Within the hour, my little argument with Robert and of course the upcoming trial is the talk of the entire block.

A few of my acquaintances ask me all sorts of questions, ranging from 'When did I grow a pair of balls?' to 'Are you completely nuts?!'

Quite honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself, whether I'm gutsy or nuts.

One thing's for certain though, I need to make this count if I don't want to end up like my father.

Slowly, the stream of questions wears off.

Not because people stop being curious, but much rather because I keep telling them, that I have to prepare for the trial.

The truth however is, that I'm pissing my pants and have no idea whatsoever how I should go about these preparations, but if I want anyone's support, they cannot know, just how scared I really am.

In a quiet moment, I take a deep breath.

"Relax, Sirus...you can do this. I mean, sure, you're essentially going up against the leader of the block who commands the respect and admiration of pretty anyone here, but you've got..." I murmur when suddenly a young voice addresses me.

"Excuse me...are you Mr. Sirus Loctor?"

I open my eyes, blinking once or twice while wondering who might it be.

I look down at the source of the voice and see a young boy, just about half as tall as I am. Can't remember to have seen him before though.

His bright blue eyes look at me full of expectations.

I groan, "Look, kid, I don't know what they've told you, but I'm kinda busy right now. I need to prepare my own funeral."

"This 'trial', everyone talks about?"

"Yeah, because of that. Shouldn't you have class right now or something?"

"Nope! Teach said he needs to attend this trial thing! But..."

"...but?"

"He didn't explain what this 'trial' is. Or why it is important."

I nod and reply to the unspoken question, "He's got a good reason for that. You're way too young to know about the trial."

"But I wanna know!"

I sigh and rummage in the back of my head, but eventually decide that this might be the last time I get to teach anyone anything ever again, so I might as well do it.

"Okay squirt, listen. The reason why your teacher didn't tell you what the trial is, is because knowing about it is dangerous. Because you see, anyone who knows and fully understands the trial can vote in it and summon it himself. That's why we don't tell the kids about it until they're at least this tall."
I put my hand just about the height of my collarbone.

"And...why don't you just change the rules?"

I chuckle at the question and remember Zach, a childhood friend of mine, asking the same question when we learned about it. I guess the teacher is right. History tends to repeat itself.

"That's because we are all created equal, with the same rights and the same obligations. Our society is built on this concept of equality. And if we change the trial to exclude a particular group, it wouldn't take long, until people start clamoring to change something else. And then something else. And then something different yet again. And before you know it, our system of equality is full of inequalities, because every group wants as many benefits as they can get."

"...huh?"

I roll my eyes and say, "We've always done it like that and nobody dares to touch the rules because they think bad things would happen if we do."

"...right...so what's so terrible about this trial?"

I close my eyes, wondering if it's really alright for me to tell this kid, but I shake my head eventually.

I've gone too far so many times now, one more time won't matter now.

"That's because, if you lose, you have to give up something really important. The most important thing we possess. The only thing, actually."

The little kid scratches his head and finally asks, "And what is that? Isn't just about everything we have public property?"

I nod and reply, "You're right, runt. However, there is one thing we actually do possess. The one thing, the Asmodei cannot take away from us, even though they already tried. Our names."

"Our...names?"

"That's right. My name is Sirus Loctor. But if I lose the trial, I need to lay down this name, officially and in front of everyone. That means that you aren't an official part of society anymore. No more bed rights, no mating rights, no anything. It's like you die if you lose, only that you keep breathing."

Now the kid giggles and snorts, "That's stupid!"

"It's the rules, kid. Because our names are the only thing we really own, it's the only thing we can really lose. And that's why it was chosen as the penalty for losing the trial."

"But...why would you do that?!"

"Because the trial is important and affects everyone in the block in some way, so it shall only be used for very important things."

"Like what you and Robert are fighting over? A girl?"

I raise an eyebrow and wonder if I misjudged the age of the runt, but eventually shake my head.

"No, not a girl."

"Cause Daddy said you and Robert are after the same girl!"

"Oh, did your daddy say that? Why should he care?"

The kid beams, "Why wouldn't a father be interested in his son?"

"...okay, you've lost me. Who were you again?"

Now the kid gives me the brightest smile, his tooth gaps reminding me of my own childhood, "I'm Sam. Son of D-155 and Mireyu! And Daddy says, you are my half-brother."