1st Lt Kousei Arima.
0630 JST
Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

The next day, we got both up and downs.

The bad news was, the promised relief in form of the 25th (Reserve) Brigade were not yet fully inducted, with only a regiment worth of those guys had been confirmed to be present in the city plus their reinforcement assets. While the two brigades of American 25th Infantry Division were still present in Yamaguchi, most of them were being deployed to Shimonoseki and the surrounding area.

Other than the Americans, the British, Canadians, Italians, and Indians had been withdrawn for consolidation and reinforcements. Lt. Col. Okazaki told us that they were slated to be redeployed to Korea. My crew also told me about reports from the net about how in Hokkaido, a a regiment or brigade worth of French troops reinforced by Belgians had started arriving in transit before continuing to Korea, as well as reports of multiple American regiments on their way too. Also, elements of the 3rd and 10th Divisions as well as the entirety of the 1st Airborne Brigade and our sister Eastern Army unit, the 12th Air Assault Brigade, were all withdrawn due to a need of rest and refit due to casualties and attrition, as well as the Free Chinese 584th Brigade.

"We have to be grateful to our electronic warfare specialists and cyber defenders too." Every crew nodded, knowing how many times they saved our comms and data transfers from the Red malice just in time.

In addition, the incremental increase of data speed allowed us to obtained a better picture about the devastations in Kyushu - and how the bureaucrats in Tokyo are going to prioritize slightly more resources to it thanks to it's important shipyards.

The bright side was, the de facto operational pause of Team Kirin gave everyone the time and space they need to catch up with their personal needs, from bathing to clear laundry while keeping our guards up. Including in this current day and age, by catching up with their digital communications and social networking, now filled mostly with war stories and videos that will be in the annals of history.

"Thank Kami-sama for the small drones, the Navy, and many more." said Kitazawa as he and a couple of tankers and Kaori's mech infantrymen and women reminisced their work by looking at videos of destructions of Chinese shipping and supply columns in Japan by those little swarming things; balanced by captured videos of the similar feat accomplished by the Reds to slow us down. Supply problem, especially ammunition, was arguably the primary factor that fizzled their first attempt to invade us!

Other soldiers were filling their time assisting our civilian aid effort inside Shunan, especially the medics. 

"Thank you for the food" said all of my crewmembers as it's time for breakfast, now with regular hot meals. 

The time also meant that a more thorough check for the men and women particularly in the mental and brain department with a special mobile facility that had been set up in the eastern outskirts of the city. And somehow Kaori and I were among the first to be checked there.

The "1st Defense Mental Mobile Aid Station and Physical Assessment Station" as it's called, were assets of the Imperial Joint Staff. A hot commodity for the Coalition, it's mainly staffed by Japanese, nevertheless the facility in the spirit of togetherness as Coalition also obtained the service of the best and brightest engineers, medical specialists, data scientists, neuroscientists, and other professionals from the West in particular during its development phase pre-war.  

One such method of high-tech treatment available that's familiar for us officers especially as part of our development was the VR Therapy, troopers deemed high risk or showing PTSD onset were exposed to behavioral activation using the namesake technology, exposing soldiers and officers to traumatic conditions associated with combat, as untreated avoidances of someone's own trauma associated with PTSD can be detrimental to the service personnel's quality of life.

Reassessment of combat qualifications used similar technology, integrated with electroencephalography (EEG) sensors and an athlete management system (AMS) to improve performance via the analysis of neural data generated during training. Operating in a stressful environment often puts additional demand on individuals, resulting in human cognition as being the most critical factor. Thus, allowing individuals to train their information processing abilities with motor skill-specific techniques can deliver operational performance. The user's headset has sensors that gather EEG data during specific rounds and the entire gameplay sessions. 

As part of a test called Stroop Test, the user is asked to shoot targets in three separate rounds, while being exposed to distractions and increasing time pressure. After every round, the user is placed in a "relaxation room"

In my case and Kaori's, the said relaxation room had musical instruments too - even if it's an electronic keyboard instead of a traditional piano. 

The room allowed our stress levels can return to baseline. before being exposed to another round of the test with increased difficulty. 

A detailed after-action report tracks technical and tactical outputs, such as accuracy, decision-making and arousal. It is all formulated in a unique performance score at the end of the simulation. Every session is measured, stored and analyzed in an athlete management system that were updated from the very beginning of our careers, and here, the data is displayed via a virtual dashboard similar to what we've seen during in OCS as well as Fuji School.

If there was any anomaly associated with trauma and other psychological handicaps, a therapy session awaited the trooper. With limited space of the facility itself, many were soon sent off to Defense Hospitals, Coalition hospital ships, as well as authorized civilian hospitals in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, and other major cities.

The last night in the city, I re-read reports from Sergeant Minato especially those related to the relocation of our surviving tanks back to Kanto, and hours before, I was also with him in receiving one of ours currently convalescing in Hiroshima; Sergeant Kirigaya and his crew. 

"Come on, people, why those Reds left without us?" I can still remember some of my crewmembers laughed on Sergeant Kirigaya's live statement from the field hospital in Hiroshima before my gaze cooled things.

"Don't worry" I reply to my wingman. "I understand, Sergeant. The most important is that you and you entire crew survived. You owed no apologies to everyone, in fact."

My platoon sergeant also gave Kirigaya his own word. "You will be back in action soon enough, just believe in yourself. You too, shichou Hirata!" The girl on Kirigaya's left raised her hand and responded with a Banzai. While Sgt. Hanazono was the only girl who commanded a tank in the whole regiment, she is not the only "Sister of Steel" here. Leading Private or Corporal Mao Hirata, Sgt. Kirigaya's gunner, was one of such people. A former high school track and field athlete, she joined the Rikujou Boeitai in 2017 voluntarily upon graduation.

"Keep doing your best, Sergeant!" exclaimed Watari to the tank commander. "I miss our times playing soccer in Fuji! You too, Ayano-kun!" said my driver to Kirigaya's driver, laying on bed on the right side of Sgt. Kirigaya. 

"I don't know, my friend..." the soldier weakly replied. With Private First Class Ayano Kuroyama's condition was severe enough to render him comatose for days and nearly pronounced dead; there were already doubts about whether he could return to combat service. Nevertheless, to saw him waking up was enough for us. 

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

1st Lt. Kaori Arima

It was during the last day of the week after Shunan Liberation that our brigade were finally able to finally began our withdrawal to Gotemba with official announcement from division about it's imminent stand down thanks to a need for reorganization, thanks to the reservists were now in enough force to take over our stabilization work as well as defending for further invasions or smaller raids by their special forces or something.

Everyone beamed when Lt. Colonel Yong-su dismissed us to our buses and trucks. Including PFC Wang Yu-chen; thanks to recent news that his best buddy Private Yashio had woken up from his coma two days ago and was fast recovering in a hospital ship somewhere near Shikoku Island. 

Our way home has began. What used to be taken for granted, now something unforgettable as we passed through small villages and towns that were in many ways directly affected by the Reds - as much as we were willing to assist them, our orders took precedence.

"Their teachers must have been smiling." quipped Sergeant Nakashima at me as we rolled through yet another village with multiple artillery and missile damages, as villagers and volunteers began to clean up the mess left behind by the Reds. "We have seen worse things that it, remember that, ma'am."

"Same as our allies liberating the northern sector... Kyushu... and many more." I quipped.

Behind me, a supply sergeant then told me that there were multiple forward ammo depots; some were hit but others managed to be evacuated before the Reds.

Here, on the bus that were carrying us, and following that policy, I have Kousei on my side. He told me. "What we're going to do first after we're in Tokyo will be to visit Hiroko-san."

"That's what I am thinking... she's worried sick about us."

"Honestly, I can't believe the House of Melody lost Togetsu-san. The last time he messaged us, he told us that he's assigned to the 1st Brigade, a couple of months later, he's gone by shelling, they said." I couldn't deny how we're all feeling it; even with the differences in instrument choice, Takeshi Togetsu was one of our seniors back in Okutsu.

Looking at my husband and companion, I tightly held his right hand and gave it a little squeeze, something that's quite effective for him.

The rest of the road part of our trip, we just listen to what our men and women from our regiments were talking. Especially as three rows of seat behind us, Tsubaki and Watari did have their "sweet time" bickering... to the point that Nakashima had to intervene. Our current battle was over, but not our war...

"Hit the deck!" called the conductor just when we entered Iwakuni, anti-aircraft guns were opening up. He told us that there was another attempt to swarm the city with drones; probably launched from Chinese fighters just at the edge of our air defenses. 

All in all, from the relative safety of Hiroshima, as the clock struck noon, we began our second phase of redeployment by several bullet trains straight towards Tokyo.

"We have to be grateful on our railwaymen and women." that's what both Colonel Yong-su as well as Kousei's regimental CO Colonel Okazaki basically told us before we took our seats

"We're going home, Lieutenant!" cheered Ldg. Private Tachibana on me, last but not least, the squad leaders; Tsubaki, Morishima, as well as the now-Sergeant Kurosawa.