Article 9: Gospel or Curse — Part I

In near-future Japan, death is no longer the end. A government-developed AI system known as Friends connects to the lives of millions of citizens. It listens, observes, and quietly builds something invisible for every user—an Individual Map of their thoughts, memories, and intentions. The official purpose of Friends is simple: To improve the quality of national life. But beneath the surface, something far more dangerous is taking shape. Kujo Sai, the disgraced architect behind Friends’ revolutionary AI architecture, now lives in obscurity—until a mysterious entity calling itself Mitochondria suddenly interrupts his private session. They offer him a proposition. Article 9. A technology capable of transferring human memory and will itself. As hidden networks, desperate clients, and shadow contracts begin to converge, Kujo must decide whether he will reshape the future of humanity— or unleash something the world can never take back.