After hanging up, Sato sat down at his desk, grabbed the mouse, and carefully looked through the details and procedures of the Love Live! competition.
After reading for a while, he leaned back in his chair thoughtfully.
Simply put, Love Live! was a nationwide talent competition with preliminary auditions held across the country. Its scale was enormous, covering almost all of Japan.
In the early stages, each participating group would promote itself to build popularity for both itself and the competition. Once the event's popularity reached its peak, the talent agencies would step in to reap the rewards.
Sato saw through the operating model of the competition almost at a glance.
It wasn't exactly getting something for nothing, but it was a classic case of achieving a great return with a small investment. All the organizers needed was a modest amount of early promotional spending, while the participating groups would voluntarily advertise themselves. The competition's popularity would naturally snowball.
The reason he said the agencies were "reaping the rewards" was because many of the participating idol groups were almost certainly already signed to talent agencies.
These groups already possessed much stronger singing and dancing skills than independent school idols, and they also had professional management behind them. They were almost guaranteed to rank among the top twenty in popularity.
According to the competition rules, only the top twenty most popular teams would advance to the final live event.
As a result, by the time the top twenty were selected, those agency-backed idol groups would have gained enormous exposure with very little promotional effort on the agencies' part.
"These people really know what they're doing."
After reading through all the competition rules, Sato couldn't help exclaiming in admiration. The organizers invested very little at the beginning, yet by the end they harvested all the accumulated popularity as easily as reaping a field of wheat.
If Kosaka Honoka's group wanted to achieve the goal Kosaka Akane had in mind, they had to at least make it into the top twenty. Otherwise, all of this would be almost meaningless.
As for the current situation...
Sato opened the official Love Live! website and saw that more than three hundred teams had already registered. Registration wouldn't close until next weekend, and there was little doubt another two hundred teams would sign up before then.
In other words, Kosaka Honoka's group would have to stand out from among five or six hundred teams.
The difficulty spoke for itself.
Sato pulled over the whiteboard to his left and began writing.
After a moment's thought, he wrote several words.
Appearance, singing, dancing, stage presence...
He stared at those words for quite a while before adding several more.
Stamina, music, management.
Once he could think of nothing else for the moment, he began considering each item.
Appearance was self-explanatory.
In a society obsessed with looks, being beautiful and adorable was an innate advantage that couldn't be made up for later.
Singing and dancing were the fundamental skills every idol needed.
Supporting both of those was stamina.
Stage presence determined how well the entire group could present itself. Many people had excellent singing and dancing skills but simply couldn't bring them out in front of a camera.
It was essentially a multiplier for their abilities. Some people could amplify their strengths on camera, while others appeared less capable than they actually were.
Music was the greatest boost of all. A good song could leave a lasting impression.
As for management, there was no need to explain its importance.
If the management team was determined enough, they could turn even a pig that couldn't do anything into a top celebrity.
"They at least have an overwhelming advantage in appearance. Singing, dancing, stamina, and stage presence can all be improved through training. As for music and management..."
Sato closed his eyes and fell into thought, lightly tapping the edge of the desk with the pen in his hand.
"The music can wait for now. If they can't handle it themselves, maybe Mio can help. Come to think of it, Mio's overly sweet lyrics are unexpectedly perfect for school idols..."
Thinking about the embarrassingly sugary lyrics Mio had written made Sato's scalp tingle. If he hadn't seen them with his own eyes, he never would have believed she was capable of writing something like that.
"So all I really need to do is handle the management?"
Looking at the word "management" on the whiteboard, he murmured to himself. Then, as though something had occurred to him, his expression became rather strange.
"They're striving to become school idols in order to save their school. Isn't that already the best possible publicity? So... there's basically nothing for me to do."
Looking over everything again, it seemed his role was simply to supervise them, provide some general planning, and develop targeted training plans based on their performances.
All at once, Sato felt much more relaxed.
That was all he could do.
As for how far Kosaka Honoka and the others could go, that would depend on their own hard work.
Buzz... Buzz...
Just as he was about to open an anime website to check out the new seasonal shows, his phone on the desk began vibrating.
Eriri?
Sato looked at the caller ID in surprise before answering.
"Eriri, what made you suddenly call me?"
"Am I not allowed to call you?"
"Of course you are. As long as it's you, Eriri, you can call me anytime."
With a smile on his face, Sato deliberately spoke in an affectionate tone.
"W-what are you saying?!"
Even over the phone, Sato could picture Eriri on the other end, flustered and blushing.
Hearing the girl's panicked voice, he couldn't help thinking how easy tsunderes were to understand.
And also...
Eriri really was incredibly cute.
"Hm? Do you need me to say it again? All right then..."
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
On the other end of the line, Eriri shouted "stop" several times, her face burning red.
"I actually called because I have something important to tell you."
"Oh? What's that?"
Suddenly, Sato sensed that Eriri had become unusually bashful. After a long pause, he finally heard her speak in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
"Um... next Wednesday is my birthday. Do... do you want to come?"
Her birthday?
A glimmer flashed through Sato's eyes.
He deliberately put on a troubled tone.
"About that... I have something urgent next Wednesday, so..."
The other end fell into a long silence.
After quite some time, Eriri's subdued voice finally came through. She sounded disappointed, though she was clearly trying to force a smile.
"I... I see. Then I guess there's no wa..."
"I was kidding."
Sato suddenly said.
The line went silent again.
Then, a moment later, Eriri's embarrassed, furious shout erupted through the phone.
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"