In the ever-awakening, sprawling metropolis of Osaka, the Highashi-sumiyoshi ward stayed true to that sleepless narrative, even in the pale, sterile light of the cracking dawn.
Neon lights, holdovers from the true night, still buzzed and flickered on countless signs and building decorations, casting long, synthetic shadows that danced between structures of every conceivable size and function.
High above, almost-spiralling clusters of Glow-frogs, bioluminescent amphibians native to some other world, swam softly through the cool morning air, their gentle, pulsating light like drifting embers. Many more perched silently on the cold, metallic surfaces of the countless infrastructures and their components—the girders, pipes, and forgotten gantries that made up the skeleton of this immense urban jungle.
