Chapter 548 (2/2)

Especially because Randidly had the sense that something changed for Shal during the events at the end of the tournament. He thought about asking Lucretia about it, but decided against it; mostly, he didn't want to ask because it meant they would need to talk about what would happen to Lucretia when he returned to that world.

Receiving a generic request to meet from Karlito, Randidly stopped his training early and headed back over to the shanty town. When he arrived, he was extremely surprised. His old shanty was being dismantled by some locals. They were putting up a more traditional house in its place.

Karlito walked up next to him. “Did you hear the news?”

“What, that the neighborhood is being gentrified?” Randidly asked wryly, looking around. This whole area of town was shifting. A lot of the buildings closer to town were already demolished and rebuilt in a much more enduring manner. It was clear from the quality that these were being built to stand for a while.

“Well, there is that, but no,” Karlito said. He was chuckling now, barely restraining a grin on his face. While one hand held his belly, with the other he lifted a newspaper clipping and presented it to Randidly. He scanned it quickly.

To his shock, it seemed like one of the gossip column magazines that had been popular prior to the System’s arrival. He supposed there was no reason to expect that the System would change human nature. And he was distantly aware that there were movies and television being produced in Zone 1. When most of the population didn’t embrace the System as directly, they needed ways to occupy their time.

The clipping was a reactionary piece to the fact that pop icon Tia Alexandra was now engaged to-

Foreign Political Heartthrob Randidly Ghosthound….?!?

For several seconds, Randidly had no thoughts in his brain. The series of words that he had just read left him completely blank. He slowly lowered the article. Karlito was howling at this point, leaning a nearby pile of cinder blocks that were going to be used for the construction of the house.

No matter how many times he looked up at Randidly’s face, each time was enough to set him back to his endless laughter. At some point, Maude wandered over to see what the fuss was about. When she saw the clipping in Randidly’s hand, she sniffed primly.

“I would have expected you to be better educated than to read a trash rag like that,” Maude said matter of factly.

This, finally, was enough to wake Randidly. He shook his head slowly, then said. “Yea… this-”

“If you want to hear the details of the engagement,” She continued, tapping her interspatial watch and producing another magazine. “Lifeline is the best. There is an interview with Tia that explains the whole proposal. Honestly, it reminds me quite a bit about how my late husband proposed to me…”

Numbly, Randidly took the magazine.

“It was the most philosophical…” Tia began telling reporters, but then she couldn’t even finish the thought.

“You hear a lot of what he’s like, from all the refugees he works with,” Tia said, her eyes glowing with the apparent emotion she has for her fiance. “That’s actually how I met him, doing a benefit concert at The Orchard. But people never talk about how deep and thoughtful he is. The date where he proposed was simple. He just invited me to help pick apples. When I told my publicist, she fell off her chair. She said, ‘Aren’t there bugs in orchards?’

“I already knew. This was probably our 5th date, and I already knew, you know? There was just… something there. But I didn’t know if like, he knew, you know? So after we picked apples, I just asked him if he believed in soul mates. And you know what he did? As serious as can be, Rand turned to me, nodded, and said, ‘I have one.’ Then he reached over and squeezed my hand. I mean, whoo. Where did he get the confidence to phrase something so important like that?”

Tia Alexandra, 19, is probably the most popular performing artist currently working in Zone 1. Reporters from Lifeline attempted to contact Mr. Ghosthound or Senator Firefly for comment on Mr. Ghosthound’s age, but they made no comment. But based upon his appearance-

Randidly stopped reading and handed the article back. Wasn’t this… wasn’t this just Neveah talking about him!?!?

“Neveah,” Randidly growled. “Summon me. Right now.”