Chapter 4: Genmates

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The next day arrived in the blink of an eye. Hiro found himself seated in a lounge, attempting to relax. His demeanor was a bit peculiar. On one hand, he tried to appear at ease but was cautious not to appear too relaxed, as that might be deemed impolite. So, he maintained a somewhat formal posture, resembling a young person waiting for a job interview. His behavior drew a few curious glances, especially considering he was dressed quite formally. While the receptionist wanted to approach him, his typical resting "resting bitch face" expression was a bit intimidating, leading to his isolation.

"Hiro? You're already accepted into this company, right? Don't be so tense. And you've also arrived way too early," Marie said when she arrived about three hours later.

Hiro glanced at the clock, which showed 2 PM. He tilted his head, trying to understand the meaning of her words. Unaware that Vtubers usually work during the evening, sometimes even into the late night hours. The regular employees here, like janitors, receptionists, and accountants, maintained regular office hours. However, he didn't realize that he was an exception. He had intentionally arrived slightly later at 11 AM, not wanting to disturb his senior Vtubers. Little did he know, even that was considered too early.

"Sorry. I wasn't sure when the senpais would be working, so I aimed to arrive around noon, a bit later than typical working hours," Hiro explained.

https://youtu.be/YngOkFvZOto

"Justina, Sherly, and I will prepare for our streams at 4 PM. I'll be streaming at 4.30, Justina at 6, and Sherly at 8. Ruru often does surprise streams, so her schedule is more random," Marie explained.

"Alright, thank you for the information," Hiro replied with a nod. The automatic door opened again, revealing an unfamiliar girl who greeted Marie.

"Good afternoon, Marie Senpai," she said. Hiro quickly deduced that she was one of his new coworkers. While her appearance wasn't as polished as Marie's, she still dressed stylishly and exuded a mature, composed aura. Her calm voice was pleasant to hear.

"Hello, I'm Hiro," he introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Lucy. Marie, should I reveal my vtuber name to him? He works here, right?"

"Ah, yes. Let's move to the streaming room," Marie suggested. Once inside, Marie explained to Lucy that Hiro was her new coworker.

"Lucy, this is Hiro, your new coworker at VeeIdol company. His avatar is named Lily. Hiro, this is Lucy, your coworker here at VeeIdol company. Her avatar is named Luna Wayfarer. She'll be debuting with you in three weeks," Marie introduced them.

"Hello," Hiro extended his hand for a handshake.

"Eh? A man? And a male vtuber? But Lily sounds like a girl's name," Lucy said, surprised.

"Yes, he was the recruit from that ad our CEO posted on social media..."

"Ah, the one about female characters," Lucy nodded in understanding.

"Yes," Marie confirmed.

"Our CEO sure likes to play around, doesn't he? Do you think he could even play female characters?" Lucy chuckled.

"I've talked to him, and he said as long as we can guarantee the secrecy of his identity, he's willing to try it. The worst-case scenario would be if his fans abandoned him," Marie replied.

"Alright, I'm new to this. Please treat me well," Lucy bowed again.

"Me too," Hiro returned the bow while retracting his hand. Lucy was blonde, but she behaved in a very Japanese manner with the bowing. Hiro was a bit puzzled, but he followed suit nonetheless. Apparently, anime culture was already prevalent in this company.

"What do we need to do for the preparations?" Lucy asked.

"We open OBS and set up the scenes, then do rehearsals for what we plan to stream today."

"Eh? That's all?"

"It depends on what you're planning to stream. For games, you must have them installed from Steam and carried on your external SSD. So, leaving them inside was not recommended, as modern games could reach 120GB each game. It is not feasible to have everything installed here. And absolutely no pirated game. If you plan to chat, then you also need to prepare your topic for today. Keep in mind that these computers might be shared among fellow streamers."

"Only within this company's vtubers, right?"

"Yes. All the applicants have signed NDA agreements. However, you still need to be cautious. That's why I chose to come here early. You should be polite if the next streamer decides to use this room."

"I understand. How many rooms do we have?"

"We currently have about 4 rooms."

"That seems a bit limited, doesn't it?" Lucy commented.

"Well, there used to be only one streaming booth, even when we grew to four members. It didn't seem like an issue at that time since we streamed at different times. Additionally, some members streamed from their own computers occasionally. However, for collaborations, they need to be here. That's why we now have four computers," Marie explained.

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Hiro grasped the situation. He also planned to stream from his own computer at home. For collaborations, you would need to link the computers together or use a single powerful computer capable of running two OBS and two live2d instances simultaneously. And you'd also need two cameras. This was feasible for individual streamers with high-performance gaming computers. Still, it required a certain financial investment, which the company understood well.

"I see. Thank you."

Marie was a diligent worker. Besides streaming, she also had a side job of helping David manage the company's official website. She essentially served as a bridge between the busy talents working as vtubers and the regular employees.

Then, the promised time arrived, and Marie finally began her streaming session. Hiro opened his smartphone to compare what she did in reality to what appeared on YouTube. Since Marie had instructed them to remain silent, Hiro used his earphones to listen to the stream. With one ear tuned to the microphone to his phone and the other to the real Marie, Hiro's brow furrowed as he noticed a slight difference in sound and delay.

The delay is huge. It could go as far as 300 milliseconds or even more. Moreover, despite her excellent voice, the voice from his phone was slightly toned down. Maybe it's because the OBS tuned down her voice so it can stream seamlessly.

He might need to reconsider his plan to stream from home and opt to stream exclusively from the office until he can acquire a better microphone. The audio quality was distinctly different. However, he had no idea how to operate a soundboard. The company's microphone required a connection to a soundboard and then to a laptop. Hiro presumed that Marie's voice was being modulated through this setup. Her voice came across clearly in the stream, unlike in Zoom calls, where background noises and buzzing often interfered with the sound.

Twenty minutes into the stream, Lucy nudged Hiro to leave the streaming room. Marie was engrossed in her interactions with viewers and didn't notice, nor did she mind, that they had left the booth. Hiro exited with Lucy and sat at the lounge outside the room.

"It's quite tiring, isn't it?" Lucy remarked.

"Yeah." Hiro could only imagine the effort Marie put into her work. She conversed naturally, but her eyes constantly shifted between the two monitors – one monitoring the YouTube chat and the other focusing on OBS, preparing for the next scene.

"So, what type of content will you be creating?" Lucy asked.

"Just the usual. Playing games and possibly creating memes," Hiro replied. He had never dabbled in creative work, and he aimed to be like everyone else – normal. Therefore, he decided to emulate the content of other vtubers.

"I see."

"What about you, Lucy? What kind of content do you plan to offer?" Hiro inquired.

"I think I'll have personal chats with my fans alongside gaming," Lucy answered, nodding. Hiro raised an eyebrow. Lucy appeared reserved, but he quickly dismissed his doubts. She had the appearance, and Hiro believed she was likely more socially adept than him as a real woman. She probably didn't need any assistance. He was the one in need of help.

"Hello, Lucy! You're here early!" The other members arrived an hour later. Hiro frowned at their casual demeanor. Marie had been streaming for an hour already. She was almost done while they just showed up now?

"Nana and Luna! How are you?" Lucy greeted.

"You were here before Marie started streaming? How's she doing?" Nana asked.

"Oh, yes. I think vtubing is tougher than it looks. Marie was managing two monitors simultaneously. By the way, have you both prepared for our debut next week? What kind of content are you planning to stream?" Lucy inquired.

"I'll be playing games. I'm going to be an FPS streamer," Nana responded, displaying her phone to show the others. "Look! I already have a thousand subscribers!"

"I see. It's great that you already have a fanbase," Lucy said with a hint of envy.

"Yeah, it's pretty clear who's going to lead our generation," Nana added.

"Did you know that a male vtuber is joining our generation? Marie Senpai told me last night," Nana whispered a bit too loudly, looking like the typical gossiping girl that Hiro disliked. His feelings towards real-world women went from bad to worse, especially with her presence.

"Oh, I know. His name is Hiro. Here he is," Lucy answered. Their expressions visibly soured upon hearing Hiro's name.

"Hello, I'm Hiro. My in-game name is Lily, a female character vtuber," Hiro greeted, forcing a stiff smile. He attempted to make his smile seem as natural as possible, but the discomfort from Nana's presence was unmistakable.

"What on earth was Mr. David thinking when he hired him? I thought he was a feminine guy, but he turned out to be an obese, repulsive male. Well, he does have that otaku look, I suppose. Maybe that's what caught his attention?" Nana uttered her words with apparent disdain. Hiro felt a sting from her words, but he had become accustomed to such treatment and brushed it off. Like an advanced polite AI, he responded with a rehearsed tone.

"It's nice to meet you." Hiro maintained a customer service smile. Surprisingly, his forced smile didn't seem to put off the girls, and they returned smiles of their own. Hiro began to wonder if his extensive training in interviews had finally paid off. He didn't like putting on insincere smiles like this, but since they seemed to prefer it over his genuine smile, he decided to treat them as he would interviewers, something he loathed.

"So, did you guys want to watch Marie's stream?" Lucy asked.

"Not really. I just wanted to meet the new members. We're going to be on the same team, after all. I thought it would be good to get to know you better. How about hanging out, Lucy? Oh, and you're invited too, Hiro," Nana replied, putting on her professional smile, just like Hiro did.

"Sure!" Lucy agreed.

"The debut is next week! As usual, I'll be streaming my FPS game. What about you, Hiro?" Nana, the de facto leader of the team, took charge of the conversation. They were at a family restaurant now, and Hiro, being the only male member among the girls, attracted some attention, but he ignored it. When Nana mentioned hanging out, she simply obtained permission at the reception desk, and they went on their way. Hiro was impressed by the flexibility of these vtubers; they could work whenever they wanted. According to his limited knowledge, regular employees usually couldn't leave their workplace until their designated time was over.

"I'll be streaming games too, mainly visual novels or anime games. I'm not very good at FPS," Hiro replied.

"Visual novels? I see. We could use that angle too, right? Luna, your voice is soothing. You could play inexpensive visual novel games and voice the female characters," Nana suggested.

"Oh, you're right! Thanks, Hiro. As expected of our otaku consultant," Luna chimed in, smiling now. Hiro didn't mind that his idea was being borrowed. He was willing to contribute something to their newfound friendship, especially since he planned to gain a few followers from Nana.

"How about you, Lucy?" Hiro asked.

"I'll be playing casual games like Candy Crush and chatting with my followers."

"I see. So, we'll each have our own specialties. Luna will handle visual novels, I'll take on FPS, Hiro will tackle open-world games or RPGs, and you'll focus on casual games," Nana summarized. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Alright! See you at the debut!" Nana exclaimed. After another two hours of unimportant chatting, they all headed home.