"Fate, come help us please," my mother calls out, interrupting my thoughts. The party preparations aren't particularly strenuous—just moving furniture and setting up decorations. It's finally the night of the celebration, and my mother and her subordinates are doing the final bit of work. They've already finished all of the decorating, so the last part is just rearranging the tables and chairs.

"What? Oh, sorry Mom. What do you need?"

"Just carry these boxes over to the kitchen area, I think we've moved everything else."

"Sure, no problem"

Having finished that task, I make my way back to the kitchen, and I see Ritsuko sitting at a table. She's spent the summer traveling alongside my mother, so I've barely seen her. Having not seen her for so long, I can't help but be somewhat breathless at her appearance.

She looks incredible.

She always looks flawless, but seeing her wearing a formal dress—and seeing that she took the time to put on extra makeup makes her beauty even more radiant.

"Hey Fate. How have you been? I haven't seen you in far too long."

"Uh, yeah, I guess I've been really busy lately. But I suppose I haven't been anywhere near as busy as you—my mother says you've improved greatly over the last few months."

She still wears her usual calm face, but her cheeks have a very light blush. It's adorable.

"Yeah...you could say that..." she mutters under her breath, before clearing her throat.

"Well anyway, thank you for helping out today. Your mother has been working herself to death preparing this event, so I wanted to let you know how grateful I am."

"No problem. So did you travel with my mom for the whole summer?"

"Yes, it was wonderful. I saw places I'd never dreamed existed, met new people who were incredibly interesting, and experienced things that I wouldn't have otherwise ever gotten the chance to. And now that I've had time to reflect upon it, I feel like I grew tremendously from this trip, even if it was difficult."

I'm happy for her. I truly am.

But I can't get rid of this sour feeling I have.

Knowing that Annette is willing to do whatever she deems necessary to manipulate—mold Ritsuko into her perfect puppet—another replica of my mother, I can't help but be annoyed.

"I'm glad—I know how hard you work once you've set your mind on something. You're really amazing."

"E-Eh? T-Thank you Fate. It really means a lot...but I don't deserve such praise."

She seems embarrassed by my compliment. That's fine—she deserves to be praised—no matter how awkward it may seem. I'm not against her succeeding my mother in the slightest, but I want her to do it because it's her dream.

I don't want her to be forced into a role she doesn't truly wish for.

"I'm only able to improve because Miss Annette, and Miss Mayu are always there to help me when I stumble—she's so incredible.. They're both so extraordinary—I hope that I'll be able to live up to the faith they've placed in me."

Damn.

I can hear in her voice how much she trusts both of them. Such a pure—trusting girl like Ritsuko won't stand a change against a woman like Annette, she won't even know when she's been taken advantage of. I doubt she'll realize until it's too late.

That being said, I should probably try to warn her. But how exactly would I go about doing it? I can't bring myself to directly confront her about it either—she definitely trusts her. All I can do is keep an eye on her, and do my best to protect her.

"You shouldn't sell yourself short. I couldn't possibly imagine anyone better, you've put in so much effort—I could spend years training and I'd never be able to keep up with you."

Her eyes widen slightly at my words, and I can see a hint of surprise on her face. She glances away, blushing lightly.

"Fufu. Thank you...Fate. Really. I appreciate your support. You're the first person to say that to me."

***

Time passes by slowly, Ritsuko and I sit together in warm silence, we catch up, and talk whenever we feel like it. We wait for the rest of the guests to filter in while we simply spend time together. There's a steady stream of guests, and soon enough everyone starts gathering inside the apartment. The atmosphere grows increasingly electric, as the guest begin to mingle amongst themselves. Every now and then someone will approach us and ask us questions about my mother, or her career.

Everyone is dressed formally, which is normal for an event such as this, my mother is wearing a formal dress as well. Most of the attendees are high profile individuals; celebrities, politicians, and business magnates. Some of the guests are important figures from various organizations. Everyone is extremely well mannered, and polite.

The guests continue entering, and now it looks like a sea of people are moving around. But still, I don't see Rise anywhere. I don't understand why she isn't here yet. Did something happen?

Ugh, the anticipation is killing me.

I fold like a cheap suit. I give up on simply waiting for her to show up—I begin activating my sixth sense, and start spreading it out to its maximum range.

I don't see her anywhere.

Not a trace of her presence.

For now, she's not super late, and I have no reason to believe she's in danger—so I wind up disabling my sixth sense, and just waiting for her to show up. Not long after, my mother comes to me and asks me to accompany her while she greets guests. I end up playing the part of the perfect, always polite son. It's boring, but it's tolerable. She takes me around while introducing me to her friends, acquaintances, and business associates.

It's times like these that I'm again confronted with just how connected my mother is to the powerful figures of New Eden. She easily introduces me to several influential people, ranging from her co-stars, and fellow actors, all the way to people that have substantial political power. Almost anyone in my position would be intimidated, especially considering the fact that most of the people I meet are decades older than my mother, and hold a lot of power in their own right.

But things are different now.

I ensure to act particularly polite to those who hold power, such as politicians, but in reality—I'm scanning them with my power, and categorizing them based on whether or not they could be useful. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are people who were born into power, none of them are the kind people who seek change.

I've kept my sixth sense disabled whenever I'm not actively scanning someone, but even with it inactive, I constantly feel as if I'm being watched. As my mother brings me along to greet one of her close friends, I realize what this feeling is coming from.

Yumiko Estelle—As we walk up to one of my mother's closest friends, I don't have to use my sixth sense to notice that she's been leering at me like a hawk. Because of her close friendship with my mother, I've known her since I was young, but recently, she constantly stares at me—apparently believing herself to be unnoticeable. She's a very attractive woman in her early thirties—but she looks no older than twenty, and she's also quite tall. Her long curly blonde hair falls slightly below her waist, and her blue eyes are piercingly focused on me. She's wearing a red dress with a plunging neckline that shows off her ample cleavage.

She's beautiful, and she knows it—maybe that's what makes her dangerous.

As the two woman excitedly greet each other, I feign interest as I search around with my sixth sense. After a few minutes of barely listening to them talk, I was fully engrossed in scanning my surroundings, so I'm startled out of nowhere.

"Fate! You look so handsome!" she randomly exclaims, surprising me by suddenly hugging me from behind.

She wraps her arms around my body, squeezing tight.

"It's nice to see you again, Miss Yumiko." I give my greatest attempt at playing a dead fish—if there's no game, maybe she'll lose interest.

"You too, Fate. You've grown so much since the last time I saw you." She releases her hold on me, and I take a step away. She smiles brightly, before quickly turning to my mother—allowing her to continue their conversation.

"Oh my goodness, I didn't know you were coming here tonight."

"I had a bit of business to attend to so I thought I might as well stop by for the celebration."

She grins at Yumiko, "Let's catch up more in a little while~ I'm a tiny bit busy right now making the rounds with Fay, but you two can get reacquainted with each other later."

She's done it. She's thrown me to the wolves.

"Okie-Dokie, I'll be looking forward to it."

My mother waves goodbye to Yumiko, before taking my arm and leading me away.

I suppose I should explain how these two became so close to each other, Yumiko started her career as a young investigative journalist—she was fully dedicated to searching for interesting news. They apparently became friends years ago, when they were both relatively new in their respective careers. Nowadays, Yumiko is the single most popular news anchor in New Eden—and most likely the world.

In addition to hosting her own television program, she writes columns, hosts VR & Holonet shows, and has even written books. She's widely considered to be one of the most talented journalists, and news hosts in the country. If you watch any sort of news media in New Eden, odds are good that Yumiko is involved somehow.

Her ability to weave in propaganda with regular news, and make just about any rhetoric sound not only believable—but sound like the truth, allows her to spread information through the entire nation. It's almost impossible to escape her influence. This is why she's become such a powerful figure—she's able to manipulate public opinion with ease, and gain the government's support in the process. In turn, she's able to further advance her career without having to worry about losing favor with the state.

So long as she's willing to spread whatever corruption the state wants, she'll always be protected. My mother and Yumiko are very close friends—that's without question, but their relationship is also a mutual alliance to further their interests.

Damn. Things like this are exactly why I've always hated attending events like these.

At the core of my mother's career—she's heavily intertwined with all of the corruption that takes place in New Eden.