"Ha! Did Gao Yizi-san come to Japan?" Rika was thrilled.
"Of course not." Motari had his sunglasses on, making it hard to see his eyes roll, then asked, "Is Gao Yizi-san your only idol overseas?"
She nodded without hesitation. "I care more about the quality of idols. Gao Yizi-san gave us classic films with his very life. Since I was a kid, I wanted to become an artist like him, but I failed."
Gao Yizi-san was basically eighty percent Jackie Chan of Earth, Asia's famous martial arts superstar. The missing twenty percent came from the fact that when he tried to break into Hollywood at his peak, he suffered a serious injury and half-retired ever since.
Even so, he was still a super idol in Japan. Motari couldn't help but sigh, "Gao Yizi-san has the purest performer's heart. He's a role model for everyone in the industry."
"In that case, let's welcome our guest—" Motari's old voice dragged on. "Time magazine called him the savior who rescued the record industry. People magazine listed him as one of the 100 greatest foreigners from 2000 to 2025. Rolling Stone credited him with the longest-running No.1 single on the UK Charts. People's Daily named him among the 60 Chinese who shaped New China. Asahi Shimbun named him one of twenty foreigners who've had a major influence on 21st-century Japan…"
He kept listing accolades. Gu Nanxi had been on plenty of papers too, praised during her peak, but when she appeared onstage, the host only said, "Apple Daily called her one of Treasure Island's three most beautiful new-generation voices."
Now she realized why they'd dragged out Apple Daily. She just didn't have much impressive coverage to mention.
Apple Daily might be the highest-selling paper in Taiwan, but compared to the outlets Motari was reading off for Chu Zhi, the gap was enormous. His reviews came from either world-famous entertainment magazines or national mainstream media.
"To be flashy, you need someone heavyweight like this."
Even the Johnny's juniors in attendance couldn't hold back their awe. They didn't even have access to the show's full script, but one glance at those accolades was enough. Who else could it be? Only one Chinese singer fit that description.
The not-yet-debuted boys all stared, full of envy. If only they could achieve a tenth of that someday.
Music Station's team was brutally honest. They listed every single honor the guest had, and Motari went on for a full minute and a half before he was done.
"Welcome, the Voice of Angels, Chu Zhi!" Motari announced.
Chu Zhi walked out slowly from backstage, and the venue erupted. Exploded, in fact. That's the only word for it. The cheers were louder than for any of the handsome guys or pretty women earlier.
The audience, who'd all been sitting down, were now off their seats, leaning forward as if pulled by a tide.
Even veterans like Flying Bull and Firebird stood to applaud. The scene matched that phrase you always see flying across bullet screens: "Everyone stands up."
"Oooh oooh oooh!" Rika made noises like a howler monkey.
"Wasn't Gao Yizi-san your only idol?" Motari teased.
"Chu-dono isn't just an idol. He's my everything, my faith!" she declared without hesitation.
And she wasn't the most exaggerated one. Glamorous diva Hirokumo Ryoko outright left the guest seat, intercepting Chu Zhi before he even reached center stage, begging for an autograph.
"Ryoko-san, calm down, calm down!" Motari shouted. "Rika, stop her!"
But Rika also rushed up with her notebook, not stopping Ryoko at all, but making it worse.
With someone leading the charge, half the guest artists followed, and the stage turned chaotic.
"Japanese stars really know how to play up variety shows," Gu Nanxi muttered. She had the schedule, so the other guests must have too. They knew Chu Zhi would close the show. This was partly dramatized.
But she couldn't help admiring him too. If the production team dared to hype it this much, it meant the Japanese audience believed Chu Zhi deserved it. More than that, if Ryoko wasn't really a fan, TV Asahi couldn't have forced her to act this way, not at her level.
"Even when Gao Yizi came to Japan, the reaction wasn't this wild," Gu Nanxi thought as Chu Zhi kept signing autographs. Someone even dropped to one knee and proposed marriage on the spot.
Everyone knew it was exaggerated, but it still whipped the audience into a frenzy, almost causing a stage accident.
How could someone propose marriage? Even as a joke, that was too much. If anyone was gonna propose, it should've been her!
It took more than ten minutes for order to return. Motari picked the show back up.
"Music Station's been running for over twenty years, and Chu Zhi is the first guest ever to throw the entire stage into chaos," Motari said. "So, what song will you bring us today?"
"I'll perform an English song I wrote a long time ago," Chu Zhi replied. "Back then, I didn't dare sing it. Now I finally have the courage. The song's called 'come.on.sweet.death.'"
The name made everyone tense up. Japanese people spoke decent English, and in the entertainment industry, it was impossible not to understand. "Come on, sweet death." Damn. Hosts, guests, even the audience stiffened. What kind of song was this?
Thanks to Sony Music's Omori Genjin's little scam, Japanese Ragdoll fans had once been mercilessly gouged. So anyone who knew even a little about entertainment news also knew Chu Zhi's tragic past. With that in mind, hearing this song title felt ominous.
The hosts handed the stage to him.
🎵 "I know, I know I've let you down"
"I've been a fool to myself" 🎵
He sang with his Angel's Gospel voice, but the opening lines were painful: I know I let you down, I've always been a fool.
Hirokumo Ryoko and Flying Bull with Firebird had just given great live performances, but Chu Zhi's song was on another level entirely. The contrast between the beautiful voice and the heart-wrenching lyrics created an extreme kind of beauty.
🎵 "I once thought I didn't have to live for anyone else"
"But after all this pain, it's time I learn respect" 🎵
His English lyrics were raw and unforgettable, yet somehow comforting at the same time.
Side note: There's a rumor on Chinese internet that "lip-syncing is illegal in Japan." The truth is, in Japan if you're not singing live, you must label it, just like juice drinks there. If it's not 100% juice, the label has to say what percent it is. So if you label a performance as live but lip-sync, that's consumer fraud.
===
The original "Come, Sweet Death" is a song from Neon Genesis Evangelion soundtrack, known as "Komm, süsser Tod" (German for "Come, Sweet Death").