The city never really sleeps not even at midnight, when the neon signs flicker and the commuter train rumbles far overhead. Sixteen-year-old Yuto Arai pressed his face against the cool glass of his bedroom window, gazing out over Tokyo's tapestry of lights. He should have been studying for his chemistry quiz. Instead, his mind reeled from echoes left by the same dream the dream he'd had every night for a month.
A mossy torii gate rising from darkness. Silver lanterns swaying in a windless air. Distant laughter that was half joy, half sorrow. Every time he reached out in the dream, a fleeting sense of belonging vanished, replaced by an ache he couldn't name.
Tonight, the ache gnawed deeper than usual.
Yuto's phone vibrated on his desk. Haruka: "You spacing out again? Sleep, idiot. Test tomorrow!" He smiled faintly Haruka always worried too much but didn't reply. Instead, the room's lights flickered, then died, plunging him into shadow. The city outside blipped off, a ripple like dominos, as a blackout rolled through central Tokyo.
Silence filled the apartment, broken only by his heartbeat and the faint creak of settling walls. Yuto grabbed the old paper lantern from his shelf his father's, a relic from a festival he barely remembered. A spark from his lighter, and warm light spilled across the room, banishing the dark.
A shiver ran down Yuto's spine. Beneath the hum of the city, he thought he heard something else: a low murmur, as if voices whispered from the cracks in the floor, beckoning him forward, urgent and familiar.
He knew he should stay inside, but his feet moved before his mind could stop them. Down the narrow hall, past his mother's closed door, and out into the shadowed stairwell. The world outside was eerily muffled the blackout had silenced even the ever-present drone of traffic.
Drawn by the whispers, Yuto wandered through unfamiliar streets to the old subway entrance a crumbling archway marked with peeling talismans. His chest tightened; he'd passed this way hundreds of times on the way to school, but tonight it felt impossibly ancient, as if he'd stepped straight into the dream.
The air tingled. The lantern's glow shimmered across broken tile and twisted rails. Just beyond the platform edge, he glimpsed a narrow passage he'd never seen. It pulsed with a pale blue light.
He hesitated, heart thundering. Something deep inside urged him on curiosity, destiny, or perhaps a memory just out of reach.
With a breath, Yuto stepped into the unknown.
Beyond the threshold, the world changed. The concrete air turned floral, laced with incense. A city spread out beneath him, impossible and beautiful: pagodas hanging from invisible threads, rivers flowing skyward, spirits flitting between worlds of shadow and lantern-light.
He staggered, mind reeling.
A shape moved ahead a hunched figure with a ringed tail, eyes twinkling with mischief. "So, the lost lamb's finally stumbled through the gate," it grinned. "Welcome, human. Welcome to the city beneath your feet."
Yuto's lantern flickered. The whispers swelled, becoming voices with names half-remembered. The dream had become real.
He was no longer just an ordinary student. He was a stranger in a city of whispered legends, about to begin a journey that would forever blur the line between memory and destiny.
End of Chapter 1