“So!” Osomatsu says with a clap as he approaches the front of the stage. “Maybe we should get on with the singing already, right?” The others get up, a few taking a drink from the bottles lined up along the front of the stage. “All right, uh, as you may or may not know, we went into training about… one year ago? Almost to the day, a year! And this song has been written and all since then, because our composers wanted us to not be afraid to get ambitious! We’ve been working really hard, and, well. We hope it pays off, because this is intense.”

The others line up around him as they did when they first came out, moving into an arch shape, all of them cautiously looking at each other. Everything is weirdly quiet and a little solemn.

Jyuushimatsu talks quietly, in what might be his version of a whisper. “This is kinda freaky!” The others laugh quietly, a few members of the audience joining in. “We’re gonna be a little serious, so don’t get scared!”

((For a reference on how this sounds, check out Trancing Pulse from the Idolm@ster series!))

All is silent, and the lights go low, the screen behind them showing a dark ballroom. A few faint taps are heard, but no music plays. Then, perfectly synchronized harmonies soar through the concert hall, more complex than in any song they’ve done before. As the strings come in and the projected ballroom lights up in a swirl of their colors like a massive slab of mother of pearl, their harmonies break off triumphantly.

All six of them immediately start shouting and jumping around, and the front row can catch Osomatsu screaming “I can’t believe we actually did it!” before they start running across the stage, through the audience or down the raised paths to smaller platforms in the middle of the audience.

Todomatsu’s solo part is still nestled among the quickly fading shouts of the audience, a bit lower than his usual parts tend to be. He’s still in starry-eyed amazement that they all managed to pull that off, slowing down to a walk so he doesn’t exhaust himself.

Jyuushimatsu has no such worries, jumping up and down, going through the audience and hopping down rows of seats, waving around a borrowed penlight and trying to get people to jump around too.

Osomatsu’s part is oddly short before the two before him joined in. Odd, doesn’t he always make a big deal out of leading and solos? Ehh, he’s smiling like mad and yelling for people to jump, he doesn’t seem to mind.

A few of them at least try to do the same steps as they did in the promotional video for the song (that’s being posted online as they perform this– fancy castles, magic, lavish balls, just so the people at home get a good time at the same time), but it quickly devolves into excited jumping, waving, and running to get closer to more of the audience.

Choromatsu’s part comes quietly, taking a brief break from working the audiences into a slightly more rhythmic frenzy to ensure quietness until the beat picked up again. He’s calm for just a moment before waving around the green penlight he got from a staffer.

The beat drops back in heavily as Ichimatsu strolls through the rows, not overexerting himself so he can actually hit his low notes. It goes over successfully, and he actually smiles for once. (He’s almost immediately shocked out of it by the screams of a few fans who saw it up close.)

Another short part with Karamatsu. Usually he shows off a lot more when he gets the chance, but Ichimatsu and Choromatsu join back in before the chorus comes back again, the blue prince showing off more with his moves than his solo parts.

As the chorus mentions running, those who aren’t already on the raised paths or platforms start running toward the largest one lying smack dab in the center of the hall, making it up onto the smaller stage before the instrumental break takes over, finally doing the steps they were instructed to, moving in and out of formation with unnerving ease before the last solos start up.

This explains why the eldest two were shortchanged before. Karamatsu sings his half alone, gentle and quiet, before Osomatsu steps forward and finishes the verse, holding one long note by himself, barely having enough time to suck in one more deep breath before the final chorus gives all of them an equally long final note.

They each hold their usual “6” hand gesture aloft, staying ruffled but picture perfect for a brief moment, lights glowing, smiles wide.

Then they collapse in a pile with a few whoops and groans.

Ichimatsu speaks up from the bottom of the cluster, “Would you guys get upset if that was the end of the show? It isn’t, but,” an out of breath cough, “how stupid would that be?”

Osomatsu laughs, “We’re all tired now, go home!” He scrambles to his feet not long after, “Kidding, kidding! Man, that was exhausting, though!” The others nod in agreement. “Question break, we need a sec or we’ll die or something.”