nd the famous scramble crossing, where a river of people flowed, a narrow street led to

creativity, but with a deep, bone-deep tremor of lack. The walls were silent witnesses to past successes: abstract expressionist pieces, explosions of col

gallery owner had issued his final warning: "New work, Kai-kun, or the contract." To be at

f the connection between his brain and his hand had been severed. Or worse: his brain its

:1

essure, as if an invisible hand was trying to split him in two. Then a sound; but not one he heard with his ears, but one he fe

nd came out. His eyes rolled back, his co

of an ancient and foreign language. They flowed through his mind like a river, pushing aside his t

his mind. His hands began to move. First on the floor, on the concrete. His fingers reached for the black ink bottle

riangle. Interl

ting and then another. He took a canvas, drew complex, repeating patterns, threw the canvas aside, and took a new one. Some resembled Egyptian hieroglyphs, others looked like circuit dia

ighbor filtered through the wall. But Kai didn't

s t-shirt, on his pants, on his face. Breathless, sweaty, but in a kind of ecstasy. As if everything th

denly, it

His chest rose and fell like he had run a marathon. He slowly opened his eyes. At

breath

s a language. The symbols, lined up side by side, seeme

finger to the ink lines that had not yet dried. As he touched it, he felt a slig

e whispered to himself, h

it was working. He looked at the time: 04:23. He opened the camera and started tak

the symbols continued to dance in his mind. A melody... yes, he heard a melody. It wasn't the sound of the

i

ex symbols he had drawn in ink; a pattern of three interlocking circles; the ink drop in the ver

st a coincidence? Do such t

Tick

ppearing like a star map on each canvas. Each explosio

to gather the scattered paper canvases on the floor. The symbols on some of the canvases looked similar. They were even like a continuation of each ot

e too many mi

not a picture, it was a map. Not a world map. A time-space map. Layers, transitions, points marked "NEXUS". And o

ollider. But why had it appeared

desu ka?" It was his neighbor Hana's voice, anxious and soft. "T

to anyone. "H-Hai!" he called out, trying to make his voice as normal as possibl

"While I was playing my violin... I felt a strange thing. My violin...

modest violinist who played in small bars i

e door. He remembered the melody he

.. familiar." She paused. "I played the melody I heard on my v

ow gap, he saw Hana's worried face. "Actually... maybe," he

hand went to her mouth. Her eyes scanned the walls, the floor, everywhere, c

re these? Did you

showed a trembling hand. "Something happened, Hana.

wall, ran her finger in the air over the symbols, he

hispered. "This

asked, app

osition. Look." Hana took a small notebook out of her bag and opened a page. On it were musical notes writ

ry good at music theory, but he could

a coincidence. We both... felt the

er eyes on Kai. "What is this sou

ed to the wall. "This is a map. And it shows us a p

ut others? If we both felt it,

d. It was a message from an unknown

espond.

erya: in the ground, in an old excavation site, the sa

The symbols were not only in their minds. The

s impossible,"

's notebook. The pieces were coming together. But the picture they were forming

no longer trembling, carrying a new determinati

d red. In the heart of Tokyo, two lonely souls had met on the threshold of an ancient mystery. And this mystery connec

e was a part. And the puzzle to which this p