Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello and welcome to "Focus on Me"!

This is my debut Niji story, and I'm really excited to share it with everyone. For updates on 'Focus on Me', you can follow me on Twitter @CloudianArchive. I'll be posting visuals inspired by shows like Produce/Girls Planet/Boys Planet there!

Most graduated livers are included, but I made a personal choice not to include Zaion. I apologize if you were looking forward to seeing her.

I've also written our own "pick me" song—it's not perfect, but I hope you enjoy it!

Regarding the music in the program, I've chosen some of my favorite English songs. If I decide to create line distributions for a better viewing experience, I'll provide the links.

Who do you think will make it into the final lineup? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Before the cameras are even rolling each group of trainees are guided to their very own dressing room. A place where they can store their luggage and start getting ready for their first TV appearance. This was, of course, a way to make sure that other companies trainees did not know who else was in attendance as well as keeping the initial line up a secret.

It had been about an hour since Pomu, Elira, and Finana had arrived at their dressing room. The girls had taken the time to stretch, change into their performance outfits, and do their hair and makeup. Finana had just started doing vocal exercises when the LazuLight Entertainment trainees were notified that they would be expected to head out to the main hall shortly.

The same member of staff that guided them to the dressing room would help them over to the “introduction room” what that meant and entailed the girls hadn’t the slightest clue.

Elira looked over the girls once more, straightening skirts and checking that the safety shorts they had were long enough to safely cover themselves. She would make sure that they would not flash the audience at the very least.

A knock on their door signaled that their prep time was up. “Shit-” Finana muttered under her breath but still got up. Taking one last glance around the room before opening the door.

The girls followed the staff in complete silence communicating via shaky hands and unsteady gazes. Their nerves getting the better of them as their introduction to the show draws nearer with every step forward.

Soon the woman who was guiding them stops and steps to the side of an unmarked door. “Okay, once you walk through this door you’ll be on camera. Please,” She stressed. “ Please try to keep foul language to a minimum since this will be live streamed on NIJI TV. It's extremely hard to censor live audio.” Her grey gaze washed over the girls looking for any questioning expressions but finding there was none she continued. “Once you get into the room there should be a counter with your name tags. They should go on either your stomach or your waist. Do NOT put them on your back.” She sighed, throwing a hand through her short hair.

The girls quickly nodded as if sensing the woman’s patience was wearing thin. “Good, make sure you check everything out in the room before following the arrow on the floor okay?”She said moving to open the door for the girls to enter through.

The door opened to a short hallway that opened into a bigger room. The walls were a dark grey with holographic star stickers speckled throughout. A light grey path showed the girls which way to progress through the room.

“Wow~” Pomu gaped in awe at the introduction room. There was a wall that was just a floor to ceiling mirror. A marble counter jutted out of the wall on the exact opposite side of the room.

A large cardboard cut out of a diamond was attached to the wall of the hallway they entered from. In the center of said diamond were the words ‘NIJI PLANET’ in bold dark grey font.
Likely meant to be signed by the trainees since on the end of the counter closest to the cut out was a bucket of rainbow colored markers.

Finana quickly seized a green marker and signed her name underneath the ‘T’ in planet. Elira shaking her head followed her group mates' action grabbing a blue maker for herself, even beckoning Pomu over to sign the cut out too. “Come sign this first.” She said with a smile towards the blonde girl who was eyeing the name tags on the counter.

The girls signed their names on the diamond sign before Pomu dragged the other two to the counter. They looked like regular pieces of 8.5 x 11 paper.

In the center lies their name in the same bold font as the NIJI PLANET sign. To the left and right there are blank rectangles. One is labeled ‘Given Grade’ the other one ‘Self Evaluation’. To the right of the name tags there is a jar full of safety pins and next to that is a stack of holographic stickers.

Pomu makes quick work of her name tag pinning it to the front of her skirt. Twirling around in front of the mirror a bit to make sure the paper was secure. The other two were not too far behind her. Finana, like Pomu, pinned her tag to the front of her skirt while Elira chose to pin it to her shirt covering her stomach.

“You think the stickers are for our self eval?” Finana asked, picking up one of the stickers, flipping them over to peel the paper away from the holographic star only to laugh and show the other two the writing on the back of the sticker.

‘Self Evaluation Stickers. Place one sticker for one letter grade, (eg. 1=f, 2=d, 3=c, 4=b, 5=A, 6=S) in the designated box.’ Elira grabbed four stars while Pomu and Finana grabbed five stars each. Quickly adding them to their tags.

“I think that's it here?” Pomu said with a final glance around. “You ready?”She asked turning back to her friends and teammates.

Elira glanced back at the mirror before nodding assuredly. “Let's go.”

“Lets go~!” Finana cheered. Gleefully taking their hands and dragging them out of the room and down the grey path. The arrows lead them down a dark tunnel that opens into a grand studio. In front of them stood a platform that housed clear chairs numbered 1-40.

To their right is a raised platform sat in front of six plush white chairs behind a desk. The studio's lights seemed like they were turned onto the brightest setting making all three of them squint as they took everything in.

“I didn’t think we would be the first ones here.” Elira spoke softly as her gaze fluttered over her surroundings.

Pomu perked up as she looked over at the top of the seating arrangement. “Look! The top seats are different than the rest of them.” Her hand reached up to point at the tip of the pyramid.

Without warning Finana pulled the girls up the first steps of the platform with the goal to take the top seats. “Let's take the top three spots.” she said with a laugh.

Elira shook her head at her members actions but did nothing to stop the shorter girl from practically ripping her arm from its socket. Just going along with their antics with a smile and a laugh.

Finana practically flopped into the second place chair with a laugh. “It's so high!”

“We can see everyone come in from up here.” Elira said with an approving nod choosing to sit in the third chair. Leaving Pomu to stand alone as she decides where to sit.

There’s a flicker of hesitancy that washes over the blonde’s face before she turns on the spot and sits down in the number one seat. Letting out almost a sigh of relief as she slowly sinks into the chair. “Okay…”

“OBSYDIA”

A robotic voice broke the girls away from their thoughts as a large screen over the raised stage flickered from what was once the LazuLight Entertainment logo to OBSYDIA’s logo.

“Who do you think they sent?” Elira asked, leaning towards the other two girls who just shrugged.

“Isn’t Rosemi part of this company? You know that one trainee that went super viral online?” Finana asked Pomu since the blonde girl always kept up with the latest idol news.

Pomu nodded quickly. “I think so!”

A loud cackling laughter disrupted their conversation, drawing attention to the soft footsteps that came from the tunnel they had all but just came through.