?Gin?

  October 26.

  Maybe there are times too early for Ap*x in a day.

  By the time it was 9am, my actual bedroom has already been vacated so I turned on my computer and stared at an image of a capybara wearing a cap for at least a solid few minutes while I wait for the game to update.

  I still can't believe I have good internet for cheap.

  I don't know if this has already been established, I'm not really one to be good at pew-pew games since we didn't own a console growing up. And even if we did, I would have probably chosen to hole up in my room either mindlessly watching a line of ants on my wall or thinking up ways on how to destroy the world as a child. There is no in between.

  Ahem, anyway, I only really started playing mainstream games because of live streaming, which I do irregularly, and then because Nagi and Eia pretty much always pulls me in to their games when they need someone.

  Oftentimes, I'm being carried.

  And here I am booting up the game questioning whether Nagi, aka Michelo Azuria, should really be playing Ap*x at a time when he is about to retire in five days.

  Nevertheless, here we are at ten in the morning both streaming our POVs only in Japanese as Nagi wanted to, to see how far he had come in self-studying. And I suppose this could count as my farewell stream for him.

  I'm just glad that I didn't particularly feel sad about this as parting never really felt anything for us.

  "Hmm?

  **Ohh, Michelo, take a look at this."

  In the midst of queuing up in the lobby, I got a notification that an in-game friend is online.

  [**Can I join?] the name Zero—to in katakana on the game chat then appeared into the stream, which nonetheless set off the stream chat that knows of that name.

  "**Uh, can Zero—to squad up with us?"

  "**W-Wait, Zero—to? Like the Zero—to? He's here?"

  "Please don't tell me he could put two and two together when he heard my voice in the school?"

  But before Nagi could even give out a response, we got put into a new game.

  "**Ahh, shoot, shoot. Should we leave this game, Capysan?"

  "**If you're good with it."

  "**I'm leaving then. I'm sorry for the teammate we're ditching…!"

  "**Very sorry. I'll go invite him, then~"

  "**What's his rank, Capysan?"

  "**Looks like we're both at silver. I actually haven't played with him yet, see. We just added each other because we had plans playing off-stream."

  "**Ohh, maybe he could carry us, hahaha."

  "**Zero—to-san, are you listening on our stream? Would you like to join us in VC?"

  I then immediately got a reply in the chat upon accepting an invite into the squad.

  [**I'm sorry, I can only do chat today, if it's okay.]

  "**Totally fine, totally fine. Welcome."

  "Seriously, how fast does this guy types?"

  "**Right, everyone. Please welcome Zero—to-san to the stream. If you guys don't know he recently released his first original song a few days ago! If you guys are interested, go give it a listen after this stream!"

  [**Thank you very much for the welcome.]

  And by this time, both the English and Japanese chat have taken notice of how polite Zero—to types.

  At this point, I'm not sure if Nagi holds a grudge or not. While he was paid a generous sum for a rush order, he still had to edit all the footage he filmed from Open Event and release it as soon as possible, while he is working on his final projects under Taiyou.

  And just like I did, he also had to pull an all-nighter for the 5-minute short documentary. But since everything is really tight, even he had to pull me in on the work and got directed on how to do rough cuts and learn how to use LUTs on the way. Because Nagi was so motivated to make something else that is not vtuber related, we somehow finished the entire video in six hours which nevertheless surprised our little singer when he woke up.

  "**Ah, by the way, are you free to play with us for a while, Zero—to-san? I think Capysan and I will be playing for two more hours."

  [**I'll join you until the end. Thank you for having me.]

  "**Alriiight. Give me a moment while I change the stream title then I'll link your YouCube and Witter. I guess I'll also tweet out that you're joining us."

  "**Oh, I guess I'll do the same. Zero—to-san, can I put the character illust from the MV in my screen?"

  [**Eh? What for www]

  "**It's just so viewers can tell that we're with you today."

  [**I see. Please do, then.]

  2 hours later.

  As it turns out, this guy had already once reached Masters rank in a different account, and the viewers from my and Nagi's ends basically laid their eyes on the skill of the singer ending the stream with seven wins in fifteen games with his arrival.

  "**Aaaaalright! Thank you for watching us today, and just as a reminder, I won't be streaming tomorrow but from the start of next week until the D-day, it's going to be streaming galore from me. If you've missed it, I have the retirement week schedule pinned on my Witter so please check it out.

  **With that, otsuria."

  "**You are never going to make me say that."

  "**Oh, come on. This is our last collab. At least once?"

  "**No. Anyway, be sure to be in Michelo's final stream, and go give Zero—to-san's song a listen! As for me, I have nothing to promote! But please look forward to whatever I have in the works in the future."

  "**Capysan, since you're basically doing free promotion, why don't you also promote my merc…"

  Slowly, the incomplete sentence cut off and faded into the ending screen which is the usual gag that Nagi does in his streams especially when the opportunity asked for it. And as the live broadcast completely ended…

  "I feel like I would feel immense secondhand embarrassment if you went along with my otsu sendoffs."

  "See? But maybe I should have done a guild jester move and said it with absolute reluctance with you treating me like a little kid learning a difficult word."

  "That doesn't really fit your stream character, though."

  "True."

  Bzz.

  As our call was winding down, I suddenly felt a vibration from my desk and picked up my phone seeing a message pop up.

  [Are you free tomorrow, Yuka Gin? I'd like to treat you for lunch as a small thanks from the work in my original song.]

  [That would be great. I have something in the morning but I'm totally free after that. Also, I'm not sure if you will be in favor of this, but I do think you should show yourself to your cameraman at least once. I by no means don't have much experience but it's probably going to help you build trust when working with other creators.]

  For at least five minutes, Gin did not receive a reply.

  [I'll give it some thought. I'll get back to you tonight about it.]

  [Got it. Thanks for playing with us today. Have a good weekend.]

  The phone returned to the desk and I pushed my chair away to the middle of the room, and started spinning with a passing thought.

  "I hope that didn't come out like I'm prying too much."

  ? ? ?

  Next day, the 27th.

  Since Rin had nothing to do for the day, she graciously lent me her car for the morning as we went for a bit of a spin and dropping her off back home after we're done.

  The only thing is that I had to wait a bit of an excruciating amount of time for Nagi to get prepared while I kept egging him on that there would be an hour of drive ahead of us if we were to be stuck in traffic. And yes, Gaku somehow agreed to let Nagi join me in this lunch.

  "Okay, how exactly did you convince him to meet with me too?"

  "Even I don't really know. I just hit him up with the suggestion and he actually rolled with it. Now I'm thinking whether I was a bit too pushy about it."

  "I've been in production enough to know that stubbornness that leads to the detriment of the pipeline can make you trust with those you work with. In his case, I don't think he can hide forever especially if he wants to make it big, at least behind-the-scenes.

  If it's onstage, it's completely feasible to hide your identity and I think Blue Ink got the memo. And you know what, it adds an element of mystery to him… but that doesn't mean he can keep at element of mystery to those he works with.

  Anyway, that's just my criticism about this whole thing. How in the world did you meet him, then?"

  "Well, things."

  "Things, huh," of course, he wasn't convinced.

  "Honestly, I think it's way simpler than you think it is, so cut him a bit of a slack just this once. If anything, I'm more shocked that he has a hold of himself even without a manager all this time."

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  "No way you're serious. So he held his thing in the Open Event by himself?"

  "If anything, I had to help him. But before that, he organized small gigs by himself, well, maybe with a bit of connections, but…"

  "But?"

  Without keeping my eyes away from the road, the imagery and Gaku's told experiences aligned and something became clearer to me.

  "He sure has a lot of guts. I'm just realizing that maybe I misjudged him a bit too."

  And I suppose I also misjudged the ability of my phone's navigation to guide us in the correct roads, but the silver lining is that we found an alternative route that may be longer, but would allow us to reach our destination at the same time, given how atrocious the traffic was on the main route at that moment.

  In our arrival, there is something incredibly strange to find myself leaving the car at an underground parking lot because, well, this country does not even have a subway system because the infrastructure just keeps mitigating than preventing flooding, so there was a bit of anxiety of leaving Rin's car like that despite not observing any flooding in winter.

  With that, we took the elevator and ascended to the eighth floor of the commercial building where the restaurant is situated at, and it seems to be on the same quality as Claude, which is making me realize that Rin is definitely making more dough than me if I were to isolate my work in Giotto's.

  Man, I'm so proud of her.

  "Excuse me, we're here for Table 12's reservation."

  "Then, it's just ahead. We hope you enjoy your stay."

  The seat that was reserved was beside the window overlooking a panoramic view of the city, and in that table was someone's back looking at the view.

  And as we drew nearer, we could see on his hands a tablet and a pen sketching the scenery into the screen.

  "Sorry we ran a bit late."

  A bit startled, Gaku turned around and his shoulders sank a bit at the sight of Nagi.

  "Hey, he still has a mask but at least I can now see he has a head and eyes," thought Nagi.

  As we sat down, I then asked, "Can you?"

  Gaku then brought the tablet closer to him and wrote, "I'm sorry, but it might take me a bit."

  Then I felt my knee got nudged under the table.

  "Hello. I'm sorry that I didn't show myself until now, but I'm Zero—to.

  Thank you for all the help in the video. I really mean it."

  "As you saw, that's your client. Let's just get it out of the way, but most of the time his voice does not come out. There needs to be, uhh, some sort of catalyst for him to be able to speak.

  Basically, he is partially mute."

  Gaku then nodded so as to affirm what I said.

  "O-Oh… Even so, you have a really good voice."

  Gaku's eyes then suddenly took turns looking at me and Nagi, feeling a little taken aback, rather than it normally being the other way around between him and Nagi, that he started talking to me in sign language.

  "You… took it… can you repeat that?

  'You took it… quite easily,' is what I believe he said."

  "I think I've got to the age where I shouldn't be too surprised about stuff anymore. There are people out there who have their own circumstances, so I just need to learn about the diversity."

  "You heard him."

  "Thank you."

  "Now that I see it again… you really talk fast in your own way, huh. I saw from how you wrote your tweet, and you also write quite speedily."

  "I think it just came naturally to me. There was a point when I couldn't speak at all, and I only learned sign language recently."

  "He says that, but his talent is probably the ability to learn really quickly. This guy right here has some skills not just in music."

  "Oh, yeah. I saw you drawing earlier."

  "He has more than that."

  "Excuse me, I'll be in the bathroom for a moment."

  Then, he removed his wireless earbuds and left the table. A few minutes passed and Gaku still hasn't returned.

  "Oof, looks like it's a big one, huh."

  "That's not it, Nagi. He's probably just psyching himself up."

  "Uhh?"

  "It's actually way more difficult to get himself to speak a few months ago, actually. Now, he just needs to wire his mind into the music, but before that he had to full on belt just to get himself comfortable with talking. Let's just say that right now, singing is what makes him able to speak."

  "That kind of makes sense somehow… Is there some kind of therapy for his condition?"

  "Not that I know of, but the more he sings, the more his condition improves. I just accidentally found out about it, when I played the keyboard and he started singing along."

  "From the sound of it, you seem to have known him quite a bit. You two go way back?"

  "That's not for me to tell."

  Back in sight, Gaku approached a waiter then returned to our table.

  "I asked for menus. Apparently this part of the restaurant is new but normally they have tethered tablets here."

  Then he met eyes with Nagi and only bowed silently. Even with my eyes on the view of the cityscape, I could already feel the awkward air in our table as, if I were to guess, Gaku probably has no idea on how to approach this while he probably still seems reluctant on revealing too much about himself. On the other hand, the awkwardness is probably rubbing into Nagi as it's starting to feel like a bit of a weird interaction.

  Receiving our menus finally gave Gaku moments of peace now that his eyes didn't need to wander around.

  You know, it's probably extremely weird of me that I kind of like analyzing people when I get the chance.

  "Wait, have I paid you my rent this month?" all of a sudden, Nagi asked weakly.

  "You did, you did. You sure you're ready to move out next month?"

  "I do. I've imposed on your place a little too long. I kind of feel bad since your family has been there for a while."

  "Construction is probably going to slow down once it gets colder, but we'll probably get it done by spring. I hope."

  "I guess even Nagi is a lost cause in this table, huh…"

  He started on the topic, and drifted from it just the same.

  "If I may ask, Zero—to-san, how did you find out about Capysan?

  …! Hold on… you can speak our language."

  "Yup. He does, alright."

  "That… I came across his art on Witter, and the way he designs characters fit what I would have liked to see as a design of my own at that time. And then recently, it also reminded me of…

  Um, excuse me for a bit."

  Somehow, his head turned as if it catapulted towards me and starting moving his hands instead of his mouth.

  In the midst of getting taught sign language through Gaku, he interjected the system of shorthand where there are symbols for most of the alphabet, and then there are shortcuts on how to write certain words and phrases according to sound.

  Barring that shorthand relies on sound, my skill level is mostly still on the letters apart from commonly used phrases. Thus, Gaku slowly articulated to me words that can be difficult for me to understand, although with a panicked look on his face.

  Still, what he said gave me a bit of a chuckle and I rested my chin on my palm with a sudden lighthearted feeling in me.

  "If I said he knows, are you going to deny it?" a question I directed at Nagi.

  "I feel like you've basically spelled it out already… Hahh, no use hiding it when I'm retiring in a few days…

  Thanks for getting me ranked up to Diamond yesterday. I'm more surprised you didn't realize yesterday when you heard my voice."

  "You sound different when you speak in Japanese, Michelo… I wouldn't have realized when you used -san earlier."

  "Huh… You speak Japanese fluently, right? How did I do?"

  "They are mostly right."

  "It's more than enough for you to live in Japan comfortably," I added.

  "Well, thanks. You taught me after all."

  "So yeah, even on stream we've basically outed that we're close friends. The voice changer sure came in handy for me."

  "You say that, but we could never be in the same room because of that."

  "My bad."

  We were stopped on our conversation when a food cart approached us with all of our orders at once, which is surprising as the food we chose required varying time or preparation, which made me immediately think if there are rooms for improvement on how Giotto's can up our service.

  "Damn Hiro and Sean… the businessman is starting to come out of me."

  But just as we were about to eat, Nagi's eyes suddenly locked in on Gaku.

  "I-Is something wrong?"

  "Have I seen you before?"

  "U-Um…?" amidst the food still being warm, Gaku has started getting flustered.

  "I feel like I've seen you in the Art Room last year…"

  "Oh, right. You sat with me when I was manning there and you thought you got recognized by a student."

  "Should you be saying that in front of Zero—to?"

  "You were the one who brought up the Art Room."

  Meanwhile, it looks like Gaku is nearly overloading with the smoke on his head.

  "I think it's fine. I already told you that Nagi is your senior. He's not going to squeal on you."

  "O-Okay…"

  "So there you have it, Zero—to was my student."

  "Please call me Gaku…"

  "Hold on now… So you're telling me that Zero—to was your student."

  "I learned about his singing after I resigned at Blue Ink. I kind of found him out when I went to his gig, then he unknowingly approached me looking to commission Capy. From there, things just converged."

  "So you had me work as a cameraman for him, and then we played Ap*x yesterday with the singer I filmed literally being a Blue Ink student after all…?"

  "You were absolutely in your element when you were talking to him in English."

  "Duh, my literal job for a year is to yap in English.

  Wait, have you turned 18, Ze- uhh, Gaku?"

  "A-A few months ago."

  "Duuuude, what's up with these badass singers in YouCube being so young? It's honestly amazing that you were able to perform despite your disability."

  "Thank you…"

  "Are you aiming for the big stage, then?"

  "I'm not really sure yet. I want to finish my art studies first while also focusing on music. I don't really see myself with something like getting signed on a label or anything. I'm just happy with where I am."

  "Before you ask him those, he's got his work training first, you know."

  "Oh, so he's a graduating student."

  "Well, he's currently very music and art-oriented so he'd like it if he can experience both for WT. Maybe you can hook him up with whatever you have in Cobalt?"

  "Sure… I'll see what I can do. If there are other interested students, then maybe I can write the college a recommendation letter then get Akira to scout the campus so we can get the thumbs up. That is, if there is something I can get him in."

  Finally, Gaku's face brightened.

  "I really appreciate it.

  Wait, he mentioned Sir Akira?"

  "Oh, right. You didn't know this, but we were all classmates before he moved on. We can't deny that he's kind of a nepo guy but he worked hard to get his job.

  Well, he's most likely going to be my brother-in-law too in the future."

  "Ahh, enough of that guy. So you're going to further your studies after you graduate then, Gaku?"

  "That's the plan, at least… but what I want to do first is to get to a point where I will be less hindered by my condition."

  "That's necessary, I suppose.

  Then… why don't you try streaming?"

  "S-Streaming…? I don't think I could do it…"

  "Don't knock it until you try. Even Capy had zero interest in it but he gave it a shot."

  "Just call me my name in front of him."

  "When I was editing your video, I was thinking how much of an opportunity streaming is to promote your songs.

  And look at it on a more practical perspective: what if it helps you with your speech impairment because it can probably train you to speak in different situations? And perhaps it would make it easier since you're not in front of people, if it's an issue."

  Hearing that, Gaku froze on the thought.

  "Gin also mentioned you didn't have a manager?"

  "I don't."

  "You could also explore vtubing. In my agency, you can negotiate to keep your IP and they are not really strict in your activities and schedule. Taiyou is a streaming agency after all; we're not marketed as idols. But that way, you can also get the support that you need and access to collaborators. Um, you just have to deal with Japanese bureaucracy, though.

  Alright, how about I set aside a time from my schedule and collab in my channel for at least an hour like an interview? If you're recording at home then you probably have a good mic."

  "…"

  While Nagi was continuing, I could feel that Gaku kept giving me glances while it's clear that he's listening intently.

  It reminded me that at the end of the day, Gaku is still young. If anything, it felt like he's been relying more on me for things, and even asking me to be his manager although only as a jest. Still, that doesn't mean I have to make the decisions for him, but I can only either encourage or dissuade him from things.

  "I suggest you take Nagi's suggestion and then decide from there. Nothing wrong with testing the waters after all. You might be overwhelmed if you look at the chat, though."

  "Just for reference… how many viewers are you two taking about…?"

  "Around two thousand," Nagi flatly declared.

  "For me, I think I average at 300?"

  "You don't have to worry about that, though. It's my stream so you don't really need to think about it. You don't have to decide right now, though. It's just a suggestion after all."

  "I will think about it, then."

  "Come to think of it, Nagi. You've never done a karaoke once before, haven't you?”

  "Yep. Never did, never will," he blankly answered as if it was a matter-of-factly.

  "Your fans were okay with that?"

  "Not exactly. I made it clear that I will only pursue streaming and other creative stuff, so those who wanted to hear me sing left.

  And hear this, I'm actually the first in the history of our company to never be heard sing from when I debuted to my retirement."

  "Don't sound so proud about it."

  In the middle of our senseless conversation, a question was then raised by Gaku to enlighten his curiosity.

  "If it's not rude to ask, what made you decide to… essentially quit, Yuka Nagi?"

  "That, huh… Well, first, I'm simply fulfilling my contract, hence I didn't extend mine. Next, I want to prioritize filming as my job and look at my options from there. If no one has forgotten me, then I can try to go back in some way.

  Well, there's someone out there who doesn't particularly want me to leave.

  Aside from also having a partner, those are basically my reasons. It's nothing sad, so I try to carefully reflect the nonchalance of my leaving without downplaying the viewers' feelings."

  "I see… Thank you for telling me."

  "I say all that, but why don't we go to karaoke after we're finished here?"

  "We'll have to look for a extra private room for that."

  "I actually know some places," Gaku interjected. "I looked around for establishments because I wanted to hear how my voice is in karaoke instead of a recording."

  "You're down for it?"

  "Yes."

  "Sweeeet, we get a free concert."

  "Gaku will hear how bad you are, hahaha."

  "Excuse me, I'll have you know I have Shiro giving me pointers from time to time. If anything, have you heard Gin sing, Gaku?"

  "I actually haven't. But he has a nice hum."

  "Wait, I do? Thank you."

  "The dude's more than humming, though. You gotta look forward when he sings songs at a range he's comfortable at."

  "Should we make a reservation?"

  "Not you too, Gaku?"

  ? ? ?

  Later before midnight in all of our Witter accounts, we posted a picture of our phones with the images of our characters as a way to tell that the three of us met offline. As to how the picture was taken, Nagi had two phones with him.

  And as to how we managed to reach an agreement to post it, considering that we all want to be private as much as possible, we chose the optimal way that would not reveal anything at all from where we went to.

  It's to the point where it can be seen as borderline outrageous as we considered every single detail from the reflection, to the lighting, and even if the texture and surface of the table is distinctive or not, so long as people can't narrow down our approximate location.

  That said, both Nagi and I wrecked our throats from all the singing, and it was especially noticeable as Nagi still streamed.

  Oh, and Gaku said yes to the interview.

  Next