What is he doing here…?
"Damn you, boy! Stop you eel like bastard!"
My eyes were stuck on this person now that they had cleared up. And his bald bodyguard was still trying to catch me.
"Shouldn't you be giving a speech in the western end of the city?"
It was just this morning during my break time I was reading about his speech on the development of this city. Did he cancel it or something?
"Why does a bagger like you care about that, damn!"
'What's the matter with this bald bastard?'
He was trying to catch me with his big hands but he was too big and had too many openings.
Dodging his hands was easier than avoiding the wild animals that sometimes invaded some of the construction sites on the outskirts of the city.
I had experience dealing with a leopard and a fucking wolf. There was no way this bear-like bastard who wasn't even a professional getting his hands on me.
"Well, anyway. I don't care about that.
Mister Governor, please take this and return this.
Your daughter threw it away in trash, which was an insult to this gear that cannot be forgiven. However, please disrespect something so precious any further."
Link gears were the techs that allowed one to access the otherworlds, or the virtual worlds that were leading factors of modern day economy.
And the one I was holding, the metallic box with the branding of [Hyperlink XII] was a model only people like this person before me could ever afford since even the normal VR gear from this world-leading tech company cost three thousand times all my current savings.
This thing isn't something I can afford anytime soon. So, I don't want to hold onto it any longer.
This isn't mine.
"You damn…!"
"Stop James."
-Click.
The back door of the car opened up and, the elder person in a lavish green suit, the cleanest and most attractive shoes I had seen recently, walked out with a calm expression on his face.
"But sir!"
"I said stop. Go back in."
"…yes, master."
His deep blue eyes, illuminated by the light of the streetlight, glared down on me as he ordered his driver.
And even as the driver walked back to the driving seat, with an angry look towards me, he still had his eyes locked on me.
"Boy." He called me out with his deep voice.
"Yes." And I looked back straight into his eyes. I had nothing to fear here.
I had done nothing wrong so even if he was the governor of this city, one of the highest authorities maintaining the city's stability, he had no legal right to do anything to me.
"How do you know about the speech?"
"From the articles, of course? They still make magazines and newspapers sir."
"Don't be cocky and answer only what I ask."
"And why should I do that? I am only here to return what is yours. I have no obligation to answer any of your questions.
In the first place, you aren't officially the Governor at this moment.
You are just a citizen traveling in your personal car, your wife's to be precise, with your family driver, who's most definitely new, trying to chase after your daughter who has all right to be upset at your actions. Additionally-"
"A normal bagger wouldn't know all that. Looks like looks are certainly deceiving sometimes."
"I am no bagger, good sir. Someone in your position should at least understand how wrong it is to judge someone from their looks and clothing."
Yes I wore old clothing that was old fashioned as well so it looked like rags. Yes my hands were covered in filthy bandages but that was important for a construction site worker that had to do tough work under a bastard manager. And yes my hair is too long but… I like them long.
It was my choice. And others can think whatever they want of them.
"Hmmm…"
He looked me up and down as if he was scanning me.
Then, after a moment of observation, he took out his own Cyberphone, one much more advanced than what that girl was using, and looked back at me after doing something on it.
"What's your name, boy? And can you please pull back the bangs covering your face?"
"Hmmm? What?"
"Your hair. Pull them back, please."
He was asking politely so I did as he asked and tied my hair back with a rubber band that I usually carry with me, though this sudden request was surprising for me.
-Click.
"H-hey! You can't take my photo without consent! It's against the law!"
"And you know the laws?"
"Who doesn't! It's written in the Constitution article 12 section 6 that anyone-"
"Look, boy. Just the fact that you know words like constitution, articles, and section makes you part of the five percent of this city's population.
Not even my own daughter has read the constitution even though it's part of her curriculum.
And I don't have any worldly idea how she still graduated as the valedictorian of her batch."
He said that while looking straight into my eyes. And I can tell he meant every single word he said.
'Did mom lie to me then…?'
I have read an unknown number of books throughout my life.
Reading itself was now a part of my way of living thanks to all that I have read since earliest memories of my past.
And thanks to my damned photographic memory, I remember most of those useless things to this day.
'But, until today, I really had no idea no one reads the constitution.'
Like, isn't it the most basic thing every citizen should know about?
"Anyway… looks like you really Are a registered citizen, mister Ray Anne with no last name. You have quite a good record with your works at construction sites, Sewer cleaning, and other kinds of cleaning jobs. That much explains that healthy physique of yours.
However, it looks like you have quite a record with the police department as well. So, also you have a habit of getting yourself in troublesome situations hun?"
Not only did he figure out my name with just that one photo, but he was also perhaps holding my entire data login in his hands now.
He sure was a fearsome guy… not just anyone had the power to get records of peasants like me in such a short time.
"Yes, and whatever.
Mother asked me to come back early and I intend to do that at least today.
Please just take this, mister. And let me go finally."
I only came out for a walk but much of my time was wasted.
I still had to go on to my night work after a few hours of shut-eye.
"Hmmm. Reading these strange reports made me curious but, putting that aside, can I know why someone like you, who knows the value of this item, has run all the way here instead of taking it for yourself?"
Now why is he curious about me?
I don't want this person to be curious about me.
At least not him… it will cause more problems this way.
"Haaa… this is not mine, mister. And I cannot have what is not mine. It's not right."
"Not even after I said I don't want it? Why not just take it as a gift?"
"Come on mister. Nothing in this world is a 'gift'. It's all an exchange of resources and connections.
I am in no position to pay back someone for any kind of gift, and accepting pity would be the last thing I will do."
I gave him a faint smile and held the metallic box before him.
"This isn't mine. I cannot have it. It's just that simple.
And even if you don't want it, as someone who knows the value of this one [MAK-12], I can never possibly let it stay in a pile of garbage.
It belongs to the top floors of those hundred-story tall buildings, and it should stay there if it has not found its rightful master that has paid for what it is worth."
I had read somewhere there were only thirty or so of these in this city, so if one was to stay in a pile of garbage, there was a good possibility it would be taken to a dump yard along with that garbage and turned into an actual garbage by those who did not know the worth of this thing.
Someone like me who had longed for VR gear like this one could never see that happening.
I, personally, could never forgive myself if this precious thing is damaged in any way when I could have prevented it from happening.
"Hmmm… interesting."
The only reason I was here before him was to return this back to him so that he could return it to the place it belonged, but, instead of doing that and going back after his daughter… he was looking at me with a smirk now.
"You don't want this since this isn't yours but you would run after a car just to request me to return this. That's quite some pride, boy."
"Sir, if you can see the pride in my actions, I believe you should have known the pride your daughter had as well.
You know she wanted to come back when you personally came to get her, but then you had to give her this 'token' of your apology and ruin everything.
It might not have been a mistake on your part that you took her to that gathering, however, it was a grave mistake to underestimate the attachment a prideful person has with the things they cherish."
It wasn't my place to tell him these obvious things, he was someone that was more than capable enough to know the human heart and mind.
That's what had allowed him to reach the position he was at.
He was smart, but perhaps his own attachment to his daughter obstructed his ability to see the obvious.
"I see…"
He seemed to have realized his mistake. Which was good.
"Alright then, here. Take this and let me go already. It was nice meeting you but I have to go to work soon."
"That's right."
He was perhaps lost in his thoughts, but just when I said those things, he focused his eyes back on me.
"You told you the value of this technology, and from how much I have observed, I can tell what you're doing right now isn't everything you want to do with your life.
Then, why haven't you bought a link gear yet? Why not start doing what you really want?"
"You have already read my data logs and you are still asking that obvious question? You do know how broke I-"
"Ah, no no. Don't misunderstand.
I already know the kind of character you have, the situation with your mother, and your conflicts with yourself.
However, I just want to know the reason you have not bought one secondhand. Make some money, and then buy a proper one?"
He was being overly chatty for someone people called a 'person of few words' all around the media.
Well, there was no need to answer his obvious questions anyway.
"Sir…"
I looked back into his eyes, calmly.
"Just like this piece isn't mine, I don't want to have what is not mine.
I might share what is mine, but I don't think it is possible for me to possess or use something that is not mine."
My mother taught me three things that were part of my being now: 1) Lying only brings downfall. 2) Though nothing belongs to anyone, what is yours in this moment, is yours. 3) If you have no need for something, anything that is yours, share it with those who do need it.
I am broke and I don't have much, but I at least try to stay true to my values. That's what makes me a good person, at least in her eyes.
"Hahahaha."
The governor before me started laughing out of nowhere and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Ray Anne. You are quite a funny character, boy~."
There was a unique kind of light in his eyes now… I don't like where this is going.