Third-person POV
Back in Tokyo, Japan, at 5 pm Tokyo Time, in the Kantei, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Motoi arrived from his stressful job, all disheveled and looked as if he hadn't slept for a week, only to be informed by one of the attendants on Presidents Leo Santos and Paul Suharto's arrival from Manila and Jakarta an hour ago.
"W-What?" Shinzō was trembling. "President Leo Santos of the Philippines, the second youngest president of the country whom I shook hands with a couple months ago after his election? And President Paul Suharto, the grandson of the notorious Suharto who placed the 31-year reign over Indonesia? They are here?"
"Yes, sir, and they are awaiting your audience, Prime Minister," the attendant nervously responded. "Even so, some of us were given snacks from their home countries as a peace offering."
Because of that, Shinzō, with his necktie untied and full of wrinkles, ran to the big drawing room, only to see that the two Southeast Asian presidents were eating snacks and drinking tea, as if they were waiting for him like old friends in a café, plus some Filipino and Indonesian snacks for Motoi on the coffee table. An aide of Leo, a young Filipino Baptist lay preacher and former INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo) member named Boaz Isagani, was beside Leo on the sofa eating a pack of Cream-O. Boaz had been a friend of Leo and was a lay preacher in an EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) church Leo attended back in Manila's nearby city of Baclaran, the Philippines. He had accompanied Leo for this trip, and Boaz wore a green vestment and a cross necklace over his casual clothes not as a religious dogma but a coping mechanism on his trauma of the INC. On another sofa, figures are munching their soba noodles. One of them is Juan Dante, a 27-year-old Aglipayan senator from the Philippines, and beside him is a 29-year-old member of Indonesia's House of Representatives named Hafid Windayaningrum, who was a Muslim with a peci hat on his head.
One housemaid was at a corner munching on a pack of Piattos chips.
"Good afternoon," Leo said to an astonished Shinzō. "We apologized if we did this without any protocol."
"We didn't want to waste any more time, so we skipped these things," added Paul while adjusting his Indonesian peci hat.
"Good afternoon, sir," Boaz added to Shinzō with a respectful bow.
Juan and Hafid did the same.
Shinzō sat down and took one of the Bischoco packs, tore the top sealed side, and popped the sealed pack open.
As he took a bite of the double-baked bread, Shinzō said, "You three…what are your business here?"
Leo and Paul revealed to him about the operations of the MPC, from the grid rescue to the battle at the Hakaze Inn as Boaz and others in the room ate their snacks in peace. Motoi couldn't believe his ears, even to that 30-year-old, second youngest president of the Philippines Leo. "You two and the other five nations cooperated and…" Shinzō whispered, "...save my country?"
"Yes," replied Leo while pouring his second cup of matcha tea. "We did that three days ago. We planned the Middle Powers Coalition, and two days after that, our intelligence agency operators set foot here in Japan and did their jobs for this Operation: Crusades."
"That was risky, Mr. Santos, Mr. Suharto," Shinzō responded. "The Big Three Powers won't walk away like that. There will be sanctions and -"
"No, we know that this will happen," Paul interrupted while taking a bite of a Kitkat in Matcha flavour. "In the MPC, we were very aware of the possible retribution by the Triad Powers. We set up various measures on them."
"So, Brazil is in, too?" Shinzō asked back.
"Ah, yes," replied Paul. "President Paulo Rios is now on his way from Brasilía, halfway through the Pacific Ocean if I remember correctly from his last update."
"We wanted Brazil's Japanese community to not get a stroke if Paulo ever released the Hakaze Inn Conspiracy publicly," Leo added.
"God works in mysterious ways, Motoi-san," Boaz added while pulling out his smartphone to watch an episode of his favorite anime series "Fruits Basket".
Shinzō then glanced at the two parliament members from the two Southeast Asian countries. "You two are your home countries' legislative bodies, right?"
"Ah, yes, I'm Juan Dante, a senator of the Philippine Senate," Juan responded with a respectful tone and gesture.
"And I'm Hafid Windayaningrum, a member of Indonesia's House of Representatives," Hafid added.
"We are attendants of our respective presidents here," Juan added while gesturing to Leo and Paul.
Shinzō was still speechless. For the first time in his tenure, Japan will not need to be alone, for seven "middle power" nations offered to be its shield. As proof, Paul even showed his phone on the secret, MPC GC for any updates from the other 5 MPC leaders on their way to Japan:
Paulo was now halfway through the Pacific Ocean from Brasilía.
Oguz had been avoiding Chinese and Russian airspaces via the Israeli airspace and Indian Ocean.
Santiago was showing his new shades for a show later when he finally arrived in Haneda.
Leopoldo, Paraskevas, and Santiago also had similar flightpaths that bypassed Chinese and Russian airspaces and entered via the Israeli airspace and Indian Ocean.
And recently, two sets of photos from the NBI and MİT updates on their humanitarian efforts, led by James and Osmanek, in a hamlet village in the Special Region, and the second one by Ferdinand even sent a photo of his NBI team with 2 dead monsters for their hides.
Shinzō struggled to comment that with words, so instead, he uttered, "I really needed help."
"Well said," Leo said with an offer of a handshake. "We'll do our best."
"We got your back, Prime Minister," Paul added.
And so, Shinzō shook hands with them and their parliamentary attendants. And so, Shinzō shook hands with them. Boaz let out his outstretched hand and did a silent prayer for them. This was a partial summit because the other five MPC leaders were still on their way to Tokyo.