Disclaimer: GATE: And Thus the JSDF Fought There beonged to Takumi Yanai.

Author's note: So, here we go again. For people who do remembered, I had released a fic similar to this one on a year ago and it failed so completely I decided to pull it off the web. After years of being off the fanfic world, I decided to write up a new story loosely based on the previous one. It will be almost completely different compared to the old ones and hopefully better than it too. Either way, I hope you all enjoy and leave some reviews and constructive criticism on the story. That's much welcomed.

Tangshan, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China

"3...2...1...You're on!" The cameraman counted down before the camera start recording, the reporter nodded in acknowledgment before start speaking.

"Today we have the honor of interviewing retired General Yang Chenglei of the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces, the Hero of Hong Kong. He was one of the first soldiers sent over to the former Special Region, two times recipient of The Order of Heroic Exemplar and a member of the PLA's peacekeeping operation during the Imperial Civil War. It's an honor to meet you General." The reporter said as the camera panned in towards General Yang, now an old man in his 80s, sitting comfortably in his couch, the wall behind him decorated with medals and certificates he had earned during his military career.

"It's been my honor to meet you two. Now, how can this old man help you?" Yang replied as his wife walked in, depositing several cups of tea to everyone before returning to the kitchen. "Ah, thank you for the drink." Yang thanked his wife before returning to the reporter. "Sorry, my wife is always worried about me. Now, what can I help you?"

"Can you please describe your early life and what motivated you to join the PLA?"

"Well, I was born into a family of businessman in Tianjin. I was the middle child so all my parents' attention went to either my older brother or younger sister." Yang explained, showing a few pictures of him, his parents and siblings back when they were he was a boy.

"Back in my days in school, my grades were appalling, I recalled my father would spank the hell out of me every time I showed him my awful score. 'If you don't get a better score next time, I'm gonna disown your ass! Look at your brother for example!' He always said that. Being a Peking University graduate, academic performance always meant everything to my dad, and no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't give him the results he wanted." He pointed at his father on the family picture, a somewhat short man in his suit.

"The last straw came when I failed my university entry exam. After my parents heard the news they literally disowned me and threw me out of the house. Sounds brutal, I know, but comparing to my brother and sister academic results, I'm really the bad egg of the family." Yang admitted.

"After I got kicked out, I rented a small room and made what little living I could taking part time jobs in restaurants or working as a construction worker.

"I just couldn't earn enough to pay for the rent so they kicked me out. I ended up on the street, suicidal thoughts were all over the place, 'Just do it and get this over with already.' I thought." Yang let out a massive sigh, looking back at his shameful past before brightening up. "That's when I saw a recruitment poster for the PLA National Defense University and I immediately decided that this is what I wanted to do. Not so impressive, is it?" He showed the reporter a couple of worn out posters.

"At the beginning, I was completely out of my depth, no books, barely any money. Fortunately while I certainly had a terrible grade in school, I was still eligible for the exam. I studied my ass off, staying up late at night, reading from streetlights and borrowing books from anyone I could. I even sneaked back into my parents' house through the window to take any books I came across and a set of uniform for the exam, mom mistaken me for a thief and she chased me with a broom in her hand, same with dad. As I ran away, I remembered my mom yelling "Take them! You'll be a complete disgrace like those books' previous owner!" I never went back. I moved from places to places, working part time just to get barely enough money to feed myself." Yang explained, remembering his days on the streets.

"I intended to actually get a job, and not another poor beggar kicking dust in Dandong, I wanted to get into the military and prove to my parents that I wasn't a total failure. I remembered asking one of my classmate's parents who ran a pig farm, asking them to let me ride in on their truck to Beijing for the exam. I was somewhere around the last place if my memory serves me right, physical examination were not so hard as I was quite a strong person back then and I was accepted into the academy." The old general said, showing another picture of his classmates. "I'm in the third row, fifth from the right." He pointed at a young man in his service uniform.

"I don't remember the full detail but I recall doing decently in the academy, not the best, not the worst. Exams and training were real nightmares back then for me, but I made the cut, felt like a miracle. I graduated 16th in my class with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant." He described, showing pictures of the graduation parade and him on his first time in PLA dress uniform.

"My parents didn't even show up at the graduation ceremony. I'm pretty sure they didn't even know that I was in the PLA and probably rotting somewhere or just dead. I cried, literally." He then let out a massive sigh, just thinking of it hurts.

"My first assignment was in Liaoning, on the border with North Korea. I was assigned to Colonel Yao, responsible for the PLA's relations with the North Korean military, and I was his adjutant (?). I remembered running errands back and forth across the border, sending letters and documents to a KPA colonel by the name of Kim Jun-Shik, Colonel Yao's North Korean equivalent." Yang continued as he shows a picture of him in his 20s, with Colonel Yao, Colonel Kim and his female aide at the border-crossing between China and North Korea.

"And how did you get reassigned to Hong Kong Garrison?"

"Well, after the Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance got renewed, the North Korean decided to invite Colonel Yao over for a small feast. The colonel gone black out drunk after downing a full bottle worth of soju and I had to carry him kicking and flailing across the border back to China. The next day the Colonel thanked me for bearing with his drunken behavior. 'You know what Chenglei, I'm old, I'll be retiring in a few years but you're still young, and with your service years I know you can do much more greater things than sending letters to Norks across the border. So pack it up, you're going Hong Kong.' The Colonel had a friend in the Central Military Commission, so he asked him for any vacant position, turned out there was a vacant position in the Hong Kong PLA Garrison so I was assigned there. Still the same job as back in Heilongjiang though, running errands across the city, sending letters and documents between bases and headquarters. So in effect, I basically went from sending letters to North Korean to doing paperwork in Hong Kong." He let out a small laugh before another massive sigh.

"A few months after arriving in Hong Kong, I received mail from my sister, saying that father's company was going under, and that my older brother ditched them to fend for themselves. She had to dropped off from master's degrees and find a job to help pay off the massive debts they had. Even worse, dad got lung cancer from his intensive smoking and required frequent visit to the hospital. Back then, the PLA's salary was pretty small, I earned around 6,000 Yuan as a 1st Lieutenant and I gave three quarters of that to my sister to pay off father's debts. I did told my sister not to tell him that the money was coming from me though, back then I still felt bitter from them ditching me all those years back... But for everything that had happened, I was still their son, nothing would change that, and I didn't intend to be an ungrateful child like my brother." He explained with a solemn voice. "But cutting your salary in half also has a funny aspect to it, I'm not called 'penny-pinching Yang' for nothing."

The reporter nodded. "So what were you doing when the Empire attacked the city?" The reporter asks. Yang froze for a moment as cold breeze enter the room, everything was dead silent.

"Better tell your cameraman to get a new set of battery ready, this is going to be a long one…" Yang said, flexing his now scrawny muscle before walking towards the shelf at the corner of the room and pulling out a large box with the help of one of the reporters' crew. He opened it with an utility knife, revealing various notes, reports, diaries and photo galleries, some with the PLA's "8-1" red star symbol and the word "Declassified" stamped on them.

"I'll tell you everything…"

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