‹Yuuga›

So… I have a confession to make.

It may not come as a surprise to some, but my word… has it really been two years already? It has already been two years since I fell to the vtuber rabbit hole.

I don't really care about elaborating my personal introductory opinions and feelings in this chapter, so I will just get on with it.

September 2020.

So yes, this was only a month of our freshman year. For someone who had already planned his hiatus as a manga artist without a definite date, it was tough dividing myself into two.

But then on a certain Sunday when I woke up in the morning, my Witter feed was suddenly half-filled with posts about this thing called vtubers. Apparently in JST time, five vtubers were set to debut, and of course, I missed four of them because I was asleep and I did not watch the stream of the last one.

So that goes from me not knowing soooo little about vtubers and idols to knowing so much of the former.

Their content rarely ever got to my YouCube and I only got to see them from memes in the site, just like how I thought a squirrel girl from Yololive was Japanese because of that and I later found she's Indonesian. I really do believe that it was my first exposure to the already growing culture of vtubers.

Then the person I was following on Witter posts about this blonde-haired girl that was apparently called Haachama.

At that point I did not know of her. I did not know of Yololive as of that time, but only seeing those posts may have served as the gateway.

So yeah, I have to thank that one Witter user that got me in the rabbit hole.

And thus, with my curiosity piqued, I went through the channels and decided to watch the debut archive of a certain small shark on the then new English branch of Yololive.

I was in full smiles. That sounded very cringey, but for shy of an hour, I felt pure enjoyment. Really, it was something new. I did not have expectations because I was going in blindly, nor did I look at the subscriber count, but I was just enjoying watching a 9927 year-old shark writing her name like a toddler.

That is a compliment.

a

Honestly, the reaper, the chicken phoenix, and the detective did not really leave a much of an impression to me. But Tako did. "Oh, hey, what a chill stream! That voice sounds very soothing but I have to turn my volume up a notch." I would have probably had the same impression of her if not for when she tried to troll the chat into thinking that she was bad at drawing.

My word, she is so good at drawing. That was it—that was the only thing that I needed to get hooked. She is an amazing artist, or an illustrator if I may… and she is really cultured in a sense.

But one thing I did notice is that I subconsciously saw them as a human behind the 2D model more than their characters and their lore. Basically, these vtubers acts upon a certain kind of lore and character that does not relate to real life, which is why the fictional aspect of it can only be so broad and open. Yes, most of the time they are who they are in that model, but in their own creative ways, I found it very respectable that they are able to share a slice of their life and even give words of wisdom.

I do not really know how the idol culture works, especially in Japan. But in some ways it might be self-explanatory and complex at the same time. So on that I'm at my wit's end.

But also, I speak and understand Japanese! While I still watch English streamers more than the main branch, every member is simply enjoyable. I started off from watching them through clips subtitled in English by the wonderful community, and even from just that, their chemistry was so evident whatever generation they are at.

It works. It just works!

But then, a few weeks later…

:^)

Really, the only reason why I used Leddit is because I browse l/anime a lot hence I converse with the other Ledditors in discussions. That was the only reason why I had that app installed in my phone until I found the Yololive subleddit. But now I am enjoying the copyright free memes that the community has to offer, thus I tap the upvote button.

As it may have appeared in this narrative, I have mainly been watching the talents of their agency in these two years because my manga does not really allow me to stray off from that. And honestly, I only ever watch their archives more often than not. Yes, there might be just an hour of difference in our time zones, but sometimes I just can't keep up with the amount of content that releases.

It is honestly taken for granted, but all of those contents are easily accessed for free as YouCube is a free video hosting site that then evolved to have several ways of monetization. That being said, there is always a cycle, and the entertainment industry is not exempt to that, and the past norms have been replaced by the overwhelming growth of this new medium. While it is not community-driven, I think it goes without saying that the community itself is part of the reason for that growth.

From that point on, I have gone through six debut batches, if the first English debut is to be excluded, and then there are new members to come in a few months.

…

It was naive of me to convince friends to also fall with me to that bottomless pit, and I have learned not to do that. Again, it's like a cycle. You can't force anyone to get into anime or manga, and it is the same. Either they find their way on their own or never hear of it, it really is just fine.

In relation to that, I never got Mina to watch them. There's even one point when I tried to hide it from her, which of course did not really work. The only reason why I did that was I got a bit too crazy on the trend and that was all I ever talk about, even to Kuni-san, my editor. That being said, one way or another she still fell. It was actually quite that one clip settles it all. In her case, it was the giggling oni that got her into it. And hey, her name is my surname, Ayame.

Little tangent—the content I love the most from the talents are chatting streams, or as they would call "zatsudan." It is very preferential, but the reason why I liked it the most is that I can just play the audio in the background while drawing my biweekly pages. To relate that to the context, while I was doing work with of course giggles, wheezing, window wiping, and whistling kettles on my ears, Mina suddenly joined in on the barrage of laughter. Well she was losing it.

Apparently she was watching the oni giggle for five minutes and making a surprised face when she suddenly fished an enchanted book for the first time. That was it and the rest is history.

…

Oh, hi. I see you've come this far after my boring four-page essay. For that, what a chad, big ups to you!

S-Sorry… I started making less and less anime references as time went on. But for some of the weird things that I somewhat made to sound serious, please take them with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, this apartment complex that we run is built to be quite soundproofed and insulated, but for a while now I have been hearing the tenant in 201 faintly only when I step out of my room. Here lies the problem… no, it's not a problem at all but my vocabulary has just gotten worse. Perhaps point of interest? I don't know anymore.

Anyway, my concern is… I only ever hear her when she is presumably shouting; I am quite sure that I am getting ahead of myself, but every time I hear her, she sounds… like a "gremlin."

Honestly, it's like a gap when I keep that in mind. It was a complete surprise for me that a calm sounding person suddenly goes wryyyyy at the tip of a hat.

I have my suspicions, but it really is not the place for me to put myself into. In all honestly, I really have fallen deep—on a deep end that I should not have gone to. But I respect the majority of the community for hushing. In the end, there is a difference between the person and the personality, and I am also in that picture.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

▪ ▪ ▪

Time for the tenant's dreaded day of me ringing their doorbell.

"**Yeeeees, coming.

**Ah, please wait for a second but do not drop the call. I'll mute for a bit," she whispered.

"**Oh, it's Yuuga-san."

"**Hello, Ie-san. It's the usual collection day today."

"**Umm… I still haven't withdrawn-doya…

**Will it be a bother if I give it to you within the day-doya?"

"**No, no. It's fine. If anything, we're sorry that we're still using old methods like this."

"**No, I should have kept in my mind the day today…"

On that note, we bowed repeatedly to each other and-

Am I forgetting something?

How long was it, ten seconds? I supposed then. That was ten seconds of pure silence and not an inch of my muscle has moved in that duration. Almost immediately I raised my arms to my ear so as to check if I left my earphones on there, but I of course did not. Nonetheless, the natural feed that came into my ears was not being kept by noise gate, and not as clear as an XLR mic. But even so, my mind has verified the authenticity of the voice that I hear everyday in the middle of work.

O-Oh, by the way, h-have I not told her name yet…? Wait, is this going to be fine…?

※ This story is a work of fiction. Most of the classification and names mentioned are made up by the author.

Alright…

So this certain tenant's name is Rio Hovt. She came from both a caucasian and Japanese upbringing, hence her somewhat oriental yet blue eyes. On top of that, her hair has been dyed of burgundy that is now being took over her natural dark brown hair. She started living in this complex perhaps one and a half years ago, apparently self-employed.

However… I may have put myself into something troublesome if I don't act right.

"I-I guess I'll leave for now… I'll just be on my room so feel free to knock."

"Um, actually… can we please talk…?"

…

I let myself inside her room upon her invitation, and what my eyes scanned is an ordinarily messy room that is being partitioned with folding walls, although that being said, I can still half see the desk with a white-lit PC unit, two monitors, and a display tablet being held with a boom arm.

"I'm very sorry about what I heard just now."

"N-No… it was my fault that I was careless… Uhm, can I take it that you know… the nature of my job…?"

"…Should I drop a name?"

She nodded.

"Then I guess… Midoriki Treya…?"

"Hahh… Yes…" on a soured expression, she sighed.

Then I suppose the situation needs another introduction…

Midoriki Treya, or Eia as she is commonly called, is a dryad quietly watching over the nature, in a still unexplored territory of Earth brimming with the beauty of lush nature contrary to what the world has become now. However, in the past few years, she took notice of vtubers that was seen on humans' digital screens and bringing about happiness to them in trying times. Thus, instead of just watching over the world on Earth's unknown regions, she personally came to Yololive and gave the office a lot of spare windows as bribe due to all the chaos that their idols make. In no time, she was accepted to the Yololive EN's second generation. Although not officially called as 2nd gen, the community had made do with it.

Also, as an extraneous information, her age is officially "You wouldn't want to know," in their website.

"So… how was that as a summary of your lore?"

"So you are a certified shrimp…"

"If I recall, this should be fine to some extent, right?"

"Yes…"

"I should probably apologize to your manager, though. I'd want to sign an NDA too if it's all possible."

"I don't think that's necessary. This situation isn't really that new. It's not really a special case."

"I see…

Anyways… I just want to thank you for all the streams you've done until now. I'm actually a member for seven months already."

"T-Thank you…"

"Also, I was surprised that you said you're an illustrator in your debut. Your drawing collabs with Ina are always fun."

I am still wrapping my head around all of this, but I am so glad that I was able to take this with a levelheaded approach. While Rio indeed mentioned that this kind of thing happens to them, it is still a very huge deal in the grand scheme of things. Hence why I need to choose my actions wisely.

"So I guess… you're not born Orion?"

"Yeah. I'm half English and half Japanese although I used to live in the North."

"I see. Anyway… this might be the first time I'm seeing a beast of a PC in flesh."

"Oh, that… do you know things about PC, Yuuga?"

"I built my mid-range unit last year. It still works really fine, but I guess yours is a lot more powerful, huh. I only ever do manual background so it sure is handy to have a beefy GPU I guess.

Oh, is there a mic that you can recommend?"

"It would depend on the value you're looking for, and most of the time you'll need an interface."

"Are there like mini interfaces? Yours is quite big, I see."

Before I knew it, I've gotten engrossed on several topics involving Rio's streaming setup. Not even in a matter of an hour, I was able to wrap around my head on how the 2D models work. Well indeed, Yololive is within a cutting-edge, entertainment company.

"Ah, do you mind if I ask? How did miss dryad get into art? Illustrating?"

"Hmm… I think it's because I made it a hobby back in high school, then I chose to pursue Fine Arts in college. Well… I've liked anime and manga more than anything and that's where my stylized format came from. I realized that I can only do art, and not fine art. I regretted spending a year doing that, and frankly wasting my money on materials I won't get to use in the future, so I dropped out.

Really, it hasn't been that long ago. But my activity as a digital artist really dwindled down because of that. But then last February… I decided to audition."

"Umm… this somehow sounded like an interview, but I swear I'll share some in exchange. That said, are you still working as an illustrator?"

"Yeah. I never used my name in that job and I only ever came to conventions as a guest."

"Ahhh, I probably would've seen you in ManCon or ONrio if you had a booth… I'm actually a member of TAC."

"I've heard about that. You guys are amazing!"

"No, you."

"So you also have AsaC*co…"

"Anyway… this has already turned into some kind of a sharing, so my turn I guess.

It's not colorful, but I've drawn for quite a while, probably since childhood. I don't know if you had to go through senior high school, but I took a specialized course in Blue Ink since they're the only school in this country that offers that system. I basically took Visual Arts as my course."

"That's what I should have taken."

"Yeah… It sounds a lot less narrow.

So continuing, I thought I went to a normal art club, but two years later we've pretty much established ourselves online as a commercial group. Though, we're all dispersed for the time being because of college, but we're semi-active.

Now that that's out of the way… I really should talk to your manager about signing an external NDA."

"Why do you insist?"

"Because it's a big opportunity. I'd be happy to have a collab with you whether it's on or off stream."

"You mean… as a TAC member?" she asked hesitantly.

"You see… I want to take at least a small break every week when I'm doing my manga.

**I'm Amagami Yuki. It'd be a pleasure working with you."

I have not met someone so shocked after I opened up my identity more than her. No, I think she's literally overloaded. So with whatever time I have, I had to borrow a piece of paper and made a very quick sketch of her 2D model.

Somehow, she has turned into a window wiper. How uncanny, I've only heard her wheezes and laughs through streams but now I am hearing it in person. In any case, she's overjoyed.

"O-Oh. Mina just pinged me… I'll have to go for today, Rio. I'll give you a shikishi board once we get a collab!

Also, I'll extended your payment due date until tomorrow!"

▪ ▪ ▪

"Heeeeeeello, everyone…! Kondoya! Good whatever time it is in your area!

Uwah, already a superchat. 'Bonsai-chan seems more lively and chaotic today.' Shut up! I'm fed up with your shorty jokes, but thank you for the supa!

Right, I just posted the schedule a few minutes ago, so please make sure to read it as something special is bound to happen this week!

I'll be doing a drawing collab with Yukima-sensei this week…! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH…!!!!!"

"Wh… What's the meaning of this, Yuu?!"

Contrary to how Mina might have it worded, she sounded more shocked and excited instead of furious.

"Can't say that one even to you, sorry."

"So that's why you bought a mic and that small DJ-like stuff…

But it wouldn't hurt to say how this happened, right?"

"I guess… You know she does a lot of drawing streams, right?"

"Well, Ina does gesture drawings and sketches every Sunday but Eia does more in a week. She really is amazing."

"Apparently she likes my work a ton and found me. The publisher is fine with it so all is well. Leap still gave me a few years before I take a break, but I think it's about time I think about that a lot. You know my stance already—I'll still keep working as an illustrator in the same name but just on the sideline. So it's nice to have a bit of exposure in YouCube even without having a channel!"

"Oh, I sure am going to bully Eia in that stream."

"Take it easy with the SC, ma'am."

▪ ▪ ▪

Realizing it now, I feel like this chapter is very much specific. And in that sense, all the things I have referenced can only add as icing on the cake.

But to reiterate, these fictional, well, anime waifus that we see in YouCube streaming ranging from one to twelve hours or more are still humans behind the scenes in the end.

I have witnessed many of their ups and downs, situations where they break out of character, become sincere, face challenges live, and shed tears in front of tens of thousands of people. And there will possibly be more downs that do not see the light of the day. I truly respect them when sometimes the person behind the model fades in ever so subtly tell their feelings on things they need to address. I honestly believed that the inclination towards portraying wholly a character does not have a concrete point; which was my first impressions upon discovering this new form of media. I was very much glad of what they have become, being the best of both worlds.

And nevertheless, they are truly hardworking people that put in time to give the most of their content, and give the most to their selves for personal achievements and satisfaction.

Silver-haired dude of White Street, what is your wisdom? "Learn to be happy first before making someone the same." In a sense, it applies to this new, booming realm, because if they are not happy for what they have, then this would have spawned a large community that needs some kind of light the most.

That was my escapism. In a day where an evident frown is a default in my face, what I only needed is something that can subconsciously arch my lips, and make me laugh from my stomach. That is all I needed, and thus the day continues, with fresh eyes and cleansed mind…

Unless I got clickbaited on a ya be clip.

Anyway, ryoushi chikin soup grass big chungus.