Aeon Nether & Idol Effigy

Chapter 56- The Last Performance Of The First Year

I don't remember how long it took for my group for the last performance to finally teach me what they had prepared.

Oddly enough I didn't hear Rain report a funeral occurring in the amount of time it took for them to find me. This time all of them wore different expressions from their previous ones.

It was a funny thing to see.

I, who has knowledge of Harvey and Rebecca's killings before and after they were live streamed, had to put up with their frightened judgemental looks. All I could think was, huh, I guess he wasn't all average let alone above average, at this moment. Especially in this world. The average everyday person wouldn't blink at someone dying in this world. If they had it in them they'd place it up as their slogan to kill at least one human in a dungeon.

Although, if I were to think about it in more depth I'd say that it's pretty impressive that he's just above average without trying to be most of the time. Yeah, his whole innocent judgemental look may not be adding greatly to his character profile right now, but it makes you realise that the guy is naturally above average. It's like watching an actor who played your favourite character in this one show, only to mess up a character in another show and make you realise they weren't really acting as your favourite character in the first show you saw them in. In other words, Harvey's acting was trash, and his original character was making it harder for him to act out of character at this moment. Other than that, these people were clearly not shocked at the killing or death of a person. They were all acting in some way to gain pity or play against me.

This world was like that. Whether it was for someone's entertainment or for some other reason. It was there, as an average thing to do. Therefore, the theatrics over someone who was injured from both the injured person and those around her made sense. That is, in a morbid way.

If anything they should have been shocked and treated me differently from the point of 'accidentally', injuring that judge. But they didn't.

Would I have found it funny before entering this world? That they'd need to make up their minds and check in what the other people around them plan to react to a dead body or murderer? Perhaps I would. You can imagine how each person might sneakily check out everyone else's reactions to gage how they'd react. The shifty eyes and awkward noises to cover up a brief respite of silence. All and more done to draw in those who were older or younger who don't have the freedom to kill without the law or ethics telling them that it's wrong.

Would I have understood Trina as a person, better due to all of the scripted surroundings? No. I would not. Trina was the same in both worlds. I knew this. She came from my world and carried its nuances.

All in all. This world felt like it was scripted, especially at this age. If I were to kill between the ages of 15 and 25, the law wouldn't regard it as real in this world. In this world it would be seen as purely a public talking point. The only dangers of killing at those ages were the downpour of potentially being looked at as the bad guy and getting judgemental stares. Something that keeps most people from killing in front of others and hiding their murder. To be honest, this also made Trina, Rebecca and Harvey look worse, as they were people who killed over the age of 25 and under the age of 15. Or at least I think Harvey killed over the age of 25, the author didn't give an explanation as to what happened to him after Trina's death. It only added to his mystery.

Back to the last performance. They trained me by giving me a video to train for the first day and they came in on the second day to sing with me. I suppose they took the classic theme to mean classic songs that 'everyone' would remember to some extent as they grow up. Rather than the dancing, the constantly changing song, which sounded more like a medley to me was the hard part of it all. It didn't help that they didn't have someone sing my part to show me how I should change the way I was supposed to sing. So that day was mostly spent by myself listening to the full songs that the lyrics I had to sing came from. They also seemed to pale due to my lack of knowledge on the songs. It didn't help that they gave me difficult parts or parts that gave off a kind of, butt of the joke, kinda vibe in the performance.

On the third day when we were rehearsing just before we went onto stage they'd realised that the cheap costume they were going to put me in made them look worse. In comparison, the way I styled the fat cat costume that had been torn by someone, made me look better than them. I suppose the big white paws and the wire that I made into a crown for the oversized cat ears made me look better. Compared to my simple black leggings and black hoodie paired with the remodelled costume pieces, the other members had pretty or fancy get ups that were worn in the videos by the musician's whose lyrics they'd be performing. It made me wonder who they were kidding. They purposefully made so many things difficult for me and they only seemed to realise it all now.

Like that, the last performance passed.

The last performance lasted more than one week and we were made to watch everyone's group performances.

It was only after an hour that the final group performed that we all got to see our ratings on the screen from those who were watching us.

The host on the stage smiled and beat his hand in the air to hype up the atmosphere. "First things first! May all those called out come onto the stage to take your final bows and leave the show! Starting with Star..."

The names continued. Each name flashed with their total scores for the show, broken down per their performances. The names continued until the 501st placed contestant's name was called out.

Another round of perfunctory applause rang out of my aching hands.

As the last contestant who missed out by one place to continue into the second year, exited the stage, the lights of the venue changed. Brighter than before, white lights shined down on the venue. The audience was still watching at home, so we were all waiting around in our grouped seats. The grid where the scores of the participants were given by the audiences and the Judges was still shown on the large screen on the stage, but this time it was in the same colour palette as the changed lights.

Another roll call continued. The host this time announced that the people called will have to return to the empty seats in front of the judges' raised box. They would seat from the bottom row closest to the stage with the number that they placed on the show glued onto the seat and the ones who were closer to first place would be placed near the top close to the judges box.

Each person was now called and given a lanyard with their new student card for the second year of the show. The lanyard was a dark matt gold and the card was white with the contestants place number written in a corner.

"Give it up for contestant 200, Randy!"

The 200th contestant was given a map with an upgraded dorm room compared to the previously announced contestants, in addition to his lanyard and student card. The following students all got the same too.

"Contestant 150..."

150th placed received an additional ability to gain more internet freedom time. The premise was that they remained in the top 150 contestants.

"Contestant 100..."

The top 100 received brand new tablets that were customised for the show's university year of study. The tablet interface was chock full of apps and information about the courses for the coming days. The advantage of choosing earlier wasn't much, but it was helpful nonetheless.

"Contestant 50..."

"Contestant 40..."

"Contestant 30..."

"Contestant 20..."

"Contestant 10..."

As the numbers reached the fifties and below, the dorm rooms were upgraded once again. Compared to contestants 200 and below who simply gained a chance to get their own room, the fifties and below gained upgraded rooms. The closer you were to the first place contestant, the better room.

The names were called out. My school friends ended up in various positions in the top 200s with most of them entering the top 50s. Trina just made it, as contestant 50. Harvey was 14th. The sister that I didn't want and wasn't my sister, had come into 157th place. I, myself, made it into the top ten, as contestant number 10 without any other means of gaining votes.

Other people who placed into the top ten consisted of the best of the best on the show. Not surprisingly, they were all people that I hadn't seen before, meaning they were participating in different buildings. It was something that made so much sense that I received a clear ring of clarity after I took my seat. I almost forgot that there were sane people who got through, because they were incredibly talented.