How I Met Your Prime Minister

   This is the story of how the future USA president (yours truly) met the future Japan Prime Minister.

   Like most youths of my era, I am heavily addicted to video games. Unlike most of them, my L33T skills was enough to pay bills. 

    I was so good that I became the captain of the America DOTA 2 team, Soul Hax. Too bad we didn't became World Champion. We lost at the Worldwide Championships to the South Korean team, Gang Gangnam. The highest stage we reached was the semifinals. 

   However, the team performance was so good that the audience requested an encore. We sheepishly agreed to a re-match with another crowd favorite (streamed globally with no impact to our tournament rankings). 

   Our opponents won the social network popularity contest for many reasons. Their team captain is the first ever female to lead a mixed-gender team (3 guys and two girls, just like Power Rangers) to Worldwide Championships. Two of their team members are a happily married couple (no children at that point in time). Japanese fanboys can never be underestimated. 

   Team America and Team Japan has never fought each other before in the tournament (we were placed in different brackets) but fate has other plans on that day. Male pride was at stake here (my team is all boys with pathetic love lives), we can't lose due to very personal reasons. 

   Both sides have watched every matches and seen every tricks. The real challenge is developing counters ad counter-counters. In the end, 3 of us will be using our best heroes while the other 2 will be our counters. 

   Normally, we will decide the winners by the best 2 out of 3 matches but nobody has another 3 hours to spare. We make it a single death match to save time. 

   Hero selection was easy for me. My special skill was fully utilized with the hero Invoker. Once the match started, we shouted a war cry (our team's tradition from way back). 

   We fought well at the beginning, with both teams scoring almost evenly. The tie breaker came at the very end, when during a team battle both teams lost 4 out of 5 team members each. It changed from a team battle to a captain's duel. 

   Granted, I could have picked the coward's way by retreating to recover health and magic points (used them up for the previous slaughter) but that was not my play style. She knew it too, so she typed an one-on-one challenge at neutral territory on the public chat. My reply? Challenge accepted, of course! The concept of honor was not limited to Japanese only.

   We fought each other for so long that both teams had everyone revived and watching the duel nearby. Since both our game heroes, Invoker and Shadow Fiend, has Area of Effect attack skills, that was a wise decision. Man, oh man, I understood why she was team captain at that duel. I have to use my special skill twice just to stay alive (normally I only use it once to defeat an opponent). I won the duel in the end due to my higher quality items. Victory for my team was certain after that. 

   We shook hands with each other at the end of the match. Miyabi Oda, their team captain, has a really mean handshake comparable to Donald Trump. That was the end of both team's rivalry, or so I thought at that point in time. 

   Just like every other major sports tournament, there is an after-party after all official ceremonies were done. Every participating team was invited personally by Gabe Newell himself. Even nerds knew how to have fun. 

   True to Gabe's word, the party was a blast. We have concerts, board games, closed beta video games, drone races, nerf wars, VR games, buffet styled food, liquor, and influencers in the crowd. With each of our own wolf mode activated, we executed 'Wolf Pack Tactics' immediately.

   I took 2 cups of beer and headed towards the nearest table of influencers. It is only when I got closer that I realized the angelic lady I assumed was an influencer was actually Miyabi Oda, Japan team captain, aka Lady Trump. Our eyes locked with each other for a moment and I swear, she has a smile worth dying for. Since it is already too awkward to retreat, I charged onward. 

   "Is this seat taken?" I gestured with my hand towards the chair next to Miyabi. I hope I am not blushing too obviously or spilling the beer in my hand on her. 

   "Sure, Ion-san. The seat is available," Miyabi replies with her accented English. 

   I sat next to her and gave thanks to my lucky star that conversing with her won't require a translator. As I placed the 2 glasses of beer on the table, she asked about my alcohol preference and tolerance. Desperate to impress this pretty woman, I exaggerate my own tastes and endurance. She was really skeptical at first until I challenged her into an alcohol drinking duel. In retrospect, that was not my best icebreaker in my playbook. 

   Just like our DOTA 2 duel, our drinking duel became the focus of the party. What amazed me till today was how quickly they ended the concert and converted the stage to fit our drinking duel (complete with a betting booth, with my whole team betting against me winning, those assholes). The duel started with the number of shots drunk projected on the screen behind us. 

   I drank more shots that night than all of the shots in my life before that duel combined together. I tried not to embarrass myself by losing but I ended up embarrassing myself by getting drunk. Lucky for me, my special skill automatically triggers when I got drunk.

   My special skill allows me to create and edit multiple personalities. I can choose to hyper-focus several skills within my mental limits. I named my special skill 'Evolved Legion', in honor of the fictional X-Men mutant, Legion. My ability allows multiple play styles using the hero Invoker. 

   Thanks to my own rotten luck, the personality that got triggered this time is Alphonso, the dance maniac and compulsive playboy. 

   After waves of drunken dancing and disastrous flirting, my team members finally managed to subdue me and placed me in the nearest private room. I continued dancing there, oblivious to the presence of another drunk person watching in amazement. 

   "Bravo, Ion-san! Encore, encore!" She screamed in delight, surprising me. I did not realize she was watching but amusing her was a nice bonus. I wonder if she is a ninja or if she knows about Naruto, the most famous ninja in the modern era. 

   Enough time has passed for me to regain control of 'Evolved Legion'. I quickly switched Alphonso out for a less embarrassing personality. "Miyabi, you are here too? I guess this makes us the drunken duo, eh?"

   She giggled at my lame pun and asked me: "Are you always this funny or is that the alcohol talking?"

   "Well, my fellow team captain, if alcohol can talk, it would be saying 'don't ruin this beautiful moment by puking'. Urk, excuse me for a moment." I rushed to the nearest toilet and puked loudly into the toilet bowl. Oh the irony of it all!

   She laughed at the irony but sat next to me in the toilet while massaging my back. "There, there, better out than in," she said in a soft and melodic tone. Miyabi even grabbed a glass of water for me after the puking subsided. 

   All of us agreed that whoever marries her is a very lucky person. You have no idea how hard it is for all of us to agree on something. We spent the next few hours talking about anything and everything under the sky. 

   "You know, the first time I saw you, I knew you were different. It is this strange feeling in me. I wonder what made you so special compared to everyone else?" She said this while cocking her head slightly to one side while holding her folded legs. 

   There is a reason they call alcohol liquid courage. I have never told anyone about 'Evolved Legion' in my whole life until that night. I was sorely tempted in a few occasions but I know enough history and psychiatry to understand the aftermath. At worst, I would end up persecuted, studied or locked up. At best, I would receive lots of unusual requests. 

   "You are not wrong. I am special because of my skill: 'Evolved Legion'. I can freely create and edit personalities in my mind. You are the first person I tell this."

   "I knew it! So that is why I see you differently. I too, have a special skill. I named it 'Future Vision'. I can see 3-5 seconds into the future. When I look at you, I see multiple futures instead of just one like the rest."

   Both of us started sharing stories about our abilities, how we realized it was there, how we learned to control it and how it affected the people around us. Thanks to liquid courage, both of our lives were completely changed that night. We finally found each other. 

   Both of us went our own separate ways after the tournament but we kept in touch. Each discovered more about ourselves, the world and people around us before we realized the true nature of our bond. 

   Years passed in the blink of an eye. Both of us were functioning adults with careers now. No, we did not chose pro-gaming. I went into politics instead and she followed shortly after. We were both hell-bent on building a better future.  

   Even as our ranking and position grew day after day, we agreed not to reveal our romantic relationship. I can count with 1 hand how many people knows about our relationship. However, my hand was forced on the day I was elected as President nominee by my party. A single USA President is totally unacceptable (God knows why), so I revealed who my lover is (with her permission, of course). 

   As our ratings and rumors increases, our bond deepens. We both agreed to get married at the end of the election, no matter the results. This announcement made us the new darlings of the media. My office might as well be converted into a bar for the reporters. 

   I said both my wedding vows and my oath of office on my inauguration day as the newest US President. The Vatican Pope agreed to solemnize our vows on that day.

   "Do you, Ion Clinton, agree to take Miyabi Oda as your lawful wife for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

   "I do."

   "Do you, Miyabi Oda, agree to take Ion Clinton as your lawful husband for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

   "I do."

   Both countries were in a state of euphoria for a week, at least. The media labelled the event in history as the 'ultimate reconciliation between 2 countries'. 

   Life was pretty good after that. We tried our best to juggle our work commitments and our family together. There were lots of skeptics who were afraid our union would affect US and Japan policies negatively. We showed them how wrong they were with both words and actions. 

   Once my term as President ended, I requested to be the Senator to Japan. Upon approval, I joined my wife in her homeland. A few years after that, it was her chance to be the Prime Minister of Japan. She won without my interference, no matter what the media says.

   We became 'the most powerful power couple of our era' (as quoted in Times Magazine). Looking at how DOTA 2 started everything, life sure is a funny thing. That is how I met your Prime Minister.