26

'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual inter-school debate competition! This year, it's a face-off between three-time winner Souta Takeda from Tokyo International High School and newcomer Airi Tanaka from Shinjuku High School! The stakes are high, because this year, for the first time, this debate will be televised and broadcasted live! Let's give them a round of applause!'

The audience clapped and cheered as the two contestants made their way to the stage and stood nervously in their places.

'Today's topic of debate is in accordance with the strange circumstances that have taken place in the last few days,' continued the announcer. 'A subject we must certainly all consider — and if we haven't, these two will help us understand the equally powerful, but opposing sides of the burning question of today: Aliens! For or Against?'

The audience murmured and gradually grew silent as the announcer stepped off and left the two on stage, but not before signalling to the lanky, glasses-clad Souta to go first.

'Before I begin this debate,' said the boy, 'I would like to ask you all a question. If a stranger were to invade your house at night, would you let him in your room and make friendly conversation with him, or would you throw him out?'

'Throw him out!' roared the audience.

'If a foreign nation were to invade your country, would you hold cultural exchanges with their people or would you prepare for war?'

'War!' roared the audience.

'So, if an alien stepped on our planet without our permission,' said Souta, raising his voice dramatically. 'Would should we do?'

The audience muttered excitedly to themselves.

'The only thing I see,' said Souta, 'is to send them back where they came from, and ensure they dare never come back. And a nation that starts off with hostility, can only be hostile in the future as well. Therefore, to use force, to wage war against these creatures is, in my opinion, the only solution, the only option!'

The audience clapped wholeheartedly, and then grew silent again as the spotlight went from Souta to Airi, and she cleared her throat nervously.

'I—I...' she began, but her voice died before she could form more words.

'Speak up, girl!' said someone in the audience.

Airi sighed, and the mic whistled loudly. What was she supposed to say? What was she even doing here? She had never debated like this in her entire life! Then she thought of Kenji, and of oncoming war, and she firmly stepped forward and cleared her throat once more. She was in the right place, doing the right thing.

'Like Souta here, I, too, would like to ask you all a question,' she said. 'Are all humans good and peaceful? Is there no innocent blood stained all over our history? Have we never waged war on weaker nations without cause other than greed and a thirst for power?'

The audience murmured and nodded to themselves, and Airi continued.

'Indeed, we have a long and unpleasant history, and the crimes of the last century alone are enough to put our entire world to shame. But!' here she paused and looked around earnestly. 'Does that mean that all our goodness and kindness is eclipsed? That we don't deserve to be treated well and with friendliness due to all this? Does our evil outweigh our good so much that our status as humans has diminished? Can we say that our humanity is dead? Because if it is, then what does it matter if an alien takes over and rules us? They'll probably do a better job!'

Excited whispers and frowns and shocked murmurs permeated the crowd as Airi paused and took a sip of water, before she continued fiercely.

'But, if you believe, like I do, that despite all that we have done, our good is almost as much as our evil; if you believe, like I do, that humanity can never die — and by humanity, I don't mean the race, but the spirit — then, surely, we ought to give the same leeway to our planetary neighbours, the aliens; our fellows, our kin! How much do we even know about them? Has anyone even tried to find out who they are and what they want and why they want it? If we treat them with kindness and extend a hand of friendship to them, we may be surprised by the fruitful results these simple actions yield!'

The audience clapped passionately as their opinion was swayed by her words, but a thud on the podium by Souta cut their noise midway.

'Miss Airi here seems to think that kindness and friendliness can solve all our problems,' he said. 'But I respectfully disagree. The only alien we have seen on Earth so far was a hostile one, and he clearly stated that he believed his people were superior and that he had malignant intentions! How are we supposed to be friendly with a race that starts off relations with us in this way?'

'While those are indeed facts,' said Airi. 'We cannot deny that most humans are no different; all wars were started because someone believed they were superior and had malignant intentions! Because of a few sick individuals, we cannot condemn the entire race! You said it yourself; we have only seen one alien on Earth so far; how can we possibly judge their entire population based on him alone!'

Souta nodded hesitantly in agreement in spite of himself, and the audience watched on as Airi spoke again.

'I would like to add a little more about him, while I have the chance,' she said. 'All television channels referred to the alien as "it" despite his obvious intelligence. This shows a sheer lack of respect and a clear bias from our side! Also, the only released picture of the alien was one in which he was unconscious and rather bruised and battered! Wasn't capturing him enough? Why all this torture?'

The crowd fell into an uncomfortable silence.

'Could it be that his supposed "statement" was a forced one?' she went on. 'We never got any other information apart from that one line he said! What is his name? Where is he from? Why does he feel this way? How was he even captured? Have we considered that perhaps the military already knew about the presence of aliens? Could previous human interference be the actual cause of the alien's aggression? What I mean to say by all this is that without finding out the answers to these questions and investigating our own race first, we cannot judge them!'

The audience broke into a thunderous applause, and Souta joined in.

'You did well,' he whispered, and smiled at her, his serious face emitting an unexpected radiance. 'I'm convinced!'

Airi smiled. 'Thank you. You did well, too. I was so nervous!'

Souta laughed and shook her hand amiably before turning towards the judge, who looked at the two of them approvingly.

'The two contestants have debated beautifully,' he spoke slowly in his deep voice, 'all while maintaining mutual respect, and frankly, they both deserve to win, making it very hard to choose a winner. But at the end, with her forceful argument and passionate speech, as well as her fresh perspective, it is Airi Tanaka who takes home the prize for Debate Winner this year!'

The audience rose and clapped for her, and Airi blushed and bowed before exiting the stage at last. She had done it. This was the beginning of a change in mindset, and she had started it. There was so much more to do, but for tonight, she was quite content...

Unlike Colonel Smith, who, far away, had switched on the wrong channel by accident and gasped as he saw a puny high school girl convince an entire audience the very opposite of the rumours he and his team had been working so hard to spread. She had even gone as far as questioning the military! How dare she, he thought furiously as he nearly knocked down a nearby vase in frustration. She would pay for this... oh yes, he would make sure of it... she would pay.