Decades later
An alarm clock is ringing loudly, the whole room is echoing from the sound of the clock. Tails gets out of bed and turns it off. He is in a messy-looking room, inside there was a run-down bed and a large desk for work.
The desk was in the worst state, there were books everywhere, notes and 4 used coffee mugs. Dust covered every inch of the room.
“God I need to clean this place up” Tails muttered to himself.
He slowly walked out of the room and turned on the stove for some coffee. The kitchen sink was overflowing with dirty dishes. While he was waiting for the water to boil, he went to brush his teeth in the bathroom. It was around 6 am and Tails was listlessly going through his morning routine. He was doing his business in the bathroom and the toilet failed to work, soon after water started rising and a complete mess was made in the bathroom.
“Ugh again with this”
He walked slowly out of the bathroom without feeling a hint of panic. He walked up to his roommates’ door.
“C’mon wake up!” said Tails to the door while knocking.
“Let me sleep a little more,” said the voice from inside the closed room.
“You need to get up right now the toilet broke again”
“Again? Il be up in a second!”
Out of the room emerged Sonic. He was holding a toolkit and went straight to the bathroom.
“While you fix the bathroom I will make us both breakfast,” said Tails.
If you were to observe Sonic’s work in the bathroom he looked like a true professional, as if he was fixing a toilet for the millionth time. Even though the mess the toilet made was huge, Sonic was able to quickly clean up the mess and get the toilet in working order.
Once he was finished he joined Tails in the living room, on the living room table breakfast and coffee was waiting for him. Sonic got comfy on the couch grabbed his plate and started to eat.
Tails turned on the TV and they watched the show ‘Good morning Tokyo’. They quietly listened to the reporter talk about the weather forecast and ate their breakfast.
Once their plate was empty both of them lit cigars and drank their coffee. The program went through the local news and moved on to the guest interview.
“Joining us in the studio is the mayor of the Kowareta Yume ward of Tokyo (*wards are municipalities*),”
“Hey it’s the mayor of our area!” Sonic said with a little bit of excitement
“Why are you happy that guy sucks,” Tails said.
“I just heard the name of our ward”
“This guy right here” Tails pointed at the TV screen with a cigar in his hand, “has been the undefeated mayor of the Kowareta Yume ward for over 30 years”
“I don’t remember asking, you know I don’t care about politics”
“Well listen this is important, this guy has all the power to do what he wants and he still hasn’t fixed this ward’s biggest problem, the fucking sewer system. Every other morning the toilet breaks, not just here but everywhere in this ward, the sewer system is just badly made and needs a change” Tails started flailing his arms in anger
“I know, I fix it every time”
“I am not done! Not only that, we are every single year the number one worst ward in all of Tokyo and the worst municipality to live in Japan. We have the dirtiest streets, the most corrupt officials, and the worst traffic planning I mean I can go on for hours, and this guy still landslides every election!” Tails’ voice started to rise
“Don’t complain too much, it’s cheap to live here”
“How can you be so nonchalant about this, do you wanna keep fixing the toilet every time it brakes?!”
“It’s a good enough reason for you to keep me around” Sonic winked trying to sound playful
“I am asking you seriously”
Sonic shrugged “It is what it is, nothin’ I can do to change it”
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“That’s why things are terrible here. Because of that attitude, you and the rest of this ward has, this guy will remain mayor!”
“Look we have this conversation” Sonic paused to think for a second, “I think every single election season or whenever this guy gets brought up”
“I am gonna keep bringing this up!!!” Tails finished his cigarette, angrily put it out and lit a new one
“You can keep talking about it as much as you want, things won’t change around this part of town and I’m not changing my opinion on that. Some other guy will be the new mayor and things will stay the same so that’s why I will never vote”
“It’s your civic duty to participate in your democracy and change can only happen if we hold our public officials accountable,” Tails said with great determination.
“Okay college boy whatever you say,” Sonic said in a cheeky tone
“Don’t college boy me!” Tails groaned, “You will never change and neither will this part of Tokyo.”
“There you go, so you agree things will never change” Sonic sounded proud feeling like he won the argument.
“You are missing the point!” Tails was losing his patience, “If you keep thinking that nothing will change then nothing will truly change. Change is something you need to believe in!”
“Didn’t know you believe in the law of attraction”
“You’re purposefully derailing the conversation. The point is to vote when this guy is up for election, that’s how you hold the system accountable!”
“I just don’t care about politics”
Tails gave up on pushing on this further. He had lost count of how many times they had this talk and it always goes nowhere both of them set in their ways of thinking. Tails always holds out hope at the start of every conversation that this time he will be able to make Sonic change his mind but it always hits a dead end. Sonic is firm in his apolitical mindset.
“When are you going to do the dishes” Tails turned around sitting on the couch and looked at the kitchen sink full of dirty dishes, “It’s your turn”
“I'll do it tonight”
“You said that yesterday”
“Okay I will REALLY do it tonight”
Tails looked at the clock and said to Sonic “We still have time, so do it now!”
“Somebody woke up cranky today” Sonic rolled his eyes.
“Just do the dishes!”
Sonic raised his arms gesturing a surrender but kept a kind of cheeky smile on his face. He had been holding that smile since they started arguing. Sonic put out his cigar in the ashtray, picked up the plates they used for breakfast and then went to the kitchen to wash the dishes that have been piling up. Tails stayed in the living room watching the morning program and listened to the mayor being interviewed.
“I tell ya lady we are going into this year with the greatest growth of jobs in the history of Japan in this ward,” the mayor was saying to the reporter lady interviewing him in the studio. “Let me tell you something you are not gonna believe like we have let me tell ya it’s the best years in… um since the boom years of the 1980s I tell ya it’s the best jobs, the best economy, best living standards I tell ya. I heard the other day from a member of the opposition somethin’ about not doing anything for this ward I tell him and I tell ya too in this studio now in case he is watching. When I became mayor I transformed this place into the 21st century, what have you done Mr. you know who you are I am not naming him. It's crooks like you who steal and poison this country that I will continue to fight against LONG LIVE JAPAN!” As he finished his last sentence, he smacked the table with his fist.
Tails was even more pissed than he was arguing with Sonic and started shouting at the TV, “Go back to the trash can you crawled out of you old fossil!” Sonic chuckled listening to Tails passionately fight with the TV.
“But sir you haven’t answered the question,” the reporter lady said to the mayor. “What are you going to do about the sewer system? According to polling data, this is the number one problem people have living in the Kowareta Yume. The second is no public transportation and the third place is the trash in the streets. Citizens have been petitioning the local government for-“
“Let me tell ya, people need to hear this. Back in 1986. Do you know what the communists planned to do to me?” the mayor had a posture of almost challenging the reporter to a fight.
“I don’t see how this is relevant to the question”
“This very important let me tell ya and the people need to know. Every time the communists threatened our great country I was there on the other side to oppose them”
“Sir I have to stop you, we are going way off topic”
“Back then you had these agents from Mexico, MEXICO CITY to be precise, here in this country and nobody was talking about this except me. They said I was a crazy person but look at where are now. So tell me am I a bad mayor, NO! Was I supposed to be the postman like they were saying?”
“What are you even talking about,” The reporter lady was dumbfounded by this point.
“Don’t YOU or the commies or this communist television station funded by those same agents from MEXICO CITY tell me how to run this town! Don’t tell me what it means to be a postman or who was what and what was where in 1986. LONG LIVE JAPAN!”
Tails turned off the TV. He felt like he received brain damage from this interview. Populism destroys the minds of its supporters, Tails was thinking to himself trying to be profound. It could make a good shareable quote but for real, people like him destroy public discourse and just overflow the discussion with so many digressions and random conspiracies.
Tails’ political ponderings were interrupted by Sonic. “The dishes are done and it’s time to go.”
Tails nodded and the two left their flat and went to the garage of the building. The car they owned was parked there, it was a red Saab 900 turbo. Tails went to the driver's seat, both entered the car and Tails turned on the engine. He placed his hands on the steering wheel, took a deep breath, and said:
“I’m sorry I was cranky this morning. Honestly, I’m just super stressed about the upcoming exam I have for college, I failed it 5 times already and have been stuck on it for so long. I just can’t fail again, I just studied so much and I am very anxious. I’m sorry I took out all the negative energy on you”
“Hey don’t sweat it, I didn’t take it personally. I find it funny how angry you get about politics and it’s always fun for me to argue with you whatever the topic.”
“I’m glad you didn’t take it to heart. Also, the college boy hit a nerve.”
“Really?”
“Well I am way too old to be a boy anymore and I’m in college. I just thought damn I fucked up a lot if I’m in school at this age.”
“I didn’t want to insult you. Look at me whenever you think you fucked up. I think I did life a lot worse.” Sonic said with great sadness and regret behind his eyes.
Tails parked the car out of the garage and the two sat in the car in silence. They drove through their neighborhood, their building was very tall and was surrounded by many other buildings of the same height. The walls were all covered in graffiti and there was trash practically everywhere. Tokyo has a reputation for being one of the cleaner cities in the world, which is true with the exception of the ward known as Kowareta Yume, where Tails and Sonic lived.
They were moving through Tokyo traffic, Tails was a very careful driver. Being his passenger one could almost fall asleep as Tails gently accelerated and slowed down, the speed changes were very subtle. Both were silent during most of the car ride up until Sonic decided to break the silence
“Thanks," Sonic said.
“For what?” Tails sounded confused.
“For driving me to work, I probably couldn’t even go to work if it wasn’t for you”
“Well, you COULD have used public transportation IF Kowareta Yume had it and had a change of leadership but noooooo you and other people here don’t care about politics?”
Sonic didn’t say anything.
“For real though” Tails continued. “This isn’t a big deal for me. I don’t have anything for college this early in the morning ever and when we don’t have any mandatory classes I just stay home all day and study. So don’t worry, I think it’s healthier for me to have to wake up and have a sleeping schedule unlike before when I just slept all morning.”
“Still, thanks for driving this washed-up trash to work.”
“Don’t give me that self-pity. What did the judge tell you about your driver’s license?”
“I won’t be getting it back anytime soon. The crash I caused didn’t end up hurting anybody but drunk driving is not taken lightly by the courts”
“Suits me either way, like I said it doesn’t bother me to drive you to work”
The two of them reached their destination. The car stopped in front of the Smile Burger fast food joint in Kowareta Yume. Sonic walked out of the car and started walking towards the building. Tails opened the window and said to Sonic:
“Should I pick you up when you finish work?”
Sonic nodded and the two parted ways. For Tails, a long day of studying was ahead of him and for Sonic a day of his minimum wage job. Sonic loved the early morning. A routine began for the two of them to watch together ‘Good Morning Tokyo’ every day and it was a great start. Coffee, arguments and discussions. He enjoyed the simplicity of those moments.
However, his job for which he felt passionless was filled with nothing but monotony, and mistreatment by both staff and customers, a place where every second felt like an hour and every hour like a day.