Circuit Mirage: Fragments of a Future – Arc One
2049. Sutaro Ishikawa walks the empty underpass of Neo-Tokyo, micro-drones whirring above. His dark jacket is low-key, he moves like he wants to blend in. He’s not sure how safe he is beneath the city screens. Solitude is normal here.
Sutaro wants proof that the past really happened. People talk about “the Great File Wipe.” Now, three years on, most don’t ask questions, but he’s hooked. His father vanished during that global wipe. There’s no trace, just the memory of him working late, hunched at a wall of ticking displays. Chiharu Aeba, a quick coder close to his age, tracks Sutaro with a pair of micro-cams hidden in her braces. She flips her glasses up, grins: “Not scared, are you?”
The set-up looks simple. Sutaro finds a Trove Node rumored to have illegal remnants—old voice notes, broadcasts, even parts of the moon mission they were told never happened. Kaine Ogata tags along too, always hungry, always cracking bad jokes. Sutaro’s chill with their mix; they’ve hacked together before. But a red robot appears, eyes aglow. It’s security, or at least, that’s the cover.
Sutaro pulls Chiharu back. He mutters, “We need misdirection.” Kaine taps at his sleeve, kicking up a cloud of static images. Another bot zips through, slices the cloud, and glides away. Sutaro thinks, what a luck. Ever had tech go wrong right when stakes get high? Or, sometimes, everything almost lines up, then takes a sudden tilt?
They reach the Node’s core. Chiharu whispers, “It’s locked with a Markov Shunt.” Sutaro cracks a smile: “With your luck, maybe you set that yourself last week?” She winks. Determined, they unhook the power grid temporarily; air grows cold. Shadows dance over chipped consoles. 
At the heart of the Node, they recover broken recordings. Just a fragment: his father’s voice—
“Sutaro, if you hear—” The stream dies. Sutaro stares, numb. Could this tiny file shatter Neo-Tokyo’s lie? Would people care, or just scroll to the next shimmer on their display? Do you think truths are ever enough, or is fear too easy?
Kaine laughs, “Found a pizza coupon, too. File treasures!” Their light humor contrasts with Sutaro’s shake. Yet all laugh cut short when the Node blinks off. Red lights everywhere. Net security storms in, faces blank, digital shades over their eyes. Chiharu flips her glasses, but they offer no real help now.
They break for the subway. Away, the true city whizzes by in angry color. Down in the car there’s no comfort—just weighed air and the throb of engines. If you hid dangerous info from the world, could you trust anyone again?
Back in Skytower 14, Sutaro spreads data shards everywhere. He risks pinging an underground forum used by ex-staff, seeking someone who could recover more from the corrupt audio. Names trickle onto the screen. He’s never heard these handles before. Manami Q, sure, she’s legend. But “Brooks_SparkNet”?
Chiharu warns, “It’s too hot. Sit tight. We got one clue, now let’s play safe.” He ignores her. He wants the next word in the fragment. What if it leads… somewhere else?
Screen fades out with an urgent alarm: MEM-LOYAL_TROOPS DETECTED. Footsteps in his hall. Sutaro’s hand pauses above the send button. End of Arc One.
