Prologue: Year X490 of the Downfall Era

It was really an unfortunate set of circumstances that led to me being here. First, I find myself dropping out of high school despite being the top in the entire freshman class. I never thought highly of school, I just did it so that I could hopefully land a good job doing what I was already more than capable of doing as a career, as a computer programmer. In the year X490, by now everyone uses the HI-FREQ headgear anywhere they go. HI-FREQ is short for “high frequency” because in order for the device to be able to perform most of its actions interacting with the perceptual vision and hearing of the human brain while simultaneously sending high frequency cell signals to nearby control towers to transport location data among other things even as basic as daily homework or as complicated as full-dive video games, these devices required specific frequencies beyond any previously recommended exposure limits to electronic radiation. The part AR, part cellular, part All-in-One computer, HI-FREQ headgear was marketed by mega corporations all throughout Japan and the world to become the “one device to rule them all”. By now its market control has instead become the one device to replace them all. In fact, real computers have become too expensive for anyone of the “Numbered Population” to reasonably afford. Those among that population whom still own working older PCs from the last generation are known as “non-conformers,” while the rich and powerful whom own the latest computer tech are known as the “Master Race” after an internet meme from long ago where PC gamers used to tease console gamers for their lack of power, cheats and controls for certain functionality while in-game.

Currently, the provisional government of the Citadel under Executive Order 808-A requires everyone to register with the HI-FREQ network. Unregistered citizens aren’t even considered citizens at all and are either asked to register forcefully or become a work slave of the state. Officially, only the Führer, his designated representatives and family are granted any sort of reprieve from this oppressive law. However, despite these challenges, a side market has emerged becoming a source of great revenue for those with the capability to run exploits through the HI-FREQ system. The challenge to these exploits is each requires a personal computer either of last or current generation to run and anyone caught with a computer or running unauthorized code on their HI-FREQ devices are immediately stunned by the device implanted inside of them, collected by the police and transported to the slave work plantation. Computer ownership crackdowns only ever occur when a non-conformant is discovered and usually they are caught either through a complex spy network only known as “The Example” by outsiders who appear to be exploit customers or the exploit developers or their customers are caught running unauthorized code of their own on their HI-FREQ. Whatever the case, older computers are especially outlawed, because they don’t have the built-in backdoors and patches that the newer “Master Race” computer owners are forced to put up with.

One of those non-conformers is me, Sato Kaito, and the world I live in is fucked up in so many ways. After dropping out of high school after freshman year, I became the lead exploit developer who tried to fight oppression with the biggest software exploit since the HI-FREQ device became available. Exploit Xx()xX, as it was called, deleted all location data and emergency electrically shock (EES) daemons on the HI-FREQ permanently, causing chaos for the provisional government to handle. That exploit was created by me, as its author and distributor and over the course of just four months I had earned enough money to hire a private army take over and turn the Ryukyu Islands against mainland Japan. That is to say, until catastrophe struck and all of the Islanders were mercilessly slaughtered by a precision-aimed nuclear offensive. The few that did survive, including myself, were rounded up, chained down and had our citizenship rights revoked. As a security measure once the HI-FREQ is implanted the software may never be freshly reinstalled and the device may never be removed or replaced, meaning our devices were permanently “contaminated”. Next thing I know, I awaken after having been dragged down to the depths of the work slave plantation to find something I never would have before expected.