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

"Fine-tuning... that means making tickets, right?"

Akimoto Manjiro smiled ambiguously, lowered his head and stroked the stubble on his chin with his hand.

"You should all know the market situation this year. Not to mention, our program has hired people from the notary office to monitor the online vote count throughout the process."

For him, ticket manipulation was a piece of cake, but that was at least ten years ago...

In recent years, scandals of vote manipulation have frequently broken out in idol group elections and variety show auditions, leading to a collapse of credibility, stricter industry supervision, and the introduction of a number of policies and regulations.

You know, even selling scalper tickets for a concert will result in a criminal penalty of one year in prison and a 5 million yen fine...

Once the counterfeit banknotes are discovered, the consequences are life imprisonment and bankruptcy.

"The company has already made arrangements with the notary public. As long as the number of votes adjusted is within a certain range, they won't care..."

"This is what the presidents of the three companies all agree on. After all, the performance of the guys who debuted in recent years has declined drastically, and the companies really need some fresh blood to maintain their fan base."

Another representative sitting nearby also began to advise in a low voice.

"In that case... I understand..."

"These people will stay until the second performance is over."

Akimoto Manjiro folded the list, put it inside his coat, and said with certainty.

"But, among the nine debut spots you mentioned, I have one spot, which cannot be guaranteed."

"That's Xia Fan."

"That kind of vote difference is not something that can be handled by 'fine-tuning'."

After taking a sip of the cold tea, he pointed his phone towards the three people opposite him and spoke in a deep voice.

"..."

"Xia Fan..."

Looking at the real-time vote count on the mobile phone screen, the three representatives who had been calm and composed fell silent.

The name that ranked first on the list was "Xia Fan".

In just two days, his popularity had soared from four million at the end of the first performance to an incredible six million...

The combined popularity of second-placed Hirano Yuta and third-placed Takahashi Yu is not as high as his.

The key factors for this level of vote growth are Xia Fan’s personal charm, stage performance and stunning high notes.

However, J Company and S Company jointly created negative rumors such as "lip-syncing" and "changing audio tracks", which eventually led to the incident of their own trainees tinkering with the audio, which also contributed to the incident.

"Excuse me for being blunt, but this burning kid is indeed born to be an idol. If he wants to compete head-on on stage, the group of seed trainees you sent out have no chance of winning..."

"In order to help you, the program team has recently attracted a lot of negative public opinion, and it took a lot of effort to downplay it..."

Akimoto Manjiro naturally knew why the three people on the opposite side were embarrassed, and he did not hesitate to take advantage of the situation to pursue the victory.

From his sharp eyes who have been in the idol industry for many years, Xia Fan's enchanting appearance and temperament, as well as his soul-touching high notes, are all super S-level idol talents.

If an ordinary trainee possesses even one of these qualities, he or she will have the opportunity to become a top star. Xia Fan, who possesses both qualities, is destined to achieve great success in the future.

Because the "Deep Sea Fisherman" failed to identify Xia Fan and instead exposed the local trainees' collective audio editing, the program crew has also been subjected to a lot of online violence in the past two days.

They finally bought a batch of marketing accounts and got away with it by claiming that "the program crew has taken great pains to bring glory to the district."

"Xia Fan... The Combustion Department has always won by quantity, so it's not surprising to occasionally run into a few talented seedlings."

"But in the past few years, no one has been able to take away the traffic from our talent shows. There has never been one before, and there won't be one in the future."

The three representatives looked at each other and laughed sinisterly.

"Everyone has weaknesses, and Xia Fan is no exception. If we can't handle it on stage, we can handle it off stage..."

"Let the Burning Type be proud for a while in the first round of performances, and then we'll get rid of him in the second and third rounds."

"The stronger the 'Demon King' is, the more the 'Hero' will shine when he is defeated."

……

Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The three-story buildings are adjacent to the bay, and you can see the calm sea three meters away from the window.

This small house built by the sea is very common in Miura, a "peninsula city" surrounded by the sea on three sides.

In a room on the top floor of one of the small buildings, "Ji Zi", a slender girl in a white dress, was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed.

"Lord Amabie bless you..."

Several men and women were kneeling devoutly beneath her, circling around her like maggots.

"Sorry...tsk tsk tsk...Master Jizi..."

"Shh...I was recording a show last week...I couldn't come to worship..."

"I am extremely terrified..."

At this moment, Shibata Makoto was also crawling under her skirt, talking eloquently with his lips moving and his tongue moving.

"It doesn't matter. During this period... humph... Amaterasu's pseudo-government has been targeting us, so the pilgrimage has been changed to an irregular schedule..."

Ji Zi held his chin with one hand and swiped his phone with a blush on his face.

"Speaking of which, the talent show you participated in will enter the elimination stage tomorrow, right?"

"Your current ranking seems to be about to be eliminated."

She turned her phone screen toward Shibata Makoto.

"I...I know..."

Makoto Shibata was stunned for a moment because he didn't expect that the mysterious "boss" would also pay attention to the program he participated in.

Even though he won with Takahashi Yu's team and received more than 500,000 votes, his popularity was only barely maintained at around 53rd or 54th place...

That is, just below the elimination line.

"Don't worry, Master Jizi. With the divine power of Master Amabie protecting me, no one can stand in my way..."

"I, Shibata Makoto, will definitely not be eliminated."

Shibata Makoto rubbed his lips and promised firmly.

Pieces of black scales were falling off Jizi's thighs and buttocks, and he caught them carefully.

"It's been very tense lately, so you should be more restrained when using your divine power."

"We have fallen to this point, all because of the person who reported us to the government. If I could find him..."

As if thinking of someone he hated very much, Jizi narrowed his eyes and stared ferociously, his fingers unconsciously sliding on the official website of the "Idol Birth Festival" program...

Chapter 276: First Survival Battle Announcement Ceremony

2024-07-13

As the agent of Lord Amabie, he has more and more believers, and the power that "Ji Zi" obtains from the gods is getting stronger and stronger.

Originally, he had established many "houses" in the past two years, and his secret missionary work in various places in Tokyo was developing rapidly. However, he was reported to the government's supernatural agency by that man.

If this loose, flexible and isolated organizational structure had not been set up from the beginning, I'm afraid these believers would have been caught by the police by now.

Although some believers have been retained by sending them back to their own homes and breaking up into smaller groups, Ji Zi and his subordinates have become street rats who hide their heads and show their tails, and the growth of believers has stagnated.

"and many more……"

Suddenly, a handsome "official photo" on the homepage of the website caught Ji Zi's eyes.

"This person... this person is..."

"It's him... I can't be wrong... these extremely beautiful eyes... they are definitely the same person..."

She excitedly enlarged the photo and watched it over and over again. Scales all over her body stood up like wings because of her anger...

Several "devotees" who were speaking eloquently had their tongues cut.

"Shibata..."

"This must be the guidance of Lord Amabie, the supreme honor bestowed upon you!"

She stood up suddenly and kicked the dumbfounded Makoto Shibata in the chest with her bare foot, pinning him to the ground.

"The man who tarnished the honor of Lord Amabie is participating in the same show as you..."

"I want you to kill him and let him die in pain and sin!"

"As long as you complete this task, I will promote you to the rank of 'Master'!"

Ji Zi bent down, breathing sweetly, and gave him orders through gritted teeth.

"What? The person who reported to the police was actually a trainee of the "Idol Birth Festival"? "

"It's really his misfortune that he ran into me..."

"Tell me his name, and I will make sure that Lord Amabie's sanity is enforced."

After being stunned for a moment, Shibata Makoto laughed sinisterly.

He had originally planned to let those who had the most votes ahead of him "withdraw from the competition due to illness", so naturally he didn't mind if another one "died of serious illness".

"name……"

"Xia Fan, his name is Xia Fan! Even if he turns into ashes, I won't be able to recognize him wrong!"

……

after one day.

The main studio of "Idol Birth Festival".

"Dear trainees, welcome back to the recording site of episode 4."

"Today, the first thing we will do is announce the results of the first round of survival battle announcement ceremony."

Goro Kimura stood on the main stage with a complicated expression, facing the dark camera.

Hearing that the results would be announced at the very beginning, the 101 trainees lined up neatly in front of the open space below the stage looked even more anxious.

Many trainees who were hovering around the 51 elimination line began to put their hands together, close their eyes and pray.

The first round of survival battle announcement ceremony will announce the statistical deadline, and the final vote ranking will be verified and corrected by a notary agency after some duplicate counting.

Even if a group of trainees are intensively refreshing the rankings every day and already have a clear understanding of their own rankings, they can't help but be optimistic and hope that the final number of votes will change.

Those trainees who were ranked high and were sure that they would not be eliminated glanced with complicated eyes at their "competitors" in the crowd who had similar votes to themselves, silently calculating in their hearts how to deal with the upcoming second round of performances.

"The first one is..."

After opening the envelope handed to him by the staff, Goro Kimura began to read.

"First……"

"Humph……"

He was still keeping the suspense as required by the program team, delaying the announcement of the first place after a long breath...

Many eyes in the field have fallen on a tall figure in the first row.

That person, of course, relied on his terrifying popularity of over 6 million to completely monopolize the number one spot, making the first place in the first round of the survival battle no longer a sure thing...

Dragon Country trainee, Xia Fan.

Of course, he has gained new titles these days, such as "Big Devil" and "High Ceiling".

"Xia Fan... 6.75 million popularity points..."

When Kimura Goro read out this unexpected name and popularity value, the eyes of several local five-star trainees looked at Xia Fan, and their previous disdain and dissatisfaction had changed to fear and jealousy...

After all, Xia Fan's personal image, temperament, unique singing skills, and the rapidly soaring popularity of the program have already created quite formidable competitiveness.

During the two days of recording break, several five-star trainees received instructions from the company, asking them to prioritize suppressing Xia Fan at the expense of their personal popularity...

After Xia Fan is eliminated, they will decide the winner among themselves.

"Hirano Yuta... second place... 3.25 million..."

"Takahashi Yuu... third place... 2.99 million..."

"Nagaze Kaito...the fourth place..."