"Some cities breathe. This one remembers how it used to scream."
Scene: On the Road – 6:30 AM
The Dream Scribe finally spoke before slipping into coma:
"Akasora."
A name not found on any map.
But Ishigami recognized it.
"Akasora was real. 400 years ago. A city built on cursed ink, erased after a narrative outbreak during the Manuscript Rebellion."
"You're saying… it dreams?" Hiragi asked.
"Worse," Airi answered. "It dreams us."
Arrival – Akasora's Ghost
Through the mist, they entered what looked like abandoned ruins.
Red ink-stains covered the walls like graffiti. The air tasted metallic. No birds. No time.
But as they stepped in—buildings shifted. Streets realigned themselves. Letters crawled on windows.
This city was alive.
And bleeding.
Hallucination Sequence
The moment Hiragi touched a street sign, his mind spiraled—
He saw himself.
Multiple versions.
One where he never met Nolan. One where he was Pageburner. One where Akane stabbed him. One where he had no name.
"Stop," he muttered.
But the city whispered back:
"You are a rewritten draft."
Sudden Encounter – The Inkbutcher
A monstrous humanoid, stitched from torn scrolls and ceremonial bindings, lunged from a collapsing bookstore.
Its blade wasn't metal—it was a rejected title.
"Incoming!" Airi shouted, drawing her spirit shotgun.
Ishigami invoked a freezing verse: "Turn the page to silence."
But it was Hiragi who struck first, Void energy cracking through the curse-bound walls.
The Inkbutcher shrieked—then dissolved into letters midair.
Message in Blood
Where it fell, one word was left behind, pulsing:
"Chapter 0."
Hiragi: "Again… it always comes back to that."
Deeper In
They followed the red veins of ink through Akasora.
Until they reached the heart: a cathedral made of stacked books, its bell tower chiming without sound.
There, in the center, lay a mirror.
Not glass—but a screen of narrative memory.
It showed a boy writing under a full moon.
And behind him—a shadow: Pageburner.
Hiragi stepped forward.
And the mirror shattered.
To Be Continued…