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

Chapter 372 The final finishing touches
The next day, Shibuya, NHK Studio Park.

"All units, this is temporary supervisor Aiba, please give us your routine report on the on-site preparations."

At six o'clock in the evening, Yui Aiba, wearing a small suit and a baseball cap, appeared in the spacious studio.

"All front desk units are ready..."

"Backstage trainees and mentors are all in place..."

"The live broadcast room signal test is stable..."

Walking among the busy staff, she could hear the confirmation sounds of various units in her headphones from time to time.

"Today's live broadcast of the results announcement will be our last collaboration on the "Idol Birth Festival" project."

"Everyone on the temporary team, thank you for your hard work during this period!"

Looking at the studio that had been "reborn from the ashes" after the on-site investigation and supernatural cleaning, Yui Aiba expressed her gratitude to the staff in the communication channel with deep emotion.

In order to be fair, the results of the "Idol Birth Festival" will be announced in the form of live broadcast on all cooperating platforms, which is a rare broadcast mode in the history of talent shows.

For the "professional team" that took over the program operations after the "recording safety accident", this is also the last finishing work.

"Well, everyone, take your positions. The live show is officially entering the ten-minute countdown phase."

With a twisted smile on her lips, Aiba Yui announced into the communication channel.

"The lighting and choreography are ready..."

“Camera ready…”

"The live broadcast room data synchronization is complete, the streaming test has officially begun, and users have begun to access..."

"Trainees and mentors are beginning to enter..."

The wooden stage lit up with dazzling light, and the neatly dressed trainees began to line up to enter the stage. The four mentors also appeared on the side of the stage...

"Today, let the entertainment industry officially welcome the most powerful idol that appears once in five thousand years."

Her sight fell on the backcourt passage, and on a figure that had haunted her dreams, fog began to gather on Aiba Yui's frameless glasses.

……

ten minutes later.

"To all the producers in front of the screen, it's been a long time since we last met. I miss you so much."

"Welcome back to the Idol Birth Festival. I am your producer representative, Goro Kimura."

Goro Kimura stood upright on the stage, with tears in his eyes, and smiled at the camera with a mature and charming smile.

"Although we have experienced many twists and turns, I am very happy that today we can conduct the final 'survival results announcement' of the 'Idol Birth Festival' in this special form."

"The rankings announced in this live broadcast will directly determine the nine members of the limited group who will officially debut."

Having lost a lot of weight, he looks more handsome than in previous episodes, but perhaps because it was a live broadcast, his aura was not as strong as before.

"First of all, I would like to thank God O for sponsoring this program... I would also like to thank the sponsoring brands..."

Even during the most skilled spoken advertising segment, he made an exception and took out the prompting cards.

"At the same time, I would like to thank everyone who has accompanied our program all the way and devoted a lot of effort to the trainees..."

"Masaru Oda, Tsuki Yayoi and Shota Hirai, welcome the three mentors to the scene and witness history with us!" Then, a red bench rose from under the stage, and the other three program mentors also appeared in the live camera.

Perhaps it was because she had been away from the camera and the spotlight for too long, or perhaps it was because of her anticipation for the announcement of the results, but the usually serious Yayoi Tsuki actually smiled, which was a rare occurrence.

"Queen Yayoi, please insult me ​​and trample on me as much as you want!"

"Teacher Yayoi is so beautiful and cool..."

"That Yayoi Tsuki actually smiled, was it an illusion?"

This caused a explosive growth in the barrage of comments in the live broadcast room.

"The trainees who participated in our final round of performances have already gathered under the stage, eagerly waiting for the final ranking results to be announced."

Following Kimura Goro's guidance, the live camera was directed from the instructor's seat to the square formation of thirty trainees below the stage...

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, when the live broadcast camera fell on someone in the crowd, the close-up of his face remained still for three full seconds...

This impeccable handsome face and the vast star-like pupils caused the barrage of comments that had just subsided to surge again...

These comments that flew across the live broadcast room like a swarm of locusts were all the two words "Xia Fan" without exception.

"Well, next, let's move on to what everyone is most looking forward to... the ranking announcement session!"

When the live camera returned to Goro Kimura again, he took the envelope handed to him by the staff, cleared his throat, and began the formal announcement of the rankings.

"Ahem, the first person to be announced is the ninth most popular person..."

"Congratulations, my grandson Tatsuya!"

The first name called was actually the one selected by J-Company, the trainee who was planning to become an otaku idol.

His votes had always been ranked at the bottom, but when J Company launched the "unlimited internal votes" strategy, he made a comeback and reached ninth place.

"I'm just an ordinary otaku who likes playing games and sleeping in. I never thought I could get to this point today. I'm really excited like I won ten golds in a row..."

When he learned that he had won the last debut spot, Tatsuya Agamikaze first hugged the people around him with an ecstatic look on his face, then went on stage and began to express his thoughts with tears in his eyes.

"The eighth most popular person is a non-Chinese trainee, Martin Luther King... Congratulations!"

What is even more surprising is that the second person to get a debut spot was Martin, a man whose name had not been remembered even after participating in many talent shows.

Because he spoke out loudly and broke the unspoken rules of the industry on the performance stage, from the beginning of the live broadcast of the show, from the backstage to the front stage, the trainees seemed to not want to attract trouble and kept a clear distance from Xia Fan to avoid suspicion...

"Hey, brother, you never thought... I never thought that I would have the chance to debut!"

"If I hadn't met you, I might have been eliminated in the first round!"

But Martin simply ignored the trainees around him who wanted to come forward to congratulate him, squeezed through the crowd, and hugged Xia Fan tightly with tears in his eyes!
What he said was, of course, the truth.

If it weren't for the first and second rounds of performances and if it weren't for the time when he clung to Xia Fan in the camera, Martin wouldn't have been able to stay in the competition and wait until that group of "steel wool" discovered "such a big thing" about him.

"Congratulations, Martin, this is all the result of your hard work!"

Although he knew that Martin's votes had been rising sharply in recent days with the support of that group of rich and idle "steel wool" people, Xia Fan was still very relieved when the results were actually announced.

"No, it's not just about hard work... After I was discharged from the hospital, I found out that my agency sold my contract to Agency A the day after the last episode was aired."

After whispering something in Xia Fan's ear with a complicated tone, Martin Luther turned and walked onto the stage.

(End of this chapter)