First Collab with Tsupi (1)
It had been a week since my debut. In that time, my daily routine had gotten busier. Well, it was always busy, but now it felt about 1.5 times more hectic than before.
"Jiu, that wrinkle in the clothing looks a bit off—could you draw it a little more tucked in?"
"No need to rush. We've still got some time before the deadline."
"Why'd it go to you...? Anyway, just forward it to Tsupi for now. I don't really know much about interactions with Maerchen branches myself. Thanks for your hard work today. No rush on the 7th gen deadlines, take your time."
A few hours each day went to consulting with Jiu and working together. Of course, I never missed a stream, making sure to hit the average broadcast time as much as possible.
"Nngh... haah."
I stretched, then checked the time on my desktop. Stream time. My days were packed, but not to the point where I couldn't handle it. And I did have some downtime here and there. Right now was one of those breaks, so I got up from my chair for a bit.
"But why would EN contact her? And to Jiu of all people."
I headed to the kitchen, grabbed a glass of milk from the fridge, and took a sip while pondering why they'd reached out to her. Officially, there was almost no info on my alias 'Muil.' Just the name and email—nothing else exposed. The rest was only my artwork. That's why even Tsupi had communicated via email.
'Of course, that was because she wouldn't give me her number.'
I'd signed with KR Maerchen, but I wasn't fully affiliated. More like a contractor, or non-regular employee. I could subordinate to KR Maerchen anytime. But I hadn't. I figured it'd be better to work with multiple places rather than tie myself down to one. Even if my art only went to KR Maerchen so far.
Love calls and scouting offers poured in for Muil. Nine out of ten emails were requests.
'But I turned them down. KR Maerchen paid well.'
Sure, some offered more than Maerchen. But deadlines loomed, and the connection with Maerchen made other gigs feel awkward. So I rejected everything except KR Maerchen requests.
'Was I already in for life?'
Thinking that, I could almost see myself brainwashed. Scary Maerchen. Anyway, point is, why was EN approaching? Probably 99% about me. Time to check the emails with notifications off.
Back in my room, I opened the 'Muil' inbox.
"Hmm."
My hunch was right. A full page crammed with official emails from EN Maerchen Live. Official ones. How urgent were they to send one per hour? Couldn't reach me, so they hit up Jiu. My and her emails were both listed on the KR Maerchen site.
'Still, I can't handle branch interactions myself.'
Different from Auka in JP—we'd agreed to meet beforehand. But demanding via one email? A bit cheeky. Tsupi should see it first; I could help after.
I closed the inbox and finished stream prep. Nothing I could do right now. Whatever, they'd call.
*
Ten minutes for viewers to gather. As the warm-up ended, I loaded my avatar—Uwar—onto the stream.
"Uum. Good evening."
"What am I eating? The innkeeper made me strawberry salad. That's what."
"I had protein at lunch."
I made a wronged face, but viewers didn't buy it. Every stream, it was just veggies or fruit... They wanted to feed meat to their baby(?) hero they had to protect.
"You're all overreacting."
I popped a strawberry slice in my mouth. This is pretty good. Should I ask Mom for more? I'd see her this week anyway—better just bring some back. Oh, the dressing was kiwi. I cleared half the salad and kept streaming.
"Alright, casual chat and fan cafe dive?"
"Whoa... how'd you know I only ate half? Ghosts, I swear."
No, my stomach's just this small. But under viewer pressure, I reopened the lid.
"I'm full though..."
"Fine, I get it."
After polishing off the salad, my stomach felt mountainous. Or at least it seemed that way. This body didn't show bloat even when stuffed. What kinda build is this?
"Ugh. So full."
Right. Today was my first VTuber collab, and also the day collab restrictions lifted. Early gens did gen collabs as standard, but from 5th gen, three collabs a week with managers. Apparently managers taught collab skills? Why would collabs need studying? Felt like forced Maerchen content. Managers have it rough.
"Yep. Today I've got an online collab with my manager Tsupi. You probably know her from Maerchen HQ streams, but I'll intro her again later."
"Manager. I'll call when it's time, go work."
"Hurry back to work. Gotta buy the hero dinner."
"Then shall we fan cafe browse? Still time til collab."
Why you gotta do this to me, seriously.
*