Hello, a bit of a short chapter again, for now. I don't really know much about dance competitions, so I set it up kind of like American Idol, since that's the only talent-type show that I've ever watched. I never really watched Dancing With the Stars, but I'd imagine that it's kind of the same. Sorry if it isn't! Anyways, hope you like it either way.
Kaoruko groaned as she saw the long line of losers that were coming to embarrass themselves in front of her. Of course, she couldn't keep anyone who was better than her, either. She couldn't have any of her fans paying attention to some new pretty face, right?
"Contestant Number 001, come forward," Chris Almard said. He was another judge, famous for these types of competitions. He was going to be hard to manipulate. The rest of the judges should be easy to lead or bribe into saying whatever Kaoruko wanted them to say.
A skinny girl with long blonde hair stepped forward. "And what will you perform for us today?" Tabatha Filroy asked. She was a another of judge's panel, and a newbie to these types of things. It's been told that she likes expensive jewelry. Simple enough.
"I'm going to do a bit of ballet," the girl said, looking nervous to perform. Even if Kaoruko was going to judge fairly, a good performer never showed their nervousness. And if they were nervous enough to show the emotion on their face, they usually messed up.
Sure enough, in the middle of a twirl, the girl landed on her ankle wrong and twisted it. She had to be helped off the stage and was attended to by the medical team that was behind the stage.
The performances after her weren't much better. Some messed up, others just didn't know how to dance at all, still others were just...plain boring. There wasn't passion in any of their performances. Clearly, this was going to be an easy year for Kaoruko. She gave the dancers who didn't make mistakes praise, as if they were the most amazing thing she ever saw, and the other judges didn't say anything to disapprove, although Chris did shoot her a couple of sharp looks.
Around noon, there was one girl that stood out. Number 678, Anzu Masaki. The brown-haired girl danced to a sharp hip-hop American song. Her footwork was flawless, and her confidence on the stage was incredible. She was going to present Kaoruko with some serious competition.
Kaoruko grudgingly admitted to the girl's skill, but she thought about how she was going to disqualify Anzu before she became too much of a problem.
This scene seemed sort of...familiar. It was several long minutes after Anzu was sent off of the stage with heaps of praise that Kaoruko remembered who she was. Anzu was one of those snobby brats who thought she could compete with Kaoruko in that stupid school popularity contest. She didn't win, of course, but to think that Anzu was still so arrogant after all this time! Still, Anzu was still just a kid in high school. She didn't really know how cruel the adult world was. Well, Kaoruko was just going to have to teach her the ways of the real world, wasn't she?