Five Songs in Thirty Minutes
Only thirty minutes, in a world with no normal people. That was the time given to Ayanokouji Sora.
Once upon a time, VTubers often did full one-hour debut streams, but these days thirty minutes had become the norm. After all, the only real purpose of a debut was a self-introduction. Stretching that single topic into a full hour of content was practically begging the audience to get bored. So from eight o’clock to eight-thirty. In that brief window, Sora had to present herself completely.
It wasn’t as if the first broadcast decided everything about a VTuber’s career, but everyone knew how crucial first impressions were. No lengthy explanation required.
-Click. The crisp sound of a mouse button. Then Ayanokouji Sora’s very first words.
“Do you not gimme your love and passion?”
♬♪♪♩♪♪♩ ♪♩♪♬♪♩♬
The guitar roared so loudly it nearly drowned everything else. The instrumental break felt a little long. Having already started, the urge to race into the next lyrics coiled tightly in her chest. Yet the moment she actually sang the words, she couldn’t help thinking how uncomfortable the song felt.
She had chosen the Japanese-style name Ayanokouji Sora to appeal to global fans, but in the end she was Korean. She had studied foreign languages, yet her pronunciation could never match a native speaker’s. Therefore this performance would undoubtedly be imperfect.
Still, she had tried. She had practiced endlessly for today. Humans can’t live without thinking about something, but during these moments of song, her mind went blissfully blank. She simply wanted to sing this song well. If anything displeased her, she only wanted to do it better next time. So imperfection was acceptable.
By the time she reached the second verse, she no longer even felt the viewers’ gazes. When she delivered the final line, she realized the song had felt shorter than expected. Roughly three minutes and thirty seconds. More than a tenth of her allotted time spent purely on singing.
Around four minutes past eight the music faded, leaving only Sora’s clear voice ringing through the stream.
“The moon that floated in the night sky, shaped like a jellyfish, has burst.”
Five minutes past eight. The next song began.
“Mmm…”
Sora, staring at her phone, couldn’t help making a complicated face. Some weird meme was already taking root… It was ridiculous, but VTubers being teased like this was practically destiny. Even strange memes helped content spread through the community.
‘Looks like the debut went pretty well.’
Two songs right at the start, one in the middle, and two to close it out. Five songs total in a mere thirty minutes. The profile introduction had been a little rushed, but she had managed to say everything she wanted. Her character appeal seemed to have landed too.
‘Besides, thinking about the future, this was something I had to try at least once.’
Every company occasionally ran a “song relay project.” Around ten to twenty VTubers would each take thirty-minute turns continuing a massive relay of songs. The real challenge was deciding how to fit several songs into that short window. Having experienced it firsthand during her debut gave her a huge advantage. Even if EYEAI announced a song relay tomorrow, she was confident she could handle it. She could even host her own relay under the name Ayanokouji Sora and draw in a massive crowd.
‘I’m not sure if I can beat Aurora, but I’ll definitely beat the other two.’
Sora was steeling herself with that thought when—
“It got so boring I wanted to die.”
“The reactions are good. Thank you.”
“Then I’ll take suggestions for the next line. ‘Mimori is extremely arousing. If you pull her on a free roll, your erection won’t go down…’ …Did Kisame really say something like that?”
“Even lines you shouldn’t raise your voice for can be good lines. I’ll do both.”
“There are a lot of male character lines, huh. After this I’ll take suggestions for female characters.”
“Heh heh heh. Mimori is extremely arousing. If you pull her on a free roll, your erection won’t go down…”
Chell really did it. Her voice sounded especially sly. …No, why was someone who usually stayed completely silent suddenly so eloquent?
‘And what is with that voice…’
How could she switch voices so fluidly?
Inagika’s admiring voice came through Discord.
“Right?”
“To be honest, I was wondering why Chell was chosen for the sixth generation.”
“U-um… I guess it couldn’t be helped…”
“I-I thought the same thing…”
“Seeing this, it all makes sense now.”
“Chell always did have a good voice to begin with…”
“B-but being able to do male voices too is seriously incredible…”
“……”
While Lora and Inagika chatted like that, Sora kept opening and closing her mouth without saying anything.
‘…Why is everyone just calmly admiring her? Am I the only one sensing danger here…?’
She had felt pretty good after singing five songs, but now Chell was casually delivering provocative lines with perfect voice acting. The words fastest dropout and normie run in under ten minutes flashed through her mind.
‘N-no! Voice impressions are impressive, but they can’t possibly have the same impact as singing… right…?’
Sora was starting to worry. She kept frantically refreshing, checking her own subscriber count against Chell’s in real time. Maybe the power of song really was that strong. For now, Sora’s numbers were higher than Chell’s. She felt relieved, yet her body trembled with the fear that everything could flip at any moment.
…She was envious of Inagika, who could purely admire her fellow debutant without any ulterior motives. No, that couldn’t be true. Inagika was probably anxious on the inside too. No one wanted to be the biggest failure among their peers. Saying that out loud would only ruin her image, so she simply chose not to express it. She was just pretending to be impressed because she didn’t want to show an ugly side. Sora repeated that to herself like a mantra.
“U-um… it’s already this late…”
“Then I’ll go prepare for my own stream…!”
At 8:50, Inagika left the voice channel to prepare for her broadcast. Ten minutes later, Chell entered the voice channel as if trading places. Of course, Chell remained completely silent in the voice chat as usual.
Instead, Inagika’s stream began.
“H-hello! I’m Inagika, an elf who lived in the forest…”
“S-sorry for doing this on my very first stream, but I-I’m going to roll gacha…!”
“……??”
The broadcast screen changed, revealing a game.
“Can you see the screen…! Oh, you can? That’s a relief…”
“As of today, Janggeumhwi has a pickup banner… Isn’t Janggeumhwi pretty…? Ever since I first started this game, I thought Janggeumhwi was so beautiful that I’ve been waiting for her pickup banner the whole time.”
“But her pickup banner overlaps with my debut day, right? It feels like fate, so I thought it would be nice to gain some luck here…!”
“I-I’ve played many subculture games, but silver hair always gives off such a noble feeling. Her skin is pure white too, so she looks completely sacred. But with that twin-tail hairstyle she’s also cute, so I thought I really, really wanted her, wanted to pull her, wanted to make her mine…!”
“So I’m going for full constellations!”
-Click.
-Shaaaaaaa…!
“I did a ten-pull…! Ah, she didn’t come…”
“Of course she wouldn’t come on a ten-pull… In gacha games you’re supposed to keep hitting the pity ceiling, right…? Getting her before pity is lucky…”
“The real question is whether she comes at half-pity or not.”
“Ah, half-pity guarantee…! Can’t be helped… It just costs a bit more, so it’s fine…”
“Maybe my reaction was too weak… But pulling full constellations for Janggeumhwi was already decided, so whether it costs a little more or a little less… Isn’t the difference only that much?”
“…………”
…What are you? Why was she suddenly so eloquent compared to usual? And spending over a million won right on her debut stream—what was that about? Plus those eyes looked a little unhinged, which was honestly scary…
‘…There isn’t a single easy opponent.’
Sora hammered the refresh button. Even though Inagika had shown a glimpse of her madness, Sora’s subscriber count was still ahead. Whether that was because she went first or because the singing strategy had been effective, she wasn’t sure. No, let’s just say it was thanks to the songs. Either way, she was still safe for now. Sora wanted to believe that.
“It’s about time for me to start my stream too.”
Lora spoke.
Sora felt like crying.