After MC visited three lounges, it was almost time for the meeting to begin. Outside the venue, fans who had been waiting for a long time slowly entered the venue, and tension began to surround the venue.
"Is everyone ready for a big fight?"
"yeah--"
"Work hard, thank you, smile! We are Nogizaka! Uphill Saka! 46!" The girls formed a circle on the way to the venue, encircling the two comedians in the middle, and chanted the slogan. As everyone lowered and raised their hands at the same time, the atmosphere was filled with joy. The newborn chick will touch the blue sky for the first time.
"Yeah--" The two MCs also high-fived the girls. This was a moment worth remembering.
The subsequent meeting was held in the venue, with hundreds of spectators sitting in the dark atmosphere. Encouraged by the circle formation, everyone relaxed a lot. The self-introduction and talent show went very smoothly. The content of the talent show was pretty much the same as what had been shown in previous shows, with some small creative ideas. Although it was young, it still attracted applause and laughter from the audience. Fans are very tolerant of new idols.
"Amamiya Shiori, 17 years old, third year of high school, just call me Xiaoshi." Amamiya Shiori held a microphone in her left hand and a deck of playing cards in her right hand.
"Xiao Zhi~" "Kawaii~" "I love you~"
The fans in the audience howled one after another, making Amamiya Souri experience the fanaticism of idol otaku for the first time. The show she performed was poker magic, which came from the same instructional video as the magic in the previous self-promotional short film.
Although the magic trick was very simple, the fans in the audience responded enthusiastically and praised it for being amazing.
"No, no, no, it's just a simple magic trick." The following compliment made her blush.
After the self-presentation, the real highlight comes - the handshake meeting. The meeting held at Nogizaka Building made everyone realize their gratitude to the fans. But from this time on, it became a brutal competition.
Every fan who comes has a handshake ticket, and they only have one chance to choose. Whichever member has more fans will be more popular. The evaluation method is very simple.
The handshake meeting was held in groups, and Amamiya Shiori was placed in the last group. Before that, I could only wait silently in the lounge.
Some people are practicing in front of the mirror, some are closing their eyes and concentrating, and some are pacing back and forth. During this period, there were many returning members, some with smiles and some with solemn expressions. Some people came back crying.
The atmosphere became tense.
After waiting for several hours, Amamiya Shiori and the others finally set off.
The members of the last group are Shiraishi Mai, Takayama Kazumi, Inoue Sayuri, Matsumura Sayuri, Amamiya Shiori, and Ikoma Rina.
Amamiya Shiori and Inoue Sayuri stood in the same position, facing two different columns. Staff wearing armbands stood by to maintain order.
Although they were the last group, there were still many fans waiting in line. Especially the queue of Mai Shiraishi and Kazumi Takayama. One of them is beautiful and the other is interesting, attracting most of the attention of the fans present.
"Xiao Zhi, please use the magic of love on me!"
"Xiao Zhi, I will always support you!"
"Xiao Zhi, I came here from Kagoshima specifically to see you this morning."
…
Fans greeted Amamiya Sori with topics they had prepared or simple greetings.
Amamiya Soi selectively used the handshake skills she learned during the supplementary episode in actual combat.
The male-female ratio of her fans is relatively even. Each handshake ticket lasts about 20 seconds, and the staff grasps the timing of pushing people. She couldn't remember how many people she held, but it seemed like it took more than thirty minutes in total.
By the time her row was finished, there were not many fans left in the venue.
Only Mai Shiraishi and Kazumi Takayama looked like there were dozens of people in their two columns combined.
Shiraishi or Takayama, who will win the final victory?
Not only the staff and the media who came to collect information, but also Amamiya Sugawara was watching the outcome with great interest.
As a result, Mai Shiraishi's handshake queue was cut off first.
"Xiao Mi is so interesting! I originally wanted to go to the other members, but you defeated me with one blow!"
"Ah~ thank you very much!"
In the handshake area, only Gao Shan's voice echoed.
In the queue next to him, tears welled up in Shiraishi's eyes.
"Pfft~" Amamiya Shiori didn't know why, but she felt a little funny when she saw Shiraishi crying.
"Why are you laughing?" After the handshake was over, on the way back to the lounge, Mai Shiraishi asked with a pouty mouth.
"I just think the way Mai looks cute when she cries." Amamiya Shiori gently brushed away the tears from the corners of Shiraishi Mai's eyes with her hand, "Why are you crying all of a sudden? Your grades are pretty good!"
Mai Shiraishi, whose eyes were red, didn't know why she cried just now, "I don't know why, but I didn't know much about idols before, so I had a half-empty mentality. So I just found out,' It turns out that the world of idols is so cruel, just..."
She recalled Maya Wada crying in the first group of handshakes. This is a 13-year-old child from Hiroshima. The cruel competition has dealt a heavy blow to her. No matter how few other members there are, there are at least three or so, but she only has one.
Being an idol is really cruel, especially one where the competition is very straightforward, Shiraishi Mai thought.
"Well..." Amamiya Shiori wanted to say some comforting words, but the words came to his lips but he couldn't say them out.
She remembered a project of AKB that she had seen before, in which Shizuka, a member with low popularity, went to the streets of Akihabara to promote herself alone. No one helped her, so she simply made posters by herself and promoted them to passers-by. It was quite a street style. The feeling of performing arts. After several months of hard work, she finally managed to increase the number of fans attending her handshake meeting several times.
"The gap in popularity is inevitable, just tell your story well." Amamiya Soi took Mai Shiraishi's hand.
"Telling a story?" Shiraishi Mai was a little confused.
"Yes, tell stories. My understanding is that idols' personalities can be copied and changed, but everyone's story is unique and cannot be learned."
"Oh↗" Shiraishi Mai raised her voice, as if what you said made sense.
"Ma Yi's popularity is already very high. If you feel frustrated, then we have to graduate as soon as tomorrow and go to school honestly."
"No, I just-" Shiraishi Mai also felt that she was crying just now for no reason, maybe because her emotions were rising and she couldn't control it.
Nogizaka46's official rival, AKB48, holds a popularity vote called the "General Election" every year. The occasion is grand and there is a live TV broadcast. The current level of competition in Nogizaka is far from comparable.
Everyone who returned to the lounge was relieved and comforted each other to clear up their mood.
After the five groups of handshakes were completed, the staff counted the handshake scores. In order to take care of everyone's feelings, the version given to the members concealed the number of people and only gave the ranking. Mai Shiraishi and Kazumi Takayama tied for first place, followed by Sayuri Inoue in third place, followed by Rina Ikoma, Sayuri Matsumura, Nana Hashimoto and others. Amamiya Shiori followed closely behind. Sure enough, the last group was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
