The rain poured endlessly over Neonspire, each drop mixing with the glow of neon signs until the streets themselves seemed alive. Cars moved like shadows. Advertisements flickered like false stars. And above all of it, the hum of machines whispered louder than the storm.
Detective Aya Hoshino pulled her coat tighter as she stood before the grand office of Senator Takeda.
Her boots left dark prints on the marble floor as she stepped inside.
The silence was the first thing she noticed. Not the silence of peace — but a silence too heavy, too sharp, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath.
The body was slumped behind the desk. Senator Takeda. His face pale, his eyes half-open, frozen in shock.
Aya's communicator blinked. Oracle — the city's all-seeing system — had already judged the scene.
NO CRIME DETECTED. CAUSE OF DEATH: NATURAL FAILURE.
Aya frowned. Natural? In a city where nothing escaped Oracle's sight? It was too clean. Too simple.
Then she saw it.
A piece of paper clenched in the senator's cold hand.
Her heart skipped. Nobody used paper anymore.
She carefully pulled it free. Black ink scratched across the page in messy strokes:
When silence screams, even gods must listen.
The words made her chest tighten. They carried a weight she couldn't explain, as if they were not written for her eyes, but for something… larger.
Footsteps echoed behind her. Aya turned.
A man leaned against the doorframe — young, sharp eyes, a sly grin that didn't fit the tension in the room. His name was Riku, an informant she had crossed paths with too many times.
"You found it too," he said softly, eyes on the note.
Aya narrowed her gaze. "You knew about this?"
Riku's smile didn't fade. "I know about whispers. And if this one has reached you, Detective, then it's already too late."
The storm outside roared louder, rattling the windows.
Aya looked again at the words in her hand. The silence pressed closer, heavier, as though the city itself was waiting for her answer.
The Whisperer had spoken.
And something far beyond Oracle had just begun.