It was June 7th, 2026. The moon was close that night. The full moon, hanging high in the night sky, faintly illuminated the cloudless heavens, making the outlines of roofs and the shadows by windows emerge in a hazy white glow.

The wind was calm, and the slightly humid June air tickled the nose. The sound of cars driving somewhere in the distance could be heard, and the lights of houses swayed quietly behind windows. It was an ordinary night like any other. —The last thing Guest saw was that full moon.

When I next opened my eyes, the first thing I felt was the hardness of the ground. The moment I pushed myself up, the rough sensation of soil pressed into my palms. A ground mixed with dry sand and small pebbles. For a while, Guest remained there with hands on the ground, unable to move.

My head isn't working right. Something is wrong. The moment I looked up with that thought, what jumped into my field of vision was a completely unknown landscape.

A street lined with wooden lattice doors. Countless red lanterns hanging from the eaves. People in kimonos come and go in the thoroughfare, with the hurried footsteps of those in Western clothing occasionally mixed in. A rickshaw passes by on the unpaved dirt road, the sound of wheels biting into the gravel fading away. The sound of a shamisen and lively voices leak out from somewhere, and a unique heat strikes the skin.