As Impatiens continued their meteoric rise into the stratum known as “selling like hotcakes,” the leader Sakuna never once felt it was because their vibrant individuality was more appealing than other idol groups. She knew someone with no interest in the culture would think they all looked and sounded the exact same.
Of course, she was always ready to give it her all. She had worked hard to help create the ultimate performance that only Impatiens could replicate onstage, and she was confident it was a success. But that was just the baseline expectation. Any group would be asked to do the same. What the majority of people paid attention to—what generated profit for the agency and record label—was deeply tied to external elements beyond the girls’ control.
Impatiens was a “major project,” and so they were inundated with funding and marketing at a scale only big-name corporations were capable of. The veterans on the management team had a keen eye for the latest trends, and their vast network of connections provided a variety of benefits for the group. Famous artists wrote songs for them, popular bands wanted to compete with them…and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Even media outlets broadcast their songs in a variety of formats, and the more eyes and ears they reached, the more fans they garnered. People liked Impatiens so much that they told their friends, spreading the group’s influence even further.
The group owed it all to the hard work, good taste, and passion of countless other people, the combination of which had miraculously produced their success. In short, while they had now grown to the point that their name alone was a selling point all over the country, the main reason for that could be summed up like so: They were lucky.
And Takatsuki Sakuna, leader of Impatiens, was deeply grateful for this. She wasn’t trying to be modest. Because she loved pop idols, she knew exactly how critical the element of chance could be for any musician. With her own two eyes, she had seen groups oozing with talent and charm come to a premature end because of bad luck. She had seen hardworking girls shut out of their dream careers due to unfortunate circumstances. This was the real world, not a fantasy novel, and none of them could get this far merely by wishing hard enough—Sakuna felt it in her bones.
Of all the members of Impatiens, she was the one who dreamed most of being an idol. For that reason, she refused to humble herself or turn a blind eye to the treacherous path that would get her there. There was no dressing down the fact that other people had certain expectations of her. At the same time, she genuinely loved the talent and hard work of her fellow members, and she had faith in the fans who shared both their dreams and their reality.
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It would have been a different story if there were only five or six songs on the setlist, but this was a headlining concert with two full hours reserved just for them. Even if the lyric reassignment went perfectly, the fact of the matter was that this would not be a polished performance, and everyone was starting to realize that.
“I have a suggestion for Jul’s parts.”
All eyes were drawn to the hand raised into the air onstage. Among them were the authority figures that controlled the group’s future. But she couldn’t back down now. If she did, she’d be unfit to be called Takatsuki Sakuna, the heart of Impatiens.
“What if we asked her fans to help us?”