Per 
September 2, 1945
"Is it over?"
The words hang in the damp air of the bar, heavy with anticipation. The radio man's voice begins to melt into a dull drone, but I get the most important bits.
"On the USS Missouri…"
"Foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu… instrument of surrender…"
"End of fascism… a triumph for democracy…"
It was over.
I glance down at the shot of sake in my grip, watching the clear liquor ripple and shimmer in the dim light. Emotions that I can't describe begin to bubble inside me, from somewhere deep and primal, threatening to spill out of me.
"Yes," I say. My eyes are still fixated on my sake. "It is."
"Holy shit." The man who sits next to me sounds on the verge of tears. "Holy fucking shit—" He lunges at me, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace. All I can do is reciprocate, placing my hands tenderly on his back.
"We did it, Charlie," I whisper in his ear, blinking back tears. "We did it." I can feel Charlie's breathing, ragged with bottled-up emotions, through his skin. I don't know how long we stayed like that, embracing each other from the relief of years worth of anxious tension. But eventually, we break away.
"God, man." Charlie's eyes are red and watery as he returns his attention to his own shot of sake, softly glimmering from the shaking of his hand. "I can't believe it. I really can't."
"I—" I'm cut off by my crazed laugh, involuntarily ripping out of my throat as all the events from the last five years came to a head. "Am I fucking dreaming?"
"C'mon," Charlie jests with a playful punch to my shoulder, "Pinch me! Pinch me!"
"Nah, man," I giggle like a little child as Charlie grabs my arm, his own face in a rictus of glee, and I try to fend him off, "Nah!" The laughs fade as we both realize the enormity of the situation. The war was over. Finally, democracy had won. I knew it was going to happen. I knew, deep down in my heart despite the horrors of the past six years.
I knew, even after the Nazis brought down Poland and France and England was the only democracy left in Europe.
I knew, even after the Japs brought hellfire down on Pearl Harbor and wiped out twothousand four hundred and three valiant children of Columbia. I knew it.
Democracy always triumphs over fascism.
Light always triumphs over dark.
I bring my glass of sake to my lips and take another sip. In all honesty, I never liked this Jap shit. But back in Okinawa, it was the only kind of liquor a man could get. Eventually, I got accustomed enough as to be able to stomach it.
I'd still take a pint of U.S-brewed beer over this ricey crap any day.
"After all this shit," I remark, my voice low and sober. "All this fucking shit." Images of days gone past flash before my eyes. Smoke and gunfire and screaming. Every inch of progress in the Pacific was paid for with a gallon of American blood. The things that happened on those little islands are best left in the past.
"The things we've been through," Charlie agrees, his youthful eyes fading into the empty stare of a battle-scarred soldier's. "But still, we knew these shitbags would get what they deserved in the end, eh?"
"Yeah. I guess we did."
"You know what these assholes did in Manchuria? In Nanking?" Charlie's voice takes on a caustic prickliness as he leans towards me, his voice hushed. "Bad shit. Made a fucking contest out of murdering civvies with a katana." I sigh in response. Times like these reveal the dark hearts of men indeed.
"And the rape," Charlie continues. "Christ, it makes me want to pour bleach into my brain. They did it to kids, man. Kids."
"God." I don't know what to say. It's funny, confronting the abyss. No matter what you might think of it beforehand, whatever choice words you might have, staring straight at it always reduces you to quiet introspection. Not only of other people, but of yourself too. "But that's all in the past now." Now that fascism was gone for good, the United States of America has an opportunity to bring light to the world once more. We can bring the same ideals that our forefathers brought to the U.S people when they chose to break away from England to the Japanese, and to the rest of the world.
We can create a better reality.
"Right." Charlie looks outside at the dark Tokyo streets. "It's all behind us now."
December 14, 1945
仕方がない.
That's what I hear the Japs are saying. Shikata ga nai. Nothing can be done about it. I've quickly decided that it's one of my most hated phrases.
Japan has been in turmoil since we've arrived. Resources are scarce. Homelessness is on the rise. After being indoctrinated for years about the invulnerability of their empire, their people have fallen into a haze of despair and lethargy.
Shikata ga nai.
Nothing can be done about it.
In spite of the pervading mindset of resignation I see all around me, I can't help but think the future is bright. Back home, they're sending money to all countries affected by the war. I hear billions are going to go to Japan alone. Things aren't going to be like this forever. The world can always be changed, can always be made better than it was the day before.
Always.
I ruminate on these thoughts for a while as I walk through the streets of Tokyo. The things I see around me are not pretty.
Today
I wake up with a start.
Thin strands of daylight are peeking out from behind the blinds, reminders to me that it is time to wake up.
I've never been a morning person. I take my time getting out of bed, my energy only hampered by the effects of age. Whatever's keeping me alive past my normal lifespan isn't doing a very good job of relieving the aches and pains of old age.
I start brewing my morning coffee. As my brain rises out of the haze of slumber and into the light of consciousness, I begin to recollect the duties of the day I must address. The council meeting from yesterday still weighs heavily on my mind. Thirteen hadn't exactly been the most agreeable, the grumpy bastard. Ambling over to my laptop, I flip it open.
INPUT CREDENTIALS:
The screen blinks at me. I log in.
CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED
BIOMETRIC SCAN ACCEPTED
WELCOME, O5-1
I'm greeted by a familiar sight.
DECISION IN PROGRESS - OVERSEER COUNCIL ACTION #31-1 ("PIC-6")
MOTION AS FOLLOWS: CLASSIFY THE PHENOMENON AS DETAILED BY SCP-3614-2 AS ANOMALOUS AND ENACT EMERGENCY SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES.
YEA:
NAY:
ABSTAIN:
VOTES PENDING: O5-1, O5-2, O5-3, O5-4, O5-5, O5-6, O5-7, O5-8, O5-9, O5-10, O5-11, O5-12, O5-13
RESULT: N/A
YOUR VOTE:
YEA
NAY
Images of the war flood my memory as I read the words on the screen. Of Charlie. Of that Japanese woman. I know what I must do.
I click nay.
