Mayoral Debate [Deguchi | ST]

Campaign speeches focusing on her future as a mayor had become so synonymous with Hotarubi Deguchi's life, so all-consuming a part of her daily routine, that it was hard for her to imagine graduating from them to doing real work that wasn't just self-promotion. If she was to make that step up to the next level and begin helping people instead of just talking about it, however, she had one last trial to pass: she had to represent her Party of All People against the Traditions and Security Party's Daido Higashide. After all of the speeches and all of the shadow-boxing against Higashide, she felt like it was now or never: either she'd find she'd done enough, or else, it never would be enough. She'd have to change society as a vigilante or something, which would be a highly unexpected twist ending, given the anti-vigilante messages in her policies.

As she took the stage, Deguchi smiled to the crowd, her teeth appearing in a neat line over her antique metal jaw. She crossed both hands at her lap and bowed several times, her tall, lanky, angular figure making her look as though she'd been made specifically to provide contrast to her opponent, a block-shouldered, barrel-shaped man. Her tongue hung out, giving her a comedic expression, while she stared across the stage at the opening address of her opponent. She needed to keep this expression to a minimum, but it had to come out some time... better it be while he's talking than while she had to.

In a way, Deguchi understood the man's concerns. The hero program was in a rough place. She always considered pro heroes the way to the future, but it was undeniable that they were fighting an uphill battle right now, between oppression not only from the villains they were supposed to fight, but also the government they served and civilians they were sworn to protect. As a result, progress had not been as quick as she or anyone had hoped when the program began. She'd need to make everyone understand that now wasn't the time to cut and run, but instead, to double down on giving heroes the support they needed to face great adversity.

Placing both hands onto the lapels of her coat, pulled them out from her breast, then closed her eyes and raised one finger as if making a declaration. "Thank you, good sir. Japan as a nation has always valued family. Further than that: we honor not just our family, but our neighbors. It's time to acknowledge that even if quirkers are not our family, they are our neighbors. If you see your neighbor suffering, you must lend a hand! Right now, quirkers struggle in a society that isn't built for them. Hospitals don't have all of the tools and training they need to diagnose quirks, nor to properly treat quirkers, especially in newborn quirkers whose symptoms may manifest slowly. Outside of the hero program, there are no institutional education programs that teach citizens to control their quirks; then, we increase taxes and bar those quirkers from job opportunities, as a reaction to the institutional deficiencies that we as a society created!"

Gripping both hands onto the podium, she continued with a fiery passion that was dangerous to utilize so early in the debate. "We in government need to do our jobs. We should not be giving people tools with which to reject change; we should be giving everyone, quirkless and quirked alike, the tools they need to embrace the change and flourish! Imperatively, we need the hero program, and these quirkers can only hope to stand up to burgeoning villain threats if they have the proper support from their government. If they fail, it's a failure of our own making; to abandon this great initiative is the greatest folly! We need training! Education! Insssssssstitutional reform! These are my cornerstonesssssssss!"

Deguchi had left her tongue inside for too long and could feel it burning up; she licked it out against her jaw, then cleared her throat, opening both hands out towards the moderator to show she was turning the debate back over to him.

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WC 693

"Keheheheee, don't misunderstand me. The hero program is a rare case of the government's forward thinking towards quirkers, but that doesn't mean we should neglect it just because we've got so many other quirker issues to focus on. Let's nurture our future heroes the proper way, okay, instead of throwing them into the wild unprepared." Deguchi's final answer sounded playful; she had to drive the tempo back down to avoid being seen as the shouting one in this debate, but the truth was, she wanted to answer much more forcefully. One way or another, she couldn't let it sound like she had any plans to skimp on the hero program... if anything, it was her highest priority, even in a society that needed to learn to support quirkers in other ways. "But let's just say that supporting all quirkers is my goal, yes. That includes our future heroes!"

Next, it was time for Deguchi to quiet down; Higashide had the floor for the first question. Resting with her tongue out against her jaw, she listened to her opponent's answer. She was silent, all except for the sizzling of her quirk. The former delinquent barely managed to fight off the urge to click her teeth at the sweetheart of a question that the Traditions candidate had been thrown... By deflecting the idea of banning quirks outright, he came off as appealingly moderate to the common voter instead of staunchly anti-quirk, while still toting his own message: to apply the squeeze tighter to quirkers, who were already suffering under plenty of government-imposed restrictions. Plus, everyone could agree to investigating and weeding out villains!

Hotarubi Deguchi straightened her tie and tried not to let her frustration show on her face, instead continuing to grin with that creepy look her face naturally defaulted to. What sort of question would she end up receiving? It turned out to be one pretty near and dear not just to her national platform, but especially to her local one. After all, she'd been one of those quirkers causing obvious destruction when she was a child. That certainly hurt her perception in the eyes of the locals in the know, but it also meant she knew more than anyone- even Higashide, who had a family to protect- the sort of motivations that drove quirkers to take to the streets and cause mayhem.

"Aaaah, but what you must understand is that my concerns are not at the expense of that 'more important stuff,' because in the end, they are the same issue. The quirker gangs haven't risen from nothing; as always, youths revolt for a reason. Their difficult lives as quirkers give them a common bond that rallies them together. The society that rejects them gives them a common enemy. Certainly, they are not justified in violence or vandalism, but we must understand that rather than just siccing our police and heroes on them over and over again, we have to fix the issues that cause the youths to become disenfranchised to begin with. Let's start supporting them through their childhood by integrating them more thoroughly into society, providing them counsel and treatment that suits their unique needs, and most of all, by treating them as a part of Japan we want to embrace, rather than a threat to be contained by increased military presence!"

She raised one finger in a thumbs up, with the fingers tied into her lapels. "In conclusion, I'm saying let's stop fighting to catch up to these gangs and 'villains.' Let's head them off at the pass, at a societal level," she finished, narrowing her eyes and grinning sideways at her opponent, as though she thought she'd driven him into a corner.

Deguchi had been prepared to take a hit on her prosthetic jaw for her answer, but she hadn't expected to take one quite so hard. It had been a tough question to answer, because, her answer was, quite simply, that the question had been flawed from the moment they said "more important stuff." Furthermore, they'd even taken shots at quirkers by talking about "destruction in their daily lives," as though none of it was on the government for failing to take appropriate steps to prevent that destruction through education and even public infrastructure!

In the back of her mind, she saw the Deguchi from 20 years ago swaggering to the front of the stage, wearing her biker's jacket and thrusting her middle finger up, planting the opposite hand on her bicep. That's the answer she'd like to give to people who don't understand the relationship between neglecting quirker youths and property damage caused by those quirkers...!

But she couldn't rely on anything as brash as that. She'd swapped out that biker jacket for a blazer and tie... if she failed to get the people on board with her message, that was her own failing to make amends with. "This is why society needs me," the political hopeful reminded herself silently, as she dabbed at the bangs curling upon her forehead with a white handkerchief. Deguchi took a drink of water, trying to compose herself to recover points with the next question.

Rather than missing her old gang, Deguchi found herself wishing she had her dad up on stage to give her some advice...

Another question followed, relentlessly! Deguchi quickly re-adopted her grin and tried not to look flustered, instead answering the question promptly. After all, this question was her bread and butter, the major focus of her whole campaign. It was a softball, essentially, the kind of thing she could answer without having to go hard into policy.

"Abssssssolutely! That's part of the reason I'm choosing to go for the mayorship myself: I want people to see someone with the same kinds of gifts and challenges as themselves seated in a public office, where she can listen to their own concerns and act on them. Right now, you don't need to be a mayor to see the conditions quirkers face: they do hide. They face systematic quirkism, ingrained into our society by a government that doesn't want them, that says 'keep that to quirk to yourself! Oh, but do report it so that we can tax it.' A government that assigns them higher taxes not based on their income or any kind of silver spoon, but just for the government's perceived "nuisance" of putting up with them. "

"It's past time we accepted our own people for what they are: our own people! These are our brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. I hope we'll see that time of acceptance you mentioned within my lifetime, and if the current administration won't make it happen, I hope I will enter in and be an agent of change."

Deguchi left her answer at that, then took another draw from her cup; as her throat laser grid interacted with the water going down, steam poured from the corners of her mouths. It was almost as though she was intentionally trying to emphasize how different she was... though, really, she was just thirsty. She watched Higashide for his answer out of the corner of one narrow eye.

Her eye narrowed further as she heard his answer... As if every quirker even had the option not to use their quirk! A stray cough right now and she'd spit a laser beam onto her own podium... It had taken a lot of training for her to even get to the point where she didn't leak out beams on the regular. She wanted badly to talk to him about all of the potential quirks had to improve society if used properly- just look at the hero program!- but he hadn't yielded the floor and she hadn't been asked to respond. The crowd was probably already thinking she was a hothead and acting out of turn would just make things worse...

But like a snake coiled to strike, she waited for the proper moment to snap back.

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WC 707

This time, Deguchi was answering on the emotional upswing. She felt as though the momentum was back in her favor. This time, she had to use it to hit the death-blow, so to speak, and deliver a substantive moment that people would remember after they left the debate. With bated breath, she set down her glass and listened through the question.

The All-People's candidate spread her arms to either side, perhaps just for theatrics, or perhaps to illustrate her desire for inclusivity. "To be frank, the only reasss-son that anti-quirk opinion can continue to exist is society's inability to empathize with the quirker. To understand a man, walk a mile in his shoes! Not to disregard my opponents years of experience in the political realm, but I am the candidate best equipped to demonstrate that empathy. We quirkers have gifts to offer, but we all have our fair share of daily concerns. Without your understanding, we can't move forward into the future together. Non-quirkers and quirkers must join hands again to unify an empathetic Japan, or divided, we'll fall to petty self-interests."

"I am firmly against the quirk tax. I am for the de-escalation of our nation's military and a greater emphasis on the hero program as a means not just of protecting the common man, but also, a way of allowing quirkers to surge forward into the paragons of Japanese citizenship they ought to be recognized as. The talented hero-class of quirker wants to serve Japan and we should be providing them that opportunity while giving them the resources they need to do it! My opponent would have you believe that we're just arming the quirkers unnecessarily when we bolster the next generation... nothing could be further from the truth! Daily, we see evidence of their selflessssssnessss-" She paused, holding up one finger and taking a drink to stop her sizzling. "Selflessness. No nation can thrive without investing in its youths and right now, quirkers are our youths! With acceptance, discipline, and instruction, the agents of the 'quirker crisis' my opponent warns of would soon be revealed as bringers of a 'quirker Renaissance!'"

Surprisingly, the questions weren't over yet. Deguchi had to take another steamy gulp while she heard out the final piece of it. Still, this was good for her; she'd devoted her life since entering adulthood to nothing but preparation for this moment! She wasn't going to get tired out or in any way restive now. "At a slow rate of increase, for every man who is quirkless, there will be another quirked. That quirked will be someone's new baby boy. It may be their betrothed, opening up to them for the first time about a unique quirk. It may be their next-door neighbor or the kid their own child plays with at recess! If you want to shake your neighbor's hand without guilt-- to look them in the eye and accept them as a fellow citizen of our great nation-- then let me push us in that direction! Why cast your eyes down? Why walk on the other side of the street? A unified body of Japanese citizens is the beautiful ideal that we all should look towards!"

Finally, she folded her arms in toward the podium and rest them atop, then turned her head to watch Higashide, anticipating that he'd certainly be thrown a question now. To her surprise, he answered in a way that was certainly logical, but almost intentionally dispassionate compared to all of the appeals she'd just thrown out. It was frankly astounding to think that anyone could hear her call for empathy and yet continue to push the other line, and yet, they'd been doing that for the whole length of her campaign.

Nobody was going to shoot her if she jumped in here, right?

It probably wouldn't be a political death for her.

"If you still honestly think that you can achieve the greater good of Japan by ignoring or even trampling upon the needs of its individuals, then I sssssin-cerely hope this is the last time you're considered for public office," Deguchi added, raising one eyebrow as steam drifted menacingly off of her jaw-line. She couldn't keep some of her old gangster expression from leaking out, even as she discussed things in bald, political terms.

((WC 716))

As the debate came to a close, Hotarubi Deguchi and Daido Higashide approached for a hand-shake, one that neither seemed overly enthusiastic about. With the audience filtering out, she left the stage, adjusting her lapels and shaking off the jitters, with her messy hair white-and-red striped hair flapping about her head. If she'd run away with the lead-- and later, she'd learned she'd managed to do so-- she had no idea. Her mind was running through every word she'd said. Had she made the right points? Was any of this going to come back to her later in the form of an embarrassing sound-byte? All told, she didn't look nearly as confident as she ought to.

On the other hand, her opponent left with the same sour frown he always wore. The party of Traditions hadn't changed its vision of Japan for the arrival of quirkers, any more to defend their original constituency from the onset of an uncertain future. She didn't see them changing any of their policies or people, no matter how this race ended.

Deguchi noticed that the moderator had stuck around after the show. She hadn't been able to pick up his vibe during the debate, so at first, she was worried he was going to have words with her about her decision to break in on Higashide. She mentally chastised herself for allowing her indignation to get the best of her! It would be improper for her to go butter him up right now, seeing as they'd just held a debate in which she was an impartial party, so she gave him a smile and a wave instead. In his response she saw something... a certain brightness she'd been looking for throughout her campaign. That was the face of a quirker who saw past her weirdness to her message.

Maybe this stage had finally given her the chance to express the ideals she'd wanted to, ever since she discarded her irresponsible childhood and became an adult with dreams of guiding Japan into the future?

As Deguchi left the building, she managed to discard those worries of hers. She knew that even if she'd slipped up, her heart had been in the right place and that carried through to the audience. The budding politician felt a strange sense of zen... as though she already knew what the election results in the next few days were going to turn up. The days of campaigning had been crazy and demanding, but at least for now, she could obtain some peace.

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WC 422