Haunted System: Path To A Superstar

As it was near lunch time already, Aiko brought him to a udon restaurant near their grandmothers' home.

Jay Kaiya was tired after having no sleep last night, so he was lacking energy. When the steaming food arrived in front of him, he sloppily used his arms to feed himself.

As he already had a plan on how to earn money again, he decided to ask if she could help him again.

"Aiko... Do you know anywhere I can sing in front of a lot of people?"

"Where'd you get that idea from? Hmm... Well, there is a karaoke competition tomorrow, I can drive you there. I'll make sure to record your failure so we can laugh at it later, if you're really planning on singing..."

Seeing her agree, Jay was happy that there was no hassle for once. Truly with beauty comes kindness.

"Thanks then, I'm a sing my own song there, and hopefully it'll be good advertis.e.m.e.nt for me."

Aiko raised her head to doubtfully look at him, speaking a voice that seemed to be filled with pure honesty.

"If you are trying to get money... You should just be an escort for those rich girls near downtown, at least you would have a reliable job then..."

"..."

Now he understood the phrase of "what it seems, may not be what it deems", one more time...

After eating, they exchanged their phone numbers, and headed off to drop Jay at the house.

Exploring the phone of his once he got home, hedm discovered nothing special other than that he can use WiFi now. There had to be a reason for it, but he didn't dwell on it for long. It might be related to one of the missions he did? But there were bigger mysteries he didn't even know a inkling to he answer to, so why bother about this?

Once he stopped investigating, he fell asleep like a log, making the next day come. After eating breakfast with Granny Jin, Aiko came to pick him up.

She told him that she already signed him up. After that she informed him about the competition.

Apparently it was actually somewhat small. Basically a new resort opened up on top of a tall hill with a scenic view of the island. To get a little more advertis.e.m.e.nt, they decided to make this competition to make people spread about the place by word of mouth.

The idea was actually a little ingenious, but as its only a resort, that type of advertis.e.m.e.nt could only do so much. These types of places targeted tourists from other countries or districts.

She said that he would need to fight against twenty or so singers. The audience will be about one hundred. The winner gets to stay at the resort for one day, but this did not include anything else, making the participants not a lot.

This was both disadvantagous to Jay, but also making hin more likely to stand out from the competitors.

Reaching the area, the surroundings were very prettt and clean. Grass, a small river, trees, steep hill side view, it was gorgeous, and this was where he will male his small debut of his.

Grabbing the shamisen, he made his way towards the small stage that was set up in front of the hotel. The seats were merely plastic chairs that were probably borrowed.

Truthfully speaking, he did not wish to debut here, but he had already decided to debut as soon as possible. He had learned that in the entertainment industry, it is best to release as fast as you can. Interests change, plus if he is unlucky, a similar song may appear which would infringe the copyright if he released after them.

This was why he decided to just perform in front of people, while also posting this on WeTube, hopefully getting followers from the process.

Talking to the lady in the booth, he got his number pass. The seats in the front were reserved for the contestants. Searching for his number, it was found on the far edge, meaning that he was the last participant.

It was probably because he was the last to sign up in the competition. This positioning was the worst in things like this, because by the time the last person comes, everyone is bored. Expectations are risen too, making it hard to stand out.

Anyways, he was not really here to show himself. His true purpose was to see the audience's reactions, this way he can get a feel of quality of the things the phone will reward out. Even if he likes it, does not mean others will too.

Soon the place filled up, and some of the tenants of the resort came out to spectate, causing the original expected number to be twice as much. 200 people were waiting to watch these singers, everyone loved free live events, so why not watch this?

Shortly the host came out to declare the start of the small competition. Asking Aiko to record him when its his turn, she walked away towards the side as there was no more open seats.

Jay Kaiya waited as the singers will start to sing one by one, leaving the stage all alone to him, a wait with nervous anguish.