User blog comment:Lucy554/Aikatsu! RolePlay Fun! Continued: The Papillon Perfume Audition!/@comment-25104896-20170718121958

(Please excurse eventual mistakes. English is not my first language.)

''I'll write Erika's POVs as somekind of diary for now. I don't know how to do it otherwise yet, despite the fact that Erika's a character who'd have many monologues. I think styling her POV as a diary fits best. Of course, her diary is locked and she doesn't want anyone to read it. She'd feel embrassed. However, to be a challenge for herself, she decided to upload her diary from now on online, so idol fans can learn more about her and she is able to be more open towards her fans.''

Diary Entry Papillon Perfume Audition

To the me of tomorrow,

today, I have joined my first audition outside of the school entrance exam. It's the "Papillon Perfume Audition". To be honest, it generally isn't my cup of tea. I prefer to perform, and I don't have any experience in terms of modeling and similar. However, since everyone is joining, I decided to join as well. It kind of feels manditory. I know that I don't have a good chance, but I'll try my best~!

Concerning my preparations, I don't know a lot about perfume. I don't use it a lot either! However, once I learned of the audition, I started using the Gorgeous Cedar perfume, since I decided to audition for the perfume. Green is my image colour after all.

I didn't grow up in Tokyo, but in a small city close to the sea. We do have nature and forrests around, but I know the scent of the ocean breeze a lot better. I decided to audition for the Gorgeous Cedar perfume instead of the Ocean Spray perfume since it proposes a challenge. I know the sea a lot, so I might wouldn't be able to show how special the perfume is, since the scent reminds me of my old, normal life.

However, I don't know much about forrests, so I looked a bit into the different types of forrests in Japan. I also took a weekend to walk through the landside outside the city that's close to the academy. I actually liked them a lot, and practised in the woods.

Next up in my preparation was visiting some shopping malls. I visited different stores that have perfumes in storage and spoke to girls in my age who were shopping. I asked them about their favorite brands (in terms of perfumes, obviously. I didn't have enough time for other questions) and about their thoughts about the brand of Gorgeous Cedar. At some point, the store was playing Shirogane Lily-senpai's Dreaming bird, and I couldn't help but dance a bit. It was fun, but also embrassing when people noticed me. The stage's different - people can't directly come to you and speak to you about your performance. You somehow have a wall around yourself. But in the shop, it was different. I got feedback from the customers and was invited by the shop owner to come again. That was great. I might want to do that again.

Honestly, performances without a stage and without preparations, and maybe without coords - that sounds interessting to me! Usually, Aikatsu! performances are using the Aikatsu! system, but I want to show that I have an aura on my own. I can perform and leave impact without needing a system to back me up. I can perform in any clothes as well. I decided to do that again, without any announcements. I want to be a new type of idol, and that's my start line~!

Back to the audition. Since I now know more about the fragrance and perfumes, I started working on my performance. I had to decide on a good coord and a song. More importantly, What do I want to convey?

I cannot use Silent Echo, since it wasn't approved yet. I love the brand's style, but I had to choose cards from other brands for now. I know that this will give me more experience, so I am grateful. Since I am a cool-type idol, I would choose a cool-typed good coord.

It has to be mainly green in two pieces of the coord, and I have to have a similar shade of green in those two cards. That's easy; green is my theme colour. I need a leaf / similar motiv, and I need shoes that I can use to walk in a forrest. I didn't exactly understand the rule "This coord should also be free, just like the leaves on a tree." at first, but after speaking to my brother, we understood it, I think. The coord must convey the message of freedom. Leaves of a tree are bound to the tree, but when they grow old enough, in fall, they fall and the wind blows them away through the world. Nothing is able to stop them from leaving.

So, I started working on my coord. I first just browsed through a list of coords.

Maybe, I'm influenzed by Silent Echo, but I really wanted to chose a coord that reminds of a school uniform with a slight rebel style; an outfit, I had chosen to wear on my trip to the forrest. I wanted to use the Green Rock School Girl Skirt, but if I had chosen that, I wouldn't have found any leaves on my coord. I mean, I've seen coords for the audition that didn't include the theme at all, but I wanted to try!

So, I decided onto the Color Active Jacked and the Boots. They're both green and I think that the brown stars could be star-shaped leaves in fall...? Well, with a lot fantasy.

In the end, I decided to use the Rhythm Rockin' Roll Shorts. It uses a camouflage pattern, and I think that it reminds of the woods as well. Plus, it's military style, and it's a wink to Silent Echo. I just feel better when performing in my own style.

Once I had the main part, I felt better a lot. Chosing my acressoiry was easy. I also found other cards, I could have used, but by now, my coord just felt like a coord, I'd wear.

Instead of being like others, I am myself. I won't disappear in the crowd! (AN: It's a reference to Keyakiazak46's song Silent Majority, her favorite song.)

I decided on the Butterfly Tail Accessory. Why? "Papillon" translates to "Butterfly", it's French. So, having a butterfly in my outfit was a must-be!

I've also found a few coords that'd be nice to use for the Ocean Spray audition, so if anyone needs a tip, I can give one~!

Next up was the song, I'd be performing. I didn't need to think a lot. I'd be performing "Mori e Ikou" from AKB48. The song is about going to the woods, a mysterious world even thought it's forbidden by the adults. It's about hope, dreams and seeing beyond. It's about what I want to express! It would fit to me choosen dress as well, I think.

The "woods" in the song are an unknown place. In the Japan of today, many people live in cities and don't know the nature well, so it's only natural that they'd be afraid of going to the unknown places, the "woods". However, I want to convince other people in my age of trying to live on their own. I want them to try out things, even if the adults forbid them!

For short, this is my coord, and I'll perform "Mori e Ikou" by AKB48 (YouTube; I can send lyric links as well.) I'll participle in the Gorgeous Cedar audition.