CHAPTER 150 — WHEN CHOICE BECOMES WEIGHT
The seventh day did not begin with data.
It began with chairs.
Rows of them.
Folding, uneven, arranged across the central civic auditorium where the first participatory prioritization forum would take place. No marble podiums. No sealed conference rooms. No closed executive sessions.
Just a wide stage, multiple microphones, projection screens, and citizens filtering in with coffee, notebooks, and expressions that carried something heavier than anger.
Expectation.
But not the explosive kind from days before.
This expectation had gravity.
Today, pressure would not push outward.
It would turn inward.
And decide.
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Elena arrived before the room filled.
She stood at the back of the auditorium, watching volunteers test microphones and project the capacity models onto the large screens.
Marcus sat near the technical table, calibrating live data feeds. Adrian stood beside the side entrance, scanning the crowd as it gathered.
