PSA: I'm more familiar with overlord than gate so despite this first chapter being almost entirely based on gate, I will probably focus more on overlord in the future, also due to the story's direction as the portal leads to the new world, not the special region.
This chapter is just initial stuff based off the gate anime. Let me know if the chapter length is too long/short.
Input/suggestions would be much appreciated, apologies for the memes.
I've recently edited this chapter a bit.
BTW, this first chapter is a bit of a shit-post. Later ones are more serious.
Steel and Sorcerers – Chapter 1
It was a bright sunny day, but that was not why Yoji Itami was out here at Ginza. There was going to be a doujin sale event on shortly. He was feeling the hype as he browsed his phone, looking at the various authors that would be present. However, unbeknownst to him, a catastrophe was unfolding out on the street below.
A large portal had appeared in the middle of the street. It was ornate in appearance, looking as if it had come from roman times, with tall white pillars (but also light blue crystal) making up the frame. It would've been a mesmerising sight if it were not for what emerged from the darkness within. A large group of about 50 short green humanoids emerged, accompanied by 7 larger figures that towered over them. Any person who knew a little about the fantasy genre would immediately recognise them as goblins and ogres. The question was, what were they doing here? Was this a coordinated cosplay event?
As they stepped out into the light, they shielded their eyes with dirty arms barely covered by dishevelled rags, before looking around at the scene before them. Seeing the crowd of curious onlookers, they let out savage grins before letting out bloodthirsty cries and charging at them with weapons drawn. Many of the people that had gathered were too slow, or caught up in the fleeing crowd.
Hearing the disturbance, Itami rushed to the nearest window of the expo building where he saw the carnage unfolding. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but moved to action, sprinting back down the stairs out onto the street. However, in his heart were not feelings of heroism, but the knowledge that if this incident was left to develop, there was no doubt that the doujin event would be cancelled!
He spotted a policeman who was trembling with fear. A goblin was rushing towards him. Itami sprinted forwards to intercept the monster, tackling it to the ground. He then wrested its own rusty dagger away from its grasp and slit its throat. Not wasting any time, as the longer this went on the more likely he wouldn't be able to see his precious waifus, he made his way to the imperial palace where citizens were taking shelter. Once there he ordered police to barricade the area so the monsters wouldn't be able to get in.
Out on the streets carnage was still widespread with citizens being massacred in the streets by the ravenous horde, however, salvation was finally at hand. More heavily armed police forces had arrived and established a perimeter, mowing down any approaching goblins with submachine guns. The ogres too fell quickly, being slow moving and large targets. The police slowly advanced before finally reaching the gate itself, where they established a defensive perimeter, locking down the area. Ginza was saved, but at what cost? The doujin event ended up being cancelled, before he had the opportunity to purchase any no less.
Itami ended up being promoted to the rank of second lieutenant for his actions in helping protect Tokyo, but it did little to mend the hole left in his heart by the cancellation of the doujin expo. He had previously been off-duty technically, but after this he might just need to take a more active role. Little did those little green scrubs know, but Itami was a special forces ranger.
The next morning Itami began his daily training to get back into shape. He had just finished his 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 squats, and was in the middle of a 10km run when a youthful looking fellow soldier with short black hair came up and began running alongside him. He started saying something, but Itami unfortunately had air-pods in blasting anime OPs, so couldn't hear what he was saying.
Itami thought back to the doujin expo. By now Itami no longer cared about missing out on the event. It was a shame that he wasn't able to purchase any doujins, but a new opportunity had presented itself. If goblins and ogres came through the gate, then there was a good chance that there was a fantasy world full of elves, cat-girls, and 1000-year-old lolis on the other side.
The government and military were being very quiet about what had happened, going on a massive campaign to suppress information about the incident, however Itami anticipated that they would soon be sending a task-force through to establish a forward base. Due to his actions at Ginza, as well as his qualifications, he felt there was a good chance that he would be a part of that task-force.
He was eating lunch at the army barracks when the same guy from earlier came up to him. "Hey Itami, do you mind if I sit with you?"
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" replied Itami.
"I was talking to you when you were on that run the other day, don't you remember?"
"No, sorry. Now if you don't mind, I've got some daily quests to do." Itami shifted his attention back to his phone, which he was masterfully manipulating with one hand while eating his lunch with the other.
"Hey, I know that game!" exclaimed Kurata. "They were having a limited-time event at that doujin expo, and I pulled some really good characters before it all got shut down due to the attack."
"Oh really, what characters?" asked Itami disinterestedly.
"I got Truck-kun, Doge-sama, and Wojak-san."
"Oh, really? What was your name by the way?"
"Kurata?"
Itami pulled him, close, rubbing his neckbeard all over the poor man. "Kurata my friend, I tell you what. I'll trade you my Ugandan Knuckles-san for the both of them."
"What? No way! He's a dead meme, now get off me!"
In the background, another soldier with a mohawk-like haircut saw their antics, and had fond flashbacks of the time he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
The next day, Itami was out for his run again when he spotted the guy that he'd been pestering before. Using his special forces trained physical abilities he easily caught up to his victim, who had seemed to have mistaken his actions the other day for romantic advances.
"Hey, no homo, but I'd do anything for you if you'd trade me those waifus" said Itami.
"Aah! You surprised me! Also no, I'm not interested in guys ok!"
Meanwhile, the guy with the mohawk-like haircut watched them from behind a tree, the innocent fun they were having distracting him from the horrors of war he had experienced in central Asia.
Itami had spotted him observing their conversation earlier and had run a background check just in case he was an assassin sent to kill him. However, most of the information on his file seemed to have been redacted, so Itami was still wary of the man.
Later that week, he was in the barracks when he was approached from a couple of fellow members of his unit. In a microsecond, Itami judged their expressions, and seeing that they were not here to assassinate him or steal his waifus from his gacha game, he relaxed his posture. They informed him that they were receiving new uniforms, which probably meant they would be among the first to head through the gate. Infuriatingly, this meant that Itami's application which he had pored over laboriously the night before was now pointless.
The next morning, he received summons from his unit commander. On arrival at the barracks, he received orders that he and his squad mates (which included Kurata and Akira) were to be a part of a small team that would be sent through the gate. They would be attempting to make first contact with a village that had been spotted nearby on the other side.
They all collected their equipment and headed to the gate. Itami's equipment consisted of a Howa type 89 battle rifle, a P-9 pistol, type II body armour and a Panzerfaust-3 disposable anti-tank rocket launcher. This peasant gear was different than what he was used to, but he was 'EX'-special forces after all, not current. Other members of his squad had different equipment such as LMGs, grenades, and even a sniper.
On arrival at the gate, they were met by a group of three individuals, all dressed in smart-casual clothing that were easy to move in. They introduced themselves as various experts that would be accompanying them on the mission. After this, they finally made their way into the entranceway of the gate itself. A small checkpoint had been set up with roadblocks and temporary fencing, and the group confirmed their IDs with them before being allowed to step through.
As they trudged through the tunnel, which was now lit up by light fixtures that had been installed, after about 30 metres they approached what looked like a wall of darkness which the lights couldn't penetrate. This must be the boundary between worlds.
Stepping through, they found themselves in what appeared to be a dark endless void. Far in the distance in front of them, they could see a white light. Orange fluorescent cones illuminated by floodlamps marked out a pathway towards the light in the distance, yet walking through here gave Itami a disorienting feeling. It supposedly had the dimensions of a tunnel, but since the wall, floor and ceiling all absorbed light it was impossible to tell just from looking. Looking down, it felt as if he would suddenly fall through into the endless darkness below.
After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the white light they had seen from before. It appeared as a bright white wall, like the wall of darkness they had passed through before to enter the tunnel initially. Eager to escape from this space between worlds, they stepped into the light.