A/N: Written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, Writing Prompts 8 – 300 word drabble.
an all-red vote
No-one had ever managed an all-red vote, despite it being the most favourable outcome. Even human greed should have been satisfied – but it wasn't. They weren't. And trust wasn't a thing to be found in that sort of environment. It existed, yes, but only because there were people like Kanzaki Nao who chose to believe.
No, that wasn't quite true. It was only because of Kanzaki Nao that trust existed at all by the final stage. Because even people like Yukina lost faith after the first few rounds. Even people like Akiyama couldn't believe everybody could win. And both of them were unusual in their own way, but Kanzaki Nao was one of a kind. People like here didn't survive until the final round. That was why the all-red vote never happened. That's why no-body bet on it, or invested in it. It was money they only stood to lose.
But those who ran the game saw an opportunity in Kanzaki Nao, when she survived the first round which usually weeded out those like her, who trusted to a fault. That was why they brought her back when she finally fell in the fourth round. That was why they made sure she and Akiyama made it to the top.
When she passed the first round, they thought it just a fluke. When she passed the revival game of the second round – again, a fluke, except for one. The third round converted more of them, and the fourth more still.
By the time the final round came, they saw their hope in that woman, in Kanzaki Nao. But they knew as well as she that she would never have made it that far without Akiyama Shinichi.
That was what had never happened before. The perfect team – that did even the impossible.