Wake the Koi

The flickering neon sign outside barely illuminates the rain-slicked alley. You pull your trench coat tighter, the damp clinging to you like a second skin. Above, the cityscape of Neo-Kyoto hums with a discordant symphony of hovercars, digitized geisha adverts, and the low thrum of power conduits. You've been summoned here, to this den of forgotten tech and simmering resentment, by a message scrawled on a datapad you found tucked inside a fortune cookie – "The Koi sleeps. Wake it." You're not a detective. Not officially, anyway. You're a 'Fixer', a jack-of-all-trades in this digital metropolis. You grease palms, retrieve lost data, and generally make problems disappear before they become *real* problems. Your specialty? Ancient technology. Not the shiny, new, corporate-branded kind, but the obsolete, forgotten relics of a pre-digital age. Your shop, "Bytes of Yore," is a testament to your obsession, crammed with dusty servers, archaic peripherals, and enough obsolete software to crash the city grid. The back alley leads to a single, unmarked door, guarded by a hulking cyborg whose metallic hand casually polishes a chrome katana. He scans you with emotionless optic sensors. "You seek the Whispersmith?" His voice is a synthesized growl. "He awaits. But be warned, Fixer. He deals in secrets. And secrets have teeth." He steps aside, the door hissing open to reveal a dimly lit chamber filled with the aroma of sandalwood and ozone. A figure sits cross-legged on a raised platform, surrounded by holographic projections of flowing water and vibrant Koi fish. This is the Whispersmith. A legend whispered among the digital underworld, a man said to hold the keys to the city's hidden history. He turns, his face obscured by the glow of the holograms. "You have heard the call, I see. The Koi sleeps. And its slumber threatens to drown us all." He gestures towards a flickering screen. "There's a glitch in the system, Fixer. A digital plague eating away at the core of Neo-Kyoto. The corporations are blind to it. The authorities dismiss it. But I know what it is. It's a memory. A forgotten secret. And you are the only one who can unlock it." He throws a small, tarnished datapad towards you. "This is where it begins. A single line of code. A ripple in the digital ocean. Find its source. Wake the Koi. Or watch Neo-Kyoto crumble." He pauses, his gaze piercing through the holographic veil. "Your time starts now."