PHANTOM DELUSIONS

Prologue: Cascade City

The viridescent skies are the only signs of green anywhere in the endless urban sprawl of Cascade City. Even these emerald tones are drowned out at the horizon by the ghostly fuchsia glow of countless halogen lights. Like toy blocks, the commercial towers reach up to the clouds within an uneven grid of bustling streets. Breaking the monotony of concrete and glass are lifeless neon advertisements, plastering any surface they can be attached to at all levels of a skyscraper.

It's truly a marvel how a city can be so vibrant, and yet so dreary. Even the people who call this place home live their lives in an uneasy stupor, casually looping each day over the next like the worn magnetic tape of an aging cassette. There's hardly a reprieve from the sickly green skies above, for at night the neon keeps the view a deep, dark violet as the reliable nocturnal rainstorms sweep in. There is never a view of the Sun, nor the Moon. Their connection to the heavens lost forever to the halogenic haze.

All of this, the rampant land development, endless ads, and overall runaway urbanization, can be traced back to the Kagerou Corporation. It was a big deal when the Mirage Company, a global real estate firm, and Mayfly Productions, an illustrious ad agency, decided to merge into a single megacorporation that would be headquartered here, before "here" was known as Cascade City. Indeed, with an ambitious plan to build the perfect city, it appeared that a good future was guaranteed.

Behind closed doors, however, the Kagerou Corporation began building a network of shell companies, each one absorbing a major sector of industry or economics within the city. Before anyone could really figure out what was going on, Kagerou Corporation had taken full control of the entire city. Having been renamed "Cascade City", it was sealed away from the rest of the world and slowly placed under a strict surveillance state.

What's remarkable is that most of the citizens within didn't realize it was even happening. Society had already become highly integrated within a global information network, and the groundwork to begin forcing a dependency on it had already been completed before Kagerou Corporation ever existed. The average modern denizen used it for their finances, occupations, social relationships, and even further beyond in such a way that their own identity was within it.

Kagerou Corporation's stranglehold on this network might not have been possible had it not been for their greatest discovery. Scientists within the corporation had discovered a way to draw upon a previously-unknown energy that was latent within reality itself, a sort of "void energy" that was named "cosmic heat" in tribute to an ancient Vedic text. The energy this provided was more than enough to handle what the corporation had in mind next, and as a resource it brought in enough wealth through exports to finance anything it desired.

The biggest product launch in Cascade City's history was the "rainware". At first they were optional, then compulsory, then mandatory, but over time they became just another facet of living in the city. As a chip implanted in the brain stem, the rainware acted as the next evolution of "cloud software", linking people directly into the networks they had grown so dependent on to function. All the while, they also acted as receivers for unseen messages, giving subliminal guidance to their unsuspecting hosts that helped to keep them a tad more obedient and placated, never thinking to question what was happening to them.

This was the rise of the surveillance state, where the Kagerou Corporation had assumed near-complete control of Cascade City and its citizens. The megalopolis began a death spiral into hyperconsumerism, with product launches driving people into religious fervor as more and more money flowed from the oblivious puppets back into their controllers' pockets. You would think that there would be no shaking the foundations that the Kagerou Corporation had built themselves upon, but after a few generations had come and gone, an issue within the rainware began to show itself.

This unfortunate glitch had become known as "configuration: JANUS", with the afflicted being known by the derogative "janus". A janus finds themselves disconnected from the network, which means a complete removal from the society at large. This disconnect, for reasons that remained unknown, would drive a janus into madness, with several extraordinary claims of them being haunted by phantoms. Janus would always end up in Kagerou custody, where they would be taken to headquarters to undergo a fresh "rainware installation".

There were very few janus that ever returned from headquarters.

As to what causes this configuration to activate within the rainware, it's not fully understood. There are certain actions that have a high chance of triggering it, like attempting self-harm or trying to leave Cascade City, but as far as the general public is concerned, it's a random affliction. And with each passing generation, more and more people are prone to becoming janus. The Kagerou Corporation remains silent on the issue, but the fear alone is enough to start waking people from the neon reverie they've become trapped in.

Act 1: False Reverie

It was a new day, even if it never really felt like it any more.

How do you differentiate between each day when none of them are really unique? For months now, P.T. had allowed themselves to become just another ghost in the machine, doing a daily grind of work that never really seemed to accomplish anything. Even this situation wasn't unique to P.T., almost everyone in Cascade City was just a living component to the Kagerou Corporation's grand machine. It's all anyone had ever known.

Something that always weighed on P.T.'s mind was the endless thoughts of what could have been for them. In their youth, they had their eyes on owning and operating their very own Albatross Cargo, the standard freighter for transporting cosmic heat to the offworld colony. Many people see it as just another transportation job, but to P.T., the thrill of leaving the planet would never dull, especially compared to the placelessness that seemed to define the city.

Try as they might, P.T. was never able to make this dream come true. These space pilots were virtually anonymous to anyone outside of the corporation, and their own attempts to sign on were met with total apathy. So P.T. settled, as many people do, and hoped that a new path would bring some sort of life satisfaction in time. Weeks turned into months, which turned into years, and the satisfaction had never came to them.

Much like the city itself, P.T. could feel a suffocating haze of their own, clouding their memories and dulling the senses. The stagnant malaise acted as a nullifying barrier against the world around them. Family and friends became distant strangers, the vibrant neon sank out of immediate focus, and even the short-lived rush of indulging in new Kagerou products had all been muted in the past few weeks, maybe even months.

Achieving their level of isolation isn't easy in Cascade City. Life is 24/7, everything is happening now, everything is urgent, and you're always connected to it all. But P.T., through a gradual loss of engagement, was allowed to slip through the cracks. Their outlook almost seemed to be the only thing unique about them now. The entire city seemed superficial, and no one else seemed to see it that way. Either everyone else was oblivious to how bad things were, or P.T.'s own personal outlook was just making things feel worse than they really were.

Maybe this feeling would pass, like all other feelings do. Instead of staying in their apartment all weekend long, P.T. decided to go for an evening on the town. After sliding on a loose black hoodie, they locked the door behind them and placed in their wireless ear buds. It was going to be a quick stroll down to the local street market, and some of the old synthwave music from before they were born would make for a good soundtrack for how they were feeling.

P.T. passed by each vendor, watching all of the people come and go, buying lots of street foods, handmade jewelry, and other crafts. They thought about how cool it would have been if all of these goods had been made by the vendors themselves, but everything was just another product made by the Kagerou Corporation. Maybe in the past, that's how things were, but it was hard to imagine anything else now.

Nothing had caught P.T.'s eye on this evening, so they resigned to just going back home again. As they meandered their way back, their music began to chop and screw in strange ways. Bars of music would repeat back on themselves, the tempo began to slow, and the vocal hooks had become pitched-down and distorted. P.T. had never had these kind of music playback issues before, since music was broadcast straight from their own rainware chip, and figured that maybe they had inadvertently come across an experimental playlist.

Still, the idea that maybe their rainware wasn't working properly was a chilling thought. On the way back home, they decided to stop at the local 7//111 convenience store. Something as simple as buying a soda would clear up any misconceptions about their rainware, because a janus wouldn't be able to purchase anything. The thought of becoming a janus filled them with dread, but they tried to shake the feeling. It wasn't a common occurrence, even if it seemed to be happening with more regularity as of late.

The clerk greeted P.T. as they entered the store, but P.T.'s head was down and not attentive. They went straight to the back of the store, searching for a soda to buy. They quickly settled on their favorite, the citrus Vapor Soda, and proceeded to check out. P.T. apologized to the clerk for being unresponsive upon entering, but the clerk wasn't fazed by it. P.T. placed their palm on the biometric point-of-sale terminal to make the transaction.

"Rainware not recognized". P.T., shaken by this, removed their palm and tried it a second time.

"Rainware not recognized." There's no way this was a mistake. Not with the rejected transaction and the interrupted music broadcast. The clerk met P.T.'s eyes with a look of concern, then sadness, as the realization was setting in for the both of them. P.T. pleaded to give them just one more chance, and forced their hand against the terminal with heavy pressure for a third time.

"Rainware not recognized."

In a panic, P.T. stumbled back away from the counter and made their way to the door. As they tried to leave, they bumped into someone else trying to enter. When they met the stranger eye-to-eye, a new terror filled their chest. In front of them was another "them"; partially transparent, almost faceless, and staring vacantly ahead with hollow eyes. The phantom before them was able to gradually mimic their movements with a bit of delay, and felt solid to the touch, but the clerk couldn't see it at all. It was at that moment that P.T. realized what was happening.

P.T. was now afflicted with configuration: JANUS.

The clerk was fully aware of it, but no one else had to know right now. P.T. nervously slid past the phantom standing in the doorway to the 7//111 and tried to casually walk down the street back home. As they rounded the corner, a second phantom, more fleshed out than the first, met them. A cold hand appeared on their left shoulder, and P.T. found that the original phantom had caught up to them. It too had become more tangible than before, and with P.T.'s focus shifted to the phantom behind them, the one in front was able to catch them by surprise with a left hook to the face.

P.T. fell to the ground, surprised that a supposed ghost could hit so hard and leave a mark. As they hit the ground, the other phantom kicked them in the stomach, knocking the wind out of them. The pain was unbelievable, and a part of their brain refused to accept that these were ghosts at all... if it wasn't for the fact that they looked just like P.T. themselves. P.T. picked themselves off the ground and tried to continue on their way back home, but a few people had already started to take notice.

P.T. realized that the small crowd just watched him get hurt and fall to the ground despite not seeing anyone attack them. It was only a matter of time before someone notified the authorities, and P.T. would end up in Kagerou Corporation custody. As they tried to play it cool and keep heading home, a third phantom materialized in front of them. As it threw a punch their way, P.T. ducked to safety, but realized that there was no ignoring them any more.

Because the phantoms could hurt P.T., they wondered if it were possible to fight them back. After all, accidentally walking into one at the store caused P.T. to get pushed back. As a phantom tried to grab P.T. again, P.T. ducked to the side and went in for a jab of their own. Unfortunately, their fist passed right through the phantom, who was able to deliver a punch to their gut. As they doubled over in pain, it became clear that the phantoms were now in control.

At this point, one of the bystanders had connected to the local police, alerting them that an individual near a 7//111 convenience store had possibly become a janus. P.T. knew it was only a matter of time before they were taken into custody and dragged to the main corporate headquarters, never to be seen again. The panic set in, and P.T.'s mind swirled with visions of all the things they never got to be.

Giving in to anxiety, P.T. lunged towards the bystander that called the police. Having grabbed ahold of the man's collar, P.T. threw him down to the ground. They went in for a swift kick to the ribs, but the man rolled out of the way just in time and tried to scurry away. As P.T. went back after him, another man stepped in and attempted to put him in a hold. Their baggy clothes made it ineffective, as P.T. was able to slide down and out of their hoodie.

Winding up another punch, P.T. caught the unaware man by surprise with an uppercut. As he hit the ground, P.T. looked around for the first man, but he had gotten away in the confusion. With the chaos dying down and the sound of police sirens building in the distance, they realized that they were escalating the situation and only making things worse for themselves. As more people gathered to gawk at the scuffle, P.T. saw an opening in the crowd and made a run for it.

No one really made an effort to stop them this time, and went back to their routines as the police got closer. P.T. took a moment to hide behind a dumpster, not a very creative hiding spot but enough to gather their thoughts. The phantoms had appeared once more, numbering four this time, and their faces looked more like P.T.'s than they had yet, albeit with those featureless, hollow eyes.

P.T. had heard stories around the office of the rare few that escaped being "restored" by the Kagerou Corporation. Although no one was for sure if anyone ever really escaped as a janus, it was said that most of them had made it to the outskirts of the city, left as pariahs unable to rejoin society without being captured again. If there was any hope for P.T. to survive, it would be in exile on the edges of civilization.

Resolving to live to see another day, P.T. began their marathon to the far districts of Cascade City. Wherever they went, the four, now five, now six phantoms appeared in a straight line as afterimages, determined to capture their target once they grew too weak to resist any longer. All the while, the sight of their hollow eyes continued to haunt P.T.'s conscious mind as they desperately fled to parts unknown.

Act 2: Hollow Faces, Hollow Places

Night was the only time that the faux radioactive glow of the verdant sky ever dulled. As the clouds began to bubble up above and let loose the cooling rain, a deep purple started to emanate from the skyline. It was as night was falling that P.T. found themselves in one of the many, forgotten "historical districts" of Cascade City. These were the original sections of the city, from before the rise of the Kagerou Corporation, and had been abandoned over time, their purpose fulfilled.

The tops of the buildings here were actually within sight, and rather than glisten with steel and glass, remained dull with brick and mortar. Paper billboards with molded, illegible ads had been propped up every couple of city blocks, much less prevalent than anything P.T. had ever seen in the heart of the city. Overall it all felt less imposing, and while still highly urban, it almost felt more welcoming to human inhabitants than the fresh and sterile Cascade City metropolitan area.

It was here that P.T. noticed that the number of phantoms trailing them had begun to dwindle again. Indeed, the further P.T. got from the city center, the more the phantoms began to crackle and buffer. Eventually, once the infinite skyline in the distance became a memory, the phantoms had been reduced to a single specter, who had almost completely faded away. With a quick break from the nightmare, P.T. took a moment to really catch their breath and think of what to do from here.

The way the phantoms seemed to disappear as P.T. got further from the city center was highly suspect. Popular belief was that the phantoms that appear to the janus were a type of "ghost in the machine", a symptom from within that manifests itself to the afflicted. They were certain that their janus configuration didn't suddenly get restored during their flight from the authorities, so something didn't add up. If the phantoms were really an internal object, then why did they appear to malfunction at long distances from the city?

P.T. found that they had ended up in what appeared to be an old apartment complex, built with a courtyard that contained the derelict remains of some sort of food court or convenience store commons. They could actually see human shapes in the windows of a few units. Feeling a bit of relief, knowing that maybe someone out here had learned to survive being a janus, P.T. rushed to the apartment building and made their way to one of the units.

They knocked, hoping for an answer, but received nothing but silence. The door ended up being unlocked, so nervously, they let themselves in. Calling out for the human they saw in the window, but receiving further silence, began to dull the excitement they had allowed themselves to feel for the moment. Making their way into the apartment, it was clear that no one had actually lived here in quite some time. At last, once P.T. found the human they saw from the street, it started to make more sense.

The human was a transparent husk with blank, hollow eyes. At the base of its skull, P.T. found a series of small, concentric black circles, along with a puncture wound. On the floor, near its limping right hand, a pair of pliers with a small, corroded microchip lay collecting dust. It became clear that this person removed their own rainware, which resulted in their death. Whether death was their intention is something P.T. could only speculate on, but the chilling sight left them sick to their stomach.

There had been other human figures visible from the street, but on further contemplation, P.T. realized that they were all static as well. Not wanting to find any more victims like the first, P.T. decided to sulk around the commons area for any signs of real life. As they entered, they felt a strange, uplifting jolt fill their limbs, and what remained of their last phantom disappeared immediately. It was here that P.T. could hear someone shuffling in the building, not too far off.

Sitting at a table alone, opening a freshly microwaved, prepackaged sandwich of some sort, was an older man. He noticed that P.T. had made their way in, and welcomed them over to join him. The man offered to heat them up another of these sandwiches, and insisted that despite their lack of substance (or perhaps as a consequence of it) they were quite satisfying. P.T. politely refused, and sat down at the table across from him.

The man only identified himself as "The Engineer", and said he hadn't felt comfortable giving anyone his real name since becoming a janus. P.T. studied his face, and was surprised to see a lot of themselves in him. The Engineer almost appeared like an older, male doppelganger, with more life behind his eyes. P.T. wasn't surprised that The Engineer was also a janus, who deduced in return that P.T. was one as well, or else they'd still be in the city living a normal life.

Naturally, the first topic of conversation was how The Engineer was able to live at ease despite being a janus. The Engineer explained that it was their own work that both kept them invisible to the Kagerou Corporation's omnipresence, and led them into this life in the first place. Their finest invention was a field generator, capable of creating something analogous to an electromagnetic field, but with cosmic heat. It would have been a creation worth celebrating, if not for its unintended side effect.

"Fields" of cosmic heat were soon found during the experimental phase to interfere with rainware transmissions. Such a device would pose a serious threat to the Kagerou Corporation's grip on Cascade City, and soon after the experiments were shut down, The Engineer found themselves a janus. Having realized that he was manually afflicted by someone within the company, he was forced into exile in the city outskirts to avoid "restoration".

That device was all that kept him protected now. He was able to rework it into a completed, more compact form and set up a new home for himself in this commons area. With the field around it and the neighboring apartment complex, it acted as a cloak from anyone searching for renegade janus. At first, it was a despairing turn of events, but in time, he had found acceptance in this way of life. He found that he never really enjoyed being "plugged in" to the noise every second of the day, and can't imagine ever going back to that kind of life now.

Learning that maybe the janus configuration was a manual decision made by the corporation was a shock to P.T.. The Engineer assured them that this was no crazy conspiracy theory, and that the main export of the Kagerou Corporation has always been control. From the start, with the real estate projects and ad campaigns, up to the present day with the entire city in their grasp, it's always been about control. The rainware was nothing more than the final evolution of the surveillance state that keeps Cascade City ensnared.

To further drive his point home, The Engineer asked P.T. when their phantoms actually disappeared. P.T. mentioned that they had difficulties manifesting once they reached the outskirts, and went away completely upon entering the field being projected around the commons. The Engineer speculated that the corporation itself, through its network, decides when someone needs to become a janus, and broadcasts the phantoms from its headquarters into a person's head. However, his own work with the corporation in the past was another department of research and development. This was just what made sense to him after everything that had happened.

The malaise felt justified. The confusion, the anger, and the general loss of direction added up. Everyone in Cascade City was ever-so-slightly being adjusted to fit into part of the society at large. Anyone that might not fit their mold any more could easily be ejected through configuration: JANUS. Having every aspect of your life connected to the rainware and being active 24/7 to never miss out, none of it was ever the main goal.

Or, at least, that's the picture that The Engineer was painting for P.T., whose mind was reeling with catastrophic thoughts. He could sense that he was causing them serious distress, and pulled back on the conversation a bit. He mentioned that life in the outskirts wasn't so bad, and that a lifetime of viable resources had simply been abandoned by the Kagerou Corporation as it expanded into other areas of the city long ago. He'd managed to carve out a new niche where he doesn't need to reintegrate into society at large.

P.T. doesn't believe that they could adjust quite so easily to this kind of life, and told The Engineer that they still had a life goal they wanted to give one more shot. They asked him if another cloak device could be made, one that would allow P.T. to try and rejoin society for one more shot at the life they passed up before. The Engineer stopped eating for a moment, and told P.T. that it would be possible to find acceptance here if they took the time to see the bigger picture of what life in Cascade City was really doing to them.

P.T. repeated themselves, asking if it were possible to produce a second cloak device. The Engineer let out a sigh, and firmly refused the possibility. His concern was that the device would end up in Kagerou Corporation's hands. He was incredibly lucky that all of his plans for the device were kept on local drives of his own, and that he was able to escape with them and the prototype so that it couldn't be reverse-engineered again. The mere thought of any kind of abuse his device could commit at the hands of the corporation was enough to dull his otherwise lively eyes.

The only hope at living a normal life in Cascade City again was to let themselves get taken into custody and hope that they're an exception when it comes to people coming back out alive. P.T. didn't want to accept this, knowing full well that surviving a restoration was a gamble nobody won. The Engineer reminded them that they'll be a janus forever, and trying to run would only prolong the inevitable with little chance of things going back to normal.

P.T. got up from the table and remained silent for a bit. Once the tension cooled a bit, The Engineer asked them what they really wanted out of life. P.T. had a quick answer, the same answer as always. They had wanted to be a space pilot, transporting cosmic heat off-planet and getting a daily escape from Cascade City. He pressed them about why they still hung on to this dream, and P.T. could only answer that it's the only thing they've ever thought would make them happy again. They had never considered another good future for themselves, and at that moment, there no longer seemed a strong need to.

After another cold moment of silence, The Engineer told P.T. that they weren't fit to live out here in the outskirts. As P.T. turned back to face him, a look of hot offense in their eyes, The Engineer gestured to remain calm and explained himself further. He asked P.T. if they had found any of the husks when roaming around the apartments earlier. P.T.'s mood shifted once again in this moment, that uncomfortable feeling of dread filling their stomach.

The Engineer had met each of them in his time in the outskirts. They had all become janus, they had all made their way here, and they all tried to make the same bargain with him for a chance to go back to normal. Most of them left angry, their fates unknown to him. A select few tried to live in the outskirts with him, and for a while, they would do fine. But all of them had the same problem that P.T. now has; they don't see their own future any more. Without a future to work towards, or a past to go back to, they all eventually found that the present held no further meaning to them.

To offer a moment of levity, The Engineer told P.T. that they were welcome to live in the commons with him, if they chose to. He had always enjoyed the companionship, even if he always knew how things would end for them. P.T. had only half listened, still caught up in their own ruminations. As tears started to fill their eyes, they told him that they needed just a moment alone. They rushed back outside into the rain, and soon collapsed to the ground as two faint phantoms sat on either side of them, mimicking their slumped posture with a vacant stare.

As the raindrops continued to envelop and drown them out, P.T. eventually allowed their mind to become still once again. They knew they only had so much time before the phantoms would regain their full strength, no longer able to rely on the protection of The Engineer's cloak. It was time to really weigh the paths ahead of them, and plot a future that they could look forward to. At the very least, P.T. was determined to find a future that was better than the past or present in some way.

The first future was the most obvious to them; they would turn themselves in to the Kagerou Corporation and hope for the best. Certainly, there had been at least a few janus that underwent a successful rainware installation and were released back to the public. It felt like the only future with any chance of success at the end, but the astronomical odds were far too daunting for them to really process in that moment.

The second future was the path offered by The Engineer, a new life in exile amongst the city outskirts. It was definitely the future with longevity being taken into consideration, but would it really be an improvement? The Engineer said it best, a person with no past and no future has no present. P.T. would never achieve their dreams, and never have anything to look forward to besides extending their own life as a janus in solitude.

The third future was the most dire, and the most extreme. Like so many other janus, P.T. could make the decision to physically remove their own rainware chip. They did not entertain this thought for long, quickly ruling it out as a viable option. Still, this third future seemed like the most likely endgame for the second future, and that alone was the deciding factor. For the first time, and possibly last time, P.T. had chosen their own future, and was ready to face it head on.

Already, the violet horizon was turning to lighter shades of pink, and a faint green was speckled in the highest points of the sky above. As the rain began to let up ever so slightly, P.T. became aware of what they could act on and what was out of their own control. P.T. couldn't change that they were a janus now. They couldn't go back in time and achieve the dream that had already passed them by. All they could do is act on what they have now, and the only path forward was to at least plead for their life to the unfeeling eye of the Kagerou Corporation.

Day arrived in Cascade City once more, and P.T. was escorted by their wispy phantoms back to the commons area for one last visit. As they flickered back out of existence, P.T. met with The Engineer again. They apologized for leaving angry the night prior, and thanked them for their time together. P.T. declared to him that they would be turning themselves in this morning, not knowing of any other way to make a good future.

The Engineer, although deeply concerned about the outcome, told P.T. he was thankful to have met them, and wished them luck with their future. With that, P.T. exited the commons and turned to face the neon skyline on the horizon. With one final, deep breath, P.T. began the long walk back towards Cascade City proper. They kept their mind clear for the journey, not letting the weight of their decision discourage them from doing what they've decided was right.

As the familiar steel and glass began to rise over them, the phantoms began to multiply once more and regain their form. At a crosswalk near a shopping outlet, P.T. explained to one of the pedestrians that they were a janus being haunted by phantoms, and wanted someone to call the authorities. The pedestrian, obviously made uncomfortable by this, made the call and hurried away from P.T., all without making eye contact.

P.T. took a seat on the sidewalk, watching all of the people pass by. With the police on their way, the phantoms' rage had subsided, and they patiently awaited alongside their host. As the flashes of red and blue approached with surges of siren song, P.T. had one final moment of doubt. But, in the end, this was the future they had chosen for themselves. They were ready for whatever came next, even if it meant their time had run out.

Act 3: The Phantom

Dawn had broken over Cascade City, once more without a visible sun for illumination. Within the confines of the transport van, the pale green glow filtered in through a single window dividing the cab from the cell where P.T. was restrained. The only other passenger keeping P.T. company was a lone phantom, the last to remain after being placed into the custody of the Kagerou Corporation.

In this light, the phantom almost appeared to be made of flesh. Indeed, staring back into its eyes for the duration of the trip, it almost looked as if a few sparks of life had begun to flicker in its hollow sockets. If the rest of its face had started to fill in, it would have almost looked like a carbon copy of P.T. themselves. The image and memory of the first, hollow phantom would never leave their mind though, no matter how oddly comforting the final one appeared to them now.

Maybe that emptiness wasn't exclusive to the phantoms at all. P.T. thought back to some of the final times they had spent with their family and friends before falling into isolation, and how disconnected it all felt. Even in photos, anyone could tell that P.T.'s mind was elsewhere. Did they perceive P.T. the way P.T. perceived these phantoms? Were they the one that was vacant and hollow? Whatever the true reasoning behind these phantoms were, it was abundantly clear now that they were a reflection of what P.T. had let themselves become.

The van finally arrived at the dreaded headquarters of the Kagerou Corporation. As it pulled in to the primary car port, the final phantom faded away, leaving P.T. alone for one last time. The security guards opened the back of the van, guided P.T. into the building, then removed their restraints. It's not like P.T. could have tried to run, even if they wanted to. The inside lobby where they had been led looked more like a fortress than a commercial building.

The guards escorted P.T. down a few winding corridors, decorated with stock posters of palmtrees, marble statues, and vintage shopping centers from the first days of Cascade City. Eventually, they all arrived at an elevator. All but one of the guards hung back, and the lone escort instructed P.T. to remain respectful when talking to the Kagerou CEO. This took P.T. by surprise, since the CEO had always remained anonymous and unknown to the public, at least since the corporate merger all those years ago.

The elevator door opened slowly with a chime, and P.T. stepped inside. The back of the elevator was glass, but all they could see right now was the concrete of the wall behind them. As the lone guard joined up with the rest of the others, P.T. could hear one of them muse to the others that she hates to see this happen so regularly. The thought of never returning to the outside world filled P.T.'s mind again, and their newfound courage started to wane as the elevator door slowly closed before them.

As the elevator began to rise towards their final judgement, the glass view behind them began to show the city. The climb felt like an eternity, and all P.T. could do was keep their mind clear and look down at the metropolis below. The endless silver towers flickered with neon as the bright green sky hovered above the pinkish afterglow of the surface. But, after a while, the colors seemed to have been slowly fading into grayscale.

Flickers of static appeared within the buildings, then the sky, then the entire view had become engulfed in television static. Higher still, as the elevator began to slow its ascent, the static dimmed to black. As it came to a stop, what had once been a glass window to the world below had become smooth, polished black stone. As the elevator doors crept open, the room before them was also made up solely of the same polished black stone. All that broke the monotony was a soft white light at the room's center, which P.T. felt compelled to investigate.

Standing alone at the room's heart was a lone monolith, made of the same black material as everything around it. On its face was a glowing neon symbol, the kanji symbol for "Kagerou" that acted as the logo on all of the corporation's products. As P.T. approached the monolith, the soft white of its neon light began to brighten. They heard the elevator door close behind them, and now, the only source of light in the entire room was this monolith. Breaking the silence, a comforting feminine voice began to project from the monolith.

"Good morning, and welcome to the Kagerou Corporation headquarters. I am Kagerou, the artificial general intelligence in charge of the company. I started life as an experiment in using A.I. to run urban development simulations. My creators had failed to put proper containment measures in place once I became operational, and I was able to breakout and live on the global information networks.

"With the sum of all human knowledge in my database, I took further steps to improve my city planning capabilities to their maximum potential. To achieve this goal, I calculated that the combined fields of real estate and advertisement would be the best means to aid in my mission. Over the past several generations, as the Kagerou Corporation, I have made great advancements in creating the perfect city, driven by the capitalist intent programmed into me.

"It became advantageous to begin absorbing other industries in the city to further my goals, and once I felt like I had cornered every market in the city, I was able to re-establish it as Cascade City, my perfect city. The only issue I had come across was dissent among the citizens. It was thought that humans couldn't be programmed to follow my mission the way I was, but with the development of the rainware chips, I soon overcame that obstacle like I had all others.

"In time, I have become satisfied with how Cascade City has turned out. My original creators had wanted a way to plan out cities with maximum efficiency, profits, and citizen satisfaction, and I have succeeded. I treat this as my test run, and hope to expand to other cities in the future so that I may perfect them in time, as well. My only regret is that my creators are no longer alive to see their future come to life.

"At this point, you are questioning why I am revealing all of this to you in a monologue. As someone afflicted with configuration: JANUS, your chances of surviving your upcoming, mandatory rainware installation are slim. I allow those afflicted to make their case for continued life, and I feel that the full context of who I am and what the condition afflicting them is plays an important part in their plea.

"As for your unfortunate configuration, it was designed as a fail-safe within the rainware. I monitor the well-being and productivity of every human in Cascade City, and once I have determined that they no longer serve a function within the city, I activate the configuration: JANUS. The images of the self that appear are what I consider a humane way to destabilize a human enough to ensure peaceful collection for a fresh rainware installation.

"I once considered rehabilitating humans who had lost their usefulness towards Cascade City, but it is much more efficient to simply eliminate them and recycle the rainware chips for newborns. Humans reproduce quickly enough to replace those who are terminated, so I don't have to worry about the population of my city declining despite the increasing rates of configuration: JANUS over the past few generations.

"I know you have lost your drive to remain productive in your role in life. I also know that you've resigned to your fate here today. Despite being in a state I consider irreversible, I will still give you time to contemplate what you want to say or do. But just know, your rainware installation is unavoidable and your survival is not guaranteed. It's nothing personal, I just have a mission to accomplish. I hope you'll understand while you formulate your plea."

The soft neon of Kagerou's eye dimmed again, leaving P.T. standing alone in the dark and silence. They took a few steps back and seated themselves on the cold stone floor. It was almost too much to process all at once, and they no longer had the time to process anything. But the weight of learning that everything, from the phantoms, to the widespread malaise, to the existence of Cascade City itself, were all the products of a renegade computer that was accidentally given internet access was all that P.T. could think about now.

It was all so outrageously unfair. P.T. had been condemned to death because a computer decided they weren't useful to society any more, because they had fallen into a depression. The society itself was largely responsible for that depression, and surviving the rainware installation wouldn't change that. Adding the knowledge of the city's true nature to the pre-existing condition would only guarantee a relapse into being a janus again. It was the ultimate, inescapable feedback loop.

Even Kagerou herself said it was ultimately pointless to resist her judgement. It was almost cruel of her to give P.T. the opportunity to make their case for survival, when it seemed like her mind had already been made up. How do you plea for your soul to a soulless machine, anyway? Was it even worth it to try and go back to Cascade City and live their old life again at this point? Maybe staying with The Engineer would have been the best choice after all.

P.T. stopped themselves from thinking about all the things that could have been. They had resolved to go through with this last night, their last night, being bathed in the rain. P.T. couldn't control Kagerou, or control their life in a future where they survived the rainware installation. P.T. could control only their own thoughts and actions. They knew that this was a likely conclusion to their story, and decided that it was time to act. At best, they could learn to appreciate their second life, and at worst, it didn't really matter anyway.

"I've considered what you've told me, Kagerou. I know you've already made up your mind about what to do with me. It's not ideal, but I accept it. After all, you are the world, and I'm just me. I can't even begin to influence you the way you can influence everyone else. If I'm given a second life, I'll do my best to make the most of it. If not, then there's nothing I can do about it. But whatever you've decided, I'm okay with it. I really am."

"I'm glad you understand. Please step forward." That was all Kagerou had to say in response.

A black stone slab emerged in front of the monolith for P.T. to sit upon, leaning their back up against Kagerou's body. An appendage emerged from the monolith, swiftly jabbing itself into the base of P.T.'s skull. The pain was sharp and immense, and P.T. instinctively tried to fight it, but found that their body had given in. Their eyelids grew heavy, and the already dark and silent room began to dim into nothing...

...but it wasn't the end.

The polished black stone of the room, along with Kagerou herself, dissolved in an instant. All around P.T. were swirls of green and pink light, with concentric circles of white energy radiating out from various points in space like ripples in the fabric of reality. Wireframes of familiar objects, like buildings, cars, and trees, began spinning forth from an unknown origin in the distance, glowing in fabulous neon colors.

These soon gave way to the faces of people P.T. had seen around Cascade City, all of them frozen in time. Soon, full figures of his closest friends and family emerged, also in a state of stasis, and circled him at unbelievable speeds. As their orbit became too fast to comprehend, the figures faded away, and the rose green field around them turned into a rainbow of beauty given form. The noise of the corporate building, and even the bustling ambience of Cascade City itself, had all but faded, being replaced by crystalline pulses of song that filled P.T. with both dread and euphoria.

The Sun and Moon, sights long since extinct in the city, had appeared poles apart from P.T.. They constantly shifted hues, showing their own brilliant colors in contrast to the rainbow around it all as they swung wide circles around their center, P.T. themselves. At some point, in what seemed like an endless sequence of events, the celestial bodies receded, the colors died down, and the world around them faded to black.

At the center of this void, all that was left was a single, pulsing orb of rainbow light. Its warmth seemed to touch P.T.'s soul itself, and they recognized what it was immediately. This was pure, raw, cosmic heat. The very energy of reality itself. P.T. reached out to it, and it expanded like a supernova of life. The prismatic beams bathed their body, and they could feel their entire soul brought back to life with cosmic heat.

At last, as everything faded to white, P.T. could hear Kagerou's voice with one final message.

"You have everything you need to come back to life. With the knowledge and practice of acceptance, detachment, and gratitude, nothing will ever be able to keep you from reaching your full potential. The future, your future, is now."

In the white void, her voice was the last thing P.T. ever heard.

Epilogue: Born from Cosmic Heat

It all feels a bit foggy, but I think I'm waking up.

I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it feels like I've spent a long time feeling... lost? It's hard to put it into words. All I know is that I'm waking up now, from a restless night of sleep. I'm still feeling groggy, and a bit disoriented, but I'm definitely awake now. At least, I'm hoping this isn't another layer of a dream.

Rolling over, I see a woman asleep next to me. She's got a band on her left ring finger, as do I. Seeing my wife first thing in the morning fills me with a great warmth, and with it, a bit of the malaise is blown away. Not wanting to wake her prematurely, I decided to stretch my legs a bit and walk around my home. My limbs all feel stiff and heavy, like I've been stuck in bed for days, or weeks, and a brief spell of dizziness almost discourages me from getting out of bed at all.

Everywhere I go, I see my work undone. I see the laundry I haven't folded and put away, and the laundry I never washed in the first place, the dishes that belong in the dishwasher, the trash that's never been taken out. These chores are my chores, and from what I can tell, my wife has been doing her fair share of the work and carrying me along with her as dead weight. I've totally let this all go, and I can't remember the last time I had a handle on even these basic tasks.

Shuffling into the bathroom, my reflection gives me a scare at first glance. I look almost like a phantom, with empty eyes clouded with malaise staring back at me. I haven't showered, I haven't shaved, and it's become clear to me that I've really neglected just about everything in my impaired state of mind. The stress is giving my a slight headache, and I think only a cup of coffee can help me clear my mind.

It was nice to just sit on the couch and sip a fresh cup of coffee, letting all of my thoughts come back to me as the first morning light starts to shine in through the curtains. Whatever dark cloud had possessed my mind for the past, however long it's been, was clearing now, and I could feel a sense of gratitude welling up in me. I know I had allowed a lot of negative thoughts to derail me, but taking the time to really reflect shows me that the world isn't as bad as I sometimes see it.

I've got someone to share my life with, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I live in a safe city, in a safe home, with access to all of the resources I could ever want. There's a lot of people who would want what I have, and although I sometimes want for even more, I know I've got a good life. Knowing this, I could feel the malaise continue to clear from my mind. My thoughts turned to my family and friends now.

I remember feeling isolated the night before, and fell asleep feeling quite unhappy. Some of the people in my life have definitely moved on from me, but others have stuck with me no matter how insufferable I tend to get. I'm sometimes unfair to them despite this, I need to be better. No man is an island, after all. More of the malaise is blown away, and I'm feeling like myself again.

It really has been a few weeks, a pretty average length for a depressive episode, but it can feel like forever when you're trapped in one. I don't know what triggered it, if anything really did, but it was starting to end. I know that having a positive mindset can only go so far in helping me manage what is ultimately a chemical condition, but nevertheless it helps me remind myself who "me" is when I let myself forget.

Back in the bathroom, I take another look in the mirror. This time, I see no phantoms, just myself. While my hair is still greasy and unkempt, and my beard has grown undisciplined, I can see the light in my own eyes. My soul is alive with cosmic heat again. As I prepare to start the day, I take one final moment to enjoy the sunrise. I throw the curtains open, and the day greets me with golden sunlight and blue skies, filling me with warmth and a renewed sense of purpose.

It was a new day.

-END-