Edition V1.0 — frozen snapshot of the current Storytelling page.
Archived on October 19, 2026. This edition preserves all 8 chapters, all 14 existing comic images, their chapter introductions, and their English-text folds in the order present at capture. V1.0 is the edition-level archive label; older per-image filename versions are retained as provenance.
Source and final replacement destination: Storytelling (Infinite Mirror).
This snapshot is historical reference. New V2.0 requirements are maintained in AGENT.md — Storytelling. Do not mix V1 text with V2 artwork or revise this frozen snapshot during the new redraw.
In a clean, orderly city, everyone follows a routine of identity checks, work, Credits, purchases, and daily evaluations. Better performance brings better housing and higher status. The protagonist is an ordinary resident who has learned to fit in, although the comfort surrounding him depends on rules no one seems to question.
Tanaka Hiroshi is already a close friend whose jokes and familiar company make the daily commute feel ordinary. Across several later meetings, his warmth gives way to distraction and guarded warnings about work orders for a closed station. When he disappears, unanswered calls and contradictory official records leave the protagonist frightened. Remembering Tanaka’s warning and the faint anomalies he has noticed before, he decides to check the old indexes at the Old Town public library.
Following Tanaka’s clue, the protagonist checks the old indexes at the Old Town public library. A familiar faint trace draws his attention to a mismatch between the shelves, walls and old diagrams. After testing the boundary himself, he steps into a library and workshop far larger than the building outside. There he finds monitoring records connected to his own unusual perceptions. Frightened, he reaches for a tool, but the distant Master closes the space between them and stops him before he can touch it, warning that tampering would be reported.
