In the early days of the Russo-Japanese War, a disciplinary episode results in Sugimoto Saichi being transferred from the 1st to the 7th Division. It doesn't take long to figure out that Russian gunfire might pose him less danger than the tangled web of a unit in which he's ended up.
My friend October read this whole fic over and is largely responsible for its existence as anything more than an outline in my notes app. Ruth also read the first two chapters when they were much messier and gave me really helpful structural pointers. Thank you!
Caveat about canon compliance + anachronism: Historical and canon accuracy was attempted up to a point, but I played fast and loose with certain details, especially wrt geography and the passage of time. This story was outlined around GK 180. I've progressed with it mostly as planned, though certain canon events have impacted my characterization takes and framing. The drafts of the last few chapters were completed around GK 204 and don’t take into account anything after that.
Caveat about content warnings: if you've for some reason clicked this fic but aren't familiar with the source material, the Canon-Typical Violence/Graphic Depictions of Violence warning is meant to be taken seriously! This story features different kinds of physical and emotional violence (though no sexual violence), including but not limited to a) in war and b) in interpersonal relationships. There's a fair amount of gore and descriptions of blood and injury, but I mostly want to warn for the fact the central shipping relationships are bound up in this as well, and the story features an unclear line drawn between consensual kink and nonconsensual acts of physical violence. It's not anything vastly out of the realm of where the manga itself goes, but I wouldn't feel conscientious if I didn't warn for it, and it's hard to describe succinctly in tags. Carry on.