Underwater Island DriveIn the year 2012, the ambitious project for a city built on an artificial offshore island collapsed in the middle of construction due to a phenomenon called "burning sea." Sea diver Masamichi Haru, who accidentally encountered the phenomenon while conducting observations in the nearby sea area, has remained in state of suspended animation since the incident. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the year 2061. Although he is physically an old man even unable to walk, his mind seems to have remained the same as of the day of the incident. But the world around him has undergone great changes, too. And in the year 2061, Eichiro Kushima, Haru's friend before the incident and now the managing director at the Electronics Industry Physical and Chemical Research Institute, is observing the same burning sea phenomenon, that once collapsed the artificial island. But Kushima's place of observation is within the higher-order information space called Meta-Real Network or, more commonly, Metal.
