Prompt: I wish someone would write a fic there Nodoka grows up to be a politician and starts doing the usual things like lying etc. and Yui (perhaps unintentionally?) manages to bring her back to the light side.

There has never been a political leader quite like Nodoka Manabe. She quickly rose to become one of the top contenders in the recent elections, eventually winning by a landslide. She was very likeable as a person, and her speeches inspired many to want to follow in her footsteps and create good for the world. However, there were those anti-Nodoka groups that speculated that she had gotten the position by nefarious means. Hidden agendas, secret plots, bribing her way to the top of the polls; the conspiracy theorists were having a field day making theory videos on how she had come to power. Of course, given Nodoka's current popularity, these small groups were usually shot down by the rest of the internet community. There's no way that someone as nice and as caring as Nodoka could become an evil dictator masking as a good politician . . . right?

Needless to say, the conspiracy theorists were correct, in pretty much all of their speculations. Of course, Nodoka didn't start out evil. Nor did she consider what she was doing to be purely "evil."

It started in college. High school had been a breeze for the bespectacled bookworm, and having graduated as class president, she was confident that her success would roll over into her college studies. What happened was quite the opposite. College proved to be much more difficult than she had imagined, and soon she was falling behind in her courses. She was forced to avoid joining any extracurricular clubs in order for her to have enough time to study and complete assignments. Eventually, she was at her lowest point, and she eventually turned to using online solutions and previous students' homework assignments in order to pass her courses. Little things like this wormed its way into her studies and eventually led to her cheating on her exams for the very first time - she was never caught, having learned to be sneaky in hiding things from Yui and the others - and through this method of dishonesty she graduated college and made her way to law school.

It carried on into her career as a lawyer, doing whatever was necessary to make sure her case was won. Countless people were indicted through her actions, and her work was highly praised in her field. Eventually, she decided to run for political office, something that many people were encouraging her to do. Her campaign was ruthless, effectively decimating her opponents during the debates and winning the election with a record-breaking amount of votes.

Her reign continued, passing laws with hidden healthcare agendas that stayed behind the scenes, bribing others into silence and continuing to control the government under the guise of a friendly and respectable woman of power.

But . . . where was the fun? The thrill of having beaten the school system was long gone, and he campaign was long over, so she didn't have much to do other than sit through boring meetings and signing paperwork. Where was that initial spark that caused her to end up where she was now?

Nodoka sat at her desk, staring forlornly at a new pile of papers that her secretary had set onto her desk. The long grueling work day was starting to get to her, as the words were starting to blend together as she began nodding off. Her head jerked up at the sound of her desk phone ringing. Wiping a bit of drool off the corner of her mouth, she picked up the receiver.

"Um, hello?"

"Miss, there's a call on the line for you," came the voice of her secretary.

"Who is it?"

"A Miss . . . um, Hira-sah-wa?" her secretary enunciated carefully, making sure she had gotten the pronunciation correctly. Suddenly fully awake, Nodoka said slowly,

"P-Put her on, please."

"Yes, ma'am. *click*"

Nodoka anxiously waited for the line to connect, then the light on the phone glowed green.

"H-Hello-"

". . . Hello?! Nodoka-chan? Is this thing on? I - ah! Nodoka-chan! Aw, you sound tired, are you alright?"

"Yui, what're you calling me on this line for?"

"Well, you didn't answer your cell phone, and I was trying to call you for the past week but you've been busy, and so Ui said to just leave you to your work for a while, and then I got the idea to call you at work, and then -"

"Yui, Yui! Slow down, you're talking too fast. Take a breath," said Nodoka, cutting off Yui's ramblings. She heard a breath being drawn on the other end of the line, and then Yui started talking again.

"Well, anyways, it's been a while. How have you been?"

"I . . . um . . ." Nodoka trailed off, not sure where to start. It's been a bit of a long journey, and there are some things that she didn't want Yui to find out. Especially what she had done in the past to get where she was now. After she graduated law school, Nodoka stopped hanging out with Yui. Partly because of Houkago Tea Time suddenly getting a small-time record deal, partly because she didn't want Yui involved in Nodoka's dark dealings.

"How's the tour been treating you, Yui?" Nodoka asked instead.

"Me first? Alright then. Let's see . . ." Yui said thoughtfully. "Well, for starters, Mio-chan and Ricchan have a baby now!"

"What?"

"I know, right? Mio-chan was the one who carried the baby in her tummy, something called a sperm bank? I dunno, I didn't ask. Anyways, Mio-chan was worried, but the delivery was a success. Ricchan fainted seeing the birth happen, but then the two of them got to hold their child and it was a beautiful moment. Or at least, what I could see on the birthing video, anyways. Azu-nyan's fine, too, although she's getting tired of having to wear cat ears on stage during the second half. Still, Producer-chan says that it appeals to the audience, so she has to. Mugi-chan's been really busy, keeping everything organized and tidy, and we still have tea parties every day while we're on the road!"

"That's great, Yui, good for you!"

"Ah, Nodoka, one more thing," Yui said.

"Yeah?"

"One of the girls that used to be in our class back in high school came up to me after a show, and told me about this website, so I checked it out. There's a lot of articles there talking mean things about you, like that you're evil and stuff. I read those and I was thinking: 'Nodoka-chan's not evil, she's my best friend!' and so I spent the whole night telling everybody on that site that you're my friend. I'm banned from that site now, but hopefully more and more people get to see what a wonderful person you are, and . . . Nodoka-chan, you there?"

Yui stopped talking, having noticed that Nodoka had gone silent. The world was calling her a corrupt politician, and evil politician, but hearing Yui talk about her in such a cheerful and positive manner had brought her to tears. She had forgotten what it was like to be so light-hearted and carefree, and being away from her best friend had hardened her heart. Nodoka wiped her tears away, sniffed, and put the receiver back up to her ear.

"Hey, *sniff* um, Yui? Can we hang out this Saturday? I'll make some tea."

"Hey, that sounds pretty good. Everyone else is busy, but is it alright if it's just me?"

"Perfect. See you at my place then? I'll send you the address."

"Roger that, President Manabe! Yui Hirasawa, signing off!"

*Click*

Nodoka put down the phone, wiping away a fresh wave of tears from her cheeks. She looked down at the papers that she was in the middle of signing. The hidden law that she had been planning on implementing in addition to the rest of the bill sat on her desk, waiting to be added to the pile. Nodoka thought of Yui and sighed, smiling. She tore the paper in two, chucking the halves into the bin. She pressed the intercom for her secretary.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Susan, cancel my Saturday plans. I have something important to do that weekend."