Hello hello! ThatGuyYouMet To answer on Sanctions of the UN, that is actually something I thought of and the idea is that it's most likely. Japan is nowhere near the independence it needs to snuff the world like it did, China is the manufacturing king of the world by this time. They all would 100% want to nip it in the bud before it's too late. The public across the world would probably nickname Japan's solo efforts something like 'New-world co-prosperity sphere' or some other variation of WW2 mocking.

Hell, South East Asia and China would probably have a similar reaction to Korea but not as loud as Korea was the first and arguably the worst. I hope that helped. I've had several ideas in regards to that so you'll have to wait and see.

Hurlock

He had been a battle slave for a good portion of his life, under-fed and overworked. When given food, baked bread and soup, he didn't complain too much; they had a cook from a local village that was making food for them, and it felt like the gods themselves gave him the meals every day.

The workouts were killer, but it was nothing they couldn't handle now.

"My kid, finish your bread. You'll need it," he says to the kid sitting down from him. They ate in a giant tent with the sides rolled up that overlooked the lake.

"But I'm not hungry."

"If you're not gonna eat it, then I will." a girl across from him said with a smile, reaching over.

"No! I'll… I'll eat it!" he says as a hand reaches across the table towards his bread.

They finished their meal and jumped up. They had free time and enough space to exercise. The Cor-per-al, who was in charge of their training, was strict when they had time to themselves and their daily schedule, which had mapped out the time and a clock that said what time it was.

Seeing Cor-per-al's armour, he approaches it to ask him about weapons.

"Hello," he says to the armour, which was standing at the wall at the edge of the quarantine area,

"I was hoping we could talk about weapons."

Silence

"Uuhhhh…. Well… spears are good, but I was hoping for some diversity."

he continued to talk to the armour for a couple of minutes before Cor-per-al Brayan, in his power armour jumpsuit, walked up,

"Could you take a step back? I don't want to get you sick," he says in broken language.

Feeling the embarrassment burn his face, he sees some of the un-armoured guards chuckling in their watchtowers.

"What do you need?" Brayan asks as the armour seals around him.

"Oh…. nothing," he says, beating a retreat.

Neil

He heaved a sigh; the blood samples from the locals, mostly taken from the Militia, had reacted badly to the pathogens of the Commonwealth.

"No success on sample five," a scientist calls out,

"Same results on sample six," another states,

"T lymphocyte failed to respond in time,"

"How is sample 11?"

"Faster response time but same results as previous samples"

"Let us try other responses," Neil offers

The process continues like this for several hours till the end of the day, around 11:30, when they call it a night. They would then wake up around 5, before sunrise, to start the day again.

By the time he woke up, the morning routine was already underway as he pulled on his institute-made decontamination suit, made his way through the mess hall, grabbing some bread and a bowl of wasteland soup, as it was dubbed, essentially anything edible that the sentry bots could carry into the new world with little to no issue.

Walking into the cabin, he sees Commander Danse in the waiting room with what the locals call an orc, but to him looks a little like a super mutant: just shorter and thinner.

"What's this about?"

"A recruit for a blood sample"

"Alright, we'll get them processed and added to the list. Just saying, if we have to vaccinate every race we come across, we'll never get anything done."

"Can't you vaccinate us?"

"That's generations of mutations to our bloodstreams; I can make a man in a lab, heck with the right equipment, I could make your blood look like everyone else's in this world. I cannot, however, do that and let you walk back into the Commonwealth without dropping dead from something, assuming you survive the process, which is close to impossible."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he looks at him,

"Listen, we can create a vacuum-sealed suit not to spread disease. Give vaccines to the recruits, but they would have to be scrubbed clean daily like everyone else."

"Sure, sounds good."

Taken aback by the agreement, he falters, the tone was more of a 'sure whatever' than emphatic agreement, but at this stage, anything would do.

"Alright, come here," he says, taking him into the back, stopping in the decontamination hallway where they are sprayed and thoroughly cleaned.

Stepping into a side room, almost broom closet in size, he sits the orc down and prepares to get a blood sample. Reading off a piece of paper, he tries his best to get the words of the new world language correct, essentially explaining what will happen.

The orc gives him a short smile and rubs his arms. He handled it like a champ; some had squirmed under the needles, and he enjoyed watching them look at it with amazement. Filling several valves with the blood, he put a bandaid on his arm and gave him a short pat.

Corporal Brayan

"Stab!"

"HAAAA!" the Militia yells out.

Walking back and forth with spears and shields, they were practising a mix of Modern training with old gear; if trustworthy, they would get guns of their own. Laser muskets are plenty in stock at the castle and other storage places.

Looking at them, he admitted he stole some knowledge from the veterans who agreed to join; they had told them of legion training and mixed it with some understanding of Boot camp way back in the day.

"No, no, no! You lock shields with the person to your right! Your line is your squad. Your life depends on them in battle. It matters little who they are. They are the only thing keeping you alive! Fail to protect those beside you, and you will fall just as fast!" Brayan lectures them on the idea of allies.

"Sir!" A messenger in power armour approaches. "We have some inkling of a bandit camp. The info was passed by Knight Grey, who got wind of something to the northwest between Italica and us."

"Send the scouts out. When we have solid intel, we will act then," Brayan replies back.

Alright! In full gear, give me four laps around the training area!" he shouts out, followed by some groaning.

Beating a retreat to the Gate that separates the two camps, he turns to the messenger.

"Are you sure this info is real and not an ambush?"

"It's as credible as we will get; attacks on the villages have dropped 79% since we started anti-bandit operations pre-Italica. We are chasing ghosts right now. Anything is useful."

"What about the Japanese? Didn't the General send a diplomatic offer?"

"No response yet. We will see how they respond."

Ginza, Japan

Figure laying prone on a roof

"Granny approaching the pie shop, repeat, Granny approaching the pie shop"

On the city streets, a crowd had gathered on either side of the road to wave farewell to the otherworlders who had graced their country and brought some interest to their lives about the world beyond the Gate.

However, the crowd to wave goodbye was not composed of locals. It was a mix of people all across Japan, except for Ginza natives who had been growing increasingly upset with constant lockdowns of roads and police officers showing up to the door if a window was open when a convoy supplying the JSDF would pass by.

Constant closures, constant delays, and not even trains were allowed to run at specific times if it conflicted with the convoy and how it sent materials.

Given these disgruntled people, a counter-protest, organized by locals and some anti-war political leaders, had joined the last-minute crowd to protest the occupation of another world.

In a side street, police watched a crowd of people burn a rising sun flag as they chanted 'JSDF leave' this, followed by counter protestors claiming that the empire attacked first and should face equal punishment had, lead to a mass of tens of thousands of people gathering in the streets to meet, see, or get their ideas across.

A few newer additions to the teams meant that some had entirely different agendas than those who walked with them. Police in riot gear and MP's were working to keep the crowds off the streets to let the convoy pass. The mass of people, however, had pushed some police lines only two meters from the other line behind them, and it had become too dangerous to allow all the vehicles to pass through without substantial issues.

"Everyone dismount. VIPS stay in the vehicles as they try to pass through the crowd. Everyone else gets the vehicle to the military line!" a cry over the radio goes out from the officer in charge of their escort vehicles.

That included Itami and his men; Itami gave the order to shoot to kill anyone who tried to harm the girls who stayed in the military vehicle, all of whom proceeded to get out of the vehicle anyways, much to the chagrin of the guards.

Once in view, all groups seemed to surge forward towards them, excited and cheering.

From somewhere over the street, a couple of shots ring out, and the crowd goes still.

"RUN! GET THEM TO THE GATE; EVERYONE ELSE, PROTECT THEM!'

They scramble to get to the vehicle as a couple of anti-war protestors drop dead as more shots ring out.

A JSDF sniper scans the street looking for potential hostels as his spotter scans the streets, not seeing anything.

In the guard tower, a group of protesters and fans surged towards the JSDF defences in a panic. After calling out for them to disperse, the guards, unsure of what else to do, fire some blanks in the air in hopes of getting them off the street. One guard, a new addition to the defensive line on a guard tower with his LMG, aims into the crowd and starts firing into it as other guards confused at the fire either join in or watch in stunned silence as a couple pull people into the line and are put into the safety of the JSDF.

The police line completely breaks as a few officers and MP's let the protesters pass and clog the road as mass panic ensues. While some MPs pull out their pistols and fire into the crowd, dropping some in pools of blood. The sounds of more gunfire somewhere off in the mass of panickers

On a roof looking down the street, a sniper lines a shot and pulls the trigger, dropping one of the JSDF officers.

"Granny has acquired the cake. Repeat. Granny has acquired the cake."

The crowd had started to push out of the road as piles of bodies lay in the street, and the Falmart VIPs pulled into the JSDF line and out of harm's way.

The news of the second Ginza incident would spread worldwide. News sites in the west and other parts of Asia were quick to attack Japan and its military for shooting into a crowd of protesters. News started to spread of a disproportionate amount of killed anti-JSDF protesters than pro-JSDF.

The JSDF and Ginza Police failed to find who shot first, and most officers who admitted to firing into the crowd had claimed to do so under panic and fear for their safety.

White House

"Japan has completely embarrassed itself in front of the world. Shooting protestors is something reserved for the sick and depraved, like petty tyrants, not developed nations. This failure has renewed calls from the international community for Japan to relinquish control over the Gate. The United States has joined Korea, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Russia, and Singapore in their protests following these tragic events–"

The TV is turned off,

"1028 deaths total, over half from being trampled to death in a panic."

"Even the Secretary-General of the UN has joined the calls for the Japanese to stand down."

"Independent Journalists have started to wonder what the treatment of the otherworlders are"

"Even Al-Qaeda has joined in, calling the attack retribution for their sinful ways."

"Some Japanese officials have blamed China and the United States for this attack."

"Let them believe what they want. It makes them look worse if they try to shift the blame without evidence."

Only President Dirrel and those ministers who were part of the military knew the origins of the attack, but as speculation and what to do going forward had started to permeate the conversation, it turned into a heated debate on what to do going forward.

Itami

Itami was five feet from the officer in charge of the escort vehicles when a bullet passed through his neck, and he fell into a pool of blood. The military was quick to arrest, try and court marshal all soldiers who had fired irresponsibly using police footage, everyone was grilled on what they saw, and videos started circulating the web of more minor acts of bravery.

The big news story was several MP and one JSDF soldier admitting on TV that they had intentionally shot anti-JSDF protestors. The Political right was quick to call them Spies, while the Left and centrists were keen to use it as an excuse to reduce military spending and return to the pre-gate status quo.

It all felt slightly staged, and to Itami, a big crowd like that felt like the perfect opportunity to pull an ambush, but when no attack came for the girl, it made Itami wonder. The JSDF was too disciplined to act in such a way; it had to be spies or fowl players.

Ahhh this part, I knew that a kidnapping attempt in broad daylight was about as likely for the CIA or any other agency to pull off. The fact they didn't think to warn the agents on the ground something? Dumb.

So this comes to the JSDF members shooting into the crowd. They were obviously planted there. And there is enough evidence to suspect it was the US's fault. I think regardless of who, no country wouldn't see a huge crowd start to gather and not take it as an opportunity to shame the JSDF, in Lore the PM resigns right before this point, so the government is in transition, if they wanted to affect the transition process and cast doubt on the party in power, what i assume to be Shinzo Abe's party since he was in power long enough in the early 2000's and 2010's regardless of that, this will lead to the UN coming into focus more. If it wasn't this giant target at Ginza to frame the JSDF as pro-military anti-protestors then it would be something else down the line.

I decided that Itami can believe whatever he wants about the JSDF and how disciplined it is. He, or rather the author, says in LN 1 that there are a lot of foul players and corruptible people because Japan lacks Nationalism so people are more likely to side with outside forces. Let's just keep that as is, make him more compelling.

So yeah! Other than that there isn't much else I can think to put here, hope you enjoyed the chapter!