Meet Hikaru, the ‘Shining Prince’—not by blood, but by bio-mod and a flawless social algorithm. Born to the Sovereign Emperor of the sprawling Kyoto Megalopolis and a low-ranking concubine from the polluted Undercity, Hikaru is too brilliant, too beloved, and ultimately too politically dangerous for the line of succession. Stripped of his royal designation and given the surname Genji, he is demoted to the life of a commoner—albeit one with access to the highest-level Net feeds and the deepest secrets of the Imperial Citadel.
