"Ha~"
"Haa..."
After finishing the dance, the three of them, Kosaka Honoka, Minami Kotori, and Sonoda Umi, were breathing heavily. After exchanging glances, they broke into brilliant smiles.
We did it!
Clap, clap!
At that moment, applause sounded from beside them.
They turned their heads and saw everyone applauding them under Sato's lead.
Sato smiled at the three of them.
"That was a great performance."
"Thank you, thank you, everyone!"
Kosaka Honoka's eyes looked a little red. She could not help rubbing them with her hands, squeezing out several tears of joy.
"Honoka-chan!"
Minami Kotori hugged Kosaka Honoka and gently patted her back, softly comforting her.
Sonoda Umi stood to the side, watching her two closest friends. At this moment, she no longer felt the embarrassment she had earlier, silently watching the two comfort each other.
The others also stood nearby and watched in silence.
There was amazement and emotion in Sato's eyes. Although their performance was still rather immature, they had already genuinely possessed the kind of infectiousness that idols had. They were even better than the underground idols he often saw performing on the streets.
That feeling... It was as though they were simply born to be idols.
Kosaka Honoka and the others remained excited for quite a while before finally walking together over to the members of the Light Music Club.
Ritsu and Nakano Azusa immediately surrounded them.
"Wow!!! Everyone was amazing! I was practically staring in a daze just now!"
Ritsu waved her arms and legs around exaggeratedly, excitedly describing how shocked and impressed she had been.
Yui frantically nodded beside her in agreement.
The young lady's eyes were sparkling like little stars. She cupped her adorable cheeks in both hands as she looked at Kosaka Honoka and the others, seemingly thinking about something.
Sato guessed that she probably wanted to try becoming an idol herself or something.
Nakano Azusa, meanwhile, stared blankly at Kosaka Honoka and the others, her dark eyes shining brightly.
Suddenly, she walked up to Kosaka Honoka. Under the latter's puzzled gaze, she grabbed her hand and bowed deeply.
After raising her head, she stammered a little.
"Se... Senpai, please keep going no matter what. I believe you'll definitely succeed. I'll always support you!"
One more devoted fan...
"Th... thank you!"
After coming to her senses, Kosaka Honoka nearly bit her tongue. She had never imagined that she would gain a fan so quickly.
Everyone gradually calmed down.
In the end, Kosaka Honoka and the others walked over to Sato. No matter how busy he was, Sato was still their instructor at the moment.
They looked at him with nervous anticipation. As the leader, Kosaka Honoka asked, "Nohara-san, what did you think?"
"As a performance, it wasn't perfect."
The three girls remained calm and waited for what he would say next. They themselves knew very well that they were only beginners. This could only be considered their first attempt at performing. If they had performed perfectly, that would have been the truly strange thing.
"But..."
Sato suddenly changed his tone, a trace of amazement unconsciously entering his voice.
"In terms of infectiousness, it was quite outstanding."
The girls looked at him with pleasant surprise.
Sato thoughtfully said, "However, I think this kind of situation is difficult to reproduce. It's probably because this was your first time performing in front of outsiders, and you poured too much effort and hope into it. It will be difficult to reach this level of infectiousness in the future."
"Let me talk about your strengths and weaknesses first."
"First is still the issue of stamina. This song isn't very long, but after singing and dancing, you were clearly very exhausted. That means your stamina still isn't sufficient, so you need to practice more."
"Second is the dancing. Who arranged your choreography? Although some parts look quite professional and interesting, overall it feels a little strange. It isn't particularly suited to idols..."
Sato looked at the three of them in confusion.
"It was Umi!"
Kosaka Honoka looked toward her best friend and scratched her head.
"Umi has studied Japanese dance, so she was the one who arranged the choreography."
Sato looked at Sonoda Umi. She said somewhat sheepishly, "This is the best I can do."
"Sonoda-san is already very impressive."
Mio spoke up beside them, her eyes filled with admiration.
Sato glanced at her but did not deny what she had said.
"That's true. Being able to do this much is indeed impressive. However, Japanese dance is ultimately too traditional. It would be better if you could find someone who knows modern dance to help you."
"We do know someone, but she doesn't want to."
Kosaka Honoka sounded somewhat dejected.
"Oh? Who?"
"Our school's student council president. She's really good at ballet! But not only does she refuse to help us, she doesn't support our school idol project either."
"Hm? Why doesn't she want to help you? Isn't she the student council president?"
Sato was somewhat curious.
Minami Kotori hurriedly explained, "President Eri believes that our job as ordinary students is to study. She thinks that preventing the school from being closed down is something the student council should handle."
"Then does she have any plans?"
At that, Minami Kotori faltered and could not get the words out.
Sato looked at her for a while before laughing.
This student council president really did sound rather interesting.
She certainly seemed responsible, but from the sound of it, she was also a little adorably foolish.
"Forget it. I'll continue with the summary."
"Aside from those shortcomings, there's also the issue of singing while dancing. Idols generally sing while dancing, but it seems you haven't practiced this aspect before. Just now, I noticed that you went off-key in several places because you were breathing too heavily. That's a serious mistake..."
Kosaka Honoka and the others lowered their heads in embarrassment when they heard this.
Seeing the three of them like this, Sato decided not to continue pointing out their shortcomings and instead began talking about their strengths.
"Of course, aside from the shortcomings, there are also plenty of good points. For example, that song you just sang..."
At this point, Sato became interested and asked, "Who wrote your song? It's really well written!"
The song was good in both its melody and lyrics.
Originally, he had planned to have Honoka and the others try one of Mio's songs, but now that he thought about it, Mio's somewhat sweet and sugary songs might not necessarily be able to compare with this one.
It was not that they were inferior in any other aspect, but rather that the styles of the songs were different.
Judging from the lyrics, Honoka and the others' song was very inspiring. That happened to fit their current situation remarkably well.
"Even baby birds swaddled in down..."
"Will someday flap their wings and take to the sky..."
"They'll soar up high with wings that grow big and strong..."
"We won't ever think of giving up—"
(START:DASH!!)