"Did you really come back just to see the mayor, even after riding past your bus stop? And then you just happened to run into the Prisoner Gang's attempt to assassinate the mayor?"
In the quiet, cramped little room, a man in an officer's uniform adjusted the bright desk lamp before him, shining it onto the face of the somewhat uneasy youth on the other side of the room.
"Yes."
Facing the officer's cold gaze, the youth nodded lightly and tried to speak calmly. "I was on the same bus as the mayor earlier. I only came over because I wanted to see him, to see if I might get a chance to say a few words to him. I never expected things to develop like this..."
"Chotte, a low-level employee at a mechanical factory under the Ives Space Systems Group. An ordinary citizen."
The officer in front of him glanced down at the tablet in his hand, then continued coldly, "After encountering something as serious as an assassination attempt on the mayor, your first reaction wasn't to run. It was to hide and cautiously observe the situation. Don't you think you were a little too calm?"
"I really just wanted to see..."
The youth called Chotte hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly.
"Just wanted to watch the excitement?!"
Apparently catching the hesitation in the youth's voice, the officer's tone turned even colder. His blade-like gaze fixed on Chotte.
"I..."
The youth's body trembled. Then he slowly said, "I was thinking that maybe I could help the mayor, if necessary..."
"Help the mayor? In the middle of a group of heavily armed gang members and powerful extraordinary monsters?"
The officer looked coldly at the youth, his voice calm and low.
"People who grew up in the Southern District generally