Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 79, Section 77: The Secret of Time

Inside the moving train, Shin Higashiyama tidied up his belongings.

One ultraviolet lamp.

A bouquet of flowers.

One train ticket.

These are all things that seem useful, and since they exist, there's a high probability they can be used somewhere.

The principle that if there is a gun, it must fire.

Flowers can enhance a character's will to survive and their potential.

See if the ticket disappears later. If it disappears, it means it was only used for this train.

Ultraviolet lamp.
He picked up the ultraviolet light and began to examine every part of the train.

In just a few glances, he discovered a very obvious mark, the kind that didn't even require an ultraviolet lamp.

He leaned closer and saw that there were messy words of different colors on the old car wall.

Some were engraved, some were painstakingly left with a pen, and some were even written with lipstick.

1 [Left on March 15, 1995]

2 [Left on March 18, 1995]

3. [Leave a message on March 15, 2019: Please don't give up]

4. [To the brother above, March 15, 2019: Why haven't I seen you?!]

5. [March 15, 2031: Now that we've come this far, we'll definitely be able to get out.]

6. [On March 15, 2031, I boarded the last train in Kita-Senju and accidentally fell asleep on the train.]

7 [Posted on April 18, 2031: I took the train to Nakameguro around 7:00 AM, but I fell asleep during rush hour.]

8. [On April 18, 2031, I boarded the train at Hibiya Station! It was also around 7:00 AM, and although there were many people, I don't know why I fell asleep and ended up at Tsukiji Station!]

There was a lipstick left on the chair, and the color matched the fifth and subsequent comments, so the lipstick must have been left by the fifth person.

No, that color... it's the arrow he saw at Tsukiji Station, and the "Go to Hibiya" sign he saw at Kasumigaseki Station.

It turns out that was a reminder left by people from 2031. That makes sense, since who would carry crayons around? But most women would carry lipstick.

Many of the checkpoints along the way were physically demanding. For a woman to arrive here is even more absurd than the man he's currently controlling arriving here by sheer luck. She's another Tokyo superhero.

Those who can leave messages here have all survived near-death experiences. Judging from the recurring dates, it's likely that many more died along the way, just like the trial and error process in his game, with corpses paving the way.

Higashiyama Shin picked up the lipstick and continued writing below it.

9 [Left on March 15, 2037, the last train.]

After finishing writing, he put the lipstick back in its place, took two steps back, and took in all the messages.

He quickly compiled a lot of useful information.

Judging from the years, there are four time points in the messages here.

They are 1995, 2019, 2031, and 2037 respectively.

There is a very obvious mathematical pattern here.

1995+24=2019
2019+12=2031
2031+6=2037
So, what's the next step: 2037 + 3 = 2040?

Even if the last one is uncertain and just a guess, we can still know that the number added each time is halved.

As for the month and date, there are only two times.

September 3th and September 15th.

If I'm not mistaken, those who came in on March 15th caught the "last train," and the time was frozen at 1:00 PM.

The person who arrived on April 18th, however, inexplicably fell asleep around 7:00 AM and ended up on the train bound for Tsukiji Station. The time was approximately 8:00 AM.

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 it will make the players understand this, and then let them free the little boy from this hell?" The Yamanote route is obvious; the core is the boy, and it takes pleasure 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!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)