By some miracle, Go managed to get invited to the public ceremony hosted by the City on the very first March 28th after his debut on the dueling scene.
It wasn't a big role - he was only to partake in one of the exhibition duels, then sit on the podium for the service. All they needed him to be was an entertaining duelist, and then just quiet window-dressing to show the people that the city's method of mourning had its supporters.
He'll play the part, of course. Go knows that doing anything that would get him labeled "subversive" when he's only just starting to make a name for himself is more likely to hurt him than not. There's enough "crazy celebrities" out there, and the people running magazines have plenty of experience in destroying careers and reputations.
Go is young, but he's not stupid. He knows that one day he'll have enough sway to say what he truly means, to share his knowledge with the world.
But there's more than one type of fame. Even if he wins every duel, if the public thinks he's a crackpot they'll watch his battles and then smile and nod blankly when he tries to speak honestly. His entire mission, his entire purpose, completely redundant.
People are stupid, they don't want to listen to anything they haven't already heard.
Although Go knows it's not that simple. It's not that people are stupid, it's that a person doesn't have the time or the energy to pay attention to everything that's important in life. Very few people can do the research and educate themselves fully on even a single issue in their lives.
They find an expert they trust to summarize the problem for them, putting their approach to life in the hands of a stranger.
Go has no intention of being "that person my favorite news caster mocks a lot." Granted if he's to make a stand that's bound to happen sooner or later, but if the world has already formed its opinion of him then the detractors will have less ground to stand on. First impressions are crucial, and the trick is making sure as many people as possible think favorably of him before their other idols and icons begin telling them to hate him.
He knows that's the way the world works. He knows life isn't fair. Just being right won't make people believe him.
And yet…
He knows it will be hard to sit there on the podium and listen to the speaker preach on and on about "remembering our losses" and then telling Den city to "forgive and forget." As though the memory alone is enough. As though there aren't thousands, millions of victims still suffering from their nightmares and losses.
It's like the pacifists and the preachers don't know about the civil wars still raging the world over. As though the Great Reboot didn't leave millions of Fusionite war criminals running free, all four worlds pretending that peace equals absolution. Like they don't live in a City-State surrounded by dozens of other City-states, allied but separated by geography and governing.
As though a full third of their population isn't gone forever from starvation or radiation or any death that wasn't directly caused by Solid Vision weapons.
First-hand experience takes precedence over second-hand knowledge, and yet despite remembering nothing of The Invasion Go knows in his gut that he understands the cost of that war better than most of those who lived through it. It makes him furious to think about it, to know that he's going to have to stand by and watch as the "leaders" of Den city preach ignorance and passivity.
There's a more optimistic side to Go that wonders if the speakers really mean anything they say, or if they're just doing whatever they must to keep the representatives from Pendulum, Synchro and Fusion happy.
If it wasn't so horrible it'd be hilarious that his world has taken help from the people who destroyed it, but what else could they do? Pendulum would withdraw its donations of food, supplies, and trained specialists to anyone who started refusing aid from Fusion. Keeping their hands clean while offering sadistic choices in the name of peace.
Most, if not all of the civilizations that stand now are only functional because of the aid they got from those dimensions.
SOL Technologies is as much of a boon as it is a threat. The only reason why Hanoi hasn't thoroughly destroyed their chief opponent is because doing so would remove everything that makes the city independent. Becoming the largest producers and exporters of dueling equipment has made Den city strong enough to function without aid, but that doesn't mean the cities they sell their goods to don't still rely on donations for survival.
It's a cruel, cruel world, where survival of atrocities is bought with silence.
That's why Hanoi exists. That's why Go has a job to do- to remind the people what they sacrificed in the name of survival. He knows that one day, in two, five, maybe ten years, he'll be the one speaking at the podium. He'll talk about recovery and healing, but not forgiveness. And he won't pretend this whole world is recovering.
Oh, he won't be too blunt. Even when the people trust you, they can still be frightened off by shows of passion. He'll wear a normal nice outfit, just one red scarf of solidarity. He'll smile for the cameras.
He'll talk about how the world was hurt, for the small children with families unable or unwilling to speak of it, and to bring the memories forward in everyone else. Then he'll talk about where they are now, how their city is alive and blossoming.
But Go will remind the people that they were the ones to make themselves strong- not Pendulum. That they, the Xyzians, fought alone for most of the war. That two weeks of a fragile, two-man alliance isn't the same thing as a long-lasting history of mutual trust and respect.
Perhaps Go will be able to convince Kurosaki to come in person. He has always admired the man for refusing to support the dependence forced on Xyz, even if he
And that Den City has been lucky- regardless of the stupid and outright suicidal decisions Go knows SOL Technologies has made in regards to the Cyverse, he's going to have to give them credit for protecting and strengthening their world as a whole.
Japan has a fairly strong infrastructure, but bands of raiders still terrorize Mumbai, New York is ruled by an ever-changing collection of warlords, and Seoul is almost always under siege from its neighbors. Their world has been raped, and the people of Den City have been told "Ignore it. You have food, your family has a home, why care about anything else?"
On the same day that an alien dimension invaded their home, Go wants the people to remember that their world wasn't always enslaved by other dimensions.
He'll stop there, but Go wants the people to hear his words and think. To realize that something is terribly wrong with the world. To realize that things can change, should change, must change. For all the resources Hanoi has been giving to the Ignis, Go is one of the few who keeps his mind on Hanoi's true goal, the reason they existed, long before the Cyverse did.
Yusaku spends sleepless nights building digital traps, and Aoi rushes to VRAINS every time the Ignis shows up, but Go is the one who's task will continue after the Cyverse is gone.
No matter how dangerous that thing may be, once it's dead the threat will be gone. Go is trying to tackle a problem that's much, much more complex than the one that the other five are so occupied with. Even if the stakes are lower, Go's battle is infinitely fiercer.