novelraw Chapter 372: Good Boys Gone Bad (1)
Chapter 372: Good Boys Gone Bad (1)
"Hello to our lovely audience members. I haven’t seen you all in so long! Wow! There are so many of you all here today at our surprise performance."
- woooooooooo!
As Ari sat in the back with the rest of the contestants, he heard Ryan Leary’s voice blast through the speakers as the MC cheerfully greeted the screaming crowd.
"What are ya looking at?" Jamie took a seat and forcibly rested his head on Ari’s shoulder, taking a peek at his phone before being shoved away.
"Just seeing what people are saying online. Move your head, your hats are poking me."
"About the graduation?"
"Just in general, you know that Would I Was isn’t here today, so I was wondering if his fans were planning to raise a fuss," Ari said vaguely while covering his mouth so that the camera’s recording wouldn’t catch him saying anything.
He had actually found a few accounts planning to cause a fuss, but from the looks of it, it wasn’t too serious.
Still, it might be better if he notified somebody.
After all, he remembered that in Korea some irate fans had tossed bottles of questionable liquid, and he really didn’t want that to happen to any contestant or for any fans to get caught up in it either.
Jamie thought about it for a second before throwing back his head and bursting out laughing as he realized who Ari was talking about, causing lots of heads to turn their way.
Ari quickly elbowed Jamie in the side to stop laughing so loudly. Jamie elbowed him back, and they scuffled for a few seconds before stopping as Jamie continued talking.
"Does it even matter? Is it like the decision is up to the PD, right? It’s above us, and he really messed up this time, so he’s probably not coming back, and they’ll probably announce it after the performance, so why would they bother?"
"Being a fan of somebody is a strange experience. I never thought hundreds of people who had never met me would come to my high school graduation, but here we are."
"I guess so? Do you think we’re going to get hate for our performance? Should we not do it?" Jamie quickly spun his finger in a circle while nervously looking around.
He was referring to the helicopter portion of their performance.
"Oh, of course, we should do it. People will definitely say that we cheated, but who cares? It’s cool, it will be fun, and we’re not hurting anybody, right? Or is it that you’re nervous and want to quit?"
Ari had no doubt that after the performance, they would be getting all sorts of accusations, from being called nepo babies to saying that they intentionally ostracized the other contestants, to grouping the current high-ranked contestants into one team; he was sure that people would say all sorts of things online.
Personally, Ari didn’t care what anybody had to say right now.
Right now, his only goal is to complete the surprise mission, which requires him to come in first place, and he plans to do it by any means necessary.
If his teammates wanted to pull out from their helicopter entrance, you could call him selfish all you wanted, but he would tie them with ropes, drag each of them to the helicopter, and push them out if he had to, then apologize after the fact.
After all, he could under no circumstances lose 20 stat points from the penalty NOVA wanted to dump on him after he worked so hard to bring his stats up to such an acceptable level.
Speaking of stats, he covered his mouth, whispered stats, and glanced over his own status sheet.
[Ariel Matisse]
[Age: 18]
[Vocals: A+]
[Dance: C+]
[Visual: A]
[Rap: C]
[Charm: S-]
[Skills: JukeBox(A), Picky Listener (B), Pen Pal (C)]
[Surprise Missions: Supposedly, Patience Is A Virtue, And Good Things Come To Those Who Wait. However, I’m Tired Of Waiting!]
[Items: Otterly adorable headband, Bi-lingual Blue Diamond Earrings, Otterly Adorable Tracksuit]
[Current Rewards: 6 Stat Points, 2 Charm Points]
Honestly, compared to the F-ranked stats he started off with, it looked so Amazing that Ari wanted to shed tears.
He’d come so far from the nonsense in the beginning, and now, it was comparable to some of the other contestants.
Additionally, he had extra regular stat points and charm points that he was saving from completing his daily repeat missions, and rather than spending them, he was saving them for the new stat he would gain when completing the mission board, and working hard to try and increase his other stats naturally, since it was at a good enough level.
Life truly was good.
"Ari."
"Hmm?" Ari glanced over, seeing Jamie look at him with a surprisingly serious expression.
"You keep muttering something. Status? What’s that?"
"Looking at a visual hallucination of a magical representation of my skills in hopes that one day it becomes a tangible piece of technology," Ari replied honestly as he watched the blue status screen in front of his vision begin to turn red in warning.
[Watch what you say.]
Why bother? It’s not like anyone will believe me; no one is around us, I’m whispering, the microphone is far away, and most importantly, William isn’t here.
"Really?"
"Sure, why not? If you use your imagination, you can probably see it too." Ari lied
As Jamie honestly began to squint, Ari elbowed him lightly, "Kidding. But seriously, if you were to give my vocals a grade, what would you give me? S for perfection, and A-F for the rest."
Jamie thought about it for a second before replying honestly.
"An A?"
"Why?"
"Your tone is really good, well, it’s always been good, but it’s better now? Richer? Your voice is really stable, along with your enunciation, even when you’re dancing, so I’d give you an A."
"What would you give yourself?"
Jamie tilted his head in deep thought before eventually answering.
"An A. I’ve regressed a bit to focus on dancing, but I should be around there."
Ari quickly glanced over, and as if sensing what he wanted, NOVA actually cooperated and showed Jamie’s stats.
[James Jones III]
[Age 19]
[Vocals: A- (S)]
[Dance: C+ (A-)]
[Visual: B+ (S)]
[Rap: D-(B-)]
[Charm: B+ (S)]
[Composing: B+ (S+)]
[Guitar Playing: A+ (S)]
Jamie’s vocal had gone from A to A-, but in return, his dance had gone from D to C+, his visuals had gone from B to B+, his charm had gone from B- to B+, and his guitar playing had gone from A to A+.
To Ari, even though it might not be linear, sacrificing a single vocal point, and having everything jump like that was a worthwhile sacrifice and showed just how amazing and how much hard work Jamie had been putting in for the past couple of months.
He actually considered it more amazing because Jamie didn’t have a system like him, this was purely grinding and using the advice of the trainers and his own insights, making it all the more impressive.
"What would you give me?" Jamie asked curiously.
"A+++. After all, you’re the music genius here. I’m trying to be like you." Ari told him honestly, causing Jamie to laugh.
"Thank ya kindly, but I’m tryna be like you, boss."
"No, I’m trying to be like you."
"I’m tryna be like you."
"I said it first, you copied me. Use your own words."
"There are limited words in the English language, so technically you copied somebody else, so me copying you is not really me copying you," Jamie replied with a smug smile.
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
Who the hell do you think are Jamie, to think you can out argue me?!
Not in this lifetime!
"I said, I’m trying to be like you because your talent is out of this world."
"Well, I’m tryna be like you cause your talent is out of the galaxy!"
"Your talent is out of the universe!"
"Your talent is out of the multi-verse!"
"You don’t even know what a multi-verse is!"
"I do! I saw it in a movie!"
"They’re not real."
"Are so!"
"Are not!"
"Oi, to the annoying, screaming fraternal twins over there, let’s go!" Benjamin’s voice called out.
When Ari glanced over, he saw that the contestants were lining up and receiving microphones while staring at them, and the cameras were pointing in his and Jamie’s direction as well.
Shooting Jamie a dirty look, Ari groaned before climbing to his feet and joining the line.
It was time to get this show started!
***********************
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! Are you ready to watch the best performance of your life??"
- yaaaaaaaaaaaaa
At the crowd’s enthusiastic response, MC Ryan Leary continued his WWE-style introduction of the performance.
"Please give a warm welcome for your top 19 contestants as they perform the signal song live for the very first time!"
- woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Enthusiastic screams and cheers rang out as 19th boys dressed in completely different outfits took the stage as the gentle upbeat instrumental began playing, while the contestants got into a simple layered V formation.