A/N: Yes, the story is mostly about Kousei and friends, but I think a chapter dedicated to the home front will be needed!

This chapter was set between Be Prepared and March to War, but after the Invasion.

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

July 15th, 2025

Aeor Headquarters, Chiba, Japan

"The act is so questionable in law as to make it positively un-Japan."

Rui Watanabe's talking points had been produced by analytic software and then checked by Legal and Public Relations. Both had advised the chief executive officer of the multinational retail company, that the most effective approach was to flip the script and paint the recently invoked, American-inspired National Defense Production Act of 2001 by the Diet as something out of the Chinese playbook.

The original American act, passed at the start of the Korean War, gave power to the U.S. president or for the case of Japan, the Prime Minister countersigned by the Emperor to require any companies with presence in Japan including multinationals to sign any contract or fill any order deemed necessary for national defense. The CEO was now explaining to the shareholders that Aeor was joining a coalition of leading multinational firms in that, using both the courts and parliamentary lobbying, would attempt to block the act's resurrection, even with the fact that there were more and more Japanese companies mobilizing their resources to prioritize government's needs voluntarily in the first place.

"Japan will never capitulate, not to those who hate our freedom!" a sixty five‑years‑old woman in a kimono shouted back at him. He knew not to ignore her. Aika Aiza was a multibillionaire who owned 4 percent of his outstanding shares.

The CEO tried to repeat the talking points' core premise, that a corporation's status as a legally defined individual meant that the government couldn't tell it what to do, even in a time of war.

"Legally defined individual?" Aiza retorted. "Watanabe-san, you know that's bull and you know that this company is incorporated in Japan, and I believe that it's a right thing to help the country anyway you could. You did so when our country was hit by disasters, why not in war??"

Before he could reply, another voice broke in. A Swiss‑German accent. One of the institutional investors, in this case representing Qatari government sovereign wealth fund that had bought a 17 percent position when the share price collapsed after the fall of Taiwan followed by the invasion on Kyushu and Honshu. "Mrs. Aiza, I appreciate this company's quaint practice of letting anyone speak at these forums, but you simply fail to understand the multinational nature of this enterprise now. The global shareholder base must come first. This concern is not in the business of any one nation's war. No matter where it is based, it is a global retail chain, definitively neutral in its activities and intent," he said. "The desires of Japan, or whatever your outdated idea of patriotism is, is now beside the point."

Hearing the crowd growl, Watanabe winced at the fund manager's gaffe. So typical. The multi-national financiers, derogatorily called in some "anti-establishment" circles worldwide as part of an omnibus rootless international clique, loved the company's returns but didn't bother to understand its story or willing to think about how such attitude could become a boomerang in the future.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's try to keep focused," the CEO interceded. "This is not just about the Government of Japan overstepping its powers, however limited those now may be. We're on the razor's edge. The Chinese has rigged our corporate network with enough tripwires and viruses that we might lose control of the company if they don't like the way I part my hair."

"Then what do we have to lose?" said Aiza. "I'm calling a vote."

There was no loss of life at Aiza's Revolt, as it would become known nationwide once the video of the meeting leaked out, but it was nonetheless momentous. The voting bloc of neutral countries' sovereign wealth funds proved unable to stop the small, mostly middle-class, investor pool once it was mobilized, as well as two IPSDC-NATO allied SWF; the Singaporean Temasek Holdings and Government Pension Fund of Norway.

And by the end of the meeting, shareholders were no longer voting about whether to resist the GOJ's rationing schemes. Instead, Aeor officially declared war on the Chinese Communist Party following the path by names such as the country's automotive and railroad giants and technology companies.

The color drained from Watanabe's face as he stared out at the thousands of cheering people in the company auditorium. Three thoughts crossed his mind as the tunnel vision took over. The first was that he'd have a hard time finding another job after this debacle. And the second was that the nation's logistical backbone had further strengthened with more and more companies followed suit, the likes of which had never been seen in the nation's previous war. The third, he might soon be branded as a traitor, especially in the increasingly unforgiving, anti-Chinese fueled, Japanese social media environment. Followed by a whisper from his mouth.

Funny, that we have to use the playbook of the Commies to engage them... That's life.

Meanwhile inside her Lexus LS 400e electric sedan, Aika swiped through her phone, her eyes were on the photo of her son Takeshi, a professional pianist now on training somewhere in the north of the country with his wife who had somehow followed suit, Emi, for a leadership role in the IMDF marine corps - the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Division.

"I did this for you, my son. Soon, you'll be back. Banzai."

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

Takahiko Arima chewed his rice quietly and stared at the tea cup that he and his wife had set on the table.

As the old couple continue eating, he worked his way through the day's harvest on the household's growing vegetable gardens, and other decision that might soon be his and Saki's regrets. But that time together was the most important moments in his day, a time to pause and master his thoughts, especially when he has to transition through the purgatory zone between his quaint home and garden and his other duty as one of the officers of the local National Guard marine unit.

Tomorrow was such training and patrolling day for the said unit where he served with the rank of Commander, 1002nd Combat Boat Flotilla of the Maritime National Guard, and he want to relish every moment with his wife for almost 30 years, and every night when it's time to sleep, Takahiko had often slept much later than Saki, recalling his quiet life after retirement as well as when he was first discharged from the Navy, much more when their only son made them proud by winning many competitions, and when he married his middle school sweetheart already with an established credential as a music teacher.

Between war and family. He knew he was on edge and shouldn't have rushed back, but it was the fact that he was missing them at home that had made him rush.

This led him to recall his life between 1999 and the current war, when he'd never thought twice about what he ate or threw away or whether some should've, could've decision of his would end up leaving his sailor-guardsmen among the many burned carcasses cast into the Pacific from both sides. Compounded by his son's deployment to Iwakuni, agitation had often visited the house with the fact that anytime their separation could turn permanent.

Takahiko looked up and saw Saki studying him as he ate. She knew something was not right. His tension was clearly feeding hers.

"You look tired," said Saki. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," said Takahiko. "Let's start over. I'm sorry, it's just been one of those days."

"Seems like you have those every day," she said, a slight edge in her voice.

"I do," said Takahiko. "Ever since Kousei got drafted, and then I got mobilized to the Maritime Guard, it's harder each time. You know, tomorrow that I will be deployed on patrol again. Sure we got fresh crew and the boats are ready.

"It's getting harder for all of us," said Saki. "You need to make time for Fujita, he asked me again..."

"Asking what?" he asked back upon the mention of his brother in law in apprehension, despite the fact that Fujita was one of Kousei's favorite relatives. The origin was the fact that Fujita Koizumi was openly against his service in the back-then Self-Defense Force by openly calling him "tax leecher" when he proposed to Saki. Not even 1999 War softened his stance, rendering him an oddity.

"When you're leaving again."

"What'd you tell him?"

"You'll have to go soon, but it won't be forever."

"It better not be."

Further words was stopped by a crashing sound. They heard an man cursing, and then he can heard Fujita laughing. Takahiko's eyes flicked over to the sound. Saki looked down.

"I had called him to fix the toilet" said Saki. He put his fork down with a sharp clink and reached for his tea mug. Staring hard at his wife, he took a pull of the cold tea that should've ended up at his feet an hour ago.

"He's fixing the toilet. It couldn't wait," she said. "He came by the other day and worked with his buddy Seto-san to print the part we needed with Seto-san's three‑D printer. They had a lot of fun. I know what you told me about him coming here, but I think he just wanted to be with our family before... What could I do?"

"You could actually do what I ask," snarled Takahiko.

"I could say the same thing," Saki replied coldly. He didn't know whether she was referring to the broken toilet, time with what was left of their relatives, or his promise to leave the service for good after the war. He didn't care. In any case, he knew he was in the wrong. And he didn't like it.

"I need to prep for tomorrow."

He grabbed the weighty folder full of personnel‑assignment reports and walked out of the room, luckily with his plate finished. He know that tomorrow he must make up with Saki and the others.

That night, he went down the hallway quietly, passing the open bathroom door. He'd disappointed enough people tonight and hoped he wouldn't run into Fujita, since that would only lead to the knockdown argument he'd just avoided by walking out from his wife. It was probably the wrong call, going to bed angry, especially with so little time left. Yet another bad decision to regret. He quickly rounded the corner and walked into his study room.

The next day, the heavy tread of Takahiko's boots going down the stairs told Saki that he no longer had to worry about his crew today. He wiped his eyes, got up from his seat, hugging her as part of his apology before sat down together for some morning news on TV while waiting for the bus that will carry him to the Numazu Cruise Port.

"... The United Nations had announced that, citing US government request pertaining to Communist insurgent activities inside it's soil, that it's accelerating the shift of most of it's activities into it's other offices in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi,..."

"....According to the Combined Forces Command South West Pacific Area, over the past three days, the joint Indonesian, Australian, French, and New Zealand forces continued their engagements with the Chinese Navy over the islands belonged to the Republic of Solomon Islands in support of it's liberation... It has been confirmed that the pro-China Prime Minister of the island republic has been spirited away by Chinese special forces... "

"...Pope Damasus III again called for a 'humanitarian pause' to all hostilities between China and the Coalition, while giving his blessing to any 'defensive act against Communist threats including by use of the military force' citing 'incompatibility of Marxism with Christianity'..."

"...An assassination attempt of Brazilian President Jesus da Silva using drones has been foiled and it's currently under investigation by Federal Police, who refused to immediately point anyone responsible. However, local public opinion believed that China was behind the attempt in light of the President's pro-Coalition policy..."

He hugged his wife again after a short prayer before heading for the bus. Every time he entered the cruise port turned military embarkation point as well as a base for patrol boats and maritime drones before either a time in his office for shore paperwork or went aboard his assigned boat, his stomach tightened. He knew that every duty, on shore or at sea, can be his last one.

No matter the outcome of today, he knew that the right thing to do when he's home one day will be to reconcile with Fujita...

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

Xiaguanshi (Shimonoseki), Shankou (Yamaguchi) Special Administrative Zone, July 31st, 2025

The Shupanro Hotel was only three-star in score, but for both China and Japan, the place held a significant milestone in their history. It was the place where the infamous Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the First Sino-Japanese War was signed in 1895. The fact on how an Asian power initially looked with disdain by the back-then Qing Dynasty managed to best it's military, compounding it's misfortune from defeats against Western powers starting from the First Opium War. Stagnations that could be traced to the end of Admiral Zheng He's voyages was the cause that gradually weakened Imperial China to the point of indignity of becoming a vassal to others mentioned above. In short, the once great nation had became a laughing stock. But as the 21st century hit it's quarter-life mark, the table has been changed in favor of the Middle Kingdom.

Major General Xu Wangming had that history in mind when he put his 104th Special Group Army's secured headquarters. Furthermore, the Party had directed it's forces to use the Chinese translation of the prefecture's name, Shankou, instead of the original Yamaguchi as well as Xiaguanshi in place of Shimonoseki.

Right now, he was sitting on it's suite room, facing the city. Meanwhile, his aide-de-camp absently ran his thumb along the spine of a small book in his lap. At least the Joint Staff meeting could be done remotely so he would not have to suffer through Vice Admiral Li Wangjiang's briefing.

The commander of North Sea Fleet, the country's most prestigious one, was trying to dance around the fact that so far the People's Navy and Air Force as a whole had not yet been able to fully secure the first, let alone the Second Island Chain, without suffering heavy losses - with the hopefully temporary loss of the Solomon Islands, he thought - despite the steady influx of new ships, combat and support as well as merchants alike or the theater-wide coverage of Tiangong-3 and it's combat satellites jousting with American and allied ones almost everyday, with Western commentators that he had access to via his cyberwarriors' data mining ops had already slapped the label of "Space Trench Warfare" which thanks to both sides had a limited orbit to maneuver, their only options was a head-on attack to destroy each other's combat satellite before a final blow aimed at each parties' space stations.

The invasion had especially been bloody to him, with a Japanese artillery near-miss that had caused him to develop a slight limp on his left leg.

"Comrade Admiral" said the general. "I certainly do not question how we are keeping the Americans and their allies busy and grinding them down slowly but surely in terms of number and supplied, especially with our shipyards were working faster than the Americans could be... but for now, let me confine myself to discussing the impact on our land forces, especially here in Japan. The recent loss of Convoy 433 to their accursed submarines and underwater drones, even with the improvement of our effectiveness against them, not counting how Coalition fast jets and drones keep dropping mines on our ports, had affected all supplies to our 104th Special Group Army here in Japan, especially the much needed ammunition and fuel as well as reinforcements, and airlift can only do so much. Our comrades in Kyushu were fighting hard, but they cannot last forever without support."

He cursed the incompetence of Air Force Colonel Hu Jiantui whose reinforced airborne battalion from the 14th Airborne Brigade - had been withdrawn back to China along with Army's 17th Amphibious Combined Arms Brigade - was tasked to seize Hiroshima Airport got wiped out to the last man instead, with the officer himself got killed by, officially, a drone strike.

"Gentlemen" It was General Zhu, the Northern Theater Command's overall commander who had his turn to speak. "I believe that our ground forces in Japan still had a reason to be able to hold on, with captured Japanese ordnance that you can use, for example. Also, the airlift that you had said can only do so much had managed to induct two battalions in Honshu including one tank battalion plus it's support, they had experience inside the meat grinder that is called Korea, as well as two extra infantry battalions for Kyushu. Admiral Wangjiang, you can continue keeping the South Korean and Japanese fleet busy, especially with four of our new Type 055s are ready to be commissioned two days from here."

"Two days, Comrade General!?" Wangming bellowed at his superior. "Our anti aircraft and anti drone defenses here were, let me be frank, Comrades, are near the breaking point with constant Coalition raids! Can they got it faster?"

"I know, Comrade Wangming, but that's the fastest possible timeframe already. Anyway, our comrades in the Western Theater Command despite their stalemate with India had sent us a couple of their airlifters as well as converted air freighters from Air China and China Eastern Airlines, ready for use here in the North. Our Russian neighbors are not so much reluctant to give us their goods anyway despite their own support to the Indians, including some unmarked Il-76s for our internal use in China. Their engineers are also working overtime to give us enough oil, at least for our own use. Iran had also confirmed a new round of shipping of four tankers worth of crude via Caspian Sea and then use the pipelines and tanker trains there, while Qatar has readied their third shipping of LNG via Iranian and Central Asian pipelines."

"Good to know." Wangming replied, then commander of Northern Theater Command Air Force, Air Force General Yu Guangping, took over the mic from him. "Precisely, Comrades, additional units is on it's way. One squadron of J-16 and one squadron of J-35s directly from the homeland has been directed to be available for your use as well as an GJ-11 drone detachment. They are on it's way with our Rocket Force comrades increased their bombardments to cover us."

"Speaking on naval forces." Admiral Wangjiang took his turn. "Don't take this personally, and I have no intention to question how our campaign is being run, in Japan or in Korea, but for now, let me confine myself to discussing the impact on it. The partisans that you mentioned had contributed to the loss of the Convoy 433 I mentioned above. Alongside their regular forces, insurgents in coastal areas were using their drones aiming for the ships in a coordinated assault. Nevertheless, I can still provide you support by providing additional drones for countering theirs if needed -"

"Help us 'if needed' Comrade Admiral?" said General Wangming. "Other than the 055s I mentioned, I think you need not trouble yourself too much, Admiral. You better spare those drones for dealing with their own vessels, including their own unmanned assets. In wars, loss is to be expected. Even with those partisan's success so far with our convoys, or the loss of our communication balloons two days ago, I can count with the space‑based sensors on the Tiangong which are, of course, continuing to provide theater‑wide coverage. Let us worry about the land while you focus on the sea, most especially on what you intend to do about supporting our southern fleets...."

"Don't worry. We'll are looking for it. However, our main focus as a whole remain to secure the island chains, everything else down south is secondary, with a grand objective that the High Command had finally revealed for us. It will be Hawaii... With our people are wreaking havoc on their mainland coupled by taking their Pacific Islands, we might have an ultimate solution to compel them to seek peace and in the end, to let Hawaii independent again. Our Guoanbu comrades had in their disposal a cadre of young and progressive Hawaiians who will lead the islands into a new course of peace, neutrality, and sustainability out from the specter of Capitalist militarism. And when it happens, everything will follow in it's wake including Diaoyu. If they refuse, we'll proceed to Alaska and then the American West Coast; their food and mineral resources matters to us. I also count that this will make the Russians to get out of their cursed double-game and join us to create a finishing blow against the United States."

"That's interesting, striking to the heart of the enemy to make the rest to collapse like what they call a house of cards. Comrade Admiral."

"Let's hope so."

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

University of Tokyo

"About time"

That's what Katsuma told to his lover on the chat box upon receiving a new order from his commanders. The Chinese are trying to put yet another plan of offensive that had apparently caught Tokyo and other Coalition Force governments by surprise.

Unit 330 had been assigned a defensive role after the invasion, with the more senior shinobis focused on defending the Mirai/Mirae combat space station and it's supporting satellites electronically. Some Cyber Defense Units were racing against the clock by scrambling the targeting system or at least putting themselves inside the PLA Rocket Force's network to warn allied forces of the oncoming launch of its ballistic missiles, giving allied forces especially naval ones more room to maneuver.

"Ladies and gentlemen" the commander began. "We've got reinforcements from some group of people we won't expect. You see... Al-Azhar University in Egypt, a center of Islamic learning, had commissioned their cyber defense force..."

"Egypt... Anwar Akimoto..." he mumbled, mentioning a half-Egyptian male voice actor that his lover was a fan of, to the point that the last anime binge-watching date he and Setagawa did was an extreme sport themed one involving that said voice actor.

"....With the Red's treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, it's expected that an Islamic institution will take matters into their own hands. It's overdue for them. Other than the Muslims, individual Christians had banded together, either inside or outside formal military structure but often regularized by governments, like the Catholic "Cyber Knights of Columbus" or Protestant dominated "New Pilgrims" in America... but so far we're not yet managed to successfully contact them, as well as Tibetan Buddhists loyal to the Dalai Lama... Back to Egypt, theirs were named Saladin Cyber Eagles."

"Interesting name, evoking their historical military commander." he muttered, while his superior continued. "With Saladin joined our effort, we have been ordered for a multi-target counterattack. Targets has been uploaded to your workstation. Our mission is to create all sorts of distraction but also gain substantial intelligence while Saladin will directly attack the Xinjiang Production Corps in order to bring it to a halt, at least temporarily."

Then the order were put into action. Codes were typed, connection established, and packets were delivered inside the near limitless cyberspace.

Craving for challenge, his platoon - smallest group of shinobis of the CDF, six man each - had decided that the target will be in the country of bankers - Switzerland. It's perpetual neutrality also mean that Red officials could still keep their money there. As he and his team expected, the backdoor were increasingly smaller each day, but to his astonishment, he managed to create a larger one for his lover to join him. Now it was just a simple matter of inserting new programming. Using the technique ironically developed by North Korea, whose cyber know-how got spilled by two defectors that were given South Korean citizenship, once inside the target bank's computer network, the Japanese will simply send a purportedly genuine Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) messages for wire transfer from a specific account that was known to be linked to Chinese officialdom into a series of accounts and shell companies before the "clean" money were redistributed to everyone in need - in particular, resistance organizations in Myanmar as well as in mainland China and Taiwan, as well as to bolster civilian crowdfunding efforts for ancilliary and specialty items that tend to be less prioritized by the humungous bureaucracy within the Alliance.

His fingers flicked in tiny motions, the smart‑rings on each sending commands to initiate the attack protocols while also bringing up his personal photo album as well as anime related pictures.

He chuckled. Funny, I have to do what the law called 'Money Laundering' for sake of our country... As part of his service with the Guard, tailored to his age, his commanders had introduced him and other young shinobis a basic for the country's legal system, one step at a time, during his training at school with the Cyber Force Junior ROTC.

TRANSFER SUCCESS.

He then put the order for one of his teammates to continue the job to use it's magic to clean up the money, in the process, passing the baton. Yet, his and Setagawa's job were not finished yet.

But then the photo album turned white. In the instant, Katsuma typed several more codes to verify against any intrusions which turned out to be true with suspicious files and executables were laid bare in front of his viz. Initially, he found that such codes and file paths were written in Spanish. However, any lead to Spanish-speaking countries especially Chinese-aligned ones e.g. Cuba, Bolivia, and Maoist-ruled Peru or some Spanish-speaking pro Communist American insurgent groups was quickly ruled out by more electronic tracks that lead into China itself, to be specific, from Chengdu, a region where the targeted high ranking CCP official's bank account was born.

"Stupid Communists." he snickered, looking at the exposed attempt to disguise an attack to the regiment's network. "We already got what we want."

Still in the virtual world, he watched as the white cover of the album began to shrink. However he decided to play with whatever malicious program that was trying to break in, which in the worst scenario, can simply crash the whole regiment's network. His fingers began to dance again, each smart ring in action, a force command overriding the album's operating system and terminating the program while simultaneously starting his personal, customized second line defense protocols.

Despite the nature of this service, it's never dull to encounter resistance from the Reds in cyberspace.

Then a unknown chat arrived in his chatbox with the following message "You are unlike the other Japanese that I had met. However, mark my word... we will hunt you and your friend down."

Unknown to whoever controlling the chat, Katsuma had his lover notified about the incursion. Awashed with euphoria, he put on a befitting reply.

"Whoever you are, you are dead as soon as you encountered the Peace Busters." he referred to the unit's unique call sign.

The small window had allowed Setagawa to inject a malicious code into the specific PLASSF Numbered Military Unit - equivalent to Japanese Cyber Defense Regiments in echelon - network where the message was originated, which was enough to eject the intruders out from the regiment's network before Chinese Great Firewall could even react.

Another win for the good guys. However, for Katsuma, euphoria was soon replaced by a great unease that people of his age not supposed to experience yet. Out from the virtual and to the real world, the young boy went straight outside with his smartphone switched off.

He was so focused on himself while sitting on one of the park's benches until a hand tapped his back. Setagawa's.

"It will be fine. Don't ever think I will leave you after all this time!"

That was enough to cause his brown eyes to look at her cerulean ones.

"We were teammates together, and it will always be forever!" Her evocation to a much more innocent times when they are teammates in various mathematics and coding related competitions was responded by a hug from the man she loved.

Any further lovey-dovey moments of them was interrupted by Tokyo's raid siren blared over, and both Katsuma and Setagawa knew what to do as soldiers assigned to their care gave the firm command "To all members, seek shelter!"

The last thing they saw before the lighting from the underground shelter greeted them were couple of other CDF Guard Regiment soldiers went to their alert posture in the surface, ready for everything the enemy would give to them; ballistic missiles, air raids, or even commando raids, the latter could target the somewhat defenseless young cyber shinobis. True to their name, physical force protection and countering the latter threat against CDF assets was the mandate of the Guard Regiments, with many of them had special forces training from Army's Special Forces Group; or even transferred from the said unit prior to the war.

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