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A worrying silence filled the air in the stage and the whole building. Everyone realized that they just saw two of the many faces the kid could bring out, one was the sweet adorable cute one and now this determined one. The one that was ready to fight.
Julia-san, the manager of the whole company walked towards Rei and placed her hand on his right shoulder. Rie looked up to see the concerned middle age woman looking at him. “Rei -kun, do you have any idea what’s this Whole Round Audition is about? It’s really hard and you might get hurt in the process.” She told him, firmly.
“I’m very well familiar of it, Julia-san. I heard it all from grandpa who told me once. I have to perform all the skills that those whom debuted done. The skills must be shown in one day, in less than 24 hours.” Rei said, holding his cap even tighter. His hands were trembling but he ignored it. He had to do this. He made a promise, didn’t he?
Johnny smiled as he heard his grandchild’s determination. He’ll support him with all his heart.
“Alright then, everyone start working on the audition now!” He ordered all the staff to prepare the necessary things as fast as they could.
That sentence hit many people since that was the only sentence they heard from Johnny-sama that day. Astonishment filled the silence air as they whisper quietly to each other. It seems like Johnny-sama wants his own grandchild to do the hard and unbelievingly tiring audition too. How interesting is that?
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In the corner of the big room where Hey! Say! JUMP were sitting quietly with their kouhais. Little Shintarou looked at his older brother, wondering, “Onii-tan, what’s a Whole Round Audition?” The kid looked at his brother innocently.
“The Whole Round Audition is an audition that was designed many years ago when the Jimusho was just established. The people who wanted to join the Jimusho to become idols had to perform many tasks and skills that great idols do in only one day. It means that Kitagawa Rei-kun has to perform, dance, sing, act and all the other skills that we have been trained in the past years,” Yabu answered on behalf of Ryutaro’s.
Shintaro eyes went wider at the thought, “He would do photo-shoots too?” he asked, innocently
“Not only that, he would have to do photo-shoot interview and go onstage too”
The 7 members stared at their unofficial leader, wondering why they only heard of such a thing.
“That’s like totally impossible. How it is supposed to be done, Yabu?” Yamada asked, his interest on the subject getting higher.
“First they would do a random shuffle, he has to perform the 5 tasks that are done by debuted groups, which means he would do one thing related to at least 4 of our bands, and he would be judged by the bands themselves and the crew too, so we only have to wait and see his schedule to know what he picked.”
“Won’t that be really hard, I just can’t imagine that.” Yuto budged in. He was worried because the Rei-kun might slip out his unwanted character. If he had to do a sketch from KAT-TUN’s dances followed with kanajani8’s fan service, he might faint in the process and if Rei-kun was hot tempered, he might get a bad fight with Ryo-sempai or the choreography team, many possibilities ran through his mind, he felt bad for that kid.
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Within the minutes of the declaration of the Whole Round Audition, the schedule for Rei-kun’s audition was been made. Yuto stared at it. It was the same like his but wouldn’t it be hard for someone who’s not used to do it? He had a very hard time adjusting to his new life when he first debuted. He prayed for the best for the Rei-kun.
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Rei looked at his schedule, for the upcoming days he would be treated in a professional manner and expected to act that way, he was not going to back up. He looked at the papers again and started arranging his own thoughts into it.
His audition was starting in 30 minutes, at exactly 11:30 he would stop being Kitagawa Rei and start being Kita Rei, a name he was been called when he was a child. He felt a little bit ridiculous because he loves being a Kitagawa but everyone in the management team felt it would be less stressful if he had a stage name at least for the auditioning.
He never minded the idea of being called Rei, everyone back in America called him that name, his grandfather, his cousins and even Akanishi Jin, they all called him by that name.
He remembered the first time he was called Rei kun, he was 13 years old and his heart was filled with hatred towards the new guy who came from Japan, he never thought it was great to have an egoistic guy -who spoke broken English- staying at their place, just because he was one of his grandfather’s best selling band member, well that was his first thought about Jin, but it all changed as the elder showed him that music was not that bad at all.
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“Having cold feet heh, Rei-kun?” The voice teased him. Rei looked at the person standing next to him.
“Akanishi-san! No, I don’t have a cold feet at all,” Rei replied in proper polite Japanese which made Jin’s smile get wider
“And to believe that 3 years ago you don’t even know a single Japanese word, you have improved a lot eh Rei-kun! Plus, didn’t I tell you to call me Jin? ” the older said and sat down on a chair.
“I practiced a lot! As much I would love to call you Jin. I can’t, can I??” a faint smile appeared on the younger boy’s face.
“Still I don’t like it when you call me Akanishi-san. I’ve lived with you for 6 months and I’m like your older brother so you better start calling me Jin senpai , if that would make it more appropriate.” Jin said while trying to grab the paper out of the younger’s hand.