[Are you interested in entering various mundane and boring anime worlds to turn the originally repetitive plots upside down?]
[Have you ever fantasized about being a member of various fantasy adventure stories, or perhaps having a life as beautiful as a dream?]
[Congratulations! Your application to perform has been approved!]
[Welcome to Universal Entertainment Company!]
"...What, huh?"
He closed his eyes and opened them; when he came to, this was the scene before Lychee's eyes.
There was no up, down, left, or right, no light or dark, no cold or warmth—only a uniform, pure, and boundless void of white.
This whiteness was not blinding, but it wasn't soft either; it was a state closer to 'nothingness,' as if the very concept of vision had its foundation stripped away here.
[Before the first performance, the newcomer has ten seconds to briefly organize the current situation. After ten seconds, the system will explain the company's business and employee work goals, and teleport you to the next space.]
The previous voice appeared in Lychee's head once more.
"What do you mean? Am I dead now?"
"And ten seconds is way too short!"
He subconsciously looked down at his body, only to find there was nothing there.
Well, it seemed he really was dead.
Is this scientific? This isn't scientific! How could someone float in the middle of a subway carriage holding another person?
And if his last glance wasn't mistaken, those two people's bodies... seemed to have smashed the subway apart?
You've got to be kidding me!
"...Sigh..."
Finally recovering, Lychee snapped out of the fact of his death. If he still had a face right now, it would probably be completely dejected.
So, what's going on now?
The void in front of him was like drawing paper touched by dye; the blank scenery silently dissipated.
A scene as deep and magnificent as a starry sky slowly spread out from the depths of the void. Bubbles resembling nebulae emerged from it, slowly rotating and bobbing, seemingly separated from each other by unbridgeable distances.
Looking closely, within those massive bubbles, even finer points of light and fragments of scenes were faintly visible. They combined and transformed, as if every bubble were a breathing world.
"Welcome to the Performance Department, Trainee!"
The sound, which previously had no direction and an unclear distance, suddenly became clear, resounding in Lychee's ears.
"?!"
The point of light suspended in mid-air seemed to be startled by something, flitting up and down wildly until it escaped to a distance of about five or six body-lengths from the sound source before its trembling gradually stopped.
"Uh, sorry."
Accompanied by a slightly apologetic voice, a ball of light significantly larger than Lychee flew unhurriedly in front of him.
"I know you're very confused right now, but we really don't have much time. Next, I will briefly explain the current situation to you clearly."
"Your appearance here proves that your physical body has entered biological death, but that doesn't mean your life or existence has come to an end."
"Because of some compatibility, or perhaps due to an intense unwillingness that failed to dissipate at the moment of death, Universal Entertainment Company captured your existence and gave you a chance to try again."
Speaking to this point, the light ball's tone suddenly changed, as if it had been suddenly called upon in class to read a text aloud; its tone became inexplicably impassioned:
"Become an idol! Gain popularity! You can use that as a foundation to achieve resurrection, or even other wishes that seem out of reach to you!"
"I... Idol?"
Lychee's consciousness was filled with a sense of absurdity.
A dead person can still be an idol?
—Are they going to act in 'A Chinese Ghost Story' or Teacher Lam Ching-ying's zombie series?
Seemingly sensing Lychee's confusion, that point of light flickered slightly and spoke again:
"It's not that dead people are being dragged to be actors."
"As a Trainee in the Performance Department, your stage consists of worlds partially controlled or completely structured by the company."
"Your goal is to participate and perform, while the company will take the stories happening in these worlds and, through appropriate editing and post-production, turn them into anime to be broadcast to specific audience groups."
"The audience's main perspective will change based on the level of participation and importance of the actors or the original characters of that world in the story."
"And your core goal is to participate in the main storyline as much as possible, making the originally abstract, tedious, or repetitive plot more interesting, and achieving first place in popularity by the end of the entire story!"
"Got it, it's an entertainer debut selection." Lychee nodded up and down.
"You could understand it that way, though the mechanism is a bit more complex." The large light ball seemed very satisfied with Lychee's quick understanding.
"Finally, when everything reaches its conclusion, the company will generate a comprehensive evaluation for you based on various indicators such as the total popularity you've gained, character completion, and plot contribution, and give you a certain amount of Evaluation Points based on the situation."
"The comprehensive evaluation is divided into four grades: 'First-rate,' 'Second-class,' 'Third-tier,' and 'Small Fry.' The total amount of Evaluation Points you've acquired will determine your Actor Level. The higher the Actor Level, the better the roles you can get for your next performance."
"Of course, you can also use Evaluation Points to exchange for anything you want—resurrection, or other wishes and so on."
"I see." The point of light representing Lychee flickered slightly, as if digesting this information.
This is kind of interesting...
"Well then, the orientation ends here. Trainee, do you confirm starting your first performance?" The large light ball's tone became more formal.
"No."
Lychee shook left and right.
"Although everything you just said sounds very tempting, at the end of the day, I'm just an ordinary person."
"The most acting experience I had in my life was probably being forced to participate in an awkward skit at the company's annual party. I don't have any professional acting skills."
"You're just going to throw me directly into a real, functioning world, ask me to play a certain character, and expect me to perform well enough to fool the audience..."
"What if I get exposed? What if I mess up the performance? Is there any... job training? Simulated practice or something?"
"Oh, that." The large light ball's tone relaxed, even carrying a hint of a smile.
"Trainee, you don't have to worry at all! To ensure every actor can show their best side on stage, we have a built-in auxiliary system for all contracted actors."
"As long as you don't deliberately do things that completely violate the character's logic, you usually won't be easily seen through."
"Of course, if you want to surpass the basic settings and perform a unique highlight moment of your own, then that will depend on your own comprehension, effort, and... a little bit of talent."
"Is that so? Then I have no more questions."
"Very good!" The light of the large light ball seemed a bit brighter, appearing more motivated.
"Then next—the Script Selection Phase!"
As soon as the words fell, a pale blue light screen appeared out of thin air between the two points of light. The screen showed a pattern similar to a lucky draw wheel, with countless script names densely distributed on it.
The wheel shook at high speed symbolically, and then the pointer, with a hint of unquestionable decisiveness, pointed without hesitation to the smallest and most simply lit area at the very bottom of the wheel.
"Uh..."
The light of the large light ball dimmed subtly for a moment.
"Even though the process was described very excitingly, actually... as a Trainee performing for the first time, you currently only have one selectable script to enter, hehe."
["As an Ordinary Otaku Girl, Something Is Definitely Wrong if This Many People Like Me!"]
The other dazzling options on the light screen dimmed, leaving only the one selected by the pointer. The name was enlarged and clearly displayed.
Well, just looking at the name, it had the vibe of a youth romance story script.
[Introduction: "Win the best school life!" Tōjō Reina is determined to start her high school career with a brand-new image to completely change her lonely and boring middle school life.]
However, due to her naturally introverted and socially inept nature, she is almost unable to adapt to her ideal "active and cheerful" daily life. The pretense leaves her exhausted and almost breathless.
But just at her most tired moment, when she most wants to retreat, a group of girls with different styles who clearly shouldn't have much in common with her begin to gradually gather around her...
[Plot Direction:...]
"...What a miraculous script."
The synopsis is written quite well, so how can the plot be such a mess?
Lychee's mouth twitched slightly. He could even summarize the content of this anime in one sentence: it's a story where the protagonist is inexplicably liked by a group of people and then escapes all the way to the end.
Yes, it's that simple.
The entire anime is about how the protagonist runs away; the love triangles and romance plots that the audience loves are completely absent. The whole thing is just a 'cowardly lizard's school tour.'
"That's why we're letting you guys come and participate."
"...Fair enough."
"Alright, don't worry about that~"
"Hurry up and choose the character you want to play! As a newbie benefit, this time you can directly join the stage as a minor supporting character from the character pool provided by the company."
"Cherish this opportunity! If the evaluation of this performance isn't high, next time you might have to spend your precious points to create an identity, or... you might only be able to serve as an extra with almost no lines or screen time."
As the large light ball spoke, the content on the light screen changed again.
A long list of characters appeared before Lychee's eyes. Most of the names were followed only by extremely brief tags, such as [Classmate A], [Convenience Store Clerk B], [Disciplinary Committee Member (Unnamed)], which indeed gave off a perfunctory vibe of an extra.
Only the one with the prefix [Minor Supporting Character] had a slightly more detailed introduction, including a name, basic identity, and one or two sentences summarizing their personality.
His gaze quickly locked onto that sole [Minor Supporting Character] option.
[Yukishiro Rin]
A simple introduction followed the name.
[In the same class as the protagonist, Tōjō Reina, with adjacent seats. Above-average grades, cold appearance, and low presence in class. Seems to always be a loner. Contact with Reina began with an accidental borrowing of stationery.]
It's just...
"Why are the characters I can choose..."
"...only female?"
On the list, from extras to minor supporting characters, all were female names or clearly feminized identities.
"Of course, it's because it's easier for females to gain popularity in anime. Why, is there a problem?"
"...Nothing."
Fine.
Female it is, no big deal.
"So, have you thought about how you're going to perform?"
Perform, huh...
For some reason, the post he saw before coming here and the answer he gave inexplicably surfaced in Lychee's mind.
Thus, he looked at the ball of light beside him.
Under the other's gaze, which radiated a gentle sense of inquiry, Lychee replied in a confident tone:
"Of course."