*STUDENT COUNCIL OFFICE - NIJIGASAKI HIGH SCHOOL - ODAIBA - TOKYO*
I rose from my presidential chair, because I was met face to face with one of the last people I wanted to encounter.
AKIHIKO: "Shioriko, I know this looks bad but-"
SHIORIKO: "I am so disappointed in you."
AKIHIKO: "..."
SATSUKI, UZUKI: "President Shioriko, you've returned!"
SHIORIKO: "Long time no see, Satsuki, Uzuki."
AKIHIKO: "Shioriko may be back, but make no mistake Sato twins. I am still the Student Council President and you must address me that way."
SATSUKI: "Y-Yes!"
UZUKI: "S-Sorry, President Suzuki!"
AKIHIKO: "Both of you, please leave. I will discuss matters with Shioriko privately."
SATSUKI, UZUKI: "Yes, President Suzuki!"
SHIORIKO: "President Suzuki. *Sigh* Do you even hear yourself speak? You sound rotten to the core, just like your father."
AKIHIKO: "I'm just stating the truth. I am the Student Council President."
SHIORIKO: "After you stole the position from me."
AKIHIKO: "Stole is such a strong word. I'm doing this to protect you."
SHIORIKO: "Protect me?"
AKIHIKO: "You worked yourself too hard, you put student demands before your health. That was reckless of you, Shioriko. Now, I will hold this position until I graduate, and then you can take over when you're a third-year student."
SHIORIKO: "Take over?"
AKIHIKO: "Yeah, take over. You know, like you took over Nana's place as President."
SHIORIKO: "Now the same thing has happened to me. I must admit, the feeling of losing that seat is painful.
But don't you dare compare my takeover to yours. I beat Setsuna fair and square in an election.
You blackmailed the Chairwoman to get where you are.
We are not the same."
AKIHIKO: "That's where you're wrong, Shioriko. We are the same.
We've been the same ever since we met. At the end of the day we're just clay waiting to be moulded by our fathers to accomplish greater things than they ever did.
It's who we are, successors to our families' fortunes and we can't change that."
SHIORIKO: "Months ago, I would have thought exactly that. But it was you who taught me how to fight against it."
AKIHIKO: "..."
SHIORIKO: "You and the School Idol Club gave me a new path to follow, helping me to become a better person.
I'd like to believe that boy is still somewhere inside whatever...THIS is."
AKIHIKO: "THIS is who I need to be to save you all. I won't let Liella! takeover Tokyo, and I won't let the students of Nijigasaki push you around!"
SHIORIKO: "Liella!, what are you talking about? A-Anyway, that's not important right now. We should stay on topic.
You're out of order and it's time for you to give me back my presidency."
AKIHIKO: "I can't do that, Shioriko. I won't let you hurt yourself."
SHIORIKO: "When we had a discussion in my room, I was wrong to accuse you of protecting yourself.
I can see now that this isn't the case at all."
AKIHIKO: "My only priority is to protect the School Idol Club."
SHIORIKO: "Perhaps, but you're not focused on protecting yourself, Akihiko.
You're focused on DESTROYING yourself."
AKIHIKO: "Destroying myself? Heh, what? No, no, th-that's crazy!"
SHIORIKO: "You know that you can't get away with this for too long. Even your 'Diplomatic Immunity' won't protect you. So you intend to do as much as you can in the short timeframe you have as President, before you are expelled."
AKIHIKO: "No, no, you've got it all wrong. I-"
SHIORIKO: "You view yourself as a sacrifice for the future of the School Idol Club.
If you destroy yourself to further their endeavors, then it will all be worthwhile.
Isn't that how you see yourself?"
AKIHIKO: "That's..."
SHIORIKO: "Nothing but a martyr. Sacrificing yourself to save everyone.
Or maybe you want to be the father your dad never was?"
AKIHIKO: "Shioriko, I'm warning you."
SHIORIKO: "He never protected you, he saw you as nothing but a liability.
When you were given the opportunity to oversee twelve girls, you wanted to protect them.
You wanted to be the father figure to us that your father never was to you."
AKIHIKO: "Enough..."
SHIORIKO: "Maybe if you can protect us from harm, it will give everything you went through a reason.
Because if you didn't suffer then you never would have protected us.
Open your eyes, Akihiko. You have a Guardian Angel Complex!"
AKIHIKO: "I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH! PLEASE!" MAKE IT STOP!"
SHIORIKO: "Akihiko...?"
AKIHIKO: "Just please... PLEASE SHUT UP!"
SHIORIKO: "Just look at us. We're just getting into a heated predicament again."
AKIHIKO: "We don't need to have this conflict, Shioriko... For fuck sake! If only you could see that this is the only way to guarantee Nijigasaki's future."
SHIORIKO: "How do you know that?"
AKIHIKO: "I'd rather not get into a debate with you right now. I'm very busy."
SHIORIKO: "And you think that I'm not? I've just been through hell, bedridden and sick! Now I have a lot of school work to catch up on, and to make up for lost time in the School Idol Club!"
AKIHIKO: "Sounds like you've got a lot of work on your plate. Just don't overwork yourself.
Don't chase after me Shioriko, because it will be tragic if all of your hard work was for nothing but defeat."
SHIORIKO: "Then take a look at yourself."
AKIHIKO: "Me?"
SHIORIKO: "Just because the School Idol Club suffered defeat, you want to call it quits.
Now, you're trying to erase everyone else's dreams just to avenge your own!"
AKIHIKO: "Erasing dreams...?"
SHIORIKO: "You have slashed club budgets across the school, telling them that the only way to accomplish their goals is to follow your rulership.
That your rules will lead them to success and that they must follow them."
AKIHIKO: "And that they should. Without success there is no accomplishment.
These rules will help them to focus on their own business and stay in line."
SHIORIKO: "...And what if they don't?"
AKIHIKO: "Enlighten me."
SHIORIKO: "Every student at Nijigasaki should be free to choose their own path.
They cannot be satisfied with pursuing a path that someone else made for them."
AKIHIKO: "That's ridiculous..."
SHIORIKO: "Is it? You need to realize that everything you've done in power has merely been temporary. That it's all been for nothing. Because... You can't control hearts, Akihiko... Not theirs and not even your own."
AKIHIKO: "?!"
SHIORIKO: "I know this. I knew that I couldn't control my heart the moment that I watched Ayumu perform live.
Now, because your dreams were shattered, you want to take everyone else's down with you.
And when these people realize that they can't give up on their dreams... You'll be the one who they will brand a dictator."
AKIHIKO: "Wait a minute... These words are-?!"
SHIORIKO: "Let me give you some choice words that someone close to me once gave me."
AKIHIKO: "Shioriko, I-"
SHIORIKO: "Unless you change your ways, these people will eat you alive.
And when that happens, the vote of 'No Confidence' will be passed, resulting in your resignation.
Then you'll see that my choices were right all along. Though, I'm happy. I have a Club of people that accept and respect me. Though...I doubt the same can be said about you.
Your days as Student Council President are numbered, Akihiko Suzuki.
Tick...Tock..."