A High Tech Dialogue (Closed; Quenmin x Akashi)

[Quen Minh]

2014
Rumoi, Takao Province, Akashi

Commotion filled the okonomiyaki restaurant on a warm, sunny afternooon. The sizzles from the grills became a prevalent sound alongside the daily conversations of the customers seated on either the stools or at the tables. A busy day it was, and with good reason.

Vi's table has different kinds of the dish. With the varying, appeitizing arrangements of savory ingredients presented from each plate, it seemed like the tabletop was a remarkable abstract painting to be studied. Vi ordered the Hiroshima style, her husband Bắc had the Osaka style, all common versions. Her three children ordered more interesting versions. Cảnh, the elder son, had the Modan-yaki style; Lệ, the younger sister, had the fuchuyaki; and Hòa, the youngest son, had the kaki-oko. Grabbing bites, they could either nod or hum with delight as they savor every iota. This was relief for their long tour around the city.

"I really wanna have another plate of this," Cảnh interjected, "This is hella good."

"Don't get too spoiled, now," chuckled Bắc, "How are you liking yours, mình?¹"

"I love it," Vi answered, shaking her head with a wide smile, "Now I know another food I can cook."

"I wonder if you can make it with lemongrass," Hòa wondered.

"You and your lemongrass," Lệ replied incredulously.

"What? It's not like I keep pouring five spice on my food every ten seconds," Hòa hit back.

"More like five," Cảnh chimed in.

"Says the hog," Lệ responded back with her head lowered as she glanced.

"Hey, hey. Keep eating," Vi interrupted.

Bắc sighs as the children continued to eat.

"They really seem to get used to doing this to each other. This is the third time already," Bắc pointed out.

"That's how siblings are at times. I can remember when my older brother called me out for being annoying when I was young, and all I did was whine."

"Yeah, you do act childish at times. Especially, when you want to go somewhere where we can't go right now."

Vi chuckled.

"Yeah, right, party pooper."

Bắc smiled tightly as he shakes his head and turns to his plate. The family continued eating, unmindful of the commotion or the time.

---

1. mình = Pronoun used in intimate relationships

[The Republic of Akashi]

28–29 June had been quite the weekend for Momoka Nishimura. She was Akashi's youngest party leader, and had led the Future Party into a general election for the first time. She'd cast her vote and then waited apprehensively for results. The party had been on the back foot quite badly for two general elections in a row — it was hard to make headway against the blue wave of 2006 and red wave of 2010, and one could hardly blame some of its supporters and members from feeling dispirited.

All of that was blown away by the actual results: the Socialists lost their once-in-a-lifetime majority, and the other blocs had made gains. However, it was the Future Party that surprised most: they scored their most seats up to that point, and came bloody well close to the much larger Communists and Greens. One should've seen the jubilation at the party's headquarters. Momoka could barely remember anything about her victory speech except the excitement and the applause. Dōgan-Momoka¹ was now a nickname said with a bit of awe.

That was weekends ago, and in the meantime, Momoka was going to enjoy her summer vacation 'til the 22nd Assembly took office on 1 September. She was visiting her old neighbourhood in Rumoi. She walked past her old school, stopping for a bit and standing on her toes to look through a window. The classroom had changed since, with new decor and layout, but it still brought back some pleasant memories of her time in school.

The fact that she'd just been meeting up with friends she'd known since school might've helped, as well.

Feeling a bit hungry, Momoka crossed the street and entered a nearby okonomiyaki. It was about a good time for her lunch. She got into line and thought about her order.

---

1. dōgan = baby face

[Quen Minh]

Unlike the rest of her family, Vi tended to cut up the smallest portions of her food. Despite suggestions of bigger size, she nevertheless resumed the habit, and consumed with delectation. It was her way of admiring a dish that made her relish. However, her husband and her kids insisted she take bigger bites, so to resume their trip.

Back then, she was aware of Miranian cuisine, but all she ever had was ramen and yakisoba, most of them packaged to get her through lunch quickly during work. Tasting and eating an okonomiyaki for the first time radiated her curiosity, much like her will of enthusiastically exploring more of the country.

In 1993, she desired to seek asylum in Akashi when Nguyễn-Thạch Sĩ Chiến's government was in power as a consequence of leaking government documents that proved incendiary to the public. However, the authorities caught onto to her before she could grasp the opportunity to leave. Throughout the subsequent years of working as a network security consultant, and authoring books and discourses related to her anti-surveillance activism, she never traveled outside the country much. It seemed as though she had forgotten about it. Eventually, her boss was generous enough to offer her a paid five-week vacation due to her noted diligence in the workplace, to which she accepted with astonishment. There, the idea of making a round trip to Akashi ignited from past memory. After explaining to her husband, Vi got her wish in an instant, and so far, the country itself had exceeded her expectations, even to the point of wishing she had escaped her arrest sooner to live there and start a new life. Different environments, cuisine and culture in this country, after all, was vivid and vibrant.

With her plate clean, Vi decided to head to the bathroom to refresh herself while her husband took care of the payment. Unbeknownst to her was a French artiste-looking girl heading straight onto her path.

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka reacted quickly to dodge the person who nearly bumped into her. She blinked, looking dazed for a second, and laughed. "<We should be more careful,> ne?", she said in between giggling at how ridiculous the near-accident was. "<I'm sorry I didn't see you.>"

Having offered apologies, she then took a moment to properly notice who she'd just been talking to. It was a woman, probably a bit older than her, wearing a casual attire of T-shirt and trousers, just what one would expect for a summer's day.

While the brief conversation took place, the gears turned in Momoka's head and a thought crossed her mind. Wait... is that...?, she thought, looking a bit closer at who she was talking to. She then quickly blinked and looked at the menu to avoid seeming like she was staring rudely.

Then she asked, "<Are... are you> Nin Tsuye Bi?>".

She was pretty sure she pronounced that wrong, since she'd basically said it like katakana.

[Quen Minh]

Noticing someone walk up from her side, Vi glanced and retracted herself in surprise, hands upward as if to block something from hitting her. A close one with Momoko it was. Hearing the Miranian's hilarious reply, she chuckled and nodded before accepting her apology in Miranian. After conversing for little time, Vi observed Momoko becoming flustered, and apparently looking down at the menu to encapsulate it, causing her to tilt her head in wonder. Then came her name as pronounced in katakana, which is something Vi was able to ascertain, and her eyes lit up with fascination as she heard it.

"<Yes, I am>," she acknowledged.

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka smiled, and awkwardly reached out to shake Vi's hand. "<Momoka Nishimura>," she said, introducing herself. "<Chair of the Future Party.>" She giggled. "<I doubt many follow Akashian politics.>"

Probably can't even believe I'm a party chair, she thought. Sometimes even she couldn't. Then again, looking younger than she actually was did have its advantages, especially since she wasn't a drinker.

"<I heard a lot about you>," Momoka added. "<You brought down a government, to say the least.>"

She also interrupted herself to add, "Eto, <sorry, am I talking too fast? Do you want us to use another language?>"

[Quen Minh]

Vi shook Momoka's hand back with a soft, alleviating grin. "<Nice to meet you, too, Ms. Momoka>," she greeted, "<Yeah, never looked into that much, except that it used to be communist in the 90s>," she then chuckled before relishing in her astonishment some more.

Momoka mentioned her significant action as a whistleblower. Vi gazed for a while, which was all that she could do. On the night of September 16 all the way up into the early morning of October 1, she and the rest of the group dubbed the Calat 8 developed and deployed a spyware codenamed "SharkScent," which penetrated and infected government computers and stole confidential documents and memoranda relating to the Tamauite economy and the Rice and Oil War and published them subsequently onto the Internet. That of course brought forward ramifications that led to the hardline government's downfall, something that Vi was rewarded for in the end.

"<Oh, yes>," she then replied, "<Along with my friends.>" Momoka's interruption came suddenly, appearing as if she were talking to her idol with an excited nervousness. "<No worries, I can still understand you just fine>," Vi acknowledged, "<Let's keep the language.>"

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka liked the sound of Momoka-san, although part of her felt it was a bit weird; she was pretty used to being Momoka-chan and suddenly the -san provoked thoughts like, Wait, am I an auntie now?. That made her chuckle, though at least it looked like she was reacting to Vi.

"<We did>", she replied. "<It was the red wave election — or, I should say, the first of those.>" She chuckled. "<It was an interesting time, though I was too young to catch the thick of it.>"

Pre-school is hardly a time to notice politics and governance, after all. Momoka did have vague memories of seeing the anti-neoliberal conspiracy protests... on television or on the streets? She didn't know for sure.

"<Are they here with you?>", Momoka joked when Vi mentioned her friends.

She glanced in passing and noticed the queue had cleared up somewhat.

Momoka nodded. "<Oh, that's good then. We would've probably had trouble with other languages.>" She was self-conscious about her bad English and generally avoided speaking it in public.

She moved over to the counter and made her order, then turned to Vi and asked, "<I'm going to get food too. Would you like me to join you?>"

[Quen Minh]

"<No. It's just me only>," she answered Momoka regarding her friends, "<And it's been a while since I've seen them.>"

The conversation then went on until the young Miranian was about to make her order.

"<Sure! My plate's half done, anyways>," she chuckled, "<First, the bathroom, if you'll excuse me.>"

Moments later, Vi headed over to her table, her family looking up with much curiosity.

"Who's the girl you're talking to," asked Bắc.

"Oh. A politician. And a young one at that."

"What party is she from," Cảnh asked.

"The Future Party. She's also its Chairperson. From its name, it has something to do with technology combined with politics."

"Like an e-democracy?"

"Yes," Vi nodded quickly.

"Oh, interesting."

Lệ and Hòa glanced at Momoka as she was making her order.

"She seems to be my age," Lệ indicated, "And she kinda reminds me of the one you've talked with."

"Ms. Loan," Vi replied, "I do see some resemblance," she laughed softly.

"You gonna bring her next to us," asked Hòa.

"For sure, Hòa. And since you and Cảnh are interested in politics, you'll enjoy talking to her."

When it came to Momoka waiting for her order, Vi gestured to head over to her table. With the same grin on her visage, she turned to face her family.

"Everyone. I like you to meet Momoka Nishimura, Chair of the Future Party," introduced Vi.

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka nodded. "<Not interrupting>", she joked as Vi headed for the bathroom. She moved closer to the counter and when the order arrived, took out her debit card and scanned it to pay. She thanked the staff and then picked up her tray with a modest lunch and moved away to allow the rest of the line to advance.

She then spotted Vi and walked over to where she indicated. She didn't understand what Vi told them, but she at least recognised her name. She smiled and waved briefly, holding up her tray with the remaining hand. "<Hello, nice to meet you all!>", she said as she sat down at the table.

"<Miranian's fine?>", she asked. It was a good question to ask foreign visitors first.

[Quen Minh]

Vi's family greeted the Miranian with a bow, smile and a xin chào, and from an empty table adjacent to them, Vi pulled up an extra seat for the new guest. It now seemed as though their whole tour of the city was neglected. Something about her seemed intriguing to their eyes, especially when her occupation and her alluring youth were both working like a charm. Then, when asked about how their Miranian was, they immediately glanced at one another.

"Well," Hòa interjected in English, "I'm learning it if that counts."

"<I can speak it just fine>," Cảnh answered.

"<Just a little>," Lệ responded.

"<I'm above the intermediate level, though not advanced>," Bắc answered.

The family resumed to grab bites of their meals, their usual inidividual paces exhibiting.

"<So my wife tells me that you're the Chair of the Future Party. What's the Party all about?>"

"<And you know>," Cảnh chimed in, "<You seem pretty young for a politician. How were you able to become what you are?>"

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka returned the greeting and had her first bite while the others answered her question. The food tasted good, but needed a bit more condiments, so she applied some salt and soy sauce.

"<It counts,>" she quipped in reply to Hòa. Momoka could understand English somewhat, but speaking it? Only if a kami showed up and told her to, and even then she'd try to at least mumble through it. "<That's good then, we should be able to understand each other.>"

Momoka swallowed her bite of food, and pointed the fork in her hand in Bắc's direction. "<You could say we're Akashi's pirate party.>", she said with a chuckle. "<We kind of beat the pirates to it, but when others started rising like in Delkora and Gylias, we recognised kindred spirits.>"

"<We're about using technology to benefit everyone, really. Open government, digital democracy, planning and budgeting, and transparency. Copyright laws fit for the 21st century. I think you get the idea.>"

Momoka took another bite of her food before answering Cảnh's question. "<They don't call me baby face Momoka for nothing!>", she joked. "<Well, my background's pretty average: grew up in the city, went to school. I got interested in politics in university. I was also interested in science and technology, and I found a party that combined those, yeah?>" She drank a bit of water. "<Our old leader resigned 2 years ago, and I thought I'd stand in the election. I ended up winning.>"

She ate a bit more. "<I think the party figured, well, look at our Prime Minister, she's the youngest Akashi ever had, maybe this is the path to success! And... well, we did win quite big last month.>"

[Quen Minh]

"<Ooh, interesting>," Bắc replied, his eyes now gleaming with delight as he gestured with his knife, "<We have a similar party back home. I believe it's called the Freedom and Privacy Consortium. They support open government, freedom of information, and an participatory e-democracy.>"

"<And they have young politicians like yourself>," Vi interposed, "<Check out Bạch Tịnh Lan and Võ Minh Vũ. They were high schoolers when they created the party alongside more experience politicians that that share their views. They should get your curiosity piqued>," she ended with a smile.

As Momoka answered Cảnh's question, the latter could only listen and hone in with great interest, his hand up against his mouth as if he were tackling a hard homework question. The fact that she became a politician, party founder and its Chair while in university was something of an achievement, despite being cognizant about Lan and Vũ.

"<Congratulations>," he complimented, "<It must feel a bit overwhelming knowing that you're a Party Chair and a university student at the same time. How do you balance those out?>"

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka nodded. "<Indeed, they're in the same international as us, from what I remember. They're probably not too happy about being called a pirate party, though.>" Delkora really gave Tyran a gift when the Pirate Party took its name from clueless opponents attempting to insult them.

"<Wow, high school?>", she said with surprise, and then laughed. "<And I thought I was a bit on the young side! Now you've definitely gotten my interest.>" She took her mobile phone out of her pocket and asked Vi, "<How do you spell them?>", then wrote down the names as best she could... without all the diacritics of Quốc ngữ, since she only had basic Kōshiki installed.

She smiled and answered Cảnh, "<Thank you>", before taking another bite of food. "<I'm actually about to graduate, but I did have that issue. I ended up changing my status to part-time student to be able to balance the two out. I didn't take as many courses per semester so I finished university slower than a full-time student.>"

"<Mind you, it at least helped me increase the party's support among uni students.>", she joked.

[Quen Minh]

"<Yeah, I reckon they're not>," replied Bắc, "<And I could remember the bad press they got from the Luatmoiists. Needless to say, the latter used the term prominently in their articles>," he then gives off a soft, exasperated sigh.

Momoka, with curiosity blooming, asked Vi how to spell the names she mentioned. Of course, there were the distinguishable diacritics of the language, but she knew better that without them, she could find them on the first query through any English-language search engine.

"<Sure! For the first one, the surname is spelled B-A-C-H; the middle name T-I-N-H; and the given name L-A-N. For the second one: V-O, then M-I-N-H and V-U. That's it>," Vi enunciated, keeping the smile.

Cảnh takes in the last bite before speaking.

"<Seems reasonable>," he nodded, "<I mean when you're maintaining a political party during university, you can expect tons of work that can hinder you from finishing the regular amount of years. But hey, at least you got something out of it>," he gives off a smile.

"<So, what kind of technology do you see with an e-democracy? I'm curious>," Hòa asked, leaning above his empty plate.

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka nodded in agreement. "<What makes me laugh about these people,>" she said, "<is that they don't realise pirates are cool, yeah? I mean, if you ask a kid what they'd like to be, you're very likely to hear 'astronaut', 'pirate', that kind of thing.>" She took another bite and said more to herself, "<Amazing that they think 'pirate party' is an insult.>"

"<Okay, I think I got it...>", she said as she started writing down the names, saying the kana out loud for herself. "Ba... ku... fu... ētto... chi, i, n, ha... ran..." The way she ended up saying the last one made her laugh. Not the former prime minister, she thought. "Bo... min, ha... bu..." She then showed Vi what was written on screen to make sure it was spelled right: she'd written "bach tinh lan, vo minh vu".

Momoka took a pause to swallow her food before answering. "<I think the most important of those would be for planning and decisionmaking.>", she said. "<Computers and the internet allow people to have a greater participation, and that would solve the usual problem of how do you scale a direct democracy past the level of an ancient Hellene city-state.>" She took a sip of water. "<Publicly owned online platforms, cooperatives. I don't know if they'd look different from the forums and networks we have, but you get the idea.>"

"<We'd expand Hermes more too, it's proven how good it is for decentralised planning. Probably set up a parallel system to deal with budgeting, if that's necessary.>"

[Quen Minh]

Bắc chuckled at Momoka stating how pirates are cool.

"<I know, right? Even more so, a hacker>," he laughs as he glances at Vi, who scoffs playfully. He then forms a little frown visage as Momoka reiterated the misuse of the term, "<They are for strict law and order, after all. Hai Mẹ cấm¹, if they ever come in power and arrest my wife as a potential terrorist>," he hugs Vi with one arm.

Vi glances at Momoka's phone to check the spellings. She confirms their correctness before consuming another bite.

"<Do read about them when you have the time. And let me know of what you think of them>," she insisted, "<That being said, could we exchange numbers?>"

Hòa hummed at the Miranian's answer as he chewed another bite.

"<So, a website for that>," he replied, "<That's cool. And I do like the idea of it being publicly owned. That way, we can have only one tool to vote with. Also, what's Hermes? A computer system that helps a government make their decisions?>"

"What do you think it is," Cảnh interjected.

"Shut up, brother! I just want to know! <Sorry about that. My older brother here can be annoying sometimes.>"

---

1. Hai Mẹ cấm = "Two Mothers forbid"; Two Mothers refers to the Two Supreme Mother Goddesses of the Quenminese religion Haimeism

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka covered one of her eyes with one hand, and made a claw shape with the other. "Arrrru, mechisu!", she said, trying not to break into laughter. "Ai bihekin tsuyōa būchi!" Then she finally cracked up and laughed. "<Pirate hackers. That oughta be an anime. There's already been Bodacious Space Pirates.>"

She sighed. "<Oh, I hate those 'law and order' shitheads.>" She ate another bite, chewing a bit harder. "<If those fuckers had their way in '68 we'd have had a civil war.>" She looked at Vi. "<If you ever need a safe place, you can count on Akashi.>"

She nodded, saying, "<Sure, just a sec.>", and brought up her number on display on her mobile phone to show Vi. "<I have to keep mine in my contacts list because I can never remember it,> fufu." She held it 'til Vi could write it down, and then got Vi's number from Vi calling her. "<Okay, all done, now we have them! Don't mind me misspelling your name.>"

"<Yeah, you only need one tool sometimes, rather than all the waste of capitalism. I know some people are suspicious of state ownership, so a cooperative's a good backup option...compromise...>"

Momoka grinned. "<I know, older sisters are so much cooler.>", she joked, and high-fived Hòa. It seemed like the logical thing to do. "<Yeah, that's basically it. It's a lot of computers installed in enterprises, collecting data, and sending it to a central processor where they're compiled. And everybody can see it, too.>" She looked at nothing in particular for a second as she ate, then turned back to Hòa. "<We don't use it as much as Gylias. Nobody in the Common Sphere does, really. They took it to the logical conclusion.>"

[Quen Minh]

Upon seeing Momoka's pirate impression, Bắc and Vi chuckled with their children following suit, laughing louder when an apparent catchphrase was howled. Vi had to cover her mouth as she did as one fresh bite was on her tongue.

"She's funny," Bắc said.

"Man, I thought I was gonna choke," Vi replied after swallowing.

After checking on Vi, Bắc turned to Momoka, a grin forming again on his face.

"<Haha, it should be. Digital marauders attacking governments and corporations for fun>," he chuckled, "<That reminds me. There's a good Quenminese movie from the 2000s that involves hackers from a security consulting firm preventing a terrorist plot to gain control of the world's finances and the Internet. It's name is 'Shift.' You should check it out.>."

"<Of course>," Vi nodded and smiled at Momoka, "<It will always be number one on my list of countries to escape to.>"

Vi glanced at the phone screen and looked at her own. Muttering to herself, she types in the number and saves it to her contacts before showing her number to Momoka. "<Haha, no worries. I don't mind if someone misspells my name, just as long as they know my face.>"

"<I like the idea of cooperatives>", Cảnh replied, "<Seems like a better alternative to corporations, rather than nationwide state ownership.>"

Hòa high-fived Momoka. "<You can tell that to her>," he remarked, his head leaning towards Lệ; Lệ asked what they were talking about, but Hòa reassured her that it was nothing on her concern, much to her dissatisfaction. "<That's interesting that only Gylias uses it. Why is it that you and the rest of your federation doesn't?>"

[The Republic of Akashi]

"<Oh, thanks!>", Momoka said, and giggled. "<Now I have a movie for tonight.>" She wrote down the name as a note in her phone as well. "<Shift? Shift... what? Shift-Ctrl?>"

That joke hardly needed any more elaborating on, so she moved on. When she heard Bắc's description of the movie, she gave Vi a knowing smile, like she was asking with her facial expression, remind you of someone you know?

"<Well, the Quenminese alphabet being what it is, and me not having the keyboard for it...>", she said to Vi. "<It's the best you can hope for, yeah.>"

Momoka nodded. "<If nothing else, cooperativising would also go down better with the NCP.>"

"Eto... <Well...>" Momoka thought for a second, looking upwards at nothing in particular. "<The CS isn't a federation, it's more an association of states. It's up to the states to decide for themselves.>" She drank some water. "<I'd say most just haven't had as big a revolution as Gylias, so they're not really as committed to abolishing capitalism. That makes them use Hermes in a more cautious way.>"

She had another bite, and was nearing the end of her portion of food. "<In Akashi's case, we have red governments that push to expand its use, and blue governments that just kind of hold it in place but don't show that much enthusiasm. Still, just having the SP and MPP agree on its use alone is... something.>"

"<Last I checked, Quenmin isn't in the CS, so I figure you don't use it either>", she said and laughed.

[Quen Minh]

"<More like Shift-F10>," Vi interjected. Bắc could only shake his head with a smirk and uttered "nerd" in Quenminese.

Vi then listened to Bắc's premise for the 2002 movie. Already, she gazed into space. Perhaps, it was the part where Internet control that prompted her to do so. Instinctively turning to Momoka, Vi gave a smile, and nodded.

"<For sure>," Vi responded. "<I mean, typing a Quenminese name without diacritics can get you who you're looking for most of the time, especially when that person is well known.>"

"<NCP>," asked Cảnh, "<Who's that?>"

When hearing further of the CS and Akashi's varying decisions of the use of Hermes, Hòa could nod, and when Momoka mentioned two parties wanting to use it alone, Hòa had more questions in mind. Upon hearing Momoka's remark of Quenmin not being in the CS, Hòa affirmed by nodding and smirking. "<Yeah, it's obvious, even though we are a high-tech nation. Say, are the SP and MPP left-wing parties and why would they want to use it alone? Also, because the CS is an association of states, how does the organization really work out?>"

* * * * * * * * * *

The table was clear, only occupied by small leftovers and empty cups. Vi and Bắc sat for a while more, conversing with Momoka about their future plans of visiting the country. Although, with much persuasion, Bắc insisted that they stay in the city for a while more, to which Vi took with utmost acknowledgment. This, of course, has made Momoka smile with an abundance of delight, which reflected on the couple like light with a mirror. As the children strolled from the bathroom doors, Vi and Bắc stood up and moved their chairs in, leading Momoka to do the same.

"<Well, Nishimura-san, it's been a pleasure meeting and talking with you. I've had a great time>," Vi smiled, the same attitude emanating from the rest of the family, "<Also, didn't forget the Miranian way of addressing people this time>," she chuckled.

"<So, where are you headed to right now>," asked Bắc to Momoka.

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka jokingly replied to Vi, "<I'm relying on that, actually.>" She then turned to Cảnh's question. "<National Cooperative Party.>" She laughed. "<The name says it all, I think! They're all about cooperatives.>" She finished her cup of water. "<Thanks to them, we have the second biggest cooperative sector in the Common Sphere, from what I remember.>"

Hòa's statement made her chuckle a bit. "<Your parties might well think the MPP are leftists!>" She slightly elbowed Hòa in a 'know what I mean, eh?' kind of way. "<The Socialist Party are leftists, that's clear. The Moderate People's Party are conservatives, but they think the state must dominate the private sector for the good of the country. So it's remarkable that the main centre-left and centre-right parties agree on economic planning,> hai?"

Momoka thought for a bit. "<Hard sometimes>", she said with a laugh. "<It depends on governments' willingness to work together and agreeing on basic things. It can be slow, but I think it's worked out pretty well for us, thank the kami. Governments are kind of used to keeping each other up to speed on policy and coordinating where they have similar goals or would gain mutual benefits.>"

* * * * * * * * * *

That was certainly a good meal, Momoka thought as they all finished their food and got ready to leave. She shook hands with Vi. "<It was a pleasure as well, Vi-san.>", she said, and then reciprocated with the rest of her family. "<Don't worry about it.>"

"<I had a great time meeting you all.>", she said to the family.

Momoka thought for a sec, and then replied, "<Can't say I have any plans. Maybe go to> Nefu-Kōen <and walk around, then head home?>" She was thinking out loud more than answering at this point. "<Not really in a hurry to get back inside with this lovely weather.>"

[Quen Minh]

2021, Almost Seven Years Later

After Vi's vacation in Akashi, she continued to work for her company with a hope of visiting Momoka again. On 30 April 2016, however, Vi was arrested in her home at Yên Bí for violating her confidentiality agreement with Phuria Systems. On her laptop, files containing the designs for facial recognition cameras and the overarching system from Phuria Systems were stored. A month later, she was incarcerated at the Hoàng Minh Hiếu I & II Correctional Institution, and sentenced to serve seven years. With much convincing, she assisted the prison staff on IT infrastructure maintenance, with her contributions playing a part in increasing her chances of parole.

After her six month parole was fulfilled, Vi was now free to roam on her own will, and decided to head to Akashi. Vi had called Momoka to meet up at the same place where they ate together, and with anticipation, she waited, alone without her family to accompany her.

[The Republic of Akashi]

Momoka was quite surprised by getting the phone call from Vi, albeit pleasantly. She was disgusted by Vi's arrest, and it was a relief to hear from her again. Much had happened in the years since they'd last met. But all that was going to come in due time — first they had to meet up.

The old okonomiyaki place was still there, and hadn't changed much, so that made meeting up easier. In a way, Momoka hadn't changed much visibly either: she still looked like Dōgan-Momoka, seemingly untroubled by the aging process even as she was now in her thirties. Friends started joking that if this politics thing didn't work out, she could probably carve out a good career in acting.

Momoka got on the shinkansen from Hirakawa to Rumoi, after finding a cheap hotel room on rather short notice. It was an interesting way to spend a weekend away from parliamentary duties, that was for sure.

She arrived at the restaurant, spotted Vi, and approached her to shake hands. "<Hi Vi>", she said. "<I'm glad to see you safe.>"

[Quen Minh]

A smile formed on Vi and her eyes gleamed with joy as Momoka approached her. Memories of their first encounter blossomed with a gaze, and she felt as if she were reliving that day. Penitentiary robbed her of the chance to visit again, with no international communication perpetuating that loss. This mix of gladness and nostalgia expressed itself with Vi gripping Momoka's hand tightly, necessary for her to forget her past trouble at least for a while.

"<Thank you>," Vi replied, "<And I see you still look the same. Sorry if I couldn't bring my family along. They're busy with their own matters, and I happen to take the opportunity for a vacation. Anyways, how are you? I hope politics isn't making you age rapidly>," she chuckled.