Hiro begins to answer the questions one by one without even trying, a testament to the guitarist's intelligence. Taki immediately understands what's going on. Shuichi has found a way to perform on a show that's not a music program. Then he basically whines that Shuichi is more popular than him and acts like an aging prima dona peeved about a rising ingenue. It's like he's Carlotta and Shuichi is Christine (I wonder if anyone has ever done a Phantom of the Opera/Gravitation crossover? Huh...). We switch back to the game show and Shuichi has to do a physical challenge while answering questions. The problem is Shuichi is...well to be quite blunt he's dumb as a sack of rocks. It's a good thing he's good at music otherwise I have no idea what the heck this kid would do for a living.
The scene shifts to the producer of the game show in the booth and we discover that Shuichi being chosen to answer these questions is no coincidence. The producer is aiming to make sure Bad Luck loses since he doesn't want them to sing on the show. Luckily Seguchi arrives to save the day! He knows that the producer is only concerned about the number of viewers watching. So Seguchi proposes something simpler than a come from behind victory for the other team. One that will draw a more exciting conclusion. Of course, in order to keep suspense, we the readers don't find out immediately what Seguchi has in mind. Instead we turn back to Shuichi and Hiro who are now trailing in points. Noriko and Sakano have already written the show off as a failure since Shuichi obviously doesn't know the answers to any of these questions. However, we finally discover Seguchi's plan with the last question worth double points.
Shuichi runs like a bat out of Hell to answer the question that anyone reading this series would also know: Yuki Eiri. So of course Bad Luck wins the game show and it's a big celebration. Taki is confident that Bad Luck won't be able to sing because they don't have the proper equipment on the game show and since it's a live broadcast they don't have time to set everything up. Seguchi is one step ahead of everyone though and hands a guitar and microphone to Shuichi and Hiro much to the shock of Sakano. They've got three minutes of live broadcast to work with so they move fast. Shuichi and Hiro immediately begin and Sakano faints from the stress of it all (I feel for this guy. It can't be easy being a manager for such an unruly group).
Taki is a stink about this especially since Shuichi is getting a lot of attention. He's immediately suspicious (of course he is, characters like this are always suspicious) since Shuichi managed to know the answer to that one question and none of the others. Douche 1 points out a magazine article to him reporting Bad Luck's first live show when Shuichi shouted out that Yuki was his. Uh oh. Taki is getting some unsavory ideas about what to do with this information. I'm thinking...black mail. It's so slimy and diabolical and I wouldn't put it past a guy who hangs out with douches.
Noriko thanks Seguchi for his help giving Bad Luck a chance to perform and Seguchi is extremely modest about it. Noriko isn't buying it and starts going over the events of Bad Luck's inception. Noriko joins, Ryuichi throws in during the live performance, the game show, it all points to Seguchi showing more attention to the group than he's letting on. I guess he can't be too overt with it since he's also working with ASK and as an executive at N-G records he can't show favoritism. A clearer picture is being made when Seguchi tells Noriko that Sakano had felt a certain gravity from Shuichi and Seguchi, trusting Sakano who he's been working with for 3 years (more or less), is supporting Bad Luck. He admits to Noriko that, the way the business world works, only ASK or Bad Luck will be able to survive. Whoever is the most popular will continue to make music. The other will be dropped.
The scene shifts to Taki, enraged by Bad Luck's success, getting a phone call from a friend of his. He's at a bar with a rather seedy looking woman who tells Taki that if he wants dirt on Yuki, she's willing to talk. She tells him that lately Yuki has been going out with guys, specifically that she heard the name Shindo in regards to who Yuki is seeing. So now Taki knows their secret and he has the look of the predator on his face. The scene shifts to the early morning where Yuki is reading a magazine about Bad Luck while Shuichi sleeps. He talks to himself about how, come tomorrow, one week will have passed and that their time together will officially be over.
And that brings Track 12 and volume 3 to an end. Hey! We're officially a quarter of the way through Gravitation! Awesome! I don't like this development of Yuki being done with Shuichi after a week. It's especially aggravating since a great plot point has been introduced with the jealous Taki having information to black mail Yuki and Shuichi. It would be such a great test of their relationship! And now it looks like the whole thing is being tossed aside because Yuki is being a DICK! Welcome back dick Yuki! NO ONE MISSED YOU!
Ahem. But I digress. We'll just have to see what happens.
Tomorrow we'll be looking at Gravitation: Track 13! See you then.
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