User:Fishbones/sandbox/Yakuto Virus

The Yakuto Virus is a mutated influenza virus. It quickly caused the single deadliest pandemic in human history and is the cause of the titular new normal.

History

2020

The virus presumably began as a typical flu virus before mutating into the V1. It started as a Japanese epidemic, identified in February 2020 with more than 800 cases. The primary catalyst for the propagation of Yakuto was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as officials refused to postpone them. This sent the virus worldwide, beginning the pandemic. At this point, it was named Yakuto.

With the pandemic now spreading, masks were soon mandated for schools and stores closed, some permanently. While Asia began to gain control of the virus and slow its spread, it had already killed 100 million people worldwide.

2021

Yakuto had mutated over dozens of times, with one such mutation in 2021 causing a spike in cases, especially in Tokyo. Daily death tolls grew so high that officials simply stopped tracking them. Tokyo struggled to manage as its medical system began to break down, alongside essential infrastructure such as water and electricity, and even the military.

To choke the spread of mutated Yakuto, Tokyo was sealed off with a huge concrete pandemic wall. Any inhabitants left behind remain as skeletons while nature began to rewild the former capital. The city gained a population of deer as a result.

Mouths were soon treated as a body part to be covered up at all times, making them akin to genitals when not around family. This was reinforced by a total media blackout on both content showing unmasked faces and "parental controls" which censored the pre-pandemic world. At some point, students were allowed back in schools, where "special education" giving information on Yakuto featured. Masks at this point became more utilitarian, having valves and a hatch to eat and drink through.

New Normal

As of the start of the manga, the virus had completely changed culture and society. At this point, 6.2 billion people are dead. The virus has slowed down due to the heavy measures, and the Outbreak Prevention Ministry sought to keep it that way, with technology such as remote temperature checking and sirens to issue alerts becoming commonplace. Anyone violating regulations was to be reported. Despite this dystopian future, fringe groups of people fought on for society to "take back their smiles" and protest against masks. Such gatherings tended to be stopped aggressively.

The deadly V20 strain mutated into the V-21 strain, which lacked a cure but was weaker and less lethal, acting more like a traditional flu. Haruto Hata becomes exposed to this strain directly in chapter 6 after infection from a protester.

Symptoms

The symptoms of Yakuto vary significantly with the strain, but a few stick out:

• Coughing
• Fevers
• Sore throat
• Death in many cases

Trivia

• The virus' name is wordplay from the author's native Japanese. Numbers in Japanese have syllables associated with them based on the word for it, and Ya-ku-to is spelt 8-9-10 this way. 5-6-7 spells Ko-ro-na, or Corona, a nickname for SARS-CoV-2, Yakuto's inspiration.
• Yakuto has killed over 38 times more people than the next deadliest pandemic in human history, the Black Death, which has an upper estimate of 200 million.