241 – Talent Show
Even after Nao, who received overwhelming support from the crowd, stepped back with a triumphant smile, many female students continued to introduce themselves on stage.
I was surprised by the number of participants, which was much higher than I expected, but considering the prize money at the tournament, it wasn’t too strange.
The championship was 50,000 yen, the runner-up was 30,000 yen, and the third and fourth places were each 10,000 yen, so the total prize money alone was 100,000 yen.
It seems that female students who are somewhat confident in their appearance participated in the contest with the thought that even if they do not perform well, they will be able to win 10,000 yen.
The endless introduction of the participants passed the 17th participant, Fuma-senpai, and finally came to her last number, the 18th.
“Now! Then, the long-awaited 18th contestant! Please enter!”
Participant number 18 finally enters with Satoru’s name being called.
Since the self-introduction alone took up quite a bit of time, the audience cheered enthusiastically at the thought that it was finally the end.
Waaa!!
And as if to live up to those expectations, what appeared on the stage was an incredibly beautiful white-haired beautiful girl.
“… Huh?”
I feel like I’ve seen something somewhere.
I blinked quickly and stared at the face of the last contestant on the stage.
But there was no name that came to mind.
While I was tilting my head at a sense of incongruity, the 18th participant who took over her microphone finally opened her mouth.
“My name is Ryuko, a second year student. Please take good care of me.”
It is a slightly husky and charming voice that reminds me of Sasha.
Despite the fact that Fuma-senpai, one of the three most beautiful girls in the academy, came right before her, a female student named Ryuko showed no signs of falling for her looks.
“Was there a kid like that in second grade?”
“Your hair is pretty…”
“Are you a transfer student?! There was no information about such a beautiful girl in the data of our Pretty Girl Research Department!”
A really lively crowd.
I don’t know about anything else, but it seems that the topic has been made clear.
“Okay, now that all of the contestants have introduced themselves, the long-awaited round 1! It’s talent show time! Only the 9 surviving contestants can participate in the finals! Now, we’re running out of time, so let’s move on quickly! Participate Number 1! Tojo Karen!”
“Yes!”
As Satoru’s name was called, Karen appeared in front of her nervously.
“What kind of organs did Ms. Tojo prepare?”
Then Karen gulped her saliva, and she made an unexpected choice.
“No, I have a song ready.”
“Song! Great! Please play Miss Tojo’s requested song! Broadcasting class!”
With Satoru’s autograph, a song accompaniment plays from the speakers on the stage.
~♪
However, unlike the expectations of the audience who thought of idol songs, pop songs, and ballads, the song Karen chose was enka, a genre preferred by middle-aged people rather than teenagers.
“You who came like the wind and left ♪”
A savory melody echoes across the stage.
Families of students sitting in the audience cried at the lyrics, which represent the feelings of a woman who remembers her lover who left like the wind.
Satoru was taken aback by the sudden dampness, but Karen, who didn’t know what was going on inside her, sang her song passionately with her eyes closed.
“Tears seep into the collar of your departed…”
Shortly, the first verse of the song ends, and applause resonates in a solemn atmosphere.
The source of the applause was Karen’s father, Naoto Tojo, who was sitting in the front row, and his right-hand man, Mr. Takeyama.
“Good job! I don’t know who’s daughter-in-law, but her voice is great!”
A blatant compliment indeed.
Naturally, Karen’s eyes turned to that direction, and she immediately ran backstage, blushing as if she recognized who it was.
Satoru, who was watching the situation, hurriedly made a closing remark.
“Yes! Karen-san’s great song! Next up is participation number 2! Kishimoto Rika’s stage!”
Wowaaa!
The tension in the audience rises again with the appearance of a new face.
Karen’s Enka wasn’t bad, but her atmosphere seemed to be damp for her first stage, so the appearance of Rika, a human vitamin, was encouraging.
Standing on her stage, Rika took a small deep breath, then she bent her back 90 degrees toward the crowd and said,
“It’s my first time singing in front of people, so I may be lacking in many ways, but please take good care of me.”
And soon after, she gripped the microphone tightly and shouted.
“Listen to my song!”
~♪
A song that eventually starts with a strong beat.
What Rika chose was the theme song of a robot animation that was popular about 10 years ago.
It’s called an anime song, but perhaps because it’s a song sung by a space idol, the sophisticated lyrics and exciting beat naturally make your shoulders shake.
I felt it when I went to a karaoke before, but it was like a singer singing, maybe because Rika’s voice is basically good, and her singing skills are also very good.
The lyrics pouring down like a rapid-fire gun and Rika’s perfect diction harmonize, making it feel like a song being punched in the ear canal.
Soon after the first verse of the song, thunderous applause erupted from the audience.
Rika, with sweat on her forehead, lowered her head with a thrilled expression.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
After Rika’s stage ended, the performances of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th participants did not receive as much response as expected.
Somehow, Rika’s stage I saw earlier was relatively impressive, but it was because she was not well prepared for the performance, perhaps because she participated in the competition with a light heart.
Sasha’s turn came soon after.
“Yes! Then, entry number 6! Ice princess from Russia! It’s Miss Sasha’s stage!”
Wowaaa!
Perhaps it was because she was Sasha, who showed an extraordinary appearance from the time she introduced herself, the reaction from the crowd was not bad.
And Sasha, who did not betray the expectations of the audience, brought a pair of pistols to her stage.
“A pistol…?”
After I said this, I wondered if this was right, so I rubbed my eyes and looked at it again, but the pistol was still in Sasha’s hand.
Satoru, the stage MC, asked with a puzzled expression.
“I can’t help but ask, isn’t it genuine?”
Then Sasha smiled and said,
“I have that much common sense. Both are airsoft guns.”
Saying that, Sasha took out her magazine and showed Satoru the contents.
From noble mtl dot com
It was definitely a BB that was inside.
“…So what’s the organ Miss Sasha will show you?”
After receiving her magazine back from Satoru, Sasha replied by attaching it to her pistol.
“Of course it’s marksmanship.”
As Sasha said and snapped her fingers, the broadcasting crew waiting behind her stage came out with a desk with an aluminum can on it.
With all of her settings completed, she posed about 10 meters away, and Sasha placed her right hand on the handle of her gun like a cowboy in her westerns.
At her unusual appearance, the audience watched with bated breath on stage.
Soon-
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Pulling out her pistol in the blink of an eye, Sasha knocked the aluminum can off the top of her desk from a distance of 10m with amazing accuracy.
It is truly a marksmanship that has reached a new level.
As soon as Sasha’s feat was over, applause erupted from her audience.
But Sasha waved her index finger from side to side as if it wasn’t her timing yet, and she snapped her fingers once more.
Then, this time, the broadcasting crew laid out desks with a larger number of aluminum cans on all four sides of the stage.
“Whoa-“
Taking a deep breath, Sasha, standing right in the middle of her stage, immediately opened her eyes and drew her pistol with both hands.
She then shot and knocked down aluminum cans all around her, without a single millimeter of error.
Even though she has no recoil, she shoots all of her desired targets with not one but two pistols, and without even properly aiming.
This is truly absurd marksmanship.
After her stunt shot was over, Sasha said in a sullen voice within minutes of hoo-doing her nothing above her muzzle.
“It’s more than that.”
Waaa!!
Perhaps it was a reaction from the suppressed applause earlier, the cheers and applause resonated louder.
The enthusiasm was so great that even those who were not interested in beauty pageants could look up and see.
Following Sasha, who goes down the stage with her confident expression, Nao, who comes up with a puzzled expression.
I don’t know what kind of organ she prepared, but it was almost impossible to bring about as much buzz as the one I just saw.
Nao seemed to have the same thoughts, as she showed the audience the flute she was holding in her hands with her resigned expression.
“The organ I’m going to show you is playing the flute.”
As it goes without saying, the audience’s reaction was lukewarm even though it was a stage for a famous actor.
Maybe this is a kind of honorable death.
***
Sakamoto Ryuji sensed that he had been f*cked.
No, maybe it was already wrong from promising Chiaki to lend her body.
But now I couldn’t break my promise.
Because we have already come too far.
“…Well, my turn is participation number 18! It’s Miss Ryuko!”
I hear a voice calling my name from the stage.
「Ryuji, just do what you normally do. Just do what you do.”
I can hear Chiaki’s voice in my ears.
But because she was so nervous, her encouragement didn’t do much for Ryuji.
He asked after pondering.
“…Can’t we just run away now?”
Then Chiaki spoke in a determined voice.
「No. Did you promise me?”
Escape is not permitted.
Since the answer had already been decided, Ryuji sighed and stood up, not knowing how many times this had happened.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Since it turned out like this anyway, it might be better to aim for the championship.