The Returning

"The Returning," as it is referred to by followers of Kodos Fairname, is an increasingly legendary episode in Sekowan history, referring to Fairname's return to Sekowo in August 3937 following 13 years in exile in the Republic of Kirlawa.

In 3941, Kodos Fairname had founded an opposition party, the Yoko Kake Meguppātī. Though Fairname himself is half Kunihito by ethnicity and was born in Sekowo in 3913, his parents, after being threatened and harassed by the terror of the Haiiro no shatsuāmī (Grey Shirt Army), fled with him to the Republic of Kirlawa in 3924, which was welcoming to refugees and immigrants. But Fairname, along with other expatriate Sekowans who settled in the Republic of Kirlawa and elsewhere, always dreamt of one day returning to Sekowo and freeing it from Fascist rule.

Famously, Fairname is said to have sailed across the ocean back to Sekowo from the Republic of Kirlawa in August 3937 in a makeshift catamaran, accompanied only by his friend and closest supporter (Watashitachi No Maru No Orukusu O Aho), and with only three boxes of supplies and food. Fairname's supporters The event has since been semi-mythologized amongst Kodos' supporters as "The Returning."

The way in which some of Fairname's supporters have come to (seemingly) exaggerate the actual events involved can be seen in whispered references to the so-called "episode with the sharks," which is believed by Fairname's most ardent supporters to be incontrovertible evidence of Fairname's bravery and willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of Sekowo. Other, more skeptical observers doubt that this episode ever actually occurred, and members of other parties have begun to warn of the dangers imminent in overly mythologizing Fairname's return from exile.

This has already begun to result in political tensions. In 3946, after Miyamoto Takimoto invited, education minister Mi Baiyō Inoshishi was asked by a reporter what students in Sekowo's schools would be taught under the national curriculum about 'The Return' of Kodos Fairname.

Minister Mi Baiyō Inoshishi said: Naturally students will learn about all recent events of historical importance. The exile of so many Sekowans, the beatings of 'deviants' by the Gurē no shatsu-gun, the hospitality of the Republic of Kirlawa and other nations to Sekowan refugees, The Return of Kodos Fairname - how he traveled, bravely, across the ocean... how when food ran out, he fished... the great storm of August 14... the episode with the sharks... the spotting of land on August 27 by Watashitachi No Maru No Orukusu O Aho... how Kodos Fairname kissed the sandy beaches of Yagaji beach ... the foundation of the the founding of the Yoko Kake Meguppātī... how it gained support as Sekowans increasingly dared to openly resist the Fascist government... the passage of the Takimoto reforms after Miyamoto Takimoto realized that he had no choice but to adopt the course of reform or face a Green revolutionary spring..." Following this, Kodos Fairname asked for and received Mi Baiyō Inoshishi's resignation. However, upon the Yoko Kake Meguppātī landslide electoral victory in 3947, Mi Baiyō Inoshishi once again resumed his post in the education ministry, raising questions about what some opposition members of parliament have already come to warn is developing into a "cult of personality."

A replica of Kodos Fairname's catamaran, from the national museum in Itokaki (Ichugachi):