– Chapter 49: The Second Mask – God of Cracked Puppets

The town's silence was loud.

Hoshiyama's streets had become a stage—

But no audience remained.

Only puppets.

Lain was the first to notice them.

Mannequins dressed like festival attendees stood on rooftops, inside windows, hanging from trees.

They never moved when you looked at them.

But when you blinked—

They changed position.

That night, Hiragi, Lain, and Ishigami split up to investigate a forgotten theater at the edge of town. A stage that had once hosted ritual kabuki performances before the city vanished from maps.

Inside, dust covered everything.

But the lights were still warm.

And on stage—

A single marionette danced.

No strings.

No puppeteer.

Its face… had Hiragi's features.

Then came the god.

The God of Cracked Puppets wore a mask stitched from ceramic doll fragments. Its limbs were stiff, bound in red thread, moving like a broken clock.

It bowed dramatically.

"Welcome, Slayer of Void. I've rewritten your script."

Suddenly—

Hiragi couldn't speak.

He turned to Lain.

She was gone.

To Ishigami.

Also gone.

He looked down—

His arms were stitched in string.

He'd become a puppet.

"A performance is due. All must dance," the god hissed.

The curtain rose.

A thousand mannequins filled the seats.

And Hiragi's body moved against his will.

Forced to act out every memory of his past.

His worst decisions.

Every time he failed someone.

Every time he lied.

The god clapped.

"Encore. Show us when you ran."

"NO."

Hiragi's voice cracked through.

The strings began to tear.

"I choose what to remember. Not you."

SNAP

Void energy burst out.

His threads turned black, then disintegrated.

The god recoiled, hissing.

"He's off-script!"

Hiragi leapt into the air, slicing the god's mask in half.

As it shattered, the puppets screamed and fell.

Only silence remained.

Back in the real world, a second mask appeared on the wall:

The Mask of Strings.

Lain looked at him.

"They're trying to make you question yourself."

Hiragi whispered back:

"Then let them try. I've burned worse."