#twst hyperfixation

What if, and hear me out on this for a moment, Neige used Mesmerizer as his song during the VDC, but not to win by playing fair, but by hypnotising the crowd (sort of like what's being done in the 2dmv). It was revealed that Neige had an ongoing rivalry with Vil in book 5, and I just randomly thought of this idea. Because despite his cute appearance, I think it's canon that Neige is very manipulative (not saying Vil isn't but he's the hot kinda manipulative yk??). What if, Neige was aware that Vil was gonna step up his game during the VDC, and he was actually afraid of losing? So instead of playing fair, he spent months preparing something that would guarantee his win; a song that could mesmerize anyone who listened to it. He spent weeks perfecting it, and of course, his crew was given earplugs. Not that Neige didn't want them to admire him, but he still wasn't exactly sure how the song would affect people. He did try it out on one of the students at RSA, under the guise of claiming he just wanted people to listen to his song he'd prepared for the VDC. It worked perfectly. Neige even managed to get someone to animate a hypnosis-like background, but without making it too obvious so people wouldn't immediately suspect him. If all went well, people would be mesmerized into voting for him

Vil, who knew he wasn't allowed to vote since he was one of the team leaders, didn't bother listening to Neige's song. This is what kept him from avoiding hypnosis. Jamil, Kalim, Epel, Ace, Deuce, Grim and Yuu were going over the choreography one last time before it was their turn.

Rook was listening.

By the time it was their turn, though, something seemed... off. Their music cue was late, and the crowd was eerily... silent. Most of them were just... staring. Jamil went to talk to the producer to ask what was going on, but of course the people behind the scenes were hypnotised as well. Jamil, who's signature spell literally involved hypnosis, immediately recognised the signs. He ran back to the group, claiming the producer was under some sort of trance and wouldn't respond to him. It didn't take long for them to figure out that there was some kind of curse at play. And since none of them had been hypnotised despite being at the VDC, Vil's mind immediately went to Neige. It had to have been him. This was his plan all along. To play dirty in order to win.

They did eventually figure out a way to break the spell, with the help of Jamil and Kalim, but he damage was done. Most of the votes had been cast. Including their own team's.

Most of it carries on as regular in the event itself, with Rook betraying Vil by showing him he voted for Neige. Rook explained since he was one of the only ones of their group who was listening, it must've been the hypnosis that made him vote for Neige, since he had no recollection of casting his vote. But Vil was blinded by emotion, and asked him if even without a hypnosis spell, would he have voted for their team in the first place? Rook decided to be honest, since it was not in his nature to lie, especially not to Vil. Vil Overblots, cue full-on crisis, stage gets wrecked, yada yada yada.