Final Results

83.9% - Samsy S. Sacre

7.1% - Almond M. Chaveil

4.3% - Lora H. Tolcin

3.0% - Joy L. Nicam

1.7% - Ronald K. Dola

This was way easier than expected. I thought there would be trouble with some dark group or something. Well, there was, but with just a visit of Alice, they got quite complacent.

I was prepared to revolt, like, building an army with the people in the outer circle and smash the inner one. I didn’t want to, as it would have probably lead to many casualties and confusion, but I was seriously considering it, and it was my leverage for blackmailing Chaveil. I think the girls wouldn’t have approved, but that wasn’t really a problem to me.

And talking about Chaveil, this shit went way faster than what I could ever predict. His ECA -or whatever this was- allowing the outer circle people to vote passed less than 48 hours later, and thanks to the Kingdom and Crazy Apes help, almost everyone was registered within a week. That’s why, even though I didn’t run any add or made any public appearance for almost a month, I got elected with an overwhelming majority.

Considering that the outer circle contains more than 80% of the population and that within what’s left not even half go to vote, it was quite the easy victory. Not to boast too much, anybody could have done it, despite what Alice and Marie are saying.

I’m still not sure why Chaveil helped me so willingly, it was as if he planned to go on my side from the beginning. My theory would be that he wanted to follow the same ideal as Mark and Monty about equality between circles, but got trapped into political schemes, then, seeing that Monty was trying the same thing, he put him away for safety measure, waiting for the right opportunity to make him rise. I think it’s pretty plausible, but the girls laughed at me when I explained it to them.

Anyway, he helped us and that's what matters the most right now.

The election has been won, and the objective is finally completed. It was actually the longest one so far, and even though it wasn’t physically as challenging as the other ones -like, there is Kunan… and I still haven’t forgotten you Nathyn!- it’s the first time I realized that the place we are in is not just a scene for us to thrive. There are real life and people that are affected by our action.

Lucropolys has a real history, it existed before we arrived and will continue after we will depart. I kind of knew that from the beginning, but it wasn't really clear. I'm a bit relieved to be more certain now, because at least I know Lara… wait no, Laura, still exist. I wonder how she's doing by the way…

Same for all the other. Hey, maybe Nathalie started going out with Nathyn, that would be pretty hilarious. And Lilith… well, I’m sure she is fine.

I still don't fully grasp how this quest works, but the deeper we dive in, the more I feel like we were meant to be there. Not like destiny or something like that, more like, without us, everything would fall apart…

“One last time, are you sure?”

I was on the roof of a random building, contemplating the two magic doors standing by themselves in front of us.

It must be pretty ironic to think about one own importance while, at the same time, leaving people behind without a word.

(S)“Yes, I am. They’ll be fine without us.”

(M)“I am fine with it, but I never thought you would leave everything as soon as the results were out…”

(S)“The point is that the Outer Voters Act as been adopted, and it’ll be effective at least until the next election, so they’ll be fine even if I leave now.”

(A)“Haha, it’s more like you’re scared of spending more than a day being the head of this city.”

(M)“I also think this journalist… what was her name… Monica! She was quite into you…”

(A)“Oh, and there’s Lara too! You’ve been quite evasive about what you ‘told’ her that night.”

(S)“Are we doing that again? Okay, I don’t want to be The President, I already told you that, and nothing happened between me and Lara!”

(M)“And what about Monica?”

(S)“N-Nothing happened…”

(A)“Hahaha!”

Why is Alice laughing? Holy shit, she stole my book!

(S) “Give it back!”

(A) "Valentine has some pretty good insight on what happened!"

(M) “Show me! Show me!”

(S) “Noooooooo!”

“You are really a devil…”

“What? This is fun!”

"I wonder what your pupils are thinking of you… and it's not like he purposely did anything weird."

"Yeah yeah. I don't really care, it's just too fun to tease him, and those chicks are totally with me."

"I am quite ashamed for Marie on that. I had higher expectations for my first Chastity pupil."

“True that there more boring usually.”

“I thought you were quite friendly with Clar, though.”

"True, but she's pretty boring when it comes to that."

“What are you two talking about?”

A short guy with goofy brown hair and a huge pair of round glasses has apparently been attracted by Valentine and William discussion. He was wearing his usual thick pullover, even though it wasn’t cold in the room.

(V)“Quentin? What are you doing here?”

(Q)"My pupils are blocked on here 12th struggle, so it's getting a bit boring. And last time I came here it was, well, interesting. Did your pupil scored again Val?"

(V)“Well…”

(W)"No, he didn't. Val is only teasing him and joking with Sam's sister."

(Q)"Too bad, at least they seem to have finished their struggle. Harue will finally have some company.”

(V)“What? She’s waiting for them?”

(Q)"Yes, she has a cross-struggle with Sam. High school stuff."

(V)“Oh! He’s going to High school again! The last time was great! Hope there’ll be other crazy shenanigans like last time.”

(Q)"For now it's calm, but there is some promising troublemaker. Oh, and Haru almost hooked up already!"

(V)“Pffff,’almost’? Your newbie is really a child…”

The discussion was getting lively, and as he didn’t feel really concerned about it, William isolated himself a bit and went to Clarence desk, as she was the closest, right behind them.

She was dozing off, as usual, in front of her screen. You could never really tell if she's watching something interesting or not, because her reactions are often opposite to the context. Once, she was hyper-excited about a guy who found a pillow -true story- and another time she yawned watching the same guy getting his arm chopped off by one of his own ‘friend' -to be fair, it happens more often than you would think. Anyway, as his pupil was about to change struggle, William wanted to see at what point the others were.

“Hey Clar, how Naomi is going?”

“Pretty good, I guess. She is with… what is his name again? The black guy wearing only white clothe…”

“Prometheus. But they called him Prom.”

“You really have a good memory Wallim!”

“Yeah… sure. What are they doing?”

“Searching for a treasure or something. At one point she was stabbed in the heart but Pomme healed her.”

“What?! In the heart? You’re supposed to die from that.”

"Dunno, Pomme is good I guess. Oh, look! They found a sea shell!"

And she was lively again.

‘Sometimes I really wonder how her brain function…’

Anyway, as she was distracted by ‘the amazing discovery’, William sneak out again, back to Val and Quentin discussion.

"And there is this guy, I really think he's gay, but he kept… oh! Will, you're back!"

“I knew you missed me.”

Will knew despite her sarcasm, she was relieved he came back. Conversing with Quentin was fun at first, but quickly you understand that…

"I was getting to the point where Haru befriended the popular guy of her class, at first I really thought she was shy, I mean, hardcore shy, like, no, more like introvert. Anyway, she proved me wrong, at least here. It was like in her previous struggle, where she created a quadrupled layer illusion on a…"

He just can’t…

"… dog, it was just a training, sort of, and it kind of happened as an accident, well, it's complicated, but it was impressive, I mean, could you imagine? A 4th illusion! Only on the 11th stage. At that time I was still…”

…stop…

“…struggling with, haha, I didn’t intended the pun, pretty funny though, anyway, oh yeah the point is that she’s pretty strong, not like you were weak at that time, in fact I don’t really know ‘cause you all came before me, but if I were to guess I think…”

…talking!

“…I would say Gwen was the strongest. In fact, Jules told me he was kind of weak and that even though your strong know you had sort of a power jump late in your quest Val. And Will you’re more a builder type so it’s hard to…”

The funny thing is that, when talking like that, he doesn’t seem to have a need to breathe anymore.

In the end, seeing that even when William was here it didn't stop him from expulsing sound from his oral cavity, Valentine snapped.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Fortunately, William was more diplomat.

“Yeah, please, shut the fuck up.”

More or less…

“Sigh… you didn’t have to take it personally…”

And he, finally, went away.

“Holy shit! This guy drives me crazy, and I always forget about it!”

“Not like you talk to him often anyway. Great! They passed the doors.”

“Already? Damn, I wasn’t looking.”

“Shit! She arrived in a workshop, she’s gonna be such a pain in the ass!”

“Haha, she’ll stay there for ages! Hope she’ll mess the system up.”

“She might… what about yours?”

“Well… I think four-eyes will have to wait a bit more, that or they build the school underground. Like... I don't even know... is that a cave?”