(Dress Rehearsal) Weekly Log

[miraclelivemod]

It's early November at Harugaizumi International School. Last week, the whole school put on a cultural festival, with the School Idol Club having a performance in the gym. You got a pretty decent turnout, but that's no reason to rest on your laurels; practice and school both continue this week! Have fun, check out the setting, and keep your ears open. You never know what opportunities will pop up for you!



Sunday🧡Monday💛Tuesday💚Wednesday💙Thursday💜Friday

Comments

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko arrives at practice at a very carefully calculated Just Barely On Time in an attempt to not come off as overly eager. The fact that she's already in her practice clothes with her hair scraped back into a pin-neat ponytail rather ruins the too-cool-for-this image she's going for, though. ]

The Cultural Festival went well enough, but we can't afford to get lazy now. I think we really need to double down on practice and tighten things up.

[ Not that she cares, though. Don't get it twisted. ]

[anchornyan]

That's our Ryoko-nyan! [Ayaka gives a thumbs up from -- did she bring a stack of her own newspapers into the club room, of course she did.] But it was fun, right? You can admit it!

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko-nyan... at this point she's given up arguing against it. ]

It went better than I was expecting it to. We certainly got a bigger crowd than I imagined we might.

[anchornyan]

Of course! Did you think we wouldn't after how much work we put in?

[nmc0204]

Let's just say I make a habit of keeping my expectations low. It saves disappointment down the road.

[ real cynicism posting hours ]

[anchornyan]

You're still the same as always. But wasn't it fun? I got so caught up in practice, I almost forgot everything else going on!

[nmc0204]

I don't think I'd go that far. [ that's our ryoko... ] It's satisfying to know our show and our group's finally coming together after all this work, though.

[anchornyan]

Yeah, it's good it paid off. I mean, who knew it was this much work? I guess Igarashi-senpai did warn us, but still...

[nmc0204]

Really? If anything, I'd say things have been going much smoother than I expected. The work is hard, but we're actually seeing results. I'm sure there's plenty of girls who are working just as hard as us but aren't getting much out of it yet. Being a school idol really is as competitive as it gets.

[saltedcarmel]

Did you have suggestions? 'cause I was thinking that you know the bit [Carmel hums part of the song.] our dance moves are a little lackluster so we should maybe change it up. It felt different doing it on the stage, in front of all those people.

[She was in the middle of stretching her legs when Ryoko came in, but she's now leaning forward, propped up in her elbows in an obscene show of how flexible she is. Look, sometimes you've got (1) asset as a school idol and you're gonna keep milking it for all it's worth.]

[nmc0204]

I definitely think it's worth considering. Even if we have them polished to perfection, if our performances aren't interesting to watch then it's all just wasted time and effort. I think we need to start making our choreography more complex if we're going to make any headway at all.

[ She makes it sound so easy...... ]

[saltedcarmel]

It doesn't actually need to be complex, just visually interesting. I've been researching some of the top school idol groups and it's more about looking flashy than technical complexity.

[She sits up, bringing her legs back in from the split she's been sitting in, and then stands up.]

If it's too complex our singing suffers, you know?

[nmc0204]

I suppose that's not a surprise. What's that old saying... 'work smarter, not harder'. If we're winding ourselves on stage before we even open our mouths, we won't be getting far.

Is there anything you think we could try?

[saltedcarmel]

I've noticed that hand movements are really popular and they're and easy way to distract people.

[She starts moving her arms to some imaginary beat that's not quite their actual song, but it illustrates her point. Notably, all her legs movements are relatively simple.]

I would say maybe vogueing [said in English] but I don't think everyone is sharp enough to make it look really good.

[Absently, as she's talking, she starts to move her arms and do some basic as hell vogueing.]

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko's hand goes to her chin and her eyes narrow a bit as she takes it in. The vogueing might be a little too complicated for everyone to do, but... ]

Who do you think might be able to pull it off? If we could get a handful of people in the center doing it with everyone else doing something a bit simpler while the attention isn't on them, I think that might give us the edge we need.

[saltedcarmel]

Hmmmm... You, me, and Nanako-kun, maybe? I'd say Miko, but I'm not sure if she'll focus on it, you know?

[The girl has........ ADHD brain. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!! Also, yeah. She refers to everyone by last name except for Miko. It's American solidarity.]

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko dips her head in a nod. ]

Then I'd like to learn. Even if we can't use it right away, it'll be useful to have it as part of our skillsets.

[eternalfuture]

I know I messed up that one part that went [she hums part of the song] but I don't think too many people noticed? I didn't fall when we did the jump bit, at least!

[nmc0204]

You messed up?

[ It doesn't sound accusatory at least, just concerned. ]

What did you do?

[eternalfuture]

You know the part where it goes left-right-left with your arms? I went left-left-right.

[nmc0204]

That's it? It could've been worse, I suppose...

[ But still, you know, not great that they're messing up on stage. Ryoko sighs. ]

What happened? Did you forget or was it being up on stage that got it mixed up in your head?

[eternalfuture]

I think I got a little too excited about getting the harder parts right and messed up the easy one because of it. I'm sorry, Ryoko-chan.

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko Just Sighs. ]

It could've been worse. At least you managed the more complicated part... maybe you just need to focus on keeping cool under pressure when we're on stage.

[daughterofthemark]

[The act isn't working on Arianna at all, but that's less because she sees through it than because she hasn't really noticed it in the first place.]

Yes! We shall improve our performance to perfection!

[nmc0204]

[ Even Ryoko already knows that's very... Arianna of her. ]

Let's just focus on improving it enough to get people paying attention to us and not KiSeKi.