Ultraman cubs begin to wreak havoc.

Himeya Jun was so busy with trivial matters that the deadline was fast approaching that he took a week off to go and gather information from the security company where Kurahide Susumu worked.

Inside the clean, smart building, the sounds of employees answering phones and photocopiers filled the air with energy. In a corner of an area partitioned off as a meeting room, Jun Himeya sipped tea on a sofa. Come to think of it, the factory where Yoichiro Matsunaga worked was also a noisy and busy place.

As he was looking around the office, he heard a grumbling coming from the photocopier.

"What are you doing! I told you to have the copies done by noon!"

Himeya Jun subconsciously shifted his gaze there. The female office worker with somewhat tacky shoulder-length hair was silently bowing her head, as if she were enduring something. The man next to her did look very assertive. He casually put his hands in his pockets and lectured her about the meaning of work.

No employees came to help her after she was being scolded. In this economic downturn, even companies that actively hire can face a situation where too many people resign when there's an increase in staff and they can't keep up without frequent replacements.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting. Are you here to ask about Mr. Kazukura Eisuke?"

Suddenly, the face of the HR manager appeared on the other side of the partition. This made Jun Himeya, who was carefully observing this troublesome situation, feel somewhat embarrassed, and he hurriedly adjusted his posture.

"Ah, yes. Did you know that Mr. Wakura Eisuke has gone missing?"

"No, how could that be? Although he worked there for half a year, he resigned in a hurry. I thought, 'A person who has done great things would never condescend to be a security guard.'"

Whenever the HR manager complains, a faint stench wafts over; I wonder if he has a stomach ailment.

"I see. Did he mention anything like where he plans to go in the future?"

"It was a bit strange. On his last day of work, he said one thing on the phone: 'Go to the amusement park...'"

Himeya Jun couldn't help but gasp.

He gradually developed a feeling of revulsion, as if a heavy object was wrapped around the lining of his stomach. The records in the mysterious journal were vividly connected to reality.

"Isn't the amusement park a bit too poetic when it comes to the disappearances of tired middle-aged and elderly people?"

Himeya Jun responded with a clumsy joke, and the HR manager stared at him for a long time without a hint of a smile.

"What are you doing! Yamai, let's go!"

The stagnant silence was broken when Jun Himeya turned to look. The man who had been so aggressive in front of the female employee was now huddled up, being berated by another seemingly impressive manager. Immediately, Yamai quickened his pace, following closely behind his superior as he left the floor, and hastily scribbled his destination on the whiteboard.

go--

The words written on the board startled Jun Himeya. He rubbed his eyes and checked them again.

The place we were going to wasn't an amusement park; it looked more like a client's company.

What drives Jun Himeya isn't just his sense of justice in wanting to help Hazuki Matsunaga. It's also partly due to his adult quirks, his desire to be talked about behind his back, and a bit of meddling. From childhood, Jun Himeya was the type who would disassemble any toys he got and run into any dark place with a flashlight.

Urban amusement parks and the like—if they're just urban legends, fine; but to say they actually exist is hard to believe. So, he wanted to verify their authenticity. Thanks to this persistence and intuition, he had the freedom to choose what kind of work he wanted to do in the editorial department.

—On February 21st, I listened to Eisuke Kazukura's detailed account of the amusement park. He seemed to genuinely believe it.

On the bustling streets under the cover of night, Jun Himeya held Matsunaga Yoichiro's photograph in his hand and began to question him. About two months earlier, in February, still in winter, Matsunaga Yoichiro must have been searching for paradise in the same way.

—February 24th. It is said that only the "delivery person" knows the way there. The clue to finding the delivery person lies in the arrangement of the stones.

In the blank spaces of the diary containing the above entries, there were rows of randomly drawn, colorful circles. These were also what Jun Himeya was desperately searching for. Starting with the station closest to the factory where Yoichiro Matsunaga worked, he had been investigating one station each day, and today was the sixth day.

Jun Himeya reconfirmed that Yoichiro Matsunaga had been leaving the factory at a fixed time until his disappearance. In short, this means that the "delivery person" who provided clues about the amusement park only appeared at night. Therefore, Jun Himeya also went to the streets crowded with people returning home from get off work, asking passersby to carefully examine the photos and check if there were any colorful stones piled up in front of the shops.

Jun Himeya couldn't believe that a paradise where exhausted humans fled existed. He had lost count of how many cases of scams and religious practices targeting the vulnerable he had researched.

If this is a shop that celebrates a paradise on earth, then countless pink signs gleam behind the bustling streets. But is there really a place that can bury the emptiness Matsunaga Yoichiro feels? If such a place exists, then the common sense of Himeya Jun, who belongs to the magazine editorial department and considers himself quite knowledgeable, will be completely overturned.

"I know him, I've seen him before. This guy, I think he came here about two months ago. He looked like he was lost in thought, his eyes were constantly darting around on the ground as he walked, and he even bumped into one of our local girls. And, let me tell you, the girl's hands were all scraped up. How can someone do anything like that?"

The man holding the 1,000 yen coupon for the brothel frowned undisguisedly. For some reason, Jun Himeya couldn't stop; he had to continue chasing after Yoichiro Matsunaga's weary figure, forcing a smile as he thanked the man.

—On February 28th, I found the convenience store where I would be making the transaction with the delivery person. On the same day, I went there with Eisuke Kura.

Two days later, around 8 p.m., he finally found a convenience store.

In a residential area about a 20-minute walk from the west exit of Shinjuku Station, there's a large chain convenience store. At the back entrance, just like in the painting, there are indeed two overlapping round colored stones. Back then, Matsunaga Yoichiro and his group actually found this place on their own.

Jun Himeya, hiding in the shadows a short distance away, watched the situation intently. He intended to follow the clues in Matsunaga Yoichiro's diary to the very end. As he pondered this, his mind was in turmoil. He took out his phone and sent the convenience store's address to the editorial department's email address, as if he were preparing to disappear without a trace.

He wiped the unusually sweaty hands from his jeans, which made him feel like he was in dire straits, switched his phone to vibrate, and took out his digital camera from his coat pocket to check the remaining battery level.

After 8:30 p.m., a person dressed entirely in black suddenly appeared in the direction of the station. A long black coat, black trousers, sunglasses under a black hat, and a black sports bag slung over their shoulder. The figure, swallowed by black and devoid of individuality, gradually approached the back door of the convenience store.

—March 5th, went to the amusement park.

A figure crouched down beside the small stone marker, making a creaking sound. This must be the "deliveryman" from the logbook. The moment he realized this, Jun Himeya seemed lost in a Tokyo he didn't know, a paradise that couldn't possibly exist, and he was plunged into a dizzying, vertigo.

"What are you thinking?"

At first, Jun Himeya was just confused about this matter, but gradually, he began to feel dizzy. In this daze, he heard a faint voice in his ear. The voice was full of temptation. The simple question, "What do you want?" made Jun Himeya have endless imagination. It seemed that as long as he responded to this thought, everything he wanted would be realized in an instant.

However, Jun Himeya also felt an unprecedented fear. He realized that everything was pre-labeled, and that he would inevitably lose something when he responded to this mysterious voice.

Just then, Himeya Jun sensed something. In this dizzying darkness, he felt an unusual warmth. He looked up and saw a beam of light shining. He subconsciously reached out his hand towards the light.

At the same time, all the darkness and dizziness dissipated, and at the last moment, Jun Himeya vaguely realized that he seemed to have obtained something that looked like a sheathed short sword.

As Jun Himeya regained consciousness, a figure wielding pure white light uttered a surprised sound. Subaru looked at the light energy he hadn't yet handed over, blinked, and continued to conceal himself, beginning his search for the primordial creation hidden behind the scenes.

On the other side, Jun Himeya woke up from his dizziness. He shook his head. He felt like he had forgotten something, but he also felt like he had experienced something. In the end, his attention was still focused on finding Yoichiro Matsunaga. Following the clues at hand, he quickly arrived at a convenience store, squatted down, and waited patiently.

Not long after, he saw a male clerk come out of the convenience store. The reason why this clerk caught Jun Himeya's attention was that he picked up four large plastic bags that looked quite heavy with both hands, approached the man dressed in black, and began to whisper and negotiate. They seemed to have reached an agreement quickly. The deliveryman took the bags and carefully checked the contents.

From Jun Himeya's perspective, one could glimpse the balanced meals, bread, and bento boxes laid out there. A clerk picked up a small cardboard box that had somehow ended up next to the trash can. Inside were five plastic pieces, each about the size of a videotape. The transaction went so smoothly that even nearby customers didn't suspect anything amiss.

The deliveryman stuffed the food into his gym bag and left the convenience store. Jun Himeya began to cautiously follow his retreating figure.

A black figure moved towards the center of Shinjuku. The deliveryman blended perfectly into the crowd, but his silhouette was much shorter than that of an average man. Following behind, Jun Himeya bumped into several drunken men and women; as he apologized, the urban ghost vanished at the subway entrance. Jun Himeya also ran down the massive Shinjuku underground shopping mall.

At nine o'clock at night, all the shops selling high-priced goods have already closed. Even so, the pharmacies and restaurants in the basement are still full of energy, making a final sprint to make one last sale before the day ends.

Jun Himeya, who had finally caught up, watched as the deliveryman turned into a pharmacy. He peered into the bakery with its shutters down, and saw an elegant woman in white walking out—the owner's wife, he thought.

At the end of the brief negotiation, they exchanged an envelope much thicker than Jun Himeya's salary and something that resembled a key to a coin locker. The strangeness surrounding the unknown true identity and the transactions on the street, made all the more suspicious by the disappearances of many people, made the situation seem highly dubious.

Groups of people in suits hurried home, with delivery drivers mingling among them once again. Jun Himeya discreetly surveyed the front of the shop; beneath the pharmacy shelves, seemingly insignificant, were rows of colorful stones.

"what."

He called out anxiously. The delivery person had suddenly run towards the subway ticket gates. At this rate, the clues about the amusement park would slip away through the ticket machines using the subway prepaid cards. As soon as Jun Himeya returned to the people queuing at the ticket machines, the black figure disappeared.

After dashing through the ticket gate with his ticket, Jun Himeya also ran towards the stairs. The sound of hundreds upon hundreds of footsteps pouring out of the subway car descended like a sudden downpour, countless weary faces climbing the stairs. The middle-aged woman whose eyes met Jun Himeya's had a lifeless, ashen complexion.

The other men, seemingly born to wander Shinjuku at night, had greasy foreheads etched with expectation. He had the illusion that he saw Matsunaga Yoichiro among the hordes of salarymen seemingly emerging from the ground. He wouldn't find it unbelievable if Matsunaga Yoichiro were among this surging tide of flesh pushing and shoving Himeya Jun. Besides, Himeya Jun already felt that it wouldn't be surprising if any of them, like Matsunaga Yoichiro, chose to go to the amusement park.

As he descended the stairs, the platform was deserted. The squalid and chaotic crowd had vanished completely, leaving only the slightly dirty walls and floors of the building with a lingering trace of human presence. Click, click, the echoing footsteps—perhaps belonging to deliverymen.

From the empty tunnel of the subway came a rhythmic, sharp sound, like raindrops falling. A path, about fifty centimeters wide, stretched from beside the waiting area into the darkness. Was it for subway staff to work on, or were there rules in this city unknown to Himeya Jun? However, he knew only one thing: if he continued forward, he would discover something.

Jun Himeya swallowed the bitter saliva through his dry throat and took a step forward. As the narrow road stretched ahead, the brightly lit platform, a common sight in everyday life, gradually receded into the distance. He saw a rusty metal door on the wall of the tunnel ahead, kept half-open.

There are various legends about Tokyo's underground. One says there used to be an underground base within the Self-Defense Forces' Ichigaya Garrison, which also functioned as a nuclear war shelter. Another says there's a secret passage beneath Tokyo Station leading to the Imperial Palace. What Jun Himeya is facing now is probably the door to the heart of the underground city—a door that's indispensable in any of the dark legends one would have heard of in his profession.

"Creak, creak," the long ladder behind the door made a grating sound. Just as his palms were aching from the friction, he finally reached the end. It was a huge cylindrical tunnel, large enough for several people to pass side by side, like a utility tunnel.

Several pillars that seemed to divide the space vertically stood there, with thick metal pipes running through them, and thick cables that were neither electrical wires nor communication cables passing over the rails.

As if dissecting and entering the city's viscera, Jun Himeya nervously shone the light around him. He recalled seeing images of the large intestine through an endoscope in photographs he had previously witnessed.

The reddish liquid, resembling dissolved rust, clumped together, forming a sticky puddle, which he stepped into. As he walked, for some reason, a manga magazine from over twenty years ago, bearing the Showa era name, fell to the ground.

In short, this is probably the blood and excrement accumulated in the city's viscera. But there was no wind blowing, and the air was rather warm. Even with the light shining ahead, there were no side passages or doors to be seen, so Jun Himeya turned off the flashlight to save batteries.

All he could rely on was the intermittent light from the emergency lights that appeared in the pitch black. To be on the safe side, he felt along the wall with his hand while straining his ears to listen carefully, lest he miss the delivery person's footsteps.

Himeya Jun realized the terror of "whether we can never go back if this continues," and a chill ran down his spine. At the same time, he did not stop and continued to walk deeper into the area.

If there is light where there is shadow, then where should the shadow fall in a brightly lit city, even at midnight?

He felt that the shadows of thousands of buildings that considered sleep taboo, shadows that would be dispelled by electric lights even in the underground where the sun couldn't penetrate, were nestled deeper underground.

The dimly lit and monotonous road seemed to stretch endlessly. Jun Himeya took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. The date had changed. He was quite surprised by his premature loss of his sense of time.

Even such a small matter was enough to make him feel deeply uneasy; he couldn't hold on for more than a few steps.

Logically, there should be no one around, but footsteps and whispers began to sound behind him.

Himeya Jun repeatedly reassured himself:

"It's just that the sound I made was reflected back."

However, as he continued down this path, Jun Himeya soon felt as if he was about to completely lose his way. Just as he began to question where he was going, he suddenly caught the sound of loud footsteps.

Just then, the sensation of his left hand gripping the wall disappeared, and he tripped and fell. It turned out that a narrow side passage, barely wide enough for one person, extended from there. Himeya Jun held his breath and tiptoed away from the utility tunnel, chasing after the footsteps.

Although the people in front of him were clearly unidentified and might even pose a danger, the mere sound of footsteps gave him a strange sense of familiarity. He almost began to doubt whether what he had felt before was terror or loneliness; the sound of footsteps soothed his tense nerves.

The dark maze, too dark even for emergency lights, had several bends. Reaching a crossroads, unsure which way to go, Jun Himeya began to cling to the echo as a lifeline. Gasping for breath, he groped along the walls with both hands, wiping away the profuse sweat, almost crawling on all fours as he followed the only clue. He reached down and pulled aside the sticky, sweat- and dust-covered collar of his shirt.

If he were to be shaken off by those footsteps, the thought, "Wouldn't I end up lying dead alone underground without a single marker?" kept sinking into a negative spiral. After a period of anxiety, he felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.

Before him, light appeared. This was the first time in the corridor that light other than the emergency lights had appeared. He breathed a sigh of relief at being rescued from the darkness, but at the same time, the question, "Why would a place like this need light?" welled up in his mind.

The deliveryman's footsteps continued, driving her crazy. Now, Jun Himeya stood completely on the other side of the line separating her from her daily life.

"!!!"

He heard human voices talking ahead. Despite lingering in poor visibility, his mind gradually cleared. He pulled out his digital camera and checked. The thought of being a journalist miraculously calmed his previously churning stomach.

He dragged his feet forward, his leg muscles aching terribly. He became increasingly certain that this was the place he was looking for. What awaited him after his arduous journey through the maze was a vast, towering hall, so enormous it was enough to leave one speechless.