Yamamoto calls for Kinzo.

Someone he could just ignore, most of the time. Kinzo was an engineer on an island with no work being done, so who cares what he does or doesn't do?

Unfortunately, what Yamamoto is looking for is someone who speaks Italian. Still, he should be able to manage of the Italians know English.

Ushiromiya Kinzo changes jobs from engineer to interpreter on the spot.

What was the Italian Navy doing here? Didn't Italy surrender in 1943? What's going on?

It was the Kingdom of Italy that surrendered. However, the ones who couldn't accept that surrender joined Mussolini and formed the RSI, so that they could keep fighting.

The RSI?

The Italian Social Republic. Also known as the Salo Republic.

You know your history. The ignorant often call the Italians cowards, saying that they surrendered first of the Axis powers in 1943. That's not true. The military of the Italian Social Republic fought bravely from the outbreak of war until April 29th, 1945.

And Berlin fell just three days after that. Far from being cowards, they gave one hell of a fight. Still, I'm surprised the RSI Navy even had possession of a submarine that could travel all the way to Japan.

Even if they did, it's a surprise that they'd come out this far at all. Why would they come to Japan? Why Rokkenjima?

The few guards on the island stand at the ready. Rumors are that there's some kind of important secret on this sub.

As the Interpreter, Kinzo is called over.

The entire crew is in shambles. Their health is poor, and their mental states are even shakier.

The crew react to the negative, aside from recognizing the language. The one surviving officer speaks in halting English, saying to please wait. They do have one person who speaks English.

That was when they first met.

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