(Aizen Pov)
The waiting room has long since emptied. Only the silence was now accompanying the floor. I stepped out of my office, the gate slid open and i walked through it.
To the left, the woman at the reception desk seemed lost in her own world, speaking softly to someone through her PV, a small virtual window flashing faintly near her eye.
I cleared my throat slightly. She immediately snapped out of her conversation, the virtual window vanishing as she turned toward me.
"Ah.....Doctor.." She straightned ilherself in her seat , offering me a apologetic smile.
" You may go now, Nakamura-san." I said to her.
She blinked in suprise " But doctor... There are still a few reports that are left to be finished and the other doctors and interns haven't even left yet."
"You can fill up the rest on your own pace at home and about the remaining doctors and interns.... They can go on their own when they desire since it has already been above their time. Most are here only for emergency or just for the matter of respect for their mentors."
My tone was gentle and reasonable enough that she simply smiled and bowed " Then, I will see you tomorrow, doctor. Have a good day."
She packed a bag and started to walk to the end of the corridor. The lift opened up and she entered before the closing of the door.
Silence once again settled over the corridor, broken only by the monotonous white lining the ceiling. I turned back and walked back into my office once more. Instead of sitting in my seat i had been the whole day, I moved towards the couch near the glass wall overlooking the Canopy platform. A low table sat beside it, scattered with several books and an old-style tea set.
I Poured myself a cup of tea and slowly sat down overlooking the view outside.
The sun was dipping behind the massive towers. Neon lines traced along the edges of the skyscrapers, outlining their sleek forms in blues, violets, and white-gold.
Vast digital boards ignited across the cityscape, some fixed to the sides of towers, others suspended in the air within carefully regulated advertisement zones.
Virtual advertisements unfolded one after another holographic koi fish drifting lazily between buildings, dragging glowing banners behind them filled with corporate insignias, moving text, and carefully crafted scenes meant to soothe, tempt, or impress.
The architecture itself was a blend of old and new. Some towers rose in clean futuristic lines of glass and steel, while others carried subtle echoes of older Japanese forms....curved roof edges, layered terraces, small suspended gardens, and enclosed bridges designed with a ceremonial elegance that the lower districts could no longer afford. Light spilled from restaurants, offices, clinics, and high residences alike, giving the whole platform the appearance of a carefully curated illusion of prosperity.
At night the place truly came to be actually alive more than light of the day. I simply observed the view, taking slow sips of tea between turning the pages of the book I had picked up. After some time of my undisturbed reading and my tea almost finished, a small virtual screen lit up near my eye. A call from an unknown caller ID.
I thought for a moment of who could it be, then having it could be a lot of people i took up the call.
Before i could even speak up, a trembling female voice came through it. "Doctor? Am i speaking to doctor Aizen?" Her voice questioning.
"Yes" I simply replied and letting her say her part.
"M....My husband, he collapsed and won't wake up no matter what. Even his vitals are all normal. He gave me this card with your caller ID on it and said to contact you if any problem happens." The moment she said that i knew who i was talking to.
" Mrs Takeda, I presume."
"Yes....Yes!" Her voice trembled but she somehow kept herself together.
I spoke calmly, my tone gentle to make her nerves settle. " Listen carefully, Mrs Takeda." There was a small rustling sound, as if she had pressed the device closer to her ear.
I continued without stopping " You must move your husband to another room immediately."
There was a pause on her side "W....What?"
"There is a possibility that your husband is infected with some form of virus or bacteria" I explained " Nothing is certain yet, so letting him rest in another room, isolating him from others, from yourself and your child. You too along with your child be at a distance do not do anything, any form of contact can be the source of transmission. Okay, instead of moving your husband in another room let him where he is and you should go to another room where he doesn't go or has any sort of contact."
A lot of sounds followed before her voice came again "Doctor, i am in another room with my child. What should i do now? "
"Good. Do not leave the apartment and send me your location on my caller ID."
She spoke again fear still creeping up
"Doctor… h-he's going to be safe… right?"
The question made me hold on to my thoughts since there was no certainty of what actually happened but reassurance are necessary with situations like these.
"Do not worry," I said calmly. "If this is connected to one of the biological agents from the old war, then treatments have existed for years. What matters now is that you remain calm. Panic will only make this more difficult for your child… and for your husband. Keep an eye on his breathing and pulse. If anything changes, contact me immediately."
Her breathing slightly Steadied "Okay....Doctor."
My PV received a notification of the location. District Level 75 – Civilian Megacomplex
"I will be leaving shortly," I said. "Remain inside and do not allow anyone else into the apartment.
I ended the call and stood up and put on my coat. I used the PV on my desk calling. I connected a call through the PV and waited until the call connected.
"Dr Fujimoto."
"Yes, Aizen? What happened, need me up in your office for something."
"I required your assistance in checking up on a possible biological exposure case in the Civic District."
He paused for a moment " Floodline district?"
"Yes, most likely and check up on the test results of Takeda Haruma, He had tested for various things so everything would be clear and even i could be infected based on the way of transmission."
"Okay, I will just check on his results....." The line went quiet before he spoke again
"The only irregularities are severe exhaustion and a dangerously high intake of military-grade caffeine rounds."
I thought for a moment of anything remotely close to all the signs he was showing but after thinking for a while there were similar cases but none was weird enough to get so much sleep deprieved after multiple intake of military grade caffeine. ( How interesting would it be if it is some new kind of disease contracted by some new strain)
"Dr Fujimoto, lets meet at the MT station. I would wait for you there."
"Okay... I would see you there." The call was cut. I walked out of my office towards the end of the corridor where the elevator was at. I pressed the button and waited for just a moment before the elevator gates opened and i stepped inside.
I pressed on the elevator panel, selecting the ground floor and the elevator began to descend. Behind me, the transparent wall revealed the outside once again.
From this angle, something far more striking became visible than before. It was a colossal structure dwarfing everything in the canopy district, its structure cutting cleanly through the platform above. From below, it almost looked as if it reached the sky itself, disappearing into it without resistance.
My gaze lifted. The sky above the canopy above the canopy spread wide and endless, dark and filled with countless twinkling stars. The sky was so convincing, enough to satisfy the normal eye. It was flawless that someone who has seen the actual thing would also get fooled by the appearances.
Below the Canopy district, even this imitation did not exist. There, the sky was replaced, by layered ceilings. It did not need to be real, only needed to feel real and for the vast majority…that was more than enough.
Humans had always accepted the version of reality they were given so long as it aligned with their expectations. "Such a fascinating thing" I gazed at the sky.
The "sky" above was nothing more than a colossal atmospheric ceiling constructed generations ago. An artificial dome designed to regulate weather, radiation, and environmental stability for the upper platforms. The stars were projections, the drifting clouds were simulations.
Even the subtle movement of the moon was carefully calculated and yet…It looked perfectly real. A carefully designed lie that an entire civilization had accepted as reality.
My thoughts were interrupted by the mechanical chime of the elevators door opening.
I stepped out into the quiet lobby of the building. Most of the staff had already left for the night, leaving only a few automated reception panels glowing faintly near the walls. The large glass entrance doors ahead reflected the city lights outside.
The moment I stepped out of the building, the air felt slightly cooler. I walked to the way to the MT station. The way for just the walking was sparse as most liked to take the roads with their own PTV. My journey towards the station was just about 10 minutes or so.
Professionals returning from late work hours, their expressions tired yet composed. Corporate personnel in tailored attire speaking through their PVs, their voices low and controlled. A few automated service units moved along designated lanes, carrying packages or performing maintenance tasks without interfering with pedestrian flow.
Above, transit tubes cut across the space between towers. Occasionally, an MT unit would pass through them, leaving behind a faint streak of light before disappearing into another sector of the platform.
Soon, the MT station came into view.
Tokyo Canopy MT Station.
The structure rose like a massive vertical column embedded into the platform itself, its exterior composed of reinforced glass and dark metal frameworks. Through its transparent sections, the internal movement of trains could already be seen ascending, descending, shifting across levels in a constant, uninterrupted flow.
At its base, multiple entry points opened toward the surrounding pathways. Each entrance was lined with automated gates.
People passed through them seamlessly, their identities verified instantly through their PVs or embedded chips. I stepped through one of the gates leading towards the lower districts.
The escalator carried me downward toward the lower boarding levels. Density of people increased with each passing step.
Most of the crowd still consisted of the people of the canopy district evident by the sense of clothing, well-tailored clothes, traditional haori and other culture based clothing but as the escalator descended toward the transit layers, that uniformity began to fade.
The crowd shifting gradually. Among those were the ones whose clothes were more for function not to be well maintained or presentable. These people in between were the civic district resident. (Likely here for some sort of document based work or something with enough certification to pass through)
The closer i got to the transit station the more frequent they became, though the distinction between the two was not easy to break. It blended so well showing the two most working layer of this country.
My thoughts kept running until the escalator neared its end.Ahead, the space opened into a wide platform suspended within the station's vertical chamber.
Large virtual boards hovered in the air at a comfortable distance, displaying transit schedules, route maps, and real-time arrivals in shifting layers of light.
The transit tubes were now clearly visible. Encased in reinforced transparent material, they curved through the station like arteriessome running horizontally across the platform, others bending sharply before descending into the lower districts.
I stepped off the escalator and walked forward. To my right, a series of smaller pathways branched off, leading toward different boarding levels. To the left, one of the main transit tubes extended outward before sloping downward at a steep angle, disappearing into the depths of the city.
That was the route to the station that will take the MT to the civic district, so i moved along the way
The path wasn't direct. A short flight of stairs led downward, followed by a few turns through connecting corridors before opening into a larger waiting section near the tube's entry point.
The place was far more active than the upper levels.
People gathered in small clusters near the boarding lines, some standing quietly while others spoke in low voices. The steady hum of the station filled the air—soft announcements, distant train movements, the subtle vibration of magnetic rails beneath the structure.
The transit tube lay ahead. Its surface was smooth and sealed, enclosing both the track and the incoming MT units. Unlike older systems, it only opened at designated station points. Everywhere else, it remained completely closed allowing trains to move at high speeds without disruption.
There was a lot of hustle within the station as along the edges of the waiting area, small food stalls and automated kiosks operated continuously serving all kinds of foods based on who wants what within their range. Some people both of canopy and civic district stood near them wither waiting or eating whatever they have ordered. Maintenance drones hovered intermittently along the ceiling, scanning the area and adjusting lighting or cleaning surfaces as needed.
Here everything was going just as it always has been. I simply opened my PV and started to read on another case until Dr Fujimoto arrives.
(Some time later)
The elevator doors closed behind us. A soft hum followed as it began its ascent. Unlike the transit lifts of the Canopy District, this one was built for capacity, not elegance. The interior was wider, its walls lined with reinforced panels instead of glass. A faint layer of wear could be seen.
A digital display above the door lit up. Floor 1-32. The lift accelerated smoothly. Around us stood several residents—some silent, others speaking in low voices. A man in a worker's uniform leaned against the wall, his posture tired. A woman held a small child close, gently rocking him as the lift rose. Two teenagers stood near the corner, their attention fixed on a shared PV screen.
Everyone kept glancing at us through some relieving their itch all trying be as discreet as possible but still stealing glances in between likely curious about our white coats and the way we dressed is very different from most in the civic district.
The elevator kept on climbing until it came to the floor 32 we have to go on. Me, Dr Fujimoto and two other assistants made our way through the people to the floor.