Hoshino Yozo (OUTDATED)

Nifonmiki National Army

(1949-)

 Ordo 27

(1956-)

1956-Present (Ordo 27)

**Hoshino Yozo** (星野陽三, ほしの ようぞう, *Yozo Hoshino*, Born 4 December 1921) is the Low Parriarch of the Holy State of Nifonmiki. Yozo has been credited for the expansion of Nifonmiki's borders up to the island of Shikoku, subsequently allowing the nation to proclaim itself a major power within the Japanese archipelago. Additionally; Yozo is a prominent religious leader of the Oura Church, being noted as the 'Founder' of the Church of the 27 Martyrs.

## Biography

### Early Life

Yozo was born on 4 December 1921 to a family of impoverished, agnostic poultry farmers who lived on the outskirts of Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture in the Empire of Japan. Yozo had two older twin brothers and one younger sister, all of whom shared a single bedroom with during his adolescence. Yozo never received formal education, instead learning basic math and arithmetic from village elders, and eventually seeking literacy at local libraries early on in life. At the age of 16, Yozo saw his two brothers conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army to fight in the The Second Sino-Japanese War, neither of which would return after the war had ended. Soon after turning 18, Yozo moved to Nagasaki for better work prospects, promising his mother, father, and sister that he would find them better opportunity in the city.

### World War II

At age 18, Yozo worked as a longshoreman in the ports of Nagasaki, frequently stocking munitions and provisions for Imperial Japanese Navy vessels. After years of stocking such vessels, Yozo became disillusioned with the Japanese Navy, seeing the naval officers as uptight and humorless; this distaste for the navy eventually led him to underground anti-Imperial meetings, in which he developed a larger hatred for the very roots of the Empire. Yozo quit his job in August 1942 and began smuggling anti-Imperial literature through the connections he had made from his time as a longshoreman, allowing him to become a large contributor of anti-Imperial sentiment throughout urban Nagasaki.

At age 20, Yozo moved back to Omura to live with his parents and sister, eventually convincing his family to follow the anti-Imperial ideology that he had followed since 1941. Both Yozo and his father had to lie about their ages to avoid conscription, further leading them into smuggling contraband for the various anti-Imperial, pro-Socialist movements.

It was not until 1944 when large-scale American bombing raids pounded the Nagasaki prefecture did Yozo develop a burning hatred for American imperialism. Hundreds of thousands died in the bombings of Kyushu, which lasted over 12 months, leaving the entire island in ruin and virtually every remaining citizen destitute. Among the casualties included the Hoshino elders, leaving just Yozo and his sister to live together in absolute poverty for almost two years, living off nothing but sewer rats and canned goods. There was no more contraband to be smuggled for anti-Imperial groups, as all ports had been systematically destroyed and all that was left for the anti-Imperialists was themselves. It was only in 1945 when Yozo decided to join an anti-imperialist militant group to ensure his sister's safe travel away from Japan; spending everything he had to have her depart on an underground refugee boat headed for [NATION].

Operation Downfall had proved disastrous for the small militia Yozo fought for and Kyushu as a whole. The superior numbers and advanced equipment of the American soldiers destroyed the local freedom fighter groups, leaving the surviving militia soldiers to choke on the bloody ashes of their homeland. Yozo sustained a serious injury to his right leg during a skirmish with a detachment of the American 1st Calvary Division in August 1945, with insufficient medical supplies and expertise leaving him permanently scarred and unable to walk comfortably without a cane.

With his leg mangled and spirit broken, Yozo and his remaining anti-Imperialist compatriots retreated to the now-flooding city of Nagasaki to witness the end of their once-prosperous homeland, only to find that the city had already been captured by American forces. Yozo and his fellow fighters were all jailed for rebel activity and held in a ramshackle American-built penitentiary until November of 1946, when a militia known as the 'Mikinoko Independent Order' liberated the penitentiary and city of Nagasaki from American forces, giving the freed prisoners a choice between rebuilding the city or fighting on the frontlines of Fokuoka, where MIO forces had advanced to since October. Yozo chose to fight on the front lines, as he figured it would be less labor-intensive than working to rebuild the city. The MIO officers quickly saw through his ruse and offered to put him on operating mule-driven supply carriages for the militia force, to which he happily agreed to do. It was not until weeks after his assignment did he read into the ideology of the faction, only then finding out through other carriage operators that they stemmed from a long-hidden group of Christians. On his long voyages through the Kyushu mountains, Yozo began comprehensively studying the morals and philosophies of the Mikinoko, as the literature on them became easily available after after the establishment of the MIO. Yozo saw many flaws in the Mikinoko, but viewed many more philosophies as incredibly sophisticated and tolerant compared to the veritable caste system that made up the Japanese Empire. Yozo slowly transitioned into the Oura faith, occasionally attending front line congregations of what he considered "Fanatical fighters, unwilling to give in to any enemy no matter the situation." while delivering much-needed supplies to the militia fighters. It was only until the establishment of Nifonmiki when Yozo decided to officially attend Oura assembly and participate in the Oura church.

### Early Nifonmiki / Post War

Yozo was only 25 when the State of Nifonmiki was established by the Mikinoko, with rebuilt areas of Nagasaki declared the *de jure* capital of the new nation. Yozo was awarded both a *Medal of Early Valour* and *Award of the Unknowing*, the latter being given to him after the Mikinoko's discovery that he had been the one that had unknowingly supplied them with the appropriate amount of munitions and literature to begin the Mikinoko Independent Order; the award has only been awarded to Yozo, and significantly increased his standing with the Mikinoko, going so far as to appoint him as logistics advisor for the Southern Gokase Campaign for the MIO. Yozo continued operating as a logistics officer until the *de facto* end of the Mikinoko Liberation War in early August 1947, being credited for the early capture of the strategically important towns of Misato and Yunomae, subsequently improving his standing as an outsider with the Mikinoko massively.

As the war-structured society of Nifonmiki began neutralizing, several prominent Yamato war heroes including Yozo applied to be observers to the mysterious Mikinoko Court. Few were accepted in, with only Yozo and one other Yamato being allowed to observe the goings-on of the Mikinoko. Observation quickly turned into participation, and Yozo eventually became a prominent, popular figurehead of the Mikinoko - acting as the Yamato representative to the benevolent court. Yozo, along with his colleagues, developed many reconstruction plans for the surrounding cities of Ourasaki that had been flooded out since 1945, most of which ended in resounding success; moving thousands of citizens out of houseboats and into low-income communal residential housings which were operated by the church. At this point Yozo had also become a prominent churchmember; frequently meeting with the local priests to study the Zohar and other holy Oura texts.