In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 75

Chapter 75: Heart-Pounding Audition Part 2

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I arrived at the Honmaru Studio, the venue for the audition. Since there was still plenty of time left, I was instructed to wait in the waiting room until all participants had arrived after checking in at the reception.

“Yuusei-kun. From here on out, you’re on your own, but I’ll be watching the audition from another room through a monitor and cheering you on. If you start to feel nervous, just remember that I’m on the other side of the camera.”

Encouraged by Jun-san’s words, I headed to the waiting room.

There were only four participants in this audition, including myself. The audition was apparently going to be conducted in a group interview format. I was the only total amateur among them; the other three had already debuted.

Yeah. I had nothing to lose anyway. I just had to be myself and not overthink it.

I repeated that thought like a charm, then I slowly opened the waiting room door.

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“Good… morning.”

There were already two people inside, so I greeted them as I entered the room. One was a slender, pretty-boy type of ikemen, while the other was the complete opposite—a well-built, muscular ikemen. The pretty-boy one looked vaguely familiar, like I’d seen his face somewhere before.

“Good morning.”

“Morning!”

One responded politely but with a lazy tone, while the other greeted me cheerfully and with energy. The room resembled a meeting room—just a large square table and several metal chairs lined up. The two of them were sitting diagonally across from each other, so I chose a chair that kept a moderate distance from both of them and sat down there.

“You’re a face I haven’t seen before. Newbie? Or are you aiming to debut with this commercial?”

“Uh, yeah. Something like that.”

The muscular guy spoke to me in a lively, confident tone, completely unfazed.

“Huh. Then it’s impressive you managed to get into this audition. What agency are you from?”

“…Youshun Agency

.”

“Youshun? Huh, that’s a pretty decent agency. But I thought they only handled women. Guess they’ve started signing male talents too. Hmmm.”

After saying that, Muscle-kun fell silent. The other pretty-boy ikemen probably heard us talking, but he didn’t seem interested in joining the conversation. Since there were supposed to be four participants, one more person still had to arrive.

After an awkward silence that lasted a while, the final person finally appeared.

“Good morning, everyone!”

He greeted us brightly as he opened the door, flashing a charming, likable smile—what you’d call an idol smile.

“What’s with this mood? So gloomy. Ugh, seriously. What a depressing vibe for the morning. Well, I guess it can’t be helped. We’ve got a washed-up former child actor with nothing going for him except a long résumé, and a pushy idol group member who’s only here because of aggressive promotion.”

Ugh. That tone doesn’t match the face at all! A savage tongue behind that innocent smile? The juxtaposition between his appearance and his personality is wild.

“Huh? You’re a new face. I see.”

As he said that, he looked me over from head to toe, clearly sizing me up.

“…Not bad, but if you stay that soft and fluffy, you won’t survive in this industry. You’ll end up like those two over there. Well, not that I care.”

“Shut up, Yanagisawa! Don’t get cocky!”

“My, my. You still haven’t learned how to talk properly, huh? Keep that up and you’ll get blacklisted right after your oh-so-generous debut.”

“Like I need to hear that from you!”

“If you don’t like me, why not ask that super-senpai Kira-san over there for some guidance? Ahaha! Oh wait, that won’t work. You two are famously not on good terms, after all.”

“Mind your own damn business!”

Yikes. Muscle-kun is really mad now. Meanwhile, Sass-mouth-kun is grinning like he’s won the game. The entertainment industry is terrifying! And this is before the audition’s even started?

〈Knock knock! Click.〉

After a sharp knock, the door opened and someone who looked like a staff member appeared.

“Now that everyone is here, we’re going to start the audition ahead of schedule, even though it’s still a bit early. We’ll be moving to the interview room now, so please follow me.”

Good. We’re moving early. But this is still a group interview, right? Are we really going in with this atmosphere? I’m a little worried.

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The interview room had four chairs arranged at equal intervals, and in front of them was a table for the interviewers, along with a filming camera and monitor. We were instructed to sit from right to left, as seen from the interviewers’ perspective: the Pretty Ikemen, Sass-mouth-kun, Muscle-kun, and then me.

“Alright, starting from the right, please stand up one by one and give a brief self-introduction.”

“I’m Kira Kousuke. I’ve been acting since I was three years old, but in recent years, I stepped away from the industry to focus on my studies. Now, I’ve just made a fresh start in entertainment industry…”

He spoke with a dazzling smile, completely different from the lazy attitude he had earlier. There wasn’t a single pause in his self-promotion. That ability to switch modes… He was impressive or maybe this was part of his acting skill? He seemed very used to this kind of setting.

“I’m Yoshiya Yanagisawa. I’m currently challenging myself with various roles in the entertainment world, but outside of that, I’m just your average 17-year-old guy. On a daily basis, I…”

Next up was Sass-mouth-kun, who apparently was a rising multi-talent—singing, dancing, acting, you name it. With a charming idol smile in full display, he wrapped up his self-intro smoothly, having completely tucked away his sharp tongue.

Then it was Muscle-kun’s turn. Though he had gotten upset earlier, he seemed to have calmed down while waiting for his turn and began speaking confidently.

“I’m Takumi Asano. I’m the main vocalist of AKOH 4.7…”

I had heard of his group. It was that four-member idol group with each member’s surname forming A-K-O-H. The “4” stood for the number of members… But wait, what did the “.7” mean again?

“Next!”

“Ah, yes.”

Oops. Got too caught up in thinking.

“I’m Yuusei Takeda. This is my first audition of this kind, and I’m just an ordinary high school student. I’m not sure I’d call it a special skill, but I don’t have any food dislikes, and I especially love sweets—pudding in particular. I even worked part-time as a waiter at a café known for its delicious pudding…”

hew. Compared to the others, I don’t really have any standout appeal, but I’m me. I never intended to embellish anything from the start.

I was glad I could introduce myself naturally, without getting overly nervous. After everyone finished their introductions, the interview moved on to a Q&A session. I was asked a question, too.

“You’re tall. It’s not listed in your profile, but do you play any sports?”

“No. I do like being active, but I don’t play any specific sport.”

“Then what do you usually do at school?”

“Um, I talk with friends and study, I guess.”

Can I really say that when I don’t study that much…? No, it’s just that the other students are so impressive. I’ve been doing my best in my own way too. Yeah, that’s right.

“I see. So you go to a well-known academic school. That must be tough. Keep working hard!”

And just like that, the interview ended, and we were told to step out for now. Next, we would be called in one at a time for the photo shoot. Kira-san, going first, was called in, and the remaining three of us returned to the waiting room.

Once we were inside and the staff had left, Sass-mouth-kun—Yanagisawa-san—spun around and started talking to me.

“You really give off that ‘total newbie’ vibe, but you’re not to be underestimated. That whole ‘I’m just an ordinary high school student’ act? You knew exactly what you were doing. You must have had some prior information before this.”

Huh? Knew what? …Oh. Maybe he meant that! The section on the printout: “Character profile sought for this commercial.” But wait, wasn’t that information was publicly available?

“Don’t play dumb. Seriously. Are you really a newbie? Not hiding your background?”

Even if you were to accuse me like that, I really couldn’t say anything else aside from admitting I was a total amateur.

“Hey, what’s this ‘prior information’ stuff? Are you guys cheating or something?”

“Cheating? Hah! What are you talking about? In this industry, gathering information is part of the job. You have to pick up on what the client wants and deliver accordingly. Gathering information is expected in this industry! But I guess you can’t expect that from a muscle-bound idol.”

“What the hell did you say!?”

“Oh no, don’t get so mad. Just because we’re in the waiting room doesn’t mean you can let your guard down. Violence is a no-no~ We’re in a profession where people are always watching.

You’re not cut out for this industry, you know.”

“Shut the hell up! What violence? I didn’t even do anything!”

Yikes. He’s really laying it on thick.

Asano-kun got mad again.

Actually, wait… Was making him angry before the interview also intentional? Was he trying to mess with a rival’s head to sabotage the audition? Yeah. I started to feel he was picking a fight on purpose. 

With the air turning heavy again, everyone fell silent. A short while later, Yanagisawa-kun was called for his shoot and left the room.

“Finally, the air’s cleared up. I’m gonna go wash my face.”

Saying that, Asano-kun also left the room. Maybe he wanted to be alone for a bit to cool down before his shoot. I should do some stretches too. I should try to relax myself a bit.

Later during the photo shoot, they took pictures and videos of me from various angles.

Maybe the stretching helped. I felt relatively relaxed during the whole thing.

Well, that’s the end of the audition. Now all that’s left is to wait for the results.

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