Crown 7

Wataru: The White Team’s representative for the third round will be the radical and immoral demons of the night—UNDEAD.

I do recall the oracles mentioned that somewhere.

Eichi: You’re right. The music UNDEAD produces resonates with people everywhere, so they’re able to present a wide range of styles that anyone can enjoy.

Genre purists may doubt this fluidity, but it is undeniably in public favor currently.

Who is it that attracts the most customers throughout the world? Rock stars, of course.

However, this is just on a global level.

Within Japan, lighter, easier listening has always been the heart of the industry, and at the end of the day, SS is only an idol show at the end of the year.

So long as we keep voting open to everyone in the nation, they will have to bear in mind all the elderly voters who dislike the harsh bite of rock and all the children sensitive to such stimulation.

Rock music does not resonate with them.

Nevertheless, UNDEAD is strong. So strong, in fact, that I’d like to file a complaint with them about it. A half-hearted unit can never hold their own against them.

This is why we’ll send up Akatsuki as their opponents. They match UNDEAD’s intensity, but they have a traditional, Japanese sound that is more favorable to the elderly.

We must consider the purpose behind the past inclusion of such performances as enka in music programs that broadcast at the end of the year, even if those traditional styles have fallen out of popularity among young people.^[1]

The demographic that seeks this style is larger than younger generations would think, and Akatsuki makes music that appeals to them.

Wataru: At the same time, Akatsuki’s performances also appeal to those younger demographics. They fuse the old and the new to create a completely new genre of music.

Akatsuki and UNDEAD are often juxtaposed, but that only proves that their strengths rival each other.

An on this stage called SS, Akatsuki has a distinct advantage with the public vote.

This match is a quite the gamble, though; they must not let down their guards.

Eichi: Fufu. Keito may be careless, but I doubt he’d ever be so foolish as to cut corners when up against Sakuma-kun.

I have faith he will do everything he can to win this round.

Rumor has it that UNDEAD had quite the nasty time during the Qualifying Rounds. Though undead monsters they may call themselves, that damage must have accumulated.

In a showdown between two powerful opponents, a little flaw like that can prove fatal.

We had a period of rest before the Finals, but it certainly wasn’t long enough for their wounds to heal.

Wataru: In that regard, 2wink ought to be flying sky-high after getting the better of UNDEAD, however briefly.

However, to believe that they are still the same children they were during our days at Yumenosaki would allow them to pull the rug right out from under us.

Eichi: I wouldn’t make that mistake. I have gotten quite good at using others’ disdain toward me against them—wait for the enemy to let down their defenses, then deliver the killing blow.

The capricious son of a wealthy, noble family suddenly drops everything to become an idol—

You and your friends would know best what happens to those who think so low of me, wouldn’t you, Hibiki Wataru of the Five Oddballs?

Wataru: Indeed. And moreover, those children are the ones who will face 2wink as our representatives.

I dare not speak like an expert on the matter, but the stronger the opponent is who faces them, the more that opponent hesitates to hit them with their full strength.

For if they do, they will seem the villain. No respectable sumo wrestler would have the audacity to strike an infant.

This is a business of popularity. We idols cannot do anything to damage our reputations.

Eichi: Well, there is still the possibility that 2wink will hit them with their full power without a second thought. One should never give a knife to a tormented child.

Nonetheless, the representatives for the Red Team can soothe and heal even the most violent of opponents—in a sense, they are indomitable.

Voracious as I am, even I would rather admire them than pick them from my teeth.

Surely 2wink is not so depraved that they could stab such innocent creatures.

Rather, they would do well to learn from them a better path, witness the brilliance which they were unable to choose, and which they were unable to obtain—consumed with longing and envy.

“Problem kids run the world,” hm? Still, sometimes good triumphs over evil... Isn’t that right, Ra*bits?^[2]