From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 146: Second Ranking Ceremony (4)

"Hmmm, that’s a fair point, but..." Benjamin started, then stopped as he glanced at Mathew, then at Vishal, without saying anything.

Vishal was somewhat passable, but Mathews’ vocals literally could not be saved.

He had to avoid singing no matter what, and it wasn’t likely that a ballad would have a rap portion, which meant they would have to create it from scratch rather than just arrange the song.

It was extra work that nobody wanted to do unless they didn’t have to.

"If we choose a ballad, we won’t be able to highlight everyone evenly. And in that case, there’s no point in being a team. Besides, the opposite could be true, and it could be a red herring to throw us off." Ari finished Benjamin’s words.

"But it’s not. It’s the right decision, and that’s a sacrifice that we have to make. Even if we have to sacrifice some people for the greater good, we can put on a better performance that will allow the team to win overall. Or maybe those people can practice hard to get good. And if they can’t, they shouldn’t drag others down." William insisted stubbornly, causing Vishal’s expression to darken.

"You don’t know that, and we’re a team, so watch how you speak about our members." Ari coldly interrupted, and in the silence, Carlos spoke in a calming tone.

"Instead of talking about sacrificing people or dragging others down, we should let Ari vote and decide afterward. Ari?"

"Since it’s a concert, I’m leaning toward hyper-pop, which makes the current votes 2 hiphop, 2 hyperpop, 1 dance, 1 ballad, 2 abstainers. Do the abstainers want to vote?"

"I’ll vote for hyperpop as well." Carlos immediately said.

"Then I’ll vote for hip-hop," Vishal added.

"I still think we should do the ballad category. If you all think about it, you’ll see I’m right." William insisted, and Ari had to force himself not to roll his eyes.

"This is a democracy, and majority rules, so let’s try to grab the cards in the order of hip-hop or hyperpop, with dance coming in third. Who wants to run and grab the card?"

"Oh, a race looks bare fun. I want to do it."

"I’m running."

Benjamin and William both raised their hands, and as the two boys glanced at each other, the air got a bit tense.

Pretending to hold out a microphone, Ari held his hand toward Benjamin, "State your name and case, cuz."

Catching the reference to when they had freestyled in the car, Benjamin gave him a wide grin before speaking, "Big Ben in the building! 14 years playing footy as a right winger. That’s soccer to you lot from the States. In other words, I’m a fast sprinter innit."

"Okay. And you?" Ari turned his head to face William while withdrawing his hand.

"You know who I am, so I don’t need to introduce myself. I’ve played lacrosse and tennis since I was little." William boasted with a smug smile.

Since he didn’t really care who did it as long as it wasn’t him, Ari shrugged.

"Fine. Rock, paper, scissors. Best out of one go."

Thump, thump, thump!

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!"

The two boys hit their fists on their palms before playing scissors and rock simultaneously.

"Benjamin wins, so he’ll run."

"Rah!! Yessir!!"

"Tsk. We should do the best out of three."

"There’s no time for that look."

They all turned to face the MC, who had finished setting up chairs longwise on the stage, and a staff member was handing balloons out to those who weren’t running.

"Alrighty, let’s get started. The first person pops their balloon while sitting on the chair, and the next person pops it at the sitting person. Are we ready!!!!"

- yeahhhhhh

Ari waved his bright green balloon along with the others who were shouting in excitement.

"Excellent! Then! On your marks."

"Get set!"

"Go!"

At Ryan Leary’s yell, Vishal sprinted to the chair and quickly began trying to sit on it to pop his blue balloon.

Unfortunately, the balloon kept slipping out below his butt, and by the time he popped it, other teams had already sent their second runner.

POP!

Once it popped, Haruto ran forward at full speed while holding a yellow balloon against his chest.

He and Vishal body-slammed each other and collapsed to the ground, but the balloon popped immediately.

"Please be careful, boys! And the previous person has to clear out before someone starts running!" Ryan Leary yelled out.

"Good work, boys! Let’s lock in! Go! Go! Go!" Benjamin was clapping and cheering loudly as if he were at a sports game.

Nile immediately sprinted forward, dropping his balloon on the crawling Haruto and bouncing on him until the balloon popped.

Then Carlos ran forward, slipping and accidentally sliding into Nile, who was trying to sit on the chair, and popped his balloon.

"We have our first team running for the board, and they have taken the...Ballad category!" Ryan Leary announced

Ari glanced over at the selection board to see Jamie’s team dancing around as they waved one of the two ballad cards in the air.

"Hurry up and choose the other categories dammit. Leave ballad alone," William muttered as he glared at the other teams.

He really wants that ballad category, huh?

Remembering that William had been given forward info from the assistant producer, Ari was suddenly glad that Benjamin had won the rock, paper, scissors contest and would be selecting their category.

He wanted to avoid getting caught up in any of William’s cheating.

Just as Carlos was recovering, Mathew dashed forward with incredible speed and grace, twisting as he positioned his balloon, so it popped the moment he sat on it.

"Oh, another team has succeeded, and they have chosen... hyperpop!"

"And another team has chosen... hip-hop."

"One more team has chosen...hip-hop, meaning that category is closed!"

"Four choices remaining! Who will get what?"

The moment Carlos was out of the way, leaving only Mathew, William began running forward with his balloon.

Remembering that William still hadn’t washed his hands after supposedly picking his nose, Mathew quickly got up and put his back to William, taking his repeated slams until the balloon finally popped.

"Dance-pop is now closed, leaving only three categories!"

Hearing that, Ari began to run slowly, keeping the weight off his ankle that was still in a brace.

"Hurry up already!!" William began yelling at Ari’s slightly slow run.

"Dance-pop is now gone, leaving behind Ballad and Hyperpop! The final runners for the two remaining teams are headed to pop their balloons. Who will win?"

As Ryan Leary yelled out, after quickly gauging the distance between him and William, Ari jumped forward with all of his strength, turning in the air and positioning the balloon underneath him.

As he slammed down, he felt a slight resistance beneath him before the balloon popped with a loud sound, and the chair containing both him and William collapsed to the ground.

POP!

Crash!

Thud!

Quickly scrambling to get away from William, Ari watched as Benjamin ran neck and neck next to a buzzed blonde head before the British boy pulled ahead and snatched the hyperpop category.

"And that’s the game! After a fierce battle, Benjamin has beaten out Levi to grab the Hyperpop category, leaving Levi with the Ballad. Good job to everyone!"

"Dammit."

Pretending not to hear William’s words, Ari sighed in relief while clapping for Benjamin, who swaggered over, waving the card.

"Well, you’re all dismissed to begin your preliminary discussions about your team song. Your room assignments are posted in the central area, and unfortunately, those of you who were voted the worst performers will be rooming together in F(1). The production team will contact you individually for your interviews. Good luck to you all, and I look forward to your performance."

Relieved to be let go, Ari took the files the production team handed him and walked into the practice room along with the rest of the team.

Instead of a cameraman, they just had 2 cameras, which were recording from the corners of the room.

Used to the setup, Ari stood by the mirrors, waiting for everyone to sit before speaking.

"A lot of us haven’t worked together before, so let’s do a basic intro of name, preferred role, room assignment, and we can move on from there. Sound good?"

"Well, actually, before we get started on anything, I think we should discuss who the leader should be. Unless you’re saying that just because you chose people, you get to lead, boss us around, and decide everything? That’s not fair to the rest of us." William stood up while looking around the room before settling his eyes on Ari.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Not this nonsense again.

"...okay, I hear what you’re saying, but can that conversation wait until we all introduce ourselves? As I said earlier, most of us haven’t worked or roomed with each other, so I think that’s the first thing we should do. Or do you have a problem with what I said?"

William: "....I don’t know why you’re being aggressive and dismissing my words. I’m not picking a fight, I just wanted to make it known that you’re not the defacto leader especially since we have some quieter people who might be uncomfortable speaking due to the language barrier and your..." William paused to glance at the camera before softening his voice as if what he was saying was a secret, "reputation."

At William’s words, Ari saw Benjamin’s face twitch angrily before it smoothed out, and he glanced up at the ceiling as if praying.

Remembering how William had yelled about discrimination and stomped out on the first day when he was teamed up with Benjamin, Ari closed his eyes while holding back a sigh.

He already had a headache, and it was his first day working with William.

[Team projects. Gotta love them, right?]

You stay quiet too!

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