At this point, most of us certainly have our favorites. For us, those are Nodoka Yagi, our food queen, and Ao Yodogawa, the charming athlete. That doesn’t mean that we’d like to see the others fail, though. They’ve all proven themselves during the first round and even managed to solve some of their issues, resulting in a better version of themselves. With this sudden bomb being dropped, it feels like the anime betrayed us. It’s done a good job bringing the girls together and making us attached to them. Suddenly wanting to destroy those bonds feels… sadistic.

While we understand that Selection Project is a program that aims to debut the best of the best, the mood and atmosphere the anime has created give us the impression that everything will end with all of them forming an idol group. This isn’t just our sentiment, either. The girls clearly feel the same as they’ve shown and even explicitly said they want to debut together.

The greatest obstacle that is obstructing this from happening is Rena relinquishing her right to the spotlight. She even goes as far as thanking her fans for supporting her up to the present, subtly implying she’ll be out of competition soon. If that’s not a farewell message, we don’t know what is. That being said, she’s definitely not going to collude with the others in order to game the system. However, we also can’t see her actually voting for anyone. This leaves with the only possibility that she’s voted for herself, especially since she’s planning to sacrifice herself as a scapegoat anyway.

In order to negate Rena voting for herself, the other aspirants must either collude to vote for each other in a way that everybody only gets one vote or everybody votes for themselves. This way, nobody will have a majority vote and they wouldn't, at the very least, be choosing who gets eliminated in this round.

Of course, such a strategy doesn’t have a guaranteed outcome. The management may find their antics unamusing and threaten them into doing another round of voting. However, what matters most is how the viewers will receive such an act. It’s important to note that Selection Project is a national program, whose crux is viewership. If the girls do pull such a trick and the fans support it, then the program will be forced to accept their decision. Though, even if that happens, it doesn’t mean the girls will have it easy from then on.

Since they’ve spoken, they will have to prove that they deserve their spot. They will have to continue garnering the fans’ affection, while also improving themselves. Only then will the fans continue to support them, give them cheers, and also force the management not to eliminate anybody.