I did think that, actually. “Spare me your complaints. Let’s get right down to it. What are you worried about, here?”
“Whoa, chill. But anyway… My concern is about the top performers in the Music Department. I think it goes without saying that Erio and Shiika are the top two among the current first-year students. This is an undisputable fact.”
“Indeed, indeed. Shiika is a genius, after all.”
“But when we’re talking about dance, it’s a whole different story. There’s only one amazing talent among the first-years when it comes to dance music.”
“…! Ryan Sengoku! He used to be in BRAVE!” Akiba leaned forward, picking up on what Komae was trying to say.
“Exactly. He’s a pretty strong opponent, isn’t he?”
“Gah! I totally forgot! That’s bad. That’s very bad!” Akiba shouted.
“Hey, hey, hold on a sec, you guys. Fill me in. I’m not in the loop. Don’t just introduce a new main character all excitedly without context.”
“Right. Who the heck is Sengoku? Don’t go getting all fired up over the name of some guy we don’t even know,” Shibuya said.
“Shiika’s the main character, but fine, explain. Akiba, Komae?”
After a barrage of complaints that sounded more like coordinated attacks, Komae cleared his throat. He paused and regained his composure, then put on a serious expression.
“Ryan Sengoku. He’s in the Music Department, too, just in a different class. He’s extremely talented, and he’s been attending a dance school that represents the dance and vocal group BRAVE since elementary school.”
“You must have heard of the performing unit BRAVE?” Akiba asked us, following up on Komae’s explanation.
“Hey, don’t just assume your geek knowledge will be widely understood by anyone,” I said.
“Geek knowledge? More like common… Ah, but I get it. You don’t watch TV, do you, Gakuto? Shibuya, you know, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Well, I’ve heard the name. The guy in the center of things always wears sunglasses and is super buff… It seems the students do all sorts of activities, like appear in movies, and there are multiple subunits.”
“Right, right. Through dance and music, they attain national popularity!” Akiba shouted.
“Wow, so they formed an actual dance school…,” I said.
Shiika and I were unfamiliar with that mainstream world, and Shibuya and the others chattered away about topics only normies would understand.
The next person to speak was Komae.
“Right, well, Ryan Sengoku was the number one student at the BRAVE school.”
“Was? Why past tense?” Shibuya asked.
“He doesn’t go there anymore. To be more accurate, he got expelled.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Rumors of bad behavior. Looks like he goes out of his way to hang out with yakuza-looking guys, and stays out all night, that kind of thing. What an idiot. He could have had a major label debut with a unit under the BRAVE umbrella.”
“Still, sounds like he’s got a lot of clout.”
I found a gap in the conversation to throw in my two cents.
Komae nodded.
“Yeah, and the fan base to match. When it comes to dance and music combined, he might be even more popular than Erio Shibuya. I’ve seen him on TV dancing with just two male backup dancers. I bet he’ll submit his entry for the exam with those two. Well, that’s your top three ranking students right there.”
“But if we combine the fandoms of Shiika and Komae, we should be in the clear, right?”
“Naive thinking, Gakuto.” Akiba waved aside my suggestion, looking smug.
“I told you before that the influence of dance videos is nothing to sniff at, right?” she continued.
“You did. We need some dance moves to accompany Shiika’s singing, right?”
“Indeed. Sengoku has the dance chops, no doubt. AND he used to go to the BRAVE school. The public will absolutely LOVE that!”
“A big star, huh?” My words were dripping with irony.
Since entering Ryouran High, I’ve realized how much I hate all this crap about looks being everything.
And this time, it was even worse.
Ryan Sengoku had already been expelled from BRAVE. He no longer had anything to do with it. Yet for some reason, he managed to retain that prestige. People don’t care about actual facts. They hold on to their inherent biases in the face of conflicting information. Absolutely deplorable.
The only issue is that on this occasion at least, it sounds like Sengoku outclasses Shiika when it comes to dancing.
It’s not like her singing ability. She can’t wow the crowd by pulling something special out of the bag. Shiika is extremely uncoordinated, and that much is obvious from looking at her. She can’t win like that… Actually, she can barely even manage to scramble up onto the same stage.
That being the case, there was only one conclusion I could draw as her manager.
“Okay, let’s give up!”
“Whoa, quick decision much? You can’t just give up!” Shibuya rolled her eyes at me.
“Well, it’s hopeless. Impossible. And there’s no penalty, is there, for failing the final exam? We should just give up. And hope for better odds next time.”
“The Shibuya Gang doesn’t know the meaning of the words GIVE UP! Show some guts, would you?!”
“Guts? Give me a break. And that team name is lame, you know?”
“Lame? How dare you!”
“Calm down, Shibuya. Gakuto’s an idiot. Don’t try to reason with him. You’ll only exhaust yourself.”
Shibuya was still baring her fangs at me and gnashing her teeth like a mad dog when Akiba, who rolled her eyes, tried to intervene. Then suddenly Akiba leaned in close to me and said, “THIS is how you deal with him” with a knowing look reminiscent of a common-law wife who had been by my side for many years.
Akiba continued, “Singers who release videos with lame dance routines disillusion their fans, and that leads to their viewing figures dropping like a rock. Take a look at last year’s data. The trends are clearly visible.”
“What…did you say?”
“And if the viewing figures drop, then, well…it goes without saying that the stipend from the school will decrease like crazy as well…”
“Gack!”
“And once those numbers start dropping, they tend to keep on falling…”
“Guhhh!”
“Then before you know it, you’ll find it impossible to get them back up again.”
“Ngaaah!”
“Forget tempura. You’ll be eating plain udon forever. Not even a single slice of fried tofu…”
“Ababababa!”
“And you can forget about fresh raw maguro. Soon the day will come when you can’t even eat dried sardines…”
“Enough! I’ve heard enough!”
Writhing like a man possessed by a demon, I shook Akiba off and grabbed Shiika’s shoulder with, no doubt, a crazed look in my eyes.
Shiika shuddered; she most likely guessed what I was going to say. She averted her eyes, but I wasn’t about to back down now.
“Which would you prefer, a daily life where you can eat raw maguro or a daily life where you can’t?” I asked.
“…Gak, that kind of question isn’t fair.”
“Which would you prefer, a luxurious life where you can eat delicious food every day or a poor life where you might die of hunger?”
“Ugh…”
Shiika looked conflicted, screwing her eyes shut, her lips moving as she mumbled.
And then she muttered something.