From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 179: Team SuperNova (4)

After the stress of performing, Ari wanted to immediately rip off the jumpsuit and chug a gallon of ice-cold water before jumping into the shower.

His body was drenched in sweat, his hair was clinging to his neck, and he felt completely disgusting in the outfit he was wearing.

Unfortunately, he had to stand on stage while the MC spoke to them before closing out their opening performance.

Seeing William head straight for Ryan Leary with the princely smile he loved to put on for the public, Ari watched him suspiciously before looking away.

The blonde boy seemed to be having microphone issues and swapped with Benjamin before giving his spiel, and Ari just stood towards the back and scanned the audience, wondering what they thought of the performance overall, since it was such a diverse crowd with people operating on opposite ends of the spectrum.

He couldn’t think about it for long because NOVA began filling his vision with lots of transparent blue screens piling on top of each other.

[So.]

[How does it feel performing a song that says my name about 500 times?]

[Don’t you think it’s fate?]

[I feel like a god getting worshiped by my plebeian followers.]

[Praise me more.]

[I am your SUPERNOVA!]

[Hehe.]

Can you go feel like a god somewhere that’s not in front of my eyes?

Pretending that there was something in the air, Ari swatted at the space in front of his eyes, causing the screens to waver each time his hand passed through them.

[Enough!]

[Stop that!]

[Don’t touch me!]

Thoroughly enjoying the interaction of NOVA being the one acting flustered for once, Ari continued batting it away, smiling innocently when Carlos looked over at him.

[Ugh, enough!]

[Take this and leave me alone!]

[Ding!]

[I’m not the bottom of the barrel, I’m the pick of the litter! - Improve your Pop Star Academy Rank to be within the top 50 - Complete!]

[Reward - 1 Stat Point]

Ohhhh?

This was nice!

It seemed that the face reveal was well received.

Or perhaps the audience liked the performance and posted it online.

Either way, the extra stat point was very welcome.

[Shall I add it to your visual stat?]

"Yep."

It was finally time to make his visual stat a proper A rank!

"Did you say something?" Carlos looked over at Ari once more, wondering why he was muttering to himself and swatting the air.

Was he hot, or was there a bug flying around him?

[Understood.]

[Visual: A- -> A]

[Congratulations, your visuals should have returned to what they were before you encountered me.]

[Don’t speak to me again and stop trying to touch my screen!]

[I’ll be upgrading myself, and all capabilities will be offline until further notice.]

[Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.]

I didn’t speak to you in the first place? You started messing around first!

And since when did you need to upgrade yourself?

Are you a robot?

Despite wanting to complain, Ari just held his tongue for once, brushing back his hair in annoyance.

It was definitely time to take some scissors to it now that it was getting a bit long.

"Ari? Something wrong?"

"No. Nothing. Just hot under the lights." Ari gave Carlos a polite smile.

The Spanish boy blinked at him before rubbing his eyes, staring again, and repeating the process.

"I think I’m going crazy?" Carlos muttered while wiping his eyes.

"What’s wrong?"

"Did your face get more handsome just now?"

Ooops.

"No, you’re seeing things because your eyes are tired from driving."

"Ah? You’re probably right. That’s probably it. Yeah ahaha"

Although he felt a little bad for lying, literally and figuratively, Ari wiped the sweat off his forehead, thankful that Carlos didn’t investigate too much.

And he was doubly glad that NOVA wasn’t here to see it and nag him.

He really needed to be more careful when messing around with his stats around other people.

"And as I mentioned earlier, these are my teammates, Mathew, Benjamin, Haruta, Nile, Vishal, Carlos, and Ariel." William’s voice sounded out, and when Ari’s name was called, he waved politely at the audience, who cheered a bit before trying to zone out again, but the MC wasn’t having it.

"Contestant Ariel, would you like to say a few words after that fun performance? You had a late entrance, but you definitely made a big impact and might have stolen the show." Ryan Leary walked over, throwing his arms around Ari’s shoulder.

Hiding his reluctance, Ari held his microphone up to his mouth with a small smile.

"Hello, yes, I’m contestant Ariel, Ari for short. Please vote for me individually and also vote for the Supernova team to win. Thank you."

He immediately put his microphone down, but it seemed that Ryan Leary wasn’t done with him.

"Haha. Short and sweet like always. Now, before we move on, I see that you look quite a bit different today. You’re not wearing your usual makeup, and you look quite handsome, not that you didn’t look good before. But this? Wow. I’m quite jealous of this face of yours. Could you tell us what prompted the change and why you decided to reveal your face now?"

Ari briefly considered giving a PR answer before shrugging and speaking his mind.

"During the last time when we were filming, somebody spilled most of my makeup all over my clothing in my luggage, and since I didn’t waste money buying more and the judges have been saying I should stop wearing it, I did so tada."

After making spirit fingers, Ari brought the microphone back to his mouth, "So if you like the way my face looks, please vote for me so my current rank can stay where it is or even higher. Thank you."

"Oh? What rank are you aiming for?"

"Anything above rank 50 is fine with me."

"Huh. That is an oddly specific number."

"Yes, it is."

Ryan Leary: "....?"

Ari: "....?"

The two of them looked at each other, but seeing that Ari truly didn’t plan on saying anything else, the MC began wrapping up the conversation.

"Thank you once again to our amazing audience for watching the contestants from Pop Star Academy perform. You can catch weekly episodes on TV, extra episodes by signing up for a membership, and watch clips on WeTube. And now, we’ll leave you to your regularly scheduled programming."

Bowing once more to the audience, their group got off the stage along with the MC and went to the back room.

As they walked with William in the lead, Ari looked at the blonde boy suspiciously once more.

He was willing to bet Jamie’s truck that William hadn’t been singing live.

He had definitely used a prerecorded track, and even if he didn’t have Picky Listener skill, Ari could definitely tell the difference just by the sound quality difference between William and everybody else while they were performing.

Just thinking about the issue opened up a different can of worms, but since now wasn’t the time to tackle the situation, Ari just minded his own business, holding onto the pink toy gun and motorcycle helmet that a staff member handed over to him.

******

"So why were you late? Didn’t I explicitly warn you not to be late? Huh???"

Ari was currently in a choke hold from Benjamin, contemplating whether trashing not only his protein powder but his secret stash of snacks was going far enough or if he should purposely shrink Benjamin’s practice clothing in the dryer as well.

As if he sensed Ari’s thoughts, Benjamin quickly released him with a fake shiver, while rubbing his arms as if he were scared.

"What?"

"I sensed too much evil in your thoughts and had to protect myself."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Should I really do it? I’ll start with his favorite red jersey.

"Oi! Be calm, yeah? You’re not even in the right here! Explain why you were late. Carlos said you entered first, but he got in before you?"

With a sigh, Ari spun the pink toy gun around on his finger as he explained.

"They thought I was bringing in a weapon, and I had to go through security, get patted down, and remove my costume before putting it on again. I definitely made eye contact with Jamie on stage and tried to get him to tell you guys I was here before being dragged away by security. Did he not say anything?"

"No."

"Not at all."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

He really wanted to crack open Jamie’s brain to understand why his mental messages never went through to him.

Was it because he was a natural blonde that the telepathic messages never went through??

"Anyway, by the time I got through, there was no time to go backstage to get head mics or in-ears, so I just asked the staff member for a hand microphone and got on stage when it was my part. I’m sorry for worrying everyone." Ari properly bowed his head down since he was really in the wrong.

"Ah, I’m sorry for putting him in that position. It won’t happen again," Carlos added contritely.

"Well, you made it on time and at least performed well, so I’ll allow it just this once. But never again. Same goes for you." Benjamin turned to glare first at Ari, then at Carlos, who looked remorseful. "You don’t know how worried we were that you wouldn’t make it. You know the PD-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Mathew quickly interrupted the conversation, "So you sang the entire song without being able to hear yourself or the back track? You literally raised the key during your parts and added runs that we’ve never practiced before." Mathew jumped into the conversation with an incredulous expression.

"...yes?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes? Did it sound bad?" Ari asked back in confusion.

"Obviously not! But how did you do it??"

"I just did it? Is that supposed to be hard?"

"How do you keep the time, sing on tune, change the key, and know that what you sing is going to sound good when you can’t hear yourself?" Mathew asked, a bit frustrated at Ari’s clear confusion.

"I don’t understand the question. We practice every day, so why wouldn’t I be able to sing in tune even without in-ears? And if you know the underlying melody and notes, as a singer, you can adjust it as you please. Jelissa says this is the bare minimum, so I practiced hard to get it."

As Mathew stared at him incredulously, Ari turned to look at Carlos expectantly.

"You can do the same thing, right?"

"Hmm. Yeah ahaha. I can usually tell what’s going to sound good, but sometimes you have to experiment."

"Ben, too, right?"

"Of course. Bare minimum for a musician, I thought."

"Nile? Haruto."

"More or less."

"For at least a little bit."

Vishal also nodded along.

"Wait, am I the only one who’s just bad at music? I can’t do that even if I try." Mathew slumped down sadly, his long limbs making him look like a wilted salad.

"No, no. You’re amazing at dancing, right? Thanks for creating great choreography. I can barely dance, and my rapping is terrible." Ari patted Mathews back in what was becoming a very familiar motion, and he got a wan smile in return.

"His rapping is not terrible, it’s abysmal, innit? Truly, the worst I’ve heard in a minute. All our Ari boy can do is sing it. Eyy, mini rhyme. Nice!"

Ari shot Benjamin, who was high fiving himself, a sharp glare before turning away with a sigh.

There was no point in arguing back, especially since Mathew was feeling bad.

All he wanted to do was change and rest.

Unfortunately, as they were leaving to enter the buses, waiting for him was PD Emily with her hands crossed and a furious expression on her face.

"Do you know what you did wrong?"

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Was this supposed to be a trick question?

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