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

Chapter 464: The C Position Who Doesn’t Stand in the C Position

"Hanami... did you hear that? The music from the award ceremony... we're almost there..."

As the distance got closer, Kanda Shrine, with colorful lights and loud music, appeared in front of the two.

"No, the main entrance is completely blocked... Oh, that passage should still be there..."

Outside the "Ichi-no-Tori Gate", the crowds at the market were so numerous that it was difficult to move. Xia Fan decisively ran into the residential area on the side of the shrine...

……

"Today, we have invited special guests to the scene, namely..."

"President of Company B, Mr. Suho."

"Famous musician, Mr. Yoshihiro Kishimoto."

"President of J-company, Mr. Jenny Matsudaira."

Just as Xia Fan and Hoshina Hanami were running wildly, a lively opening introduction ceremony was taking place on a stage with the title "Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards Ceremony" hanging in the inner hall of Kanda Shrine.

"Hey……"

After standing up and gesturing with a fake smile, Jenny Matsudaira, who was sitting in the first row of guest seats, kept a forced smile on his face and glanced at Suo, who was sitting and chatting with Yoshihiro Kishimoto not far away.

"President, don't be upset... We have done our best to get PPAP to the second place this time when we encountered such an epoch-making work as Sakura."

Sitting next to him, wearing a black evening gown with a chest open to his navel and a long skirt split to his hips, Iijima Yozo advised softly.

The song "PPAP" was the entry of a new male singer that J Company had been promoting at the beginning of the year, and he happened to be an artist managed by Iijima.

Although the score of the live performance at the music awards was not the first, but as soon as the song was released online, under the careful promotion and operation of Iijima's team, "PPAP" firmly controlled the top position with its brainwashing lyrics and magical melody...

But I didn't expect to encounter the debut work of this monster musician "Xiafan", "Sakura".

With top-notch song quality, clear and retro style, and touching emotions, "Sakura" surpassed "PPAP" and topped the charts within 24 hours of its release...

In the following three days, it accumulated a desperate number of paid downloads, completely monopolizing the top spot, and bringing the three-month competition for the online charts to an end early.

But at least, with the full support of J Company, "PPAP" finally defeated the songs from S Company and A Company with a slight advantage over the past few months and won the second place.

Therefore, Johnny Matsudaira brought Yozo Iijima to attend the award ceremony as guests.

"Of course I know that encountering "Sakura" is not my fault."

"What upsets me is not the results of PPAP, but your AFO group..."

Johnny Matsudaira spread out his newly bought tri-fold screen mobile phone and showed the social media hot search list to Yozo Iijima on its large screen comparable to that of a tablet computer.

Iijima Yozo muttered to himself, "You forced me to lead the AFO group," and leaned over to look over, nonchalantly exposing the deep whiteness of his chest.

The terms "AFO group theme song released", "the birth of an idol", "real and false C position", etc., which ranked first on the hot search list, caught her eyes.

"The theme song was just released live this afternoon, and before midnight the song was released, it was already dominating the trending searches. Isn't that great?"

"This shows that our agency team is effectively implementing the company's publicity and promotion strategy, leveraging unlimited popularity with limited funds."

Not seeing the annoying words "Xia Fan", Iijima Yozo breathed a sigh of relief and smiled smugly. The exposure rate of promoting the song at the opening ceremony of a large-scale event like the "Kanda Festival" was obviously very good, resulting in a publicity effect that exceeded expectations...

As far as I can remember, this is the first time that the name of the AFO group has been on the trending search.

"An effective strategy? Unlimited enthusiasm? Take a closer look..."

After pretending to applaud and welcome the "leader of the Ministry of Culture" to the stage to deliver an opening speech, Matsudaira Jenny clicked into the discussion area under the hot search.

"Hey, all members of the AFO team have been watching Xia Fan in the corner the whole time..."

"Who is the C position?"

"What is this, a cross-eyed boy band?"

"Xia Fan, who performed the best, was assigned to the corner position. This must be some kind of attempt to innovate the center position, right?"

"Is it really in line with music theory to use Xia Fan's C8 dolphin sound to help a band member who is three octaves lower to sing harmony?"

"This is Xia Fan's personal singing and dancing live version. I have tried my best to edit out the 'monsters and ghosts'. Take it and you're welcome!"

In the discussion forum, most netizens made no secret of their sarcasm towards the AFO members.

"These netizens...what do you mean...the live effect is obviously quite good..."

Iijima Yozo bit his lower lip in dissatisfaction and clicked on the most popular "Theme Song Live Video" in the discussion forum.

This video was shot by the management team on a live stage with a front camera carefully set up. It was uploaded in the name of "on-site netizens" and a lot of traffic was purchased.

"These brats, where are you looking..."

“Is the difference between watching the video and watching it in person so obvious?”

Watching this "uncensored straight-shot video on stage", beads of sweat began to appear on Iijima's deep chest...

She gradually understood Matsudaira's irritability and where the netizens' sarcasm came from.

Throughout the entire theme song stage, from the opening to the final closing action, the rhythm of the AFO group members can be said to be quite neat and coordinated, and their performance was above average.

Although Xia Fan has excellent looks and attractive eyes, and his singing, dancing, and rhythm are impeccable, he is on the edge of the team most of the time. Logically, his exposure and attention should be the worst...

But his individual images seem to have a unique magic. Although they are on the same screen, they are more "lifelike" than others, exuding a vitality that "breaks through the dimensional wall".

What's even more strange is that if you observe carefully, you can find that except for Xia Fan, the eyes of other members of the group are wandering. They only look at the audience seats below the stage for a small part of the time, and most of the time they are all on Xia Fan on the side, giving people a sense of "collective squinting".

Due to a combination of factors, viewers who watched this video soon discovered that although Xia Fan was standing at the edge of the team most of the time, their eyes were always subconsciously locked on him, and they had no time to pay attention to other members.

The strange phenomenon of "the C position that is not the C position" in this video has sparked widespread discussion, driven by Xia Fan's already high popularity, and is likely to become a "new type of online urban legend"...

Even major video websites have reposted this video, launching a "Don't Look at Xia Fan Challenge" to anchors and passers-by. Currently, under the detection of eye-tracking software, the best result of "Don't Look at Xia Fan" has reached one minute and thirty-six seconds.

Amid such heated discussions across the entire internet, no one paid any attention to the performance of the AFO group itself and the personal information of its members.

(End of this chapter)