I became a girl group idol for my sister.

……

January 9, 2017, Monday, there was still some time before school started.

Today is a very important day for Miyamoto Sei and other graduate students.

The CD single "Sengoku Girls," filmed entirely by graduate students, was released today for 1600 yen.

However, apart from Miyamoto and others, not many people paid attention to the release of "Sengoku Girls" because it was just a single by a graduate student, not a production like SKR Senbaku, which could sell millions of copies. As for the former, no one was optimistic about it.

"Only two entertainment magazine reporters came, and they were both from small magazines..." Shimada Yurina slumped in her chair, looking very listless: "It's supposed to be the day our single is released, but it feels like nothing has changed..."

"It's already pretty good that two companies came, considering we don't have much brand recognition. Most people probably think that SKR's operations department is just throwing money away like crazy..."

Mika Komatsu casually flipped through her phone, seemingly not very concerned about her grades.

"The most important thing now is to continue to do our job well. As for the results, we can wait and see the first week's sales in a week."

"Oh? It's your job, huh? Then why are you checking the sales rankings? It's not even been a day yet, you can't see it on the list." Shimada Yurina suddenly appeared from behind, startling Komatsu Mika. "I just happened to scroll past it!"

"Yes, yes, I just happened to find it." Shimada Yurina said, returning to the chair she had just been sitting in.

"Nana-chan, aren't you nervous?" Miyu asked softly.

"I'm still a little nervous. I want to see how many daily and weekly sales the single can get. I checked, and the selection group's 'Beginner,' released last October, sold 820,000 copies in its first week, and 'Endless Replay,' released in August, sold 520,000 copies. We can forget about it..."

SKR girl group is a phenomenon. Their sales of hundreds of thousands in the first week were completely outmatched by the next few groups.

Even for professional singers, selling around 3,000 copies in the first week is enough to get into the top 30, and selling 10,000 copies is almost enough to secure a spot in the top 10.

If there aren't too many strong competitors during the first week of sales, then five or six thousand units sold can get you into the top ten.

However, this does not mean that climbing the singles charts is easy; on the contrary, it is an extremely brutal battlefield.

“I checked too…” Miyu Nagayasu said softly, “There are 420 songs in a month. This is our debut song. If we want to break into the top ten… according to the data online, it’s 7%…”

With 420 songs, including both newcomers and veterans, it would be difficult to break into the top ten without defeating too many competitors. These graduate students were no longer facing their peers, but rather a group of unfamiliar veterans who had already shone brightly in the fields of singing!

This caused a slight tremor in Miyu Nagasu's voice.

"If you want to get first place, then it's 1%, right?" Miyamoto Sei's voice was tinged with laughter.

Miyu Nagasu looked at Miyamoto Sei and saw that the other person was looking at her.

"I read that analysis too, but no matter what, I have some confidence in myself, and I'll try my best to get first place!"

"First place?!" Miyu Nagasu looked at Miyamoto Sei, completely unexpected that the other party was actually thinking about getting first place. This was simply wishful thinking!

“It’s just a dream, it doesn’t cost any money, and I think this is an opportunity…” Miyamoto’s smile softened: “This time, we should be able to see just how many people are supporting us!”

While some people will definitely choose to buy more, at least this will give us a more direct view than the last performance in Shibuya, showing just how many people support the current graduate students.

I don't expect to catch up with or even surpass the members of the selection group, but at least I need to understand how big the gap is!

"Yes! We will definitely, definitely work hard to get more people to become our fans!" Yongan Meixi said, clenching her little fist.

"Damn it! Don't slack off here! Do you think releasing one single means you've debuted? You're still a long way off!"

It was Subaru Hasegawa who roared, as passionate as ever.

"Get back to training properly right now, or you're cleaning up!"

So the group of people stood up laughing and started cleaning.

After his outburst, Subaru Hasegawa left the dance studio and headed to Risa Amagai's office.

"Ms. Amagawa, releasing it without any promotion will probably affect sales, won't it?" Subaru Hasegawa frowned slightly. "They seem really excited about it..."

"Promotion? The fans will promote it themselves. Besides, this time it's to see how many people are willing to cheer them on, and whether everyone is willing to share with each other without official promotion."

Risa Tenbei smiled, appearing relaxed.

"The fans who follow them will definitely notice that today is the day the CD single is sold, and they will talk about it online. In this way, the news will spread wider and wider, eventually creating a hurricane among the fans."

As Tambirisa said this, the corners of her mouth turned up.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing how shocked everyone is when the Oricon weekly charts are released next Tuesday."

"Teacher Tianbei, do you mean that next week's chart will be very successful for the graduate students' CD single, perhaps even reaching number ten or nine?"

"Tenth or ninth place?" Risa Tenbei shook her head: "Maybe they'll bring us even more surprising results, like first place or something."

"This is too exaggerated. All three songs from our headquarters are still on the chart, not to mention 'Goddess of the Toilet' is also on the chart, consistently holding the top spot."

"If you can't even surpass the singles from the selection group that are now in a period of slow decline, how can you compete with the members of the selection group? If you want to take the baton from your seniors, then you at least have to show enough strength!"

"A song that surpasses the selection group's, which means their single needs to sell at least tens of thousands of copies in its first week..." Hasegawa Subaru was so shocked by this statement that he instinctively swallowed hard: "Isn't that a bit too difficult for them?"

"Maybe, at least she doesn't seem very confident?" Risa Amagai closed her laptop. "I'm waiting for this final selection. I hope she can give me a good surprise."

"This year's general election? In June, I don't think there will be much change in the top few." Subaru Hasegawa muttered to himself, then walked out.

"Not much change? Perhaps." Risa Tenbei muttered to herself, silently looking at the paper in her hand. The words on the paper were covered by her hand, and only the last few words could be seen.

That's a "plan".

Chapter 90: Soaring Sales

[I've got my hands on the Sengoku Girls magazine! The filming is absolutely fantastic. Whether they're walking in kimonos at night or fighting in armor, you can feel how dedicated they were to the shoot!]

[The fight between Nana and Mika, especially the final strike where they sheathed their swords—that was definitely a real sword, and not a stand-in! They went all out!]

[That sheathing of the sword? Let me analyze this from a professional perspective. Based on my years of experience in kendo, Nana-chan must have received specialized kendo training. She's very proficient in these movements, and you can see that in the final sheathing. If she didn't do that right, her fingers would be ruined.]

[This time, the official release of the single was quiet again, with almost no promotion. If I hadn't known it was going to be released soon and hadn't been keeping a close eye on it, I probably would have missed it!]

[Go and promote it! We don't know how many units will sell in the first week.]

[Yesterday's sales were 1200 copies. If they maintain this level, they should be able to reach around 7000 to 8000 copies in seven days. This is quite impressive for a newly debuted group.]

[But didn't SKR's other tracks also get hundreds of thousands of views in their first week?]

[What are you thinking? The graduate students usually perform in the theater, and although they've done it many times, there are only about 250 people each time. Plus, many familiar faces come every day, so it doesn't actually help increase their popularity much. The biggest one was when they promoted their performance at Shibuya Kodo, but I estimate that was only around 3000 people, considering Shibuya Kodo's maximum capacity is 2000.]

[The person upstairs is right. While the Shibuya Public Hall performance did increase their popularity, the graduate students' current fame mainly comes from other things. The biggest one was when Nana-chan fainted from a fever while filling in for Team R, but most people were focused on Ogiko-chan that time.]

[What about variety shows? Wasn't "Spicy Hell" incredibly popular? Millions of people watched it, right?]

[It's probably not a big deal if it happens only once. At most, it might make the audience think, "This person seems interesting," and that's it. Very few people will specifically look up their personal information, not to mention that among these few people, there's another round of dilution. Only those who are constantly filtered out will ultimately go to see the performance.]

Do you think there's still a chance to break 10,000?

[Looking at today's sales, since there hasn't been much promotion, today and tomorrow are crucial. Our current discussion is promotion for fans who don't yet know about this! And I'm going to buy two more copies today!]

[Hahaha, I've already bought three: one for my collection, one for spreading the word, and one for display!]

[I bought three tickets too, hahaha, there really are people who think the same way!]

[Putting everything else aside, just seeing Nana-chan in her kimono under the moonlight makes me feel like it was worth the purchase. She exudes a definite aristocratic air, and combined with the earlier scenes of her in armor fighting, it's just too Sengoku period!]

[If there were a live-action version of "Oda Nobuna's Ambition," Nana-chan would definitely be cast as Oda Nobuna!]

[The question is, where is the male lead?]

[Huh? The male lead? Shall we have Apple? After all, Apple is a guy.]

[So the male lead is 1.48 meters tall? Tragic!]

[Damn it, it's 1.485 meters! Don't forget the last 5! Watch out, Apple-san might jump up and kick your knee!]

Online, news about the graduate students' CD singles is spreading like wildfire, especially on dedicated forums where there have been numerous posts with people sharing their thoughts, and some who haven't bought them yet saying they'll buy them today.

Miyamoto Seya looked at the messages on his phone and couldn't help but smile at everyone's enthusiasm.

Especially when I saw people saying they bought three copies at once to collect, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The first day's sales were only 1200, which Miyamoto Sei had anticipated. The sudden sale without any promotion meant that most fans would not know about it, and only those fans who frequently spend a lot of time online would see this little news on the official website.

Even so, she was still somewhat surprised to have sold more than 1200 copies. She had originally thought that she would only be able to sell a few hundred copies on the first day.

Looking at these sales figures, Miyamoto felt a surge of energy within him, and today's training didn't feel strenuous at all.

Everyone else was in the same state. Because the sales on the first day were quite good, everyone was full of energy, and even their eating speed increased significantly.

As the day came to a close, when the new sales figures came out, just as many people had guessed, the sales on the second day were significantly higher than the first day, reaching 8600 units, which was several times higher in an instant!

With the emergence of this daily sales figure, not only fans who follow graduate students, but also fans who originally only followed other SKR teams were surprised.

Because daily sales reached number one on the credibility chart!

Far surpassing the second-place winner!

Even if this is because there are no SKR selection songs or new songs from big-name singers on the charts now, it still cannot deny one thing.

These graduate students, who have just released their first single CD, have taken the number one spot on the daily chart!

But this is not the end!

On the third day, daily sales reached 9100 units, and instead of decreasing, they continued to rise!

This time, the entertainment-related newspapers couldn't sit still. Not long after the performance ended, a group of reporters appeared.

They even managed to snag tickets to the performance and sneak into the venue, just to ask questions.

"Ms. Miyamoto, is there anything you'd like to say about the single's sales?"