Hellen and Fushichin arrived in front of the gloomy mansion. Strangely enough, they noticed a ‘for sale‘ poster placed near the road.

They knocked on the door and the person to open the door was…Succi.

“Oh, umm, what are you two doing here? Did something happen?” asked Succi with surprise.

“No, just visiting. Is it that strange?” asked Fushichin with a smirk.

“N-no, come in” said Succi.

They were led into the dining hall. A woman with dark hair and brownish skin tone in a fancy gray costume was talking to Jude.

“Wait…you’re miss Layla Matilda” mumbled Hellen.

The woman happily waved her hand towards them.

“Heh, what a surprise. Someone who I only saw on the internet is here. I’m honored.” said Fushichin with a smile.

“Oh, that’s wonderful to hear. Are you two friends of Tenma or Marian?” asked Layla.

“No, they are cops, detectives who solved Tenma’s case.” said Jude.

Hellen and Fushichin introduced themselves and awkwardly stood as they looked around the dining hall. Jude brought them seats to sit on. The three of them sat around the table.

“Oh yeah, I haven’t paid attention. How are you not in prison? Considering how judgemental our justice system is I thought they would absolutely double down on the punishment.” asked Fushichin innocently towards Jude.

“I’m on parole. I got 1 year in prison with a fine. But my offense was considered minor and I was deemed harmless to society.” said Jude.

“Thank goodness. What about Mikhail?” asked Hellen.

“Oh, I heard he is on parole too. His sentence was lower than mine. You guys sit down and talk. I’ll help Yumiko in the kitchen.” said Jude, got up and exited the room.

“I’ve heard of what happened from Jude. It’s a shame really. I've been friends with Marian since college. I really wish I could have helped her but the law is clear cut as the day. But more than that…what happened to her husband and who the culprit was-” said Layla as she looked at her hand distraughtly.

“Yeah, it was a tough case. Hori had a lot of tricks up her sleeve. The outcome is unfortunate as well but what can you do about the laws that politicians write hastily, right?” said Fushichin with a giggle.

Layla paid no heed to Fushichin’s aggressive tone. Succi entered the room.

“Hey, Succi, where is Mew? How is she doing?” asked Hellen with concern.

“Oh, she is…upstairs.” said Succi with a sad face.

Succi looked at Fushichin and Hellen with seriousness and said “So, why did you guys come? I would like to hope it has something to do with my mom or my sister being released but I know that’s just a delusional dream.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Tch, since when did you get so hissy?” taunted Fushichin.

“We just wanted to check up on you. See how you were doing. It’s not related to our jobs.” said Hellen.

“Oh, well. Thanks, I guess. We’re doing fi- No, not really. Mew’s been…sad, ever since what happened. I am too. But I’m not just gonna stand around and do nothing. I’m gonna quit school, start my own business. We’re selling this mansion for business. We’ll be able to make enough cash to retry Hori’s case.” said Succi.

“Well said. I’ll help out too, when the time comes. Retrials can be quite expensive” said Layla brightly.

“What about your mom Marian? I guess 15 years isn’t exactly execution.” said Fushichin.

“Yumiko’s account and request at the court actually did help in reducing the sentence. But 15 years is still long. She’ll be 63 by the time she gets out of jail.” said Hellen.

“Yeah, we’re gonna focus our efforts on saving Hori’s life. I think that’s what Mom would have wanted too.” said Succi with a moody expression.

Soon Yumiko and Jude came with steaks, salad, and mashed potatoes.

Layla, Fushichin, Hellen ate. Fushichin was the fastest eater. Hellen only briefly touched her steak.

“Miss, Layla. I’ve actually been keeping up with some of your streams.” said Hellen.

“Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. I’m not the most tech savvy person so sometimes my streams crash and I mess up my setups. It’s a mess.” said Layla shyly and giggled.

“I’ve heard you talk about lowering the sentences for certain criminals as well as improving our democracy. I’m not that into politics but I do know more about you compared to other politicians. And for the most part I agree with what you say. There were times I disagreed with some of your takes. But since last month, my opinions have shifted to agreeing with you even more.” said Hellen.

“That’s wonderful to hear. And I bet you’ve heard of my ingenious new voting system, I presume.” said Layla with a smirk.

“Direct Democracy, right? No, not just a direct democracy. You called it Cyber Democracy. “ said Fushichin with a smirk.

“Yes, so did you like it? Pretty cool idea, right? I’m honestly surprised why this wasn’t proposed before.” said Layla happily.

“It’s kind of obvious why it wasn’t. Having a system where people could vote from home using the internet sounds fantastic. But the internet isn’t a secure place. Bots could fake genuine votes and the system could get hacked, right?” said Hellen.

“Yes, I did consider that. Which is why I proposed that we should reveal our votes instead of hiding them. An open ballot. That way there is no way to duplicate your votes. No way for bots and hackers to mess with the system. Every vote will be matched to the citizenship list to see if it’s genuine.” said Layla.

“But that’s a problem in itself. Elections need to have anonymous votes. Otherwise rich people would try and bribe the masses. And assassinations might happen too.” said Hellen.

Layla frowned and said “Yeah, yeah. I’m aware of that. Everything has advantages and disadvantages. But I think the loss in anonymity is a small detriment compared to the massive advantage you gain through internet voting. You can know who is responsible for the currently elected leader. You can even change votes midway into the election process. Paper votes won’t allow you to do that since you can’t retract your votes. And since you’re voting through the internet, it will be a costless, time efficient process.”

“Yes, undoubtedly it has great advantages. But I’m just vary is all.” said Hellen.

“Are the people of Elenrago that smart enough to utilize it? Democracy is only as good as the people participating in it. Chances are there are gonna be a lot of dumb decisions and people attacking minorities, those who hold rare and controversial opinions.” said Fushichin ponderingly.

“Voting is just like any profession. People get better at it with more experience. I’m sure if we create a system that is dedicated to allowing people to choose their own destiny, they will become good at choosing their destiny in the long run.” said Layla seriously.

“Jeez, okay. No need to shout. You’re the one who asked about our opinion on your ideas” said Fushichin.

“Sorry. I got a bit emotional.” said Layla and laughed.

“It’s okay. It’s nice to know that you’re genuine about the things you say and advocate for” said Hellen with a kind smile.

“And it’s not like I’m against your idea either. Yeah, it would be cool if our democracy was even more efficient and people got to vote on more stuff. It’s definitely an improvement over dictatorial regimes and governments which cannot be accounted for their wrongdoings. It’s just that…” said Fushichin and his face became sadder.

“Just what?” asked Layla.