86: Switch
Ten minutes later; the curtains rise on Bon Festival
—Now t̨h͏én, ̴l̡et̡ ̴t̡h͞e ̵magi͟ç bȩgi͏n.1
“Let’s make the Switch from reality to fantaSY!”
“Activate the Switch that turns misfortune into happiness!”
“Flip the Switch that lights up the darkness ♪”
“Light! Please bathe us in your glow!”
“Electricity, descendant of the ancient, mysterious lightning! Lend us your power!”
“To all idols! To all fans!”
“To all living things—Cast your brilliance upon them!”
“With a one, two, Switch… ♪”
“It begins now, this time of magic and dreams sparkling brighter than reality!”
“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”
“~…… ♪”
(Oh… They do have quite the presence—or more like, they’re really imposing. These people of Switch are like stars, the same as Trickstar.)
(They’re shining radiantly atop the stage—So these are true idols.)
(Idols… What are idols?)
That’s a good question, but you’re ten years too early to be allowed to ask such a thing.
If you wanna know what an idol is, just look at me!
(I’ve asked questions, studied and watched, even trained myself to actually perform on the stage as an idol… I’ve received a lot of answers, and I’ve made a lot of observations.)
(And yet, I still don’t understand.)
(Switch, and all of the idols at ES I’ve come across up to now—I’m sure they’re all idols.)
(But each one of them has a different answer to my question, and their concept of idols varies massively between them—)
(I can’t tell what’s real and what’s fake, what’s correct and what’s not…)
(No, maybe even just thinking there’s a correct way to be an idol is off the mark.)
(There must be another way to solve this problem.)
(But as it is right now, I still don’t know what that is.)
“Once again, we’d like to welcome you all to Bon Festival!”
“As you know, Bon Festival is based around Obon~ ♪ In other words, it’s the day the dead come home!”
“Thank you for the simple explanation, Sora ♪ It’s true—Obon is the return of the dead, those who are said to never be seen again!”
“Today, we have gathered together all the idols from each agency who have been deemed unnecessary and are set to be fired.”
“That is to say, they’ve been branded as failures.”
“Most of the people you see here today—this will be the last time they stand on the stage as professionals.”
“It’s extremely difficult to overturn a dismissal that has already been finalized.”
“However, magic can make the impossible possible. Before they cross over to the other side, before they are forgotten by everyone—”
“We have performed the rite of Bon Festival and temporarily resurrected them from the dead.”
“But we are only magicians, not gods. In the end, this is but a temporary measure.”
“We will only have a small impact on them, and on everyone who witnesses them in this short moment.”
“But if the ripples we create today spread throughout the world, then perhaps we can change something.”
“Perhaps we can change fate, or perhaps a miracle will occur. It is not a guarantee that those who believe shall be saved, but we are casting this spell with that hope.”
“With the prayer that even just one more person can smile and be happy.”
“Just like how the people of ancient times studied the flames produced by lightning to understand how they work and how to use them—”
“We’ll will work hard in this world to create the miracles which could only be known as magic in the past! No, we’ll put in all our effort for it~ ♪”
“Everyone, thank you for all of your support! Please allow us to become true magicians!”
Y̶eş ♪͢ I͠ǹ ͜re̸tu̴r͘n,͡ we ̴sh̨all̡ ̴d̛o ̢ouŗ be͟st͟ as͜ ̡i͢do͟ls̕ to̡ s͟h͞ow̢ ͝y͏o͞u ą ̵go͡o͝d̢ ҉time!2
“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”