Arc-3 Ep-23

“……Mikuri, you nailed it. Yay♪”

“Yay♪”

As I step back into the wings, Yuna-san comes over with both hands raised for a high-five, so I respond with a smile as well.

“Ah. Chie too.”

“Nozomi wants one too, please.”

Seeing that, Chie-chan and Nozomi-chan also come closer, wanting to join in.

“Sure. Yay♪”

“Y-Yay?”

“Yay it is.”

Yuna-san responds to them and then goes around giving high-fives to the other sixth-generation members as well.

Left behind, I high-five the two who approached me and start chatting.

“Yay♪”

“Yay it is♪”

“Yay♪ We pulled it off without any real problems, didn’t we?”

I think we managed the singing and dancing at a level no different from back during the mini-live days.

We had lightly gone over it in rehearsals, but I had not been optimistic enough to think I could sing it this smoothly without any sense of awkwardness.

“That’s right. I was worried there might be some stiff spots here and there.”

“This is the power of the sixth generation’s bond, Mikuri-san♪”

“……Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Kayanuma-san, you need to hurry.”

Just as the talk with the two cute girls was starting to heat up, the sixth-generation overall manager, Taneyama-san, steps in to stop us.

Right now she mainly handles the mini-live group sixth-generation members in general.

“Ah, yes. Right.”

Once the current seventh-generation turn on stage ends, Seven Satellite will appear next, and after that we will have our turn again as the internal group Sistema Solare.

As expected of the top-tier group packed with popular members, our stage time is really substantial.

“Schus Sola sure has it rough, Mikuri-chan.”

“Nanazawa-san, as part of Dwarf Planet, you are right after Sistema Solare too.”

“Of course, I know that.”

Nozomi-chan, as part of the second-tier group, also has a decent amount of stage time.

Compared to last year when we were rookies, the workload is completely different.

“Well then, I’m off. Nozomi-chan, Chie-chan.”

“Yes. Let’s both do our best.”

“I’ll be cheering from here♪”

“Thanks, you two. …Well then, here I go.”

“Fight, Mikuri-chan.”

“Mikuri. Do your best.”

I exchange words with Shion-san and the other sixth-generation members, receive their cheers, and hurry back to the dressing room.

I need to change out of the current sixth-generation outfit into one of the internal group Schus Sola costumes.

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“……Sorry I’m late. Phew.”

“You made it just in time. Seven Satellite’s MC time is about to end too.”

“R-Really? Sorry, Hayase-san.”

“Since you made it, it’s fine.”

“There Erika goes again saying that…”

“Erika’s whole philosophy is that as long as you’re not late, it’s okay.”

“Hehe.”

“Ahaha.”

When I apologize to the leader Mutsumi-san, Erika-san covers for me, Suzuka-san chimes in with a jab, and Rina-san and Tomomi-san let out little laughs. You can really see how Erika-san and Suzuka-san serve as the lubricant for this team.

“……It’s almost time.”

“Got it.”

“Let’s go.”

At Tomomi-san’s words, I look toward the stage and see that Seven Satellite has just finished introducing us as the next performers.

From here, we Schus Sola will perform three songs, then hand over to Nozomi-chan’s Dwarf Planet.

“All right, let’s go.”

“Yes, yes.”

“It’s not over yet, so don’t burn out.”

“I know, I know.”

Saying things like that, we leap out toward the center of the stage.

At the same moment, violent cheers rain down on us, highlighting the huge popularity gap with the third-tier Seven Satellite.

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After Dwarf Planet, two mini-live group teams come out again along with Seven Satellite once more, and in between we also appear again.

Then the final appearance leading into the finale and ending goes smoothly, and we close out this year’s comprehensive concert with the traditional Comet Traveler.

“Good work.”

“Good work, everyone.”

“It ended safely.”

As we return from backstage to the dressing room, the sense that it is finally over starts to sink in.

The fatigue is intense and my body feels heavy, but I am glad we made it through to the end without incident.

“Next up is finally Rina-chan’s acting debut, huh.”

“Y-Yeah. That’s how it is.”

At Yuka-san’s words, Rina-san answers while stiffening her body a little. I have heard she is not good at acting, but is it really okay for her to be this nervous already?

“At last, Schus Sola’s ultimate weapon is making her drama debut.”

“Looks like the ticket scramble for concerts is going to get even worse.”

“This time too, friends asked me to hook them up with tickets, but this one’s impossible.”

There is talk that even family allocations are being reduced, so securing extras to pass to acquaintances is out of the question.

In a dome with huge capacity it might be possible, but in an arena it is just not feasible.

“Mikuri-chan has movie filming coming up too, right?”

“Yes, Erika-san. The schedule is short, though.”

“So Kayanuma-san is making her big-screen debut…”

Tomomi-san, who has plenty of acting roles but no particularly famous ones, mutters that quietly.

In the mainstream idol world, sharp or standout roles do not come easily, so maybe her impression in the public eye remains faint.

“When thinking about graduation, we really have to push hard on acting work too.”

“But among this group, no one is thinking about graduation yet, right?”

“Yeah, probably no one graduates at the next Reitaisai.”

“Right.”

The nine of us here are all among the top ranks in a popular idol group, but even so, the time to graduate will definitely come someday.

If someone is retiring from the entertainment industry entirely, that is one thing, but if they want to keep working as a celebrity, they have to start thinking about the next step.

Not many people can successfully molt out of being an idol; usually, they get shaken off and fall behind.