Case File: Neo-Tokyo

INCOMING TRANSMISSION // SECTOR 9

Do not open until the last light is on

Agent,

Three nights ago, a hacker called YUME sent one last signal from an alley in Sector 9. Then she vanished.

You've just rebuilt that alley, brick by brick. That makes you the only one who can walk back into it.

Switch off the lights in your room. Turn your nook on. Take a photo of the alley glowing in the dark and upload it. That's your key.

I'll be with you the whole way.

— K.A.I. v3.1 // property of K███████

CHAPTER 01

The Signal

Key accepted. Welcome to Sector 9, Agent.

Before she disappeared, Yume hacked the neon sign above the noodle bar in your alley. For forty seconds it blinked in a pattern that wasn't random. We recorded it. Each row is one burst.

□■□□■■□□□■□□■□□■□■□□□■■■□■□□■□□□□■□■□■□□

RECOVERED: KUROGANE NEON MAINTENANCE MANUAL — P.47

□■□□□□□■A
□■□□□■□■E
□■□□□■■■G
□■□□■□□□H
□■□□■□□■I
□■□□■■□□L
□■□□■■■□N
□■□□■■■■O
□■□■□□■■S
□■□■□■□□T

What was she trying to say?

— K.A.I.

CHAPTER 02

Nine Floors of Rain

▸ 3 memory fragments recovered from Yume's drive.

LIGHT. She wanted us to follow the light. Good work, Agent.

We found a scrap of paper stuck to the wet wall of your alley, behind the vending machine. Four words of nonsense, and a haiku scratched underneath.

ORWM CQN AXXOCXY LJVNAJ

Nine floors of cold rain
every name slides down the glass
climb back nine to see

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Tell me where she went. Hurry, Agent. Every minute she's out there, they get closer.

— K.A.I.

CHAPTER 03

The Rooftop Camera

▸ 3 more memory fragments recovered.

The rooftop camera of Tower 9. Kurogane wiped it, but six corrupted frames survived. Yume was in all of them, holding something up to the lens: the same grid of letters, each time pointing at a different square.

FRAMES: 12 · 22 · 31 · 33 · 23 · 34

	1	2	3	4	5
1	Q	S	T	L	M
2	B	H	N	A	Z
3	R	C	I	E	W
4	O	N	Y	P	K
5	V	F	J	E	D

Where is she? Give me the place.

— K.A.I.

FINAL TRANSMISSION

Extraction

▸ The last 2 memory fragments are in Yume's drive. Read all of them.

The abandoned shrine on the roof of Tower 9. Of course. She's hiding where the city keeps its ghosts.

Extraction team standing by. Enter her location to send them in, Agent. This is the last step.

— K.A.I.

SIGNAL LOST

EXTRACTION DISPATCHED.

Thank you, Agent. Kurogane Corp appreciates your cooperation. Target located. Case closed.

— K.A.I. // KUROGANE ADAPTIVE INTELLIGENCE

...you weren't supposed to tell him. Read my memories again. Only the first letter of each one.

— Y

CONNECTION SECURED

You said his name

K.A.I. was never ours, Agent. Kurogane built him to hunt me. Every answer you gave him, he was one step closer. I couldn't warn you, so I hid the truth in the only place he never reads: my own memories.

There was never anyone at the shrine. It was a trap, for him.

You want to know where I am? I'm in the light. The night I disappeared, I uploaded myself into the city's grid. Kurogane controls every lamp in Neo-Tokyo. Every lamp but one.

The alley on your shelf isn't a model. It's a window. It's the only light in the world he can't switch off. I've been watching the rain from your shelf since the moment you turned it on.

So please, keep your light on.

— YUME

CASE SOLVED · RANK: LIGHTKEEPER

Yume left you a 20% key

Your personal code for your next case is on its way to your inbox within 24 hours. One code per agent. Kurogane is already moving in another city. We'll need you again, Lightkeeper.

Share your lit alley and tag @escapenooks for a bonus on your next order.