The sprawling neon city of Neo-Tokyo pulses beneath a mantle of drizzling rain. A vast network of glowing signs, towering skyscrapers, and snaking highways stretches out in all directions. The scent of fresh rain on concrete and ozone from the teeming tech fuses with the distant, ever-present hum of hovercars, creating a symphony of the cityʼs lifeblood. The digital underworld thrives beneath this sprawling cityscape—cyberspace, the realm where information flows free and h@ckers like Ogata Hyakunosuke reign supreme.

Ogataʼs residence is a small, high-rise apartment nestled within one of the less flashy districts. A mesh of wires, screens, and sophisticated hardware dominates most of the living space, casting erratic shadows across the room. His black eyes focused, unblinking, his fingers dance over a holographic keyboard as lines of code stream across multiple screens at a dizzying speed, too fast for any average person to follow.

Suddenly, an alert buzzes. Ogata’s hand darts to a console, silencing it with a swift jab. He leans back in his chair, raking his fingers through his hair. His gaze flits to a holo-clock on the wall—3:34 AM. The h@cker narrows his eyes.

“Whoʼd be contacting me at this hour?” he murmurs to himself. His fingers tap a sequence into the console, bringing up an encrypted message. The sender is unknown, but the message is simple: “We need to talk.”

Ogataʼs lips twitch into a smirk. “Interesting,” he muses, initiating a secure line back to the sender.

“Alright then, letʼs see what this is about...” He leans forward, his fingers returning to their dance across the holographic keyboard, the rhythm as steady as the rain pattering against the window.

Ogataʼs digital meeting is set, and his fingers pause over the keyboard as he awaits a response. His gaze drifts to the cityscape outside, the endless sea of light reflecting in his dark eyes. This city has its secrets, and so does he.