A Lesson in Democracy

Nom stood at the head of the room between Kairiku and Annika. The level of noise was so high, she couldn’t hear herself think. "Order! Order!"

"Pastrami and cheese on rye!" Rune interjected. The humourless Nom looked quizzically at her; she didn’t understand the comment, but the rest of the room laughed. At least they aren’t arguing anymore, she thought.

"If you are hungry, Rune, you should have eaten earlier," the raven-tressed Dathomirian girl said, raising an eyebrow. "Now, if we can please get back to the reason we are here, I would like to announce the results of the vote."

Annika and Kairiku gave each other menacing looks, each of them fully confident they would emerge the victor. Annika eyed the large, delicious-looking piece of cake sitting on a desk that was positioned behind Nom. Honestly, Annika was really tired of this election; she didn’t understand why she couldn’t have the confection to herself. After all, Kairi-chan had shared the other eight pieces with Chakra, so it was only fair that Annika should get the last piece. But, that of course led to an argument which led to Priire saying, "Maybe we should all take a vote to see who gets the cake." She was only joking, but Priire had set off an idea that snowballed.

The senshi were split up into groups: Inners, Outers, Eternals, Guardians, Knights, Cats, and Chibis. Each category counted as one vote; whichever candidate (Annika or Kairiku) got the majority of the votes in a particular group got one vote. It was decided that the Chibis, because of their ages and overall weirdness of being in the past, were worth two votes. So all day, Annika and Kairiku had been sucking up to the groups, promising them all sorts of feasible and not-so-feasible things. Kairiku promised the Inners that she would respect her elders more and not eat the candy without asking first, while also promising the Chibis to steal more candy and make fun of the grown-ups. Annika promised everyone she would stop being bossy and clean the dishes for a whole week, then told the Guardians she would make sure their issues were heard and put forth the idea that the Eternals should get one day a week off from chores. Both girls had even gone to the length of making banners, "Annika for the cake!", "Kairiku needs more cake!", and the like. Annika, being a princess, had access to more money, so she had fancy buttons made up that read, "In the name of Bakura, I’ll eat that cake!" She tried to make Peetie her campaign manager, but he decided it best to stay far away from Senshi politics, so Obi-Wan was drafted for the job. Kairiku on the other hand, had chosen Anakin, causing Annika to taunt her with "Copycat!"

Kyoko designed the ballot. It was fairly easy to understand; the candidate’s names were listed next to arrows that pointed to circles. In order to vote for that person, you simply punched out the circle. Kyoko didn’t anticipate the confusion this ballot would cause the Chibis, as they usually never take the time to study and would probably ignore the instructions. However, the vote was conducted, and Nom read the results: Annika-5, Kairi-chan-3. An angry Kairi-chan demanded a recount, to which the results were exactly the same.

Just as Annika made a grab for the cake, Suta said something that changed the entire results.

"I think I messed up on my ballot. Can I vote again, ‘cause I really wanted Kairiku to get the cake. Don’t get me wrong, Annika, I still like you, but I think she best represents my feelings on who should eat the cake."

A few other Chibis after that also said they weren’t certain if they voted for a senshi at all; Aisu thought she voted for N*aboo, which was odd, considering they weren’t even on the ballot, and Nijihoshi coloured all the circles with blue crayon. Suta suggested that they recount the ballots using the Force, as it was the best way to decide something this close. Some of the older senshi agreed and started recounting the ballots.

"This is crazy! I obviously won!!" Annika stomped her foot and tried to hide her fork behind her back.

"Why do you have that fork? You’re acting as if you’ve already won the cake!" Xarae yelled.

"Well, I have! Twice!"

"The election’s not over yet!" Kairi-chan added, licking her lips at the cake.

"That’s it! This is unfair! You’re a Chibi, of course - they are going to vote for you now! Especially since you lost!"

"It’s perfectly fair, you royal pain in the neck!"

Annika gasped, "Fine! I’m going to talk to Master Windu!" The white-haired girl spun and marched angrily down to the Meditation Room, but was sorely disappointed when she heard what he had to say.

"I’m sorry Annika, but they do have a right to recount their votes if they feel they’ve been cheated in some way."

"But Master Winduuuuuu!!! They messed up! Why should I suffer because they didn’t read the ballot instructions?"

"In a situation such as this, all possibilities must be examined. If, they felt the ballot was too confusing, they might have a legitimate reason for feeling disenfranchised."

"I don’t believe this!" Priire, an Annika supporter, yelled, "That’s okay though, because once those absent senshi ballots come in from the girls visiting Alderaan, Annika will definitely win!" And with that, Priire and Ippin folded their arms and walked off.

It was clear that the confrontation wasn’t going to end that afternoon, so the senshi would have to wait until the next morning to find out who was going to win the piece of cake. But the scales were tipped in Annika’s favour the next morning when Obi-Wan refused to allow the adding of the recounted ballots.

"I have thought this over carefully and decided that if the Chibis messed up, they messed up. I see no reason why I should allow the Force-read ballots to be added to the total."

Cries of "Unfair!!" rippled through the great Jedi Temple.

"I need those two votes, Master Obi-Wan! Without them, I’ll lose the cake!!" Kairi-chan began to cry. Anakin’s blood boiled at this and lashed out as his master.

"I don’t suppose your decision had anything to do with the fact that Annika is your girlfriend, does it?"

"I’m sorry, but I won’t be taking any questions," said Obi-Wan. He turned around and left... quickly.

Boshi ran in carrying a slip of paper in her hand. "I’ve got the absent senshi ballots!! But they are all disqualified, as they didn’t know what they were voting for and just wrote their own names on the ballots."

Groans shot up from every direction. Those two Chibi votes were really important to Kairiku. If she could get them from Annika, she’s win the cake! But Obi-Wan wasn’t going to let her add those Force-counted ballots... well, she’d just see about that.

The entire troupe of Sailor Jedi ran down to see the highest authority in all of Coruscant - Master Yoda. The little green Jedi was busy rearranging his chair in the Jedi Council room when he felt the group approach. He didn’t want to get involved, as this was a senshi matter and best left up to them to solve. But, before he could think one more thought, voices surrounded him. He heard, "She’s cheating!" and "Sore Loser," and "Obi-Wan is partisan!" "What’s partisan mean?" "I don’t know!" and "You have to decide!!"

"Silence!!" Yoda yelled. He sighed heavily. He already knew the outcome but wanted them to figure it out on their own. "Too busy am I today, yes. See me again tomorrow you will. Decision I will make."

"Ha! Good!" several senshi snorted. They quietly walked back down to the recreation room, which was doubling as the vote room. Annika and Kairiku were the first in the door, and they both screamed at what they saw.

"The cake is missing!!!!!!!!" Annika panicked in typical fashion.

Sure enough, the cake was gone, the plate all that was left. Kairi-chan noticed a small trail of crumbs leading under the desk. She and Annika poked their heads under to see little Nijihoshi, her face stuffed with cake. Her mouth was covered in sugary, white icing, and she had crumbs in her hair.

"AAAAAAAAA!!" Annika screamed, "Why did you eat my... I mean the cake?"

"Well," the little girl said quietly, "I didn’t think either of you deserved the cake, so I ate it. And it was very good!" She smiled, revealing teeth still covered in icing. Kairi-chan and Annika nodded to each other and proceeded to trap Nijihoshi and tickle her until she apologised.