President Masaru

"Everything is ready, sir."

"Good, then let the show begin." Masaru walked through the crowd and stepped onto the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am very grateful that you've come to listen to my speech." He raised both of his hands. "I'M SURE YOU'RE ALL CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT'S BEHIND THIS CURTAIN." He lowered his arms. "But this is the final part of our performance." He smiled at the crowd watching him.

"You all know, I'm new around here, and taking such a step for presidency might seem strange to you. You are right, but..." He extended his hand towards the crowd. "I wanted to lend a helping hand to you. I wanted to overthrow your president, who mismanages these beautiful lands, and offer you a wonderful life in return." He lowered his hand and looked at the crowd. "I'm sure all of you, or most of you, are content with your lives because you've escaped the bottom, and you think this life is a luxury. But you are mistaken; you deserve better than this. Your president took advantage of your state of being at the bottom; he managed you easily because your expectations were low. He led a life far superior to yours, while you settled for this minority. This is not the old peaceful Seiren; it has changed and can never go back. We must step into the new reality, the perfect Seiren." He raised his hand in the air and closed his fist. "That perfect life is not far away, it is quite close. Just allow me to open those doors for you."

He descended among the people. "A real president should be one of the people, love the people, and be loved by the people." He crouched down next to a child and tousled his hair. "Our children should grow up in a better environment, along with loving parents." Suddenly, his eyes began to ignite, and he continued his speech without losing composure. "This is your land; I will only serve you, just like the elected ones." He kneeled in front of the crowd. They were all astonished. "Bravo, President Masaru!" Anton started applauding, and slowly the crowd followed suit. "I offer my endless thanks to all of you. People, I am ready to be your servant."

Masaru returned to the stage. "We see what we want to see, opportunists take advantage of what we want, they present to you what you want to see, hiding other things behind it. I will not do this; I promise you, I will always remain honest." He descended from the stage again. "As you can see, it is written that people will choose the best president; I am sure you will make the best choice." Anton was watching Masaru with tears streaming down his eyes; he was truly successful. People passing through the square overheard him; the crowd was gradually growing, and everyone was eagerly watching the show of the newcomer to the city. "Presidency is a sacred duty; therefore, the deserving ones should do it, just like the elected ones." Although people found Masaru's change in attitude towards the old ways strange, they couldn't take a negative stance against him. "The elected ones brought us to where we are today, but one day, the last elected one betrayed the other elected one, split him in two, took his sword, and disappeared, causing us to live in those horrible times. One day, a president could cause the same; so please, don't let them deceive your eyes. The elected ones had a difference; their souls were awakened from birth, but presidents are just ordinary people like you. They deceive you, lie to you, and become elected in this way."

"That's enough!" Someone from the crowd stepped forward. "What's your problem? Why do you keep bringing up forgotten things?" Everyone waited to see what would happen next. "I understand you, but these are just metaphors. The president performs his duties for the people, and the elected ones do the same. I already mentioned we can't bring back the old Seiren, but we can create a new perfect Seiren."

The man, unsure of how to respond, retreated. Masaru returned to the stage.

"AND NOW, WE'VE COME TO THE GRAND FINALE OF THE SHOW, ARE YOU READY?"

"YES!" The majority of the crowd was under Masaru's influence. He pulled the rope to open the large curtain behind him. Everyone fell silent at the sight before them. The corpses of the three presidential candidates were hanging by a rope.

"Yes, people, now I will enlighten you, don't worry. Let's start with Mr. Chars." He pointed at the headless, hanging body. "Mr. Chars promised you peace, but guess what he was up to. You all know that many people have been disappearing lately, and no one has seen them." He looked at the headless swinging body. "This man was responsible for that. Yes, he kidnapped people and..." He clenched his fists in front of him. "Cut off their heads, creating a collection of human heads for himself." He turned back to the crowd, tears streaming down his eyes. "This disgusting behavior needed to be punished, and I got my hands dirty for justice, a small price to pay."

Everyone was still watching in silence; no one could overcome the shock.

"Yes, I told you I wouldn't lie. I've never slandered anyone, so I want to present the evidence of this incident to you." He pulled the curtain a little more, revealing paintings with dozens of heads. "Doesn't this prove something? Now, let's move on to my second point. Mr. District, did you take these paintings from behind me, the headless man hanging there, right?" The man, brought back to his senses by the question, replied, "Y-yes, he took them from me. I didn't expect him to do such a gruesome thing." The man looked in horror at the swinging body. "AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS MAN WAS SUPPOSED TO BRING YOU PEACE. HIS REAL PURPOSE WAS TO COME TO THIS POSITION TO COVER UP HIS DISGUSTING FANTASIES." He raised his hand and clenched his fist. "BUT NO ONE CAN ESCAPE JUSTICE. HE FOUND HIS PUNISHMENT, AND I GAVE HIM HIS PUNISHMENT."

"Oh yes, if this is still not enough proof, I have the axe used to cut off the victims' heads. You can look at it; all the cuts were made with the same tool, and the fingerprints match our suspect." No one moved; they were all frozen in fear. The scene before them and the events they witnessed were too gruesome.

"All right, now that we've exposed the first trickster, it's time for the second one. MR. NICO." He pushed and swung Nico's lifeless body. "Mr. Nico is a complete illusionist, I believe many of you are aware. He showed you the crimes he planned, then stopped them and created a hero image for himself. Hmm, as an example, WOULD YOU COME FORWARD, YOUNG MAN?" A young man emerged from the crowd. "As you can see, the child he needed to punish is here, unharmed." "This, this is the kid who tried to steal my bag." The woman stared in astonishment. "Mr. Nico offered me money, and I had to accept it. The two guys with him were too intimidating." "Oh yes, those two guards. If you wonder what happened to them, I honestly don't know if they are guilty, I'm keeping them under surveillance until I'm sure." He began to pace slowly. "This person who calls himself President Nico killed many people this way, committed numerous thefts, and turned his crimes into heroics. This couldn't be allowed, AND AGAIN, I DELIVERED JUSTICE." He walked slowly towards the third body, only an arm was hanging. "This is our third candidate, Mr. Nelson. He loved to tamper with things, like children, for instance." He opened his eyes and looked at the crowd. "I think we all agree on this; I don't want to delve into details." He slowly descended from the stage and embraced the frozen child. "I'm sorry you had to witness such things, my child." He leaned closer to the child's ear. "I've seen worse." The child became even more frozen; Masaru adjusted the sign in front of the stage. "People chose the best president." He returned to the stage, holding Chars' head behind the curtain, presenting it to the eyes of the crowd. "I, PRESIDENT MASARU, SWEAR TO DELIVER JUSTICE, TO PROTECT PEACE, TO LEAD YOU TO THE PERFECT SEIREN." He approached the crowd slowly. "THIS IS THE PROOF OF MY JUSTICE." While everyone was in shock and horror, a voice emerged. "PRESIDENT MASARU." Anton was enchanted, watching Masaru. The rest of the crowd began to follow Anton. "PRESIDENT MASARU, PRESIDENT MASARU, PRESIDENT MASARU." The smell of victory reached Masaru's nose, the scent of the approaching perfect finale.