After Naoya received overwhelming support from the audience and stepped back with a triumphant smile, many other female students continued to take the stage for their introductions.
I was surprised by the number of participants, which was much higher than I had expected, but considering the prize money, it wasn’t strange at all.
The winner received 50,000 yen, the runner-up got 30,000 yen, and third and fourth place received 10,000 yen each, totaling an impressive prize pool of 100,000 yen.
It seed that the female students, confident in their appearances to so extent, participated in the contest thinking they could at least bring ho 10,000 yen.
After an endless series of participant introductions, we finally reached contestant number 18, who was Senior Fuma.
“Alright! Now, the long-awaited contestant number 18! Please co on stage!”
As Satoru called out, the contestant number 18 finally made her entrance.
Having already spent a good amount of ti on introductions, the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers, thinking that we were finally at the end.
Waaah!!
And, living up to those expectations, a stunningly beautiful silver-haired girl stepped onto the stage.
“…Hmm?”
I felt like I had seen her sowhere before.
I blinked rapidly and stared intently at the face of the final contestant on stage.
But no na ca to mind.
As I tilted my head in confusion, the contestant number 18 finally took the microphone and spoke.
“I’m Ryuko, a second-year student. Nice to et you all.”
Her slightly husky yet charming voice reminded of Sasha.
Even though Senior Fuma, one of the academy’s three beauties, had just been on stage, the girl nad Ryuko held her own with her appearance.
“Was there such a girl in the second year?”
“Her hair is beautiful…”
“Is she a transfer student?! There’s no information on such a beauty in our Research Club’s data!”
The audience was truly buzzing with excitent.
Regardless of everything else, it seed certain that she had generated buzz.
“Alright! Now that all the participants have introduced themselves, let’s kick off the long-awaited round one! It’s talent show ti! Only the nine remaining participants can advance to the finals! So let’s get moving quickly! Contestant number one, Tojo Karen!”
“Yes!”
Karen stepped forward, looking nervous as Satoru called her na.
“What talent has Ms. Tojo prepared?”
Karen swallowed nervously and chose an unexpected option.
“I’ve prepared a song.”
“A song! Great! Let’s play Ms. Tojo’s selected song! Broadcasting Club!”
With Satoru’s cue, the accompanint for the song began to play through the stage speakers.
~♪
However, contrary to the audience’s expectations of an idol song, pop song, or ballad, Karen chose an enka song, a genre preferred by middle-aged people rather than youth.
“Like the wind, you ca, my departing love♪”
The soothing lody resonated throughout the stage.
The lyrics, which expressed a woman’s heart rembering her love who left like the wind, brought tears to the families of the students sitting in the audience.
The sudden somber atmosphere seed to catch Satoru off guard, but Karen, unaware of his internal struggle, passionately sang with her eyes closed.
“Tears seep into the clothes you left behind…”
As the first verse of the song concluded, applause erupted amidst the solemn atmosphere.
The source of the applause ca from the front row, where Karen’s father, Tojo Naoto, and his right-hand man, Takeyama, sat.
“Well done! I don’t know whose daughter she is, but her voice is amazing!”
It was a very blatant complint.
Karen’s gaze naturally shifted toward them, and realizing who they were, her face flushed as she rushed backstage.
Satoru, who had been watching the situation, hurriedly wrapped up the comntary.
“Yes! That was a wonderful song by Karen! Now, let’s move on to the next act, contestant number two! Kishimoto Rika!”
Waaah!
The audience’s excitent soared again with the arrival of a new face.
Karen’s enka was not bad, but it felt a bit somber for an opening act, so Rika’s appearance, as a human vitamin, was uplifting.
Standing on stage, Rika took a deep breath and bowed 90 degrees toward the audience.
“This is my first ti singing in front of people, so I might be lacking in various ways, but I hope you’ll support .”
Then, gripping the microphone tightly, she shouted.
“Listen to my song!”
~♪
The song began with a powerful beat.
Rika chose the the song from a robot animation that had been popular about ten years ago.
Although it was an ani song, since it was sung by a space idol in the story, its polished lyrics and exciting beat made my shoulders naturally sway.
When I had gone to karaoke before, I felt that Rika’s voice was good, and her singing ability was top-notch, making it seem like a professional singer was performing.
The rapid-fire lyrics combined with Rika’s perfect diction felt like the song was being hamred into my ears.
As the first verse ended, the audience erupted in thunderous applause.
Rika, with beads of sweat on her forehead, bowed repeatedly with an expression of joy.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
After Rika’s stage ended, the subsequent performances by contestants three, four, and five did not receive as much applause as expected.
While Rika’s performance had been relatively impressive, the other contestants seed underprepared for this light-hearted contest.
Finally, it was Sasha’s turn.
“Alright! Now, contestant number six! The Ice Princess from Russia! Here’s Sasha’s stage!”
Waaah!
Perhaps due to her extraordinary deanor during her introduction, the audience’s reaction was quite positive.
And not betraying the audience’s expectations, Sasha ca on stage holding a pair of pistols.
“Pistols…?”
Even as I said it, I wondered if that was correct, so I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but indeed, what Sasha held was a pistol.
The stage MC, Satoru, asked with a puzzled expression.
“I’m asking just to be sure, but those aren’t real guns, are they?”
In response, Sasha chuckled and said,
“I have enough common sense to know that. Both of these are airsoft guns.”
Sasha said this and detached the magazine to show it to Satoru.
Indeed, the contents were BB pellets.
“So, what talent will you be showcasing, Sasha?”
Receiving the magazine back from Satoru, Sasha combined it with the pistol and replied.
“Of course, it’s marksmanship.”
As Sasha said this and snapped her fingers, the Broadcasting Club brought out a table stacked with aluminum cans from backstage.
Once all the setups were complete, Sasha took her stance about ten ters away, resting her right hand on the grip of the gun like a cowboy from a Western film.
The audience held their breath, watching her unusual stance on stage.
And then…
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, Sasha drew her pistol and, with astonishing accuracy, knocked all the aluminum cans off the table from a distance of ten ters.
It was truly a marksmanship that reached the level of a divine skill.
As soon as Sasha’s trick shot ended, applause erupted from the audience.
However, Sasha shook her finger side to side as if it wasn’t ti yet, then snapped her fingers again.
This ti, the Broadcasting Club set up more tables with even more aluminum cans scattered around the stage.
“Phew…”
Taking a small breath, Sasha stood in the center of the stage and, with a spark in her eyes, drew her pistols with both hands.
Without a milliter of error, she shot down every single aluminum can scattered around her.
Even without recoil, using not just one but two pistols, and hitting all her targets without proper aiming—it was truly outrageous marksmanship.
It was an absurd level of shooting skill.
After her trick shot ended, Sasha blew the empty barrel and, with a nonchalant voice, said,
“That’s all.”
Waaah!!
Perhaps due to the delay in applause, the cheers and claps erupted even louder.
Even those who weren’t interested in the beauty contest couldn’t help but lean in to watch the incredible excitent.
Following Sasha’s confident descent from the stage, Naoya stepped up looking sowhat defeated.
Whatever talent she had prepared, it was clear that it wouldn’t draw the sa level of buzz as what we had just seen.
Naoya seed to have the sa thought, showing the flute she was holding in both hands to the audience with a resigned expression.
“The talent I will showcase is playing the flute.”
As expected, despite being on stage as a famous actress, the audience’s reaction was lukewarm at best.
Perhaps this was also a kind of honorable death.
anwhile, Sakamoto Ryuji sensed that he was in deep trouble.
No, maybe it was a mistake from the start to promise Chiaki that he would lend her his body.
But now, he couldn’t go back on that promise.
He had already co too far.
“…Um, it’s now ti for contestant number 18! Ryuko!”
He heard a voice calling his na from the stage.
“Ryuji, just do what you’ve always done. Just do it.”
The voice of Chiaki echoed in his ears.
However, he was so nervous that her encouragent didn’t help him much.
After much contemplation, he asked,
“…Is it too late to run away now?”
Chiaki replied in a firm voice.
“No way. You promised , right?”
Running away was not allowed.
Since the answer was already determined, Ryuji let out a sigh, the number of which he couldn’t even count, and stood up.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Since things had co to this, it might be better to aim for the win.
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