Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 2.02: Game Rewards

In Tokyo, neon lights converge along the streets, flowing like a river in the night.

Bunkyo District.

Tower apartments near Komagome Station.

In a dark apartment on the 28th floor, the long silence was broken by the sound of a fingerprint lock unlocking.

pat.

squeak.

A faint, clearly controlled sound of a door being pushed open slowly began to emerge.

Holding a soccer ball, Higashiyama Du cautiously peeked out from behind the door, glanced at the unlit living room, and breathed a sigh of relief, feeling guilty.

Then he quietly closed the door again and fumbled for the light switch from memory.

Hey.

"Ugh!"

As soon as the light was turned on, Higashiyama Doku screamed in fright and leaned against the door, almost unable to catch his breath.

Because after he turned on the light, he suddenly saw his older brother, Higashiyama Shin, sitting on the sofa, deep in thought like a statue.

"Hehe. Hoo. Bro, you're still awake?"

Higashiyama patted his chest and gasped for breath, clearly quite frightened.

"Hmm, I was thinking about something. Why are you back so late?"

Higashiyama Shin glanced at the soccer ball in his brother's hand, a barely perceptible red glint flashing in his eyes.

Clean, this football is so clean, it's like new, no different from when Dongshan took it out alone.

Looking at her younger brother's expression, she saw that after hearing his question, her heart started to race, her steps involuntarily took a step back, and her eyes darted around.

"We got so engrossed in playing that it was already ten o'clock. I'm sorry, brother. I'll come back earlier next time," Dongshan explained guiltily.

Higashiyama Shin nodded slightly, not exposing his foolish younger brother's lie.

He could more or less guess what Dongshan Du had gone out to do; it was nothing more than him falling in love and secretly going on a date.

"There are egg tarts on the table. You can eat some before you go to sleep if you're hungry."

"Oh, okay, I'm actually hungry!" Dongshan felt like he'd been granted a pardon, quickly put down the football, went to wash his hands and get something to eat.

Higashiyama Shin stopped the slowly rolling soccer ball with his toe, gently hooked it up, and kicked it, sending the ball bouncing accurately into Higashiyama Doku's room.

"Delicious! Brother, make more next time, I'll take some to share with my classmates." Dongshan Du came out after washing his hands and wolfed down his food, unaware of what had just happened.

"it is good."

After giving a brief reply, Higashiyama Shin didn't stay on the sofa any longer. He got up and went back to his room, closing the door as usual, turning off the light, and sitting on the bed. He seemed to be staring blankly at the night view outside the window, but in reality, he was observing a screen in front of him that only he could see.

(Something like that)
He has been traveling through this parallel world of Japan for ten years.

The original owner of this body probably died from excessive grief over her mother's passing, and was then taken over by this wandering ghost from a different time and space.

Perhaps there are other forces pulling the strings behind the scenes, but he has no way of knowing.

At the beginning of the transmigration, the original owner's father was a middle manager in a foreign trade company. He left early and returned late, and was often away on business trips, so he was never home.

My younger brother is a tagalong; he's still young and easy to handle.

This also allows Shin Higashiyama to better conceal his personality changes. With such a busy father, an early-deceased mother, and a young brother, it's understandable that he would become silent.

Given their young age, it's quite common for their personalities to change as they grow up.

Then he slowly began to reveal his preferences and habits, not wanting to hide them forever, such as his love of cooking.

As time went by, the father, through sheer hard work, gradually rose to a high-level position in the company—a position commonly known as a high-level employee. Furthermore, because of Higashiyama Shin's precocious maturity, the father felt comfortable entrusting the household to him, no longer hiring a housekeeper and instead regularly giving Higashiyama Shin a living allowance to manage as he saw fit.

Soon after, the father resolutely took on a long-term development mission and went to the newly established branch in Rio.

He left and showed no signs of returning until he went to university.

But he didn't mind; on the contrary, he felt even more at ease.

The living conditions are decent, there's no one to manage the household, and there's a hardworking, lazy dad who doesn't know anything about taking it easy. He sends a lot of money back every month, and you can't spend it all without having to be frugal. It's a pretty good life.

Ever since he arrived in this world, there has been something resembling a game loading bar in the corner of his vision, undergoing changes that are barely perceptible to the naked eye. Only as year after year passes can one vaguely sense that the progress bar has shifted.

Finally, just as he was about to graduate from middle school and spring break was approaching, the loading bar finished loading. He was able to bring up a screen, and after following the tutorial to "register" and choosing the nickname "Game Master," he arrived at a simple interface with several options in sequence.

[Free this month]

[Game Store]

[Invite Players] [Reward Items]

The free game this month occupies the largest portion of the screen, and there's also an illustration reminding him that he can play it.

Other options are grayed out and cannot be selected.

Without much hesitation, he started playing the game late at night.

The game is called "Soul Swap".

The story takes place after the war, when a man of unknown origin, but dressed neatly and looking very respectable, comes to the village where the protagonist lives. He claims that he has no son and wants to adopt a boy of a specific age and birth date.

The game primarily progresses through dialogue and exploration, repeating this process day after day, with virtually no combat.

There are no options in the dialogue; you must combine the information from the game with your own words and communicate like a normal conversation.

The NPCs inside each have their own thoughts and are just like living, breathing people. If your words are incoherent, they will inevitably arouse suspicion.

The game had a free period of one month, but even so, it was only with two days left in the rotation that Shin Higashiyama finally figured out the ins and outs of this soul-swapping game, collected enough clues and items, achieved the perfect ending, and successfully turned the tables.

Based on the clues gathered from various sources, the following interpretation can be made:

The middle-aged man's name was Tetsuro Muto, though the authenticity of this name is unknown. He had studied under what was probably the last Onmyoji in Japan, but due to his lack of skill and wicked intentions, he was expelled from the school by the Onmyoji, who knew his days were numbered, before his death.

Afterwards, he traveled far and wide, using his rudimentary Yin-Yang magic to swindle and deceive. Although his skills were not refined, in this era of declining Dharma, he was already considered one of the most talented people, and few could compare to him. As a result, he accumulated a lot of wealth, but also offended many people.

During one of his escapes, he stumbled upon the Three Nine Secret Stars and the Soul Nourishing Sutra of the Shingon sect in an abandoned temple in the forest. He immediately switched allegiance and began to study the Way of the Stars.

After achieving some success, he chose to change his identity and come out of seclusion, offering fortune telling and warding off misfortune for high-ranking officials and nobles. Because his predictions were extremely accurate, he was treated as an honored guest by many people and enjoyed a period of great prestige.

But as the saying goes, "the more you climb the mountain, the more likely you are to encounter a tiger." He foresaw a death calamity that he could not avoid through divination, so he did not hesitate to use secret techniques to forcibly change one of his death calamities.

In addition to the divinations he had performed for others, he had revealed too many heavenly secrets, nearly exhausting his own lifespan.

To escape the pursuit of those high-ranking officials and nobles, he chose to plunge into the deep mountains and forests.

He hid until after the war, during which time he devoted himself to studying the Soul Nourishing Scripture, trying to find a way to defy fate.

In the end, he couldn't find a way to change his fate, but a forbidden technique called Soul Swap caught his attention.

Then came the scene that occurred a few days after the start of the game.

The main quest for the character controlled by the player is to be chosen by Muto and avoid having their soul swapped.

However, because the game's NPCs, especially Tetsuro Muto, were so cunning, and the character he was controlling was a child, Shin Higashiyama had to put in a lot of effort to complete the walkthrough.

For example, regarding the birth date at the beginning, after playing through the game, Higashiyama Shinichi summarized three choices. One is to give a conflicting birth date, and Muto turns around and leaves without saying anything more, directly achieving the speedrun ending, which is also the ending with the fewest points.

One approach is to tell the truth based on the actual situation, giving the protagonist a birth date that is neither incompatible nor conflicting. In this way, Mutou will also take the protagonist away, but only as a backup option, with much lower importance. The protagonist will not be able to access the important clue of the Soul Nourishing Scripture, nor will they know about Mutou Tetsuro's life.

If you choose this option, the best ending is that Muto, unable to find a more suitable candidate, has no choice but to swap souls with the protagonist. Then, based on the clues and items collected by the player, they ultimately perish together. This is the normal ending.

Finally, the protagonist is given Daihe's birthday, which will make Mutou overjoyed. For the next few months, Mutou will treat the protagonist like his own son, allowing the protagonist to access more clues and Mutou's diary, thus enabling a crucial counterattack.

Although the protagonist's parents have passed away and he is an orphan, there is a book in the village that records the birth dates of everyone. To pass the level, he must destroy or modify this book in advance.

They then subtly hinted to the village chief and others beforehand, so that when Muto arrived, they could give a definitive false answer.

If any suspicion is aroused during this process, Muto will forcibly use his already limited lifespan to perform divination on the protagonist, at which point everything will be over, resulting in the most tragic ending: death by a thousand cuts.

Tetsuro Muto is no saint.

The illness brought on by his impending death had tormented him for several years, and the pent-up anger in his heart was extremely intense. When faced with a player who first gives hope and then disappoints him, he would lose his mind in an instant, and it would not be surprising if he did something irrational.

After organizing his thoughts, he found an inconspicuous notebook on the bookshelf and, by the light of the moon, wrote down the plot of his day's trip.

"188th playthrough, perfect ending achieved, but the hint says perfect doesn't mean real. And the final haiku: 'The Shadow Diagram extends life, the Divination Plate burns to summer ashes, bones covered in frost.'"

"The first sentence is easy to understand. The shadow can refer to Ueda, whom Muto adopted. Muto is preparing to possess Ueda's body in order to escape his impending death."

"What does burning the divination plate to summer ashes have to do with fire? There are no fire-related scenes in the story, but the story does take place in the summer."

"The bones covered in frost" probably refers to the fact that Mutou's remains were ultimately left unclaimed.

He has a good memory, but he can't remember all the details of the game, so after each game, he would write a detailed record of the plot in his notebook, like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Even though the game has already reached a perfect ending, who can guarantee that this story data won't be needed in the future?

Of course, he only memorized the plot; he couldn't possibly record things like rewards, points, or the game system. He would only keep those things in his mind.

Putting down his pen and putting away his notebook, Shin Higashiyama summoned the screen again and opened the [Reward Items] window.

It's time to take stock of what we've accomplished.

　My new book is amazing, please read and recommend it! So many requests! (heart emoji)
　　

(End of this chapter)