"Shut up! His eyes were handsome. I saw it through his mask," Mimi exclaimed, her eyes still on the screen.
"She's gone crazy," Lala whispered to Sasha.
"I can still hear you, guys."
As team Abyss assumed their positions, the training process was first shown. It started with the interim evaluation.
The training room was a bundle of nerves. Azure's tension-filled editing style made the audience watch on the edge of their seats.
"I remember this feeling," Lala said. "Mentor Gun is still as scary as ever."
"Oh, you were one of his favorites," Mimi retorted. "I, on the other hand, had to earn his respect. I could see he feels the same way with this group."
The camera panned to capture the trainees' performance, but something seemed off.
"Wait...they're performing our song, right?" Lala asked.
Sasha squinted at the screen. "Looks like it. But why does it feel like they're performing it on another planet?"
Lala chuckled. "I can already sense the internet exploding with memes about this."
The trainees struggled with synchronization, some were out of tune, and their choreography was far from polished. Awkward glances and hesitant moves filled the performance, creating an almost comical spectacle.
- Is this a cover or a cosmic joke?
- My expectations are officially buried.
- They turned our bop into a flop.
- Someone call 911 because this is an emergency.
- I'm scared they might break the space-time continuum with this performance.
Sasha burst into laughter. "Oh goodness, these comments are brutal!"
"Well, to be fair, this is... quite something," Lala trailed off.
"You're judging them too quickly," Mimi said. "Just watch."
"Girl, we are watching," Sasha chuckled.
The trainees on screen finally wrapped up their performance to a mix of scattered applause from the trainees and bewildered expressions from the judges. Then, it switched to the next scene, where the team merely sat in silence.
Although the girls weren't there, they could still feel the tension in the air.
"Are they just going to sit there?" Mimi asked. "Do something, please."
Just then, the camera panned over to June, and he was seen bringing out a red pack from his bag. He started going through the gummies one by one, slipping them into his mask at an appalling speed.
"What are those?" Lala asked.
- Those look familiar. I also ate those when I was younger.
- Wait, BenBen gummies?
- BenBen gummies? The one that makes you taller?
- HAHAHAHAHA June surprises me every minute! Brother, I'm an 18-year-old teenage boy who eats this too. It's reassuring to see an idol who also wants to improve his height!
The three girls burst into giggles.
"Okay, this June guy is pretty cute," Lala admitted.
"See?" Mimi boasted.
"Their performance is still shit, though," Sasha snorted.
As the frustrating scenes continued, Akira was seen leaving the room. Then, a personal interview was shown.
Akira just sat there in silence before tears started streaming from his eyes.
"Aww, poor guy," Lala said. "We promoted with them too, right? When we disbanded, they just newly-debuted."
"I remember this guy," Mimi said. "He was so full of life then. He must be struggling a lot."
Sad piano music started playing, and the words—"Why are you crying?" were shown on the screen.
Akira sniffed. "I don't know. It's just been really tough for the last couple of days. Actually, it's been very difficult for us to come here—RAVEN, that is. We thought we would be promoting for a long time after all those years of training, but in the end, our group still disbanded."
"Then, we got a lot of hate for joining this show. People are saying it's quite unfair for us to be competing with trainees without experience. But we're also trainees too. We're no longer idols," he continued.
"And to make matters worse, my teammates are in a different group. I really thought Jaeyong would pick me, too," he whispered.
After that, the scene shifted to him sitting all alone in the lounge room, still quietly crying.
- Aww, my baby Akira!
- You're going to debut. Mark my words.
- Vote for Akira, you guys.
- You just can't expect to always be picked by your team members. It's why you're the most unpopular member here.
- Ah, really. Why do haters exist?
Sasha sniffed, causing her two friends to turn to her. "Wait, you're crying?" Lala asked.
Sasha nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. She could actually relate to Akira. Before joining Rising Stars, Sasha was also part of a small K-pop group. They definitely weren't as famous as RAVEN, but she could still relate to his words.
Mimi rubbed her back, comforting her dear friend.
Just then, the scene showed June coming out of the room. He sat in the lounge area, appearing to be in deep thought, when he suddenly noticed Akira.
He stood up and sat beside him, seemingly comforting him.
"Wait, shh!" Mimi exclaimed. "June's on screen."
"We weren't even speaking," Lala chuckled.
"Shh!"
There was a moment of silence before June started speaking.
"You did so much to protect the things you love, but it just seemed futile in the end—all the hard work, sacrifices, and kiss-assing you've done are all lost. But there's nothing we can do but face whatever's handed to us. Because in this way, we're protecting what we love, too. In your case—it's your dreams."
His mini-speech was shown, and Mimi felt herself falling deeper for June.
"Kyaah! That was so cool," Mimi exclaimed, placing her hand over her beating chest.
"He sounds like a really good guy," Lala complimented. "I'm starting to see his appeal now."
After that, June's and Akira's conversation in Japanese was also shown.
The three girls looked at each other with wide eyes.
"He...speaks...Japanese," Mimi slowly said. However, deep inside, she was already losing her mind.
"Oh goodness. You like him even more, huh?"
Mimi enthusiastically nodded.
- June is an angel in human form.
- Us Akira stans have officially adopted June.
- Did you see the way he looked at Akira? My heart can't handle it!
- Fangirls are really crazy. He's wearing a cat mask, for goodness sake!
- June's comforting presence is giving me life.
And just like that, June trended on Navel once again.
#JuneTheAngelKitty
