"Come on!" The members who cannot perform on stage cheer for the selected members who are about to leave the lounge. They will always pay attention to the stage scene through the monitor hanging on the wall.
"What to do, what to do." Mai Shiraishi walked out of the door holding her arms and kept mumbling.
There are many girls as nervous as her in Nogizaka. They held hands and sought comfort from each other.
Amamiya Shiori seemed relaxed and at ease, looking around curiously. What she is looking forward to more is meeting those idols she has only seen on the show, such as Maeda Oshima, Queen Cabbage, Nanren who is 148.5cm tall, Sashihara who is so exhausted, and so on.
Although I have never been to their handshake meeting and is technically just a screen fan, it does not prevent Amamiya Sōri from considering herself their "iron fan".
Following the footsteps of the staff, the members came to the spacious backstage, where a large number of staff and a seemingly huge lineup of idols gathered.
The idols of 48G wear a variety of singing outfits, some are cute, sexy or gorgeous. In comparison, the purple "curtain cloth" worn by the Nogizaka members looks particularly simple.
Standing in the middle of the staff, everyone gathered together in silence, looking into the distance. Minami Takahashi, the general supervisor of 48G, was using a loudspeaker to mobilize before the concert.
A team of hundreds of people formed a large circle, and Nogizaka, who was not a sister group in name, was naturally excluded.
"...Everyone, this is the annual Request Hour. Try your best to enjoy it as usual!" Minami Takahashi, who is small but has a loud voice, led the hundreds of people to give final cheers after finishing her lecture. .
"Go ahead." "——Oh!"
The people in Nogizaka standing far away among the staff clapped as if they were observing the corporate culture and employee style of other companies.
After the 48G circle formation is over, they have to go up and say hello.
The girls, who had just been shocked by the performance of their seniors, stood in irregular rows, and Reika Sakurai spoke on behalf of them.
"This is the first time we meet. We are Nogizaka46. Please take care of us today."
"Please take care of me." Everyone bowed together.
"Kawaii~" compliments came from time to time. The members of 48G applauded, and some responded with polite bows.
Generally speaking, the attitudes of these "opponents" are much kinder than expected.
After officially meeting each other, the seniors started busy with preparations.
"Let's also form a circle." Amamiya Suga suggested, "Although we are small in number, we cannot lose morale."
"Yes, just here, it doesn't take up much space." Sakurai Reika said.
So 17 people formed a small circle, and everyone huddled close to each other in the corner against the wall.
"No——gyu~gyu——" The circular formation starts with clapping 4 times, 3 times, and 3 times in sequence, which represents 46.
Then everyone extended their right hands.
"Preparation - hard work, gratitude, smile, we are Nogizaka, 46, who keeps climbing!"
With their right hands moving up and down, the members chanted slogans neatly and loudly.
Emotions were mobilized, and the nervousness was reduced by three points and turned into courage.
Although Nogizaka was the first to appear, there was still some time before that.
Ikoma Rina hugged Amamiya Shiori's waist from behind, her mind went blank.
"Ikoma-chan." Amamiya Shiori held Ikoma's cold hand and shook her from side to side. She could feel the pressure of the child behind her.
"Hmm~" Ikoma replied blankly. She had forgotten what singing and dancing were.
At this time, no amount of persuasion is useless. It's all up to her.
"AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2012 - Everyone, are you ready to get fired up!!!" Minami Takahashi sat behind the scenes and spoke of the opening remarks.
"Yeah~~" the fans responded enthusiastically to the backstage.
"It's okay." Hoshino Minami held Ikoma's left hand, which was clenched into a fist nervously.
"Come on~" Takahashi Minami looked at the girls behind him who were filing in amidst the urging of the staff.
"Curtains surround the outside of the circle." As the words "Nogizaka46" were displayed on the big screen, fans in the audience let out surprised sounds.
In the darkness, the members held their breath and stood in their designated positions. Various colored fluorescent sticks swayed under the stage like a sea of stars.
The lights came on and the audience was crowded.
"Hello everyone, get ready~" Erika Ikuta took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to raise her head, "We are Nogizaka46." Everyone bowed in greeting.
After getting ready to stand, the girls reached out and grabbed the corner of the skirt of the member on the left. The music of "Around the Curtain" plays.
"Curtain Roll" is the first single. The choreographer took into account everyone's lack of strength and designed the movements to be simple and gentle. This song has a cute style and brings a fresh feeling to people. Fans in the audience waved their light sticks according to the melody.
After finishing his performance, Ikoma took a deep breath. Everyone in the lounge had their hearts in their throats.
"We, Nogizaka46, have goals that we must surpass... and goals that we must surpass." I practiced the script countless times, but it was so difficult to read it out.
Ikuta and Hoshino stood beside her, Hashimoto, Matsumura, Shiraishi, and Amamiya stood behind her... Everyone knew how much pressure Ikoma was under as the center, and they who could not speak at the moment could only accompany her silently. Beside her, encouraging her with eyes.
"That goal is," at this point, Ikoma couldn't help crying anymore.
"Come on!" "It's okay!" the fans in the audience gently encouraged.
"That target is AKB48-san." Tears streaked down Ikoma's face as he said these words.
"First of all, I would like to thank everyone for your warm welcome today. For us now, AKB48 is still an insurmountable mountain." Affected by their emotions, several members standing in the back row couldn't help but cover their faces with their hands. cried softly.
"Therefore, we are very grateful for this opportunity to be on the same stage with AKB48. In the future, we will take this gratitude and do our best... try our best, hoping to become a real opponent one day. We kindly ask everyone to give us your support. Please!" Bowing deeply in response to the gentle audience.
Although there were occasional boos, there were more enthusiastic encouragements. Most of the fans who could come to the scene are very tolerant of Nogizaka. They regard this team as a new sister group, rather than the "formal rival" promoted in the media. In the era when AKB was at its peak, Morning Musume was no longer its opponent, let alone a newly born emerging group. Fans of AKB at their peak had this kind of confidence and seemed calm and generous towards other groups.
This is how Nogizaka's debut in TDC ended.
For AKB fans, this is just a small episode, but for the members of Nogizaka, this is a transformation.
"Welcome back!" The members who had been waiting in the lounge for a long time greeted the "triumph" heroes in the corridor.
Ikoma Rina, who burst into tears, immediately threw herself into Eto Mica's arms.
Pat their shoulders and stroke their heads. Everyone is expressing their care in simple ways. Nogizaka is not just the 17 people standing on the stage, but also all the members standing behind them.
