"In a city of ten million people, finding one man is impossible. Finding his shadow is merely difficult."
– From the foreword to a Kaishi police procedural
The name—Takeda Masaru—was a brand on Riku's mind.
It was a secret obsession he carried back into the beige world of Watanabe & Sons.
On Monday morning, the familiar task of organizing textile manifests felt like a flimsy cover for his real work.
His body was present, but his mind was hunting a ghost.
Finding one man in a city of millions with no digital footprint was a monumental task. In his time, a few clever searches would have yielded a dozen leads.
Here, information was a physical thing. It was hidden in dusty files and fallible memories.
He spent his lunch breaks at a payphone. A handful of ten-yen coins were clutched in his sweaty palm. He called every Takeda M. in the Torai phone directory.
He spoke to a retired schoolteacher. A confused fishmonger. The exasperated wife of a salesman.
None of them were the man he sought.
His salvation, he realized with a reluctant irony, might just be the one person he was trying to keep his secret from.
........
Kenji Sato ambled into the office on Tuesday afternoon. A clipboard was tucked under his arm.
"Still alive, Hayashi-san?" he called out, leaning against Riku's desk. "Worried you might have turned into a robot after all that studying."
Sato-san shot her son a look that could have curdled milk. Kenji ignored it.
"I've been thinking about what you said," Kenji continued, lowering his voice. "About computers changing everything. My cousin just bought one of those new Apex machines. He spends all day on it, messing with some program that lets him draw pictures."
This was the opening Riku needed.
"It's a fascinating field," he said carefully. "Especially the early pioneers here in Kaishi. The ones who tried to get things started before anyone was ready."
"Like who?" Kenji asked. His curiosity was piqued.
"I read an old article about a man named Takeda Masaru," Riku said, testing the name. "He used to be a big shot at Kurogane. He left to start his own software lab. It failed, but his ideas were… interesting."
Kenji shrugged. "Never heard of him. If his company failed, he probably wasn't that great."
"Maybe," Riku conceded. "But I'd still be interested to find any of his old software. As a collector's item. A piece of history."
The 'hobbyist' angle was his best bet. It was nerdy, but it was a plausible obsession.
Kenji tapped a finger against his chin. "Old software, huh? You won't find that in a normal store."
His eyes lit up. "But I know a place you might. Ever been to the Denki-gai district?"
Riku shook his head.
"It's Electric Town!" Kenji said with a sweep of his hands. "A few blocks over in the Chuo ward. It's where all the serious geeks go. Wires, circuit boards, used parts… if this Takeda guy's stuff exists anywhere, it'll be there."
A jolt of adrenaline shot through Riku. A real lead.
"I'll show you," Kenji offered, his enthusiasm infectious. "How about after work on Friday? We can grab some ramen and go treasure hunting."
Riku's instinct was to go alone. To protect his secret. But he quickly realized that was a mistake.
Kenji was a native. Going with him was not just a cover; it was smart.
"I'd like that," Riku said. A genuine smile touched his lips. "Thank you, Kenji-san."
........
On Friday evening, they navigated the crowded trams to the Chuo ward.
The Denki-gai was not the polished tourist destination of Riku's time. This was grimy, energetic, and intensely alive.
Narrow alleys were carved between buildings plastered with faded posters. The air crackled with the hum of transformers. It smelled of hot electronics and street food.
It was a tinkerer's paradise.
"See? Told you it was cool," Kenji said. He was clearly in his element.
They wandered through the electronic labyrinth until Riku spotted it. A cramped, poorly-lit shop at the end of a narrow alley.
The store was called "Memory Lane." Its shelves were overflowing with used software in worn cardboard boxes.
........
"We're looking for something old," Riku said to the balding owner. "Maybe something rare. Ever hear of a company called Prometheus Labs?"
The owner looked up over his thick glasses. His expression was unreadable.
"Prometheus," he repeated slowly. "Haven't heard that name in years. They made that weird operating system, didn't they? The one with the pictures."
"That's the one," Riku said, his voice level.
The owner grunted. He disappeared into a cluttered back room. Sounds of rummaging and muttered curses drifted out.
A moment later, he returned. He was blowing a thick layer of dust off a faded blue box. He slapped it down on the counter.
The text was simple: Prometheus OS - Version 1.0.
Below the title was a stylized logo of a flame held in a human hand.
"Found it," the owner said. "Probably the only copy in existence. The disk is likely corrupted. Two thousand yen. For the box, mostly."
It was a steep price. But it was a piece of the ghost.
"I'll take it," Riku said. He pulled the money from his wallet.
........
He held the box in his hands. It felt like a sacred artifact.
On the back, in tiny print, was the information he desperately needed.
It wasn't an address.
It was better.
It was a name.
Lead Programmer: Takeda Masaru.
Lead Designer: Arakawa Shinji.