Chapter 1183. Short Series A / Human Success Part 6
「 How long are you going to remain as a cultural entertainer? 」
Yazawa-san told governor Murata.
「 If you intend to be a politician for the rest of your life, then you should turn over a new leaf. As of now, you’re not worthy to see Kakka 」
Governor Murata looks at Yazawa-san dumbfoundedly.
Then, the secretary.
「 You can’t say that! Murata-sensei, no, we’re doing the best that we can for the future of j.a.pan! And yet, a gofer of the Kouzuki house and a high-school boy for some reason is mocking Murata-sensei! This isn’t allowed! There’s too much to object here! 」
Then, he spoke to governor Murata.
「 Sensei, we’re filing a defamation case to them! No, we’re going to go to a press conference first! In the first place, I couldn’t stomach the n.o.bility and those who think of themselves as the privileged cla.s.s! No matter what these people tell you, Sensei won’t lose his worth! They are just imbeciles who could not understand Murata-sensei’s splendor! 」
「 I-Is that so? 」
「 Isn’t that obvious?! Murata-sensei, you graduated from Tokyo University, loved by your viewers on TV as a political scientist, social critic, and author, have risen to the position of the prefectural governor after defeating the previous generation. 」
「 That’s right! I’m Murata Hideo! I’m a hero!! 」
「 The name of the new party Murata-sensei’s establishing is based on the j.a.pan Revolutionary hero party, and even your catchphrase is “be a hero” 」
「 The fans on Yokohama 」
Governor Murata said.
「 That’s why I couldn’t decide on which one to use, it was that or “Move on! If you have the mind for it” 」
What’s this talk?
「 I mean, I really wanted to be the governor in the Kanagawa prefecture. But, I wasn’t in a position to win in that election 」
「 We’ve just begun! We’re just starting! Murata-sensei! 」
Err, what’s with this skit?
「 Anyway, I’m going to post this humiliation I’ve received from you people on Twitter and in the blogs! Murata-sensei has a million followers! You heard t right! A million fighters! 」
「 T-That’s right! I’ll make you regret turning me away! You’ll regret this! 」
I…
「 What? How? 」
I replied calmly.
「 Look, your threats won’t work, and it’s useless to get us to lose our temper by getting emotional and heating up in the first place 」
These people are trying to get us angry.
They feign ignorance on their own insults and want us to slip up and insult them, using that as a weapon to fight back.
I can see that’s their plan.
「 I’m a voter, and he’s just a high school student. Do you have problems with s expressing opinions towards politicians? 」
Yazawa-san speaks with a calm tone.
「 Neither he nor I talked about anything big. If you exaggerate what we said and spread them over the internet, then it’s you who will be in trouble. Kouzuki house has excellent lawyers after all 」
「 A-Are you threatening us?! 」
Governor Murata glared at Yazawa-san.
「 I haven’t said anything like that, have I? I do know that a slight smell of lawsuits brings threats to the table. I would rather say that it’s a problem with what you say. As mentioned earlier, we’re recording everything in this room. I think that your lines are much more defamatory and threatening 」
He stared at the two.
「 Furthermore, are you sure that you want to publicize our meeting? We’re in Tokyo, and this is an establishment owned by the Kouzuki house. Kouzuki house didn’t come to your prefectural office to make the pet.i.tion. It’s you, the prefectural governor, who wants to start a new party, who went all the way to Tokyo to make the pet.i.tion. Throwing away your political duties as the governor 」
Yeah, it’s governor Murata who came wanting Jii-chan’s money and connections.
「 Try cooling down yourself a bit. Find what it means to fight the Kouzuki house 」
I stood up.
「 It’s time. Yazawa-san, let’s go 」
Yazawa-san looked at his wrist.w.a.tch.
「 Oh, it’s exactly fifteen minutes 」
Yazawa-san stood up.
I looked at governor Murata-san.
「 Well then, Murata-san, if you’d excuse us. I had fun talking to you. I learned a lot 」
I bow my head.
「 I couldn’t help you at all, but good luck in the future 」
I said with a smile.
「 Well then, excuse us 」
Yazawa-san looked at the governor and said.
「 H-Hey, wait! 」
Governor Murata speaks in a surprised tone.
「 Uhm, what about us 」
Yazawa-san.
「 Oh. You can go to the reception and go home. Leave the keys in the room, we’ll deal with the aftermath later 」
Yazawa-san talks only about this hotel room.
「 After that, you’re free to take a taxi or whatever you need to go home. Good job for today 」
We left the room.
◇ ◇ ◇
「 You sure don’t get agitated 」
Yazawa-san tells me as soon as we got to the corridor.
「 Oh, sorry 」
「 No, I’m praising you 」
I…
「 I’m already used to it, besides, all they did was just make noise. They’re not holding any dangerous weapons, nor they won’t just suddenly come and kill me 」
There’s no danger in my life so I don’t get scared.
「 Hmm, I guess it’s because you’ve been in a lot of carnage 」
Yazawa-san smiles.
「 Thanks to that, I’m able to live my life cheerfully 」
I’m not scared of people who don’t yield to reason.
The real scary people are those who would stab me out of the blue for no reason.
「 Oh well, let’s go back to Kakka 」
We get in the elevator and then back to Jii-chan’s room.
「 Welcome back! 」
Agnes welcomes us back with a smile.
「 Agnes, give me a moment, I’m about to report the job to Jii-chan 」
「 Okay! Katsuko-chan! 」
Agnes looked at Katsuko-nee.
「 Yes, I already called them to bring in the parfait 」
Oh, they were waiting for me to come back.
I went to Jii-chan and old man Kira’s table.
The two old men are already enjoying the coffee brought in by the room service.
The laptop on the table shows governor Murata’s room.
They were watching our conversation from there.
Oh, the governor and his secretary are both at their wits’ end.
「 Kouzuki, have idiots like this increased recently? 」
Old man Kira looked at governor Murata at the screen and asked.
「 Indeed. They’ve increased, it’s miserable to say but that that kind of people have influence in their directions 」
Jii-chan replied.
「 However, this one seems to have a well-defined principle, but in reality, they talk about weird stuff logically, yet it has no substance. They just scream their sentiments loudly and nothing else 」
「 For some reason, that kind of person is getting support. Why do you think so? 」
Jii-chan looked at me.
I…
「 It’s because they talk with a clear conclusion. They a.s.sert themselves that they are right, and the other party is wrong 」
Yes, governor Murata.
He a.s.serts that he’s right.
「 Even when facing Yazawa-san and me, he speaks “You should know,” “This is obvious,” pushing the idea that his thoughts are right and accepted 」
「 Umu, indeed 」
Jii-chan smiled.
「 The younger generation today seems to feel like they must always be on the “right” side. However, that “right” judgment, is complicated. 」
That’s why they tend to follow people who shout “This is the right thing to do” 」
Jii-chan said.
「 So their decision-making on what’s “right,” has gone down? 」
Old man Kira said.
「 Have the younger people of today become stupid compared to before? 」
I…
「 I don’t think so. The young today can think for themselves, and they also can judge what’s “good” or “bad” 」
「 Indeed. I think that the younglings today are smart. They’re wise and know discernment 」
Jii-chan agreed with me.
「 Then, why are people swayed by that man’s honey talk? 」
That’s…
「 That’s because they’re good at presenting their materials to their conclusion 」
I replied.
「 Everyone wants to be on the winning side, don’t they? People like governor Murata will only talk about information that’s convenient for them, loudly and skillfully insisting that they are right. If they make the decision just from that information, they’ll surely come under the impression that governor Murata is right 」
「 People will be convinced that it’s the right decision, even if it’s just limited information 」
Jii-chan said.
「 That’s right. Furthermore, governor Murata will deliberately try to bring the mood of the place to his side by becoming emotional. If you’re trying to calmly discuss the issue, he will agitate you by getting louder and louder, saying “you’re derailing the discussion,” or “you’re misinterpreting what I’m saying.” That way, the people listening to the debate from his side will feel as if governor Murata has debunked the other side. If he uses a strong tone and blames the other party, it’ll look like governor Murata’s scolding the other side 」
「 j.a.panese people are sensitive to the atmosphere, and so they think less about their reasoning but creating the mood that’s convenient to them 」
Old man Kira nodded.
「 That’s right. That’s why we can’t engage in a conversation even when you have a decent argument. Governor Murata came to impose his opinion, and he has no intention of listening. He only wants to show the people around him his victory in arguments. That’s how he attracts people with how right he is, that’s his objective 」
That’s why his words have no meaning.
He only uses his momentum to attack the other party.
「 The people above his generation probably never scolded him properly. Or maybe, even when he is, he only secludes himself in his sh.e.l.l thinking “I’m not wrong,” and so he would never understand any reason why he’s being scolded 」
Jii-chan said.
「 Uhm, this is a story from my middle school 」
I…
「 When I was in middle school, I was in a dorm boys’ school, but, when there’s a fuss during the night, the night watch teacher will find them and knock them, making them sit on their soles 」
I remember the time when I was in my second year.
「 That student is in the basketball club and he had a match the next day. So, he lost the game and protested to the school, he’s been holding a grudge against the teacher who scolded him the night before 」
「 Why? 」
Old man Kira asked me.
「 Well, the teacher knew that he had an important match the next day and yet, the teacher still beat him up and made him sit for two hours in the middle of the night. Because of that, he didn’t get enough sleep, he hurt his knee, and he couldn’t move like he usually does, and he couldn’t concentrate on the match because he was worried about getting hit. Therefore, the basketball team lost the preliminary round of the prefectural tournament…the reason being the teacher made them sit on their sole the night before 」
「 That’s unjustified resentment 」
「 Well, using corporal punishment in school is a problem nowadays. If there would be a court case based on that student’s claim, it could damage the school’s reputation, and the school had to be careful with it, wouldn’t they? 」
Jii-chan said.
「 In the end, it was him who caused the problem, and yet, he kept attacking the teacher, blaming them to be at fault, playing innocent. Ultimately, the whole basketball team sent a letter of protest to the teacher. Well, it’s a boarding school and it’s closed off from the outside world so it ended up unsettled, but… 」
In normal schools, they could heavily criticize the teacher and force them to retire.
「 If there’s a point of attack that you can use on the other side, you’ll identify yourself as the right one and the other side as wrong, and hit them hard on that point. Once you created that atmosphere, you can trip them up with your complaints even if the other person made just a small mistake. You can deny their individuality. Thinking that it’s okay to beat them down because they’re in the wrong 」
「 Hmm, so that’s the trend 」
「 He’s half-hearted smart, and has discernment, and so they direct the ways of cornering the other party. The truth is, “I don’t like them on an emotional level,” the thought of “That one is no good. I can’t forgive them. That’s why they’re bad.” is what subst.i.tutes in their brain 」
Jii-chan said.
「 Governor Murata’s skilled in that method. He’s good at deliberately making his opponents lose their words, or at the moment they make a mistake, he’ll do his best to attack them and turn them into people he can beat 」
That’s the only thing he’s trying to do when he was making Yazawa-san or me make a verbal slip.
As soon as we make a slip, he’ll start blaming Kouzuki house for being impolite and dominate the discussion that way.
Of course, governor Murata never apologized for his disrespectful att.i.tude and remarks.
「 It may have been good if he was debating on television, but with a child? He acts like a child. He’s not someone we should deal with 」
「 You’re right, Kouzuki 」
The two old men nodded at each other.
「 Was he serious when he said that he had experience in running a business and so he wanted to apply it to politics? 」
「 He probably is. What an idiot 」
Old man Kira said. Jii-chan replied.
「 They think they’ve become successful because of something as a food store chain growing bigger 」
「 Well, it’s the result of their hard work, but the idea that they could change the country’s stem because of that experience of success is something to think of 」
「 It’s no wonder start-up companies can make quick management decisions based on the will of a single president. It’s a single organization. 」
「 It’s dangerous to think that you can run a huge organization or the state with the same mindset as running a company 」
「 Indeed, that guy’s been a dictator ever since he’s become a governor. He thinks that he can change everything in the prefecture to his liking because he’s the governor elected by the people 」
「 That’s not how it works. In modern politics, there are many checks and balance to prevent a handful of people from running amok 」
「 Yes. That’s why it’s not like a private company, where the decision lies to the management alone. Every decision takes time 」
「 We’ve already learned the horrors of letting dictators run the government 」
The two old men speak in agreement.
「 If you want to implement policies following your political philosophy, then you’ll have to go and persuade Congress one-by-one. You have to negotiate with the opposition, and try to win over the officials who will be your limbs 」
「 In companies, once you become an employee, your face never changes. But politicians are replaced by the results of elections. 「 It’s no surprise that the officials in government offices are taking cold shoulder to the politicians 」
「 Every change in prefectural governor changes the policy. Stupid governors don’t need to be actively a.s.sociated with since they’ll fall in the next election 」
「 When they take a stubborn att.i.tude and say “You’re a government official so you have to work according to governor’s orders,” then there’s no way they will work properly 」
「 You’re dealing with a person after all 」
「 If you’re a business owner and an employee, then you can make threats such as “I’ll fire you if you don’t do as I say,” but when it’s a politician and government worker relationship, that’s the last thing you want to do 」
「 It’s unbearable to have a start-up manager use their senses in politics 」
I see.
It’s much more serious than what I felt.
「 Oh, this is a good opportunity so remember this 」
Huh, Jii-chan?
「 Corporate executives who want to become politicians are just show-offs and self-a.s.sertive otters. Never trust those people 」
「 Genuine businessmen would think about politicians and government officials but never get themselves into the political stage 」
「 They’re too busy running their company, and it’s much more fun 」
「 A successful start-up business. If you’re tired of running a company and now want to become a politician, then you haven’t experienced true success as a businessman and you’ll never understand the fun of it 」
「 People who speak like them are one-sided and shallow. They’re not men of substance 」
Yeah.
「 With that said, Kouzuki, as for that man’s plan to start a new party 」
「 It’s easy to destroy them, but, we can use some of it 」
「 Ochiai transport is on board with that plan, right? 」
「 Yes, Kurosaki’s the president 」
「 Then, let’s make Ochiai transport spit out the money and destroy president Kurosaki 」
「 Indeed. Let’s get to work on reconstructing that transport industry 」
「 Yes, there’s still some time until the next national election, so let’s gather all these idiots in one place before then 」
「 Or just get rid of them all during election 」
「 That’s going to damage them much more 」
「 Hmm, let’s find out which district that man and his buddies are considering running for now and start making an opposition 」
Jii-chan and Kira are getting excited with their talks.
As expected, this old man is another powerful person that’s in the same league as Jii-chan.
Then.
Knock, knock.
The door’s knocked.
「 I’m sure it’s the parfait! 」
Agnes is happy.
Then…
「 Excuse us 」
A room service maid comes in with a wagon of parfait, and then…
Misuzu, Ruriko, Yoshiko-san, Karen, Michi, and Shou-neechan entered.
Oh, the school’s over so they’re joining us here.
Mariko’s not with them today.
Oh, what’s up with them?
「 My, Kaan-sama! 」
Misuzu and the girls are surprised by old man Kira, who’s sitting together with Jii-chan.
「 Huh? 」
Old man Kira laughed.
「 Don’t make such a surprised face. You’re embarra.s.sing me 」
Then, he spoke to me.
「 Oh, I forgot to mention. My granddaughter’s been in your care recently 」
Granddaughter?
「 It’s Momoko 」
This guy’s Momoko-neechan’s grandfather?
Then that means…He’s the head of Kaan house, the other family that has the same power as the Kouzuki house!!!