8. What I want to do in this world
I refrained from making memory pieces anymore. I just woke up; I didn't want to sleep again. Instead, I chose to do some research.
I saw a small red 1 written above my mail app on my phone, so I checked it. It was my student mail ID; the academy officially sent me a letter demanding an apology to Jackson, his parents, Joy's parents, and the dean. If not done within a week, they will expel me on the basis of Behavior unbecoming of a student of Vinigam Gishi Academy.
I was not expelled yet.
I stared at the mail for a few minutes, then searched for info on Jackson and Joy's parents. Joy's mother was indeed filthy rich. She owned malls, restaurants, apartment buildings, shops, arcades, and whatnot. Her father used to be a small celebrity in his time. Jackson's mother was a member of the mayor's inner circle. His father owned multiple art galleries and book shops.
My bank account had 25,000 ZSM.
Two paths were before me. Either I bow before them like a bitch and endure humiliating academy life, or leave without saying anything. There was another path as well... a bit problematic but not impossible: Sue them for wrongful accusations and bankrupt myself.
Fuck it. If it came to that, I could live on the streets.
Other than someone physically hurting me, I didn't much care for anything else. But with Amplification I can overcome even that.
If someone rapes you, you can rape them back. Isn't that right? Hehe.
The rest of the afternoon I spent crafting a plan. Contacted a few lawyers, looked up how to use visualization in a courtroom, how the justice system here worked, etc.
Lawyers were too pricey, and most wouldn't even listen once I mentioned who I wanted to sue. But at last I found a cheap female lawyer willing to take on my case. Still, she asked for 20000 ZSM. I was locked in by now and said yes. The justice system was mostly the same here, with a few minor changes.
As for Memory Pieces in the justice system? That was what made me lock in this much. They were treated as no-nonsense final evidence. The issue with it was that only people with the Visualization mark could create these things for themselves and things they see.
I realized one of the biggest flaws of Visualization power while researching. A memory piece can never be made without the Visualizer's own presence. They could not hide themselves in their own memory. If they were making a piece, it meant no privacy of their own identity as well.
This explained why the nsfw memory-piece market was so undersaturated. Only porn stars were willing to go public. Others in the memory could wear masks, but the Visualizer themselves could never do that. Because it was the Visualizer's own body, it could be undressed, and all internal organs were recorded with perfect accuracy.
The main reason why Visualizers were so hesitant to sell the memory pieces to strangers. The ones my old self sold to.. who knew what those perverts were using it for.
This was why even outside the porn industry, people were so unwilling to sell memory pieces. This made me an even bigger anomaly and a danger. I could not just remove myself from memory, but I could even perfectly change myself into others. I could frame an innocent into doing something heinous.
Another thing I found out was about Memory Extractor Devices. The original visualizer, using memory pieces, could use PC software to turn the stored memory into a 3D video file. Like Blender, this software could make videos from multiple angles. Basically, one could turn a sensory experience like a memory piece into a flat-screen video.
Coutrooms often used these to hide victim Visualizers. I can opt for that as well. The police and lawyers will be present for the whole process, so there was no question of wrongdoing.
This thing was actually amazing. Everything else aside, I believe this discovery was my greatest reward of this research. This software would basically turn my brain into an unmatched, ultimate-level VFX studio. I can imagine all sorts of things and turn them into videos.
In this world, they had Vi-Tube as well. That's where I was watching all these informative videos after all. I can create content that even the highest-budget movies would struggle to match. VFX was calculation, but imagination was almost real-life. Not almost, it was real life.
I finally knew what I wanted to do in this world. On earth, I used to watch these creators make unbelievable videos and games; now I could make my own projects! I will never have to work for shitty companies and can be rich and free!
There was an issue though. This memory converting device was priced at 170,000 ZSM. There were cyber cafes where one could rent them; that was 2-3k per session. Money.. I have to do something to get it. This converter was my dream now.
For now, I decided to rent the converter and get a video that will help me win the case. The lawyer lady almost refused me, but only accepted after I told her I was a Visualizer and could prove it.
I had a plan. I knew what to do in life as well; for the first time after coming to this world, I felt truly free. I stopped my research, content with my discoveries.
And decided to enjoy Sadie's half-hour-long sessions. It was very fun. Her moans were cute; she would whisper my name once in a while, curse aloud when reaching her peak; overall, cool videos. Such a large woman doing something so vulgar was a real turn on. But I was too spoiled by the memory pieces that videos just didn't feel enough now.
I was about to use the foreigner memory pieces again to masturbate when I heard people shouting outside my door.
I made myself decent and opened the door. Lin was standing near the stairs; Sadie was near her door; the two people arguing were Ava and Kyle. The two college 'friends' living together in a single room.
"Fuck you, Kyle. You knew very well what Samantha meant, and you still went along with her! Admit it!" Ava shouted.
"Why shouldn't I? Nothing stops you from eyeing Jordan and all his basketball cronies whenever they have a game! If it hurts that much, tell me what we are? Why does it hurt, Ava? Huh?" Kyle threw back.
"You are disturbing the neighbors!" Ava screamed, looking towards me across the hallway.
Kyle glanced once towards me as well, "Him too! You have no shame! I have seen the looks you give him!"
I suddenly remembered Ava offering to help me with my homework. The jealous guy was not entirely wrong.
Their door was open. Both were throwing each other's clothes and belongings. Both wanted the other to leave, but neither was actually packing. From the expressions of Lin and Sadie, it looked like they had heard this argument before. They were here just in case things became violent.
"Is Sophia home?" I asked Lin, ignoring the troublemakers.
"They just arrived. Dinner is in half an hour." Lin replied.
I wanted to talk to Sophia about my academy. I was living under her roof, and she acted like a guardian to me. I didn't know what history we had, but I wasn't paying her full rent. I could not disrespect her if I wanted to keep living here.
Sadie's face became beet red when our eyes met, and I smirked. She closed the door and left us in the hallway. Lol. Don't make videos if you are that ashamed of yourself.
Half an hour later, we were all in our seats at the dining table. Even Kyle and Ava seemed to have taken a break from fighting to eat. They were ignoring each other wholeheartedly.
"You were looking for me?" Sophia asked while eating rice.
All eyes turned to me. "Yes," I replied after taking a bite of my honey-roasted fish.
"Do you know Mrs. Ryes of the Ryes Industries and Mrs. Lyn Blare, the mayor's assistant?"
Sophia looked serious now; the others paused eating as well. "I.. have heard about them."
"I said some things to Ryes's daughter and Blare's son. The dean took their side and told me to apologize or get expelled."
Several gasps echoed at once. Sophia was not one of them, though. There was a sharpness in her eyes, something very professional and business-like.
"What did you say?" She asked in a calm tone.
"They invited me along with their group to watch a movie together. It was some rom-com crap named Forever Destined. They asked if I liked it and I said it was crap. Then the Blare's son and other guy got offended. Rye's daughter tried to stop him from insulting me, but he was pissed they invited me. He said I was a cheap whore."
This time only one person gasped, and that was Kyle; he even whispered, "...Crap? Forever Destined?"
All others present in the room had serious expressions. Hints of anger in some as well. I was surprised to see they cared enough to get angry on my behalf. Even Mel looked uncomfortable. The middle-aged man was very mild in the face of such intense emotions.
"You shouldn't have gone with them," Sophia murmured.
"Yeah," I smiled, rubbing the backside of my head awkwardly. "My classmate, a girl, asked me to tag along in front of the whole cafeteria; I didn't want to embarrass her."
That seemed to put a smile on several faces, even on Sophia, Sadie, and Ava.