The announcement had been made for the girls to gather in the main set for the recording of the current week's mission. With a few minutes before she needed to reach the hot, intensely lit atrium, AeRi slipped out of the dorm and to the bathroom. The crinkle of her pad wiggling between her fingers provided the only noise in the silent corridor. Just as the open bathroom door came into view, one of the identical producers in black clothes and cap stepped out.

AeRi nodded a polite greeting and the producer nodded back. Then they froze ahead of her.

"Is something w-"

"Do you really think that's appropriate for an idol?" they sneered.

"Appropriate?" AeRi repeated. Her voice had fallen to the awkward side of the squeaky spectrum. Not cute. She followed the stern gaze of the producer’s eyes to the product in her palm.

"Maybe you haven't been instructed correctly by your agency, but idols use tampons, not pads. How could you risk the chance of the viewers seeing it through your clothes.” He shook his head as though listening to a depressing news broadcast. “And didn't you know pads leak? What would the fans think if they saw the blood?” The horror in his face matched the horror in her gut. “That's disgusting!"

AeRi forced more fluster than she felt as she hurried to apologise. "I'm sorry, Producer, I-"

"There are service machines in the bathrooms, make sure to equip yourself more appropriately in future."

"Yes, Producer,” AeRi replied with a bob of a bow, solemn. “Thank you for the advice."

The producer nodded and hurried away towards the set. AeRi stalked into the bathroom with scrunched shoulders and a flat, furious face. After relieving herself and inserting the painful and scratchy tampon she got from the old creaky machine by the sinks, she stared at herself in the mirror and forced her expression back to pleasantry. Endurance and willpower were the keys to survival and success.

As much as she hated the producers, as much as they disgusted her as much as her period disgusted them, all she had to do was smile for the camera and watch ninety-four girls die. Simple. She smiled at herself in the mirror, a sugary sweet idol smiled back: AeRi the Faerie.

The Faerie fluttered onto set, her eyes shining wide despite the bright lights that other, lesser, girls winced away from.

The host, dressed in a sharp suit with dark hair brushed back like a movie gangster, was shifting on the central podium while production assistants shuffled wires and arranged cameras. The girls were organised by number in a semi-circle around him, stood on fluorescent purple, diamond-shaped tiles.

They were counted in, but AeRi kept her perfect smile in place anywhere there were cameras anyway, and the host launched into enthusiastic greeting of the viewers.

"-and I'm sure you're just as excited as our Idol Survivors to find out what this week will entail! What mission will they take on to show you their idol ability and dedication?" His straight white teeth seemed to shine between every word. "As you may know, being an idol takes a lot of hard work and training. In order to fulfil your destiny you must be dedicated to your skill and the maintenance of your body!" AeRi nodded along with the other girls, bobble heads all around her. "This week we must ensure that only the contestants willing to shape themselves into idols remain in the competition."

Cogs creaked in AeRi's mind. It wasn't unusual for a talent survival show to have an episode dedicated to conditioning and healthy eating, but they had just spent a week doing interviews and filming special skill segments, so they really should be getting back to eliminations by now.

"With the help and guidance of our health and fitness experts, your girls will be expected to shave off two kilograms from their bodies in the pursuit of perfection and then complete a trio of physical tasks, testing their strength, stamina, and willpower!"

Very carefully, AeRi risked a glance at the girls around her, the majority appeared very afraid. Some smiled through fearful eyes. Others were gaping like fish. The trial ahead was their hook.

"Idol Survival's incredible generous sponsors have provided state of the art gym equipment to aid the girls in their quest for self-improvement. A round of applause for them!"

The girls clapped. When the nearest camera swooped over her, AeRi winked.

"Now, let's meet the experts who will be providing personalised nutrition and training plans to every girl for the week!"

Each expert was introduced with a video montage of their achievements and credentials displayed on a giant screen at the back of the room. The girls clapped for each one after they gave a few words. Either encouraging the commitment of a health journey, or threatening intense and gruelling work under their tutelage.

One by one, the girls were paraded to a scale with an enormous screen displaying their current weight. AeRi smiled proudly at her number and waved at the camera as she hopped off the raised metal square. She was already perfect.

As soon as filming was finished, the moaning began. Not AeRi, though, she was no fool. She was headed straight to the workout facilities. Screw the personalised programme.

On her way through the back corridors of the enormous studio, a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks at the corner where the corridor met the next. She paused and let her shoulder fall against the wall to listen in.

“-is clearly already underweight! If you were really promoting health and wellness in this episode you would challenge her to gain weight.”

“You do not dictate the rules of the show, Sami. Every contestant agreed to take part in any challenge brought to them, and that includes Chyou. No exceptions or it wouldn’t be fair to the others.”

“She does not have two kilograms to lose! It’s not a fair competition if it’s physically impossible for her to complete the task. That’s a scam!”

“We cannot account for contestants entering the competition without preparing themselves properly. She knew when she signed the paperwork that she was skinny, and she’s had two weeks to eat as much as she wanted from our facilities. I will not discuss this any further with you.”

AeRi folded her arms over her chest and squinted at the floor. Interesting that it should be ex-idol Sami contesting the rules of a weight-loss challenge with how she’d let herself go since disbandment. She should be grateful for the opportunity to shed all those excess pounds she was hefting around as she danced. AeRi would bet on Sami making it through purely because she had so much to lose, that scrawny blonde girl Chyou, though… just another of the ninety-four that needed to be plucked out of her way.

When the pair had cleared from the approaching corridor, Sami still grumbling and the producer sighing loudly, AeRi continued. She was first to the newly unlocked gym facilities. On the treadmill, she began to lay out her own plan for the week.

Sweat-slicked bangs adorned the majority of the faces in the practice room when AeRi slipped inside. Aerobic exercises were being led, of course, by Sami. She wasn’t even the leader of her own, failed, girl group, but thought herself qualified to stand above the rest here. AeRi swallowed her snide comments and peered around the room. The great leader’s golden retriever was nowhere to be seen. Probably for morale purposes, AeRi mused, it was too depressing to look at the skin and bones of a doomed girl.

“You girls need to be careful of heat stroke!” she announced with buckets of faux concern. The panting girls shrugged or gave her curious looks as they flailed their limbs. AeRi scooted to the back of the room and turned on the AC. “Let’s workout safely, sisters!” She joined the back line, furthest from the AC unit now blasting out cold air, and followed Sami’s moves to the upbeat music. As the cooling air filled the room, a collection of coos and relieved sighs filled the room for a few seconds. AeRi smiled wider.

After a few songs, she danced sideways out of the room and moved on to the next practice room.

“You girls need to be careful of heat stroke!” she called into the room, heading straight for the control box on the wall.

Once all but one of the practice rooms, in use or not, were set to chilled, AeRi took herself to the last one and set the heat up to full. Any time she wasn’t working out, she was layered up. Any time she worked out, she wanted the maximum sweat release. At least twenty-four hours before the weigh-in she would stop consuming water. Now, she was consuming it by the gallon. Lemon and Cucumber slices bobbed in her bottles, all for the aid of speeding up her metabolism.

Water for breakfast and snacks. A sweet potato for lunch. An apple for dinner. Nothing on the day of the weigh-in.

There was no room for cravings or laziness. There were no guarantees in weight loss, especially short-term.

The catering team were more than happy to help her in procuring protein bars and energy snacks, she left baskets of them in every gym area and practice room. She checked them every day, feeling excited sparks under her skin at the depletion.

At the mid-week mark, she skipped to each set of scales in the gym, flicking the counter underneath to drop the spindle down by just one kg. Just enough for a false sense of security. Not for AeRi, she was aiming for at least three kilograms, just in case the producers had already fucked the scales to mess with them.

Three days left, and even on the dodgy scales she was on track.

Eye-whitening drops, heavy, shiny lip gloss and thick powder covered AeRi’s dehydration. She looked so petite and pretty in the bathroom mirror as she prepared for the weigh-in taping. This size wouldn’t stick; the moment she returned to her regular regimen her weight would level out. For now though, and immortalised forever by the cameras, she was a real faerie.

AeRi the faerie fluttered to the giant scale beneath the flat screen blaring out weights. Her tiny stretchy shorts and crop top weren’t just to show off her new fine-line figure. She wouldn’t risk chunky clothing ruining her hard work. Hopping on to the raised metal platform, she twirled for the cameras and struck a pose to await the final number. Hand curled high above her head, leg stuck out behind her, she watched the number climb and climb.

It settled. Final result: minus three point five kilograms.

AeRi beamed at the small shining lenses pointed at her and leapt from the scale with a victorious laugh.

Behind her in the queue was a Voldemort look-a-like with blonde hair and a chubby ex-idol at her back, steadying her in her approach of the scale. They were both sporting new styles, AeRi noted. Short, boyish hair and skimpy clothing. How desperate. AeRi watched Chyou ascend, turning her eyes pitiful for any sweeping shots.

To the shock of every producer and contestant, even the host, the bony creature that stepped up on to the scale was able to step back off. No yell of ‘OUT,’ no gun shot, nothing. She stumbled slightly as she returned from the raised scale (deliriously in the wrong direction) and Sami caught her in a hug, squeezing her so close she could crush the skinny girl to dust. Good, weed her out before the end. AeRi wouldn’t tolerate weak girls in her final line-up.

Eight girls were executed for not being able to drop the weight, less than she expected. A further two couldn’t pass the fitness tests. AeRi sighed to herself as she reclined in her bunk that night. She had done all she could.

Now all she could hope was that the next week’s challenge was particularly deadly. Forty-six girls still needed to go.