“So, what did he say?”

"He didn't disagree. I think he has kinda lost hope at this point."

“That’s good for us then.”

“Probably… I’m starting to wonder if there’s not something else than just him being unlucky and unpopular…”

“What do you mean?”

“I had in total 4 vision yesterday, I already used 2, another concern the day after tomorrow, and the last one… well, I still can’t figure out the meaning of it.”

“You still want to keep them for yourself?”

“Yep, I don’t think it’s safe for you to know about the future, it’s already fucked up enough with me messing with the logic of causality.”

Marie and I were alone in the room, she was lying down on the king size bed, typing like crazy on her laptop. Her ability to hold a conversation and working at the same time is amazing… or maybe I should feel offended by the lack of attention she gives to me…

“By the way, where is Alice? Weren’t the two of you working on something for tomorrow?”

“She went outside to buy a suit. Don’t worry, we’ll have finished by tomorrow.”

"I'm trusting you… in the meantime, I'll go around the town to learn more about the city."

The truth is, even though I’m playing the mysterious rich man that know everything, I am quite ignorant, I don’t even know the name of the city! Being a Seer doesn’t give me infinite knowledge, in fact, I have the impression that the more I see, the less I understand. Oh! That makes me remember…

“I nearly forgot, I have something to tell you… It may be important…”

Marie stopped her typing and lifted her head toward me.

“Oh… don’t tell me…”

“Stop blushing it’s not about that. I’m faithful to Nami.”

“Yeah… ‘Faithful’.”

“Shut up. You know what, I don’t think you deserve to know.”

“Come on… it was a joke, just take it as… as me being jealous you don’t find me attractive. Or some shit like that.”

“Sigh… Like you could ever feel that way…”

“Hehe.”

“I already told Alice, but I had a vision, of myself, of my future.”

“Wow… what a big news…”

“It is, because it was really far into the future, and because it was about my own death.”

“…Okay, THIS is really big news.”

“I didn’t saw much, just that I was beaten up in a burning forest, and a woman with purple came to finish me off. Couldn’t her face though.”

“That is some ominous dream, what are you going to do about it?”

“Not much, it’s not like I can stop climbing the struggle. I think I’ll just tell everyone as soon as possible, and be careful about each forest and purple haired woman.”

“…I don’t really know what to say.”

“Also, you talked about upgrading the chat feature of the book, so that we could talk with each other… Did you make some progress?”

“Not really… but if my theory is correct, I’ll probably be able to finish it by the end of the struggle.”

“Good, if you need me for anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Okay, see you later.”

Then I went out. I think I should probably go by one of those scrolls, then I’ll try to find some information about the city and the other candidates.

The city was named Lucropolis, and was a model of prosperity and modernity for the other city of the continent. Shaped in a circle, it was divided into five section, 4 slicing the inner circle and a last one for the outer ring, with each of them represented by a mayor. The election of The President, with each candidate being the mayors, was coming soon, but only a handful of people felt actually involved in the process. Nobody felt change was needed, or even permitted. The same kind of candidates was presented, and elected, for a long time now. And as none of the voters had a valid reason to feel bad about there situation, no one bothered to try getting involved in the process.

Of course, there were issues, for instance, many felt that money was way too important, that the most wealthy people of the city had way too much power, or that it was oddly hard for the common folk to travel outside the city. Despite all of that, less than a quarter of the registered voters will actually bother to vote.

The truth is, behind these smiles, behind this happiness is hiding an overwhelming feeling of boredom, and a thrust for freedom. Well, at least, it was Alice and Marie’s theory.

The promised day had come, the day when Samsy and his team will turn the table, and make the most unknown and unpopular -paradoxical but accurate- politician this city has ever known. For this purpose, they had a simple plan: to run an ad. In one night, they want to edit and run an ad about the life and fight of Monty L. Kind.

It was objectively impossible. In fact, if Sam knew beforehand what they wanted to do, he would have lost his mind. However, we’re talking about to geniuses girl with the most cheated ability ever bestowed: the Flux. This magical element, or whatever it is, can not only strengthen someone physics, but also increase a person’s cognitive ability of its paroxysm for an extended period of time. A second issue was that they didn’t have Monty himself, but this problem was easily solved by Alice. Her amazing talent allowed her to create her own mimic ability, and after buying a nice suit, the real one was indissociable from her.

Adding that, her amazing acting and producing skills -among everything else- and Marie’s talent for editing, they created something amazing.

It was 9 in the morning, and many people were on their way to work, it was your usual sunny day, but you could feel something in the air, the premise of a revolution will take place this very day.

Many screens where holographically displayed across the city, inside the bus, on the street, in the parks, inside the malls. And something unexpected appeared, all at once, the screen displayed the same image. An old man, sitting on a couch, inside a dark room, leaning forward, with a serious face, looking directly at the camera. The old man didn’t say anything at first, but slowly, you could hear a music elevating from the background. The epic music was getting louder and louder, surprisingly filling the atmosphere of the streets. That’s when he started talking.

“I believe in Lucropolis. I love this city. I was born here, and I will die here.”

The screen switched to slow motion captures: generic people smiling, a high angle of the main street, a policeman patrolling and saluting another citizen.

"We have everything we could hope for: stability, security, health and freedom…"

He paused himself.

“Do we?”

The image got darker, and displayed flashed image of suspicious behaviour: someone getting dragged out of sight, a person speaking in front of a crowd -known for mysteriously disappearing afterwards-, a couple arguing with the guard as they want to go outside the city…

The old resumed his talking, dramatically pausing between each sentence.

“Do you feel free? Do you feel you have the capacity, the power to realize your dream? I don’t. I worked all my life for the truth, but here is what I learned. Something is wrong. Something is hidden from us. The same people, again and again, say that everything is fine. But that is not true.”

The image switched back to Kind, with a serious but nonetheless bright face.

"I remember my grandfather, telling me stories about a place where you could run freely from section to section. A place where you could go in and out, and discovering the wonders of the world. A place where everyone was free, equal, and respected, regardless of their birthplace, or their income."

As he was speaking, image of him as a child, smiling and playing, were fading toward the back of the room.

"So I'll ask you once again, do you feel free? I don't. Can we talk about freedom, when a handful of people control what we see? Can we talk about freedom, when people speaking their mind out loud disappeared? Can we talk about freedom, when you have to wait days, for no reason, simply to leave the city? I think we deserve better than that, I think we deserve the same place my grandfather started his life in. A place governed not by money and lies, but by freedom, and truth. That's why I, Monty L. Kind, is running for The Presidency."

“…”

Alice was in front of me, red of embarrassment.

“Just so you know, I-I wasn’t the one that came up with the lines… okay?”

“I found them pretty good though…”

“I wrote everything! It was absolutely my idea.”

“It was also a bit cliché…”

“Well, Marie wrote most of it…”

“Okay, stop doing that, it’s annoying.”

Alice looked down, even more embarrassed than before. I can't believe a person like her, probably capable of blowing up half the city in one night, is shamed by a simple ad, and she technically doesn't even appear in it.

“I think you did a good job, but was it wise to hack into every screen of the city?”

“Well, technically we didn’t hack anything, we just bribed the good person.”

“You managed to do that?”

“Yeah…”

“In one night?”

“Nah, we started in the afternoon.”

“…”

Those girls are unbelievable… I'm so glad they're my friend, I can't imagine what it would be like to have them as enemies.

"So… why are you so embarrassed about that video. It's not your style too, well, be ashamed of anything."

“Bu-But, so many people were watching! And there’s a second one coming in the evening.”

"Calm down… there-there."

I pated her head. At least, from time to time, she’s just my precious little sister.

W: 1 1ns1st! St0p that!

M: I rea11y hate y0ur typing quirk.

W: D0n’t change the subject.

W: And 1 d0n’t th1nk y0u have any r1ght t0 cr1t1c1ze me, y0u bas1cally have the same!

W: Please, 1’m ser10us.

M: I d0n’t see the pr0b1em, I have s0me free time anyway.

W: Research s0meth1ng else! 0r get s0me sleep!

W: Trust me! There 1s noth1ng t0 ga1n 1n th1s way.

M: Y0u’re saying that because y0u fai1ed.

W: That’s true but…

W: Trust me. Tab00s are t0 be taken ser10usly.

M: I d0n’t care ab0ut y0ur ‘tab00’.

M: I’m n0t b0und by any ru1es.

W: …

W: Y0u are the w0rst r00k1e ever.

M: C0ming fr0m a fai1ure 1ike y0u, I wi11 take that as a c0mp1iment.

W: Y0u kn0w what.

W: D0 what y0u want.

W: Just.

W: D0n't c0me back t0 me when 1t backf1res 0n y0u!

W: Bye!

M: …

M: I kn0w y0u are sti11 here.

W: Please…

W: T1me…

W: 1t’s really n0t s0meth1ng y0u want t0 mess w1th.