"Yuioka, Nijigasaki, and Sainan are forming a three-school alliance?"
Kushida Kikyo had to admit that she was quite surprised when she heard the news Fang Zheng and Yotsuya Miko had brought back.
"Why do they want to do that?"
"There are three reasons."
Fang Zheng raised a finger.
"First, Yuioka was only rebuilt last year. Altogether, they only have a little over a hundred students, so they lack both manpower and funding. Even if they went by the minimum standards for this joint school festival, Yuioka couldn't pull it off alone. That's why they have to join forces with other schools."
"Come to think of it, I heard that Yuioka Girls' has been having some issues with enrollment. They must be eager to use this opportunity to attract new students."
"More or less. That's why Yuioka Girls' decided to provide the venue and co-host it with the others."
"Then what's going on with Nijigasaki Academy? As I recall, Nijigasaki is a very famous and popular high school. Why would they want to co-host with Yuioka?"
"That involves planning."
Fang Zheng shrugged.
"That's the second point I mentioned. It seems both sides intend to make School Idols the centerpiece of the event. Nijigasaki's School Idols apparently don't perform as a group—they each work solo. So they want to complement Yuioka Girls' and put on a live show with both group and solo performances."
"I see..."
Kushida Kikyo frowned slightly at that.
"But that has nothing to do with Sainan, does it? We don't have any School Idols at Sainan, and we weren't planning to hold a live show."
"That's the last point. Our venue happens to be right next to theirs, so if all three schools join forces, we'll effectively occupy the center of the entire event grounds. If we handle