I struggled with it a little, but we finally decided on a party name.
I hope you enjoy it.
“Well, we’ve exhausted all the ideas. I’d like to start making a decision here.”
My proposal is [Seed & Sprout, or S&S].
Kaido’s proposal is [Kiai Dan].
Minami’s proposal is [Moonlit Perch].
Kitamiya’s proposal is [Four Seasons].
Katsu’s proposal is [Challenger].
Amelia’s proposal is [Legend Brave Party, or LBP].
Six proposals have been made.
“How do we decide? If it’s a majority vote, I won’t say it’s absolute, but I think it’ll turn into a messy fight where everyone champions their own idea. It’s possible that I might suddenly get a lot of votes.”
“Don’t worry, no one else will join your Kiai Dan besides you. But it’s true that it will go in the direction Kaido is saying.”
“You brushed it off so easily, but Min-chan and Kitamiya-chan have pretty harsh things to say, don’t they!?”
“…I think it will take quite a long time to discuss. Shall we just draw lots?”
“But it would be a waste to decide too quickly.”
The methods that come to mind for narrowing down the choices are either a majority vote as Kaido suggested, or a lottery as Kitamiya suggested.
Kitamiya brushed off Kaido’s shocked reaction with “Scurry along!?”, while Amelia consoled him. It seems everyone is wondering how they will decide.
“It will be a little unconventional, but we’re going to go with a majority vote where self-nomination is prohibited.”
“I see, so if you’re confident in your proposal, it will naturally gather votes, won’t it?”
“I appreciate you being so quick to understand, Kitamiya.”
Of course, we won’t just discuss how to decide.
I had already thought of a method.
Kitamiya immediately understood the intention behind my proposed method and nodded.
Kaido and Amelia, with question marks floating above their heads, looked at each other and then asked what I meant.
Minami and Katsu seemed to understand.
“In other words, the proposal you submitted is one that you yourself thought was good, and naturally, in a majority vote, you would choose your own proposal. That leads to a stalemate. So, if we prohibit self-nomination, people will vote for proposals from others that they genuinely think are good. We’ll repeat that to make a choice.”
“What if two proposals remain at the end? Since a vote will be forcibly cast for both, the individuals won’t have any choice.”
“In that case, I apologize, but we’ll have a runoff vote among everyone except the proponents.”
“But since we’re a six-person party, our votes might be split.”
“We’ll make arrangements to prevent that.”
“Arrangements?”
Amelia’s point was naturally valid.
If we had a six-person majority vote, there’s a good chance of an even number of votes.
For example, if we were to proceed with the majority vote as is, a 2-2-2 tie is a very real possibility.
In that case, we’d be at a standstill, so I placed a memo pad, a ballpoint pen, and a box on the desk.
They were ordinary items.
The memo pad was one that could be torn off page by page, like a daily calendar, and the ballpoint pen was a standard hundred-yen store item.
The box was a confectionery box I received as a souvenir.
“We’ll write down our first, second, and third choices on the memo and vote in this box. First place gets three points, second place gets two points, and third place gets one point. The one with the highest total score will be our party name.”
“Wow! That way, we won’t overlap!”
“That way, it seems like it will work out. I’m fine with it.”
“I’m fine with it too! Ah, it’s the moment we’ll see how our naming sense ranks!”
“It’s alright, it’ll be alright, I’m sure.”
There were no objections, and we decided to proceed.
It’s not impossible for all the points to be tied, but the probability is much lower than if we did it normally.
Each person took a piece of paper from the memo pad and picked up a ballpoint pen.
I reminded everyone who was contemplating who to give their points to.
“Just so you know, your own proposal is invalid.”
“Got it!”
“Y-yes, I know!”
“Understood.”
“I know.”
“Yes.”
Now, after giving the instructions, it’s my turn.
I can’t write my own name, so I need to think about the party name that might be chosen.
First, by elimination, Kaido’s Kiai Dan is out.
I am Jiro Tanaka of Kiai Dan, and I’d be embarrassed if I introduced myself like that in my heart.
As candidates, I will definitely keep Kitamiya’s Four Seasons and Minami’s Moonlit Perch, which I personally like.
That means we’ll have to drop either Katsu’s Challenger or Amelia’s LBP.
This time, I’ll think seriously and choose Katsu’s.
I don’t dislike Amelia’s proposal in terms of sound, but Katsu’s proposal edges it out.
This leaves us with three candidates, and the rest is deciding their ranks.
Suddenly, I looked up to see what the others were doing and saw them all pondering in different ways.
Kaido was scratching his head, looking as if he couldn’t understand why he needed to think so hard.
Kitamiya was resting her chin on her hand, looking serious and taking sips of tea as if to take a breath.
Katsu was agonizing over whether to write anything or not, progressing slowly.
Minami and Amelia, having already finished writing, were talking in hushed voices on the other side of the sofa, so as not to be a disturbance.
In the meantime, one after another, they finished writing and put their papers into the box.
After a moment of thought, I quickly made my decision and folded my paper before dropping it into the box.
“Kaido-senpai, are you still not done? It’s just you now.”
“Just a little longer, please! I’m thinking about how to get Kiai Dan to be chosen.”
“Yes, yes, no more pointless struggles. We have to enter the dungeon this afternoon, so hurry up.”
When Kitamiya mentioned the time, I looked at the clock. It was already eleven o’clock.
Considering the vote counting that would follow, Kaido really didn’t have time to think.
I felt sorry for Kaido, who was sweating and thinking earnestly, but…
“Kaido, you have five more minutes.”
“What!?”
A time limit was set, and during that time, everyone was free to do as they pleased.
“Karen-chan, who did you vote for?”
“You’re not supposed to say that, Amī. That’s for later enjoyment.”
“Saying that, it seems Kitamiya is the one enjoying it the most.”
“You’re no different. We’re deciding our names, so of course we’re interested.”
“That’s true. Hehehe, but I’m confident in this vote!”
The girls started talking amongst themselves.
Although it was a short time, there was enough time for casual conversation.
I took out a cigarette from my breast pocket, thinking I’d take a break.
“Jiro-san, what name do you think will be chosen?”
“Hmm? Which name will be chosen, huh…”
Katsu asked me, so I twirled the unlit cigarette in my fingers and thought about how to answer his question…
“Honestly, I have no idea.”
“Really?”
But I didn’t know.
To Katsu, who tilted his head in confusion, I smiled and told him my thoughts.
“In my life, everyone here is so unique that it’s impossible to predict. It’s harder than predicting an attack to figure out who voted for whom. It’s possible that they’ll surprise me and Kaido’s name will be chosen.”
“That would be interesting.”
“It would. Honestly, I don’t care which name is chosen, so I’m not worried.”
“Any name is fine?”
“Ah, it’s because we all decided on it together, and we’ve worked together, even if it’s been noisy. I believe in their trust. So, I don’t mind.”
Katsu looked surprised. As I laughed and told him that Challenger would be fine too, I felt a gaze from behind me.
“What is it, you guys?”
“Well, as expected of the leader who’s about to become a father. He has a lot of depth.”
“There’s no deep meaning, you know. Yes, no deep meaning.”
“Jiro-san said something really great!!”
I’ll deal with Kitamiya and Minami, who were grinning with meaningful smiles, later. For now, I, feeling a little embarrassed by Amelia’s pure words, gave Kaido, who was still hesitating until the last moment, a chop on the hand.
“Ouch! Senpai!?”
“Make up your mind already.”
Although I didn’t put much force into it, Kaido, taken by surprise, reacted with an exaggerated movement. With slightly teary eyes, he rubbed his hand and glared at me.
Ignoring his gaze, I casually collected the box with Kaido’s votes and began the counting.
“We’re running late, so let’s hurry. Kitamiya, please read them out.”
“Got it.”
I opened my PC and started up a spreadsheet program.
The screen, which had been prepared beforehand, showed at a glance who had received what rank and how many.
“Alright, let’s start with Kaido’s since he kept us waiting.”
“Is this public execution!?”
“You’re the one who kept us waiting, so hurry up, Kitamiya.”
I wasn’t doubting the integrity, but Kitamiya was the one who would handle it properly in situations like this, so I entrusted the vote counting to her.
Kitamiya quickly reached for the ballot box and opened it.
“Kaido’s votes are: First place goes to Katsu-kun’s Challenger, second place to Amī’s LBP, and third place to Jiro-san’s S&S.”
“Understood.”
As I thought his choices were typical of Kaido, I typed the names into the keyboard and gave Kitamiya an OK sign.
“Next, Minami, this handwriting is yours. Please write a little more clearly.”
“Oh, be quiet! Just read it out quickly.”
“Yes, yes. Minami’s votes are… ah, first place is Amī’s LBP, second place is my Four Seasons, and third place is Katsu-kun’s Challenger.”
“Got it.”
Kaido and Minami have similar tastes, so Katsu and Amelia’s names came up.
The current standings are: Amelia’s LBP with five points in first place, followed by Katsu’s Challenger with four points in second place, Kitamiya’s Four Seasons in third place with two points, and my S&S in fourth place with one point.
Kaido’s result was expected, but Minami’s votes were surprisingly low.
“This one’s for Amī. First place is Minami’s Moonlit Perch, second place is my Four Seasons, and third place is Jiro-san’s S&S.”
The rankings changed a bit here.
Minami surpassed me, and Kitamiya tied with Katsu.
It’s turning into an interesting close competition.
Impressed, I quickly typed on the keyboard and gave Kitamiya an OK sign.
“Next up, I wonder who this is. I don’t know, but here we go. First place is my Four Seasons, second place is Minami’s Moonlit Perch, and third place is… Kaido-san’s Kiai Dan.”
“Hooray! Here it comes! My era!”
“Kaido-senpai, you’re getting too excited. It’s only one point.”
“But I’m only one point behind senpai! I’ll make a comeback from here!”
Kaido was so happy that he didn’t notice, but this was probably Katsu’s vote.
Everyone else seemed to notice, but they didn’t want to dampen his joy. Minami just made a light jab.
After counting the votes of four people, Kitamiya was in first place with seven points, Minami and Amelia were tied for second with five points, Katsu was in fourth place with four points, and I was in fifth place with two points, with Kaido in last place with one point.
At this point, my and Kaido’s proposals were out.
For my proposal to win, I would need to get first place consecutively from now on, with Kitamiya scoring zero and Amelia and the others getting few points.
The remaining vote is mine, so that’s not possible.
Kaido, knowing one of the results, knows that the possibility is zero.
As he psyched himself up, I signaled to Kitamiya that I had finished typing.
“Next is mine. First place is Minami’s Moonlit Perch, second place is Jiro-san’s S&S, and third place is Katsu-kun’s Challenger.”
Kitamiya realized it was her turn from the handwriting and read out the ranks with ease.
And I, having entered the numbers as instructed, knew what my party name had become as the remaining paper was mine. I could only give a wry smile and tell Kitamiya that I had finished typing.
Some might have guessed my fate from my expression, but no one said anything, as it would be revealed in the subsequent votes anyway.
“This is the last vote. Let’s read it from third place first.”
Kitamiya picked up the last vote in the box. She looked at it and, as if doing mental calculations, gave a wry smile, just like I did. She decided to read from third place instead of first.
“Third place is Katsu-kun’s Challenger.”
Even though there was no longer any chance of a comeback, Kaido clasped his hands as if praying to a god and bowed his head on the desk.
Amelia and Minami looked excited, and Katsu, also eager to see the result, watched Kitamiya intently.
“Second place is…”
The atmosphere was so suspenseful, like a drumroll, that I couldn’t help but put a cigarette in my mouth to suppress my urge to chuckle.
“My Four Seasons.”
However, Kitamiya announced the rank clearly without prolonging the suspense.
At this point, Kitamiya’s score reached nine points, putting her in the lead.
“First place is Minami’s Moonlit Perch.”
But that lead was immediately overtaken.
“Jiro-san, it’s done.”
“Ah, I’ve finished typing too.”
I swayed the cigarette in my mouth and pressed the final Enter key, revealing the results.
Minami and Katsu, along with Amelia, who were eagerly awaiting the results without calculating, had excited expressions, while Kaido, who looked completely drained, slumped over his desk.
“I’ll announce the results.”
Kitamiya, who had been counting the votes, returned to her seat. I, holding the cigarette in my hand, stood up and announced the chosen party name.
“Our party name is ‘Moonlit Perch’.”
The moment I said this, the group, which had been nameless until now, had a name.
“Hooray!”
“Congratulations, Min-chan!”
“Well, it’s better than Kiai Dan.”
“Good job, Minami.”
“Ugh, my Kiai Dan, my Kiai Dan…”
Everyone rejoiced.
Minami raised her hands to the sky as if to say, “See?”, while Katsu and Amelia congratulated her sincerely. Kitamiya, though not as openly, clapped and congratulated her, saying it was good.
One regrettable figure was looking shocked at the result, but after a while, he revived and clapped along.
“Now that it’s decided, let’s think about the emblem! We’ll stay up all night!”
I sent a congratulatory clap and then lit the cigarette in my hand.
And the taste of the cigarette I smoked felt just a little bit better than usual.
Today’s motto:
Having a name might change your mood.
That’s all for today.
Thank you as always for pointing out any typos and for your comments.
If you found this interesting, please leave a review, rating, bookmark, etc.
*The first volume of the novelization is published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
The e-book version was released on October 31 of the same year.
The second volume was released on December 19.
The third volume was released on February 20, 2019.
The content has been revised and expanded from the version posted on “Shosetsuka ni Naro,” with the addition of unpublished interlude chapters.
Please check out the new books!
A manga adaptation was serialized in Kodansha’s “Young Magazine The Third” issue No. 9.
I hope you enjoy that as well.
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