‹Gin›
I can't believe the most difficult thing to occur in this trip is to, somewhat regretfully, pull away Kyupi from Rin's clutches otherwise we would have gotten nowhere. As much as I enjoy the myriad of cute expressions she's making in the presence of our lovely kitten, we had no choice.
Never would I have expected that she would literally bawl her eyes out as if she was going to be separated from her son that she took care of so dearly to the point that half of the drive to the airport would have her crying on the passenger seat while Yuuga and Nagi have strategically plugged earphones on at the back. And what do you know, the latter half of the drive was her endlessly scrolling pictures of the dearest kitten in her gallery.
Frankly, it got to the point that it was annoying, but it was still a bit amusing to see her like that.
Oh, my bad. I forgot to mention that it is currently Thursday, March 14, and I was driving to the airport as we were catching a flight to Tokyo for a 5-day trip with the primary purpose of going to a convention and concerts spanning two days.
Believe me, I was just as flabbergasted seeing a clip of a Hats*ne Miku concert when I was a kid asking myself, "Why are they cheering for an anime girl on screen with a robotic voice?" back when I was naive and didn't know about vocaloid, and here I am now incredibly stoked to watch anime avatars perform live, but well, virtually, on stage with my penlights ordered prior to this trip. And of course, there's no way I am not bringing the plushie of the blue comet idol that I got a few months ago.
I am surprised that she still hasn't ambushed me with a knife or an axe, honestly.
Memes aside, if I recall correctly, I believe that this is the first time that Nagi is going to be coming to Japan. I am actually quite impressed with how far his Japanese have come. It initially started with me teaching him of the language from way back then once I became fluent enough, but that kind of fell through although he has retained some of what I have taught him. But behind my back, it seems that he has been studying on his own as I later found out in one of his livestreams, of all places, that he could now communicate enough although very far from perfect. By chance I watched a collab of him and a Japanese vtuber of the same company as him and he was able to hold conversations without feeling like there is much of a language barrier.
Still, I wouldn't trust him to walk around Tokyo on his own as it's not just merely a matter of his language proficiency. We are going to Tokyo, after all, and Rin and I learned the hard way that you can easily get lost in it even with GPS. Shared location was a life saver, though!
Anyway, I can't believe that the second most difficult thing we encountered in this trip is with Nagi acquiring a passport, which, when you think about it, should be the most difficult thing we have gone through… but refer to the first sentence of this chapter.
Wearing a mindset that everything goes wrong and never goes according to plan in this kind of situations, beyond the already mentioned hoops and obstacles, things have went surprisingly smoothly and we boarded the plane without a hitch minus my anxiety over my checked bags although it pretty much contained sets of clothes that are not enough for five days, another pair of shoes, and flip flops. Even I do wonder what the airport security thought of a luggage almost as empty as me.
That joke is so bad.
Anyway, I'm going to fill that luggage with drip by the time we go home, which I couldn't really buy much clothes the last I was in Japan as I was running low on my budget.
But while waiting for takeoff, Yuuga found something strange, or someone missing.
There are three seats per row in every column inside the plane, thus it was just enough for me, Rin, and Yuuga.
"Wait… how come I haven't seen Nagi even before we boarded?"
"Are you forgetting that Taiyou sponsored his entire trip?"
"No, you did say that."
"Then he has caught an earlier flight than us since he's on a premium economy."
"Are you for real?"
"You know, you could have easily gone with him with the money you get from your volume sales."
"I probably would've gone with him if I knew, but how about you two?"
"It doesn't feel worth it for a three-hour flight," Rin reasoned. "I'm probably going to pay for that if it was either a long flight or it's going to be a long trip as a whole.
Besides, I don't have enough savings so there's a low chance I'm doing that."
"I see. Would you guys be fine if I upgrade my flight back to Orio?"
"You do you. It's good for Nagi to have some company too."
It's difficult to tell how much Yuki Amagami actually earns, but the man behind the pen name has been taking the work slower now after a successful debut comic, a shoujo manga following that, an axe, and now he's settled into doing very short series, taking in illustrator work, and guesting into a Yololive vtuber's stream.
Even I need to digest that. This dude is friends with a member of one of the big vtuber companies out there.
Inhale, exhale.
That being said, physical volumes of his works are still being sold, so the flow of earnings are still coming, or at least that is what we've heard.
Without any issues, however, the plane was able to take off with Yuuga suddenly going quiet at around gaining elevation and then the middle of the flight.
"Uh, you good, sensei?"
"A-Ah… right, this. I actually get really anxious when on a plane.
It's like… I have a fear when we're getting farther from land that's why I don't like the window seats."
Gee, what is up with this lineup? I'm basically generally anxious plus my luggage, Rin is definitely still having separation anxiety from Kyupi, Yuuga has a phobia in planes, and Nagi is most likely looking like a lost puppy in Haneda assuming that he has landed in Japan already.
This truly is the trip of all time.
One safe landing later, my hubris has costed me and by extension Rin two new SIM cards as my idiocy didn't even account to the expiration of the validity the previous ones we had had, as if SIM deactivation was something unique in Orio. Truly, that was not my brightest moment. Regardless, we were able to meet with Nagi who was indeed acting like a lost puppy, although he had successfully got himself lunch in one of the airport restaurants, and at a dine-in, to boot.
But with our exit to the airport, we then relied on our GPS to find the Windbnb we are going to stay at. Thankfully, as this trip is partly sponsored by Taiyou Digital, they recommended some places where we can stay at, and we decided to settle on one of them.
It was unfortunate that we wouldn't be able to see the blooming of cherry blossoms this year, but I have had my fill of the best hanami I could have asked for just last month, so we enjoyed the short stroll from the station to our lodging nonetheless.
This time, it was not a contactless turn over of the keys, but it meant that the four of us have successfully gotten ourselves a place to stay on.
It was bigger than the one Rin and I stayed at a few months ago as the house is 3LDK, meaning three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living and a dining room. But as if Nagi and I shared the same brain waves, the first thing we examined upon entering the house was the toilet.
"I really do think you should just get them shipped from here if you're having a hard time look for a good one in Orio, Gin."
"That's not even the hard part. I've been looking for a good electrician too."
Suddenly, I was hit on the head.
"You dimwit. You've been planning for reconstruction of your parents' house for a while now. The Exiles have capable people that can make AMM. There's absolutely no way they don't have electrical engineers to maintain the underground base."
It was like another painful reminder that I don't think enough when it counts. I don't want to get slapped by Sis again.
‹…›
The four then briefly split to put their belongings on their own rooms, and Yuuga met Nagi casually lounging on one of the couches of the living room with a laptop on his stomach.
"Gin's gotten a lot less rigid now, huh?"
"Wh-What do you mean by rigid, Yuuga…?" Nagi asked with a face of genuine concern.
"I feel like we're not on the same page here, you ding-dong.
I mean, I guess I wasn't really around much last year when things were apparently really bad, but it seems like he's gotten a lot more expressive… and tell me there's no way it was just me thinking those two have gotten closer."
"You're not imagining it. Just let those two be.
Aaaand we should probably go to a konbini to grab some food and stuff."
"Nah, you can go alone."
"Tell me you're joking, Yuuga."
"I am."
"Geez, man. You're going to give my poor gaijin heart a scare.
By the way, do we need to lock the door?"
Suddenly, Yuuga shuddered hearing that, in which Nagi reacted mutually.
"Let's just lock it, man… I've lived here before and I was given a slightly confused look by my hosts."
"Yeah… My Orion blood is roaring at how safe it is in here…"
~ ~ ~
An hour after getting settled with, Gin and Nagi suddenly got dressed up as though heading out.
"We actually have a meeting… or I guess you could also call it a courtesy call with Taiyou today," Nagi replied as Rin asked where they were heading to.
"But have you even told their management that you guys already know each other, Nacchi?"
The two men looked at each other and said in unison, "We didn't think about that, huh."
"Oh well," Gin shrugged, "We'll just come up with something in the train. We can't really just up and say we're housemates or something."
"The moment I reveal, especially on stream, it will definitely generate a lot of clips. With the attention span of someone terminally online, I'd say it'll be talked about for 48 hours."
The couple then slowly turned towards Nagi with faces completely devoid of emotion, yet it strongly felt like it was emitting utter disappointment.
"So I'm just content to you, huh," Gin mumbled.
"Spoken like a true content creator…" Rin added as she shook her head disappointingly.
At this point, however, Nagi has gotten used to double-down of teasing that the couple does on the regular, and instead of reasoning out that it came out in a way he did not intend to, he just shrugged and stepped outside as Gin followed.
"We'll ping you what time we'll be back."
Thus, the house was left in Rin and Yuuga's care.
"Are you familiar with Tokyo, Yuuga?" Rin immediately asked as she returned to the living room.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
"For the most part, I guess? I've been here multiple times, and I actually…"
Yuuga abruptly stopped on his words with a sigh, while Rin saw a subtle smile from him as though looking into space.
"I think I'll be able to live with Mina here."
"Really? That's such a dream…"
"It's not for long, though. And it's not like it's going to happen soon. She needs to get used to working first before we plan anything concrete. We're probably going to live here only for a few years, but that might change if somehow the working conditions get reformed."
"So you're planning that far… That's nice. I'm a little envious."
"I take it you want to live here too?"
"Wishing for that is as far as I'll probably get. I don't really see myself living here for a long time.
But… I really enjoyed the short time I was here with Gin."
"I heard that you went on a vacation here last year. I guess it a well-needed break after all that happened.
How are you feeling, though?"
"I'd rather have my bones broken fifty times than go through whatever I experienced back then.
As you can see, I'm fine enough to joke about it!"
"That's good to hear. It was difficult keeping things from Mina and Erika, but, well, even I don't know much of the details aside from it being the BEF disease. Well, Gin's brother told me about it.
Agh, let's scrap the depressing conversation. We're here to enjoy ourselves at least for a bit before we all graduate."
"It was worth putting some of my PTO to this~
Anyway, I'll be going out for a bit to walk around the neighborhood and rent a bike," Rin stood and picked up a jacket, prompting to leave, but abruptly stopped.
"Should I maybe get some sake while I'm out?"
"Huh?"
"I said should I-"
"No, wait. I heard you the first time…
But you drink now, Ringo?"
"Yeah?"
While they were not yet acquainted at the time, Rin and Yuuga still attended the same junior high school until they transferred to Blue Ink, and he has heard of how much Mina and her cousin, Erika, dotes on her back then with how gentle she was. And even after that, Yuuga had an image of a kind maiden in her that still held even if she matured in appearance.
"Does that seem really unusual to you?"
"Ah…" he could not come up with words to back up his astonishment. "Are you going to be fine alone?"
"I can handle myself just fine. We're near the place I used to stay at anyway."
"I-I see…"
"You have collabed with Midoriki Treya a lot already. You should know how much of a gremlin she is. Well, I'm not as unhinged as her, though.
I won't be out for long!"
And just like that, Rin has left the house.
Yuuga thought that at this point, he doesn't know anymore where Rin could have diverged from cinnamon roll that her old friends had described her. Thus, he just arbitrarily blamed it on Gin.
"I should have told her I prefer my sake on the sweet side…"
▪ ▪ ▪
March 16.
A difference of an hour from Orio's time zone was enough to make Rin literally drag her partner out of bed as the ever so weak Gin's circadian rhythm has not adjusted to Japan's time. Thus, Rin had put all her hope that the train ride to their destination would not be full of rainbows and sparkles.
On the other hand, Nagi has been found completely awake at an early time in the morning, already testing a small, handheld stabilizer where he would be mounting a phone for today's activities, while Yuuga has gone out for a walk.
The group of four has however arrived quite early at the city of Chiba at the prefecture of the same name, just beside Tokyo, already seeing a crowd of people outside of the convention venue hours before the opening.
It has always been pretty common in the country to be wearing a mask even before outbreaks of diseases in recent years, which is why it was not unusual to see other people within the crowd wearing them. In this case, however, it turned out that a Rin out of four people are standing out more for not having her face covered and without a cap over her head, which was not the case for the three people with her.
"You know… I can understand why Yuuga and Nacchi are going incognito, but why you too, Potato?"
"You're probably the only one whose face or voice is not around in the internet, you know."
"I think you're just being too cautious~"
"Can never be too careful, yeah?"
"I could at least stick with you, right? It will surely get crowded in there."
"I want to joke about us getting some angry stares, but I don't know how much of that is going to be a joke on the crowd we're going to be at."
"Huh…?"
"It takes a terminally online person to understand one," Nagi chimed in as though it was a jab aimed at Gin.
"Hey, at least it landed me a new side gig in-between when I was unemployed. I'm back as a functioning human being, okay?"
"Be straight with me, Potato. Did you engage on flame wars when we weren't looking?"
"I didn't, but I was eating popcorn at that time. People can get extremely weird because of the anonymity in the web."
His truthful response has given him a whack on the head.
…
Later in the morning, the venue was opened to the public, thus giving the guests a first glimpse of the booths featuring the virtual talents of the company. Once again, 1:1 scale statues that have been displayed before are being showcased together with personal articles that are either once in possession of the vtubers or things that they have created, essentially making a portion of the venue a museum.
Nagi took no time in pulling out his handheld filming rig as soon as the group had gotten closer to the convention itself, especially with no presence of any notices prohibiting filming. With respect to the other three with him, however, he had to be in the front to lessen the exposure of his friends in the camera—that being the first reason, and second being an easier work for him in post-production as he would have less faces to blur in the final export.
To their luck, they managed acquire seats for the opening event, and while Rin caught Gin looking at the stage with an abundance of excitement in him, the timing was unfortunate as a female emcee blessed with looks akin to a celebrity ascended on the stage. She would however soon realize that she was slightly annoyed for no reason.
The program then started, and however gentle the voice of the emcee may be, it did not stop the crowd from cheering loudly as the excitement rose.
And just when it felt like the energy of the crowd had peaked, the entrance of the CEO of the company raised the intensity by a few notches, to which Gin had finally joined in on the cheers, almost launching from his chair as he joined the unison of chanting the director's nickname. But lively as the venue may be, the typical politeness of the Japanese could still be observed.
Shortly after, the life-sized mascots that have been present since the first two conventions with one of which with the blonde hair and a detective hat exuding a menacing air around her and thoughts that are indecipherable behind its smile.
"I am so going to take a picture with that gremlin later."
Before the four of them knew it, the time has passed long after noon as they were preoccupied with walking around and within booths and showcases, and they were not even close to getting around the entire convention.
With only a few hours left before the concert hall opens, they rushed to the food and drinks area of the convention where orders can be conveniently reserved prior with an app allowing a reduction of volume in lines and easier pickup.
Or at least that was what they expected until they realized the issue of massive delays in food distribution which formed a long queue. Fortunately, the four of them managed to avoid the brunt of it, but as soon as they got their food, Gin went to various social media and indeed found out about criticisms of the service.
They then walked to the public eating area and choosing to sit at a far side as the crowd sitting in the tables was not letting up. And needless to say, the food and drinks that they got were themed with the company's talents.
"Dude, I didn't realize but your phone's camera is actually really good. Isn't that a low mid-range model?"
With a small downtime in their hands after their meals, Nagi and Gin were suddenly talking about cameras.
"I was also surprised, you know. I bought this last year and couldn't really find reviews about it so I was also surprised. Then you recommended me a more advanced camera app and the images looked ten times better.
You, on the other hand, are practically drooling on your new toy, huh?" Gin joked, watching Nagi happily color grading his footage.
One of the many reasons why Nagi, along with Gin, went to the headquarters of Taiyou Digital is to trade the phone that Nagi used to track his avatar with a newer model. With his filming capabilities, he asked his manager if he could get a newer tracking phone, when in reality he just wanted to test out the new filming features of the newer model.
In the end, he replaced his phone with a new one in the offices, and transferred his data with a visible grin.
"Can you blame me? Saying that the USB-C in this fruit phone is convenient is such an understatement. Transferring my data is faster now so I can pretty much edit on the fly!"
"It's so weird to think that your phone is more expensive than your laptop."
"Yeah… I think that a lot. I'm just really thankful that the agency is accommodating me so much even though I am under a fixed contract."
Saying it out loud, Nagi's face has somehow hardened while falling into silence. Then in a few moments, he resumed on his work.
"**Is that really… who I think it is…?"
All of a sudden, a flinch has left Gin as he heard a very faint whisper.
With his head down towards his phone, he discreetly looked around to find where the voice was coming from, and found that there is a group of three that has been walking around their table, although keeping a distance.
All of them were already masked up; even Rin who could not take the inconvenience if she were to suddenly get sick in time of their departure back home. But in the end, it would seem that one of them has been recognized, although Gin could not really tell who among them.
"Yuuga?"
"Hm?"
"Can you look up for literally just a second without looking away from our table?"
"Uh, sure?"
As per Gin's request, Yuuga did specifically as he was told and confusingly stared back at his phone.
"Was there something I needed to see?"
"Nothing, really. Just needed to confirm something."
By elimination, it would most likely be Gin or Yuuga to be recognized easily as their faces have been shown in the internet already, while Nagi would only be recognized from his voice as he does not use a different one when he streams. And even then, Yuuga would have the most exposure among them despite only having a few appearances, and most of them being in Orio.
Nonetheless, Gin confirmed his suspicions to be correct from the three Japanese people looking away upon Yuuga, or Yuki Amagami, looking up.
"You really are kind of a celebrity in your own right, huh, Yuki-sensei?"
"W-What, were we spotted?"
"I think."
"Hahh… I really don't want to do any signing since that's improper in an event I don't have much relation to… At least we got a nice break from walking around.
Should we move?"
"Just to be safe. You have the best bodyguard you can ask for, anyway."
"Who's the bodyguard now? Hahahaha."
Before the concert hall opened, the four of them toured around more for a little while until they went to leave their presence in the convention by signing the public boards separately. As there is no point in hiding the fact that they are in Japan assuming that someone in Witter has already announced on their own that he was present.
But as there was not an incident, they proceeded to their seats for the concert which was fortunately adjacent. And compared to last year's concert, the event hall was even bigger.
"Oh, man… I suddenly feel nervous…" Nagi whispered.
"Uh, did we not get a memo that you're going onstage?" to which Rin asked jokingly.
"That's not it. If this was the concert a year ago, I would have been completely fine. But I've had a change of perspective, and I feel like I can kind of understand now how daunting it is to perform in front of thousands of people.
It just… makes you think how much effort they've put in just for this very day…"
Silent as Nagi may have ended up being, it was masked by the sudden growth of cheers as people find themselves being filmed and shown on the hall screens and live broadcast across the world. And a few moments after, the show had started with the appearance of all the performers for the first day of this two-day concert.
With all the waves of the pen lights somehow feeling like a slow motion to her eyes, Rin had suddenly found herself lost for a moment.
Out of the four of them, she is the one with the least knowledge of the agency they are supporting, the convention, the concert, and its talents. There would be times in the show where she simply did not know what she is supposed to do, but she was reassured as she observed her partner, whose energy changes based on who is performing. In such a case, Gin felt like an open book. To the songs he knows and style of music he prefers, he would be verbally cheering. Otherwise, he would go silent and follow the flow of the lights.
Rin had however witnessed an incredible sight right in front of her. She heard the loudest cheer of the audience to the point that they may as well be shrieks… all from a single beat from the start of a song's instrumental. But it was not long until she realized that the reactions were not exaggerated upon hearing the chorus that felt as though a shockwave was almost visible, sang by a diamond in the rough—a shooting star—whose voice has completely captivated her.
From that moment, she could feel her heart racing even after the show has ended.
▪ ▪ ▪
March 17th, 10pm JST.
The rental house came alive from the dark as the four of them came home from the conclusion of an eventful convention, and a few hours in an izakaya.
Gin being the one of the with four taking little to no effect from liquor, he ran the bath as the three sat down with a glass of water each.
Feeling buzzed at most, Nagi plugged his laptop into the wall and opened his editing suite.
"Sheesh… you're still going to work… dude?"
"After this day I'm not touching this project file until we fly back home. I just want to take it easy after that packed two days."
"Like I said… No one's going to believe that when you're so laser focused on your timeline~"
"Go lie down, Yuuga."
The last day of the convention ended in a flash as they found themselves doing the same things as the first day, only in different places, and having explored the entirety of the event. The second day of the concert was just as impactful as the previous one, and Rin was able to see a new side of Gin. But in the midst of all the festivities and celebrations, Nagi had remained very meek.
"Riiiiinnnn, go take a bath first.
Are you going in later, Nagi?"
"You go first. I'll head to bed in a few hours. I still have some in my tank."
"Sure, sure. I guess we'll retire for the night early."
~ ~ ~
Several minutes before midnight hit, the lights of the bedroom shut off.
"Ow, my eyes," caught by the shock of his phone screen suddenly feeling like too bright, Gin almost dropped his phone while browsing on the bed.
"Why are you on light mode?"
"I was reading an article and the site didn't have dark mode. You could have at least told me you were turning off the lights."
"Ehe, gomen~" with an unserious apology, she raised the blanket and let herself in on the bed. "Let's go sleep."
Obediently, Gin set aside his phone and tucked himself in further.
"Did you really enjoy this trip, Rin?"
"Why… so suddenly?"
"You just seemed disinterested at times so I was wondering if you actually had fun."
"So that made you worry?
Well, there were a lot of things I couldn't understand but I really liked the convention. It was so different from ManCon or ONrio back home. The concert day one, though… I think I've found my oshi."
"Eh? Who is it? Who is it?"
"I'll make you guess who. You'll just find out eventually anyway.
You're the one who seemed to have had fun the most, though."
"It really looked like that?"
"You know… you've been having a habit of being oblivious with yourself and having others point things out for you. You really should be more conscious of the changes and unusual things you're doing.
You really are changing… and it’s for the better."
"Sorry."
"Anyway, I've never seen cheer you so hard. You watch basketball and volleyball leagues, but it was surprising that you were keeping up with the crowd."
"I probably got swept up in the moment, huh…"
"It was great seeing you like that. It felt like you're not carrying something heavy on your shoulders when I could see you let loose."
"Ever since we came to the sakura tree it really did feel like I was finally through a long bout of constipation."
"I hate you for putting that image in my head. It's your fault if I won't be able to sleep tonight."
"If we keep talking, we really won't be able to sleep," Gin inched closer to Rin just as their warmth did, and he proceeded to lightly brush her hair with his hand.
"Don't come closer. You suddenly stink."
"No I don't."
"Yes, you… don't," giving up, Rin moved closer towards Gin's chest as though finally winding down.
"Let's get your dad a bottle of the sake we had here."
"You really know his taste in alcohol now, huh. Have you been drinking with him lately?"
"Not really. Just here and there."
"I never asked you about this… but how on Earth did you come home extremely flushed after your brother's wedding? Did Dad force you to it?"
"Oh, that time… It's nothing you should worry about."
"You heart is suddenly going fast."
"No."
"Something happened that day, then."
"No."