Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Ri Cheng had a guess, but he wasn't sure.

"Alright, it's about time. Let the girl come over."

"Yes."

Ri Cheng clasped his hands together and slowly retreated.

A short while later, he brought in Muramasa Takii.

Her complexion was noticeably better than it had been two days ago at the bottom of the well. The Myoho Muramasa sword was on her back, wrapped and bound by several old chains engraved with scriptures.

If one's will is weak, one can see that the demon sword seems to emit bursts of red eerie light, as if it carries some kind of fatal attraction.

"Muramasa, the Myoho Muramasa has now recognized you as the ninth Muramasa. Moreover, its power is slowly awakening, and before long, it will gradually corrupt your mind, making you fulfill the promise that Senko Muramasa made back then."

"Just like the third and fourth Muramasa of the Muramasa family, they eventually lost their minds and became degenerate people who only knew how to frantically slaughter people and devour flesh and blood."

Riyan's words revealed the terrible consequences of the demon sword going out of control.

However, Muramasa Taki's face showed little worry or fear, only calmness.

"Master Riyan, is there really no way to break this?"

Riyan shook his head: "No, there is one last method. That is to use the merits accumulated by Honmyoji over the years to suppress it, but you will still need to provide blood frequently. However, apart from that, you can move freely without any restrictions. The only requirement is that you live near the temple and not go far away."

Taki hesitated for a moment: "Wouldn't this cause trouble for Honmyoji Temple?"

After all, if this method were better, the monks of Honmyoji Temple would not have given up on it and instead helped the Muramasa clan to use a "deceptive" method to evade the fulfillment of each successive agreement.

"There will be a price to pay, but now there is no other choice, unless we watch a new master of the demon sword be born."

Although there is a price to pay, judging from Riyan's expression, the price does not seem serious, at least within his tolerance range.

Ri Cheng's expression was a little strange, and his eyes showed a thoughtful look.

"Even if I give my life, I still can't quell the demonic sword?" Taki sighed.

"If you die, it will only cause the demon sword to enter a berserk state prematurely. And in this world today, there is probably no one who can stop the berserk demon sword. Even if you, Muramasa Taki, are gone, there are still your clansmen. Even if there are no clansmen, there are still Murakami and Murai."

"When the agreement was made, your ancestors still had some control. But in this era, no one can control them. The new contract will only turn others into slaves of the sword, completely powerless to resist."

"So the demon sword might even be willing to watch you die."

Riyan's gentle voice slowly revealed the cruel truth.

Takii understood that she truly had no other choice.

“I understand. I will cooperate fully from now on.” Muramasa Taki took a deep breath and looked solemnly at Nigen. “I’m entrusting this matter to you, Nigen-sama.”

Higan nodded slightly: "Are you a student at Komagome Academy?"

"Yes, if I need to withdraw from school, I can go back to school tomorrow to complete the procedures." Takii thought that Riyan was worried that her going to school would delay the handling of the demon sword.

“No.” Riyan shook his head. “On the contrary, I need you to study hard during this time, and after school, try to go to places that are lively but not decadent. You can’t come to Honmyoji Temple often, only on the day of Daianri.”

There must be a reason why Riyan said that. Takii didn't understand these customs, so he simply nodded in agreement.

Chapter 77: Unraveling the Context

chap!

Snap!

Shin Higashiyama weaved among the group of rotting executioners, using his camera to slow their movements time and again, creating opportunities to escape.

This is Yoyogi Station.

It is also the last platform leading to Shinagawa Station.

The problem is that this is also the platform where he ran away after opening the iron gate at Hibiya Station.

Those skeleton soldiers and that old officer are still here waiting for him!

So the test begins the moment the train arrives at the station.

He needed to find something unusual during the chase, take photos, and stall until the train arrived at the station to board it.

It's enough to make you feel hopeless.

You call this normal difficulty?

So the real ending is that this man really did complete the game with only one life?!

Since the game's perspective is focused on this man, it means that even if he didn't achieve a perfect completion, he at least reached the vicinity of the finish line.

If it were Higashiyama Shin, he would be confident that he could just kill his way through. Forget about solving the mystery; once he wiped out all the enemies, there would be no more puzzles.

But this person's physical condition is just that of an ordinary person, the kind of office worker who might be in poor health!

It's important to know that the game difficulty increases dramatically starting from Sugamo Station, where you'll encounter monsters dressed in old military uniforms all the way to Yoyogi Station.

He died more than a dozen times before finally arriving here, using his corpse to forge a path through the gate.

chap!

Higashiyama Shin's eyes stung, and a stream of blood slowly trickled down.

He's almost at his limit. If he continues to use this camera like this, he'll definitely go blind.

Even if you don't go blind, if your eyesight is significantly reduced, you'll have to spend more lives trying to make mistakes in later levels.

But he was prepared. Without saying a word, he took out the fish eyeball, pressed it against the camera viewfinder, framed as many monsters as possible, and then pressed the shutter button.

Click!

A much louder camera slammed on the shutter.

A flash of light, like lightning, streaked across the platform, illuminating almost the entire area.

The fish eyeball popped and vanished into smoke, while all the monsters froze in place, as if they were frozen in time.

"Ho ho."

Higashiyama Shin stared at the motionless monsters. He caught his breath for a while before wearily walking to the edge of the platform, wiping away his blood and tears, rubbing his sore eyes, and waiting for the train to arrive.

After his eyes gradually recovered and the stinging pain subsided, he took out the new unusual photos he had taken at the platform.

It was a little boy whose face was full of worry. He seemed to be afraid of his surroundings, and he held tightly to his father's sleeve with vigilance, drawing precious sense of security from him.

Ever since my dad told me those horrible stories, I've been seeing dark shadows and getting headaches. Are those spirits? Dad's taking me to get checked out today. I hope it's not spirits, just my imagination.

From then on, a rather clear line of thought appeared in Higashiyama Shin's mind.

But a final verification is still needed.

That was the reminder from the girl in the white dress.

"There is more than just darkness in the darkness; the little boy has forgotten things he shouldn't have forgotten."

This sentence is probably meant to be used at Shinagawa Station.

Similarly, this is the final test.

The train slowly approached, and the monsters went from being completely still to moving in slow motion, albeit ridiculously slow, enough for Shinichi Higashiyama to leisurely walk onto the train and leave.

Bang, bang, bang.

The train departs for Shinagawa Station, while Shinichi Higashiyama sits calmly in his seat, organizing the clues.

If we assume Yoyogi is the starting point, and we move clockwise from the direction the train he was on came from, then everything begins when the little boy felt he saw a dark shadow, and his father took him to the hospital for a checkup.

The little boy did not reveal the results of the examination, but the scenes and photos along the way to Sugamo Station showed that he had experienced a long period of darkness.

Then I gradually learned to accept it.

Even after she completely lost her sight, she would still comfort her father.

Based on this, it seems to be a difficult disease to treat and could affect vision. Is it a brain tumor causing compression? Retinoblastoma? Or some other rare disease?

This doesn't require much investigation; all that's needed is to know that the little boy lost his sight due to an illness.

He remembered that the little boy asked him to find his father, but after visiting so many stations along the way, he found no one who looked like his father except for photos.

He photographed the anomalies at the vast majority of the sites, except for...

Shinagawa Station.

Combining the information, we arrive at the conclusion that the darkness of Shinagawa Station conceals a reality the little boy doesn't want to recall.

We've arrived at Shinagawa Station.

Looking at the station sign hanging there, Shinichi Higashiyama put the photo in his pocket, picked up his camera, and stepped off the train.

The little boy remained in the same spot, sitting on the chair, swinging his legs like any other child, and softly singing an off-key song.

I've fallen in love with this season of soft colors.

Just like falling in love with you, shining brightly that day.

Please keep running until the very end!

It's the song "Don't Give Up" that I heard at Shinbashi Station.

"Brother? Is that you back?"

The little boy looked in the direction of Higashiyama Shin, his face full of smiles and anticipation.

"Um, brother, I can see all the photos you took, but did you find my dad? It seems like the people in the photos are him from the past, not him now."

The boy looked slightly dejected.

Higashiyama watched the train leave before slowly walking up to the little boy.

"I think I know where your father is, but are you sure you want to see him again?"

Without hesitation, the little boy nodded firmly: "Yes! I've been waiting for my dad here for a very, very long time, so long that I've lost track of time. Brother, do you really know where my dad is?"

"Have other people been here before?" Shin Higashiyama suddenly asked another question.

The little boy's expression froze for a moment, as if he had experienced a brief moment of pain, but it disappeared just as quickly. If he hadn't believed his eyes, Higashiyama Shin would have thought it was an illusion.

"I...I don't remember. I think I do, but I also think I don't."

The little boy answered somewhat hesitantly.

"I understand."

Higashiyama Shin nodded knowingly, slowly walking to the edge of the pitch-black platform, staring at the deep darkness below.

He raised his camera.

"and many more!!"

The little boy's face suddenly turned ferocious and terrifying. His sunken eyes stared intently in the direction of Higashiyama Shin, and the sound he made was full of pain.

"No, no. Brother, no, I don't want to know, please!"

The little boy pleaded, trembling all over, but he did not do anything to stop them, nor did he transform into a monster, and the surroundings were safe.

Higashiyama Shin shook his head, turned his gaze back, raised his camera, and held it in front of him.

Just like when he first arrived at Shinagawa Station and saw the little boy from behind.

He was also looking in that direction at the camera.

chapped.

Higashiyama Shin pressed the shutter.

Chapter 78: Kisaragi Station

"don't want--"

As the shutter clicked, a beam of white light shattered the boy's wailing.

Ding dong.

"A train heading towards the inner ring is about to enter platform 1. Please move to the yellow safety line and wait. Please remain in your current position until the doors open."

The sound of leather shoes clicking on the ground, the sound of business people turning the pages of newspapers, and the clinking of backpack ornaments.

When Higashiyama Shin's vision returned, the scene before him was so ordinary, as if he had returned from hell to the human world, that he couldn't help but feel slightly dazed and gently turned his head to look around.

But he understood that this was simply entering a memory the little boy didn't want to recall.