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

As the "producer representative", he subconsciously looked at Yayoi Tsuki, wanting the "original singer" to make a comment...

“…Ms. Yayoi?!”

But Yayoi Tsukki, who was sitting on the other side, had been crying so hard that her eyes were covered with sobs without her noticing.

"I'm not qualified to comment on this song..."

"Wuwuwu... I'm sorry... I'm in such a bad mood right now... Wuwuwu... I can't continue recording..."

The sound lingered in the air, and her tears continued to fall like crystal pearls, ruining her foundation and eye makeup...

"The ratings are here... wuwuwuwu... I'll leave for a while..."

Yayoi Tsuki patted the box on the table and quickly went backstage, apparently to do "image management".

Chapter 214 Say your wish

2024-07-13

"what?"

Goro Kimura really wanted to complain, "You said you are not qualified, so we are even less qualified," but Yayoi Tsuki had already run away.

"Ahem, this song has a special meaning to Miss Yayoi. It's understandable that she was moved by the scene."

"Well, Mr. Oda... Hirai..."

He could only look to Oda Masaru and Hirai Shota for help...

However, he found that these two people, like him, had tears in their eyes, staring blankly at Xia Fan on the stage, obviously still immersed in the emotion of the singing.

"Teacher Oda, what is your evaluation..."

"Well, that... this song, the emotions expressed in the song are just right... hiss..."

After being reminded by Goro Kimura, Oda Masaharu came back to his senses, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, blew his nose hard, and began to comment.

"But the singing technique and pitch...are a little rough...there is still room for improvement..."

He put on a stern expression, but his red eyes and slightly hoarse voice silently betrayed his emotions that had not yet calmed down.

“My rating is one star.”

Oda opened the box and revealed a star inside.

"Yo...gorgeous electronic keyboard...stealing the entire band's job...I can take you to play with me when I go to the Budokan..."

Shota Hirai, who also had a red nose and eyes, insisted on rapping with a twitching vocal cord, and there was only one star in the box he opened.

"Well, it's my turn. My evaluation is..."

Goro Kimura, who was originally scheduled to give his comments last, had to give his scores in advance because a national female star left the room midway.

"Contestant Xia Fan, your playing is smooth and emotional, but your singing skills still have a lot of room for improvement. In order to give you more motivation to move forward, I have decided not to give you a star this time..."

His box was completely empty.

"The only thing left is Miss Yayoi's score..."

The three people's complicated gazes fell on the box left by Yayoi Tsukishima...

To be fair, Xia Fan's stage performance of playing and singing has surpassed all the previous trainees.

His electronic keyboard performance alone has reached the live performance level of a professional band.

Although her singing skills were neither good nor bad, the emotions in her song were so strong that it seemed like she was throwing a "forced tear gas bomb".

Although the three mentors kept reminding themselves that these were people from other companies, they shouldn’t listen carefully and shouldn’t be too moved…

But Xia Fan's magical singing voice easily aroused their resonance...

The hardships before becoming famous, the pressure at the peak, the despair at the bottom, the pain during the difficulties, the silent crying while biting the sheets when being bullied, all come to mind clearly, and merge into a mixed feeling of sadness...

After all, not everyone is a gifted Yayoi Tsuki.

After working in the purgatory-like entertainment industry for many years and sitting in the mentor seat now, who doesn’t have some sad past?

Although they said "no" in their hearts, the mentors' bodies honestly gave physiological responses to the surging emotions.

However, when the singing ended and it was time to give the ratings, rationality gradually returned to the mentors' minds.

In this kind of debut stage without lighting and atmosphere, which is so plain that it cannot be more plain, they can perform with such infectious live performance. If we don’t suppress them, how can the trainees of our own company survive?

According to the current situation, there is a high probability that the two-star rating that Yayoi Tsuki has never given will be given to Xia Fan.

Therefore, Masaru Oda and Shota Hirai gave one star each, while Goro Kimura shamelessly chose not to give any star.

In this case, Xia Fan's expected rating is about four stars...

Yayoi Tsuki must exceed expectations and give three stars so that he can reach the full five-star rating and be on par with those "seed trainees".

In the opinion of several mentors, four stars is already a relatively high evaluation for Xia Fan, who is labeled as "Burning System" and "Dragon Country Trainee".

"Ms. Yayoi will be back for a while. In order not to delay the progress, I have asked Mr. Kimura to open her box and grade it."

At the same time, the executive director standing on the sidelines whispered to everyone.

"Then I won't be polite..."

Goro Kimura walked to Yayoi Tsuki's seat and opened her box in front of the cameraman's close-up shot.

"..."

His expression was dull for a moment, he closed the lid, rubbed his eyes, and opened it again...

"what happened?"

Noticing Goro Kimura's abnormality, Masaru Oda and Shota Hirai also stood up and looked at the black box.

"Hey, this... this situation..."

"How do we calculate this?"

The three of them looked as if they had seen a ghost and looked at the executive director on the sidelines for help.

"Asshole... How dare she do this... This is against the rules... This kind of behavior that disregards the program rules... I will cancel Yayoi Tsuki's score..."

At the same time, in the recording room, Akimoto Manjiro, with red eyes, began to spit angrily into the intercom.

The executive directors, who were moved to tears by the performance, stared blankly at the close-up scenes on the monitors...

Under the camera, five metal stars were neatly placed in the box left by Yayoi Tsukishima!

That’s right, she, who was very stingy with giving compliments throughout the entire show, gave Xia Fan five stars out of sheer capriciousness.

"Well, Director, the program's published rules do not clearly state the upper limit of the scores that the mentors can give..."

"So, there is indeed nothing wrong with Ms. Yayoi's scoring..."

Assistant Director Souta quickly looked through the rules on the program's website and confirmed with Manjiro Akimoto.

"You are teaching me how to do things... Do you want me to give this Xia Fan seven stars and then ask him to 'tell me your wish'?"

Akimoto Manjiro was stunned for a moment, then asked back with a disappointed look.

"That's not necessary. According to the rules, the highest rating for a trainee's first stage is five stars. So Xia Fan can only be considered a five-star rating. Miss Yayoi's behavior is just a willful waste of two stars."

After thinking for a while, Assistant Director Souta gave some advice.

"Speaking of which, there are only a few five-star trainees among these international trainees. Although their own abilities are also problematic, this program seems too unfair..."

"Giving this five-star rating to Xia Fan is in line with the original plan. Let's do it this way."

After calming down, Akimoto Manjiro gritted his teeth, smiled, and nodded stiffly.

"Everyone, according to the program rules, although Xia Fan received an unexpected seven stars, his rating is still the highest five stars. He will receive an additional 500,000 popularity votes in the subsequent performance stage. Congratulations!"

In the studio, after listening to the instructions from the program team in the headphones, Goro Kimura smiled stiffly and handed seven metal stars to Xia Fan.

"Thank you teachers!"

Xia Fan happily took the handful of stars, bowed and left under the complicated gazes of the mentors.

He naturally had no idea how many brain cells of people in front of and behind the stage had been killed because of his performance and Yayoi Tsuki's capricious scoring.

……

Chapter 215 I Forgot to Wear It

2024-07-13

A lounge exclusively for instructor Yayoi Tsuki.

"So, my self-righteous despair is just a trivial matter to others..."

Yayoi Tsuki placed one hand on the mirror and looked at herself with tearful eyes.

"Could it be that, as the Jinguji priestess said, he is suffering from a terminal illness and has been suffering in the darkness where he cannot see tomorrow?"

Just now, the darkness felt in Xia Fan's singing was far deeper than the version she sang herself.

The natural power of the male voice makes the persistence and struggle in the darkness even more ferocious and wild.

Although she did not "share senses" with Xia Fan, for the first time, Yayoi Tsuki felt the "real despair" carefully from his singing.

Only those who have truly been there can fully capture this feeling in people's hearts.

……

Backstage area.

"So nervous..."

"Take a deep breath, take a deep breath..."

Dozens of international trainees who have yet to appear on stage are still waiting in line nervously.

The trainees who had already completed their first stage had pinned the star badges on their clothes as required, and were gathering in groups of three or four to discuss the matter.

The trainees who originally registered for the competition equally have been artificially labeled as "different grades", from the personal interview video rankings to the current star ratings.

Now, even when chatting backstage, the trainees have subconsciously begun to use "company", "star rating" and other criteria to form small groups based on the principle of "birds of a feather flock together".

"Based on the current probability, there aren't even ten 'five-star trainees' among the 101 trainees."

"It's all because of Kishi Shiyao, Takahashi Yu, Nagase Kaito, and Hirano Yuta, who raised the standard..."

"That's right. She's obviously stronger than many young idols who have already debuted, but she still comes to this kind of talent show. It's really a bit of a dimensionality reduction attack."

The middle group, which consisted of the largest number of three-star and four-star trainees, silently paid attention to the ratings of the trainees returning from the exit channel, and from time to time cast jealous glances at the "five-star trainees" who looked superior and chatted casually.

There are already seventy or eighty people who have completed their initial stage performances. Of course, the majority are "three-star" trainees of average level. Currently, there are only seven who have received five-star ratings, accounting for less than 10%.

On the surface, the trainees who received a five-star rating simply received an extra popularity bonus of 500,000 votes when they were eliminated in the first performance. However, since the program team stipulated that everyone must pin stars on their clothes, there must be a deeper meaning behind this.

With a total of 101 trainees, it is impossible for the audience to remember all of their names and faces, so "official star rating" is the most intuitive label.

In subsequent programs, high-star trainees will be more direct and easier to gain attention and favor from the audience. They will be allocated more shots, and their popularity will continue to snowball, forming a "head effect" and getting closer and closer to their debut seat.

Of course, it is not ruled out that a few low-star trainees with "counterattack" and "cultivation" scripts will surpass with outstanding performances in the later stages of the program...

But that is only a minority after all.

"Damn it, these blind teachers, my 'hot-blooded rock' song carefully created by Horikoshi Academy, actually said that I am 'fake rock'?!"

"You just despise my status as a replacement. When the knockout stage comes, I will defeat my opponents one by one, step onto the throne of debut, and show you what 'God's will' is..."

In the "loser eat dust" crowd composed of more than ten two-star trainees, Shibata Makoto squatted silently in the corner, glancing resentfully at every trainee who had more stars than himself.

At first, he was very careful about "expression management". As soon as the camera showed signs of turning around, he immediately put on a cool and handsome attitude, not surprised by praise or criticism...

But when he found that the cameraman was only focusing on filming the trainees with high star ratings, he gave up on himself.

"Speaking of which, it's been so long, why hasn't anyone come out yet?"

"The last guy to go in seems to be the one whose video has the most views, a Dragon Country trainee named 'Xia Fan'."

A full ten minutes had passed since the last trainee came out, and no one had come out yet.

The trainees who had been staring at the exit passage and paying attention to the rating results of others' first stage performances naturally noticed the unusual length of time.

"That Xia Fan only had ten seconds more stage time than me. He should have come out long ago. Is there something fishy going on?"

Hearing everyone's discussions, Yuta Hirano, who had originally looked relaxed and had five stars on his chest, looked towards the exit passage with some concern.