Arc-2 Ep-15

The opening stage featured a tiered staircase set. All forty-eight Sistema Solare members stood in eight vertical columns of six—six idols per row.

Naturally, the top nine in the popularity poll—the internal group Sistema Solare—claimed the spotlight positions.

They occupied the front and second spots of the central four vertical columns, with the ninth-ranked member shifted slightly back to the third horizontal row.

Beside her, one Dwarf Planet member stood in alignment; the remaining four filled the second vertical column and the first and second horizontal rows of columns two and seven.

Next, four Seven Satellite members took the front and second spots of the outermost vertical columns on both edges.

The remaining three from that unit filled the central-adjacent positions in the third horizontal row. Every other space went to nickname-less members and rookies like us.

My position: third from the front, all the way on the edge. Stage-right, from the audience’s perspective—closest to the wings in the rightmost vertical column, third horizontal row.

Sayaka-san was behind me.

To my right stood Seven Satellite’s Naomi Katsura-san—nickname “Europa.”

She was a third-gen member, twenty years old. A solid beauty, but as an idol, somewhat plain—forgettable looks.

Her true weapon was her singing: absolutely top-class vocals.

Her dancing was above average too—probably what earned her votes.

We didn’t really have a connection. Just another senior. The real problem was the person in front of me.

Kae Higashiyama.

Eighteenth in the fourth Reiteisai poll.

Fourth-ranked within Seven Satellite.

Placement-wise, her being ahead of me made sense. (Still rude as ever, though.)

She arrived later than me, so I greeted her first. She gave a reply—half-hearted, condescending. Total opposite of Naomi-san next to her. Still… I was oddly glad she was in front of me.

The eight of us in sixth-gen handled the rearmost four positions in both edge columns. Nozomi-chan and I were the leads of the third rows. On the opposite side, a certain troublemaker senior was standing ahead of Nozomi-chan.

Gentle Nozomi-chan versus me handling Kae? Definitely better that I got this assignment.

Once the opening rehearsal wrapped up, we were mostly free until our mid-show exclusive slot.

We descended into the audience seats to watch the seniors’ rehearsal. Other sixth-gen members were scattered around, observing as well.

The nickname-less seniors, who supposedly had free time, were barely present. They’d already done last year’s full concert—no need to study it again.

“…Like this?”

“Chie wants it soon…”

Some of my gen-mates watched the stage while murmuring to themselves—projecting their future selves onto the popular seniors performing. I focused on memorizing Rina-san and Tomomi-san’s choreography and movements—for next year’s sake.

“Top-poll seniors look exhausted…”

“…There’s just too much to learn. I might actually break.”

Especially the first-tier Sistema Solare members—just how many songs do they perform?

My biggest weakness was stamina. I needed to fix that, fast.

“Haa… this is physically brutal…”

“Yeah. We’ve gotta train harder too, Mikuri-chan.”

Nozomi-chan whispered beside me.bHer gentle voice tickled my ear, so I leaned a little closer.

“Right. If we want to climb, it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Let’s do physical training together.”

“Yeah. Count on me.”

“…It’s almost time to get ready.”

Heads still close, we heard our leader Shion-san’s quiet call.bSince there’d been no singing or dancing today, the schedule had moved faster than expected. Mostly veterans performing, so there hadn’t been any real issues.

“Roger~”

“Let’s go, everyone.”

“See you onstage, Nozomi-chan.”

“Yeah.”

We split evenly—half to each side—and headed toward the stage-wing stairs. Four of us per wing, entering from both sides. Same formation as in the opening. I was grouped with Sayaka-san, Sakiko-san, and Chie-chan on stage-right.

“Go get ’em.”

Encouraging us was overall manager Taneyama-san. The sub-manager, Matsuzono-san, was with the left-wing team.

“It's rehearsal—mistakes are fine…”

Sakiko-san’s voice came out weak, unconvincing.

“Jeez… pull yourself together, Sakiko.”

“There’s plenty of time to recover if we flop, right, Mikuri-san?”

Sayaka-san and Chie-chan sounded a bit more relaxed—probably thanks to watching the seniors’ rehearsal earlier.

“Rookies get forgiven for their first mistakes,” Sayaka-san added.

Management wouldn’t expect perfection from sixth-gen’s debut, after all. One or two little errors would even come off as cute. Still, I intended to deliver a perfect idol performance.

“Almost our turn.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

I answered Taneyama-san, eyes fixed on the bright stage ahead. Until Next year, my role might still be small—but for now, I’d make this limited stage my flawless debut.