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

Chapter 10 Super Fan

"The first player to come on stage is..."

After the host gave the opening remarks, contestants took to the stage to sing one after another.

"How is it? It feels good to listen to the concert in the backstage."

"Well, this is the first time in my life that I've watched a performance so close to the stage."

In the VIP area marked "Insiders", Higashino Yoshihide and Xia Fan sat at the back.

"You kid, you are now considered an industry professional after all, don't say such shameful amateurish words. The stage is the front line of the battlefield in the entertainment industry!"

Rubbing Xia Fan's head, Dongye pointed at the stage with an enthusiastic expression: "In the future, you will also stand on that place and shine to your heart's content!"

"I just write some songs. I am tone-deaf, my limbs are not coordinated, and my body is not healthy, so I won't go to the front line..."

Xia Fan rejected Dong Ye's inspirational words with a wry smile.

"I have been on the edge of a knife for many years, and I don't know how many sunrises I can see. But as long as I am alive, I must enjoy the present moment and be free!"

"Even if he dies one day...it would be nice to have more fans come to visit his grave every year!"

Perhaps thinking of Xia Fan's illness, Dong Ye's face darkened, but then he cheered up again.

"Thank you for the wonderful performance of the last contestant. Now, it's time for the professional judges to give their scores..."

"Wow, the judges gave an average high score of 44!"

While the two were whispering to each other, several contestants had already finished singing, collected their scores and left.

"The professional judges are really merciless. The first few newcomers performed quite well, but none of them have scored above 45 so far."

Dongye shook his head regretfully.

There are 5 on-site judges, each with a weight of 10 points, for a total of 50 points.

As strict music experts in the industry, these newcomers' performances on stage for the first time naturally cannot withstand their scrutiny and it is difficult for them to get high scores.

"The next person to come on stage is a newcomer who looks familiar..."

"Let us welcome the former popular actor and now new singer-songwriter, Sakamoto Shu, to bring us "I Don't Want to Leave the Bed" which he wrote and composed himself!"

After being introduced by the host, the handsome Hide Sakamoto stood under the spotlight.

From the direction of the outer audience seats, several women's screams were heard immediately.

"Tsk, here comes the cheater."

Dongye looked back and smacked his lips in annoyance.

Sakamoto Hide, who was participating in the competition as a "newcomer", had a female fan group of over a hundred people gathered outside the venue, holding banners, waving glow sticks, and screaming in support.

"In a way, I am also a cheater, right?"

Xia Fan touched his nose and listened carefully to Sakamoto Hide's singing.

After returning from studying at a top music school abroad and determined to debut as a singer, Hideo Sakamoto is naturally quite talented.

The song "Don't Want to Leave Bed", which he wrote and composed himself, is highly accomplished and perfectly matches his vocal range, singing style and temperament. Coupled with his steady performance on stage, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as "impeccable".

"48 points! The first score over 45 has appeared, but I didn't expect it to be so much higher!"

By the end of the song, the audience was filled with thunderous applause and the judges gave very high scores.

"This guy is both good-looking and useful. I think he will definitely take first place."

Even the disdainful Dongye had to admit the opponent's strength.

"Mr. Hoshina is so unlucky that he has to appear after Sakamoto Shu..."

"God bless her, if she can make it into the top ten, she will be half of our company's artists!"

Dongye flipped through the sequence list, clasped his hands together in front of his chest and recited silently.

"Uncle Dongye, I'll go to the back for a while."

Xia Fan glanced at the stage, then stood up and walked to the back row. In a corner of the stage where the spotlights could not reach, a petite figure was already quietly waiting there.

……

On the stage, Hideo Sakamoto bowed out gracefully amid thunderous applause.

"Finally, it's my turn. I've been training for two and a half years just for this official debut..."

Hoshina Hanami took advantage of the time when the lights dimmed and, according to the procedure, stood in the center of the dark stage.

She wore light makeup today and a pink idol stage costume. Compared to usual, she looked even sweeter and more charming, and her youthfulness was so overwhelming.

"Why, I'm not looking forward to it as much as I thought."

Hoshina Hanami took a deep breath and quietly glanced below the stage, but she looked a little disappointed because she couldn't find anyone.

"…Please welcome the next contestant, the new idol singer from aksb48, Hoshina Hanami, to perform the song "Sakura" for us."

Following the host's announcement, several spotlights suddenly fell on her.

“Is this the real big stage?”

"What a terrible feeling of pressure. It's completely different from the theater I usually practice..."

The small theater where we usually practice has a fixed audience group of less than a hundred people. Even if there are occasional mistakes in the performance, we can get away with it without any pressure.

But now, the scorching heat of the spotlight, the pressure of several cameras focusing simultaneously, and the convergence of thousands of eyes inside and outside the court made Hoshina Hanami's mind go blank.

"If I mess up my debut performance on a stage like this, wouldn't that be..."

A terrible thought rose up from the bottom of her heart uncontrollably and gradually turned into fear that dominated her body.

"Hsing Ming looks very stiff, is he stage fright? Please, my entire fortune rests on you."

Dongye in the audience noticed something was wrong and his face turned pale.

At the same time, the prelude began to sound.

“What should I do? I can barely move my body, let alone get into a rhythm. Cheer up, Hanami…”

But at this moment, Hoshina Hanami was not in the performance state at all. Not to mention singing, she even forgot her usual habit of counting the beats with her feet.

The familiar prelude of "Sakura" now seemed so terrifying that it seemed to be urging one's life to end.

"It's over... it's over..."

She tried her best to lift the microphone to her mouth, but she couldn't even remember the first line of the lyrics...

"Ok?"

Suddenly, a tall, handsome and familiar figure appeared in the center of Hoshina Hanami's blurred vision.

It’s Xia Fan.

He was seen standing expressionlessly in the last row of the inner field, in the central aisle facing the stage.

Then, Xia Fan pulled open his black sports jacket and threw it back, revealing the white short-sleeved T-shirt underneath.

On the front of the white T-shirt, the characters "Hanami Honmei" were written in a flamboyant calligraphy style.

Then, he pulled out two rather thick and long pink fluorescent sticks, which were "foldable and hidden, extra-large, can't be brought into bags, refunded" from both sides of his trouser legs, held them in both hands, and slowly raised them up.

"Wow! Are you the super fanatic fan who followed me from the Aksb48 mini-theater?"

Such an action does not seem too abrupt.

Although it is rare for fans to be qualified to enter the inner field, compared with the huge group of fans in the outer field of Sakamoto Hide, Xia Fan's "lone battle" is insignificant.

"Xia... Xia Jun... is really here..."

However, the moment Xia Fan appeared, Hoshina Hanami's face on the stage turned completely red.

(End of this chapter)