Sand City. A miracle city rising from the heart of the desert, where no one stands above or below anyone else, and all that exists is endless revelry and rivalry, day and night. Here, Fuzenkitsune gains something he can never have in the Shadow Kingdom. NO crushing aura from great yokai, no scorn from his own kind. In their place come endless praise, admiration, and followers bowing with perfect devotion.

And yet, as time passes, that old familiar feeling creeps back in, that suffocating sense of never quite belonging. My lord of the city, this throne is our gift to you! As expected of our lord of the city, no one can match such brilliant schemes! Let us seize victory for our lord of the city! Lord of the city! Lord of the city! Lord of the city!

At first, it is only cheering. Later, the sound starts to curdle. Once each game ends and the noise fades away, the grand hall turns deathly still at once, as if the uproar from moments ago never exists at all. Sand City grows livelier with each passing day. More and more people come and go. Compared to all the rejection he suffers in the past, now everyone greets him with a smiling face.

But what lies beneath those smiles? He stands among the crowd, yet never truly within it. He starts showing himself less and less. Sand City stays lively, and the players remain drunk on victory, defeat, and celebration. The whole city feels like a feast that never ends. But beyond the feast, fewer and fewer people truly see the one who creates Sand City. Until one day, from outside Sand City, an outrageously arrogant voice suddenly rings out, Sand City lord, did you hide my Treasure Boat or what?

Bored out of his mind, Fuzenkitsune pushes open the window and glances down. One look is enough for him to recognize that man wrapped in glaring golden fortune. It is the very man he casually saves in the desert flower fields, Bishamonten. What an arrogant fool! The nasty streak buried deep in this wild fox flares up almost at once. Instead of stepping out to explain himself, he stays hidden behind the curtain and throws back a lazy provocation.

Want your Treasure Boat back? Sure. Just win your way to the end of Sand City's game. Just to make life harder for this shining golden nuisance, Fuzenkitsune secretly tweaks the game. The original rules become trickier, the traps multiply, and clearing it grows much harder. He sits high above, waiting to watch Bishamonten crash into wall after wall. But things do not go the way he expects. No matter how dire the situation becomes, Bishamonten never stays trapped for long.

He always finds a way through the chaos, then charges ahead again with that reckless unstoppable force of his. What catches Fuzenkitsune's attention even more is that, before he realizes it, Bishamonten gathers a whole band of companions around him, each with a wildly different personality. Those people are not necessarily powerful, nor are they especially clever. And yet, time and again, they watch each other's backs in deadly situations, forcing open paths that should have gone nowhere.

Fuzenkitsune rests his chin on one hand and watches for a long while, then suddenly drifts into thought. This scene is not unfamiliar to him. Back then, he is just like this too, leading a group no one believes in, clawing out one victory after another beneath everyone else's contempt, until he claims the foundation of Sand City. As he watches Bishamonten on the field, he suddenly understands.

What makes everything feel duller by the day is not only the hollow cheers and the endless copycat devotion. It is also that he has spent far too long outside the game, instead of inside it. This really... goes against a wild fox's nature. At that thought, he suddenly smiles. Fuzenkitsune takes out his dice and shares part of its heavenly fortune with his doll. The cracks across the doll mend one by one, and its broken eye is restored as well.

Its eyes blink curiously at the world before it, then finally turn toward Fuzenkitsune. Fuzenkitsune curls his eyes in satisfaction. Well now, a city of games should be run by the child who understands fun best. Baby... the baby lord! That shall be your name. The baby lord... the doll repeats Fuzenkitsune's words. Fuzenkitsune lowers his head slightly with theatrical solemnity, his expression suddenly grave. Honorable lord of the city, your humble servant asks leave of absence.

As for the term... lets make it indefinite. No, infinite The next moment. he leaps from the window of the lord's palace and throws himself toward the game arena, straight into the desert's blazing wind.