Elijah Must Come First (3)
"As I'm sure you already know, the third generation's theme is 'from H.'"
Nakabashi Gyokichi said it while his two eyes took turns on the third-generation talents.
"The first generation's 'Night Parade of a Hundred Demons' is Japanese folklore. The second generation's 'Un/HOLY' is European folklore. And the third generation's concept is Jewish mythology."
"Wait, hold on. How did you just do that?"
"Do what?"
"You were looking at Sakuragi-san and Ryuumai-san at the same time just now."
"You simply look at both of them at once. With your eyes."
That was precisely the thing she had called strange, yet Gyokichi remained perfectly serene. For the record, Sakuragi Honoka and Ryuumai Fuu were seated at completely opposite ends of the table.
"Ah, yes. Gyokichi-kun's thirty-first parlor trick is quite startling the first time you see it."
"Hold on a moment. You're telling me there are at least thirty more of these?"
Banter of that sort went back and forth, but Gyokichi carried on regardless.
"Of course, this is a theme we built on purpose so it could be read in several ways. The plan was to center the concept on Hebrew monsters, but we also left ourselves an exit in case the people we cast didn't suit it."
From Human, for instance. Hinata Shion herself role-played a golem, a thing made by human hands, so the unity would still hold. From Hell, for instance. The consistency with the golem would slip a little, but there was no particular reason they couldn't go with a demonic-possession setting—and since the phrase turned up in Jack the Ripper's letters as well, there was room to pile more lore on top of it.
"Whichever way we went, though, there was one interpretation—one piece of the setting—that was already fixed."
This time both of Gyokichi's eyes turned to the same place. At the end of that gaze sat Sakuragi Honoka.
"'High school.'"
There was no special reason. Honoka was simply the only student currently enrolled in high school among the people in the room.
"The third generation will be set up as members belonging to a single club. A far tighter bond than the other generations have."
The first generation had been practically strangers to one another. The second generation had the setting of a 'special observation order,' but that only defined their relationship with the leader, Amairo Tsubasa. Next to that, sharing a school and a club was an exceptionally close arrangement.
The seniors of the earlier generations had managed a warm, friendly chemistry on stream without any particular push, but a company could hardly leave everything to the personal talent of its employees forever.
"Of course, that doesn't mean we need a setting where all of you have known one another for ages. We can simply say that Sakuragi-san, having just transferred in, founded the club recently."
"I'm the one founding it...?"
"You're the leader. Of the third generation."
Honoka had said it in the sense that it was a burden, but Gyokichi answered with a shrug, as if it were nothing at all.
"No, I mean—everyone here is amazing, aren't they? And I'm the youngest, too..."
"Sakuragi-san, I believe you're serving as captain of the basketball team? Then you'll be fine."
"I really think the difficulty is on a completely different level from that."
"Well, it is on a different level."
Gyokichi nodded at Honoka's objection.
"You're at Goroneto Girls' High, as I understand it. Being captain of that school's basketball team would be a dozen times harder than leading the third generation."
"...Huh?"
"Well, that much is certain."
Han Seoyeon was quick to agree with him.
"Sasaki Kisaki. Mika Eru. Yokohara Ren."
A psychotic lesbian terrorist vampire who had lied about her age to enroll, despite a body that had weathered at least several decades. An Apostle candidate who, until Han Seoyeon was confirmed as the next Bartholomew, had been regarded as her equal. And—though of a far lower standing than the Hyakurenno—a scion of imperial blood whose name was nonetheless on the rolls of the old imperial house's social circle.
And among the alumnae were none other than Tsunashi Tenka and Akaba Akane. Even setting aside the werewolf and the shrine maiden, each of them had ties to the first-generation and second-generation seniors respectively. Go through Mika Eru, and one could even call them acquaintances of Han Seoyeon and Ninomae Hitomi.
"This is only my personal assessment, but if someone has what it takes to lead that club, then the role of leading a single generation should be well within their reach."
"It's not that impressive. Even being captain is mostly a formality. And even that was only possible because the other members helped me."
"This is much the same."
Hearing her out, Gyokichi grinned so wide his mouth nearly reached his ears.
"Even if we call you the leader, it isn't a heavy title. Most of the time you'll be streaming on your own, and now and then, when everyone gathers, you'll handle a little of the hosting. And... sometimes Shion-san will take that hosting off your hands as well."
"Shion-san?"
Honoka's gaze followed, turning toward Han Seoyeon.
"That's why we gave Hinata Shion the setting of an assistant religion teacher at a mission school. We did mention this to you beforehand, Shion-san?"
"Yes. You said you'd use her as a link to the third generation."
Back when they were putting together the setting for Han Seoyeon's Hinata Shion, Gyokichi had brought it up once before.
The plan was to bind the third generation together in the form of a club or something of the sort. The idea itself was sound enough, but it was not without its problems.
"We can emphasize the third generation's own bonds, but there's a risk they become entirely self-contained. From the company's perspective, that is hardly a desirable situation."
The VTuber industry divides into the indie camp and the corporate camp. One of the advantages of the latter is how easily viewers can be drawn in from colleagues at the same company.
A viewer who takes an interest in one VTuber flows on to another from the same generation. Then to a senior or a junior they collaborated with. And from there, to yet another VTuber in that generation.
Whether those incoming viewers can be made to stay is a separate question. But considering that without the inflow you cannot even attempt to keep them, this alone had to be counted an enormous merit.
So what would happen if a single generation turned into something like a remote island? The company would force collaborations to keep that from happening in the first place, of course. Even so.
The insurance prepared ahead of time, in that respect, was Hinata Shion.
On the internet there seemed to be talk of a 'generation 2.5' and the like, but strictly speaking Hinata Shion was not a VTuber. Sorting someone like her into any particular generation was meaningless.
"In practice, though, we'll have her fill the role of a generation 2.5. A bridge connecting the second generation and the third."
The third generation's club concept carried the danger of closing in on itself. Through the setting of its faculty advisor, it would be linked to Han Seoyeon.
And that would be enough. Living as she did with the second generation's Mary Tepes—with Hitomi—the company no longer needed to push.
"Ah, of course, at this point in time it isn't an important issue at all. It wasn't intentional, but each of you already has ties to the senior VTubers."
Sakuragi Honoka was Kitayama Maya's younger sister.
Lee Océane's current part-time job was at Tachibana Rin's café, and Momomomo and Ryuumai had a close relationship with Amairo Tsubasa.
The fact that VTuber seniors and juniors had already been acquaintances in real life. The mere hint that they met and talked quite often would be enough; the viewers would fill in the rest of the blanks themselves.
"Well, I've wandered off the point, but the conclusion is this. During collaborative streams where the third generation gathers as a group, Shion-san here will join in and take the hosting on a number of occasions. So there's no need to feel too burdened. That's all I'm saying."
"Mmm... if you put it like that... Yes! I'll do my best!"
At last Honoka balled her fists tight and declared it with spirit. Told this much, she could not possibly let them down—that fervor came through clearly.
"I like the energy. Shall we start by building Sakuragi-san's character, then?"
"Yes!"
"Hiding that naturally bright personality of yours would be foolish, after all. Let's go with a sincere, energetic student, deeply attached to the club, who works hard to pull the members together as one. And building on that..."
"Thank you for making the time."
Han Seoyeon said it as she set a cup down from the tray. Iced matcha, chilled with floating ice.
"Not at all. You said it was about the prophecy. ...Oh, and thank you for the tea."
As if to ask where else there could be a matter as important as handling a prophecy, Ryuumai Fuu smiled. The single eye not hidden by her eyepatch moved between the tea and Han Seoyeon.
The arm with its sleeve rolled up still bore several scars, and near the elbow was a line of stitches that called to mind the Frankenstein of the movies. When that hand took up the cup, the ice inside gave a clink.
"There's still time before the last person arrives, so I ask that you wait just a little longer."
"If I'm waiting somewhere with air-conditioning this good, I'm happy to wait as long as you like."
Ryuumai answered with a low chuckle, even as she rolled her eye to sweep the surroundings.
A room prepared by a nearby church. They had nothing planned that absolutely could not leak, but when the talk turned to the hidden world, the fewer ears the better.
"I should have said this sooner. Congratulations on passing the audition."
"Thanks."
"It seems today's session more or less settled your character. Does it sit well with you?"
"Well... I think it's decent enough? Ending up in a partner dynamic with that one is a little unpleasant, though..."
At the initial interview Ryuumai had wanted Leviathan, and Momomomo Chisa—the one she despised—had wanted Behemoth, but in the end the two had been swapped.
Of course, whichever way it went, once they were the pairing of Behemoth and Leviathan the setting left them no choice but to be bound especially close.
That they had at least taken the tradition of rivals, or of nemeses, rather than that of a married couple was, for Ryuumai, the one small mercy. If an order had come down to do lovey-dovey bits with that drunk, she would have hanged herself.
In any case: a student who had secretly enrolled at some girls' school while pretending to be human, for a special purpose of her own. That was the concept for most of the third generation, Ryuumai included.
She said most because there was an exception. The character of Sakuragi Honoka—the leader, and president of the club—was an ordinary person who liked the occult but knew nothing of the hidden world.
The sunny, affable girl founds an occult research club, and monsters, each with circumstances of their own, gather there. An old light-novel sort of premise.
And so the remaining three of the third generation become its members.
Lee Océane's two-faced fallen angel, pretending at innocence while in truth cunning beyond measure.
Momomomo Chisa's Leviathan, who had once even passed for normal long enough to join the student council, but who in truth drank behind the scenes whenever she could.
And Ryuumai Fuu's Behemoth, a public-morals committee member who valued order but possessed a certain flexibility of her own.
They were less characters, Seoyeon thought, than the women's actual personalities copied and pasted—but Anathema Production had always been that way, so she decided to let it go.
"I liked Behemoth personally, you know. I think it's far better than leaving that damned woman to dirty the name."
"Behemoth-san is a perfectly good person, in the ordinary sense."
Han Seoyeon called to mind the form of a certain demon and smiled faintly. So long as you didn't anger her, she was a pleasant young lady through and through.
"You've met her too... no, of course you have. You're an Apostle."
"Yes. That's right."
Ryuumai had been about to question Seoyeon, who spoke as if she had seen the demon with her own eyes. She realized at once that it was a stupid question and took it back.
"She was a tremendous help, especially during the civil war in Sheol."
"Is that so. I didn't know Behemoth-san had taken part. I fought in it myself, for what it's worth."
"Well, I knew that. You were with Triage."
"Right."
The two of them nodded, recalling old memories—of a sort.
"Whaaat? What are you two talking about so happily without meee~"
The one who came into the room then was a girl with her hair dyed yellow. The modified uniform was because she had come the moment school let out.
"Captaaaain, long time no see~"
"I'm retired now, mind you. Still, it has been a while. Mika Eru."
Ryuumai caught the hand Mika Eru held out and shook it firmly. Once she had taken in the two of them, Han Seoyeon tapped a second cup she had set at her side.
"Eru, this one's yours. I thought the talk might run long, so I prepared something to wet your throat."
"Oh, thanks, thanks~"
At that Eru beamed, tossed her bag down wherever it landed, dropped into the seat where the teacup waited, and crossed her legs.
"That's everyone. Let's get to the matter at hand, then."
Thus says the prophet Abraham Delta Schors:
In the Far East, three omnipotents take counsel of war.