INTERSECTION member Kazuma has suddenly announced that he is leaving “CHUANG 2021” due to family issues. In a Weibo video, he apologized to his fans and thanked them for their support. He added that their support gives him hope that he will someday be able to fulfill his dream. He also apologized to his INTERSECTION groupmates Mika and Caelan, since they went to China together with the dream that they would debut there together.

The news comes as a shock, since Kazuma has ranked in the top ten of the show’s contestants since rankings started two episodes ago. He reached his peak ranking of #4 with the latest episode, coming in at #6 the week before.

In fact, all five of Avex’s contestants have ranked high on “CHUANG 2021.” Mika has been ranked #1 for both episodes where rankings have been released. Caelan was ranked #12, then #11 during the same period. WARPs UP’s SANTA was ranked #4, then #2. His groupmate RIKIMARU was ranked #8 both episodes.

With the Avex contestants doing so well, and Kazuma suddenly leaving, Chinese netizens have started to buzz that maybe Kazuma isn’t leaving on his own, and that maybe he won’t be the last Avex contestant to leave.

With so many Japanese contestants currently looking like they have a shot to make the final group, this could be a problem, given that there is still anti-Japanese sentiment in China. We will just have to wait and see how things pan out.