The Council Dismisses the Warning

Kiyoko predicts Neo-Tokyo’s destruction and the Colonel warns that Tetsuo’s power is already loose. The executive council argues about budgets, the Olympics, misconduct, and whether Akira caused the previous war, then moves to investigate the Colonel instead of responding.

When risk evidence threatens budgets and reputations, institutions can convert an urgent safety decision into a dispute about credibility, ownership, and procedure. The danger advances while governance remains stuck debating whether the warning counts.

The Colonel’s secrecy, mismanagement, and authoritarian response helped create the distrust; the council’s skepticism is not wholly irrational.