nazunyan427

Chapter 1 - Battle Royale

Characters: Mao, Subaru
Season: Spring

(The following day. Road towards 4piece venue.)

Mao:

Oh, I can see it!

Well, more like the thing we’ve been looking at all along seems to be it.

Man, it’s seriously massive, huh? The biggest venue we’ve ever been to so far was SS, but from the scale of this place, you’d probably fit about four SS venues in there.

It’s so freaking huge that the closer you get, the harder it is to grasp what it looks like. Doesn’t seem to have any windows or anything either, so I’ve really no idea what the inside could be like.

…Subaru? Are you listening to me? You could at least reply, instead of leaving me feeling all alone here?

Subaru:

…

Mao:

What, you still sulking? Look, if it was possible, I’d have wanted to go crazy with all of Trickstar together too.

But we’ve gotta take part in 4piece as individuals. That’s the rule that’s been put into place, so we’ve got no choice but to go along with it.

This time alone, you and I are rivals.

If you go letting your guard down, I’ll knock you out of the competition in a flash, so you’d better brace yourself~♪

Subaru:

…

…Huh? Sorry, Sally~! What did you just say? I wasn’t listening!

Mao:

Oi, oi, seriously, are you all right…? Is something wrong? I heard that you went and visited your dad’s grave yesterday, so…

Subaru:

Yeah. And that was when I met this strange kid.

And since I stayed up so late talking to the kid, I barely got any sleep… Phaaaugh ♪

If I’m not in my own house, my daily routine gets thrown way out of whack.

At least when I’m at home, I’ve gotta take care of my mom’s portion of the chores too, so I’m pretty much forced to get myself into a proper routine.

But anyway, why are you the only one here, Sally? Not that I’m disappointed that it’s just you, but I wish everyone could’ve come!

Mao:

So I take it you really don’t get what sort of situation we’re in at all…?

Subaru:

I don’t get anything I’ve no interest in! Ahahahahaha! ☆

Mao:

Well, you should try and be a little more interested. This 4piece supposedly markets itself as enormous scale audition programme, one that’s never been held before⸺

“4piece” ⸺ Its official name is the “Thunderbolt Challenge 4piece.”

Subaru:

San-da-bo-cha-pi… Huh? I didn’t catch that at all!

Mao:

You’ve got good hearing, but my English pronunciation is another story…

Seeing as the full title is way too long, everyone’s just shortening it to 4piece.

But right now, I don’t really understand what exactly it entails either.

Subaru:

I know all about audition shows~ Not that I’ve ever taken part in one before, but I’ve watched those kinda shows.

Mao:

Oh, so you even watch shows that don’t have any relation to you? Wow, you’re really passionate about your studies.

Subaru:

Nah, that’s not it. My dad originally started off on an audition type of show.

That show gathered all sorts of wannabe idols⸺fledglings who’d never stepped foot in the idol industry before⸺and made them compete against one another by singing and dancing.

And whoever performed the best during the competition⸺in other words, the winner⸺supposedly got to debut as an official idol?

Or maybe it was like, a show where they made ordinary people fight against one another with debuting as an idol being the prize?

But, for the record, we’ve already made our debut as idols, right? So then, what’s our reward gonna be? There’s no reason for us to compete?

Mao:

Supposedly there’s an extra special prize. But as to what that is, it’s being kept tightly under wraps. It’s a total mystery.

Subaru:

4piece is serious about its no spoilers policy, huh.

Mao:

If the content of the competition was leaked beforehand, then people would be able to strategize in advance, which’d be unfair. So they didn’t have any other choice, I guess.

Subaru:

Yeah, that’s true. I dunno what the prize is supposed to be, but if there were people who wanted it, they’d be able to make preparations or do some kinda special training in advance.

Mao:

There could be people laying the groundwork behind the scenes too. In which case, it’d hardly be a fair competition.

Speaking of which, if that kinda meddling behind the scenes was allowed, then you wouldn’t stand a chance against the likes of Tenshouin-senpai or Sakuma-senpai. Not that those two are taking part this time it seems.

But, as a result of spoilers being completely forbidden beforehand, 4piece is probably gonna genuinely be idols testing their abilities and competing against one another.

Subaru:

Ahaha, even if that was the case, I doubt I’d stand a chance against Eichi-senpai or Sakuma-senpai~♪

Mao:

If you don’t stand a chance, then no one does.

Well, seeing as that’s how it is⸺

Not that I can say anything for sure, seeing as the whole thing is shrouded in mystery. But actually, there’s a huge merit to us taking part in 4piece.

Subaru:

Huh? Why’s that?

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