Serenade at 23:00

Serenade at 23:00. If you were to name the most famous VTuber agency in Japan at one point, Serenade at 23:00 would be impossible to leave out. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that 2018 and 2019 essentially belonged to Serenade. While the landscape began to shift from 2020 onward, until then Serenade had a stranglehold on Japan's VTuber fans. The reason was their overwhelming number of VTubers. At the time, they boasted over a hundred talents, which allowed them to satisfy an incredible range of tastes. For any fan who loved VTubers, subscribing to at least one from Serenade was practically inevitable.

And if there was one standout feature of Serenade, it would be their male VTubers. Originally, male VTubers had far less demand compared to their female counterparts, and there was even a period when they faced outright suppression. From a corporate perspective, there was little incentive to nurture male talents. Yet Serenade's strategy had always been to fulfill diversity. From their very first debut to the present, they had continuously rolled out male VTubers, proudly playing a major role in improving the perception of male VTubers in the industry. If you were a guy planning to debut as a VTuber, aiming for Serenade was the smartest move.

That was exactly how Vincent became a VTuber.

"Who the hell are you calling oppa?"

Vincent let out a long sigh. One of the most surprising things about becoming a VTuber was suddenly interacting with foreigners. The person on the other end of this call was one such foreigner—Masina. A Korean VTuber affiliated with Serenade KR.

"Since when were you my little sister?"

Vincent folded laundry while continuing the call. Large-scale VTuber agencies often expanded into multinational operations. One advantage VTubers had over regular streamers was their appeal to weebs across different countries—English-speaking regions, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, and so on. He had crossed paths with a few KR-side VTubers on several occasions, and somehow ended up becoming friends with a Korean VTuber named Masina.

"In the end, you're just asking me to duo with you, aren't you?"

She had been rambling on and on about how she kept getting matched against a certain VTuber called Aurora and was getting absolutely destroyed. It was almost impressive how long she could complain.

"…Fine, I guess I have no choice."

Masina's voice sounded so desperate that Vincent ended up agreeing before he could stop himself. Even he thought he had too much of a soft spot. They were technically colleagues at the same company, so ignoring her felt wrong. 'She normally never asks for duo queues like this.'

Vincent already knew very well that Masina hated being ignored. Especially since there were always plenty of viewers who doubted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠female streamers' gaming skills. The fact that she had reached out anyway meant she was truly cornered. And then—

"If she's from EYEAI… that would make her junior to Rinko, right?"

Vincent muttered to himself.

Sora knew the numbers. There had once been a broadcast where a VTuber sang a hundred songs, and it had taken roughly ten hours. So if Lora spent three full days climbing the ranked ladder, that would mean roughly seven hundred songs.

'…That's insane.'

Even if her throat was made of diamond, seven hundred songs was ridiculous. A person would die before finishing. Still, it wasn't like there were zero countermeasures.

Ayanokouji Sora: [Ossem]

Inagika: [Okay…]

She had called Inagika to somehow lighten the burden. If things got really bad, they could even bring in other EYEAI seniors. In the end, the important thing was for Lora to finish her ranked climb as quickly as possible. She had said 'at most two to three days,' so if they were lucky, it might only take a day or two. That much felt manageable.

So Sora prayed that Lora would finish her ranked games quickly, while—

"This black tea is absolutely delightful."

Lora was enjoying the black tea (Sora had brewed it) while humming a tune.

"…Why are you still here? Aren't you supposed to be doing your ranked games?"

"Let us enjoy ourselves a little, shall we?"

As she spoke, she even carefully sliced a piece of cake (ordered for delivery by Anna). Sora sighed, but when she thought about it, Lora had been playing ranked games all night before coming out. Giving her a short break seemed fair.

'If you're going to rest, you might as well go to sleep…'

But seeing how energetic she was, it didn't look like she had any intention of sleeping. In the end, Sora grabbed the microphone. They took turns singing one by one. Doing so made it easy to understand each person's style.

"『Hey there, mister with your head hung low.』"

"『Did something difficult happen to you?』"

"『If you'd like, why don't you tell me about it? I'll help you out.』"

A sly, low-toned voice. It was Chell's song. It was on a completely different level from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the cold, blunt voice she usually used. It sounded like an entirely different person. While a feminine timbre remained, if you heard it out of context you might mistake it for a man. It was fascinating how freely she could change her voice. Sora had known since debut that Chell was good at voice acting, but she never imagined she would use it in singing too. Still, when she thought about it, VTubers who specialized in voice acting rarely struggled with singing. She wasn't sure why. However, while it wasn't bad, the impression wasn't exactly 'she sings well.' The feeling that she was 'acting' the song was quite strong.

'Her song choices are pretty unique too.'

Old songs like The Legend of Love's Mikuru, W●at's up People?, The Corpse and the Rakshasa, and even Smash Angel Do●ro-chan… At first it seemed like she only picked old songs, but listening closely revealed that wasn't the case. She was choosing songs that let her show off unusual vocal tones. She also sang proper tracks like Unravel, The Monster of Hiruhata Raki, and Unknown ●ther Goose. While Chell sang a wide variety as if testing her voice, Anna on the other hand sang extremely biased selections.

"What did you eat today? What's your favorite book?"

This person only sang anime theme songs. And to an excessive degree. Sora had thought Chell singing Smash Angel was unusual, but Anna took it even further with "Ming ming ming! Ming ming ming! Usa~ming!" Sora hadn't even known such a song existed.

'…But she's really good at it.'

Even setting aside anime ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠songs that (friends who didn't know much about subculture) would never sing at karaoke. Silhouette, Bling Bang Bang Bong, Bubble Gum and the like—she sang them all with real flavor.

"You're good."

Lora seemed to feel the same way and spoke up. She had stayed quiet while Nana and Chell sang, but now she commented.

"…Is this your first time hearing Senior Anna sing?"

"Indeed. I knew her main content was ASMR and singing, but now that I think about it, I've never properly listened before."

Come to think of it, that was true. Lately everything had been focused on Labyrinthos, but despite appearances, Anna was a singing specialist VTuber just like Sora.

'She could have gained more popularity if she wanted…'

Anna's subscriber count had recently reached fifty thousand. Compared to Rinko who had surpassed three hundred thousand, it was hard to call it high. The reason Anna's numbers were low was her passive attitude toward activities. She hated going out for external events, avoided voice recordings whenever possible, wasn't proactive about hanging out with her peers, and even though she was a singing specialist, she wasn't active in producing MVs. She was the type who preferred playing cute and cozy within her own channel. It probably had to do with her financial comfort as well. She had no particular ambition and simply wanted to focus on her hobbies.

In many ways, she was the complete opposite of Sora. There were only two things Anna was proactive about: her hobbies, including Hanabane Rui, and Aurora.

"But how long are you planning to keep listening?"

Sora suddenly realized. The karaoke broadcast had been going for quite a while now. Lora's teacup had been empty for some time too.

"Oh my, has it already gotten this late? I got so absorbed I didn't notice."

"Anyway… After one song, you're going to do your ranked games, right?"

Sora subtly held out the microphone. Truthfully, this was what she had been curious about—Lora's singing ability.

'I did hear a little during the body observation…'

After the EYEAI Cup Labyrinthos VR tournament ended, the body observation MV had been uploaded to Sora's channel. She had heard Lora sing a bit in it, but since one song had to be split into four parts, Lora's solo section was extremely short. On top of that, the MV had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mixing and various processing done, so it was inevitably leveled up. There could be a difference from her actual skill.

And Sora believed that song selection was also part of singing ability. 'From what I heard, she seemed quite good…' But there had been something a little unusual about it. That point had been bothering her greatly.

"I don't know that many songs, though."

Lora took the microphone and sat in front of the PC. She seemed to be moving the mouse, searching for what to sing.

"Ah, this one will do."

Lora clicked a few times and the instrumental began. It was a melody Sora had never heard before.

"Aah— If only I could return to the water——."

'Huh…?'

Sora tilted her head at the first line. Was it English? No, it didn't sound like English. French?

"Ah."

A little distance away, Chell widened her eyes. Even Anna seemed to notice something and let out an impressed "Wow…"

She was definitely singing well. And beyond that, her pronunciation was precise. It was the kind of voice that seemed suited for taking on vocal roles in classical music.

'…What song is this exactly?'

When she checked the viewer chat, the audience seemed to recognize it too. It was a French song, yet people knew it? Most of the viewers were weebs who didn't even know much about Korean pop songs. Unable to figure it out, Sora searched it up. The song title seemed to be Ripples. It was an OST from Kwonshin.

"…Huh?"

Kwonshin—wasn't that the gacha game Inagika was obsessed with? She had seen Inagika play the Japanese-voiced version of the Chinese-made game once. Of course, the text was translated into Korean. She wondered where France fit into any of this, but apparently there was a section in Kwonshin's fifth region that featured a French song.

'Wait a second… How does Lora even know this song?'

Searching further revealed that about two weeks ago, she had played Kwonshin with Chell. It seemed Chell had tried it once while plotting to make Lora cry. So what did that mean? She had heard this song for the first time two weeks ago, and she was singing it now?

'When on earth did she practice…?'

No matter how well someone could sing, it was difficult to perform a foreign language song with only natural talent. Foreign pronunciation tended to come out inaccurate by nature. To achieve natural pronunciation in a foreign language, practice was necessary… It should have required practice…

"……"

Sora was too scared to ask. When did you practice? She had vaguely realized the truth. Lora had memorized the entire song after hearing it once and was performing it right here and now.