My daily life in various anime crossovers can't possibly be this sci-fi.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Knock knock knock!"

"You must be Honoka. Please come in!"

The door was flung open with a loud bang: it swung so forcefully it looked as if it had been kicked open. This was a normal occurrence when Honoka opened the door.

"You two!" Honoka walked in carrying several sheets of drawing paper, her little face beaming with a smile. "The first draft is finished! Now, I'd like to trouble you two to input it into the computer for post-processing, shall we?"

Maki took the sketches, pulled one out, and placed it in front of Jiang Jinghua: "Here, take a look."

Jiang Jinghua slowly picked up the sketch from the table: "Hmm...not bad. Surprisingly, the chibi-style portrait is quite vivid."

"Why are you talking like I'm some kind of artist who specializes in drawing those kinds of pictures!" Honoka pouted, dissatisfied.

“…There’s nothing I can do, that picture of yours last time…” Jiang Jinghua became somewhat incoherent, “cough cough, it really left a rather… deep impression on me.”

It seems that I saved both the physical copy and the scanned copy immediately after reading it.

"Ah, if you like, I can consider drawing a few more..."

"...Honoka, your image is changing in a subtle way."

"Huh? Really?" Honoka was a little confused. "She just says whatever she thinks; that's always been her style, isn't it?"

"...So, please try to think less about strange things in the future..." Jiang Jinghua said, covering his face.

"What's so strange about this?!" Honoka said righteously, her light blue eyes wide like searchlights. "The so-called puberty is the time when it's legal to 'oo'... mmm mmm mmm!"

Maki covered Honoka's mouth at just the right moment, which allowed the guy to quickly slow down.

"I'm telling you, you should stop this now," Maki said helplessly, in a tone like an adult scolding a child. "Even boys shouldn't go around spreading this kind of thing, let alone girls."

“…Well done, Maki.” Jiang Jinghua continued to cover his face.

But... thinking about it carefully...

This looks... kind of cool, doesn't it? That way, we could... for example... [The following content is only viewable by users with security clearance level 4 or higher]... or...

Jiang Jinghua felt that it was best not to take his hands off his face anytime soon.

……

After that, Jiang Jinghua entered the draft promotional image sent by Honoka into the computer. The post-processing work was quite easy: just make slight modifications to the original artwork and add some filters to make it as far as possible away from the hand-drawn feel.

Before we knew it, the clock had struck five.

what

Section 89 Chapter Eighty-Nine: Pre-War Preparations

October 5th.

In the activity room of the Idol Club at Otonokizaka Academy.

"Eh... this, this is too much!" Koizumi Hanayo stared blankly at the image on the computer screen in front of her. "The, the two hundred and thirteenth person..."

“Although Akihabara is indeed the area where the concept of school idols is most prevalent… however, the total number of participating groups has reached 456…” Nishikino Maki stared blankly at the screen.

"This only accounts for the number of groups that met the popularity ranking criteria and successfully qualified for the preliminaries," Ayase Eli sighed. "Don't high school students in Tokyo... need to go to school anymore?"

“We’re one of these 456 groups, so it’s better not to talk about others.” Haiwei shook her head, an incredulous look on her face. “I was thinking at the time that a month-long preliminary round might be too long… Now that I think about it, it’s not only not long, it might even be not enough.”

“…Therefore, the promotional activities this afternoon must be done to the best of our ability.” Yazawa Nico’s expression was serious. “After all, the preliminary rounds are entirely based on the viewers’ votes…”

The preliminary round rules are as follows: each participating group will have one opportunity to perform live. After the performance, the recording will be uploaded online for viewers to vote on.

Each successfully registered account has a total of ten recommendation votes, which the account holder can freely allocate to any group they support. Of course, if ten votes are too few, the account holder can also obtain more votes by spending real money... Don't underestimate the power of this feature; in fact, during each competition, the revenue from ticket sales alone often reaches hundreds of millions.

"I was wondering, what if there's some kind of vote-rigging going on..." A bead of cold sweat trickled down Yazawa Nico's forehead. "What if some guys are jealous of Nico's beauty and cuteness..."

"Students from supernatural-related schools will form a volunteer group to prevent this from happening," Maki said nonchalantly. "Otherwise, this competition will really turn into a simple battle of AI attack and defense. By the way, I don't think anyone will be jealous of your beauty... probably."

What do you mean?!

"Well, this gives us plenty of time to prepare, so it's good news, I guess." Minami Kotori nodded.

"Yeah!" Honoka said, "Even though it's our first time participating, we must at least get a decent result! Let's all... uh, at least try our best to get past the preliminaries!"

“...Even if it’s just getting through the preliminaries, I don’t think it will be an easy thing at all.” Eri shook her head.

"Huh? Why? If all nine of you could work together..."

“Not everything can be solved by hard work.” Eri shook her head. “Let’s just treat this competition as an opportunity to broaden our horizons. It’s best not to have too high expectations for the results.”

"And in other words... you can only perform well when there's not too much pressure, right?" Eri smiled.

“…That’s true. But whether or not there’s pressure is one thing, whether or not you should put in the effort is another!” Honoka said, rubbing her hands together excitedly. “Grades don’t matter, but we have to do our best in this performance!”

It'll be here soon...

Although the title of "the most prestigious national school idol competition" isn't actually anything particularly remarkable in Japan, a place where all sorts of unscientific and extraordinary things run rampant...

However, this is, after all, the first time that μ's... and myself have been truly judged by the "public."

So far, all the activities, whether concerts or promotions, have been limited to a small scope and are for personal enjoyment.

This time it's completely different.

Therefore, we must not leave any regrets...

for sure.

……

I put a lot of effort into the promotional activities in the afternoon.

The PV created by Jinghua-jun and Xiaozhenji seems to have been well-received by passersby in Akihabara. My own promotional illustration also received positive feedback, with people saying it "has a very hand-drawn anime feel."

After several days of intensive training from Kotori, I've gained some experience as a waitress. At least several people have complimented me on how cute I am. Some even said, "It would be wonderful if Honoka-chan could stay at this café permanently!" While staying permanently is impossible, I'm still very happy to receive such praise!

Following Kotori's instructions, we didn't actively distribute any flyers at the time. All the flyers we handed out were requested by the guests. Even so, we distributed a considerable number of flyers.

The situation looks very promising; perhaps it's really possible to get past the qualifiers?

Jinghua Jun, that guy, actually ran off somewhere by himself, supposedly because of some foundation-related matters... What a pity, we had even made special preparations. Speaking of which, he also contributed a lot to this promotional campaign: the PV was able to be completed in just a few days thanks to his long hours of staying up all night.

Maki wanted to help, but he usually turned her down with the excuse that "staying up late is bad for girls, so let's forget about it." Seriously, this guy... I'll have to thank him properly after the tournament...

"Sister, what are you doing over there?"

"Oh? It's nothing! Just writing in my diary!"

Honoka Kousaka is currently sitting at her desk at home, typing her diary entries into her laptop.

If she has free time, she will write down her thoughts and events of the day intermittently. This is a habit that Honoka has developed over the past ten years.

“…I said, it’s already eleven o’clock.” Standing at the door, Honoka’s younger sister, Kousaka Yukiho, said in a worried tone, “You’d better go to sleep earlier, okay?”

"Don't say that about me, even though Yukiho herself is staying up all night, isn't she?" Honoka said while typing on the keyboard. "Don't worry, I'll make my own decisions."

"...And you're right, how many times have you actually made a sound decision when you're making your own decisions, sis?" Xuehui sighed and closed the door. "Anyway, try to go to sleep early!"

"Mmm!" Honoka readily agreed while rapidly typing on the keyboard.

Sleeping... what's there to sleep about? There are tons of things to do!

After finishing my diary, I need to review my dance moves, and I also need to practice the solo parts of the song further. Now that everyone has entrusted me with the lead vocals position, I absolutely cannot let them down.

After saving the documents on her computer, Honoka shut it down and quietly slipped out of the room.

Are there any large open spaces nearby where I can sing without disturbing the neighbors?

what

Chapter 90, Section Ninety: Midnight Songs in the Subway Station.rmvb

Ah, I've got it! How about we go to the nearby subway station?

Although I don't know if the subway is still operating in the middle of the night... if I can get in, then if I sing underground, the sound shouldn't reach the surface, right?

Without hesitation, Honoka tiptoed down the stairs, closed the door with the lightest touch she could muster, and rode her bicycle away from her home.

It was almost midnight when I finished writing in my diary: in other words, today was almost over.

Looking into the distance, the skyscrapers in the city center were still brightly lit, but the residential area where I lived was shrouded in a peaceful atmosphere.

It's so quiet...

Honoka, riding her bike, thought to herself, the only sound she could hear was the gentle breeze.

Both bungalows and high-rises were shrouded in darkness. Apart from the streetlights emitting a faint yellow glow, nothing else shone. Vehicles and pedestrians had vanished; the streets were as silent as a dream.

Yes...it really does feel like a dream.

Honoka, riding on her bicycle, smiled.

Riding a bicycle on the street in the middle of the night for such a bizarre reason is extremely abnormal, isn't it?

It was so unusual that it felt like a dream.

The subway station sign came into view: right under that streetlight that wasn't lit.

Honoka stopped her bicycle and parked it on the side of the road. No one would be out stealing a bicycle in the middle of the night, so simply locking it should be fine.

"Hmm...this is troublesome. Is it already closed?"

Honoka sighed as she looked at the poorly lit subway entrance.

...No, it should be said that it should have been shut down.

If it hadn't been closed, the subway station would be packed with people. Practicing singing in that environment... ugh, I can't even imagine.

Okay, so first of all...

Rushing down the stopped escalator, then easily scaling the subway station gates...

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Honoka, who had fallen, staggered to her feet, a look of utter despair on her face.