User:Petewarrior/The odd trio

In the summer of 2018, the "Sakamichi Joint Audition" was held by three groups in the "Sakamichi Series." This was a joint audition by Nogizaka46, Keyakizaka46, and Keyakizaka4, which would later be renamed Hinatazaka46 The total number of applicants reached nearly 130,000.

Of the 39 successful applicants, Hinano Kamimura was the only one to be assigned to Keyakizaka 46 as a "third-term student.

However, there were actually other girls who passed the audition with them but were not assigned to any group. They did not appear on the stage for a year.

This is the story of how these girls, once cut off from the path to becoming idols, never gave up and seized their dreams.

■ Girls who admired the Sakamichi series

For Mikuni Takahashi, who was in her third year of junior high school at the time of the Sakamichi joint audition, this was her third attempt at an audition. Since being attracted to Nogizaka46 when she was in her first year of junior high school, she had auditioned for the third term of Nogizaka46, the second term of Keyakizaka46, and the third term of this group. Since I was attracted to Nogizaka46 when I was in the first year of junior high school, I had auditioned for the third term of Nogizaka46, the second term of Keyakizaka46, and this joint audition for Sakamichi. Finally, after the third audition, I was able to pass the final screening and pass the audition.

Immediately after the announcement, Takahashi spoke to one of the girls.

She said, "You were sitting in front of me during the third round, weren't you?　I thought for sure I was going to pass!

When he saw her at the third screening, he thought, "This is the kind of girl who is a gem in the rough. She was petite, and Takahashi expected her to be about two years younger than him, but the other girl, who seemed to think so, looked at the taller Takahashi and wondered if he was about two years older than her.

In fact, this girl, who was in the same grade and would later go on to pursue the same path as Takahashi, was Haruyo Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi, who grew up in the countryside of Tottori Prefecture, was shy and had never even spoken to other candidates before.

Yamaguchi's love affair with the Sakamichi series began a little differently. As an elementary school student, Yamaguchi was a member of a youth baseball team, and one day, while looking for baseball-related DVDs at a rental store, he came across a late-night drama featuring the members of Nogizaka46 playing softball. He was looking for a baseball-related DVD at a rental shop one day and came across a late-night drama broadcast about the members of Nogizaka46 challenging themselves to play softball. After watching the DVD, he became interested in the group and eventually became a fan who traveled to Osaka to attend the handshake events of Nogizaka46 and Keyakizaka46. She became such a fan that she even traveled to Osaka to attend the handshake events of Nogizaka46 and Keyakizaka46.

Among the other successful applicants, there was a girl who was born on the exact same day and year as Yamaguchi. This girl, with her long black hair, was Mari Morimoto, who gave off the impression of having been well-bred during the screening process.

In the past, Morimoto had participated in an audition sponsored by a major entertainment agency and had made it to a big stage as a finalist. Her participation in that audition was triggered when she was scouted during a family trip to Hawaii.

However, it was through this experience that the desire to become a member of the Sakamichi Group grew in Morimoto's heart. Morimoto had been a fan of Nogizaka46 since he was in his first year of junior high school, and would take the first train every time he and his friends would attend the national handshake event and watch the live performance from the front row. For Morimoto, who used to do cheerleading and dance, the sight of the members dancing on stage somehow transformed him from an admirer to a target.

With their own hopes and aspirations, the three girls auditioned for the joint audition for Sakamichi and passed with flying colors. However, the girls were to take a path that they had never imagined.

The trainee tour singing "Sakamichi's Best

Those who passed the joint audition for Sakamichi were given basic lessons as "trainees. During this time, their aptitude as idols was assessed, and they were interviewed about the group they wanted to join.

Finally, in November 2018, three months after the audition, the final individual interview was held. It was supposed to be here that they would finally decide which group they would be assigned to.

However, the girls were given a cruel verdict: "Unfortunately, we have not been able to assign you to a group this time.

Unfortunately, we were unable to assign you to a group this time.

When Takahashi heard this, he felt "it was over.

I wondered if all my efforts to express my individuality and to create my own introduction over and over again had been meaningless. I wondered if everything I had worked so hard for had been negated.

As I walked out of the office in a daze, I saw the other trainees gathered at the station crying. As Takahashi joined them and burst into tears, other trainees who had not been assigned to the same positions as them arrived one after another. They all froze together, crying and talking about their anxieties, wondering what they should do from now on.

Meanwhile, a total of 21 trainees from three groups were assigned to the program at that time. The following December, the girls made their debut on stage at the Nippon Budokan and spread their wings as "new members" of their respective groups.

A short time after the interviews, the girls who had not been selected were contacted. They were told that if they wished, they could continue as trainees and be assigned to a group.

Takahashi, who once thought he was finished, decided to give it another try to get another chance. It was a natural choice for Takahashi, who had thought, "As long as I can audition for the Sakamichi Group, I will try as many times as I can.

Yamaguchi and Morimoto had no other choice, either. Both were deeply hurt by not being assigned, but more than that, they wanted to be members of the Sakamichi Group.

The trainees were then assigned back to the group, and they were to spend their days in lessons again. Dance, vocals, and acting. In these lessons, which were held twice a month, the trainees learned the basic skills of being an idol.

A further turning point for the girls came in the summer of 2019.

We are going to do a tour of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka with the trainees.

They had never performed in front of an audience since their acceptance a year earlier, but now the day had finally come when they could perform on stage.

The 15 songs on this tour were representative of the three groups. The 15 trainees remaining at the time of the tour were to sing one song at the center of the stage, and the entire group would perform together.

The intensive lessons, which took place over a month during the summer vacation, were a different kind of practical experience. The trainees, who had never performed on stage before, had to learn a song they had never danced to before at a rate of one song every two days.

Yamaguchi felt that she was falling behind the other trainees in the lessons, and she was getting impatient. She could not remember the choreography, and her movements were awkward. One day, her dance instructor told her, "You have to look in the mirror.

If you don't look properly in the mirror, you won't know what you look like.

Shy and shy, Yamaguchi had never been able to look at herself in the mirror and dance until that moment. Outside of lessons, she always sat in the back of the room and did not talk much with the other trainees. She knew that it was because of her personality that she was not assigned to the group that day.

In order to break out of her shell, Yamaguchi began to look in the mirror and dance. As he did so, he felt his dancing changing more and more. He had never been able to look people in the eye before, but this also gradually improved. Through daily lessons, my fellow trainees became both rivals and friends, and we were able to improve each other.

As they worked hard to prepare for their first stage performance, another unforgettable event occurred.

When two destinies became one

While they were taking lessons for the tour, the trainees had a chance to see a live performance of Keyakizaka 46. There were nine new members assigned to Zelkova 46 who had passed the joint audition for Sakamichi as well as the trainees. As the group's second-term students, they danced with their seniors on a large stage.

During the live performance, Morimoto watched as he and the other girls in his class put on an impressive performance, and he simply felt "wowed. However, as they were being rocked on the bus to and from the concert afterwards, he felt a pang of pain in his chest.

I felt like, "Keyakizaka-san's second-term students have already gone that far, but I couldn't do anything for a whole year. I'm already so far behind. ......"

Tears began to flow unceasingly. Then, Takahashi, who was sitting next to me, hugged Morimoto. He didn't say a word, but I could feel through his back that he was also crying, and I thought, "I'm sure he feels the same way.

In fact, Takahashi was feeling the same way at that time.

He said, "It must be frustrating to be on the side of those who passed the exam together and see them shine so brightly on stage. ...... But it's going to be okay.

The tour by the trainees started in Osaka on October 30. On the second day of the tour, they performed "Jump Higher than Anyone Else! and the song stopped while they were singing "Jump Higher Than Anyone Else! However, none of the trainees, who had supported each other up to this point, stopped singing, and the audience gave louder calls than usual. The girls' earnest efforts to perform created a unique atmosphere of enthusiasm at the venues, and they completed the tour of six performances in three locations.

In February of the following year, all the trainees were finally announced. Mirai Takahashi, Youyo Yamaguchi, and Mari Morimoto will be the "new 3rd term students" of Hinatazaka 46. They were in the same class as Hinano Kamimura, who had passed the audition with them. On that day, their destinies were divided into two paths, those who were assigned and those who were not, but more than a year later, they were united again.

On the day he was told of his assignment, Morimoto had a strange feeling. He had been looking forward to it for so long, but when the time came, he felt impatient, thinking, "I've already been assigned. She vowed to work harder than anyone else, catch up with Uemura, and become a peer that she could feel reassured by.

Takahashi, who seems to have a natural competitive streak, was on fire, saying, "I don't want to use the one-year gap as an excuse. Remembering how hard it was when she was not assigned, she felt that she could do her best to be positive about everything. Her goal is to someday become skilled enough to contribute to expanding the group.

Yamaguchi hopes to be able to create a "happy aura" as a member of Hinatazaka 46. Outside of the house, she is a shy girl, but at home she is a cheerful woman who makes her family laugh. I felt that I could express my true self in the Hinatazaka 46 group.

After passing the audition, the three new members spent a year and a half as trainees. Their paths have overlapped with the difficult paths taken by Keyakizaka46 and Hinatazaka46, as they have grasped their dreams without giving up despite the unexpected challenges they were given. Their presence will enrich the story of Hinatazaka 46 in the years to come.

Mari Morimoto

Mari Morimoto took cheerleading lessons from second to fourth grade, and was a member of the dance club at junior high school. She has a cheerful personality and is not afraid of being shy. She is a dog lover and her special skill is howling dogs. She played the center role in Hinatazaka 46's "Doremisorashido" during the trainee tour.

Mirai Takahashi

Her special ability is the clarinet she played in the brass band at junior high school. She is confident in her athletic skills, including short-distance running, for which she was always selected as a relay runner in elementary and junior high school. She sang the center role in "Ambivalent" by Keyakizaka 46 during the trainee tour.

Yoyo Yamaguchi

The first player in the Sakamichi Series from Tottori Prefecture. He played right field in youth baseball for a little less than a year when he was in the third grade. Her pitching form, which she developed by playing catch with her older brother, is also a topic of conversation. She played the center role in Hinatazaka 46's "Kitsune" during the trainee tour.

●Hinatazaka46

In November 2015, the group Keyakizaka 4 In May 2016, 11 first-term students joined the group. In May 2016, 11 first-term students joined the group, followed by nine second-term students in August 2017, and one third-term student in November 2018. One third-term student joined in November 2018. In February 1919, the group changed its name to Hinatazaka 46. The following March, they made their solo debut with their first single "Kyun. Currently, their 4th single "Sonnakonai yo" is being released by Sony Music Records.

https://www.grajapa.shueisha.co.jp/news/259