"What happens in China does not stay in China." - Eric Feigl-Ding, American epidemiologist.

PFC. Watari Ryouta

06.50 JST; August 24th, 2025; Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Imperial State of Japan.

"Tenno Heika, Banzai!"

"Banzai!"

On the top of my lungs, and with all my might, the offending billboard was finally torn away from its mounting.

A new dawn, the third day of Shunan City as a liberated city. Sunlight gleams through bullet holes in doors. Massive blocks of concrete dangle from broken roofs. The floors of multi story buildings remain as they fell, in layers, having crushed whatever was between them.

Yesterday was also memorable of its own thanks to the visit of our Prime Minister to Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu, followed by Sasebo and Fukuoka, representing the liberated region. Troops in Shunan watched on our screens, as well as sung when citizens of Shimonoseki were singing the National Anthem, then hailed him "Nishikino!" "Nishikino!" before the PM began his address. Parts that I would surely remember were the following.

"It's important to me to be here in Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu, because of its delicious puffer fish..."

"..I am proud to see how people, despite all the threats, the repressions, and threats, and abuse of the occupiers, cherished the Flag of the Sun, believed in Japan, and even with the fact that our country is not yet completely free from the enemy's presence, people of Shimonoseki, Kitakyushu, and the surrounding area had actively assisted the Defense Forces and it's foreign allies, as well as risking their lives in removing any symbols and traces of the occupier's stay..."

"...We will restore all conditions of normal life - as much as possible...Our defenders are immediately followed by police officers, engineers, rescuers, medical and psychological personnel, energy workers, and other civilian volunteers from around the world... Medicine, communications, social services are returning... Life is returning, and we will restore it as fast as we can, as we think about our Korean neighbors in particular who are still fighting tooth and nail, as well as our other partners in South East, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands. The soon we normalize things back, the better will be their reason and ours to continue fighting, and every members of the Coalition..."

I would like to separately address those Chinese service personnel and collaborators who were left behind in our islands, or shipwrecked or shot down from the sky by the actions of the IPSDC/NATO fleet and airpower... The only chance for salvation for you is to surrender to our captivity. We guarantee that you will be treated in accordance with the law and international standards. And to those Chinese soldiers who have put on civilian clothes and are hiding somewhere I want to say that there is no point in hiding. We'll find you anyway. Don't drag it out. If you still value your life, submit to voluntary Japanese and it's allies' captivity..."

The first day of patrol, nobody could on how many times we found the dead yesterday, some with surprises...

It was difficult to move. We were checking one of the houses destroyed in the battle to liberate Shunan, even with equipments and robotic aids as well as ground penetrating radars used by SAR teams brought from neighboring, safer prefectures, when I noticed casing of bullets - no, unfired bullets which I quickly recognized as Chinese. Then on my way out, my foot knocked a concrete slab that exposed a dead Chinese soldier, his uniform was nearly gone and half of his head unrecognizable, followed by a grenade.

Thankfully the safety pin was still in place.

Nearby, my eyes went on for a first aid kit left behind; with Chinese lettering. But before I grab it, a familiar voice said "Dame!" (No)

I looked behind and saw Kousei with his QBZ-192.

"It must be rigged" the Lieutenant told me.

Little I know, I have just cheated death that day, and then, somehow, we let it go with a laugh... even my best friend-turned-tank commander did put aside the hierarchy in place...

Today, here near Shunan Rokuchi Park, still energized with the unforgettable moment of Lieutenants Kousei and Kaori's little concourse on the first dawn of Shunan - and the entire Yamaguchi Prefecture - as free, we've to speed up our cleanup process. Using one of the city's remaining ladder firetrucks, removal works were underway. Old advertisings during the occupation was closed off by their propaganda showing how East Asia is rising with China as a brother leader of some sort, which to my surprise, the creators were smart enough to use Japanese kanji and the other scripts.

"Honestly" I asked when I first saw such billboard and really paying attention to it now with the city has been liberated with my crewmate and superior, Tank 11's gunner Sergeant Kitazawa. "How many bastards in the PLA and their communist party have JLPT certificates? At least N4 level, sergeant?"

"Well, buddy, it would be the same thing as if you ask me on how many Boeitai-gunjin (Defense Force service personnel) who have HSK (1) or TOCFL (2) qualifications other than those in intel, Keimutai, or in SOCOM, special case is General Matsuura, he has TOCFL highest level certificate even with the fact that he is from the good old Infantry Branch... or Ground Force chief General Ishikawa, " Kitazawa smiled at me, somehow managed to smile even with all the destruction in front of us, civilians looking for their loved ones and crying for their losses -

The new day also saw prosecutors, recognizable in their blue jackets and T-shirts bearing the word in Japanese and English "War Crimes Prosecutor" and cargo pants trooping into the city on SUVs and double cabin pickups as briefed directly by Colonel Okazaki during the morning roll call, already we're to stand guard covering their work in identifying the dead, ours and the enemy alike, as well as to preserve and gather evidence related to what we encountered during the battle for the city.

Armored trucks carrying initial relief supplies, however, had something alongside them, for our collective relief.

One German-supplied and Japanese modified Mercedes UNIMOG, for example had a banner showed an old American man being mugged by a guy with a knife in the first panel followed by the would-be "victim" pulling out a gun in the second panel to turn the tables and surprise the attacker. Originally from an American advertising for elderly self defense class, it were made relevant with our situation with the PRC flag in the mugger's position and the old man being us, Japan, with some major partner states flag too.

Others, mostly pickup trucks, got cute shiba inu stickers - the well known anti-PRC shit-posting and meme army of "Fellas" of "Indo-Pacific Strategic Fellas Coalition" (IPSFC). a movement that's particularly active in the US and Europe as well as in Australia, as far as I know, accompanied with many hashtags too, like #IPSFCexpansionisnotnegotiable.

Many such things on other trucks, in fact, especially those belonged to the police, National Guard, and other volunteers, local and foreign alike, but other trucks marked with Red Cross and those affiliated with Doctors Without Borders were clean from any slogans and memes, out of a need for impartiality.

Leaving our tanks behind, I got my turn to stand on watch on a wooden area east of the city, just as the press began to arrive in numbers, other soldiers - predominantly National Guard - and what was left of the first responders of the city began their duty to exhume the bodies buried below. My mind went back to the briefing from Col. Okazaki.

"What we have seen on some houses are the fraction of what the Reds did; We have confirmation from satellite and station images on how those sick bastards treat our people and buried them in mass graves. Not just in this very place, but also in other liberated areas in Honshu and Kyushu."

Not just our own press; but also international ones. We were also made aware that there are "polite people with plain clothes and others with camo" that we shall not intervene in doing their thing, and collaborators beware.

Everyone was aware on what the regimental commander means.

Then an ominous siren from the downtown area blared.

"Incoming high speed suicide drones and cruise missiles from North Korea! Approx. 40 had bypassed our fleet, heading for Honshu!"

As expected, thought Kitazawa nearby, the man who was leading this impromptu squad guarding this very crime scene consist of dismounted tankmen as well as a couple of National Guardsmen.

"Everybody take cover!" I shouted at the direction of the gravediggers.

"Protect the prosecutors!" Kitazawa commanded, and so we began to usher them away to the pre-designated mobile shelters erected in the nearby settlements.

Familiar rattle of anti aircraft guns and screech of short range missiles echoed across the land - multiple explosions at the horizon...

"Go, go!"

Everything went so fast - just as when we're still battling for the city.

...............................................................................................................

Sgt. Sawabe Tsubaki

Same day

Eastern part of the city

Companies of the 32nd Infantry Regiment has been split for patrol and stabilization duty.

"Keep moving!" Lieutenant Kaori called on my headset, as we're looking after the cleanup process and a slow return of civilians displaced. Overhead, drones were whirling, flying, and hovering in search for any elusive Chinese holdouts. In the process, we were coordinating with the local partisans/Guardsmen that were very helpful in augmenting our strength during the assault phase.

"Sergeant Yu Ayanokouji, 2nd Regiment of the 3rd National Guard Brigade. Greetings."

I answered Ayanokouji, who wear an older camouflage pattern handed down from the MoD, further aided with an armband showing red circle. "Greetings, We are more than grateful with your presence."

"With pleasure, and it's part of our duty as Guardsman and women."

I then put on the main concern of the day to my militia/home guard squad leader counterpart; two of his squad were women.

"Do you have any information on any holdouts?"

The guardsmen answered me. "We did random stop and check on any returning civilians, and so far, we struck two. Those bastards have good Japanese - they maybe what was left of their recon or spec ops, something like that. Trying to blend as civilians."

"Then?" I asked.

"We took care of them" I nodded, knowing what it means. "We've dealt with them since the start of the war, in fact..." Ayanokouji continued after he finished with his cigarette. "Pay attention to their accents, even with the fact that a number of Reds got N1 certificate back before the war..."

In between random and unpredictable check point questioning of returning civilians without any hit whatsoever...

"What have they done, those women?" With concern, I watched as multiple guardsmen, including one sergeant, dragged away several women, and proceeded to shave their heads bald plus marking their foreheads with obscene, sexually charged words.

"BITCH"

"WHORE"

"TRAITORS"

"TRASH"

Ayanokouji answered flatly "They slept with the akai-shinas (3), but today, they are lucky. For the men, however... either face the gallows, or years of community or reconstruction labor service, anything to redeem them... well, we always need more hands anyway. I know that our govt is not stupid to let these bastards clog our courts and jails, because we are not Iraq."

I have to act, through, either he approves or not. We have specific order exactly prepared for this type of situation.

"Stop it!"

Few respond; so I ordered my troops to separate the angry populace while also calling for backup via a tactical tablet - to my surprise Ayanokouji and his guardsmen covered us as well with their fellow guardsmen.

"That's enough, people." the militia sergeant said. Aided by arrival of more guardsmen including one Lieutenant followed by riot police officers thanks to the other feature of Hatamoto System; unification of military and prefectural police communications and situational awareness, not for long the crowd began to disperse, while slow.

And suddenly a red alert came to my tactical glasses - a message from the high command!

"Incoming cruise missiles and drones"

"Everyone take cover!" I called as civilians still in the area ran to nearby shelters or at least something less likely to became shrapnel when those things impacted.

Looking on videos from the northern Honshu, Tokyo, Hiroshima, as well as in Korea and Taiwan beforehands, we were mostly used to the fact that despite our dense defenses - further helped by a token amount of new SAMs from European partners as far as I heard - some of those things the Reds threw at us from the distance would break through.

And that's when a big shock as something smashed into the ground, a ringing on my ears, and everything was covered with dust and dirt - my tactical tablet must be ruined from this...

..........

(1). HSK is an abbreviation of Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi or Chinese Proficiency Test. Administrated by Hanban, an agency of PRC' Ministry of Education. Not available in Taiwan.

(2). TOCFL (Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language) is the Taiwanese counterpart to HSK, and not available in Mainland China.

(3). Akai-shina; my own creation. Literally mean "Red (Communist) China" for sake of differentiation with Taiwanese and defectors from the mainland China as well as Japanese citizens with Chinese ancestry, which here is called with the more respectful terms "Chugoku" (Middle Kingdom), "Taiwan" or "Aoi-Chugoku" (Blue China). The word Shina itself was initially neutral before the Second Sino-Japanese war, afterwards, it's perceived by Chinese as derogatory during the course of the WW II in Asia and beyond, until this day.