Before we trekked down to Abeno-South public train station (different from the 1st Metro train station) and boarded the train going to Taisho (Uptown – Industrial Projects).
Since the local train would go through Sumiyoshi public station and use its railway, we should reach Taisho shopping mall before 3 PM.
Daigo and I didn't talk much on the train.
Soon enough, I was drawn to the TV to see what program was on.
It was the usual 'Gates, Guards, and Government garbage,' but the host did say something that caught me a bit off guard.
"…so the people in and outside the Conquest district have to generate the revenue to stabilize the effect of the Kyoto incident?" the male host asked.
"Firstly, I have to say, the Public Relations Office does not really like or agree with the idea or thinking the general public has pertaining to wards of Japan being divided into numerous non-existing districts. The terms 'Silver, Conquest, and whatever' districts are not terms recognized by the Japanese government, and these imaginary walls created by some political parties and the media only serve to divide the shared goals of this great nation.
It gives people the idea that some people are given special privileges in the eyes of the law, which it isn't in any way true. Every citizen is given equal rights and opportunities, so are they given equal responsibilities to aid our nation; no one is excluded," the guest of the program said with so much seriousness.
"…Including the Guardians, Elite Guards, politicians, and all the top brass that could possibly be exempted?" the host promptly asked, before the guest could continue his statement.
"Every working citizen, including them. That is why the NPA (National Police Agency), the Disaster and Riot Control Task Force (DRCT), and the Enforcer Agency have joined resources under the orders of the Cabinet to make sure every worker, irrespective of age or status, should pay an affordable amount of contribution in order to quickly heal from the sudden blow of the latest Kyoto Gate outbreak. If the backbones of our nation are doing everything in their power to make sure that more people don't suffer or die, why should we all be so absent-minded and start using provoking terms and shifting responsibilities?" the guest said in a loud and disapproving tone.
"Are you seein' this damn garbage?" I said, tapping Daigo's shoulder without taking my eyes off the TV screen.
"I see it, what a load of shit," Daigo responded, with his eyes now glued to the program.
"I think I speak for most viewers watching this program right now that the government and Guardians' works are truly appreciated, and if they are putting this much effort into preventing the escalation of the damage on Kyoto, we won't resist and will try to help in any little way we can. But that doesn't just take out the fact that many of us cannot afford a contribution," the host said softly.
"That is why the contribution will not be a fixed amount; it will depend on the income of every individual. That is also why government officials have been sent all over the country to every place of business to help determine the financial strength of each individual and render a decent suggestion on how much they can contribute without causing any discomfort," the guest said, making many hand gestures as he talked.
"I think the government has pulled through excellently on this matter, because we need a quick and effective solution," he said, ending his lengthy statement.
"It is very reassuring that something is being done about this particular issue…" The host's words were fading out of my ears, as I turned to Daigo and spoke with a worried tone, "I don't believe this is a small matter. What do you think all this means?"
"I think it means trouble is about to hit the fan," Daigo said, slowly and repeatedly nodding his head.
Daigo and I moved our gaze from the TV, with worried expressions on both our faces, because we could guess what all that talk about contribution was about, and it did not sit well with us.
The train made several stops, and the train began to get filled up gradually while we were a bit lost in thoughts and emotional turmoil.
After a particular stop, I saw a familiar face entering the train as he chatted with two other kids that seemed to be his friends.
It was the guy that played games on his smartphone and sat beside me often.
As soon as he noticed my gaze, he froze for a bit, before his friends snapped him out of it by calling his name and telling him to follow them to occupy the seat opposite mine.
He normally boarded the train when it got to Nishinari 3rd Terminal, but he was somehow here in East-Suminoe.
They all sat down opposite us and continued chatting.
But the kid still kept an eye on me as I continued to stare at him.
I was still seeing those numbers and writing in my line of sight, and I couldn't help but find similarity between them and some of the things I had seen when this guy played games.
Before I knew it, he and his friends had talked themselves into playing a game, and I just sat there for some seconds, wondering if I should just ask this guy some questions in order to help me make sense of what I was seeing.
After about three minutes of staring at him, I stood up and walked up to his friend that sat on his right side.
The kid slowly moved his head up from the screen of his phone and looked up to find me looking down on him.
"Can I sit?" I asked softly, as I pointed to where I previously sat.
The kid just stared at me for some seconds, almost like he froze, before nodding his head and scooting a bit for me to sit.
As I sat down, I found Daigo looking at me with a weird expression on his face.
But I ignored his stare and looked at the game the kid was playing.
"What kind of game is that?" I initiated a conversation with the kid, so that I could ask what I really wanted to ask him without him behaving weird.
"The name of the game is War-front. It is a strategic/fantasy MMORPG that uses your tribe and allows you to build and upgrade your army and artilleries in order to fight other tribes," the kid said all that softly with a tone that made it look like he had little to no interest in the game.
But he could just be sounding that way because he didn't want to talk to me.
"Hmm," I responded and nodded, with a straight face like I understood what he just said.
But I could not even operate his phone if he gave it to me, much less understand what this game was based on his explanation.
"So what are all these numbers?" I asked another question as my eyes caught something familiar, pointing to a set of numbers arranged at the top left of his phone's cracked screen.
The characters and numbers were very similar to characters in my field of vision that only I could see.
"Those are… (sneeze) the money I spent to upgrade things in my village…" The kid paused and looked at me for the first time.
"Okay, what things do you upgrade?" I asked him, which seemed to surprise the kid a bit.
His friend on his left side soon stopped what he was doing and focused on the conversation between the kid and me.
"I use Elixirs to train and upgrade my troops…" He replied, pointing to some little people that moved around in his phone.
"Gold coins to upgrade my building and defense, Silver coins to upgrade my potion, and Gems to quickly buy and upgrade anything without waiting… Sorry, why are you asking me all this? Do you want to play?" he suddenly asked.
He seemed to think I wanted to play the game on his phone because of all our previous encounters, with me staring at him anytime he played the game on the train.
He wore an expression on his face that said he definitely did not want to give me his phone if that was my plan.
"No, the game seems interesting. I plan on buying a phone like this, with this game on it," I lied.
"This game does not come with every smartphone, and you need access to the internet to…" He started to change the topic, so I quickly stopped him.
"Forget all that. Just explain all the Gold coin and stuff to me before we reach Nishinari," I interrupted him, because I didn't know where he was dropping off.
It was very likely he would drop at Nishinari, since that is where he normally boards this train, and that is also where the train would be searched.
"O-Okay… I currently have four Champions, they are special charac…" The kid was saying, when I interrupted him again.
"What are all these other things?" I asked, pointing to the top right side of his phone, because one of them looked like the side of a gear and was similar to what I currently had in my vision.
"Those are just the settings and menu," he answered with an uninterested tone.
"Can you tell… or show me what they do?" I asked.
"(Gasp)…You can go here to change the settings of the game; you can turn the music off and on, change the layout of the game, change your username, change the language, and many other things. There's a lot of things you can do; I can't explain everything," the kid said, as he tapped some things in the 'settings' and showing me the effects.
"You said you upgrade your troops with Elixirs, how?" I asked, which prompted him to leave the settings to the normal layout of the game where tiny people walked around in a weird-looking 'village' (that was what he called it), doing different activities.
"I will just tap on the army barrack," he explained, tapping on a particular tiny red building.
"And I have like 20 characters like dwarfs, elves, rock-goblins, zipper-spines, Spartans, and so on," he explained, as he scrolled through a row of the pictures of 'characters.'
But what caught my attention were the words and the quick glimpse of 'characters' like zipper-spines and Spartans.
"Can I see this zipper-spine?" I asked, and he complied.
To my surprise, it was a poor imitation of the actual creature—basically an animated image of a creature with purple skin and blue eyes.
It looked more like a healthy dog, not like the actual monstrosity.
The spine of this 'Zipper-spine' here was outside its body and had fur at the top of its neck.
But the animated picture was no way scary at all; it was like a funny, silly-looking version of a Zipper-spine.
"That is not what a Zipper-spine looks like," I said in a very low tone, almost like a whisper.
The kid couldn't hear, so he said, "What?"
I shook my head and responded, "Nothing…How do you upgrade it?"
"Well, you just tap on the picture, and you will see how much Elixir you need to take it to the next level," he said as he tapped on the 'Zipper-spine' picture and pointed to the amount under it.
It said '120,000 Elixirs.'
I was taken aback and almost couldn't stop myself from asking a foolish question like 'Can you withdraw that shit in real life?'
It is a game, and everything in it is just for the sake of it.
I continued to ask the kid questions, and he continued to answer.
Before I knew it, more than 40 minutes had passed, and we had just arrived at Nishinari 3rd Terminal Train Station, but things were different.
As the kid and I still discussed about his game—War-front, and how to play it, I felt the atmosphere outside the train was a bit intense.
Then an announcement came in, telling all the passengers to sit down and obey the instructions given by the DRCT Officers and the Enforcers.
I raised my head and looked through the window in front of me, noticing some people in brown uniform with bullet-proof vests emblazoned with the initials 'DRCT' and other protective gear, carrying semi-automatic guns.
I then instinctively looked back at the window behind me and could clearly see some of them standing side by side like bodyguards.
There was a neat row of these officers on each side of the train.
I could also see a pile of dead bodies of about three people in a corner, and based on their dressing, they were from the slums.
I stood up from where I sat and told the boy that I had told to sit near Daigo to take back his seat.
I sat down and looked at Daigo's face, but he was looking outside the window to understand the situation a bit better.
"It seems we can either contribute or die," I whispered to him, which made him turn and look at me with a stoic expression, then nod.
Soon I could hear some ruckus in the railcar ahead of ours.
I stood up to see what was happening through the door window.
I could see two Enforcers, and the Enforcer with a larger stature used the butt of his gun to smack the face of a girl, who was definitely from the slum, making her immediately drop.
Then I quickly noticed the Enforcer's partner suddenly looking in my direction.
I immediately fell back to my seat and kept my head down.
After some minutes, the two Enforcers entered our railcar.
The Enforcer with the larger stature had the serial number 'CA-1-19-19-0' written on the right side of his chest, and the other Enforcer, who seemed to be a woman because of her smaller stature, had the serial number 'JF-13-13-2-2'.
They started from the people closest to the door and worked their way down.
When they got to where I sat, the female Enforcer asked, "Who stood up here?"
"I did," I immediately answered softly.
She didn't react or respond back to me in any way.
Instead, it was the other Enforcer that reacted to what I said, while she just stood there saying nothing.
"Weren't you told to sit down? Do you want me to put two in your body?" Enforcer 'CA-1-19-19-0' said with a vexed tone, as he pointed the gun at me.
I immediately noticed that Daigo wanted to speak up for me, but I placed my hand on top of his own, a signal for him to calm down.
"I'm sorry," I said with the most apologetic tone I could muster.
"Don't apologize to me. Where are your IDs?" he said, still vexed.
Then he yelled at the top of his lungs to everyone in this railcar, "Don't let me get to you before you show me your ID!"
Daigo and I showed him ours.
As expected, mine drew his attention.
"Yours has expired," he said to me, tossing Daigo's ID into his face.
"I have three more days before it will officially expire," I responded.
"You have three more days…" he said in a very low tone that was barely audible.
Then he turned around like he was about to leave.
But before I knew it, he delivered a front kick to my belly, which caused me to hunch over in pain.
Daigo immediately stood up to do something, but he was knocked down by the Enforcer with the arcane-assault rifle using the butt of the gun before he could fully stand up.
"You punk! Are you trying to be smart with me?!" he yelled as he placed the muzzle of his gun on Daigo's head and continued yelling, "Come on, try something, tough guy!"
Then he removed the safety of his gun.
"Wait!" I yelled, raising my hand up to show I wasn't trying anything inappropriate.
"Why should I wait? I thought you guys were audacious, right?" he asked.
Then he pointed the gun at me and started talking to me, "'I have three days before it will officially expire' (imitating me in a funny voice). I will tell you when it has expired, not you!"
I just sat in silence as he yelled, wrapping my arms around my belly.
"Now I'm going to tell you what to do, you worthless person. You're going to pay up for stressing me out, and if you tell me you don't have it, I will put 'two' in you and your friend's head!" he demanded, moving his gun between me and Daigo.
"Okay, I will pay. I just need to reach for my bag," I slowly pulled off my bag and reached for the money in it.
I grabbed some of it, enough to not make this Enforcer snatch my bag and take everything, or shoot me right in the face for giving him small coins like he was a beggar.
He grabbed the crumpled Yen notes from my hand and looked at it, before saying, "Sit back down, both of you."
He moved away from us and pulled similar stunts on some of the people here.
Almost all the people he assaulted were from the slums; we all dressed alike—dirty and poor in every sense of the word.
After the Enforcers' rough 'search and collect,' the female Enforcer instructed everyone who wanted to exit the train to form a queue facing the railcar door linking to the railcar in front of ours.
The kid and his friends stood up and formed the queue with other passengers too.
Some looked so frightened by what had just happened here that they kept their heads down whenever the Enforcer walked past or looked at them, but some had their head high, not giving a damn.
The Enforcers left our railcar.
After some time, the male Enforcer came back to instruct those in the queue to move to the first railcar to exit the train.
After a while, some people boarded the train, and it started moving.
Daigo and I immediately looked at each other; we were having similar thoughts—to check how much I had given the Enforcer.