Nova Stars

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Round 1

As the snow floated onto the floor beneath them, all 12 girls stepped out of the minibus one by one, being revealed instantly to the sight of the Meiji-za theatre in Tokyo. Outside the theatre stood various different groups and solo idols who were also participating in the tournament.

Straight ahead of them was a large desk with ‘入校 Nyūkō (Registration)’ written in large. Signing them all in, Mizuki accepted the piece of paper being handed to her by the lady at the desk.

“Ooh! What does it say?” Yoshi queried, looking over her shoulder.

“It says that we are to stand by and get to know our round 1 rivals… but, I don’t know who these people are… how are we meant to know?”

“Maybe by the badges on everyone’s shirts that ‘coincidentally’ have everyone’s idol names and group, if they have one, on it?” Miyuki handed the badges out between them all. “You were so panicky about looking at the paper that you completely blanked the poor women sitting there trying to hand these to you.” She laughed as Mizuki apologised to the lady. Naomi pointed onto the sheet of paper.

“Ok, so,” she read, “Idol Tournament – Round 1. Pairing 1 – Nova Stars vs Midnight Stars.” Katsumi looked around and ushered for everyone to follow her, she had found their round 1 rivals.

Holding her hand out towards them, Mizuki looked at the 4 girls in front of her.

“Hajimemashite. watashitachi wa Nova Stars desu (Nice to meet you, we are Nova Stars.” Mizuki spoke, holding Midnight Stars’ leader’s hand, bowing in front of her.

“Konnichiwa (Hello),” she laughed, “Watashi no namae wa Layla desu, watashitachi wa Midnight Stars desu. (My name is Layla, we are Midnight Stars.)”

After talking for a while, an announcement was made for all contestants to enter the hall. Taking their seats, Nova Stars prepared for the competition and critiques.

Collective chatter soon turned into silence as the screen at the front began to light up. Aya gripped onto Miyuki’s arm, butterflies filling her belly. First up was Midnight Stars.

Their video started off with member introductions, followed up by a training video and a small performance. Everyone stared in wonder as the whole of the hall of idols were clapping and cheering along with the music. Aries began to look worried, even Natsuki looked slightly disturbed by the level of competition already. As soon as it finished, everyone was awaiting the judges’ critiques.

The first judge held up a board with ‘7’ on. Looking towards Katsumi, Akari whispered, “Wait, it isn’t critiques?! It’s scores?!” scared, she folded her arms and looked back towards the judges.

The second held up an ‘8’ and the third another ‘7’. As everyone congratulated them, Midnight Stars stood up from their seats and waved in all directions, bowing towards everyone.

Nova Stars appeared on the screen as Midnight Stars took their seats again. Shaking with nervousness, Mizuki, Yoshi and Aoi hooked arms, Mizuki in the centre, Yoshi to her right and Aoi to her left.

As the video played, they noticed everyone was completely silent, staring with barely any expression, a couple jaw-drops but that was about it. Then Shining Yume began to play. Inside her head, Mizuki was beginning to believe people would be getting highly annoyed and tired of hearing it, since it was spread rather wide on both occasions. Taking Yoshi’s hand into her hand, she took a deep breath and began to stare in worry.

“Hello, how are you?” It started. Gulping, she heard everyone began to mutter.  Listening closely, she heard a few people say, “I love this!” and, “Shining Yume!”

Surprised, Nova Stars as a whole looked at each other. A few people began to sing along, a couple doing small movements in their seats. Shaking, Aoi whispered, “Wait are we THAT well known?” Kira didn’t reply, she was too busy taking in everything.

Shining Yume finished along with the video. The hall became as still as a statue.

Judge one held up an 8.

Judge two held up another 8. They needed a 6 to at least draw. Awaiting the final score, they all joined hands down beside them.

The final judge held up a 9. Applauding them, the judges announced that Nova Stars would go through to round 2 and Midnight Stars were eliminated.

Screaming with joy, Aoi pulled Mizuki from her seat, the others also standing up. Awkwardly trying to hug each other, they laughed and jumped about in a huddle. They were given a chance to say a few words, and as they handed the microphone over to Elizabeth, they noticed Layla was watching to the side of them, clapping but looking rather disappointed.

“Erm, hello and thank you! I'm utterly shook by this so thank you, thank you, thank you! Also, congratulations Midnight Stars, that video was FANTASTIC, keep it up!” Elizabeth exclaimed excitedly. Realising that most of the people here probably don’t understand most of what she was saying, Aya took the microphone and translated it.

Midnight Stars’ faces lit up with the most thankful smiles. Shaking hands, the 16 idols congratulated and complimented each other.

For the following 5 hours, they all sat, watching as the process of elimination took place. It was 5pm as they left the hall, each being handed a piece of paper explaining round 2 and stating their round 2 rivals on, which was based on scores.

Naomi took the sheet of paper and read it out as they boarded their minibus.

“Idol Tournament – Round 2. Pairing 1 – Nova Stars vs UrsaEngel.”

“Wait you forgot a bit!” Akari pointed onto the sheet.

“Time for the live shows to begin! Be ready and be set for a live performance of a brand new original song on the stage in the conference centre just outside the capital of Okinawa, Naha, where the Okinawa movie festival is usually held! Due date and performance date is Friday, January 19th. All of you who are currently attending education, your teachers and directors will be informed for that day, and they will be asked to stream your performance to all of your fellow students!”

Aoi gasped.

“I love that stage! I’ve always gone to the movie festival and it’s honestly the best!”

“Although I agree with you… we need a new song… and we need it soon. The whole school is going to see it, so we can’t mess up.” Natsuki looked concentrated.

“So, what sort of song should we do then?” Naomi looked towards Mizuki, awaiting an answer.

“Well, I don’t want to be the centre this time.”

“Choose someone then.” Mizuki looked around, looking for the looks on everyone’s faces. Katsumi and Aries were avoiding eye contact, everyone else was just standing still.

“I think we should do a sort of… dark, mature, love song, is that okay?.” Everyone showed some sign of approval.

“That isn’t a centre.” Natsuki pulled a small smile.

“I know. The centre is going to be Kira."