8:05 p.m.
The vote count began.
The first results came in from rural single-member districts.
Future Party projected to win.
Ruling Coalition candidate confirmed elected.
Breaking updates rolled across the screen one after another.
In the studio, the analysts calmly explained the trends.
But no one was talking about what everyone actually cared about.
The election wasn’t the story.
Whether Judge would finally be wrong—
that was.
⸻
9:00 p.m.
32% of ballots counted.
The Future Party was gaining seats far faster than expected.
“The Future Party is now leading by twenty seats.”
The floor director’s voice cut through my earpiece.
The studio stirred.
“…Judge might actually miss this one.”
Someone muttered just loudly enough to be heard.
My eyes drifted to the corner of the monitor.
Judge’s prediction hadn’t changed.
Ruling Coalition: 242
Future Party: 241
One seat.
Not a single number had moved.
⸻
10:00 p.m.
Cheers erupted at the Future Party headquarters.
Supporters held up signs reading “Change of Government” as television cameras swept across the room.
Social media was exploding.
Judge is finished.
Humans win this time.
The AI myth is over.
Posts flooded in faster than anyone could read them.
Watching the feed, I found myself hoping.
Not because I supported one party over the other.
Because I was human.
I wanted it to be wrong.
⸻
11:00 p.m.
76% of ballots counted.
Future Party: 229
Ruling Coalition: 225
The atmosphere inside the studio had completely changed.
Takase stood with his arms folded, staring at the monitor.
“Unusual, isn’t it?”
I asked quietly.
“It is.”
Nothing more.
Everyone in the building was waiting to witness history.
⸻
Just after midnight…
Only five districts remained.
Every one of them was too close to call.
Future Party: 241
Ruling Coalition: 240
A wave of excitement swept through the studio.
Just one more seat.
One more victory, and the Future Party would take power.
Everyone believed it.
I caught myself holding my breath.
Then the final update came in.
“We have the result!”
The producer’s voice rang through my earpiece.
The giant display switched.
Final Seat
Winner: Ruling Coalition
Silence.
The totals updated one last time.
Ruling Coalition: 242
Future Party: 241
Exactly as Judge had predicted.
Not one seat off.
No applause.
No celebration.
Only silence.
Takase finally spoke.
“…It was right again.”
I couldn’t find any words.
⸻
After the broadcast ended, no one seemed excited.
The staff quietly packed away cameras and cables.
On my way back to the dressing room, Takase caught up with me.
“You look disappointed.”
“…Maybe a little.”
“Were you hoping for a change in government?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I searched for the right words.
“I wanted Judge to be wrong.”
He said nothing.
“I always thought elections mattered because no one knew the outcome until the very end.”
“They did.”
“But if the result is already known…”
My voice faded away.
Takase stood by the hallway window, looking out over the city just before dawn.
“People wanted certainty.”
His voice was almost a whisper.
“So they accepted prediction.”
I looked outside as well.
The first trains of the morning were already moving through the half-lit city.
Somewhere inside them were people who had cast their votes only hours earlier.
Every one of them had chosen freely.
No one had forced them.
And yet…
“Did we really choose?”
Takase didn’t answer.
⸻
A few days later, the government announced that Judge’s analytical models would officially be incorporated into national policymaking.
The reason was simple.
Because it reflects the will of the people more accurately than any other method.
Almost no one objected.
No one had been harmed.
No one had been treated unfairly.
No one had become unhappy.
So no one tried to stop it.
I closed my script and looked out the window.
Democracy had survived.
At least…
according to the numbers.
But the votes cast that day—
were they meant to shape the future?
Or were they merely confirming a future that had already been calculated?
Even Judge…
had no answer to that.