They say you can boil a frog if you heat the water slowly enough. It took two generations after the launch of the first smartphone, and now most of the human population, dopamine addicted and spiritless, live out their days in virtual reality, bodies parked in pods inside Neta Homes, with only a small number of oldworlders still scraping by in the deserted streets of formerly overpopulated cities. On a hot summer day in Osaka, what remains of public utilities suddenly grinds to a halt, and debilitating depression plagues the oldworlders as they try to investigate the downfall of humanity and forge forward despite misery and pain, to rediscover the power of human connection, love, and the simple skill of looking each other in the eye.
or read the first few chapters on deviantArt