Miss Toyokawa Saki of the Shinobi Assassins

Ninjas: beings who have ruled the world through karate since ancient times. But the notion that their rule would last forever was nonsense. Desire, betrayal, war... At the end of endless turmoil, the ninjas brought their reign to a close with mass seppuku. History was concealed and rewritten, and the demigod-like rulers vanished. The age of humanity had finally arrived... Or so it should have been.

The year is 2032. Cybernetic augmentation has become commonplace, and electronic networks span the globe, yet human society has officially entered a decadent dark age. Under the rule of dark megacorporations, ordinary people scrape by by selling pieces of themselves, escaping each night into empty, sweet dreams in cyberspace. The terrifying truth of the ninjas has been forgotten, and so people have no way of knowing... The rulers of old have quietly returned, and begun to propel the world toward an unknowable future.

This is the age of the end times. The age of slaughter. The age of rebirth. Karma directs every seemingly absurd performance, and you who come after, whenever doubts arise, need only remember...

The blue-haired girl took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the pen.

...Amid the sparks struck from clashing karate, a truth as serene as Zen will surely emerge.