Striving for Literary Greatness in Japan

Transported to Japan in the year 1900, Asuka Hong feels utterly doomed. In an era dominated by militarism, the oppression of ordinary people is severe, with conscription and forced labor serving as the grim foundation of a so-called co-prosperity. Unwilling to become an accomplice to this regime yet feeling powerless against it, he witnesses students being indoctrinated in classrooms and fellow expatriates from his beloved homeland growing numb. Driven by a desperate desire to save lives amidst widespread suffering, he realizes he cannot openly preach his beliefs. Instead, he conceals his revolutionary ideals within literature, penning works such as Seven Samurai, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, and The Million Pound Bank Note. Though often lonely, he remains hopeful that his words might change the world, even if only for a fleeting moment. When Fujino-sensei—who has inexplicably become a woman in this timeline—asks from behind him whether his writing truly serves any purpose, he answers with quiet conviction that it will, eventually, make a difference.