Chaos in the City

“The thing about selling A.I technologies to other countries is... You can either sell them the core, or the finished product. From a business perspective I used to think that if we sell the core, they may rival us one day. But... maybe I should have given them the ability to be creative with it on their own.” Professor Goldman’s voice is heard via a broadcast.

Interviewer: “What do you mean by that? Are you saying that attempting to sell Crystalite technologies to foreigners was a mistake?”

-“I don’t know about that. A.I was in development in many countries even before Crystalite. Once I took the route of offering them only the complete product, foreign companies started asking for specific things to be developed. In some cases they took it to a sexual place which I thought was disgraceful. They may have developed something like that themselves had I sold the core, but they might not even need my technology for that. On the other hand they may have had the opportunity to come up with other things as well since most didn’t push it to that direction.”

In this new age, people can chase their hobbies more openly, social life is thriving and Japan’s reproduction rate is higher than ever. Being disgusted with pornographic association of any kind is very common in Japan of today.

“I think the world is over such pity notions, but maybe they require knowing our futuristic way of life before integrating that morale fully. So I offered them to improve A.I technologies on a scale they have never dreamed before so that we both lead the A.I industry, and not let it be used in a despicable manner. Since then tourism flourished, and so have our sales. I’m glad we didn’t give them the ability to create a disgrace with our proud work, but sometimes I wonder about A.I in general...” The broadcast is suddenly stopped by a remote controller’s button being pressed, turning an old-school television off.

Mr. Blue throws the remote on the old couch and grabs a cup of coffee as he gazes outside of the window. There are no factories or anything city-like in the area. Just a bunch of trees, and one road with barely any cars on it. The surrounding area to his cabin is a bit snowy. The rest is mostly melted already.

He finishes his coffee and washes the cup by hand. Cricking wood sounds are heard as he walks towards the door, grabbing his coat and getting outside. He enters his car and starts driving. After a few minutes he gets to an open parking lot with a few cars in it. He parks the car there and continues by foot, getting to a sign saying: “No cars past this point”.

As he keeps on walking he gets to the main gate with a huge sign above it: “TOKYO”.

Year: 2300, February 2nd. Around Two months since school started. Artisan classroom.

-“So Reef... You woke up all by yourself?” Angelica asks while sitting down in front of him just after entering with Albert and Arney.

-“Yes. I’m not the only sleepy head in this group though. Did you wake up by yourself Arney?”

Arney immediately replies: “Hey! Come on man! Why you sell me out like that?”

All 3 of them are suddenly quiet. They realize Reef was participating in the conversation with dominance. “How long has it been?” they think.

“Albert, must be tough getting us up like that every morning. I appreciate your hassle.” Reef says, smiling with confidence.

-“...Hmm... Thank you Reef. I’m glad to hear.” Albert answers, surprised. He stares at Reef for a bit as the rest of them do too. The rest of the students arrive and the teacher enters.

-“Students, I have something to tell you.”

-“No ‘Good Morning’ first?” Arney asks quietly while laughing.

-“This is no time for jokes, Arney.” The teacher replies, revealing she heard him. “Yesterday, the streets of Tokyo around our area have been trashed horribly. Despite our efforts. Not just trashed, but even vandalized. The damage is massive.”

-“Oh...” Arney reacts, realizing something serious happened.

-“Why did the tourists did that?” Angelica asks.

-“We have reasons to believe it wasn’t done by tourists, but we don’t know for sure yet...”

The class starts murmuring, making a small ruckus.

-“Is it possible that a student from another school did it?” Reef asks. Most of the students don’t pay attention to the surprise of him participating verbally since they are curious to hear the answer.”

-“It is not...” The teacher stops mid-sentence, “...It’s possible, we don’t know yet.” The teacher corrects herself. “From now on we will have to do some extra work, while getting help from the janitors.

-“Ohh no...” -“That’s unfair!” -“It’s going to take even more time now...”

-“Until it is solved we have to keep going.” The teacher dictates.

The rest of the class goes as usual but some students keep murmuring about it still. Reef seems like he is staring at the air, unfazed. Albert stares at him every now and then.

The class finishes and the students get out. Angelica and Arney are standing next to the door.

-“Reef, Albert, you coming or what?” Angelica asks.

Reef is just ready to go and suddenly Albert says: “We’ll be right there, wait us outside, okay?”

-“’Kay.” she says and leaves with Arney.

-“Hey Reef, do you mind if I ask you something about what the teacher told us?”

Reef looks to him in the eyes with his confident glare unchanging. “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

-“What do you think about the vandalizing? Do you think it’s someone from a different school?”

-“No. It can’t be. Our school was the only school currently cleaning with janitors. They will add more schools moving forward. It wasn’t the case up to now, despite what we have been told.”

-“How do you know that?”

-“I heard the teacher talking about it.” Reef answers.

Albert keeps staring at him as Reef’s gaze is moving away.

“I only asked to see if she is going to tell the rest of the students, but I guess she doesn’t want to reveal this was an experiment so the rest of the students wouldn’t have their trust betrayed as they were the only ones caught in it.” He adds. “They said on the news that cameras were smashed, but if they say it’s not tourists then maybe some cameras did catch something...Or maybe they just assume it’s someone from our school if it was done in the areas where our school was participating in the cleaning.”

-“Oh, so you already saw it on the news?” Albert asks.

-“Correct.”

They are both silent for a bit.

-“Can I ask you just one more thing?”

-“Go ahead.” Reef agrees.

-“Giving the magnitude of the damage done is big enough whether it was all over Japan or even just around our school...” He stops for a bit...

♦️“...Why did you assume it was done by just one person?”♦️

It is very quiet again.

-“Hahaha, you are very sharp!” Reef says while laughing in a friendly manner. “Yea, I guess even if our school was the only one participating up to now, we covered quite a lot of area, with the janitors as well. It would make sense if it wasn’t done by just one person. But who knows? I just fail to see what a bunch of students would want to achieve by that. They have their entire future ahead of them, why risk it, you know?”

-“Wouldn’t that be true even for just one student?” Albert asks.

-“I guess so.”