On this day, December 31st, 12 noon.

Kiyoshi Sakamoto, Shin Ogawa, and Masaki Chiba were at the beauty salon, and after getting today's costumes and hairstyles, they went to the New National Theater in Honmachi, Shibuya Ward, where the Record Awards were held, to prepare for the rehearsal of tonight's performance.

Why did the three of them come to the Record Awards to rehearse first? Because at the Record Awards, the band TEH SUN had to perform a song, "Flowers", and Kiyoshi Sakamoto also sang a solo song, "Close Your Eyes". On the red and white side, I also have to sing a song "Close Your Eyes" and a song "Flowers", but because of the playing time, the record awards started relatively early, so I came to the record awards to rehearse first.

Fortunately, NHK and TBS TV stations understand that it is normal for Sakamoto Kiyoshi and THE SUN, who are very popular in this year, to appear on these two programs at the same time, after all, he is a fragrant glutton, and everyone wants it, so the two TV stations are also very cooperative, coordinating the performance time of Sakamoto Kiyoshi and the three of them, so that Sakamoto Kiyoshi and the three of them can appear in the two programs at different times.

It's just that the three poor children of Kiyoshi Sakamoto are suffering, after all, the two programs, Red and White are in Shibuya District, and the record awards are also in Shibuya District, which is not very close, but it will take a while.

"You want to kill us, oops. Kiyoshi Sakamoto had no choice but to complain in his heart as a comforter.

This person is so shameless, he is cheap and good, which newcomer can be on the red and white and record awards at the same time, this kid is still crooked, this kid's idea, if it is known by those who have debuted for four or five years, six or seven years, and can't be on the red and white, they will definitely beat him a hundred times, a hundred times!

Life still has to go on, money still has to be earned, prizes still have to be taken...

In this Sony Records, only Kiyoshi Sakamoto and the SUN band, as well as the big brother and Ken Hirai, received an invitation from Red and White.

This is also a side reflection of the embarrassment of Sony's RB singers now, although it is one of the four major records, but it can really be called a first-line, only two and a half. One is the Rainbow Band, the other is Ken Hirai, and the other half is the popular Kiyoshi Sakamoto.

This is also because Sony Music's main business area is still Europe and the United States, and in Europe and the United States, Sony, which has many big-name singers such as MJ, the god of music, is a behemoth that no one dares to mess with.

It is precisely because of the lack of top singers in RB that Sony Music is optimistic about Kiyoshi Sakamoto and strongly promotes him, hoping that he will become Sony's future banner singer.

Judging from the strong performance of this year, Sony thinks that this policy is correct, and Sony's senior management is also very happy, because Sakamoto Kiyoshi does not know how much economic benefits have been created for the company in this year.

Without further ado, the three of them soon set off from Ginza to the new National Theater in Honmachi, Shibuya Ward.

On the stage of the New National Theater, Kiyoshi Sakamoto first rehearsed his debut single "Close Your Eyes" on stage, and then immediately followed up with Makoto Ogawa and Masaki Chiba to form the TEH SUN band, and continued to rehearse the band's debut single "Flower", and for seven minutes in a row, Kiyoshi Sakamoto sang two songs in a row.

After the rehearsal, Kiyoshi Sakamoto and the three of them immediately took the nanny car non-stop and drove all the way to NHK TV in Shibuya Ward.

Similarly, Kiyoshi Sakamoto, who is also going to sing two songs on the NHK side, because this time Hongbai arranged an interesting place.

Because Kiyoshi Sakamoto is the first person to appear on the red and white stage as a solo singer and a band group at the same time, in order to save the red and white ratings that have been declining in recent years, NHK specially arranged Kiyoshi Sakamoto and THE SUN into the white group at the same time and performed together.

Usually the red and white groups alternate with each other, but this time, NHK did a little trick.

First, Kiyoshi Sakamoto's band TEH SUN will sing "Flowers", and then, after Shin Ogawa and Masaki Chiba go down, Kiyoshi Sakamoto will sing "Close Your Eyes Lightly".

This has become the interesting part of Kiyoshi Sakamoto's two consecutive performances, and it is also NHK's desire to make a big news this time and grab a wave of traffic.

The three people who were supposed to leave the show at ten o'clock, because of the invitation of the Red and White Song Club and the Record Awards, Sony used this excuse to apply to the relevant departments, and the three of them were allowed to work until twelve o'clock on this day, so the originally tight time became relaxed.

If it weren't for this, maybe the three of Sakamoto Kiyoshi would have to have a doppelganger technique to catch up with the two shows.

After the rehearsal, it was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the three of them first arrived at the New National Theater and waited.

Because on the red and white side, you only need to perform on stage, while on the record award side, the artists who may want to go on stage to receive the award have to sit under the stage and be ready at all times.

Kiyoshi Sakamoto, who already knew that he would win the Gold Award, the Best Newcomer Award, and the Composition Award, was very calm.

Because the artists who come to the rehearsal already know that they have won the award, because when they go on stage to receive the award, they will perform next. If it weren't for the advance reminder, the award-winning artist would definitely not know what he was going to perform, and suddenly going on stage would only make the scene very embarrassing.

Therefore, the organizer will notify the award-winning artists internally to come to the rehearsal, which means that they will win the award.

However, the highest award of the Record of the Year Award is selected in the Gold Award, so the artists who already know that they have won the Gold Award are all candidates who are likely to win the Record Award.

In the new National Theater, the three of Sakamoto Kiyoshi also took advantage of this time to brush their faces and favorability in front of their predecessors in the music industry.

After all, newcomers, they must do a good job of politeness, so that they will not let this country that pays great attention to politeness point the finger at themselves...

After a wave of visits, when the three of them returned to the lounge, it was almost time for the start of the record awards, so the three of them walked from the backstage to the artist booth under the stage and sat down.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the 46th RB Record Awards officially began.

As one of RB's most famous bands, the three Sakamoto Kiyoshi are all big fans of this band, among which Ogawa Shin and Chiba Masaki will start playing the band because of their influence.

So the two have been talking to Kazutoshi Sakurai, the soul of Mr. Children, and the kind of fans have an unobstructed look on their idol's expression.

Even Shin Ogawa, who usually has a calm face, looks at Kazutoshi Sakurai as if there are stars in his eyes.

And Sakurai and Shou, seeing that the three members of the SUN band, which has been very popular recently, are so young, and cute, and young. . . The three of them, two sixteen years old and one fourteen years old, made Kazutoshi Sakurai, who is thirty-four years old this year, sigh at the passage of time, so he chatted with the three of them.

Sakurai is a very humorous and kind person, and in the chat, Sakurai, as the predecessor of the band, is humorously talking about things, while popularizing some advice and advice about the direction of the band, so that the three of them have benefited a lot.

"By the way, Sakurai-san, who do you think will win this year's record award?" At this time, Chiba Masaki, who is usually frizzy, asked this question that was not easy to answer.

After Sakamoto Kiyoshi heard it, he still wanted to make amends, who knows, Sakurai Kazutoshi did not hesitate at all in the face of this offending question, and immediately replied, "I'm optimistic about Sakamoto-kun." ”

"Huh, what's going on with me, Brother Sakurai, I've only just debuted in my first year... Kiyoshi Sakamoto's heart did not fluctuate, and he even wanted to laugh.

Because Kiyoshi Sakamoto personally thinks that the possibility that Sakurai said is not impossible, but it is not big.

Although Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Close Your Eyes" and THE SUN's "Flower" entered the Gold Award at the same time, and the Record Awards were born in the Gold Award, this does not mean that there will definitely be a chance for Kiyoshi Sakamoto.

Kiyoshi Sakamoto doesn't think that he, a newcomer who has just debuted, has much chance of winning the record award.

However, Kiyoshi Sakamoto still has advantages, one is sales, "Close Your Eyes" and "Flower" both exceeded one million, and they were the only three singles in 2004.

The second is popularity, since his debut, Sakamoto Kiyoshi's popularity has been high, and after the debut of the SUN band, his popularity has increased even more, after all, the band's fan attraction is still very high.

The third is topicality, in this year, Sakamoto Kiyoshi experienced the debut of MS, which made the people realize the existence of genius; after fainting the turmoil, it was revealed that he was a student of Masaharu Fukuyama; and then to "Close Your Eyes" as the theme song of the highest-grossing pure love movie "Calling for Love in the Center of the World" in history, which became a big hit; and in Tokyo Inokashira Park, two 30-minute band LIVE, attracting 12,000 people; and finally the "gunman incident" occurred, which made his "ten-minute magic skill" appeared in front of the world, and also made him, who was already so popular, that he became a "genius composer" known to everyone.

Listed in this way, Sakamoto Kiyoshi seems to have a real chance to win this annual record award...

However, Sakamoto Kiyoshi, who is not very intuitive about his popularity and influence, is adhering to the low-key way of life, and immediately waved his hand to Sakurai Kazutoshi, and said, "No, no, Sakurai-san thinks too highly of me, it's not the time for me to win such a big award, I think you have a great chance of winning the award." ”

When Kiyoshi Sakamoto said this, he was not patting on the back, but to be honest, because this year's Mr. Children's song "sign" also sold more than 700,000 this year, which was the third place in single sales in 2004 along with Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Close Your Eyes" and THE SUN's "Flower".

And as the theme song of the TV series "Orange Years", it is very popular with everyone.

In this way, it seems that this year's record awards are either Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Close Your Eyes", or Mr. Children's "sign", oh, and the SUN band's "Flower", there is also a chance, but there is not much hope.

Time passed slowly in the small talk between THE SUN and Mr. Children.

Soon, the first award, the Newcomer Award, began.

Ai Otsuka, Ayaka Hirahara, Aiko Moriyama, Takeshi Kitayama, Kiyoshi Sakamoto, THE SUN.

Then, among these people, the best newcomer award is selected.

With a wave of selling by the host on the stage, the last name finally came out after a long time.

"Kiyoshi Sakamoto!"