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The Identity of Your Voice. A world renowned singing competition that takes place annually between the months of August and September. Even simply becoming a contestant of the show was enough to either boost your personal ratings or drop them drastically, it all really depended on how well you did during the show’s runtime. There have been people whose careers have gone down the drain completely due to a bad performance on the show, so becoming a contestant always came with a huge risk. A risk not everyone was willing to take.
The producers of the show prided themselves on finding new talent from other countries, it was a diverse show that chose one up and coming artist or band from each of the major countries and invited them to participate in the competition. These artists would often be nugu ones that had a minimalistic fan base, but hadn’t grown to their desired popularity just yet. This wasn’t a competition that you could apply to be a part of. The producers had to directly approach you through email, social media, phone call or even on the street. There had been a lot of people who had missed out on the chance of a lifetime because they’d assumed it was a scam. After all, they were an small, forgotten groups.
Why would a show that had topped the ratings every single year, want a group such as theirs to perform on their stage? So emails sent out by the company would often go unanswered. The producers had never been in the business of hassling people into coming to perform on their stage. If an artist said no or just outright ignored them, they would move onto the next up and coming talent. There were plenty of talented artists in the world, so one loss was basically nothing to them.
Of course, the inclusion of a 250,000 dollar check upon winning their competition was enough to set off some people's alarm bells. The Identity of Your Voice wasn’t in the habit of having their socials or emails public, so seeing a private account with barely a hundred followers was enough to assume that it was a complete scam, however that was a ploy by the producers.
How much do you really want this?
Enough to allow yourself to fall victim to a potential scam?
Is fame and spotlight really that important to you?
They had a long list of ideal artists per country they planned to approach, artists they felt would do amazing for their shows ratings. If one artist ignored or blocked them, they always had a backup just right around the corner. Their list of potential contestants would never truly run out, as long as a group didn't break up or disband between now and the following year, there was always a chance that the group could be approached the next year. After all, they had been using the same list for nearly 10 years, only removing artists if they were no longer active in the music industry.
That time of year had once again come around, time for the talents behind ‘The Identity Of Your Voice’ to once again scour the internet for up and coming foreign artists. 20 artists to complete the roster for this year's showing. This year’s theme was ‘The Battle Of Dynamic Duos.’ A theme meant to showcase the amazing duos all around the world, however they weren’t ONLY looking for duos. If a soloist had collabed with another soloist in the past and clearly had amazing chemistry, they would ask if both of them wanted to team up and be a part of their competition. If there was a group that they were interested in, they would request that if at all possible, the group would send 2 representatives to perform at their competition.
This was one of those years where they had to go with plan B, every single duo they had asked to become a contestant had declined their invite, so they were now exclusively approaching soloists who had collabed with others, or groups that had a clear ‘duo’ within it.
Vivid Bad Squad was one of those lucky groups, it was a group they had been keeping an eye on for quite some time now. Ever since they surpassed ‘rad weekend’ and had a joint concert in Tokyo Time Square with Hatsune Miku, and some other talented artists, they had been number one on their radar. They had avoided them originally because of this year's theme not allowing more than two members to represent them, but upon closer inspection, they realized what the group originally was at the start.
It was a group that started as two duos, the vivids and the bad dogs, that had come together to form a full team. Vivid bad squad, is what they went by these days. However the Vivids and The Bad Dogs were never truly lost to time, they would still do duets as they always had. Vivid Bad Squad was perfect in their eyes. They were the ideal contestants for this year's theme, dynamic duos, it was clear that both the vivids and bad dogs had incredibly strong chemistry, the type of chemistry a competition such as this one needed, and so they sent them an email.
‘Dear Vivid Bad Squad, My name is Jacqueline Olsen. I am the scouting agent behind a little show known as ‘The Identity Of Your Voice’, a well known music competition that takes place in New York City every single year between the months of August and September. I am messaging to invite you to become a contestant on the show. We have seen your work and are genuinely impressed with your passion and talent when it comes to performing. This will be an all expenses paid trip, and all participants will receive a 5,000 dollar check as a participation prize. The winner however, will take home 250,000 while second place takes home 50,000. This year's theme is ‘The Battle Of Dynamic Duos.’
‘The duo of your choosing will take center stage as they go head to head against other contestants from around the world to be number 1. We know that you are a group of 4 members, but have done research and found that in the past you used to be two duos. We completely understand if it is no longer possible because of your current standing, but we would love it if you'd come perform on our stage. If you are interested, please respond to this message within 5 to 7 business days or you’ll be forced to forfeit your spot and we’ll look elsewhere.
Thank you, and we hope to hear from you soon. Signed, Jacqueline Olsen,’
The ball was now officially in Vivid Bad Squads court.
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The Vivid Bad Squad email address was usually run and managed by Toya, while he had never been particularly inept in Social Media or Technology in general, the one thing he knew he could manage was emails. Each member of the group had been assigned a different social to watch over, while all of them would take turns posting and updating the site, only one of them would truly manage it. An kept an eye on their Instagram, Kohane managed their Tiktok, Akito would focus on their Twitter and of course.. Toya took care of their Email.
While, yes, they all had their own social media site to focus on, when big opportunities like this came up, they would all make the time to talk about it as a group. One of their biggest rules was, they all made big, life changing decisions together. Whether it be a simple brand deal, or even a big opportunity such as this one. The very second that Toya had read the email, he went to their group chat and sent them a screenshot of it.
Toya Aoyagi
Hello. I just got this email on our
Official email account, and I think it would be
A good way of getting our name out there.
What do you all think?
[IMAGE]
An Shiraishi
25…0,000 ?!?!?!?!?!?
Isn’t that like… 37,000,000 Y E N ?!
Kohane Azusawa
WHAT?! They want to pay us how much?!
if we win?!!
Akito Shinonome
No way… Dude. That's totally a scam.
I'd say just delete it. There's now way
that emails the real deal.
Toya Aoyagi
Actually it does exist Aki.
I looked it up before sending this, should
we at least respond to avoid losing our
spot? it could be a life changing opportunity.
Akito Shinonome
I'm on my way over to yours.
I need to look at this email myself. Dude,
I'm telling you it's a scam, but I'll see
when I get over there, OK?
Kohane Azusawa
Please tell us how it goes!
This seems fun.
Toya Aoyagi
No problem Azusawa.
Toya Aoyagi
I left the window unlocked for you
Aki. My dad's home right now, so it's
better for you to climb up that way.
Just to avoid conflict.
Akito Shinonome
👍🏻
As the influx of messages stopped coming through, Toya let out a soft sigh and stretched a little bit, leaning back slightly in his chair. Honestly, deep down he was hoping this wasn’t a scam. Even if they didn’t win the competition, they would get a prize just for participating. 5, 000 dollars or 736,000 yen was a lot of money, especially to kids like them. They could all really use the money, honestly– In his eyes, if this wasn’t a scam like Akito assumed, wasting an opportunity such as this one would be the dumbest move of their career.
A few minutes passed and he heard a soft rat-tat-tat at his window, he glanced over and softly smiled as he saw his partner climbing up the vines connected to his window. He went over and pushed open the window before helping him in. “I wonder what you’ll ever do if my dad were to cut down those vines. There's no way he doesn’t know you sneak in that way.”
Akito just shrugged, as he took a seat in the chair Toya had previously been in, “Then I’ll just find another way in. He thinks he's so smart… but I’m always one step ahead. OK, now show me the email.” he said as he spun the chair around towards the lap top, Toya nodded as he leaned over his shoulder and pulled up the email. He silently watched as Akito skimmed through the email with a pondering look on his face.
He was silent for a moment before he opened a new tab and typed in, ‘The Identity Of Your Voice’ and brought up the Wikipedia page about it, his eyes slightly widened as something actually came up. He was so sure it was a made up music show, but turns out it was actually a real show. Still, he was skeptical as he skimmed through the show’s ‘About Us’ section.
The Identity Of Your Voice is an American Music Competition that happens annually between the months of August and September. Talented artists from around the world are flown out to New York city to participate in this competition. Their internal goal is to find new and upcoming artists to showcase on their broadcast, giving these groups a chance to gain a fan base. They rarely ever approach big artists such as BTS, or Taylor Swift. They only ever approach small-time artists who seem to show true potential of becoming big within the music industry.
Applying for the show is not possible. The only way to get a spot is through sheer luck, if they approach you, that means that you were one of the lucky few to catch their eye. While you can't apply, you can email them asking them to look into a certain artist. It’s up to them on whether they take your suggestion or not, but it’s always worth a shot.
“Uh-huh..” Akito mumbled as he scrolled down the wiki, eventually stopping at a link to a YouTube video. Without a second thought, he clicked the link and opened it up, it was their 2022 competition. The stage was GIGANTIC, it was big enough to fit a group of 9, maybe even 10 if they really tried. “Wow.. They’re good.” he mumbled as he watched the dancers perform. They were speaking a language he didn’t understand, but he didn’t care, the song was good and that’s all that mattered to him. After their performance ended, the judges each discussed among themselves before giving their final verdict, they had all received 7.6 out of 10. 3 points out of 5 for stage presences, 3 points out of 5 for vocals, and 1.6 out of 5 for choreography.
If an amazing performance such as that one was only a 7.6, what would these people consider a 10 out of 10 performance? They seemed to be overly strict, but then again, a 7 out of 10 was in no way bad, and it seemed this group did soon go on to win the competition that year.
“OK, maybe it’s not a scam, but we now have a new problem on our hands.” Akito stated as he turned to face Toya. “You saw that performance, right? If a peak performance like that was only considered a 7, how will we ever compare to that? They are way better than us dude, it’s a total lost cause.” there he went again with those self deprecating words again, where did his once confident partner go?
“Akito. Don’t you dare diminish our work like that. We are amazing singers and dancers, even if we don’t win. Who actually cares? At least we gave it our all, and besides, even the participation funds would be nice, we could split it between the 4 of us. I think it’s worth a shot.. Right?” Toya replied with a determined look on his face.
“You’re really determined to take their offer, aren’t you, partner?” Akito said with a sigh, only earning a nod from Toya. He rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from the table. “Fine, Fine. We’ll call the others and tell them we’ve decided to do it, then email them back, OK? Sound good?”
That earned a huge smile from Toya, as he took a seat on his bed and quickly pulled out his phone, starting a video call with the other two members who weren’t there. They both picked up almost immediately and An was the first to speak. “Hey Toya, what's up?” she asked.
“We’ve decided to do it. It’s at least worth a shot, we think it’s the real deal.” he said as Akito peaked his head into the frame.
“Just putting it out there. This was all Toya’s idea. I had no say in this.” he said, earning a playful glare from Toya, to which he only chuckled and took a seat back in his desk chair.
“Oh! Great.” Kohane said with a huge smile, there was silence for a moment before she spoke, “but who’s going to represent us, remember what the email said, only two of us can perform…” she trailed off as she frowned slightly, they all wanted to perform, but that wasn’t possible.
As they considered their options again, An spoke up, “I think Bad Dogs should perform. We wouldn’t have even known about the show's existence without Toya's help. If I saw the email, I likely would have sorted it into the spam folder and ignored it.. Not gonna lie.” she admitted with an embarrassed chuckle.
Kohane chuckled as well, “Haha, same.” she agreed, she definitely wouldn’t have spared the email a second glance, especially since she had never heard of the show before. The scam red flags were all over the place, but Toya was often more perceptive and observant than the rest of them, it’s why he was the one who actually took it upon himself to do a little bit of research before brushing it off as a scam.
Toya’s eyes widened as the vivids volunteered them, his eyes traveled to where Akito was sitting. “Well, what do you say, partner? Want to perform as Bad dogs with me, again?” he asked.
Akito silently spun around in his desk chair as he thought long and hard about it before forcefully stopping himself, “AH. What the hell, why not? I’m only doing this because you want to do it so badly, also.. An all expenses paid trip out of the country? Count me in, it might as well be a free vacation.” That response earned a huge smile from Toya as he quickly went back over to his computer and started typing away.
“Dear, Ms. Olsen. We, Vivid Bad Squad, have decided to take you up on your offer. We would love to perform at your show in August. We have decided to send Bad Dogs as our group's representatives, consisting of Aoyagi Toya & Shinonome Akito. Although they will be representing us, would the all expenses paid trip extend to our other two members? We would like to bring them along for support if at all possible.” The email sounded really professional, then again.. It was Toya who was writing it, he always did have quite the way with words.
They received a response within only about 15 minutes of their email being sent. “Hi. Yes. Our invitation does extend to your other members and they are more than welcome to tag along. We have booked the four of you a flight, first class, through Southwest airlines and it is set for 7 AM on August 13th, please be there on time. A representative of ours will escort you.”
“Flight…” Toya mumbled softly as his face went pale, Toya had never been good with dealing with heights, and now he was going to be stuck up in the air for who knows how long? Still, his excitement for the upcoming journey ahead, far outweighed his fear of flying. He had to admit, this was too good an opportunity to give up.
Akito seemed to notice the discomfort in his partner’s tone, he was fully aware of his fear of heights, and he had to admit, this kind of worried him. Would he really be OK flying 14 or so hours to America? “Hey– Toya–” he started.
“I’ll be fine.” Toya stated, cutting him off as if he knew exactly what Akito was about to say. “We can’t miss this, it’s too good an opportunity. I'll be … fine. Besides, it’s not for another couple weeks anyways, I have time to mentally prepare.” he flashed a soft smile that only Akito ever had the privilege of being able to see, but even with a smile such as that one, he was still skeptical about how things would go.
"Well, OK. If you're positive, we'll go." Akito replied with a nod, to say he was worried was a completer understatement. He knew how his partner was when it came to his transportation being air travel. It only proved to remind him about how hard it truly was to travel this world, especially if you don't do well with a certain common form of travel.
August 13th, that was about 3 or so week from now. That gave them just enough time to practice which songs they were going to perform. They had to remember that these songs would need to mostly be duets, as they would not be a full group this time. That should be easy, right? They had been performing as a duo for far longer than their full group had even been together. Keyword, should have been easy, then why was it so hard to come up with concepts for their performances?
The show had 4 rounds, pre-lims, the main stage, semi-finals and then of course the finale. Each round round would last a week, with the judges judging every participant on the following Sunday. Their goal was to reach the top, but of course they had to even qualify first. They needed the perfect song to sing during the pre-lims. It didn't help matters that each round had a certain concept they were told to follow. If a song of theirs happened to fall under the category, they were free to use it, but sadly most of their current songs did not qualify.
All except one song.
Which conveniently fit the last round to an absolute T.
Akito was absolutely obsessed with making sure their performance was perfect and that they stole the entire show. Even if they didn't win, it would do amazing for their ratings as long as they did good. Toya's feelings were similar towards this, his main goal was to have fun with his partner, but winning would absolutely be a plus in his eyes as well.
"I'm surprised you're not sick of my stupid face, yet." Akito would say teasingly one day. Over the past 3 weeks him and Toya had seen each other every single day. They had to practice, so they weren't allowing themselves to dawdle and goof off. Every day they would spend between 3-4 hours practicing their performances. Their trip was tomorrow, and tonight would be their last chance to perfect anything they felt needed to be worked on. "I would never," Toya said, he feels as though this competition has only brought them closer as partners. Of course they've had disagreements and arguments over creative differences, as all teams do. However, they didn't let those agreements break them apart and they would both eventually compromise.
This competition was really testing their trust in each other.
"…tomorrow's finally the day." Akito mumbled, breathing out a nervous sigh, his nerves were going through the roof at this point.
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WEEK ONE.
The day arrived quicker than expected, Vivid Bad squad all arrived at their airport together with a months worth of clothes. Thanks to Ken Shiraishi agreeing to drive them all. They all unpacked the car and headed towards where their recruit had told them to meet their agent. Thankfully, they had sent a Japanese agent to communicate with them easily, while translating stuff to english when needed. Toya was the only one out of them that really knew english super well, so they were lucky to have him with them. The agent led them towards their gate, as they boarded the plane for their impending 14 hour long flight. They would have one day of exploration and good night sleep before the competition started.
"I'm kinda jealous of the girls, y'know. We're the one's who have to work tirelessly day and night to perform, but they basically get a free vacation" Akito would whisper as he leaned towards Toya on the plane. He got no response from Toya who seemed completely preoccupied by nerves. Akito reached over and placed his hand on top of his, which caused the boy top flinch as he glanced at him. "You're OK.. it's OK, I'm here. Alright? Just keep your mind on me." he said, following up his unanswered statement. He knew that Toya's fear of heights would be a problem nearly the entire flight, but even so, he still wanted to be a person of support. Someone that could help calm him down and get his mind off of just how high up in the air they were.
Toya didn't respond as he turned his hand over palm up, and intertwined his fingers with Akito. He knew his fear was stupid, that he was here with his friends who would help him get through this, but somehow that didn't make things any easier. He trusted his friends more than anything, but he was still scared. He leaned over silently and laid his head on Akito's shoulder, closing his eyes. He just wanted it to be over soon.
The rest of the ride went pretty uneventful as Toya was basically in and out of sleep the entire time, Akito was studying up on their practice and watching episodes of 'The Identity Of Your Voice', An was taking pictures of the planet below, and Kohane was playing games on her phone. Eventually after a long and drawn out flight, they finally landed and were allowed off of the plane. They had gotten to sit in first class, but Toya wasn't even allowed to fully enjoy the perks for most of the flight.
As they were all escorted down town towards where they would be staying for the next month, there were some people who would occasionally recognize them. It seems they had truly underestimated just how popular they were internationally. After their short walk, they were given 2 rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys.
"Ah.. I'm gonna enjoy this." An would say as she took her and Kohane's key's. "I think I'm gonna go enjoy the hot tub tonight, care to join me Kohane?" she asked, to which Kohane replied with an obvious "Ofcouse!"
"I think you guys should go rest tonight, you have a big day tomorrow." An would say before turning to leave, heading towards where their room was said to be.
Akito scowled as he crossed his arms, his jealousy had only grown ten-fold. The girls were truly on vacation, while they were basically working the entire month. He scoffed as he grabbed Toya's arm and pulled him the opposite direction towards their room. "Should've never invited them." he mumbled as they arrived at their room and he unlocked the door. They were greeted with quite a fancy room, fancier than either of them had ever seen before. There were beautiful oil pictures all along the wall, expensive looking lamps littered across every flat surface, even the bed itself seemed quite expensive.
He let out a soft sigh of relief as he threw his bag in the corner and flopped down onto the bed at the furthest end. "God. I am so exhausted." he mumbled, "That flight really did a number on my back, how about you, partner?" he asked, looking at Toya who sat at the end of his own bed.
"Me to.." he mumbled as he laid back, "I'm gonna sleep well tonight, and tomorrow… tomorrows the big day. He said softly as he climbed further up in his bed. "..hey.. are you nervous? what if we don't even qualify?" he asked, staring up at the ceiling.
"Dude, have a little faith is us, in me. I know we can do it, we've been working non stop on this. We got this, OK?" Akito replied encouragingly, he pulled out his phone and set an alarm for 8 AM the following morning, they were told to meet up with the producers and other contestants at 9 AM, but Akito wanted an hour to get ready, they both had asked Mizuki to make them matching outfits for each round. Outfits that fit the theme of each song they had chosen, some of these outfits were a little difficult to put on. So having the extra wiggle room would be helpful.
"Sweet dreams, Toya."
"Sweet dreams."
The two of them basically fell asleep the moment their head hit the pillow, and before they knew it, Akito's alarm was already going off. That didn't matter though as the two had both woken up around 7, they were to excited for today to sleep properly. Akito turned off his alarm as soon as it went off, as he went back to working on fixing his outfit. He was wearing a beautifully sown emo looking suit, littered with flowers all over to represent purity.
It took them a bit, but they finally got dressed and headed towards the meeting spot to meet with their agent. The girls had told them that they'd be arriving later once the live audiences were allowed inside, but until then they'd explore the city for a bit. As they were taken to the studio, they had a little bit of time to mingle with other contestants while they waited for the host to show.
Akito took it upon himself to get to know some of the other contestants. Just as a means of scouting out the competition, to know who they were up against. He first met with a Nigerian duo who went by the name 'The Sovereign Wings.' They seemed like truly fierce competitors as one of them was extremely toned and had a good shape to his body, the other was equally as in shape as well. They were definitely a duo that Akito felt they had to keep an eye out for.
The next duo he met with was a french duo called, 'Cosmic Harmony.' They seemed good, but nothing to really write home about, Akito was a lot less frightened by them than he was by The Sovereign Wings. As much as Akito wanted to continue to meet with other contestants, it wasn't long before the host arrived to kick off the show, the live studio audiences were allowed in and led to their seats. The two of them spotted An and Kohane who were waving excitedly at them, which definitely calmed some of their nerves coming into this thing.
"Camera's rolling?" the host asked as she looked at her camera man, who simply gave her a thumbs up. She smiled as she grabbed her mic and walked on stage. "Hello everyone, and welcome to this years showing of 'The Identity Of Your Voice!". This year we have some nice new faces for you, and of course some returning competitors as well. All here to win the half a million dollar prize!" she said proudly. "My name is Jacqueline Olsen, and I will be your lovely host." she turned towards the contestants as she looked at the bright young faces who had all come to win the grand prize.
"So this year, the theme of the show is the ' battle dynamic duos', we have 20 pairs standing here ready to compete for this grand prize. Throughout the week, 4 pairs will go each day, leaving Saturday as a day of rest before all performers come back Sunday to be judged, 5 pairs will be eliminated each round, until the finals where one pair will take it all!" she smiled as she paced across the stage, she grabbed a hat full of little pieces of paper and started to pass the hat through each pair. "Each pair will take a number, and that number will signify which day they will be performing on." Each pair took a number and started to line up in the position of their number, Bad dogs had picked #4 meaning that they would be the final pair performing today.
'Perfect' Akito thought, that meant they would have a chance to watch the other performers and readjust on a whim if they needed to. The three judges all came out and took their seat in their respective areas as those not performing were given the option to either head back to their hotel, or to watch those who were performing that day. Akito and Toya, of course chose to stay as they headed back stage and took a seat in front of the big monitor displaying the grand stage.
They glanced at each other and nodded, having an understanding that they would watch the other performers and try to learn things from them if needed. Each round was given a certain theme they needed to follow when choosing their song, and today's theme was 'dark and seductive.' A perfect theme for the song they had written.
The first performance was the duo that Akito had originally been worried about, but as he watched their performance, he realized he really had nothing to worry about. He watched them perform and they were an absolute MESS on stage, the duo couldn't seem to agree on anything which made them super unsynced in more ways than one. He watched the judges carefully as they didn't seem to be all to happy with the display, but they opted not to say anything as the next pair came out.
Hours upon Hours passed and it was finally time for bad dogs to take the stage. They looked at each other and took a deep breath, nodding a nod of understanding before heading out there. "And here, all the way from Tokyo japan, we present to you bad dogs representing vivid bad squad today! They are an up and coming Japanese rap group that has been taking Tokyo by storm! The two representing the group today are Shinonome Akito and Aoyagi Toya. They will be performing 'Macaron' for you today." the host announced as she made room for the two boys to get into position and she sat down in her designated seat.
The two of them carefully got into position as the music started slowly playing, the song started with Toya as he started the song off. "Like a crunchy, candy, meringue pie I'm biting into frilling and so frilling dresses. dancing in my mind are roses, chocolate, feel it smoothly down my fingers, melting angel."
With Akito taking the second verse, "spark inside, than ding dong, marble, march and fill these multicolored coffins are but forming into circle circle ring round, feeling, rising,heartbeat, heaven is a perfect circle, take me in now."
Then the two had to duet this part, "Diving in, I take you all around. Moonlight fading, into laden egg I'm wading—" as the two of them sang and danced in perfect unison, they felt that they had performed perfectly, and yet, these were only the pre-lims, so there was no guarantee that the judges felt the same. As they finished their performance, they received a ton of cheers as they waved to the audience and ran off stage. That was the end of today's show, and they would come back on Sunday to see if they qualified for the main stage. It sucked having to wait an entire week for results, but what could they really do?
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WEEK TWO.
As the week came and went, while the girls were enjoy their adventure in new york city. The boys had spent most of their time polishing their performance for next Monday. Eventually the day of judgment came and the 20 groups were all called back down to the studio. Each group had to get a total of 7 points or higher to qualify for the main stage. They would name off each group that had qualified, and the 5 groups who did not have their name called did not qualify.
It was a game of waiting as the judges went through the list and their score, until there was only 3 spots left, Akito's heart dropped as his hope started to waver. Had they failed? But then— "And we have bad dogs who scored a 8.1!" the judge announced, which earned some cheers from the boys as they high-fived each other. They had just barely made it, but they made it. If this was the pre-lims, what would the rest of the competition be like?
Akito's heart broke as he saw the dejected faces of the competitors who had no passed pre-lims, he felt bad for them, but at the same time this was a competition. It was to be expect. After judging, all remaining duos were told to go back and rest up for a new week of competitions. This theme would be "electric", as always the two woke up early the next day to get ready for the main stage. These judges would be tougher than they were during the pre-lims, and each group would choose a new number for the order they'd perform in. There were only 15 groups left in the competition, and this time only 3 groups would go a day, once again leaving Saturday as a day of rest before they returned on sunday for judging.
This time Akito & Toya got unlucky and ended up drawing a 1, meaning that they were the first ones up this time. They had just barely passed the qualifiers, they really needed to up their game if they wanted to at the very least make it to the semi-finals. They felt with how good these performers were, it was an impossible dream to think they might place first, but maybe 3rd? Or 4th?
They took a deep breath to calm their nerves as they came out on stage and took their places, this time they were singing their new single. 'elect' a duet that Akito thought would never see the light of day.
Akito would start of this song as he started rapping, "Erect- a new society, in virtuality democratically." with Toya following quickly behind, "Connect- everyone within this reality pragmatically." followed by a duet of the both, "Neglect- sexuality, nationality and mentality. Inject- sense modality and vitality. Eternally to be the elect."
This was a new style for them, but not an unwelcome one as they performed just as good if not better than the previous day. This time they decided not to actually watch the other contestants for the week, simply because not only did they kind of want to explore new york, but they also didn't need the skill of these performers causing them to lose confidence. Most of these performers had been performing for years and were much older then them, so having to watch these amazing performers would likely cause them to mess up during their performance because they were comparing themselves. It was best that they focused on themselves.
Once again, the week came and went. It was finally time for them to be judged and to find out who would be going into the semi-finals. This time a 7 wouldn't cut it, they needed an 8 or higher. The judges started reading off the names and scores just like last time, and this time Bad Dogs ended up as the 6th name that was read off with a whopping 8.5 on the performance. They had done it, they were into the final stretch now. Just 2 more rounds, but would they be able to win this thing?
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WEEK THREE.
Just like the previous weeks, they all chose numbers deciding who would go. This time only 2 groups would be performing a day with Saturday being a rest day once again. They had chosen the number 10, meaning that this time they would actually be the very last group performing. Akito didn't know he considered that a good or bad thing. On one hand, it could be good because it meant more practice, but on the other hand it was nerve wracking. Akito just wanted to get their performance over and done with. However, going last did mean that unlike other participants, they would only have to wait one day to see what the judges thought of them.
The week went by smoothly, and just as last time, the boys had decided not to watch the other performers for the same reason. It was coming down to the wire and they couldn't afford to have their confidence in themselves waver. So they spent time hanging out with the girls and exploring the town together. They were in new york city, of course they were going to grab some souvenirs. Soon Friday arrived and it was time for them to perform their single for the day.
This weeks theme was, "masked fool", so they sang a song called, 'undead enemy'. The song started with Toya rapping some verses in quick succession, similar to the way he did in 'shanti'. "Boy's and Girl's alike, from this moment on they're breaking apart, and those lies, without fading away, have been playing around with those hearts." as Akito jumped in next with a rap that was just as speedy, "Mama said 'gotta be a good boy;, "Oh! what a good girl, what are we, a toy? Putting on the mask, a faulty joy., waiting for everything to be destroyed."
Then as always, they started to duet the verse leading up to the chorus together. "You fool, they're spinning and approaching. The mechanical days are approaching, is your heat cold and shivering?The hero is ready."
This was one of the songs that didn't have as complicated a choreography as their previous songs considering how vocal heavy it was. Akito hoped that their amazing vocals would make up for the lack of complicated choreography. As their performance ended, they waved to the crowd and walked off stage.
"God. I'm exhausted." Toya mumbled.
"Me to." Akito agreed as he plopped down in a chair, inviting Toya to sit next to him, they could see the finish line now. It was almost there, all they had to do was get through judging and they'd have made it to the finals. "I think after this, I'm gonna become a hermit and sleep for a week." Akito said with a chuckle.
"Likewise."
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WEEK FOUR.
Finally, judgment day had come and today was they day they'd find out if they made it to the finals. Only 5 duos would make it this time, that meant that their performance couldn't be anything less than stellar. Akito clutched Toya's hand tightly as each duo's name was read, silently pleading to the god's above that they passed this round. Four names were read, and the two boys started to lose hope, until the judges finally revealed the 5th name. BAD DOGS. They had done it, they had made it to the end. Now this was it for them, they would be competing against the best of the best, meaning that their final song really had to wow both the judges and the audience.
This time only one group would go a day, and each group would basically go in the order that their names were called off. This meant that Bad Dogs would be performing last once again.
"Think we can do it?" Akito asked, "We're up against true professional's here, dude"
"Nah." Toya said with a chuckle, "but even though we probably won't win, we tried our best, right? And had fun doing it." That was true, they had, had an absolute blast this month. Not only did they basically get a free trip to a city they had never been to before, but they also had the time of their life. Akito had forgotten just how fun performing alone with Toya was, they had been performing as a group for so long, that he had forgotten what it felt like for it to be just the two of them. He loved performing as a group, but nothing could ever beat dueting with his partner.
They ended up spending most of their last week in new york in their room. They had worked hard that week and felt they deserved a break. The girls completely understood their point of view and left them be for the week, promising that they'd see each other on Friday for their performance.
Friday soon arrived as they got ready to head for the main stage, this time the two of them were wearing tradition Japanese clothing to fit the theme of their song. The theme was 'drunken confessions' and they had chosen to sing, 'call boy', a song they were banking all of their money on. This was it, their final showdown.
Toya started the song off this time, "The rundown pub underneath the business sector. Filled with drunk idiots claiming to be geniuses. Is a haven for garbage that wants to use people and toss them aside. As well as for the folks that used to be that way."
Akito followed close behind, "A mixed drink full of cheep bourbon,, is a good fit for a half-wit like you. But one we're drunk, I'm sure it'll all taste the same." he paused before singing his second verse, "People in order to kill of their own loneliness and to throw up emptiness, drink."
Toys then sang, "My money and time and live, Hey I'll hand them all over…" as Akito jumped in, looking straight at Toya with a smile as they sang the following line in unison, "Why don't we try being together?" This song meant a lot to them, genuinely, that's why no matter what happened, they had to perform this song as their final song. As the rest of the song went smoothly without a hitch, the two made their way back stage and Akito immediately wrapped an arm around Toya's shoulder, pulling him close.
"No matter what happens, we tried our best, right? We got this far, and even if we come up a little short, I had a blast singing with you, partner." he said softly.
Toya chuckled, "Wow, you're being sentimental today, Akito." he teased, "but i completely agree. Thanks for agreeing to do this with me, I had fun."
To them, it didn't matter if they lost, they had fun together and that's all that really mattered to them. As they made their way back to their room, the girls came up to greet them.
"You, guys did as amazing as always." An exclaimed, truly proud of her group members, even if they lost that wouldn't matter to her, she enjoyed watching them on stage, and besides she had been monitoring their social media and since coming here they had gained upwards of 100K followers across all their socials. That was a good thing, it meant their name was finally out there.
As Saturday passed them by, the final day had arrived and they headed towards the meeting area. It was finally time for the moment of truth. God, this was so scary but also exciting. The judges went on a whole monologue about how all of their contestants had done amazing but there could only be 1 overall winner. 2 players would be completely eliminated, 3rd place would get a trophy, second place would get 50K and first place would receive 250K.
They named off the two that were eliminated, and to their surprise Bad Dog's names were not called. That meant that they would at the very least receive a prize. This was exciting for them, they had surely expected to be eliminated and receive nothing except the 5K participation prize. They really had come a long way.
Instead of naming off the groups, they handed each of them an envelope and told them to open it, giving each group and opportunity to thank the audience and announce where they placed. As Akito opened the envelope and read the contents of the letter his eyes had widened as tears of joy formed, he quickly showed Toya the letter.
"We did it?… We did it!" Toya stated as his expression turned to one of joy, they thought it wasn't possible but they ended up winning the entire competition. Even with these amazing performers on stage with them, they had managed to pull out on top. This meant the absolute world to them, they didn't care about the money, what mattered to them was the chance to show the world what they were made of. The letter had stated how they had been chosen due to the raw emotion shown in their last performance, that they could see the true chemistry they had and that it proved their duo meant more to them than anything.
All of what they said was true.
No one meant more to Akito than Toya, and no one meant more to Toya than Akito. It was a nice feeling, knowing that there was someone out there who meant the world to you. They had won, because of their trust in each other, that's why they came out on top.
Nothing could ever take that fact away from them.