26 Berry Crush you into Juice!
Lee Chaeyeon, and Sakura Miyawaki both ranked A in the re-evaluation. But during the mock video evaluation proposed by Iris, she noticed that Kwon Eunbi encountered difficulties. However, they were able to fix that for the re-evaluation, and Eunbi got an A. Thus their group consisted of four grade A's, two rank C's. They were the avengers group.
But with an opponent of arguably equal strength and appeal, Iris needed to turn the tide of popularity directed at the other team toward themselves. Their expressions, movements, and singing had to be as perfect as possible.
"Excuse me, artist-nim, can I ask you to let me help with Choyeon's eye makeup a little?" Iris asked the makeup artist because she had an idea how to make Choyeon seem more relaxed and less intense.
The surprised lady thought for a moment, debating whether this was allowed. Since there were no rules against it, and the other staff gave her the ok, she nodded and let Iris apply some makeup onto Choyeon. Then Iris directed the makeup artist to finish the rest in a certain way. The resulting appearance softened Choyeon's mien and made her eyes more droopy and cute.
"AH! Iris! This looks really good!" cried Choyeon with joy as she admired herself in the mirror. "Now I'm confident that I can match the theme of the performance with this!"
Iris bobbed her head enthusiastically. She was pleased with both the visual results as well as the confidence boost that the makeup gave. With this, competing against Jang Wonyoung, the center of the other group who was naturally youthful, bright, and refreshing, would become equal as long as Choyeon took care of the dance and expression details.
Before they went out, their leader Eunbi did a group cheer. "Let's go BerryBerry Raspberry!" That was the name of their group.
On the stage, each group introduced themselves. After MixJuice, their rival went, Iris's group went next.
"We are the power duo, Eunris!" said Iris as she leaned back to back with Eunbi with their arms crossed. This was the arising nickname of the two trainees in the competition because of their all around abilities in both performance and teamwork.
"We are the international bestie duo, Chaekura!" Chaeyoung and Sakura hugged one another. They became the best of friends since class A and strengthened that friendship by being in the same group. Little did they know that this friendship would carry them through the whole competition to the end.
"We are your berry-sweet rappers, Mincho!" Minjoo and Choyeon giggled as they hooked arms while assuming cool rapper poses. These two really helped one another. Minjoo learned confidence from Choyeon while she in turned learned how to be soft and sweet from Minjoo. It was an unlikely pairing that worked out.
With this, their introduction was complete. On the other side of the screen, the BTS and soon to be TXT group members next year were cracking up.
"What's this? They made ship names for all of their members?" laughed Jimin as V slapped his shoulder while holding his stomach from laughter.
"Well that's a first. Haha!" Namjoon shook his head with a wide grin. While unexpected, it wasn't really that surprising coming from Iris's group. The group had a lot of personality overall, and the friendships were real based on what the viewers had seen. And certainly, this was one way to capture the audience and make them remember.
Lee Seung Gi chuckled, revealing an endearing eye smile. He knew this introduction would stick with the viewers as the audience went ballistic with each pairing. He then made a member of each group provoke the other team as per the tradition of the show.
"I'm so very berry ready to mix you into a juice!" Choyeon assumed the well-known two forearm pose of IOI's song and then suddenly punched the air with her right fist before slowly turning it the air with an expression that went from cute to fierce to playful.
Everyone gasped and then ruptured into cheers and laughs. Choyeon cleverly used the names of both groups while inputting the song choreography into the battle declaration. The other group, MixJuice, could only smile sheepishly.
"Ah, this Choyeon is funny!" J-Hope chuckled while pointing at the screen.
Jin agreed, noting, "Yeah, she's the one with the fire eyes. They played our song Fire when her large eyes are shown."
"I wonder how she's going to be in this performance. She doesn't quite match the song, but Iris made her change the makeup," remarked Jungkook somewhat thoughtfully with a small giggle at Iris.
"Always trying to get the details down," murmured Jimin. He understood the importance of makeup and style as it helped shaped him to become more confident since their early debut days. That's how he attracted so many people in his performances. Not only was he extra in dancing, but he was extra in stage attitude and flair. This was most apparent in Blood, Sweat, and Tears when his jacket was thrown off his shoulder.
The cute pre-debut TXT members followed along with the conversation of their sunbaes with bobbing heads and wide eyes. They were still not used to being with BTS in close quarters like this.
"Wow, BTS knows Iris really well, don't they?" commented Huening in a whisper to Soobin whose eyes winked when they made eye contact. Soobin's eyes always did that automatically with his members. Even he wasn't so sure why it happened. Later on when they debuted, this was a cute idiosyncrasy that fans picked up on.
As they watched the Very Very Very groups battle it out, the Big Hit family couldn't help admire the captivating professionalism and aura of Iris's group. Kim Choyeon's special makeup really did enhance her looks especially for this stage. She played her center position very well.
Chaeyeon hit all her notes perfectly as the main vocal, and Eunbi pulled off adorable looks along with the dreamily cute Sakura and Minjoo. Iris of course performed wonderfully, as if melding all the group together into one.
"Woah, as expected of Iris." J-Hope felt a burst of pride at his hoobae. Everyone agreed with similar proud smiles.
But what they didn't know was how much she really affected the group in team voting. In a close battle between the two groups, one of the closest of any of the other songs and groups performing in this round, Iris was the decisive factor in clinching a win or loss.
Sitting in the results room after their performance, the BerryBerry Raspberry members nervously waited and peered at the screen. They held each others hands and huddled slightly together. Looking at them together like this, Sakura's earliest words resounded in all the viewers' minds when she made the group initially. They all indeed looked like a well-made bento.
3, 2, 1.
The screen displayed empty boxes next to their names. The group screamed and then held their breath anxiously. The results showed in order of lowest to highest rank mixed with positions comparisons of the other group who was also in the same room as them.
Rapper 1: Ahn Yujin — 62
Rapper 1: Kim Minjoo — 43
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Main vocal: Choi Yena — 64
Main vocal: Lee Chaeyeon — 52
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Rapper 2: Jang Wonyoung (Center) — 90
Rapper 2: Kim Choyeon (Center) — 69
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Sub vocal 3: Hitomi Honda — 70
Sub vocal 3: Iris Huang — 61
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The differences made them gasp. The other group, MixJuice, was so strong. Everyone in BerryBerry Raspberry had lost to the opposing position of the other team.
Sub vocal 1: Na Goeun (Leader) — 42
Sub vocal 1: Kwon Eunbi (Leader) — 43
"Haha, unnie, you're the only one that just beat the other team," said Iris half-heartedly. At this point, it was clear that they were losing.
Sub vocal 2: Miru Shiroma — 112
Iris's heart sunk along with the rest of her team. That was the highest score all night. MixJuice had gotten 440 votes while they only 270 votes with one person missing. They all squeezed Sakura with dread and a sliver of hope left.
Sakura grimaced with her teeth in tearful anticipation. She wished from the bottom of their heart that they could make it, but the situation looked bleak. She also didn't know how popular she was on Produce 48 either, so the first results were a real mystery.
The last result came in.
Sub vocal 2: Sakura Miyawaki — 171
Their whole team screamed and jumped up in shock and amazement.
"Wait wait! How many points is that?!" Iris calmed them down and tried running through the math in her head. But she didn't have to because the screen calculated and the results stood:
Total: Mix Juice — 440
Total: BerryBerry Raspberry — 441
Ear-splitting screeches and cries filled the small room. One point. They had made it by one point. Tears and shouts resounded from each member as they all hugged one another and jumped up and down. Sakura even almost collapsed to the floor, but Chaeyeon caught her, and the rest of the members then supported her and enfolded her in a hug.
"Sakura! You saved our team!" The whole team began chanting her name, making Sakura smile brightly with teary eyes.
Of course, no one would know that it was actually Iris who had changed the course of history from a loss to a win. Everyone had improved because of her, and they clinched that ever elusive win.
To the audience at home, everyone cheered. MNET had successfully created a nerve-wracking situation and made Iris's group out to be the underdog that rose on top. The supposed bento-avengers had barely lived up to their name given by the other trainees and viewers.
And the rejoicing would continue into the fifth episode, the elimination round. With the third and fourth episodes of the group battles over, more than thirty trainees would be leaving home.
