Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 46: Strange Humanoid

The train doors slowly opened.

Nobi Tomoyo stared palely at the dark mass of human figures before him, his mouth agape, feeling as if he were about to perish.

But to his surprise, these black-clad office worker figures carrying briefcases seemed strangely polite.

She simply stood quietly at the door, staring at him silently, without making the slightest movement, as if silently adhering to the principle of "first come, first served."

Nobi Tomoyoshi breathed a sigh of relief, his hand unconsciously reaching into his pocket, where the rotten tuna's eyeball had been left for him.

Nobita's puzzle-solving route is similar to that of Shin Higashiyama and Iwasaki, involving collecting flowers and offering forget-me-nots to the stone tablet.

He even got so caught up in the experience that he felt the terrifying tuna's pain, and knelt down to apologize, though he received no extra reward.

However, he was slightly different from Iwasaki; he also brought his initial equipment—a briefcase.

He felt that either the eyeball or the briefcase was having an effect, or perhaps both were.

Not to mention his briefcase, he even carried the bouquet of flowers on his back, thinking he would definitely need them someday—a typical player.

Regardless of whether it's useful now, it might be useful in the future.

If he had a backpack with enough space, he would have taken the fire hose and even rummaged through the pile of items on the platform.

After all, it took him two lives to get here, and this is his last life today, so he has to be careful.

Seeing that the black-clad figure showed no hostility, he gripped his briefcase tightly and mustered his courage to walk towards them on the platform.

The human figures, resembling overworked office workers, each carrying their own briefcases, automatically made way for Nobita.

"Thank you, thank you." Nobita whispered his thanks and slowly walked off the train, but no one paid him any attention.

Then, the black-clad figures avoided his position and frantically rushed into the train.

Nobita, on the other hand, was like an isolated island in the ocean, or an outsider, standing there dumbfounded as he watched the black humanoid figures swarm into the train like sardines being squeezed into a can.

Suddenly, a dark figure stopped.

This shadowy figure was different from most shadowy figures; it was quite muscular and seemed to have a helmet-shaped hat on its head.

He ignored his fellow creatures around him and stared intently at Nobita.

To be precise, I was staring at the flowers on his back.

Nobita noticed the man's odd behavior and pulled out the bouquet with a puzzled look: "Do you...do you want it?"

The shadowy figure didn't answer, it just kept staring.

Nobi thought for a moment, then handed the bouquet to the strange dark figure, hoping it might trigger some plot development.

The shadowy figure gazed at the flower, reached out and gently lifted it up, watching it quietly until the surrounding shadows almost filled the last inch of space on the train.

From the outside, the carriage was filled with pitch black, constantly writhing, and indistinguishable from human figures, as if darkness had taken on a tangible form at that moment.

The strange, dark figure averted its gaze from the bouquet and looked at Nobita, handing the bouquet back to him.

"Oh, you don't want it?"

Nobita was a little surprised, thinking it might trigger some kind of plot.

He obediently took the flowers back, and the dark figure began to squeeze into the almost full carriage, just like the other dark figures.

He seemed to be much "stronger" than the other humanoids, and little by little, he pried open a gap and crawled inside.

The car door started to move, it must be about to close.

Snapped!
Just as the train doors were about to close, the strange dark figure kicked one of the humanoid figures out of the doorway. The train started moving, clattering away.

Only Nobi and a black humanoid figure, whose identity was unclear, were left standing on the platform, surrounded by empty space with no other moving objects around them.

Nobi stared at the human figure that had been kicked off the train with a strange look. His head seemed to droop even lower. He stood blankly facing the direction the train had left for a while before turning around, seemingly heading somewhere unsure of where.

Nobita quietly followed behind, taking a look at the "new map".

If the announcement is correct, this is Kasumigaseki Station, but it's unclear what era that station dates back to.
He could only tell that it was much older than the Tsukiji Station on the left. Rows of milky-white glass-shaded chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, emitting a slightly yellowish light. Rusty emergency light stands hung beside the columns. The walls were covered with cream-colored square tiles, with copper strips embedded in the grout lines for moisture protection.
There are so many decorations that I've never seen in real life or in movies and TV shows, and they're full of a sense of nostalgia.

These trains from different eras are like ghosts in a time warp, constantly sending him further and further into time, to an era frozen in a certain moment.

If you were to take another train, you might see what the Hibiya Line looked like when it first started operating.

However, this is on the condition that there is another train for him to board.

"'Go to Hibiya!'" Nobita saw these words on the wall, the color of which seemed to be the same as the arrow on the stairs at Tsukiji Station, as if they were written with red crayon.

The black humanoid figure that had been kicked down stopped. He stood there motionless, and the scene around him rippled slowly, like a pebble thrown into a lake.

Slowly, a small campsite with a few tool kits, convenience food packages, and clothes scattered on the ground came into view.

Yes, Nobita immediately recognized it as a campsite, and one that appeared to be set up by humans.

Combined with the snack packaging previously found in the carriage
He quickly squatted down, picked up a few packages, and found the production dates.

Sure enough, just like the food scattered inside the carriage, it was food produced in 2019.

So—it's the same group of people!

After getting out of the car, they stopped here temporarily to discuss how to proceed.
In a daze, he seemed to see several people lying or sitting here, looking tired and still unsettled, discussing something.

Nobita carefully searched the toolbox and clothes left behind, hoping to find some clues.

In the end, he only found a strange flashlight, but when he turned it on, it emitted ultraviolet light.

Apart from that, they were all obviously useless little gadgets.

"Ultraviolet light can either ward off ghosts, or..." Nobita turned on the light and shone it on the black humanoid figure that was standing there blankly.

No reaction at all.

He then turned the light on the blank walls around him.

He quickly found the information he was looking for.

[This gap]

Several words appeared under ultraviolet light.

Besides the words, there are several arrows pointing towards a crack in the wall.

Nobita turned on the light, looked around to make sure there were no other writings, and then approached the wall. Upon closer inspection, he could see that something seemed to be stuck between the cracks in the broken bricks.

He touched it and felt that it was made of plastic, so he gently pulled it out.

It was a folded plastic cookie wrapper.

Inside the packaging was a folded piece of paper.

Nobita carefully and slowly took the paper out of the packaging bag and unfolded it.

Lines of messy handwriting appeared.

(End of this chapter)