120: Pitfalls

—Ahaha ♪

? What’s going on, Aira?

Is something interesting happening? But I don’t think anyone’s gotten on stage yet…?

No, sorry. I’m just kinda in a weird mood.

Hmm, if you’re not feeling well, you should go outside for a bit and get some fresh air.

Mayoi already shouted out that he couldn’t handle all the tension in the air and left.

Mayo-san clocked out way too soon…

I know what you mean, but this is Crazy:B’s performance we’re talking about here. We don’t know what’ll happen, and we don’t know what won’t happen.

I feel like I’m on a roller coaster going uphill, or like I’m in a gamble with fate.

There are plenty of people who get addicted to this kind of feeling.

But I’m pretty bad with it, honestly… I prefer more normal idols who make me feel safe and relaxed when they’re up on stage.

Fufu. Then that’s the kind of idol you should aim to become, Aira-san.

No matter what you say off-stage, from the audience, it will only sound like the ravings of a loser—no, not a loser, but merely the murmurs of a fan.

You’re right. Although in the past, I would have been ecstatic just to be a regular fan.

But Crazy:B gave us free tickets for these great seats with their whole spiel like, “Sucks you can’t perform with us, but come cheer us on anyway!”

Just like when we did that part-time with Ra*bits and got some tickets to see UNDEAD.

This kind of thing keeps happening to me—of course, it’s not like I’m not happy about it.

A little while ago I’d have been over the moon, like “I’m so glad I became an idol! It comes with some great perks ♪”

But now I feel kind of lonely that I can only look up at the stage from far away in the audience seats. Now that we’ve gone through Bon Festival…

No matter how safe it is, or if it’s free of charge, it just can’t compare to the feeling of singing and dancing on stage anymore.

So I was just laughing at my past self. I was so happy to be an idol, without knowing any of this.

Sure, I was working at ES, but I don’t think I really became an idol until I actually stood on stage… probably.

I thought I loved idols more than anything else in the world, but I didn’t even know the first thing about them.

I can’t really explain it. But don’t worry about me… Let’s just enjoy the performance.

Yes. Even if we were off doing other work right now, we’d be far too preoccupied to get anything done.

At the very least, let’s make good use of our time here. Although, we can’t be too careless with our hosts being Crazy:B.

Idol Royale is still accepting applicants even now, on the day of the event, so if something bad happens, we can always just barge in without sparing a moment.

We can prepare for the worst, but all the same act as courteous guests—Let us earnestly appreciate that which we’re given.

Yep. I’ll teach you some fanchants!¹

…Actually, wouldn’t it be hard to barge into Idol Royale, since we haven’t done any lessons for it?

Yes. It would be better than nothing, but there’s probably not a lot we can do.

We’ve been invited to perform in lives day after day, so we haven’t been able to do much else.

Yeah, I’m jealous of proper idols like Trickstar, who can give the best performance anytime, anywhere.

“—Wassup, all you gals and pals out there! Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“This is Idol Royale! You better have the time of your lives today, gyahahahaha ☆”

Eep?!

Ohh. Crazy:B came up on stage…

This is somewhat unexpected. The organizers of Idol Royale were meant to be mysterious CosPro idols whose identities are still unknown.

Yeah. Maybe they really were just some fake idols that only exist on paper—a paper unit.

I asked some of my friends in the fandom about it, and it looks like it was the name of an idol that HiMERU made up as part of a project for some show a long time ago?

HiMERU-san did? Ahh—I’m not sure if I remember ever hearing something like that before.

But for a while now, he has been acting a bit suspiciously, and he has become the subject of much talk…?

Of course, they’re no match for the rumors that Crazy:B as a whole has gotten wrapped up in.

I’m not sure what their intentions are in hosting a DreamFest under a pseudonym, but it it makes me feel a little uneasy.

Ummm… I was thinking they used a pseudonym because if people saw the troublemakers Crazy:B were the ones hosting it, they wouldn’t be able to get ahold of any co-stars or fans.

But in this day and age, you can’t stop rumors from spreading. And it doesn’t look like Crazy:B had any intention of hiding their involvement, either…

Even online, it looks like there were people theorizing that Crazy:B were the real organizers for Idol Royale.

And it’s not just the fans, either. It looks like idols knew about it, too.

The idols who don’t think too highly of Crazy:B were spreading the word on Hallhands to warn anyone they could about it.

Hm. It was all very careless on Nii-san’s part. In fact, it almost seems like a trap.

A trap…? Can you explain, Hiiro-san?

Yes. Back home, Nii-san would employ a two-stage process to trap his prey when he was hunting.

First, he would set up a false trap in plain sight, so that the game would see it and avoid it—

Then, when it’s moving about off its guard, he springs the second trap that went unnoticed.

The prey, having been so relieved to avoid the first trap—It’s almost amusing that it fell right into another.

I’m a straightforward person, so I always wondered why just that real trap wasn’t enough.

But apparently, that’s the kind of trick you have to play to catch an overly cautious wild animal.

……

Perhaps we’ve already fallen into Nii-san’s trap. Perhaps we’re already at the bottom of a pit, just watching it all from a safe distance.