Maki Zenin didn't wait for us to ask questions. She didn't offer a hand to help us up. She simply turned her back and started walking toward a hidden entrance to the Shinjuku subway station. We followed her down the stairs, leaving the scary white roots and the frozen, silent city behind us.
As we went deeper, the air changed. The cold, sharp wind of the surface disappeared, replaced by air that was cool and smelled like damp concrete, old metal, and woodsmoke. The station wasn't dark; it was lit by hundreds of small camping lanterns and flickering candles placed along the tracks.
As we walked, I saw the people. Thousands of them. This wasn't just a hideout; it was a city of ghosts. I saw mothers holding crying babies, old men staring at empty walls, and young sorcerers trying to fix their broken weapons. Every time we passed a group, they looked at us with eyes full of hope and fear. They saw my violet eyes and the black marks on my hands, and they whispered.
"Is that him?" a woman whispered. "The one from the screens? The Void-Walker?"
"This is the Safe Zone," Maki said, her heavy boots clicking loudly on the floor tiles. "The 'Game Master' can't see us as easily down here because of the thick earth above us and the iron rails that mess with the System's signals. We call ourselves the Exiles. Everyone here is someone the System wants to delete."
The Secret of the Game Master
Maki led us into a small, cramped room that used to be a station manager's office. The walls were covered in maps of Tokyo, but they were almost hidden under red circles, arrows, and messy notes written in black ink. Maki sat down on a wooden crate and leaned her glowing green sword against the wall.
"You mentioned a 'Game Master,' Maki," I said. I sat on the floor across from her, feeling the exhaustion deep in my bones. Nobara and Toge sat close to me, our shoulders touching. "Who is it? Is it Geto? Is he the one running the scoreboards?"
Maki shook her head. Her face looked very old in the yellow light of the lantern, even though she wasn't much older than us. "Geto is just the doorman. He's the one who opened the door to let the nightmare in. The real 'Game Master' is the System itself. But the System has a brain. There is a Player who has reached Level 100. He is the first one. The strongest one. He is the one who makes the new rules every morning. He is the one who decides who is a 'hero' and who is 'prey.'"
[SYSTEM ALERT: INFORMATION RESTRICTED]
[WARNING: DO NOT DISCUSS THE ARCHITECT]
[PENALTY: DATA CORRUPTION]
A bright red warning box popped up in my vision, flickering like a broken lightbulb. I swiped it away with an angry flick of my hand. I was tired of being told what I couldn't know.
"Who is he?" Nobara asked. She was leaning forward, her hands clenched into fists. "Does this 'Game Master' have a name, or is he just another ghost in the machine?"
"They call him The Architect," Maki whispered. She said the name as if it were a curse. "He was the first person to ever see a System screen. He's the one who gave the Zenin clan the idea to hunt you, Ren. He doesn't want to kill you for points. He wants your soul because you are the only one with a 'Void' rank. The System is like a puzzle, and your soul is the final piece he needs to turn the whole world into a digital wasteland where he is the only God."
The Heart of the Team
The room went silent. I could feel Nobara's heart beating fast through our [Soul Link]. I could feel Toge's sadness.
"Maki," I said, my voice shaking a little. "Where are the others? We were a team at the school. Where is Megumi? Where is Itadori?"
Maki's eyes went dark, and she looked away. She picked up a small stone from the floor and tossed it back and forth.
"Itadori is fighting in the Shibuya Colony," she said. "He's doing what he always does—trying to save every single person he sees. He's become a legend down there. But Megumi..." She stopped, and I felt a cold pit open in my stomach. "Megumi was lured into a trap two days ago. A Player called The Puppet Master used a fake signal to trick him. He's being held on the top floor of the Sunshine 60 building in Ikebukuro."
Nobara stood up so fast her chair fell over. "And you're just sitting here drinking water? We have to go get him! He's our friend!"
"It's not that easy, Nobara," Maki said, her voice rising. "The Puppet Master doesn't fight with swords or fire. He uses a technique that turns your own friends against you. He takes control of your shadow. If we walk in there without a plan, the Puppet Master will just force Megumi to kill us. Or he'll force us to kill Megumi."
The Choice at Midnight
I looked at my hands. The black geometric marks were pulsing with a soft, violet light. I could feel the [Soul Link] humming, a golden thread connecting my heart to Nobara's and Toge's.
"The Puppet Master can't break us," I said. My voice sounded deeper, more confident. "We have the Link. The Puppet Master tries to pull on one soul at a time. But our soul is three times heavier than anyone else's. He won't be able to move us."
[NEW QUEST: OPERATION RESCUE]
* Objective: Reach the Sunshine 60 Building in Ikebukuro.
* Target: Save Megumi Fushiguro before the 'Merger' begins.
* Reward: 10,000 OP | New Team Member: [Megumi].
* Current Difficulty: Level 60 Boss Area.
Maki looked at me for a long time. She looked at the violet fire in my eyes and the way Nobara and Toge stood by me without hesitation. A small, tough smile finally appeared on her scarred face.
"You kids really are as crazy as Gojo said," she said, standing up and grabbing her glowing sword. "Fine. We leave at midnight. We'll take the old maintenance tunnels. They're filled with Cursed Beasts, but it's better than being hunted by snipers on the streets."
As we prepared our gear, Valthazar's voice crawled into my mind like a snake. "The Architect is watching you, Ren. He wants to see if you will save your friend or if you will let the shadows eat him. Every choice you make is just another line of code in his game. Are you sure you're the player... or are you just the toy?"
I didn't answer him. I checked my boots, grabbed my jacket, and looked at my friends.
"At midnight," I said. "We bring him home."