Nexus Drama - VS AMBIVALENZ 2nd Episode 1.5

[vsaenglish]

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One month before the VS AMBIVALENZ 2nd final audition

MC: Our next guest is the currently highly demanded idol group, XlamV!

Everyone: We’re happy to be here!

MC: I’ve gotta say, your new song is great~ It was well received, wasn’t it?

Subaru: Thank you very much. We received lots of praise through social media and fan letters because of it.

MC: Yes, yes. When you first debuted, you were quite stiff while answering, yet here you are completely used to it now!

Subaru: Eh… Ah… No… Even now, when I receive a question I wasn’t expecting, there are times when I’m not able to give a good answer…

MC: That part of you is so cute that I end up wanting to ask you pointless questions~

Issei: I get ya~ The face Subaru-kun makes while he’s choosin’ his next words is just adorable, isn’t it? Looks like we’re on the same page.

MC: Eh~? I’m sure you like to tease more than I do, Issei-kun.

Issei: Ya make me sound so evil~

MC: It’s not a bad thing at all. Let’s see, you and Subaru-kun are regulars on the monitoring TV show “MoniLive!” which airs every Thursday at 7 PM. Hold on, I ended up promoting it!

Subaru: Thank you very much. Please tune into it.

Issei: My good side makes an appearance there, so I hope ya watch.

Sakuya: He’s lying~ It’s still Issei’s bad side, yet somehow he’s so strangely cool that it’s just frustrating. Onii-san here is always telling you this, aren’t I? You can’t just treat people like they’re your toys.

MC: As for you, Sakuya-kun, the cooking program you appear in also seems pretty well-liked too~ It’s broadcasted on a different channel though, so I won’t be saying its name.

Sakuya: Thank you for bringing it up anyway. Auguri-chan and Jintarou-kun recently became semi-regulars, so it’s getting even more popular. On a different channel though.

MC: Wow! Do the two of you also cook together?

Jintarou: We’ve got a segment where we go outside and interview the people in town about whatever cooking problems they have!

Auguri: Jintarou’s amazing! He ended up getting really friendly with that stubborn seeming old man after talking to him with no hesitation.

Nagomu: The women in the shopping district kept surrounding you and calling you adorable too, Auguri.

MC: And you, Nagomu-kun! You’ve recently been invited to sports variety programs for your great soccer abilities pretty often, right? Well, those are shown on a different channel too.

Nagomu: That’s right. A video of me hitting all of the targets in a soccer-style game on another variety program went viral on social media… [1]

Jintarou: Yeah, the one that called you the Fantasista of the idol world! [2]

Nagomu: I couldn’t possibly be called that. I’m no match for actual professional soccer players…

Lion: There’s no limit if you keep aiming higher. Plus, the thing we’re giving our all to mastering is performing on stage.

Auguri: You’re putting it so harshly again, Lion~ I hear how you support Nagomu all casually when you two appear together.

Issei: It’s become a huge thing for our XlariS too. They’re sayin’ that the Muscle King and the Fantasista of the idol world are gettin’ along great.

Lion: Haa?

Nagomu: That’s right. Lion appears in sport variety programs a lot more than I do, so he helps me with a lot of the things I’m not familiar with.

Issei: Wow, sounds nice. We’re childhood friends, but Lion’s never treated me so kindly. I’m so jealous~

Lion: Don’t say things you don’t actually mean…

MC: It’s fine, it’s fine! You’re doing great individually too, not just as a group. XlamV’s popularity is really getting up there!

Subaru: We’re honored to hear that. We’d like to continue doing our best to be idols worthy of XlariS’ support.

MC: Now, moving on, XlamV was formed through “VS AMBIVALENZ,” the famous idol audition~ It seems like the next moves are being made, yes?

——

Taiyou: They finally announced it!

Cion: Taiyou, that’s the first thing you say after getting here?

Taiyou: Sorry. Wait, everyone from illuvista’s here too!

Cuc: Yeah! We finished today’s work.

Rey: That we did. We had work at a lottery venue, and we received an abundance of vegetables from the ladies passing by.

Futaba: Eh? So you received these vegetables as gifts! There are so many of them, so I thought you had stopped at an all-you-can-get vegetable store on the way here…

Mio: (Okay, come on. There’s no way they’d go to an all-you-can-get vegetable store before coming to the office~)

Kazu: Mio. You were just thinking that they wouldn’t go to an all-you-can-get vegetable store before coming to the office, weren’t you? It’s written all over your face.

Mio: Hey! Don’t just read people’s minds whenever you want! Kidding… Yesterday, we were given a ton of souvenirs on the way home from the sweet potato digging festival.

Cion: Aah, so all of those sweet potatoes in the office kitchenette’s fridge were given to you by your client.

Taiyou: Yup, yup. Let’s all eat them together with XlamV sometime~ Wait, no! That’s not what I wanted to talk about!

Rey: Whatever is the matter? We planned to divide the vegetables amongst everyone, so do not fret.

Futaba: Thank you very much! I wonder what would be good to make during this season.

Taiyou: No, that’s not it! Yeah, Sakuya did say that curry’s the best thing to make using the vegetables that are in season right now, but that’s not the point! I’m talking about the audition! You guys also saw the new candidates who remained in the 2nd final audition on the official website, didn’t you?

Futaba: I’m sorry, you were just so excited that I wanted to keep you in suspense.

Cuc: Cuc saw them too! Cuc remembered the audition and felt nostalgic.

Kazu: Right? I was shaken by how beautiful Nagomu-nii-san’s profile picture on the official site was.

Rey: What a coincidence. I was also shaken by the beauty of my profile picture.

Mio: Ahaha… I was… I couldn’t believe that I lasted until the final audition, so I couldn’t bring myself to open the official site.

Cion: Neither could I. I only ever did after I received that letter from Reisen Productions.

Futaba: It really takes you back… I still look at the official site sometimes. I made up my mind back then… It makes me remember what I set out to do.

Taiyou: Me too. Part of the reason I can be confident now is because I made it to the final audition back then.

Everyone: Yeah.

Futaba: Ah, that’s right. There was something that caught my attention when I opened the current site.

Taiyou: Yeah, that! That’s what I wanted to ask you guys about!

——

Shinonome: President Inamoto, what is the meaning of this? Ten participants are in the final audition… There were originally sixteen of them, correct?

Inamoto: Tailwind Office’s President Atarashi just contacted me and informed me that six of the candidates have withdrawn.

——

Subaru: They withdrew? Right before the announcement on the official website?

Shinonome: That’s right. Because of that, the participants who were originally eliminated could not move up in their place.

Taiyou: So that’s why there were people missing from the candidates who were announced.

Jintarou: We were just talkin’ about that too.

Futaba: Umm… By any chance, are the six people who withdrew…

Shinonome: Yes. It has just been announced that they are participating in a different audition.

Everyone: Eh?!

Mio: A different audition…?!

Futaba: It’s this one, right?

Rey: Whatever is this website? “The curtains rise on the bringer of a new era for idol auditions, VS Audition…?” Pardon me?! However, this is… not VS AMBIVALENZ!

Auguri: What does this mean? It’d be one thing if all they did was withdraw, but they’re participating in some other VS Audition?!

Subaru: A different VS Audition…

Lion: That just reeks of shadiness.

Futaba: Ever since Reisen Productions held VS AMBIVALENZ, the number of auditions held in the same way where two people compete for one spot has immensely increased.

Issei: Well, people are always gonna ride the bandwagon on things that went well, no matter what world ya enter.

Rey: Be that as it may, what usually follows is small businesses following in the footsteps of larger businesses. However, in this case…

Kazu: This company organizing this audition is… the former Reisen Productions. It’s Tailwind Office now, but doesn’t that mean this other production is large enough to rival us?

Cuc: A big company copied us?

Futaba: Yes. It’s become a big topic on social media too. There are even people who mistakenly think that this production is holding the new VS AMBIVALENZ audition…

Sakuya: Well, of course they would. Especially since they’ve got the people who were in our audition’s preliminaries until a little while ago.

Nagomu: How did this happen in the first place? Normally, you wouldn’t be able to participate in another audition after withdrawing from one so last minute, right?

Subaru: Normally, that’s— Wait… No. The VS AMBIVALENZ audition didn’t place restrictions on what someone could do after withdrawing.

Taiyou: Eh, they didn’t?

Subaru: Yeah. At the time, the majority of Reisen Productions’ business was focused on managing the training school. I believe they didn’t want to tie down the young people with a future ahead of them, and created their contracts based on that… I was also drawn in by that sincerity, and attended a training school under an affiliate company.

Taiyou: So that’s what happened.

Jintarou: B-Basically, what does that mean?

Sakuya: If they weren’t bound by contract, then it doesn’t matter what the candidates who withdrew are doing, but…

Cion: The people who suddenly transferred will have a pretty bad impression left on them.

Futaba: Truthfully, the candidates who withdrew and were announced to be participating in the VS Audition have been receiving a lot of hate comments on social media.

Nagomu: That’s horrible…

Cion: This couldn’t have happened unless someone pressured the candidates to do so.

Taiyou: Which means…

Shinonome: President Inamoto has suspicions about that person… About whether Atarashi planned all of this.

Cion: There’s no doubt he did.

Jintarou: What the hell is wrong with that guy?! What exactly does he think other people’s lives are worth?!

Lion: The problem here isn’t that he made them withdraw.

Mio: That’s right… It isn’t our audition. The actual VS Audition is about to begin…

Issei: We’re workin’ together with a guy who’d go and mess everythin’ up right before it begins. We don’t got the time to worry about what could happen.

Inamoto: About that…

Jintarou: AARGHH!

Inamoto: I have a favor to ask of you all.

Jintarou: That doesn’t matter! We’ve told you to stop appearing outta nowhere! I mean, it does matter, but still!

Taiyou: Inamoto-san, what do you mean by a favor…?

Inamoto: I ask you all to take control of VS AMBIVALENZ 2nd’s future.

——

notes:

1 - nagomu did this in episode 10 of fragments

2 - “fantasista” is an italian soccer term used like a title to praise soccer players with creative and effective ways of handling the ball on the field! there is also a soccer manga named fantasista that ran from 1999 to 2004