In the small Japanese-style room, the lights were turned off.
The TV screen glowed, and on the screen, as the red team host Akiko Wada finished her introduction, the lights dimmed, the prelude sounded, and Akina Nakamori appeared on the stage wearing gorgeous clothes and a crown.
At this time, a star lit up on the ceiling of the room.
Junko turned her attention from the TV screen to her daughter. She was lying on the tatami, almost her entire body huddled in the kotatsu, with only her little head exposed.
As Junko looked at her, her daughter rubbed her sore eyelids, stretched out her arm from the kotatsu, pointed at the ceiling, and pressed the small flashlight in her hand.
The stars lit up again.
On TV, Akina Nakamori sang her new song "missed the shock", "Because of this long night, I don't know you even more."
On stage, her crown and the embellishments of her finery sparkled.
"Mother."
My daughter called Junko and pressed the small flashlight again, and the stars on the ceiling lit up again.
Then, it flashed three more times.
Junko has become accustomed to this. After watching the performance of "Future Vision II", her daughter has repeated this little game many times.
"It means 'I love you,' Mom," she said.
Junko smiled.
My daughter is still a child and has only a partial understanding of what is described in the lyrics.
"Flashing the brake light five times is a sign that I love you." For children, it is far less understandable than straightforward words such as "I'm happy, I like you." If they do this, they are more likely to imitate the opening scene of the Giraffe Man.
way of doing.
Even so, looking at the twinkling stars, her heart was still warm.
Her daughter had only a partial understanding of the meaning of the "five flashes" in the lyrics, and regarded it as a confession to her mother. However, looking at the five flashes of starlight, Junko actually felt happy that she was receiving a confession of her daughter's love.
"Mom," the daughter showed off to Junko, "I have a flashlight that is exactly the same as Giraffe-san."
For her, having the same thing as the members of her favorite band gave her a childlike excitement. Dreamsetrue is no longer just a star who appears on TV and is far away from their lives, but a real person.
people who appear in life.
"Yes." Junko touched her daughter's head.
Under the palm of her mother's hand, her daughter wrinkled her little nose and giggled, "It's so warm." She turned her face and glanced at the TV, "Akina-san's clothes are so beautiful, like a queen."
"After oversleeping, I was on my way back before I knew it."
"Only one heart is left."
On the TV, Nakamori Akina's deep voice was like a whisper, telling the emotions she wanted to convey in the lyrics.
"Mother."
The child couldn't stay up late, and the daughter was already yawning repeatedly.
"Um?"
"Mom, can I have a New Year's gift?"
"What do you want?" Junko asked.
"Hmm... I want an envelope and a stamp. The denomination should be as big as DreamSeTrue."
Junko understood, "Do you want to write a letter to DreamSeTrue?"
The daughter nodded, "I want to tell the giraffe man that I also have a flashlight like this... But I don't know how to write flashlight yet, and I need my mother to teach me."
As she spoke, she pressed the button of the flashlight again. The stars twinkled one after another on the ceiling.
Junko supported her daughter, "Then, I must also write a sentence, Mom also likes dreamsetrue the most."
"My mother and I both like dreamsetrue..." the daughter said again as if to confirm. Suddenly she showed a confused expression, "How should I write dreamsetrue?"
Junko smiled.
This letter seems to have required the mother and daughter to work together to complete it.
"Mom." Her daughter's voice was already sticky.
"Um?"
"Will Giraffe-san reply to my letter?"
The record company of dreamsetrue must receive a lot of letters every day. It is unknown whether they will read fan letters and whether they will reply after reading them.
Junko can't lie to her daughter, but she can't crush her daughter's dream either.
After thinking about it, he told her, "Giraffe-san is so busy every day, and there must be many people like us who like DreamseTrue writing to them."
"So you won't reply?" The daughter was a little disappointed.
Junko shook her head, "That's not necessarily the case. If you can keep writing, Giraffe-san will be able to read it. Maybe he will reply to you by then."
"Keep writing..."
The daughter stretched out her arm from the kotatsu, pressed the button of the small flashlight, and watched the stars twinkling on the ceiling.
Two times, three times.
Four times, five times.
Picture of the future... Now that I am living with my daughter, why don't I need to carefully draw a picture of the future?
These five flashes of starlight adorned the future picture of Junko and her daughter.
On the TV, Akina Nakamori's performance continued, "Rather than doubt, we would rather trust each other. Pressed by the weight of the night, we divine tomorrow."
Junko patted her daughter gently and coaxed her to fall asleep.
…
The TV in the lounge is on, and the red and white songs will continue to play.
DreamseTrue, who returned to the backstage and completed his part of the task, could then easily view the rest of the performance as an audience and with his mentality.
One of the disadvantages of participating in this kind of live show is that the first person to start the show has to wait backstage until the curtain call ends, and the last person to appear has to appear in front of the camera when the show starts.
Just because of the many troubles and restrictions, many individual singers or big singers will refuse the invitation of the Red and White Song Concert and enjoy New Year's Eve at home.
The order of appearance of pop singers is almost concentrated in the first half of the Red and White Song Festival. Entering the second half, the two groups of Red and White will become a big showdown between enka singers and ballad singers.
However, considering the age of the audience who control the remote control, although enka and ballads are becoming less and less important among young people, they are still the favorites of this audience.
Chiyoko Shimakura sang the song "The Various Forms of Life" that seemed to be a reflection of her own life.
This great enka star made his first appearance in Kohaku in 1957 and has made thirty consecutive appearances since then. He is the first singer in the history of Kohaku Uta to have made thirty consecutive appearances.
After completing her thirtieth Kohaku appearance, Chiyoko Shimakura announced that she had graduated from the Kohaku Utakara and would no longer appear in the show.
As a result, only one year later, this year "Hundred States of Life" became a huge hit and became the most popular enka hit in recent years. NHK tried hard to get her to come out again.
Ratings and topicality were earned by NHK, but Chiyoko Shimakura herself received a lot of criticism that she was going back on her word.
As expected of nhk, which is accustomed to only making cheap profits.
Competing against Chiyoko Shimakura is singer Cho Yong-pil from South Korea. This year, two singers from South Korea came, Cho Yong-pil from the white group, and Gye Eun-sook from the red group.
Speaking of which, Wada Akiko, who actually serves as the host of the red team, is from Nichinancho, and her real name is Jinfukuko.
The three bands in the lounge were obviously not very interested in performing songs and ballads. Although the TV was on, everyone only glanced at it occasionally to pay attention to the progress of the program.
Mori Shinichi, the idol of middle-aged and elderly women and Iwahashi Shinichi's former employer, also appeared on stage to sing. When he was introduced on TV, Miwa-chan poked Iwahashi Shinichi under the table and smiled evilly at him.
Iwahashi Shin didn't change his color and wore a hood anyway. No one knew if he changed his color.
The finale of the red group is Sachiko Kobayashi. She lived up to expectations this year and appeared on the stage in a bright and gorgeous costume, contributing an eye-catching photo to the entertainment section of tomorrow's newspaper.
But regardless of whether it is an exaggeration or not, every year she appears in this outfit, the ratings are very stable.
While the host announced the name of Sachiko Kobayashi during the live TV broadcast, the backstage staff came over to inform them to prepare for their return.
Sachiko Kobayashi wore exaggerated costumes to impress, while Saburo Kitajima, the finale sent by the white team, was just wearing a kimono, looking very calm and confident like an old-timer.
He was previously expelled from the Red and White Song Club because it was revealed that he had contacts with the Yakuza. He returned the following year and kept a low profile for a year. This year he still served as the finale.
Kitajima Saburo's clothes are simple, but his ostentation is not small.
While the host was introducing him, the singers who had come backstage to wait one after another stepped onto the stage and stood on both sides of the stage, acting as wallflowers for Saburo Kitajima.
To serve as the background for the grand finale, the singers had to cheer up, take on the posture of participating in a chorus competition, and manage their facial expressions to avoid inappropriate images being captured when the camera swept over them.
At this time, the headgear also has the advantage of a headgear. The giraffe man can let himself go as much as he wants without worrying about expression management.
Saburo Kitajima's performance ended, and the singers on the stage applauded him, which gave him a great atmosphere.
The hosts of the red and white groups, as well as the chief host sent by NHK, were surrounded by the singers on the stage for the final session.
The tallied votes were announced one by one. This year, the red and white groups were evenly matched. After a battle, the red group was slightly better than the white group in the end, retaining the victory flag.
When the result was announced, the singers from the red and white groups applauded, while the white group also happily accepted the result.
After all, "It's called a battle, but it's actually a party."
Despite this, the victory of the red group made Dreamsetrue, who was making his first appearance at the Red and White Song Concert and was placed in the red group, particularly happy, as it seemed to be a good sign.
Brother Nakamura smiled like an emoticon, Miwa-chan held Brother Nakamura with her left hand, and held Shinichi Iwahashi with her right hand, as if she was leading her teammates in a game and winning a big victory.
The giraffe man was also quite happy, although his smile was in vain.
He looked around the stage and saw Akina Nakamori standing not far from him. A nonsensical thought suddenly flashed through his mind: Do you want to guess my current expression?
However, Akina Nakamori was immersed in the victory of the red team, celebrating happily with the people around her.
The director of NHK walked onto the stage and handed the flag representing victory to the red team host Akiko Wada. At this point, only the last link of this red and white song show is left.
The singers who pretended to participate in the chorus competition when Saburo Kitajima performed just now are now real chorus contestants.
Everyone sang this song "Light of the Fireflies" together on this night that is about to enter the new year.