<div class="floatright">(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6193/headphoneswhiteblueeyes.jpg)</div>As the old man appeared and she could actually hear what was going on again, Miyuki glanced over to him.  Out of respect, she slipped off her headphones, though she'd already proved she could hear just fine through them so long as music wasn't actually playing.  Truth be told, maybe they were a bit more of a security blanket than she wanted to admit.<br/><br/>"If you can turn off stuff, can I bottle you or something, or just get you to snuggle Akio so he doesn't decide to blare loud and obnoxious music while the rest of us are having a conversation?"  She leaned back against another tree, but this time kicked up a leg to better brace herself, now several centimeters shorter.<br/><br/>It didn't surprise her at all about the government.  Honestly, lasting as long as 50 years felt like a stretch.  She'd had to read about stuff like the Roman Empire in school and recognized the direction.<br/><br/>Once Akio continued his ignorance, Miyuki explained.  "Things don't change as much as you might expect.  Cutting pieces off of coins and melting them down to make new coins isn't really all that different from printing and digitizing money.  Bread and circuses is even more obvious as a comparison.  However, the fall of the Roman Empire was devastating as it crumbled away, but they didn't really have nearly as much power as exists now in the hands of modern governments.  Failing to learn from history and being doomed to repeat it doesn't just mean how many times you failed the class, Akio."