Crown 20

Rinne: “—Anywho. All those other guys kept interrupting me, but lemme get back on track.”

“So haven’t all you out there watching felt like something was a bit off so far?”

“This ain’t even a contest, amirite? The Red Team’s got us beat three to zilch. That’s just one step left of total domination! They’ve got this SS thing in the bag!”

“Did the viewers ever imagine that it’d turn out so lopsided?”

“Does the White Team suck that bad? Are we even a little bit worse than the Red Team?”

Hokuto: What is he trying to say...?

Rinne: “Lemme spell it out for you! There’s some foul play here at SS this year!”

Chiaki: Foul play...?

Madara: Hahaha. That’s ooold news to us, but it must come as a shock for our audience.

The direction of SS this year has been distorted and manipulated thanks to ES bigwigs and Gatekeeper interfering, all to suit their convenience.

But what’s the point of revealing this fact now? Are you looking to ruin SS for everyone, Amagi Rinne?

Rinne: “I got this intel all by my lonesome, yanno. If we got the cops or whoever to look into it, they’d have all sortsa shady crap crawling out at them.”

“If I had to say, it’s this unprecedented ‘national vote’ thing that’s the problem! They say they’re pulling data from across the country to get an accurate read of the votes—”

“But who’s to say that’s true? Who is it that’s counting these votes and announcing them to us? That’s the SS Administration Committee, right? They’re the ones organizing this shindig.”

“We don’t know if they numbers they come up with are accurate, or if they’re just pulling ‘em outta their ass! All we can do is take it at face value!”

“So let’s speculate here: what if the numbers are rigged?”

“If they are, the organizers can just pick and choose which rep between the Red and White Teams gets all the votes, right?”

“So what I’m saying is there’s a possibility all this is fixed! We’re out here busting our asses to make sure everyone’s having a good time, and this is what we get for it?”

“This is top-tier bullshit, if you ask me! And I’m sure all of you out there agree, right?!”

“Maybe we’re the last ones who should be saying this, but why are we letting something like this slide?”

Madara: Hahaha, that’s true; with aaaall of the tricks Crazy:B has pulled, they don’t have the right to condemn this now. But I still agree with the points being made.

Chiaki: I see now. He wants people to question the voting system. The White Team is losing by a landslide, so unless they come up with some wild tactics, it’ll be hard for them to turn things around here.

Hokuto: Can I please ask what you mean, Morisawa-senpai?

Subaru: You sound so weird when you talk all polite, Hokke.

Chiaki: Right. Amagi-senpai is probably trying to invalidate the showdowns that have happened up to now.

By calling into question the system’s reliability, he’s effectively rendering all of the results that have been announced meaningless.

Track and field achievements, if found to be influenced by drugs, are voided and discredited. They’re no longer considered valid.

The same thing could happen at the SS Finals: all of the vote counts, the wins and losses, gained up to this point will be meaningless and struck from official records.

It would be unfortunate for the fans who supported the idols who won, but it could also be great news for fans of the losing idols.

No more poor, piteous idols.

It would be a calm, gentle conclusion where nobody loses and nobody gets hurt.

Without the emotional roller coaster that comes with competition, what remains is just the joy of watching idols perform live.

Of course, nobody would be completely satisfied with this; some people may even be outraged by this sudden betrayal of expectations.

Hokuto: Hm. It’s probably too late to create a whole new system from the ground up; there’s not enough time for that... so what would happen to SS at that point? Would it be canceled?

Chiaki: Massive amounts of money have already been poured into this. To the organizers, canceling it would be not only impossible, but unthinkable.

They would probably just not keep using the voting system that’s been deemed suspect.

The units would instead perform in a set order, just singing and dancing on stage. There wouldn’t be any voting at all, and no winner would be selected. In essence, it would be a generic concert.

No live showdown, just a live.

Subaru: Ahaha ☆ I’ve actually always liked that idea better anyway, but doesn’t it totally undermine the whole point of SS?

Aira: Y–yeah, it does, right? SS is there to decide the best idol there is, so why would they wanna go that route?

If we don’t count votes and come up with a winner, then there won’t be a champion for this year, y’know?

Hokuto: I get it.

Hiiro: So that is what Nii-san is—

Hokuto: That’s Amagi Rinne’s goal.

...We spoke at the same time.

Hiiro: I’m sorry. I should have let my senpai speak first.

Subaru: Ahaha, they really are similar~ You think so too, right Aira?

Aira: Now’s not the time for that! Why would Rinne-senpai do something like that? Where’s the fun in ruining the history and tradition of SS?

Hokuto: Fufu. Well, this SS is already different from the previous years. But I suppose that wasn’t enough; he probably thought to change it even more.

Into something completely new: the idol industry’s greatest festival, tailored to suit the modern era.

Aira: I–I mean, I guess it’s better if we’re not trying to fight each other? That’s a nicer sort of SS, sure?

But doesn’t Rinne-senpai prefer the whole “death and destruction” thing? You cannot tell me he turned over a new leaf and decided to be a good Samaritan from now on.

Hiiro: That’s right. It’s possible that Nii-san has other goals.

He may be making a strategic move so as to undermine the entire foundation of SS.

But because of that exactly—someone who wouldn’t want that to happen would move to stop it.

Maybe Nii-san is trying to lure that person out. It’s a tactic he’s used often back in our hometown. He preferred to set traps instead of chasing down his prey.

Aira: Uh, um? So who’s this mysterious person who doesn’t want that, then? I’m pretty sure it’d suck for everyone?!

Rinne: “—Hey! I’m talking to you, the ringleader! The mastermind! The root of all evil!”

“You, the one acting like you own the damn place—Ran Nagisa from our very own commanding unit, Eden...!”