Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Keizo Horie is a music critic and composer. He has served in many important positions, including chairman of the Eleventh District Wind Band Union, director of the Department of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts, music director of Asahi Film Company, and head of Music World magazine. He has fully translated several classic Western operas and has many musical works that are considered classics. He is an important figure in the music scene of the Eleventh District.

After Keizo Horie retired, he occasionally posted music reviews on his personal account. He was privately known as the most demanding critic in the music critic circle of District 11. It was considered good if ordinary pop music could get positive reviews from him, and entertainment companies had no chance of improving their reviews from him through "economic" means.

Kawanishi Shigeo quickly entered Keizo Horie's personal account and clicked on the newly released article "Simplicity Heals Vanity, Thoughts on Listening to the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards"...

"As the entertainment industry develops, amid the internal competition in technology, style, and genre, the aesthetic taste of music creation by musicians in the industry has been rising, and has long been out of touch with the general public, to the point where 'the music is too highbrow to be appreciated by the public without them realizing it'."

"But at this year's Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards, I was delighted to hear a new song with a very sincere emotion, simple melody, and a simple theme. That song is "Sakura"..."

Seeing this, Kawanishi Shigeo was slightly stunned: "The song recommended by Horie Keizo wasn't "Don't Want to Leave the Bed"? Wait, "Sakura", I think it was the song that got full marks on the spot..."

"You have previously stated that after 'Don't Want to Leave Bed' tops the charts, the remaining traffic will be allocated to 'Sakura'," an employee reminded.

"Sakura, what's your ranking now?" Kawanishi Chengfu asked hurriedly.

"I saw it half an hour ago. I remember it was around 20th place..."

The assistant looked down at the rankings and exclaimed, "No, just now, Sakura moved up from 11th place to 10th place!"

"As expected of you, President, you noticed the potential of this song in advance. Unfortunately, I was ignorant and didn't realize it..."

Silently watching the quietly growing number of downloads of "Sakura", Kawanishi Shigeo's pupils began to tremble.

He originally thought that the perfect score of "Sakura" on stage was mainly due to the singer's extraordinary performance.

For a chart where paid downloads are a hard indicator, this kind of on-the-spot superb singing is of little significance. The key is Sakamoto Shu's fan base and the company's traffic allocation.

But now, the endorsements from industry insiders and online reputation of "Sakura" have clearly slapped him in the face.

As the person in charge of promotion and execution, he knows best that up to now, Bethesda has not invested even a single promotional resource in the song "Sakura".

In just 20 hours, relying on "tap water" traffic, it broke into the top ten in the fiercely competitive traffic competition from th place step by step. How valuable is that? !

"The promotion and marketing of 'Don't Want to Leave the Bed' will continue, but no new funds will be added. Be careful not to bluff and let your opponents see the flaws..."

"Half an hour later, I want to see the follow-up promotion plan with Sakura as the main promotion!"

After sorting out his thoughts, Hexi Chengfu decisively issued a new order.

"But……"

"No buts! This song is a miracle, a miracle that must be grasped!"

"Roger that!"

Hearing the word "miracle", the subordinates no longer questioned.

For the "Burning System" with many affiliated companies, although the cultivation system is weak and the quality of products is uneven, with the support of huge numbers, there is occasionally a small probability of giving birth to a dark horse-level work or artist that is far ahead of the rest.

Such existence is called a "miracle" within the combustion system.

“Hahahahahahahahaha… I drew the ‘Miracle’ card. J Company, A Company, S Company… all of you wait for me!”

Then, Kawanishi Shigeo stared at the top three songs on the charts and laughed viciously.

……

“Cheers! I hope Bethesda’s “Don’t Want to Leave the Bed” will drop to fifth place!”

"They signed Sakamoto Shu half a year ago without anyone noticing, and we guessed that they were here for the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards."

"Collecting negative information, buying off self-media and music critics, and swiping paid download data are all common methods. How could we not have responded? Kawashima Shigeo, that old-fashioned guy, is probably looking at the charts in confusion right now, right?"

"Hahahahaha! The super old evil force in the entertainment industry that has dominated District 11 for decades must be eliminated by our 'JAS Alliance'!"

At ten o'clock in the evening, the publicity and promotion representatives of J Company, A Company, and S Company were gathered in a private room of an izakaya, plotting loudly.

Although J Company, A Company, and S Company are ranked right after B Company in the entertainment industry, the size of each individual company combined is less than half of that of the "Burning Series".

With the idea of ​​"the past cannot be changed, so let's fight for the future", the three companies are determined to jointly resist at the "Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards" in order to regain the future direction of the music scene.

"represent……"

Outside the door, an employee rushed in with a tablet computer in his arms and a panicked look on his face.

"what happened?"

"Master Keizo Horie recommended Bethesda's "Sakura" in an article!"

The employee opened his laptop and showed a popular music review to the impatient representative of Company A.

"'Sakura'? The live performance of that song really showed real emotion. It's no surprise that it received such praise from a conservative like Keizo Horie."

"But I just checked this song and it seems to be ranked tenth. It poses no threat to our top three position..."

The Bethesda representative refreshed his phone with some curiosity.

"Wait, are you kidding me, this is already the sixth one?!"

"Hey, what's the speed? When it was launched, I remember that Sakura was ranked outside the top 20..."

Just as the three representatives were looking at each other, the ranking list was automatically refreshed again.

Right under their noses, "Sakura" slowly surpassed "Don't Want to Leave Bed" produced by the same company and came to the fifth place.

Chapter 17 Falling apart

2024-07-13

"How much budget do you have left? Now is not the time to hide it, use all of it to buy traffic and put it out!"

"Hello, it's me. Stop controlling the paid download data. Keep scrolling!"

"Create a few more trending searches and push them all up. No matter if it's "Don't Want to Leave the Bed" or "Sakura", Bethesda won't even think about getting into the top three, not even for a minute!"

As if a hornet's nest had been poked, the three publicity and promotion representatives gritted their teeth, took out their phones, and devoted themselves to the "traffic war".

"Oh no, the discussion of 'Sakura' on the music forum continues to increase. Although there are some Bethesda troll accounts mixed in, 80% of them are real and active user IDs..."

"Buy some more premium accounts to draw public attention back!"

"Oh no, on video websites, many people are submitting secondary creations of anime, movies, and TV series clips using "Sakura" as the BGM!"

"Complain against those secondary creators for copyright infringement and get them removed!"

"Damn it, several judges at the live performance gave very high praise to "Sakura", saying it was a 'historic moment of the return of the song's aesthetics'!"

"What? These yes-men who follow Keizo Horie's lead..."

As time passed, the ashtray on the conference table was gradually filled with cigarette butts, and the conference room shrouded in thick smoke seemed like a battlefield filled with gunpowder.

The luster in the eyes of the three representatives gradually faded.

Because no matter how they respond, the popularity of "Sakura" is still spreading at an exaggerated rate.

"Could it be that Sakamoto Shuu is just a smokescreen, and Bethesda's real hit this year is this song 'Sakura'?"

A terrible thought emerged in the minds of the three people at the same time.

"What's the magic of this song... The singer, Hoshina Hanami, is a vocalist who was born in a small idol theater. Whether it's his resume or previous singing videos, it seems that there is nothing worth mentioning."

"This extraordinary popularity is not caused by Bethesda's promotion or the popularity of the singer, but by the charm of the song "Sakura" itself!"

"The same person wrote the lyrics and composed the music... I've never heard of 'Xia Fan'. Where did this monster newcomer come from? Or did Bethesda hire some industry bigwig to write for him?"

It was not until this moment that they re-examined the song "Sakura" and the name of its creator "Xia Fan".

"Hey, Sakura has surpassed the fourth place, and the download volume of the third place is almost unsustainable..."

"What... My budget has run out, damn it... You guys, help me as agreed!"

The representative of Company S, who was about to be "overtaken", twitched his lips and looked towards his "allies" in the room for help.

"Sorry, I don't have much budget left. The request to increase the publicity budget is still under review by headquarters."

"Ahem, rather than helping your club's song overtake others, I think it's a more effective strategy to widen the gap between first and second place."

The representatives of J and A companies turned their heads away in a casual manner, not daring to look him in the eye.

"You treacherous bastard, where is the alliance you promised me? Where is your dream of cleansing up the entertainment industry?"

Sensing the strong implication of "backstab", the expression of the S company representative gradually became ferocious.

"If I were to fall when I met a monster like Sakura, neither of your two families would be able to escape!"

Just when "Sakura" quietly surpassed the third-ranked "The Thousand Layers of Routines for Flirting with Men", the "JAS Alliance" that vowed to take back the future of the entertainment industry collapsed.

……

Late at night, in the student dormitory of Tokyo University of the Arts.

[Faith value +1...Faith value +1...Faith value +1...Current accumulated faith value is 1001]

From afternoon to evening, Xia Fan's faith value continued to increase at a high frequency.

Fortunately, as long as he doesn't try to "sense" them, those growth reminders won't disturb him actively, otherwise he would have been driven schizophrenic by the "text message bombardment".

[The accumulated faith value exceeds 1000. The gods have noticed your actions and granted you one wish.]

[You completed the oracle: Let thousands of people listen to the sacrificial song, and the gods will grant you the blessing of 'spiritual body']

[Psychic body: The innate spirit is in harmony with heaven and earth. It can guide oneself into a trance state and attract the spirits of gods, demons, and the dead to possess the body. ]

After taking a shower and walking out of the bathroom, before he had time to dry his hair, the information completed by the "Oracle" emerged one after another in Xia Fan's mind.

"It's been less than a day since the new song was released, and as a lyricist and composer, I've gained so much faith points. Can I say that I am worthy of being in the entertainment industry?"

This made him extremely grateful for the booming entertainment industry empowered by the Internet.

"I can understand the 'wish', but this 'psychic body' doesn't look good..."

Just as Xia Fan was about to carefully study the reward bestowed by the gods, his phone rang again.

"Hello, Miss Xingming."

"Xia Jun, Xia Jun, have you seen this? Sakura has ranked first in downloads across the entire Internet! It has risen from over 24 in less than 20 hours since its release. This is an unprecedented speed."

Hoshina Hanami's excited cheers were heard from the receiver.

"Oh?! Congratulations, Miss Hoshina."

Xia Fan had already anticipated the strength of the song "Sakura", so he was not as excited as the other party.

"I called to express my gratitude right away."

"I am aware of my singing ability. It was pure luck that I came across Xia Jun's song."

"Perhaps, if someone else comes, it will be better..."

Hoshina Hanami thanked her incoherently.

As long as "Sakura" stays in the top three, she will be able to win the first place in the "Tokyo Newcomer Music Award" and also have a popular online masterpiece. This can be called a "legendary" debut result.

All this is thanks to Xia Fan.

"No, 'Sakura' itself may be good, but the perfect score for the live performance is the result of Miss Hoshina's own efforts. You are now an officially debuted artist, you should have more confidence in your singing."

Seeing that the other party was starting to become "habitually depressed", Xia Fan comforted him repeatedly.

"Well, I will work harder. When I was on the stage, I had already made up my mind..."

I don’t know what she was thinking about, but Hoshina Hanami’s voice gradually became weaker.

"Um, Xia-kun... we are all friends now, and we are about the same age. It feels weird to keep using honorifics."

After a moment of silence, she took a deep breath, mustered up the courage to ask, "From now on, can you call me by my name?"

"You can just call me by my name, of course. There's no need to ask so formally..."

After Xia Fan was stunned for a moment, he nodded across the phone.

In District 11, it is normal for young people who know each other to call each other by their names or even nicknames.

"and many more……"

During the call, Xia Fan's eyes accidentally passed by the dressing mirror on the wall...

In the mirror, where he should have been, the reflection was of a little girl with black hair, black eyes, and a black kimono.

She was sitting in the same posture as Xia Fan, on a computer chair, holding the phone.

Chapter 18 God descends

2024-07-13