Crown 14

Midori: ...Oh, shit, I might throw up.

Shinobu: Huh?! If thou thinkest thou wilt throw up on stage, then go to the bathroom, Midori-kun! Here, let me rub thy back. There, there ♪

Midori: Sorry, Shinobu-kun, and everyone else... I guess this is it for me... ♪

Shinobu: Huhhh?! Thou cannot desert us in such a critical moment! This isn’t like some scandal caused by a cast member on a tokusatsu show!

Eichi: Ahaha, you guys are always so lively.

Tetora: This is so embarrassing... but I’m actually kinda relieved everybody’s so full of energy, honestly. It makes me feel way less nervous.

Chiaki: Yeah! If one of us falls, someone else will reach out a helping hand, and we’ll all keep walking together! We’ll always be moving forward! That’s what Ryuseitai is all about!

Kanata: your voice is too Loud chiaki.

Tetora: Seriously. This a valuable rest period between rounds, after all.

Some of the people in the audience are napping so they can make it through such a long event, so we’d be assholes for waking them up with all the noise we’re making.

Shinobu: ‘Tis as Tetora-kun said! Ninjas must be more stealthy and subdued!

Midori: I’m not a ninja, though... and I don’t feel like a hero, either... so what am I? Why am I even doing this whole idol thing, anyway...?

Shinobu: I fear Midori-kun is suffering a mental break from his anxiety and mental strain!

Tetora: Ahaha. This is the first time I’ve seen Midori-kun act like this in a while. It’s kinda nostalgic, actually.

Lately, he’s even been someone we can depend on. We’re always together so it’s hard to notice, but Midori-kun has grown up a whole bunch.

I should take a page outta his book and work harder to improve, myself. If my effort isn’t paying off yet, then I just need to work ten times—no, a hundred times harder.

Kanata: you are always looking Forward aren’t you tetora? you are a good kid ♪

Chiaki: Yep! There’s nothing left for us to teach you... ☆

Kanata: i told you that your voice is too Loud.

Tetora: Ahaha. That’s something that’ll probably never change.

Eichi: Yes. There are aspects of people who can change and those which cannot. For example, one’s lifespan can increase through arduous effort, but no matter how we may try, nobody can live for two hundred years.

Wataru: Atop the stage it is possible to act as an immortal creature which has lived for millennia! One can transcend the lifespan set by the gods and walk miles in countless shoes!

Eichi: Yeah, that’s why you love the theater so much. And it’s also the greatest virtue of stories.

...Ah, I see. So that’s how it is.

Chiaki: ? What do you mean?

Eichi: Sorry, it’s personal. You all should just focus on the stage before you.

If the White Team tries to deviate from their previous developments and tries something different, it will happen during the third or fourth battle.

They’ve accumulated so many losses up to this point, so they need a win here, or else they’ll be in trouble.

The halfway point will determine the ultimate victor of the SS Finals between the White Team and the Red Team.

Chiaki: Huh, all right then... The Finals have seven rounds. In other words, if you lose four of them, a majority, then you throw the whole game.

Eichi: Precisely. Right now, the White Team has lost two of two rounds and is cornered. I don’t think the audience expected the competition to be so one-sided so early in the game.

If they lose their third battle, everyone will lose interest.

The same thing happens in soccer and baseball games, but only the most dedicated fans will continue watching until the end if one side is steamrolling the other.

No one wants to see their favorite team suffer such a humiliating defeat.

If they lose not just the third round but also the fourth, the final results will be determined, and the outcome will be rather lackluster.

So much so that it would have been better to structure the program such that idols perform in a certain order, rather than it be a showdown.

Wataru: Fufufu. I believe that it would have been fine, no? Or rather, that it would have been more suited to the current era.

Though, SS is meant to be survival of the fittest: only one can remain standing.

Eichi: Yes. If it turns out so regrettably otherwise, it might even call into doubt the very nature of SS, itself.

Perhaps that is what Nagisa-kun and his cohorts are aiming for: to reject and dismantle SS as a legacy which no longer fits the times—

But perhaps I’m overthinking things. I just want to be careful. The people of this nation are far too biased toward the underdog; humans tend to seek a balance.

Going forward, support for the losing team, the White Team, is likely to increase. The attitude will shift: “keep fighting even with the odds against you; everyone is cheering for you,” and so on.

It’s possible that the White Team may have even intentionally thrown the first two rounds in anticipation of that response.

They could be planning to use audience support as tailwind to win the rest of their battles and carry them to victory.

Chiaki: Would they risk such a dangerous wager? If their commanding unit were Crazy:B instead of Eden, I could see it, but...?

Eichi: Well, perhaps I’m just suspicious. But be on your guard anyway, Chiaki.

It’s been said that the entertainment industry is full of monsters. Anything, no matter how unlikely, can happen here.

Chiaki: Right. Thanks for the warning, Tenshouin.

Tetora: Ahaha. Well, all we can ever do is work hard and give our best effort in any situation.

Chiaki: You’re exactly right! Ah, there really is nothing left to teach you... ☆

Eichi: Your inheritance was properly bestowed, it seems. I envy you, Chiaki.

(What could I have given to that child—Tori—I wonder? The boy who admired me, imitated me, and tried to become me?)

(Do I have even a single thing that I can proudly entrust to him and pass on with joy?)

(......)