WELCOME TO KANSAI

[akudamods]

Where are you? When are you? According to the smoggy sky above you, "noon" is a reasonable guess. You are in Dotonbori, though it may seem unwise to get closer to the bridge over the river or any iconic signs. Wandering past this single city block will be met by police robots, stopping your way with a hologram that claims you are on "probation" and will soon be given a "briefing", that the next robot scans and copies. There are human citizens in this area, at first simply stunned by your arrival and appearance. Over the minutes, though, they notice the information circulating on all sorts of holographic surfaces, and they begin chattering suspiciously about you.

The holographic surfaces aren't the only bright light in the city. You also find yourself experiencing glitches multiple times over these first few hours - parts of your body temporarily turning into bursts of color along with a burst of intense pain, or briefly losing awareness of yourself and coming back into focus a good few centimeters to the left, making an agonizing adjustment to sensory non-deprivation all over again. The other "Akudama" seem to be undergoing the same phenomenon of inexplicable sudden little changes in location. Akudama - that's what the citizens are calling you under their breath from the other side of the narrow alley street.

Want to bum a cigarette regardless? Hide in a karaoke booth and scream? Hey, you do you, buddy. Looks like nobody is coming to give you trouble just yet, unless you make it yourself. Maybe those "Gifts" some of you have will make sparks fly.

SO YOU'RE AN X-CLASS AKUDAMA

[akudamods]

[Eventually, you will find yourselves in the only place that is really big enough to hold all of you: the basement. And there, the glitches that have been plaguing you off and on all day stop. Perhaps they're simply outdone by the tacky Matrix lighting all over the place. The early birds see a shuffling white coat from behind the desk in the back; for all the size of the glasses on this woman's face, she picks you out in the darkness immediately.]

Oh boy, it's almost time to start the presentation! "Akudama", Akudama...

[She's pacing nervously, not engaging much with the others, until 6:45 PM, at which point she gets up and starts a terrible PowerPoint type of presentation projected on the wall.]

So, hiiiiii. I'm the Physicist, uh, former X-Class Akudama renowned throughout Kansai, and I'll be taking care of you here at the WS Research Hospital. Don't worry, I have doctorates in other things too. [Next slide.] And here's the layout upstairs for the rooms where you'll be staying—you'll find out which one is yours when my friend the Zealot brings in the seals and smartphones. Treatment is expected to take six weeks, and while accepting our therapies is completely opt-in, we will provide you with a little local currency in compensation for your participation in the experimental research. Then you'll be anchored in this reality, and that's one step closer to getting back towards your original dimension in one piece! And, oh, yeah, I know it's really tempting, but please don't kill each other just so killing an X-Class Akudama and living to tell the tale gets you to travel back in time and fix your greatest mistake, or something like that.

Any questions?