“Look, it was unexpected, we hoped to deal with them this happened, but obviously…”
“You failed, you damn failed!” Kyoru slammed his heavy fist onto the desk, and fell into his chair. Swiveling around, he faced the windows looking out onto the busy streets of Tokyo, still waking from the night’s minimal rest. “Tell me, what are we to do?”
“I suggest confronting them. Make a fuss, call an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting), flush them out.”
“You are suggesting handing more meat out to the media? Are you &^%@ crazy? The Opposition Party is probably laughing over today’s paper, and you are suggesting that we keep feeding them with more publicity? You’re nuts!”
“The point is, let it be known that you won’t go quietly, that you are up to the challenge. Publicity will feed us the sympathy.”
“Or our death blow, too risky, besides, they have Inouye on their side, he was our PR man until YOU, yes YOU, decided to throw him into the back-bench to control him, to stunt this takeover of theirs. Now you make them so dissatisfied they are coming right out to challenge us.”
“Then maybe a change is for the best.”
“What? You are saying that I should resign and let them takeover? For months we have been battling the claims of instability in the Party, and now we go around and admit it, we can’t do that!”
“Sir, either that, or we go to the Party Poll. I would suggest leaving gracefully, but, it is your decision.”
“Of course it is my $#^*#@ decision!” Kyoru’s hands reached to his temples and massaged it gently, “damn, I guess that’s it? End of my political career. But I’m not going to let that two-faced monkey Imaruru win so easily, I’m calling National Elections, let’s see how he’ll deal with it. Set up a press release, we’ll announce it tomorrow afternoon, stall the press.”
“Yes sir.” The man turned around and left, muttering under his breath, “sore loser.”
Kyoru-san picked up his jacket and left the office after his aid. Once he reached the street, he headed for a payphone. He pressed the number to the home of his a young man… (comparatively, considering the fact that he was near 70 himself), burnt in his memory. The phone call was untraceable, that was what was so important. “Son?”
“Yes?”
“Think you are ready to run for Prime Minister?”
“Anytime old man.”
“I’m resigning.”
“I should imagine so, after today’s paper.”
“Think you got a chance?”
“Always, keep me posted.”
“Sure will.”
Or so she thought.
The older one of the more refreshed personnel leaned back into chair, “let’s make the best out of this then. It might help our cause in the end.”
A man with thick glasses and unappealing eyes looked at him in a slightly sarcastic way, the way that he struck his chest out despite the fatigue showed that he was a proud man, the proud PR of the group. “That's easy for you to say. What about you doing something? We’ve been working out butts off since the paper came out at the crack of dawn, and you tell us to ‘make the best of it’?”
“What have you done so far, Hoshimoto? With all your stress and hype about mending the situation.” The younger man followed the example of his older compatriot, and leaned into his black leather chair. He swung his long legs onto the table, and picked up his coffee, taking a long drink. “We can turn things around. What about the sleaze we got from their office? Use that as an excuse for why we’re challenging Kyoru's hold office.”
The others busily took notes to the suggestion that Inouye had just given, trying to expand on the idea which may or may not save them from potential political disaster. They turned to the older man again, “what do you say to that idea Imaruru?”
Imaruru smiled at the naivety of Inouye's suggestion but the hidden potential of it, ignoring the others’ question, he turned to him. “Leak it, don't tell it. A bit of dirty work I know, what can you expect from politicians though?”
“Yeah, the immoral, unethical souls, that’s what they all say.” Answered his younger compatriot with a grin, “I’m 27 and I’ve lost my soul to the devil, what on earth shall I do? Dear me, I’ll never find myself a good woman if I don’t have a soul. God help me!”
Imaruru looked at his partner’s grin, Inouye had a certain sense of charm, an easy-going personality that the older people liked to baby, and younger people like to claim as a member of their group. His young face was popular with the media, nothing he said could be wrong, his public relations training had done him a world of good. No matter the ditch, Inouye still managed to climb out unscathed with a smile and some sensible words. His child-like face was only a farce, his brain had developed to a stage where most men never knew, and he was the man who got 110% out of the possible 100%. This man had ambition, and was alert. His brain, meticulous, combing through every possible scenario, Inouye only lacked the experience… but experience could be earned. “You want something done, this how you do it young man, in the REAL world.”
Inouye knew that, he hadn’t climbed this far up the political ladder and learnt nothing, still, Imaruru liked to assert his age superiority. They made a good partnership, the young, charming behind, and the older, more sturdy character as the front man. “Well, that’s what you are here to do, isn’t it?” Inouye quickly swung his legs from the oak desk. “Lets call it a morning. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with the press personally, get someone to leak out the information, shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Rub on the dirt and call us the savior.”
“Nothing too specific, just say that the party needs a bit of a changeover, and we might be just the thing. The party policies are sound, we just need a new leaders who’s got the credibility, but naturally living under the same principles.”
Hoshimoto raised his eyebrow and sighed a breath of relief. “Not bad, not bad for the future Prime and Vice Minister of Japan. We'll see how things go when this little bit of news meets the media.”
Inouye met Imaruru’s eyes and nodded his. “No luck tracing who the illegitimate kid of his is huh? Keep working on it. Alright, lets go face the press, see how the weather is.” They stood up, and carefully stacked the loose paper on the table beside them into their glossy black briefcase. In quick steps, the two left, leaving the others quickly packing up behind them.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, my trusted source. I want a team, we’re on a roll man!
“Yes, of course, Kyoni-san. That will be done.”
7:15am
“Ami, what’s in the news today?” Usagi leaned over towards Ami from her
desk just before class started. Not that she was actually interested in
what was happening in the world, but Luna had been nagging…
Ami looked up at her friend from her book. Luna had managed to remain firm with the command that Usagi be early to school from now on and know a bit more than what Mangas fed her. Without hesitation Ami recited the newspaper briefs, “In the political arena, there’s been a leak out that Imaruru-san and Inouye-san are planning to topple Kyoru-san’s grasp on leadership, and then of course the Kyoni-san will be out on the full again attacking the stability of the government. And then there is the war going on in…”
“What?”
Ami stopped dead in her tracks, “what what?”
“Who were all those people?”
Ami sighed at her friend and closed her eyes, “Imaruru-san is the Treasurer of the present government, Inouye-san is the Defence Minister and also the Work-Relations Minister.”
“What about the others?”
“Kyoni-san is the Opposition Leader.”
“And the other one?”
Ami stared at Usagi in bewilderment, “Usagi!! How can you not know! Kyoru-san is the present Prime Minister of Japan!”