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

"Wasn't this person quite kind-hearted just now?"

"Your attitude changed too quickly..."

Only a group of trainees were left looking at each other in bewilderment.

……

Three o'clock in the morning.

"Hululu..."

In dormitory 501, the trainees, exhausted after a day of work, were sleeping soundly. The handsome Basong even snored, which was a rare occurrence for her.

“Pulululula…”

Interspersed with Basong's snoring was the dense and muffled sound coming from the toilet, which was not just farts but also watery soup.

"..."

After a while, Jack walked out of the bathroom with a grim face and unsteady steps.

"Jack, are you okay?"

"You seem to have been running around a lot. Have you taken any medicine?"

Xia Fan, who was sleeping on the upper bunk, asked with sleepy eyes.

"I took the medicine a long time ago...but I still can't stop feeling sick...I guess I have an upset stomach..."

"The same goes for several other members of my team. They are all still sealed on the toilet."

Holding his stomach, Jack walked stiffly to the bottom of the bunk and sat down weakly.

"Then, do you want to go to the hospital?"

Afraid that he would become dehydrated, Xia Fan climbed out of bed and handed him a bottle of sponsor's drink.

"No, the performance is today. Going to the hospital now will take up too much time."

"I'll only be on stage for a few minutes. I've practiced for so many days. I have to hold on no matter what..."

Jack gulped down the bottle of drink.

"But……"

"No, no... it's happening again..."

Xia Fan wanted to persuade him a little more, but the other party's face changed and he rushed into the toilet with small steps turning their feet inward.

"Strange, everyone is eating in the cafeteria, why is it that only this team has diarrhea?"

Looking at the toilet that started to "crackle" again, Xia Fan couldn't help but feel a little worried.

At the same time, a barely perceptible wisp of black smoke floated out of the toilet.

"Foul air?"

When Xia Fan looked carefully, the wisp of black smoke had disappeared without a trace.

"Jack, are you okay?"

After taking a closer look and finding nothing, he knocked on Jack's door again.

"Apart from the numbness in my lower limbs and the illusion that my anus and hemorrhoids were about to fall into the toilet, there were no other problems."

From inside the door, Jack's weak voice came.

"Well, drink more water. If you need anything, call me anytime..."

Xia Fan gave some instructions and then lay back on the bed.

The bathroom is a cold and dark place, so it is normal to have foul air occasionally at night.

"Speaking of which, with Jack in this state, can he still perform normally in tomorrow's performance?"

Feeling sleepy, Xia Fan soon fell asleep to the rhythm of Jack's powerful "accompaniment".

……

Chapter 259: Losing Streak

2024-07-13

That afternoon.

"Dear producers in front of the screen, welcome to the first performance stage of the "Idol Birth Festival"..."

"Today, the international and local trainee teams will compete against each other and do their best to present their most exciting performance for the 1,000 audience members on site and for you in front of the screen!"

In the brightly lit main studio, four mentors sat upright in front of the large wooden stage.

There was a crowd of people behind the mentor seats. They were the one thousand live audience members recruited through the "popularity ticket consumption lottery" method.

"Dear audience, please look at the camera over here and respond according to my instructions... applause... OK, that's enough..."

"Smile, look at the camera...good, next is laughing..."

"Then there's the feeling of being touched... yes, yes, yes... be a little more reserved, and then give me an expectant look..."

"Are there any audience members who can perform crying? No? Bring me some eye drops..."

The executive director and the photographer are interacting with the audience, collecting some "audience reaction" materials that may be used in later editing.

"Hey, there are a thousand spectators. It seems that there are much more than expected..."

"There's so much pressure, so much pressure, so much pressure..."

Taking a peek at the packed auditorium and the trainees in the backstage area, adrenaline started to flow like crazy...

"Next, we invite the first team of trainees to come on stage. The song they will perform is..."

But the program team did not give them time to adjust their mindset, but directly announced the official start of the performance stage.

After all, fourteen programs take up a full three hours, which is comparable to a concert, so every minute counts.

The rules of the performance stage competition are very simple. The international and local trainee teams of the same piece of music will perform on stage one after another.

After the performance, the mentors and the audience will use the scoring devices distributed in advance to vote for individual trainees according to the corresponding numbers. The mentor's vote counts as 100 votes and the audience's vote counts as one vote.

The number of votes each trainee receives will be added to his or her team, and the total number of votes of all members will be the final score of the team.

The winning team will also share the 5 million popularity votes as a reward based on the proportion of the trainees' individual votes.

According to the prior draw, the first team to appear was Hirano Yuta's team.

He seems to be a fan of Goro Kimura's former boy band PAMS. The song he chose this time was actually PAMS' classic boy band singing and dancing song.

This song with a simple melody and ancient dance was presented very authentically by Yuta Hirano's team without any unauthorized changes.

The audience shouted "memories" and "tears of the times" and sang along with the melody...

The atmosphere on the scene, which was originally a bit stiff, gradually became lively.

Hirano Yuta's team's opponent is the team led by Basong, the second most popular international trainee.

Perhaps because they thought the song and dance were too retro, or perhaps because they didn’t understand the era of the piece, Basong and his team made some “trendy” adaptations to the lyrics and dance moves of the entire performance…

Such "optimization" makes the stage effects of the entire program more rich and three-dimensional, creating many refreshing highlights.

But the audience in the audience did not buy into this innovation, and instead felt it was a "blasphemy of classics."

Perhaps, the biggest cultural difference between the imaginative and free-spirited foreigners and the rigid and inflexible people of District 11 lies here.

In short, in the final score, Hirano Yuta's group won the confrontation with a huge advantage of 800 to 600 votes.

Hirano Yuta's successful start made the local trainees waiting in the wings breathe a sigh of relief.

Against the backdrop of defeat in the war, loss of national sovereignty, continued invasion of District 11’s local culture by other major powers, and the economy being harvested like leeks, the identity of “District 11 people” has long ceased to bring any sense of national pride.

At this moment, under the competition framework carefully designed by the program team, the audience in the audience gradually felt the so-called "national confidence" through the "stage competition", and dopamine began to be secreted crazily with the spiritual victory.

In this increasingly fanatical atmosphere, the local trainees seemed to have the illusion of representing their country in the Olympics, and each of them tried their best on the stage as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Following Basong, the three international trainee teams that took the stage tasted defeat one after another.

"Strange, how come these guys' expressions, movements, and emotions are so much better than during the rehearsal..."

Even Goro Kimura, who was sitting in the mentor's seat, was shocked by this.

“It’s the audience. The anticipation, cheers and encouragement from the audience motivate the performers.”

"By performing better, we gain more positive feedback, creating a virtuous cycle."

Yayoi Tsuki kept a cold face throughout the whole process and gave the answer sparingly.

"Miss Yayoi is right."

“That’s why some unsurpassed classic stages are always born in live performances.”

Oda Masaya was watching very attentively, with a rare smile on his face.

"By the way, the international trainees have lost four games in a row..."

"The next group is Takahashi Yu's team against Jack's team. Can the international trainees win back a point in this group?"

After looking at the order of appearance, Shota Hirai suddenly became more expectant.

Although the victory of the local trainee group was what everyone expected, and it also fits the "main theme" of the program...

But just like some things, you don't want your opponent to resist too violently, but you also have to symbolically say a few words: "I'm shy", "It hurts", "Be gentle", and then struggle a few more times and shout a few times weakly, so that the overall viewing experience will be exciting.

If there are one-sided victories, the show will inevitably become boring, and even the quality of the competition stage will be questioned.

The next group to perform was Takahashi Yu, who performed a singing and dancing song with dance as the highlight.

The whole song has an explosive rhythm and dense drum beats, and the trainees also showed a highly coordinated dance.

In particular, Gao Qiaoyou, who stood in the center position, showed dazzling and difficult dance moves with his strong physical fitness and dance skills, which made the audience exclaim and applaud continuously...

This trainee, who was meticulously trained by Jenny Matsudaira, finally began to show his abilities little by little according to the script.

By the way, the "sunshine boy" Makoto Shibata is also in this team, playing a supporting position that is not much different from a backup dancer.

"This... I will temporarily withdraw my expectations..."

"It's quite challenging for Jack's team to win on this kind of music..."

Watching the local trainees bow out amid exclamations, Shota Hirai sighed and shook his head.

In his memory, the captain Jack himself was a "dance idiot". Although there were a few people in the team who were good at dancing, to reach the level of Takahashi Yu's live performance, one needed very deep dance skills and psychological qualities.

Chapter 260 The Last Seedling

2024-07-13

Under the gazes of the crowd, the international trainee team led by Jack, all with dark circles under their eyes that could not be covered by foundation, appeared on stage with weak steps, limp limbs, and dull expressions...

Anyone who has worked hard for three days of rehearsal and then gone to the bathroom a dozen times the night before the performance will look like this.

"No...it's not a challenging question anymore..."

"It's not even as good as the rehearsal. It's a sure thing that we'll lose."

Not surprisingly, they gave a rather "weak" dance performance in front of the empty eyes of the audience, and were heavily criticized by several instructors.

The number of votes received on site naturally set a new low in the history of the international trainee team.

……

"Lost again?!"

"The score gap is bigger than the previous four teams?"

In the international trainees' waiting area, international trainees who had already finished their performances or were still waiting were all staring at the live broadcast of the stage on the wall monitor.

Seeing the huge gap in the voting score, everyone's face turned dark.

They could imagine how proud the expressions of the local trainees in the waiting area on the other side of the stage would be.

"Sorry, guys, we've embarrassed ourselves..."

"Damn it, if I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have even eaten dinner yesterday!"

After a while, Jack's team returned to the backstage, covered in dust.