"*Once again, this is Michelo Azuria—designed by Capy Nina-sensei and rigged by Altorium-sensei. Thank you for all your hard work!"
▪ ▪ ▪
The entire meeting ran for almost four hours.
By the time the clock hit 9 in the evening, Nagi stepped out of their house after another hour of getting to know each other in a separate call as they ate dinner.
The two girls in the same group they are in have long since been oriented of the things that have been discussed in the meeting as they were supposed to debut earlier if not for the sudden pile of issues that had occurred in the past months. Both of them are around their age, although older, and of western descent with the first one living in around the eastern time zone, while the second one is living in Japan. This setup would give them the opportunity to cater to both the American time zones and Japanese Standard Time as Orion's time zone is only an hour behind that of the North.
But needless to say, talking to foreigners is not really something that happens a lot in Orio, which made the three of them feel somewhat strange and not used to it. Nevertheless, they divulged the fact that the three of them have friends and got into the company with the recommendation of their school. In a sense, they have been scouted.
Their exchanges made the two girls curious on their film work, thus the three students agreed to show their works that are publicly available and can be shown in their portfolio. For formalities' sake, the three of them still submitted an audition entry to showcase themselves, although already with the awareness that they have been accepted. From those audition clips, they showed the works they included, with Nagi deciding to add the video he filmed when they were painting a large mural in northern Cotona.
Having introduced themselves better, the call ended, and Nagi immediately exited the house as he was already dressed up for the online meeting, finding himself entering the udon house he frequents in the commercial district and observing the crowd that has essentially turned the shop into a pub, which is an everyday scenario there.
"It's been a while, ready to order?" the owner approached, greeting his regular a long time no see.
The owner of the shop as usual waits to the customers more than he works in the kitchen as he does most of the administrative work and hires cooks to keep the business running.
"Tempura udon, please. Also, can I still get nomihodai for two? I have someone on my table so I can wait until he orders."
※ Nomihodai basically means "all you can drink".
"Got that. Just call out if you're ready to order more."
Come ten minutes, Gin arrived in the most Gin way as possible as he entered with a usual hoodie and shirt, and the above the knees shorts and flip flops that completes his get-up, even when the season is starting to change to a colder one.
"Have you been here long?" he asked Nagi as he sat.
"Nah. I invited you anyway."
"Have you ordered for yours?"
"We got us all you can drink, but go get yours before we get started."
"Sure.
Owner! Four bowls of kitsune udon and the usual sides!"
It goes without saying that his order shocked the nearby tables, if not the entire shop.
"Dude, you never hold back, huh."
"Oh, I can absolutely inhale them since I haven't had dinner yet. I talked with Rin's parents so I ran a bit late."
"I see. You're still living with them?"
"Yeah. You know what, Rin got a really good place for her internship. Well, I don't think as good as yours, though."
"Tell me more?"
"She's basically employed, and the resto is going to lend her a car so her dad and I have to teach her how to drive before she gets her license. We just got it decided literally before I got here."
"How's that better than mine, what? She literally gets a car and you said it yourself, she pretty much landed a job already. It's still basically a dice roll in my case.
Wait, you're teaching in Blue Ink right now, right? Should you really be drinking with me in the middle of the weekday?"
"Should you really be drinking right now with me when you have a crap ton of stuff to prepare?"
"It'll all be remote work anyway, so we're both guilty at this point."
As they continued, the first tall glasses arrived as well as Nagi's order and the first bowl for Gin.
"That I agree.
But I still can't freaking believe how massive of a coincidence we've gotten into…"
"Yeah?! How am I supposed to believe that you are my mom now?!"
"Can you not make it weird, man? You haven't even had a sip and you already sound drunk!"
It can only be explained that both of them fell into indescribable shock seeing each other's faces in the call, more so finding out that the illustrator for the avatar that Nagi will be using for his vtuber activities is Gin with his pseudonym Capy_nina.
A few hours after the discovery, the two of them still can't wrap their heads around that fact.
"Hahh… have you told Shiro about this?"
"Like I can. We're both under NDA if I were to guess."
"Yeah, I haven't told even Rin about this. Once it's announced everyone's going to be surprised.
Well, they will be announcing the new gen in a week's time so there's that."
"You being a 'mama' is one thing, but me debuting as a streamer just feels absolutely unreal."
※ Illustrators and riggers are commonly referred to as 'mama' (ママ) and 'papa' (パパ) respectively, although it can be used interchangeably. Even male illustrators can be addressed as a 'mama' if they so desire.
"How did this happen anyways?"
With the inevitable question coming up, Nagi recited the previous chapter to Gin.
"Been a while since we got the fourth wall breaking, huh. More than twenty chapters, maybe?
But that's insane, anyway. How does your school have that much connection?"
"I don't know the entirety myself, but it's still a technical college so that at least makes sense."
"So, how are preps doing?"
"Horribly. I've found a designer I can commission for stream and schedule assets, but Taiyou also wants me to draw a separate promotional art since I'm the only one that's basically an illustrator in our generation.
Dude, I was crapping my pants since I any equipment I have will be underperforming, but it turns out the company will shoulder them, at least for us three. That even includes a tablet monitor, can you even believe that?"
"What the… that would cost around three to four thousand dollars in total, at least?"
"Yeah… but my biggest problem would be that I need a separate office. I can't make a lot of noise in the house especially at degenerate hours and our internet is, well, bad compared to how much I need. I've been looking around WindBnB units that are nearby but at least the equipment is a huge weight off my back."
"That sounds kinds rough… Give me a second to think. I'm… guessing you will be retiring at some point, so how long will your activities last?"
"We don't have a fixed duration, but the closest would be until my college graduation, though nothing is official."
"I see…"
And those two words were the last Nagi heard from Gin in the past fifteen minutes. As a lot of things seemed to have been in Gin's mind, he went to his phone alternatively as he observed Gin eating his remaining bowls and getting at least six more glasses of beer until his face seems to tell that his mind is back to the living world.
"Ready to talk now? That took a while. But damn, I didn't know you can drink this much."
After emptying another glass, Gin finally spoke, "You don't know how much more I went with after Kei's wedding. This is basically nothing.
Anyway, I'll make this short. Here's a proposition… Why don't you live in my house?"
"So you can actually get drunk, huh?"
"I'm serious, you idiot. I'm trying to strike you a deal here.
Kei's moved out of my house and our parents', so it's only us and Haku again but you already know I'm living with the Akanami's right now, and probably for the rest of the year. I am not going to let you live there for free, but I can assure you that I can give you an invoice cheaper than an apartment."
"Dude, you're the one saying that your house is big for a single person, so how is that going to cover your bill?"
"Don't worry about that, and you're probably forgetting that I have solar cells so if anything, I'm putting power on the grid so I actually get money back from that. You have bigger stuff to put your focus on, so put your mind on them first."
"Wait, the energy company actually pays you?"
"Yeah. They routinely check my cells and I got them certified. They just think that I imported those cells since Orio still doesn't have that tech- Oh, for crying out loud, we're getting off our track.
So how about it? My internet speeds right now are at 350 Mbps both at download and upload. I got that from an upgrade promo so my bill is at 1,600 Laxes (about 45 USD) so I can have you pay half. That's good enough, right?"
"Yeah… that would really solve that issue for me…"
"Do we have a deal, then?"
"…
Gin, you're a total lifesaver. I'm still sober so get your hand out. I can't thank you enough for this."
It was perhaps the firmest handshake he got from Nagi.
Nearing midnight, the two of them split up to their respective homes with Nagi finally feeling a lot more hopeful with things… while Gin went straight to his home to take a shower so that he wouldn't get scolded by Rin from the smell of alcohol once he returns to his current home.
▪ ▪ ▪
The next day, Nagi spent most of his time on a private Dyscord server that only has the five in their generation together with their managers. It turns out that their generation has two managers—with one of them managing the three male members.
The morning is when the server is most active as all of them are online, since the other member from America would still be awake even with a 12-hour time difference to Orio. They would eventually learn that the three of them would be able to meet their "senpai" or seniors of the English branch.
As he stayed on a voice call, along with his manager he began communicating with artists and designers to make his stream assets and elements needed.
"*Do you know how to use OBS, Kajima-san?" his Japanese manager that is fluent in English asked him.
"*I can for the most part, but for streaming purposes… not really. I can learn it within the week, though."
"*Oh, I just got a reply from the designer. They're asking what you would want to see in your stream assets."
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"*I'd say it's up to them as long as it fits the design of the avatar… but I should come up with the lore first, shouldn't I?"
"*I would appreciate it it you can finalize your lore as soon as possible.
*By the way, have you found an office already?"
"*I talked about it with a friend of mine-"
"For now, I'll keep it a secret that I'm friends with Gin."
"*…and I got a place. This weekend, the three of us will go to the computer store to get our units."
"*Do you need a spec sheet?"
"*We already know what we'll get since what we're looking for is a fast rendering machine, but it's also good to know what the company is looking for.
*I'll also buy my equipment and moving my stuff this week, so I might not be online as much in the following days."
"*Got it. But moving on, I'm sending you right now the info about the promotional art."
"*Alright… I'll get to it as soon as I get settled in…"
▪ ▪ ▪
Come Thursday and Gin dedicated his day off on helping Nagi on moving his things to his house. Contrary to his belief, it appeared that Nagi would only be bringing a few boxes with his clothes. The entire morning was used for disassembling his desk and packing his current PC and monitors. He could not help but joke about Nagi treating his camera gear like his children as there is a very apparent disparity where his essentials are placed on cardboard boxes, while his gear is neatly stored on special cases and more carefully tended to.
Once again, Gin borrowed a car from the Exiles for the purpose of Nagi's moving.
"Yuka Gin, Yuka Gin…"
As Gin stepped outside from Nagi's bedroom, he saw Naru calling out to her on a whisper and gesturing him to come towards her.
"Hellooo."
"What exactly is the work he's doing that he had to move to your house?"
"That I can't tell you. Just like your brother, I'm not allowed to say anything about it. But let's just say that his practicum is going to involve mostly remote work. He needs my internet so he's moving all of his setup to my place.
You're free to visit, though! And yeah, I don't think he would able to be back here in your home a lot since I predict he will be busy immediately with work. I got him, so don't worry about it."
"If you say so. I guess I have more excuses to visit Anna, then."
"Hahaha, good for you."
~ ~ ~
"Is this everything?"
"Yeah, thanks for the help."
Nagi was allowed to use the bedroom upstairs to be his office and bedroom. Now that he has completely moved his things although still in boxes, he started setting back up his computer to catch up on work and messages he missed.
Upon seeing to layout of the room to its fullest, he began brainstorming on how he will treat it with sound proofing as he was not allowed to stick sound panels to the walls.
Nowhere used to the total silence inside and outside of the house, he landed on the bed, once more realizing that things are starting to become more and more real as he stared at the white ceiling of the room.
Never in a million years did he think that he would become a vtuber, yet here he is with his own virtual avatar under a Japanese agency. It did not take him long to know that this is not a mere practicum anymore. While in formality it is as hours are still counted, he would be going past the required hours as he would take in more work than intended.
This would mean that within twelve months, he would be more of an entertainer than a filmmaker. Thousands of people would be directed to him, contrary to the few that has seen his works. A lot of things are at stake, and he could not afford to mess up.
With a slap on both of his cheeks, he got up and left the room passing by Haku on his feet.
"Great timing, Haku. Gin drove to the underground base to return the car, right?"
The cat nodded.
"When he comes back, can you tell him that I'm going out to the supermarket to grab some food?"
"Meow."
"Yeah, I don't know if that's an okay, but thanks anyway."
Thus, he stepped out of the house as sunset nears.
▪ ▪ ▪
Early at the opening of the mall at Saturday, Neth and Seto arrived together meeting Nagi outside the computer store with a man that is significantly taller than any of them. They exchanged waves and Nagi introduced the man with him.
"This is Gin. He's a friend from Blue Ink and he's going to help us out today.
They are Neth and Seto. While we're not in the same classes, we're in the same batch in the same program."
"Morning, and nice to meet you. I'm Gin."
"Nice to meet you too."
Before even getting to enter the store, Neth pulled Nagi a few meters away from Gin—a distance where they would not be heard.
"Hey, Nagi, please tell me you didn't tell him stuff."
"Of course not. I just told him that we're buying PCs for rendering since he was willing to help."
Nagi lied as naturally as he breathed.
"Anyway, did you receive a spec sheet from our manager, Neth?"
"Yeah, but I'll go for a different processor and I'll probably add 8 more gigabytes of RAM from their recommendation. You?"
"I'll stick with what they told us with just some minor changes."
With Neth's concerns cleared up, the four of them entered the store in the hopes that they will have enough parts for the three of them.
In Seto's case, he went verbatim with the specifications that his manager sent him while Neth configured his PC as he said. It did help the store's staff that all of them are very knowledgeable about computer parts which saved everyone a lot of time.
"The best we can do for your order would be less than two weeks to build everything."
"Ah, I will build mine on my own," Nagi interjected. "As for the two that you will build, please install a copy of unlicensed W*ndows since all of us have license keys."
"I see… For yours, we'll have to finalize your parts so we can pack them and we'll get you the receipt.
If that's the case, then we will able to finish the build in a week's time and we'll contact you once they are ready for pickup."
"Alright, I'll pay upfront for mine, then. I'll also come back to pick up some peripherals."
With the issue of the computers settled, they split up for the day as Seto and Neth have apparently taken care of their other equipment and left emptyhanded as they waited for theirs to be built. As for Nagi and Gin, they left the mall momentarily to safely bring home the computer parts. Buying expensive parts would bring them too much attention, and simply bringing them to a car would not suffice as there is still the risk of them being robbed from the vehicle.
Thus, they returned procuring a microphone, soundproofing panels and mounts, a capture device, a display tablet, and an additional monitor to make up a triple monitor setup including the tablet. Afterwards, Nagi got himself a smartphone with a hardware that is capable of tracking his face. The only problem that he anticipated he would encounter is that both he and Gin do not know how to use the phone's operating system, as they are not the target market for that specific phone.
After more than two hours of shopping, they completed their list and went home with the task of building a computer.
"You know how to build a PC, right, Gin?"
"Who do you take me for? I built my own PC, the one in Giotto's, and a lot of new ones in Blue Ink's lab so that's fairly recent.
But I've never built one this expensive, so the pressure is all ours."
"Yeah… even the units we've built in our college aren't as expensive as this. Heck, this is the first time I'm seeing a 3080 in person."
"What are you going to do with your other PC anyway?"
"It will stay as is. I'm probably going to surrender this PC once I retire since I didn't pay for this. I'll just copy some of my essentials to this new one and I'm good to go."
"I guess it would be nice for me to learn a bit of audio stuff too. I've only dabbled with DAWs but has never configured an audio interface with a good mic so these are also new to me."
"Everything streaming related is new to us anyway, but what an experience this is.
The graphics card is in. Screw it for me, will you?"
"On it.
Good thing it's getting colder now. I can't imagine what will happen to this in summer. It's nice that this house has good ACs."
"I've only been living here for three days, but this house is great."
"Yeah? How about your food? I haven't been really here so my bad."
"It's fine. I just bought a bento on my first night but went for actual shopping for ingredients yesterday. I never really got to cook back in our house so living alone, at least for the most part, would be good practice."
"You sure you wouldn't get very busy in the coming months?"
"I told myself I wouldn't take on a lot of projects so I can balance things. Besides, I'm not going to be making an original song or covers… but I'm probably going to do karaoke streams from time to time. Ugh…"
"Right… Good luck with that."
"Don't give me that, you dingus. You naturally have a good singing voice, Gin."
"Huh… where is this coming from now?"
"Shiro has heard you in many occasions singing and apparently you have a good range even though your voice is low, and you have a natural vibrato.
And this is Shiro telling me all this stuff, so I trust her on her judgment. Borrowing her words, you are more than a shower singer."
"Ehh… I guess it has to do with me playing the piano? I at least know that I can hit notes well, but I've never really recorded myself. In fact, I don't even want to."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm plugging this in now, alright?"
"Let's do this," never before has Nagi heard Gin so eager, but if he was to guess why, it was not because of the computer turning on, but because he has been dying to peel of the plastic on the glass cover of the case that they are yet to put after confirming that everything works.
"…"
Without further ado, Nagi plugged in the power supply, pushed the case's switch on and quickly turned to the monitor.
Fingers are crossed as the monitor's logo showed up in the screen for what seems to be too long than expected… but the pixels shifted and in front of them reveals an interface.
"Nice, BIOS is working."
"RAM is good… SSD is detected… graphics card is connected… temps are good…
POST first try, Gin."
"Let's gooooooo!"
With fists bumped, Gin went downstairs to prepare a late lunch, while he left Nagi to readjust his desk and set up everything else that he needed to do.
Once more, he is one step further into entering a brand new world.
▪ ▪ ▪
»ANNOUNCEMENT
Taiyou Digital to debut #TaiyouEN 4th generation members!
Clear your calendars! Five new English streamers will be debuting at September 8 and 9 at 10AM JST!
More details: taiyou-digital.com/en/announcements/taiyouen4th/«
As always, the street and the residence remained quiet with only the creaks of the chair and the pen strokes heard which highlighted the louder sound of the front door opening and the keys clinking, even from the second floor of the house.
Not long, Nagi heard a knock from his already opened door.
"Goodness, you really don't make a sound until you need to, huh, Gin. Just got back from school?"
"Yeah. I was scrolling through Witter on the way home and saw the news. The debut… The debut is reaaaaal."
"No, we're not getting much higher.
But yeah, now we wait a few weeks but I still have a lot to prepare… Hahh… what a way to turn 22…" he spun from his chair about and let a stretch out.
From the still open tablet monitor, Gin could see even from the door a very detailed illustration in the making featuring five characters that are in the process of being rendered to show much more detail.
On the other hand, he could also see that Nagi is monitoring his now opened Witter account on the bigger monitor with the notification badge counting triple digits.
"That's not the style I remember from you. Not even your recent TAC posts look like that."
"I had to study a different style if I don't want my other online identity to overlap with this character. Besides… aren't we on the same page? The way you drew Michelo is not the way you draw at all. If anything, you have a lot more experience on studying a new style since you've been Capy for a few months now."
"You're right about that. I want to be as anonymous as possible in the meantime."
With the conversation seemingly coming to an end, Gin entered the room and sat on the bed with his legs crossed.
"In reality… you aren't enthusiastic, no, you aren't looking forward to this at all, are you?"
Immediately, Nagi turned back to the tablet screen. He silently continued on the illustration in front him by taking the stylus, but he could not even put another pixel in the image.
"…
I don't even know if you'll be able to understand how hard it is to put yourself in the shoes of those people in that virtual world. I've already resolved myself, prepared for it… but I just can't seem to see myself being the one doing this all. I can't remove myself from being the viewer when in reality in the coming days I am going to be the one being watched.
In the first place, I didn't even want to do anything like this, but I still accepted it. I'm fully expecting I'll be learning directly from the industry about making films right about now, but look at where I am?
I guess… I'm getting more and more scared the more the day gets closer. I've come this far… so I really don't have any choice, do I?"
"Yeah, you don't," Gin answered bluntly. "Well, you have the choice, but ultimately that's just going to create more problems and inconvenience a big company. What's done is done, I believe.
So tell me this, Nagi—in your experience with working with Taiyou, how are they in terms of their rules? At least, the ones you're allowed to talk about."
"Even before when I was just a viewer, I already knew that they were lenient with things, but always ready to give their talents way more than just a slap on the wrist if they deserve it. In terms of games, it's just about the same of what I know in Yololive about permissions, but they get them faster.
But in this case, we're nowhere near idols. We are just vtubers, we are just streamers. Taiyou wouldn't really mind if we show anything other than our face and anything that would lead to us getting doxxed.
Why ask?"
"Because by the sound of it, you seem pressured about putting up a character too much. The way I see it, an avatar is just another way to present yourself. To present yourself.
I know I watch Yololive more than any other agencies, but now that I'm seeing it, their new talents are much more open on just being themselves right off the bat. Just look at that Australian gladiator bloke; he's probably the truest I've seen since day one. Heck, you could probably snag a collab with him someday, and it's totally possible now.
Anyway, while I can't say anything about presenting live in front of thousands of people, all I'd wish to see is from Michelo Azuria is that he's just a character played by Nagi Kajima who likes to rant about anime, shill his favorite artists, and ramble like a film otaku for hours."
"…"
"I guess I'll have to leave you alone for now since you still have the drawing to-"
"Potatooooooo~"
From the other room, the two of them could hear the call from the voice of Rin.
"Shoot, she's not allowed to see that so I'll leave and close your door!"
Switfly, Gin stepped out of the room and met Rin opening the door of Gin's room exactly across Nagi's as she had crossed from her room's window.
"Welcome back. Looking for me?"
"Mom said you're here. Is Nacchi in his room?"
"He's asleep so let's go downstairs."
At the moment, the only thing that Rin knows of is that Nagi has moved to Gin's to take advantage of a better office space for a remote practicum, which is not a lie but also not entirely the truth.
"How's it in Claude?" he asked as he watches her partner nonchalantly rummaging in her fridge as she usually does.
"Some days it feels as busy as Giotto's when I was there, but it's not all that bad. For now, I'm doing inventory and checking the ingredients and supplies.
But now I think I know why they push us to drive to commute instead. I got to ride back home with one of my batchmates and going by the expressway really is a shorter route and saves a lot of minutes in the travel. I also got pointers which makes the freeway less scary. But at least the stuff you and Dad were guiding me with is making a lot of sense.
"I see… Them lending you a car basically means that you have it not just for work, right?"
"Mhm."
"Then why don't we bring it home already so that I can get you familiar with the freeway? That is, if Uncle will agree with it.
If you're not tired on weekdays, we could take it to a spin while I guide you on the passenger seat. Then once you get more and more used to it, we'll have you drive on the freeway possibly around sunset so you can get used to driving at night too."
"Honestly, that still all sounds very daunting…"
"Uncle really should have taught you way earlier, huh."
"But I'm up for it until I have my written and practical test."
"Good to know. But for now, let's just take it easy."
Suddenly, she left the kitchen carrying Haku on his hands and joined Gin on the couch.
"Also! I got sidetracked because of all that talk!
You sneaky potato, you're a 'mama' now?! So that's why you're having a lot of meetings and you couldn't tell me anything!"
"So you saw the news? But yeah, the embargo is lifted now so cat's out of the bag. How do you think of Michelo, then?"
"I think you made him look too cool."
"I have to otherwise he won't stand out. I'll give myself a pat on the back for that."
"But it's just… pfft… I can't believe you are a mother now… Ahahaha…! Congratulations for having your son."
"Goodness gracious, you made sound weirder than- uh, Nagi made it to be earlier."
"Isn't he asleep, though?"
"He just went to sleep shortly before you came here."
Gin lied as naturally as he breathed.
"But who knew you would be an illustrator for a vtuber! Surely that will attract more followers to your account."
"I guess it would."
"Alright, I'll go back home for now to take a shower and rest. Don't be late for dinner!"
And so, Rin climbed the stairs back to her room from Gin's bedroom. Shortly after, Nagi went downstairs to see Gin rubbing Haku's belly.
"Gin."
"'Sup."
"I think I'm going to need your help in the coming days."
"Yeah?"
"I've thought about an intro I could use on my upcoming debut that I hope can leave an impression… and I can only do it with your help."