The Bounty Hunter

September 15th, 2088

Terra’s POV

It’s been two weeks since the start of school and I am currently standing outside of True Talent Studio, sponsors and creators of Japan’s Rising Idol.  They are the number 1 talent agency in the country and the place where most of the top idols have hailed from for the last 20 years.  I stared at the skyscraper as I sipped a coffee at a shop across the street.  Specifically, I am scouting out the 15th floor, where the Japan’s Rising Idol production set is.  There is a decent sized auditorium on that floor that they use and tickets are sold out to the point of there being a waiting period of 2 years to buy.  I haven’t dared to investigate using magical means for fear of being detected. 

Wizards can sense magic after all and I am not so confident in my stealth casting to avoid their notice.  I can also sense some very subtle yet vicious enchantments against magic protecting that floor and I have no interest in testing them out.  So here I am thinking about how to get in there to do some non-magical observation and ferret the wizard out.  I had initially looked up the producers of the show on the internet, and came up with 17 different hits. 

Apparently it’s all the rage to give producer sounding titles to every employee now.  For example, sub-assistant producer of cinematography is the title given to each and every cameraman.  After eliminating the women and bulky build producers, I still have 5 different producers who could be my target and no magical nor non-magical means with which to examine them.  I can’t even do a stakeout to follow them once they leave the building because the studio has always been paranoid about stalkers so they have multiple exits that their staff can use along with extensive surveillance to spot suspicious people on the exterior. 

Frankly speaking I’m stumped.  Well, almost stumped.  There is one way for a random person off the street to get into the studio easily but that’s without a doubt a last resort.  Unfortunately, I’m down to my last resort.  I silently curse at the sign in front of the building that gave me the idea.  If only I hadn’t seen that sign, I could give up or be forced to think of a different option. 

But no, I had to see it and it had to be the perfect way in and out.  I heaved a large sigh, and abandoned my recon in order to start my preparations.  I have a week until this opening, I need to make it count.  This weekend in particular will be the time I need most in order to adjust.  As I exited the shop, a flyer caught by the wind flew past my face.  It was the same as the sign in front of the building.  In big bold script it read:

RISE TO THE TOP!

BE JAPAN’S NEXT GREAT IDOL!

OPEN AUDITIONS FOR THE NEW SEASON!

SATURDAY AT NOON

OPEN TO ALL GIRLS AGES 15 TO 18!

JAPAN’S RISING IDOL

Damn it, why did I ever learn how to shapeshift.

Japan’s Rising Idol Scout’s POV 

September 22nd, 2088

“Haaaaaaah, this’ll be a pain.”  I grumbled out loud as I looked out at the huge crowd of girls outside of the building.  It should be expected since Japan’s Rising Idol is currently the most watched show in the country, but there must be hundreds of girls out there.  And this is only one of the several locations for try-outs.  Whatever, my job doesn’t change.  We’ll open up those gates and let them all flood in and I will pick out the ones who are actually talented.  But before we get to the singing and personality portions, we need to start scoring them based on looks.

It’s unfair but being attractive is vital for an idol.  Naturally though, we can’t explicitly say that.  All of the final candidates, regardless of looks, do need to be able to sing though so it’s not completely unfair.  Evaluating singing is pretty self-explanatory and personality evaluations are to choose some interesting characters for the show.  Ah, there the doors open and the many hopefuls are pouring in.  There are multiple initial screeners at the door who score the entrants’ looks at the same time they assign them a number. 

Each applicant is scored by 3 different people on a scale of 1 to 10, these three scores are averaged together.  Then they are put together in groups of 50.  Each group is sent to a separate area and they go in order of number onto a stage and introduce themselves and answer a few questions.  They are given a minute to answer each question, so they can talk quite a bit about themselves.  After that they are requested to sing an excerpt from a random song.  Personality and Performance are also rated on a scale of 1-10 by a group of 3 people and averaged.  The people with total scores of 21 or higher get further interviewed and examined.  After that, the producers select the actual entrants for the show.

My group of 50 girls are finally filing in, I look at my two fellow scouts and we immediately begin.  44 entrants later and we have not found a single person worthwhile.  There were a couple of individual 6s for singing and personality but absolutely nothing else.  I was starting to get very tired as I called out “Would entrant number 45 please get on the stage?”  But as that girl stepped onto the stage, I forgot my exhaustion as I and my fellow scouts stared. 

This girl was a head-turning beauty.  She had a long slender legs leading into a perfect hourglass figure.  She had large full breasts and a well-shaped butt.  Her skin was pale and flawless, while her black hair was glossy and reached to the small of her back.  She had full red lips, big sky blue eyes, and a perfectly sculpted face.  She wore her simple t-shirt and jeans like she was a supermodel.  Her expression was also unique, unlike all of the other entrants who tried to project energy and cheerfulness, she had a serious expression which was actually quite refreshing. 

“Could you please state your name?” “…Yamamoto Rin” At this point, the applicant would go into further detail about themselves but Yamamoto-san didn’t.  “Why do you want to be an idol?”  “I love singing.”  “Is that it?”  “Yes.” “How old are you?”  “18” “Are you a fan of the show?”  “I have never seen an episode.”  “Are you a cat or dog person?”  “Cat.”  “Why?”  “Because they’re fluffier and they purr.”  “What kind of music do you like?”  “Rock and Roll”.

It was obvious by this point that she was a taciturn type, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  My final score would depend on why she’s so taciturn.   Even if it is because she’s an arrogant bitch, I would still give her a 6 due to the variety that her personality would add should she get on the show.  Every show needs a villain after all. 

Time for one last question “What would your ideal date be like?  Please also describe what you would look for in the perfect guy.”  Surprisingly, at this question Yamamoto-san started turning red.  “Umm, I don’t really know.”  She muttered as she fidgeted cutely.  “I guess…um… a movie, maybe?”  This girl, has she never been on a date before?  She’s been taken completely off-guard.  “What about the perfect guy for you?”  “I’m n,n-not sure.  I never r,rr-really thought about it before.”  Her face has turned completely red at this point. 

I couldn’t help but ask Yamamoto-san the question that everyone here was wondering “Yamamoto-san, has a boy ever asked you out?” “Ehhh!? Ah, um, that is, no… Can we move on to the singing portion please!?!”  Yamamoto-san basically had steam coming out of her ears at the last question.  So this taciturn ice queen in fact has an extremely innocent and cute side that can only be seen when she gets flustered.  That is too moe.  “Sure, Yamamoto-san.  Just please give us a minute to discuss and we can start the singing portion.”  The personality evaluations after our discussion were: 10, 10 and 10. 

“Thank you for waiting Yamamoto-san.  Please sing the lyrics as they come on screen.”  The music started playing and she started to sing and the room went completely silent.  Her voice was one of the best I have ever heard; it was like what I would imagine an angel would sound like.  Eventually the song ended, and just like before we grouped together to discuss.  Singing evaluation scores were: 10, 10, and 10.  And since even a blind man would rate her attractiveness a 10, Yamamoto-san has become the first contestant in the show’s history to get a perfect undisputed 30 in qualifications.  It’s clear that she’ll be the prohibitive favorite on the show.  As I watched Yamamoto-san bow and leave, I couldn’t help but think that this’ll be the best season yet.