Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

In reality, it's April 13th now, which means that in 5 days, another group of people will be sent by train to this godforsaken place to play an escape game.

Based on previous comments, this selection will likely take place during the morning rush hour.

But the intervals between years are getting shorter and shorter. What will happen if the countdown ends in five days?

Should he find some time to go and take a look at the Hibiya Line?

However, given the current state of the game, there are no rewards that appeal to him.

After some thought, Higashiyama Shin couldn't come up with a reason to personally take charge.

As for those possible spirits, he considered most of them unclean.

The little boy was pitiful, but he didn't really want to go through the trouble of bringing him out.

So many little boys, and his soul-gathering umbrella isn't a church! He's not a priest!

"Perhaps this will make the players understand this, and then let them free the little boy from this hell?"

The Yamanote route is quite clear; its core is the boy, and it revels in devouring his pain.

During those times, he repeatedly forgot the fact that his father had died.

The survivors came here and died. Given the boy's personality, he might feel guilty and suffer. These emotions would become nourishment for the evil spirits.

If the survivor survives and successfully evokes his father's death in him, the intense despair will transform into a lavish feast for those evil spirits to devour.

Either way, the evil spirits win; it's just a matter of whether they win big or small.

Won Ma.

But why not deliberately let the water flow so that every survivor who comes here can awaken the boy's memories?

Is it that these evil spirits lack intelligence and don't understand how to maximize their own interests, or is it that the little boy's tolerance is limited and he cannot withstand such frequent stimulation?

Higashiyama Shin's inclination is towards both.

[We have arrived at the final stop. All passengers, please disembark. Please remember to keep your belongings.]

The train's stop at a station interrupted his thoughts.

Looking up, I saw an empty station with only a few incandescent lights on.

The platform's overall style isn't old-fashioned; it's somewhat like a remote little station outside of Tokyo, with a very simple structure, and not even a station name is displayed.

The train doors were wide open, indicating no intention of continuing its journey.

The train ticket in his hand also turned to ashes and disappeared without a trace.

Higashiyama cautiously got off the train. Although the surroundings were similar to those on the Yamanote Line, with complete darkness except for the station, this darkness was not the kind where you couldn't see anything at all. Rather, it was the kind of darkness that you would feel like walking alone in the wilderness in the dead of night, with almost no moonlight.

The outlines of mountains, trees, and buildings can be vaguely seen.

For example, he could see a huge object that looked like a tunnel by following the path he had come from.

However, if you continue looking along the unfinished track, it also looks like a tunnel, meaning that this station is sandwiched between two tunnels.

"Does this mean I should go into the tunnel? Should I follow the path ahead, or turn back?" Higashiyama pondered, scanning the area around the platform with an ultraviolet light.

[Signal available! Cell phone signal here! You can only call your closest loved one, but they can't hear you.]

On the wall, these words were written in large characters, and they faded towards the end until they became indistinct, probably because the invisible ink pen had run out of ink.

Higashiyama Shin frowned. He had already given his phone to the girl in the white dress, and even if there was a signal now, there was nothing he could do unless he could find a phone in this kind of place.

The surrounding ground was very clean, and you could see everything at a glance.

Higashiyama Shin noticed something, walked to a pillar, and stroked the extremely simple train timetable on it.

[Ryukyu Line Train Timetable]

【下行：1947年3月15日01:00】

【下行：1947年4月18日08:00】

【下行：2040年3月15日01:00】

【下行：2040年4月18日08:00】

和列车上面留下的时间基本一致，多出了1947和2040的时间点，一直到2040年4月18日为最后一趟。

And this last trip was circled in a bloody red circle, with a creepy red smiley face drawn next to it.

What does the last trip mean?

Is it... breaking free from this dark, ethereal space and emerging into reality?

I went to pay respects at the mountain yesterday.

I was late because of some things to do; I arrived at the cemetery around dusk.

Yesterday wasn't Qingming Festival, and it was past noon, so there were very few people, scattered about at a distance. Occasionally, there were echoes of cannon salutes, and it felt quite peaceful.

After I finished distributing the incense and praying, I started burning paper money. The smoke was too irritating to my eyes, and since I have rhinitis, I walked a few steps further away.

The cemetery is shaped like a mountain. I think I was halfway up the mountain. Looking down, the sky was a bit overcast, the wind was a bit chilly, and I couldn't see many people around.

Then at that moment, I heard hissing and talking sounds, like an old radio playing fragments of Cantonese opera.

But there was really no one else around. My relatives were dozens of meters away, their view blocked by the pine and cypress trees.

The voice was mournful and hoarse, and it was intermittent, making it chilling to listen to.

After a while, the Cantonese opera excerpts finished playing, and the broadcast started to resemble a storytelling performance.

I couldn't resist my curiosity and followed the sound. Less than ten meters away, I found it was coming from a grave.

What the hell...

I didn't believe there was really such a brilliant feat as burying a radio underground, so I went over to take a closer look.

It turned out to be a lotus-shaped artificial solar-powered flower mixed in with a bunch of other fake chrysanthemums (；゜０゜).

The intermittent sound was coming from this fake lotus flower with solar panels!

What the hell...

Do you even have offerings like this?! Don't mix them with the other fake flowers, you bastard!

Chapter 80: Stormy Weather

This can be seen from this train schedule.

The train in April 2040 was the last one, indicating that the entity manipulating this space will achieve its goal on that day, and there will be no longer a need to bring people here.

The purpose then seems obvious.

However, the Hibiya Line or Yamanote Line will likely be affected, and since April 18th is a Sunday, there is no school, so the impact on him as a student will be limited.

"If there's a downward trend, then there should also be an upward trend."

Higashiyama Shin focused his gaze on the dark outline opposite, which seemed to be another platform, with a track next to the train, but it was farther away than the normal up and down platforms.

After thinking for a while, he decided to continue along the railway to see what the tunnel ahead held.

After getting off the platform, I turned on the ultraviolet light and cautiously moved forward in the dim, dark purple light.

The tunnel was completely dark, and the ultraviolet light was only enough to illuminate less than half a meter in front of you.

He tried his best not to lean against the railway tracks, and groped his way forward along the tunnel walls.

Click.

It looks like he stepped on something.

"This is a part?"

Higashiyama Shin took the object out from under his feet and, upon closer inspection, it appeared to be the remains of some kind of electronic product.

He paid close attention, lowered his body, and explored carefully.

He quickly found out where the wreckage came from.

A broken cell phone.

Not just one machine, but an entire area.

At a glance, there must be more than a dozen of them.

Most of them are incomplete, with only a few still maintaining their shape.

Higashiyama Shin picked up a few relatively intact ones, which were even able to be turned on.

The time displayed was the time he originally saw on his phone.

January 2037, 3 15:01

So, all these people came in at the same time as him?

so much?

Or is it that in this space, the phone's battery won't be consumed, and the time on the phone will change with the time of day?

He even found his phone there.

I picked up the somewhat familiar phone; spiderweb-like cracks covered half the screen. When I turned it on, it showed a photo of me and my wife.

He gave his phone to the girl in the white dress at Hibiya Station, and the girl in the white dress threw the phone away?

So what was her initial purpose in wanting the phone?

Higashiyama Shin glanced at the battery level, and it remained consistently high, showing no signs of depletion.

He put away the UV light, turned on his phone's flashlight, and crossed the graveyard of cell phones, continuing on his way.

light.

After walking for a short while, he saw a bright white light at the end of the tunnel.

Shinichi Higashiyama could feel a sense of ease and joy in the character. His originally tired body seemed to be injected with energy out of thin air, and he became light and unconsciously ran towards the light.

As he approached, the white light grew increasingly blinding until it engulfed him entirely.

He instinctively reached out and covered his eyes.

clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang

His eyelids twitched, and sensing that the scene around him seemed to have changed, Higashiyama Shinsai slowly lowered his hand and reopened his eyes.

Before me was a scene that was all too familiar.

It was that train bound for Tsukiji Station, "the place where dreams begin."

Has he returned to reality?

still is

[We are approaching Tsukiji Station. The exit is on the left. Passengers heading towards Tsukiji Market, please exit through the left door. Please take your valuables with you when you disembark.]

The familiar broadcast voice rang out, proving that we were still in that unknown space.

He did not successfully leave the subway, but instead entered a cycle of reincarnation.

You have successfully completed the ending - Endless Reincarnation.

[Ending Review: A typical ending; you can't escape it]

Vision gradually blurred, and the character collapsed limply to his knees in the carriage, breaking down and sobbing uncontrollably. The game then automatically quit.

Shinichi Higashiyama returned to reality.

[Congratulations to the player for successfully achieving the Silver Trophy in the mini-game "Subway"! The reward "Wind, Cloud, Thunder, and Rain" has been issued.]

He organized his thoughts on the game before looking at the rewards.

"A humanoid weather controller, huh?"

In short, it's the ability to manipulate weather changes, a powerful ability to create grand scenes, with considerable strength, allowing you to strike whomever you want.

The wind howled like blades, dark clouds obscured the sun, lightning flashed, and torrential rain poured down!

Forget about its usefulness, just tell me if it's cool or not!

If he could fly, he could easily create a scene of him undergoing a tribulation.

Whether Tokyo's weather forecasts will be accurate in the future depends on his mood.