Idol (Selection Project rewrite/inspired story)

Day 1: Suzune

There was a slight pause between her two sentences that left an ominous feeling hanging in the air.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The studio was a lot bigger than I was anticipating, with a large stage equipped with a large screen and various special effects. There were also a variety of lights, as well as plenty of other equipment like cameras and others that I didn't recognize.

Behind a control panel of sorts were two people, a girl of about our age and a young man that looked like a stereotypical producer, complete with indoor sunglasses and all.

"Kasumi! Hey, it's me! You ready to meet everyone?" Kyouko enthusiastically called out to the small girl, whose face perked up in an endearingly genuine way. 

"Kyouko, there you are!" It was the same voice we had heard from the TV earlier. Kyouko grabbed hold of her and began hugging and squeezing her while she pretended to resist, causing much giggling and squealing to ensue. If I had to make a comparison, I would say that she reminded me of a fragile baby animal that you wouldn't want to touch out of fear of accidentally squeezing it to death.

"D-do you know her, Kyo?" asked Shiori apprehensively.

"Ah, sorry, forgot to introduce you guys." Kyouko took some time to untangle herself before continuing. "This is Usui Kasumi, the last participant. She used to be a V-tuber before coming on this show, so she was helping out with some technical stuff."

"What's a V-tuber?" Rena asked. It seemed she just blurted that out without thinking about what she said because she then quickly rushed to cover her mouth with both of her hands.

"I can't believe that there are still people our age who don't know what it is! Well, basically it's—"

"Kyouko, let me explain!" Kasumi cut in, her cheek puffed out in an almost exaggerated way. "A V-tuber is a livestreamer that uses a virtual model that appears on the screen in place of an actual camera."

However, that didn't seem to have cleared it up to Rena. "U-um, if you don't mind me asking...what's a livestreamer?" Rena's cheeks turned a light shade of red as even she was beginning to realize the width of the gap in her knowledge.

"Huh? Even I know what that is." Kana blustered as she snickered to herself, earning herself a  death glare from Rena, but luckily Kasumi stepped in at this point.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything you want to know afterwards," she said, "so how about we just watch the announcement for now, okay?"

"Thank you, that would be much appreciated." Rena's face was still quite red.

"Wait a minute, what was that about an announcement?" The one that spoke up to ask that question was Makina Hana, the professional musician.

"You didn't know? The reason we're all gathered here is for the announcement of the first event. Well, I already got a little sneak peak since I was just helping out with it." Just as Kasumi finished speaking, the lights in the studio dimmed, and the big screen behind the stage lit up.

On the screen, a picture of a teddy bear appeared. "Hello, and welcome one and all to this season of Project Starlight! I hope you've all been enjoying yourselves, because the first round is about to begin. But first, allow me to explain the rules."

As the teddy bear spoke, its mouth and body moved around, seemingly imitating how a person would move if they were speaking. Its voice was very high-pitched and squeaky, which was appropriate for a teddy bear, but also a bit obnoxious.

"First of all, as in previous seasons, the contestants will be competing for Hearts from the audience. An audience member can choose to bestow their Heart to one of the participants. Participants and viewers alike can keep track of how many Hearts each participant has by checking our very own Heart Monitor app. But be warned, the audience can also retract their vote and use it on someone else should they so choose. According to the number of Hearts everyone receives, those that qualify to move on the next round will be determined. Of course, everyone else is eliminated!"