The Current polls

39.0% - Almond M. Chaveil

19.9% - Hanna H. Tolcin

15.7% - Monty L. Kind

13.3% - Joy L. Nicam

12.1% - Ronald K. Dolan

As expected, Chaveil was taken aback by my comment. I actually counted on that, I have to maintain my image. Especially to him.

The girls searched for information about every candidate, and while they found a fair amount of scandals on the 3 others, this one was an enigma. He's at least 80 years old, but look in his thirty. I said at least because there's actually a chance he's way older than that. Even Marie couldn't find a reliable source for that information. Moreover, it's like this guy had always been in politics, he's the embodiment of the status quo the city has suffered for the last few decades, even though it's the first time he's running for The Presidency.

Unfortunately, this guy was also white clean, there was no trace of any misconduct over his long career. Which was impressive and suspicious at the same time, but the reason why Samsy was really aware of him was his reaction during the debate. The other candidate were all taken by surprise each time Monty was saying something, but Chaveil… he managed to keep a straight face through everything. It was as if he knew Monty's point beforehand, and he was actually the only one with decent responses.

The girls weren't aware of this meeting between me and probably our biggest threat in this race, for one simple reason. They would have wanted to corrupt or kill him. I know we are technically cheating right now, but that's not a reason to make it worse.

Anyway, here I am, in front of the most important politician in the city, trying to appear as a mysterious powerful man in the shadow, backing Monty. Well, the last point is true at least.

"…So the rumour was true. You are truly a mysterious man, Mr…?"

"Sacre, you can call me Mr. Sacre. And I didn't know there were rumours about me."

“Don’t be ridiculous, you perfectly knew it. Like you knew I would try to approach you.”

“You are giving me too much credit.”

“I suppose you, at least, are aware of the reason I am approaching you.”

“You are afraid of Mr. Kind.”

“Afraid of him? Not really, he is just an old idealist. What I am worried about is you.”

“I will cut the discussion short then, I won’t withdraw or join your side. Mr. Kind will win the election, and I don’t think you can do anything about it.”

Almond Chaveil frowned his eyebrow, as expected he was bothered by my direct answer. But, there was something else, there was another emotion on his face I had a hard time to read… anger? Sadness? Frustration?

"I am in this game for longer than you can imagine, and if you think a shady stranger helping a delusional old man will scare me, then you are more foolish than Kind."

“We will take on your challenge.”

A staring contest followed our exchange, but Chaveil cut it short and headed back to the bank he was probably going to in the first place, but after a few step, he stopped.

“You seems to be an intelligent man, Mr. Sacre. This election, it means more than you can imagine.”

I didn't respond. It was quite ironic, as I could have said the exact same thing to him.

And the win streak continued. Monty was unstoppable, each time he appeared on TV, he would gain a point in the polls the next morning. A week before he was unknown, but now there is no one in the city who haven’t heard about him.

Days continued to pass, and as they entered the last month of the race, Monty passed the 20% mark, and was now just behind Chaveil. Things were advancing smoothly, the girls were pretty happy about it... but something was off.

Samsy was uneasy about this whole situation. A few days after his meeting with Chaveil, he accidentally confirmed his new ability. Apparently, the class of Seer was deeper than having a foresight power, now he could also watch sceneries from the past.

The second time happened once again when he was accompanied by Monty, and, similarly than what he saw at the apartment, it was a vision of the old man arguing with someone on the phone.

Samsy is not the smartest guy, especially compared to most of his friend, but it doesn't take too much to figure out that these rewind vision were linked to his ever serious attitude and diligence. Something must have happened in his past, there is a reason why he fought against the overwhelming odds.

Our hero wasn't that much disturbed by this news, as his own past wasn't bright, but it did pose a major problem: he would never frame the old man after the election, and even Sam himself started to worry about it.

“Hey!”

“Hum?”

“Are you okay? You’ve been spacing out for a while now…”

“Oh… sorry.”

It was only me and Marie in the hotel room, Alice was out, for a spy mission or… whatever. Sigh… I can’t get those vision out of my head.

“Can I have your book?”

“What? Why do you want my book?”

“I think I’ve made a breakthrough with the chat system, but I need to intervene on each device I want to link.”

“Okay…”

I handed my Quest book to her and she put a sort of chips on the back.

“Will we be able to chat with one another now?”

“Not yet, I’m still working on the software-like part, but even if I finish it after we’re done with this struggle, we’ll be able to chat! Just the two of us for now, I’ll get the other a chip when I’ll meet with them.”

“Oh yeah… the end of the struggle.”

"Is there a problem? I thought everything was going well."

“It is…”

“Oh no… shit, I knew it!”

“What?”

"You won't impeached Monty."

“I didn’t say that!”

“Will you do it?”

“…no.”

"Sigh… I guess it was to be expected. You do know we will be stuck here if we don't do something, right?"

"I… I know, but, I mean, he really is a nice guy! He is fighting for the right cause!"

Now that I think about it, I should visit the outer ring, to see if it is as bad as it sounds from Monty’s speeches.

“Okay…”

“What?”

“I said okay. We will find a way to make you president without framing Monty.”

“Really? That would be great.”

“Truth to be told, we knew it would come down to something like that anyway.”

“Come down to what?”

Alice just entered the room.

“Hey Sis’.”

"Really? 'Come down to what'? I know you can hear us from the other end of the corridor."

“Geez! I wanted to make a normal entrance, for once. And Sam, how many time should I tell you I’m not your sister!”

"Which one is true? Are you two brother and sister? Because Samsy never brought it up that it could be false…"

“Well…”

I don’t really know how to explain this. I don’t want her to react like Nami. I know the facts are against me but…

“We grew up in the same house, and we are not related by blood.”

“Well, technically, there is a chance she’s my biological half-sister…”

"The man has run away Sam, and my Mom assured me he wasn't my father."

“So… if I sum things up… Sam has friendzoned you to the sister level.”

“You fucking…!”

Alice jumped, performing an exaggerated flying kick, and Marie parried it with her cyber arm while laughing. It reminds me of the first day we arrived here. I’m glad we made progress thought, now they can fight without actually wanting to kill each other, so that’s an improvement… I guess.

Shit! Alice passed through the window!

“Girls! Stop breaking things!”

Half an hour and a fake scolding later, Alice and Marie were, once again, alone in the room. Sam had to lead Monty to a ‘coincidental’ public appearance in the evening.

“So… do we have something?”

“No… this guy was invisible to anyone for decades, it’s like he didn’t even exist before this run. I think we’ll have to use the plan B.”

"Damn, Samsy would have already been unable to perform the plan A."

“Yeah… by the way, nice job changing the topic when I arrived.”

"Maybe it's a surprise to you, but I don't like to lie, especially to Samsy. Plus, I was kinda interested in the topic."

“…”

“Alice… you do like Sam, right?”

The blood haired girl diverted her eyes. She wasn't denying anything, but this was the only things about her she was embarrassed, it was like her only known weakness.

“Why… why is he so important to you?”

“Ha…ha ha ha.”

Alice started to laugh, she wasn’t mocking Marie, it was a genuine laugh of surprise.

“What do you care so much about Prometheus?”

Marie froze. Apparently, the bullseye was hit with those words.

"Don't think because I wasn't 24/7 with you guys I don't know anything. Listen, maybe it's because we have been forced to spend so much time together lately, but I find your presence tolerable. We are not that different, in fact, I'm a bit surprised you two are only friends."

“… You don’t know that.”

"I can detect lies, remember? Are you sure you want to risk it?"

"Sigh... you are right, there is nothing between us. But it is more complicated than you think."

The conversation turned into an awkward silence, the two girls were staring at each other eyes, intensely. It's not like they were judging the other, it was a contest about who will ask the obvious question. After a few intense seconds, Marie gave in.

“What happened to you there?”

"Haha, I'll quote Samsy on that - he told me that when I asked about his girlfriend. ‘This is not a competition, and I think you, of all people, shouldn't ask too much about what happened back then, so shut up.'"

“He said that?”

"Yeah, from time to time he can be a bit harsh. But I trusted him back then, and I still do today."

“I do too… You know he will hate us if we do the plan B.”

“I know.”

“Another victory for you, Mr. Kind.”

“It was just an interview, nothing much.”

“The path to success is paved with little stone like this one.”

“As long as you keep me on track, you can make all the metaphor you want.”

I am actually trying to imitate Nami, without the unnecessary long words she uses of course, and apparently, I’m doing a pretty good job.

Me and Monty were walking back to his apartment. It was late in the evening, and the sun was about to pass the horizon.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow Mr. Kind. And again, congratulation for today.”

"Wait..."

“Hum? Do you want to ask me something?”

"Well… I know I'm not allowed to know about you, but I've done some thinking. I came to the conclusion that I should tell you..."

“Mr. Kind… I really don’t need to know this kind of things. What I care about is your will to fight.”

“It’s not for you. It’s for me. I think I’ve kept it all to me long enough.”

I looked at my watch. If I remember correctly, the girls were still fighting when I left, and there is a high chance they'll be still at it when I come back. Also, I am interested in what he has to say, I am just afraid it will damage the image I have of him as an uncorrupted and pure-intended man…

“Sigh… I guess I have time for a cup of tea.”