Chapter Thirty Three: The Late Republic

Arc Nine: Shining City On A Hill

Opening: "Heart Of Steel" - Takahashi Hiroki

Kaname Ohgi's office was a mess. He did not enjoy it this way; he preferred order and calm about his rooms, and would normally spend an hour or so each day filing his documents under headings and sub categories to ensure he could, at a moments notice, pull up any file or folder that had crossed his desk over the last eight years. He took great pride in his system of columns and rows, which was, to his dismay, now scattered across the fabric floor of the room.

What frustrated him even more was that he had just made the transition into his new office after Suzaku's resignation, which meant that the week or so of reorganising after the election was for naught, with almost everything scattered across the floor. However, he was still in far too an excitable mood for issues like filing to dampen his spirits. He could wallow in the papers like a pig in straw for all the difference it would make, such was the dissonance from what he would normally be upset over, and how distracting his current glee was.

"Do you have the official letter for Governor Sumeragi?"

"It's on top of my briefcase, I just signed it." Ohgi answered, looking back and forth between his laptop, abused charging cable strung along the floor to the other side of the room, and sample letters to help him write what would be an unprecedented declaration. He sat on the floor in his socks opposite Lelouch, who was similarly behaving unprofessionally due to the bizarreness and intensity of the task at hand. He hadn't eaten since the night before, and hadn't slept for a time past that.

"Thank you…" Lelouch replied, extending the last syllable until he placed his hand on the private missive. Ohgi turned to watch Lelouch draw his ballpoint pen like a sword and dramatically signed his name to the treasonous document.

"Stop goofing off, this is serious business." Ohgi joked, sitting with crossed legs, on the floor, surrounded by scribbles and bits and pieces of legal treatise.

"No need to stop now." Lelouch absentmindedly answered, bringing the letter over to Ohgi, who then put it in a basket titled "To Gov Sumeragi [A](D.I.O)". The 'A' labelled Kaguya's party, with D.I.O meaning Deliver In Order, a detail critical to their plans.

Lelouch had summoned Ohgi to his office now three days ago in the height of anxiety, and had explained that he had determined through a private meeting with his sister Cornelia that the Emperor of Britannia was dead, and after moderate amounts of celebration, the Finance Minister had suggested they use the lack of a Britannian sovereign to sneak concessions through Kaguya, which would be allowed due to the technical way in which the Commonwealth Act worked.

Kaguya acted as a go between for Ohgi and the Emperor, who would present any Bills passed in the Japanese Parliament to the Emperor. If he said no, then the Bill would die.

But he had to say no within thirty days.

Confident that Britannia would take longer than that to litigate the inevitable competition between Schneizel and Cornelia, Lelouch posited they seize this opportunity to grab full independence, and together they hashed out a plan to snatch independence while Britannia wasn't looking. They had already shotgunned the necessary paperwork through Parliament proper using every ounce of Ohgi's deals and Lelouch's blackmail, which would allow them to send the letters.

"Are you sure they're the right ones?"

Ohgi looked up from the mess to Lelouch, and replied "I'm pretty sure, you can check if you want."

Upon receiving permission, Lelouch dug his slender fingers into the shallow pile and drew out the first letter. After a cursory glance, Ohgi saw a small grin grow on Lelouch's face as he read to the end. Ohgi could only crack a smile himself as Lelouch reached the end, and began to adopt the pose that preluded a grand speech.

"Do you mind?"

Ohgi shook his head, finally chuckling and waving "Not at all."

With his excuse lined up, Lelouch broke into a grandiose voice, pronouncing with the booming tones of Shakespeare "On this day, May 3rd, in the year of our Lord 2024, I, Kaname Ohgi in my capacity as Prime Minister of the Representative Protectorate of Japan would humbly request your thoughts on the Constitutional Renewal Act, Bill 22 of this year, passed by a majority of 461 Representatives to 14, with respect to their impact on the Holy Britannian Empire in accordance with the Cooperative Imperial Protections and Commonwealth Act of 2017."

As Lelouch concluded, the office phone rang, and Ohgi moved to raise the handle from its mount. After listening to the caller, a Parliamentary Aide looking to inquire about procedure, he arranged a meeting for after dinner before returning to the whole betraying Britannia thing.

Ohgi really did enjoy governing. He found great satisfaction in the machinations of organising and governance, the effort and gratification of corralling votes and writing sound legislation, to not even mention the great feeling of helping people. That was a slight layup, however there was an undeniable fulfilment to be found in working Parliament and compromising with others to arrive at the best possible solution.

This served as an instance to demonstrate what Ohgi saw as the critical difference between his counterpart that had drawn Suzaku to such concerns; Ohgi enjoyed and appreciated governing in and of itself while Lelouch saw it as an unfortunate obstacle that had be overcome by hook or by crook that he begrudgingly accepted as part of the cost of implementing his plans to improve the country. Suzaku, if Ohgi were to suppose, had the understanding of why governance was necessary but not the energy to carry it out, having the opposite of Lelouch's problem, to use a reductionist term.

Taking the example of the letter Lelouch had just recited; the Bill it referenced gave Parliament more powers to alter the 2017 Constitution, with an end to severing ties with Britannia. During the brief negotiations with the other Ameliorates, who Ohgi suspected were over the moon to see their main goal presented to them by their party leadership, Lelouch had broken out his filing cabinet and started handing out threats like sweets, even when a more restrained approach could prove more productive.

It was a habit of Lelouch's, at least from Ohgi's understanding, to view those not immediately onboard as an enemy regardless of degree. In certain instances, this worked out for the best, such as with General Kusekabe at the hotel, but this depthless thinking didn't work well in the nuanced realm of governing, where Lelouch's preferred tactic appeared to be brute force, with no respect or patience for the process.

Ohgi considered himself, in contrast, to be a man of nuance, and one of those nuances was his thoughts on Lelouch. He had no doubt that Lelouch loved and cared for Japan, but he could not begin to suspect Suzaku, wayward as he was, may have been right.

"Second letter."

Lelouch swiped up the second sheet as Ohgi shook his head. It wasn't that big a deal. Lelouch wanted his way, and was forceful about it. It was not as if that was unknown, or uncommon. Besides, his heart was in the right place.

After clearing his throat, Lelouch read out in his best impression of an Emperor "On this day, May 3rd, in the year of our Lord 2024, I, Kaname Ohgi in my capacity as Prime Minister of the Representative Protectorate of Japan would humbly request your thoughts on the repeal of the Foreign Relations Act, and its corollary, the First Amendment to the Japanese Constitution together as part of the Independence Act, Bill 23 of this year, passed by a majority of 459 Representatives to 16, with respect to their impact on the Holy Britannian Empire in accordance with the Cooperative Imperial Protections and Commonwealth Act of 2017, which we just repealed anyway, so there."

The last part was not included in the letter, just Lelouch stating the obvious in his oblivious, mocking voice that caused them both to split their sides. It was amusing how disingenuous they were both being sending these letters to Kaguya knowing they would have no chance in hell of passing and a good chance of getting them fired in normal circumstances, such as if the Emperor had not passed away and left Kaguya with nobody to report up to.

It was almost as if Charles had not expected for the RPJ to last this long. Whether this was hubris or there had been a scheme Ohgi was unaware of was beyond him.

In any case, Ohgi was thankful Lelouch had only had the opportunity to scare the living daylights out of Ameliorate Representatives. He had made sure Lelouch had some paperwork to do when inviting Kyoshiro Tohdoh up to his office to hash out the details.

It had taken three attempts to make Tohdoh realise the extent of the scheme, and a fourth to convince him that this was not a trap, gimmick, or political ponzi scheme. This was real, and even as Tohdoh added his suggestions, tripping over himself at the unexpected earnesty behind Ohgi's proposition, it was clear he was still coming to grips with the fact that Ohgi had presented it, as it went against everything Tohdoh likely assumed about the Prime Minister.

"And all mentions of Britannia struck down?"

Ohgi could remember the look on his face now as he had nodded in response to Tohdoh's question, the man's narrow, triangular face attempting with great effort to maintain its stoic demeanour, which in credit to him it did indeed manage, at the expense however of making every vein in his face clearly visible as he tried to respond as slowly as he could.

"I must admit, I did not anticipate… an offer like this from the office of the man who signed the Midway Treaty."

"The party line is a strong but narrow tightrope."

Tohdoh seemed to relax, and nodded as Ohgi laid the blame thick and fast on his predecessor for the lack of movement on this issue, using his absence to present a pinyata

Being good did not necessarily mean being nice.

"Well, I certainly cannot complain about… this proposal being handed to me by the opposite party. I misjudged you Ohgi."

"I like to offer people win-win propositions sir, not lose-lose propositions."

Tohdoh nodded as he poured them each a small glass of Yamagata Whiskey, which Ohgi graciously accepted as he silently acknowledged his lie. Ohgi did not believe bureaucracy and policy was ever a zero sum game, and rejected those who thought it was as simple as that, however there was a wrinkle; Ohgi introducing this Bill inherently took some political power away from the Revanchists, as their base saw the opposition do what their party leaders promised to do themselves.

Of course Tohdoh, the 43 year old former Lt. Colonel who was now head of a major political party had not failed to recognise this, asking "And this will be a bipartisan Bill in both policy and publicity?"

"So long as we get Guilford's Military Reform Plan through afterwards."

The Revanchists had been blocking it up to this point in lockstep with the Unionists, however Tohdoh was too silently ecstatic to be obstructionist right now, and reached forward with eagerness, querying "I suppose we'll need some firepower of our own now we aren't going to be suckling at the Britannian teat. Then I guess we have a deal Mr Ohgi?"

"I think we have an excellent deal, Mr. Tohdoh."

From there, they briefly settled into small talk, leading to Tohdoh's upcoming marriage to Chiba Nagisa. Ohgi wished the two Holy Swords well, and then inquired about the date.

"We were hoping to do it by the end of the year, though with this is may have to be after. Still, we have it under control. In any case, I was examining the new budget, and I was wondering how this might change your forecasting."

It was clear that for all Ohgi's efforts, Tohdoh did not enjoy mixing his personal life with his coworkers or with his work in general. Ohgi couldn't help but note a colleague on his side of the aisle who lived in a very similar matter, and it was emphatically not Tohdoh's former student.

Said emotionally stifled colleague drew him out of his memories with a cheeky smack to the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper, reminding him they had to clean up the mess all over Ohgi's office. He nodded his apologies as all memory of the meeting with Tohdoh evaporated.

In any case, with the head severed, the body of Revanchists fell into line. Reportedly, there had been an internal meeting where Tohdoh had corralled the other party officials into voting Yes on Bills 22 and 23. Ohgi wondered what it was like inside. Did Tohdoh reign like him or like Lelouch? The Prime Minister could only wonder as he placed all the notes on a neat pile on his desk.

"Alright." Ohgi announced, rubbing his palms together. "Let's get those three letters downstairs before anyone catches on."

Lelouch nodded, as he took the basket into his arms, explaining he'd bring it to Jeremiah to send across to the Governor's mansion,

Of course, Lelouch had not read out the last letter, not out of forgetfulness but out of wilful ignorance, one Ohgi could not blame him for. The last letter was not a triumphant one, or a nice one, but a concludory one, made as short as possible to spare the pain of its author and receiver. Kaguya Sumeragi was a lovely young woman with boundless heart, but she was now associated with Britannian cooperation and rule, which Ohgi was trying to shake. Whether she was pleasant or not, she had to go out into the harbor along with the tea.

Good did not mean nice.

"On behalf of Prime Minister Kaname Ohgi, I regret to inform you that the ruling party has decided to end your tenure as Governor."

They had no need of a Governor; they needed a President, and he could only hope she could understand.

Now alone, he moved towards the window overlooking Taito, perhaps the most renovated area of the city, with vast social works programs helping rapidly bring Japanese society back up to snuff, and Ohgi was aware that it was Britannian trade that had made it possible. There was a Socialist argument that Britannia's Lords and Ladies had sold them the rope they would use to hang them, but Ohgi was not that cynical.

He had no intention of making enemies; only equals. A Republic of Equals.

The amount of Chapters I write centred around Ohgi and his character seem to be in direct proportion to how much I like him, to the point that he is now one of my favourite characters to do a POV for. He's level headed, diplomatic and savvy in that sort of way you would want your Prime Minister, which is why I feel he was given that post in canon. Many people try to denigrate him for being a bit of a tool, which in certain instances is not inaccurate, but all his silly moments are in relation to Villetta, and as he himself commented, he is not the romantically wayward one in this timeline.

Instead, I tried to, while forwarding plot, explore how he would govern, as there are many ways one can go about it, which in turn reveals character. Ohgi is a centrist in the best possible sense of the word, earnest, passionate, a moderating influence with respect for the system, preferring to offer his opponents win-wins and cooperation than spit in their face and claim bragging rights. He's a politician born for a simpler time, which may work against him very soon.

How soon? I suppose one could investigate this. A starting point I would recommend to any aspiring detectives would be Chapter 34, This Mortal Coil, coming soon. Happy hunting, and be warned; the next Chapter is not for the weak stomached. While you're waiting, rate, review, be sure to file your taxes and stay safe.

~Eth0