Ch 44 - We're Friends, Aren't We? Pt. 5

"WOOHOOO! CONGRATULATIONS, BOY!" Roberu slapped my back hard.

"Ouch." I giggled.

"Damn, I actually loved every song! It's a bop, and plus, your last song really hit hard, you know? I even initially thought it was Subaru-senpai, then I was like '...Wait, there's no way Subaru-senpai was a soldier too.'" Roberu laughed as well as me and a couple other boys.

"You know, I can't blame ya. There are a lot of girls named 'Sora', 'Aki', and a bunch of other names." I said.

"Yo, wanna know a fact?" Kira said as he approached me.

"Hmm?"

"'I'm The General' has already reached 200k views!"

"WITHIN THE LAST FUCKING HOUR?! HOLY SHIT, IF IT GOES ON, IT'LL BE 1 MILLION BY THE TIME TOMORROW COMES!" My eyes popped out of my head and my jaw dropped to the floor.

"You better treat us to some drinks tonight.~" Astel nudged my elbow with his elbow.

"Shut up, you blue-haired freak." I laughed as I grabbed his neck and rubbed his head.

"Stop it, I'm the senpai in this relationship!" He laughed too.

"Say, what're you gonna do now with this huge success, Shiro-kun? You're bound to get good money. I heard rappers like chains and cars. Maybe women? You're probably gonna go to a strip club, seeing how we're all above 18 now." Kaoru said with a giggle.

"Well...I already got chains, and a car too actually."

"Eh? A car?" They said.

"Yeah. Back when I was in the middle of my rapping career as White T, I bought myself an Infiniti Q60."

"INFINITI Q60?!" They shouted with their eyes popping out and their jaws dropped.

"DUDE! THAT'S A DAMN LUXURY BRAND! HOW RICH WERE YOU?!"

"Just enough to make ends meet."

"20 MILLION YEN AS A STARTING AMOUNT TO GET INTO HOLOLIVE IS ALREADY MORE THAN ENOUGH TO MAKE ENDS MEET!" Astel sobbed.

"Well well, the money I'm gonna be using isn't gonna be for fancy shit unless I really need it. For now...I just wanna make more music and use more of my money for it. The money I'll be getting from the music is most probably just enough to fund me and have a good enough life. That, or…"

"Or...?" They said.

"Maybe I could use it for a vacation. I've been wanting to visit the Philippines after a long time not being there. Russia can be nice too. Hell, I think I wanna eat samgyeopsal (pork belly) too in Korea."

"Ehehe. Korean food is one of the best, man." I started drooling as I daydreamed.

"Anyway, wanna go to karaoke or something tonight? Usually, when it comes to something like this, senpais would congratulate their kouhais. You, however, are getting some special treatment." Roberu giggled as he put his arm around me.

"H-Hey...don't you guys have some problems with money?" I sweated.

"Oh shucks. Don't worry about it. Now...you wanna make today a special day, or be a NEET? C'mon! Us Holostars have free time this evening...I think. Do any of you have streams tonight?"

"Well...my subs are fast approaching 100k subs." Shien put his hand on his chin.

"Ah yeah, I remember. Oji-san's gonna get 90k subs too in a bit." Roberu said.

"Eh? You mean Aruran?" I asked.

"Mhmm." Roberu snickered.

"Ah, so maybe not everybody could attend…" I sweat dropped.

"It's okay though. I mean, that happens all the time. It's not like we all just magically have time for anybody. You know, me and Kaoru have like...ALL the free time in the world, aside from part-time jobs to keep us alive." Suzaku said.

"I may or may not, depending if I'll get a sick episode again." Kira giggled nervously.

"Well, I guess since you all are so kind to give me this offer, I guess I'll go to karaoke with some of you. At least those willing to join." I chuckled.

"I'm down." Izuru said.

"As much as I would like to join, I would like to stay behind to take care of Kira in case he goes to crap again." Kaoru giggled nervously.

"Eh? Well, I guess I can go with Shiro-kun if that's the case…" Temma said.

"Yo, y'all better bring some wine when you come back." Aruran laughed.

"Nah, go get some yourself, you drunkard ass oji-san." Roberu said as we all laughed.

"OI!" Aruran shouted while joining us in our laughter too.

And so, through the whole afternoon, I heard the Hololivers also stream my music and talk about it with me, both discussions about how cool the songs were, and um...the "questionable" lyrics, especially how Calli talked about how many "guh"'s there were in #SOUNDCLOUDRAPPER.

~~Sakura's POV~~

"Man...I'm bored." Saburo said as he twiddled with his butterfly knife.

"I know it's taking a long time to get there, but please be more patient, Saburo." I said with a tick on my head as I kept looking at the road.

"Saburo's got a point though. For all we know, Adrik's actual location may not be in Kyushu. It's too good to pass though…" Hide said leaning on the door of the car while looking at the sky.

"Man, if Shiro was here, we would've had an easier time taking care of recon and such."

"You have a point, but...it's General Kurome's order, you know? Besides, the kid's got goals in life. We've already signed up for this…"

"He also signed for being a soldier, you know? He just retired 'cause General Kurome tried to make him retire." He said as he closed his butterfly knife and sighed.

"Dude was also the leading guy when we'd breach...had the quickest reflex next to you, Sakura." Saburo said.

"Though, we should be able to handle it on our own. I mean, Shiro was essentially just the son of General Kurome, meaning that he's somewhat a watered-down killing robot clone. Besides, we got the fastest girl here on the wheel, the weapons expert at my side, and the spy and knives expert at the back." I chuckled.

We finally arrived at the location General Kurome told us to go to in Kyushu, and we parked the car at the side of the road and got out.

"Hoowee...this really is the perfect place for a hangout." Saburo snickered.

"Looks pretty normal too...should we go get a cup of starbucks?" Hide asked.

That was part of our lingo's vocabulary that meant, "Let's watch from a distance and wait until the targets arrived."

"Ah, sure."

"S-Sorry guys...I gotta find the restroom real quick." Saburo said.

Ah...another phrase in our lingo. It only works if Saburo or Shiro said it. It means along the lines of, "I'm not sure if the target is at the location already, so I gotta check it out real quick."

"Ah, have fun relieving yourself." I said, putting on glasses.

It was a simple disguise, but I was sure it'd be harder to find us. Well, it is very suspicious the more you try to hide yourself.

And so, me and Hide really just went to a bakery, and sat down. We ordered some cake, and started chatting. Just random stuff. Hide would take care of looking behind me in case Adrik came from behind. The same can be said for me, looking behind Sakura to see if Adrik was coming from there.

~~Saburo's POV~~

"*whistles* I just wanna take a leak *whistles*..." I said as I looked around and quickly got inside the building.

'...I don't hear any sounds...any footsteps up there?' I thought as I climbed the stairs, making sure to not shuffle nor make any noise with my feet as I slightly tip-toed and kept myself light on my feet.

The building was an old apartment that still looks rather robust on the outside. As far as I've walked past these doors, I've heard nothing similar to Adrik's voice.

I looked around, seeing if there was a camera installed somewhere in the hallway. There didn't seem to be any. I also went to the most top hallway, and there didn't seem to be anything.

"Hmm...well, I guess I gotta go back down now." I said as I put glasses on.

I went down, putting my hands in my pocket, and walking down the stairs, and just when that happened, I heard some people speaking. Particularly, in Russian.

'F-Fuck!' I thought as I instantly took steps back and went back up.

'Well, this apartment sadly has no other staircases. Only this one. Guess I gotta pick a lock and hide quickly.'

I chose a random door, in my case, it was room 31, and then I instantly went inside. I went inside the bathroom of the room I went in immediately.

'Alright...now I gotta wait it out…'

That was definitely Adrik's voice. If he saw me right now, he'd see through my disguise. This only works in long-distances, but right now, it's face-to-face!

Although my Russian is the same level as the others, unlike Shiro and General Kurome, I was able to understand some of their conversation, although it was muffled, so I only picked up keywords.

"Hey, dad. [muffled]...the General?"

"Ah. Don't worry about it. As long as we [muffled]..., I doubt she can follow us, even if she knows where we are."

I widened my eyes.

'"D-Dad?" Adrik responded after that man's voice...who the hell?' I thought.

They seem to have already gone up higher, and I can say this is a perfect chance to get out and eavesdrop.

'Heh, how convenient it is for them to pop up at this time. I guess it's reasonable too, since it's lunchtime, so most people wouldn't be at their homes and would instead eat outside or so. This is also a very old apartment, so not a lot of people live in here aside from really broke people or so.' I thought as I opened the door and locked it so that there could be little to no trace of me being in here.

I also met up with Sakura and Hide as we took off our glasses and followed secretly to where Adrik and a couple others are meeting up.

We ended up going to the most middle of the highest floor, and I decided to pick 2 doors away from the room as Sakura and Hide took care of eavesdropping.

'Man, if only Shiro was here, he would've translated everything for us. I can't, for the life of me, see how I can improve more on my Russian.' I thought as I finally picked the lock and tapped Hide's shoulder.

Sakura looked at me and spun her hand around and did an arc gesture, signaling that I should switch her spot. It is true though. Out of the three of us, I'm the one who's more fluent in Russian. Not like this is enough for a complex conversation though.

This was as much as I was able to pick up.

"Hah...so, we're all here...I've come here to talk with you for negotiations." Adrik said.

"Yes...you give us money for making the weapons, I'll give you what you requested...the nuclear missiles."

I squinted a bit after hearing that. Last time, a missile was about to be sent to America, Japan, and China. I wonder if it's the same now...?

"Yes. I needed four of those. I assume you already have some men at your disposal?"

"Yes, and I've already sent them towards the location of the base you intended to build those missiles at. They're still going as they speak."

"That's good...Well then, let's start the talk. How much are the missiles?"

"It costs 180 million ruble in total. After all...these missiles are just designated to only kill a big area, and not like a half of a country, am I right?"

"Yes, and matter of fact, the price is not a big deal for me. Heh, anyway...let's get on with it, shall we?"

'Fuck. The only thing I was able to extract is just the amount of missiles he's gonna buy. Where is his base located, and which countries is he gonna launch it to?'

And so, me and Hide just stayed at the same spot for a few minutes. Hide was facing at Sakura to signal if she needed to go back to the car.

This was our plan before we arrived to Kyushu. We drive up to here, eavesdrop at Adrik, then Sakura will stay near the stairs so that, if needed, we can tail Adrik immediately after he leaves. Hide would take care of the signaling, while I took care of the information gathering.

"Alright...I guess our talk is done?" Adrik said.

"Yes, it is, comrade. May your goal be achieved with the best of luck. Have a safe trip back to Northern Russia, comrade."

"You too, comrade. Keep yourself safe too when you get back to Belarus."

"You, though...I doubt you're in the mood to go back to Russia immediately?" The dealer asked.

"Oh, me and Zelt are just gonna stay at a hotel for a bit. Besides, I want him to enjoy more of Japan...at least before I get to destroy that one base."

"I see...do you have any more questions?"

"Ah yes...how long will the missiles take to build?"

"About 5-6 months. Maybe even 7? But around that range, and it's a guaranteed finish."

"I see...well then, I guess that ends our little talk. Take care, comrade."

'Z-Zelt? Who the hell is that? Ah, fuck it, if we don't hide right now, me and Hide are dead.' I thought.

I looked back at Hide and tapped her shoulder as I quickly ran to the door, which in turn, led Hide to signal Sakura to run towards the car. Sakura went Usain Bolt as she went down the stairs.

Although it would be nice to kill Adrik right there and then, General Kurome was right. Even if we killed Adrik, whatever plan he thought of would still be continued by his men back in his supposed base. It's better if we find where that base is and stop it all at once, along with killing him for good.

As they walked on by and finally got to a good distance away from where me and Hide were, I went back to the car that Sakura used, which was neatly borrowed by one of General Kurome's many garages of her cars, and me and Hide got inside.

"So...you guys weren't caught?" Sakura asked.

"Fast as lightning." Hide snapped her fingers and pointed at Sakura while having a playful look.

"Hah...alright, I'mma brief up what I just heard." I said to Sakura and Hide.

I told them everything I heard at the conversation, and especially this one interesting detail.

"I also heard...he mentioned a name called 'Zelt'..."

"Oh? Was that the blonde guy I saw next to Adrik, I wonder?" Sakura said.

"Blonde?"

"I actually thought I saw a blonde Shiro with him, but...he had blue eyes."

"B-Blonde Shiro? You sure you ain't tripping?" I sweat dropped.

"You think I'm joking when the world is literally at stake and is in our own hands right now?" Sakura said with a tick.

"But...why Shiro? Do they really look similar?"

"Their body and face look a bit similar. The only difference is that, while Shiro's nose is that of a Japanese, that blondie had the nose of a Russian, plus his skin has some red in it. That's clearly European blood."

"Eh? You don't think...they took his DNA and cloned him, do you?" Hide said.

"Nah nah, clones aren't real." Sakura waved her hand.

"True. Besides, even if that was true, there's no way a clone can immediately have the body of an adult man. That's just complete bullshit." I chuckled.

"H-However...if you took Shiro's DNA and changed the DNA and reprogram it so that Shiro's DNA will take over instead, and then speed up the process with even more genetic reprogramming, it's actually possible. Though...that would also mean he ages way faster than the normal human. So, as an estimation, maybe in about 5 years, that would mean the person would be as old as a 60 year old man." Hide put her hand on her chin.

"...How the hell do you know that?" Me and Sakura asked.

"I was a science club member in my high school days, remember? Can't you two at least remember that?"

"Oh yeah...I forgot that." I sweat dropped more.

"But...in the Northern part of Russia lies his base, ey? We gotta tell that to General Kurome." Sakura said.

"I think that's all we needed to do, right, Sakura?" Hide asked.

"Mhmm. She only asked us to get information, especially anything concerning a base and anything related to his plan. It's time to go back home." Sakura replied.

"Heh, I guess this really is doable without Shiro...I guess the kid can still continue his job as a Hololiver." I said.

"Hey, no doxxing personal information online, okay?" Sakura deadpanned.

"I know, I know...I'm not even a Vtuber fan. I'm just bored out of my wits sometimes that I just have to search random shit on the internet." I giggled.

~~Shiro's POV~~

"Anata ni aitakute aitakuteNemureru yoru wa."

"Anata no nukumori wo sono nukumori wo omoidashi.~"

"Sotto hito mitojite miru.~"

"Aishiteru to tsubuyaite.~"

"WOOOO!! GANBARE GANBARE, SHIRO! GANBARE GANBARE, SHIRO!" Roberu said.

"That was fantastic!" Temma said.

"Yo, that was good!" Izuru said.

"Mhmm. I agree with them, Shiro." Suzaku chuckled.

"Thanks." I said as I gave the mic to Suzaku, since the next song was his.

"Hah...damn, look at this, Shiro. I'm the General is trending right now. Matter of fact, it has gotten around 800k views now!" Izuru said.

"Eh? That's nice." I chuckled.

"At this rate...you could make Holostars trending." Izuru giggled.

"Eh? I don't know about that…"

I looked at Suzaku singing as we all vibed to the music.

'Well, if I am really making it famous, then I gotta do what it takes to meet people's expectations. Gotta show them more about Vtubing, and especially make rap a huge thing too in the community!'

It takes me back to my old days when I was White T and I suddenly boomed in popularity when I made that "one song"...This is exciting!

We finally finished our karaoke session and ended at 8 PM.

"Wah! It feels so good to use up free time like that, especially how Holostars finally got their kouhai to make music!" Roberu stretched.

"Yeah! Honestly, it's also nice how the dude's literally trending right now. He could literally have it as popular as 'Could You Please RIP?' by Calli-chan!" Izuru said.

"Well, let's just see how it goes, guys. Who knows? I might just be a fad. That's why I'mma work hard to keep it up!" I said.

"Please do. I mean, it's not everyday Holostars gets a chance like this." Suzaku giggled.

And so, I came back to my room, and I streamed for the superchat reading stream. There were a few interesting questions from some superchats. All of them were red too.

"'What should viewers prepare for when attempting to audition for Hololive or any company?' Confidence." I instantly replied.

"Now, I know some of you are gonna joke or legitimately will think 'Ah...so I have no hope' or go 'welp, guess I'm never gonna audition', but just uh...no offense, okay? I'm saying this with ALL DUE respect, and with PURE respect...Don't be a bitch. Just audition and throw your fear away." I chuckled.

"U-Unless you have trauma or a huge phobia, if you're not gonna do it, you will never do it. That's the truth with uh...doing something huge, new, or anything that gives you some sort of fear or hesitation. And when I say 'Confidence', I don't just mean self-esteem or anything. It can also mean the absence of fear...the absence of hesitation."

"Here's the thing, guys...let's say you're a trainee in the military, and in your training, you had to practice parachuting...that meant that you're going skydiving. Now, as most people are, especially trainees still getting into the military 'I'm ready to die in war and fight for my country' mentality, you will have fear jumping out of a plane. I mean...that's literally like 100 feet off the ground. Hell, it can actually even reach 1000 feet. It depends…"

"Now, with that in mind, you have that part of your brain saying 'No, I don't wanna go! It's scary! I might die! This parachute might malfunction!', and your brain will make so many of these things in mind. It's not bad, generally speaking, but in this case, you're just making excuses to delay the inevitable. You have fear, so you hesitate, which leads to more fear, which leads to more hesitation, and it'll keep building up until you just can't jump 'cause you're making a wet puddle from being too scared."

"So the best thing to do is that you just gotta do it. Funnily enough, by the words of Shia Labeouf, 'Don't let your dreams be dreams. Just do it!'" I giggled a bit from the meme.

"'Cause...you know, this audition thing is just voluntary. You don't have to do it, but because you reeeally wanna do it, then you just gotta face it head on. If you do have trauma or anything that prevents you greatly from auditioning...it's okay. You've done what you could to alleviate pressure, it's up to you if you wanna take the step. However, in general, you guys don't need to worry about anything. Just submit your audition, look forward with a smile, and carry on with life. If you're rejected, c'est la vie, but if you got into the company, great job, man!" I clapped.

"So yeah...advice from me when auditioning, have 'confidence'. If you can't audition, you will never audition, no matter how much you dream. Again, I'm saying this with all due respect. It's just that...there really is just nothing to worry about in the audition." I chuckled.

"It's literally just talking about your talents. Hell, you don't even need to sing or anything. You just need to be 'right' enough for the company. So...I guess that's it for this superchat."

The 2nd interesting question I got was this.

"'Are there any Hololive songs you aren't too fond of?' Well...I'm gonna admit, I'm not too fond of some songs used in the bloom festival like uh…'Yumemiru Sora e'. It's like if one of the managers of Hololive just went, 'Hey, Hololivers! I loved Shiny Smily Story! What would happen if we take the exact same song but make it different so it won't be obvious that we made a SSS 2.0?'. If you like the music, go ahead and stream it, but...in terms of my own opinion, I just...can't stand it...it's just too happy and plus it really is just like a SSS 2.0. Before you guys even say, 'I thought you valued lyricism. Why do you hate the song?'. I don't hate it, but it's just...it's a bit too much for me. Too happy, too idol-like, and it's uh...has some 'generic' vibes to it. That's mainly why I didn't like it. It was basically those generic idol songs you can always search on the internet. But hey, if you wanna listen to it, go ahead. I ain't stopping you."

"It's fine for background or just vibing, but when I take it seriously and go in-depth, I can't really take it seriously. I mean...I was never really too into idol-like songs, cheery, or anything like that. Do I think it's a bop? Yes. Do I like it personally? Depends, but most of the time, not really. Again, this is my opinion. I just uh...prefer other songs like The Beatles, or Tom MacDonald. You know, 'really mainstream stuff.'" I snickered.

"Jokes aside, you get it...I'm just not too fond of those songs. Before you snowflakes attack me, you just gotta know, not everybody has the same musical taste. Go listen to Love Live music, I don't care. I just wanna listen to what I like, just like how you want to listen to what you like...other than that, the other songs are okay in my standards, especially songs like 'Suspect', 'Ad Truck' and 'Hyakka Ryoran Hanafubuki'. 'STARDUST SONG' was good too…I think those 4 were my most favorite songs there. The others are either honorable mentions or just songs I can put in the background for vibing."

~March 21, 2020 5:20 AM~

As usual, I wake up, take a little bit of breakfast, and then I start doing my morning routine where I jog to the park, do some exercises, then jog back to the Holohouse. When I did though…

"...Woah, holy shit." I mumbled.

Before I knew it, Holostars, and some Hololive members, especially HoloID, HoloEN, and HoloCN were rapping the chorus of "I'm The General".

"...Jesus Christ." I smiled under my mask as I saw them finally looking at me and doing the usual rapper hand signs.

"...'I'll show exactly what it means when you carry a ton, woah.' ...It's like 7 in the morning, and you guys are bumping it out right now." I said and chuckled.

"Yo, did you even know that this is the shit right now? Check Twitter and Youtube, bro." Calli said.

"...WHAT THE FUCK?! ALREADY 1 AND A HALF MILLION?! Who is responsible for this witchcraft?!" I asked as some of them laughed.

"Not even I know. I mean...this shit is literally one of the most streamed on Spotify right now."

"Damn...I gotta tweet right now." I chuckled.

"Oh yeah, guys. Yo."

"Yo!" They replied back.

I went back into my room after a bit of chatting, and I tweeted this.

"'I'm The General' has already reached over 1 million views?! WHO THE FUCK DID THIS AND HOW THE FUCK IS THIS POSSIBLE?-

Jokes aside though, thank you so much! Let's keep rising through the ranks, Privates! (Except me since I'm an ex-General lmao)"

Yeah...gotta set the bar up higher for the next album.

"Though, I need to find an artist too for the album...which means I gotta sketch to give the artist an idea...well, I got work to do." I chuckled.

My stream for today, Tetris 99. When? This afternoon at 1 PM.

"Shiro on the mic, Shiro on the beat, Shiro with the heat, everybody, thanks for coming to my stream! Yeah, and you know I got the heat, bro. What's my name? Ishijin Shiro!"

"Man...I can't believe 'I'm The General' is #2 in Trending right now...I'm very thankful to everybody for making it happen, especially all the staff members and BerryVerine for making it happen. I'll do my best to make the next album even better than my EP!" I clapped.

"Now, without further ado, let's uh...start, and hopefully not get crushed. I practiced a bit prior to this to get a feel of how it works since I've only played on PC, so let's see how it goes!"

And so, I played a bit and started stacking my blocks.

"So uh...I saw reactions to it, especially Scru Face. His reaction for my remix of Calli's song was already the best, and he gave another one for 'I'm The General'. The dude literally strangled his own pillow." I laughed.

"And uh...I also saw some Vtubers, especially from Nijisanji and even in Hololive giving reactions. You know...I'm glad it's well received, but I can definitely do better. Which is why, trending or not, I'm gonna make sure my next album will do better!"

"So uh...I've seen some critics online, especially those that are actual fans of mine. I'm glad you guys were able to get your opinions out 'cause I wanna know what you guys think I should improve on, what the album lacks, and what you like. One thing I have seen is very common."

"You guys both like 'I'm The General' and 'A Soldier's Life', while some of you bounce between hating '#SOUNDCLOUDRAPPER' and 'Tabetai!'. The most disliked was 'Tabetai', since there weren't as many bars and it was just a vibing song, unlike in #SOUNDCLOUDRAPPER where there were not only more bars, but it also gave that 'Ishijin Shiro' feel more."

"Honestly, I feel like it's a Dead Beats EP 2.0." I laughed.

"Ah…'How long have you played Tetris?' Ah, about that, I only like played after discovering Suisei. It was like...late November? I watched a clip of a Hololiver teaching another Vtuber some Tetris. I learned that their names were Hoshimachi Suisei and Shigure Ui. When I saw that Suisei was really good at Tetris, I was like '...Man, it'd be nice to be very good at Tetris too.', so I just started learning Tetris since that day." I giggled.

"That doesn't mean I took it too seriously, but I just wanted to be able to become fast too. Kinda like how you see your idols achieve their dreams, which motivate you to achieve your own dreams too. Though, the best I got was around 49 seconds…"

"...'You're good! How about you go against Suisei herself'. Oh no no no no no no." I laughed.

"NO! She will slaughter me. It won't just be a simple fight. It will be LIFE AND DEATH itself!" I laughed more.

"Hmm...you know, I really hope Suisei will um...release an album soon. So far, she has not released a single bad song. Every song is not only a bop, but it's actually really good. The production, mixing, mastering, and MVs are really good. I can feel the direction of her songs going to a really good position."

"But it can't be helped, can it? I mean, it's hard making original songs especially when you're not only busy most of the time, but you can't even make it, either 'cause you don't know how to make an album, or you do, but it's hard to organize your ideas. I'd know, having experience in making albums myself." I chuckled.

"When she does though, expect me to actually stream a listen-along stream and especially...review the whole album. I doubt I actually would have anything I dislike about her album, unless proven otherwise. 'Cause as far as Suisei's career goes...she's done very well at her execution."

"...Oh? Lucky me. I have a T-spin setup. Don't mind if I do, mudafucka." I chuckled as I got a T-shape and did a T-spin.

"...'Sora and AZKi said they listened to "I'm The General"'...Yes, they did. And I'm pretty sure they also heard the first 4 bars of the 2nd verse." I laughed.

"...They actually told their reaction. It was more well-taken than I thought. They did laugh at it though and called me a...ehem, a pervert." I laughed more and slammed the desk.

"AH FUCK! I SHOULD'VE HAVE TAKEN MY HAND OF THE CONTROLLER! Nooo! Lemme redeem myself!" I said as I held the Switch again and did as many Tetrises as I could.

"But um...yeah. I actually saw the Hololivers reactions to them being inserted in my verses. Marine especially teased me about it like 'Eh?~ Shiro, you pervert~ You like my ass, huh?~' Uh...yes, bitch. I'm fucking straight. But that doesn't mean I wanna have sex with you. BONK! I gave her the anti-horny chop to the head." I giggled.

"Um...oh yeah, especially the Kiara line. She was fine with it, honestly. But uh...yeah, it was a weird line. Do I feel sorry for it? ...nah." I snickered.

"Honestly, no. Yes, it's perverted, but um...it's just for show, and plus that's kinda how rap works."

I did a couple more matches, and I got a question like this.

"...'Shiro, how easy is it to collab with a person?' Ah, depends. In Hololive, you can just DM or ask personally, and you just gotta pay the person, pay for the beat and stuff, unless you split the costs, then do the fancy recording, and boom! Instant money and views. However, if you're like me and you wanna...have somebody like Cordae on a feature, it'll take a while longer."

"Ah yeah, I gotta point out too, guys. When you collab with an artist, make sure to look out for red flags. I don't care if it's your idol or not. If you see some red flags, just drop the feature. You see...I actually had a few times where I collabed with some rappers. I won't point out names, but…"

"When I collabed with these 'rappers', you're supposed to be recording and having fun with music, but if they go like 'Hey, mind buying food for me? Drinks? Party? You know...before we get to recording?' I was so naive that I thought it would work, but when I actually let those types of people on the mic? IT WAS THE MOST GARBAGE FUCKING VERSE EVER." I laughed.

"Seriously! If you find an artist that says shit like that, or if they don't even seem that they're trying to make music with you? Just drop the feature. 9/10, it would come out trash. The worst part about that is...if you guys don't know, features need to be paid for, and it can cost from about...as small as 100,000 yen which is about 1000 USD, to as big as FUCKING 40 MILLION YEN, WHICH IS ABOUT 300,000 USD. I PAID THOSE GUYS LIKE 900,000 YEN EACH." I chuckled.

"But yeah...make sure to save your money and your career from landmines like those artists. Trust me. Just decline, whether kindly or harshly. Find somebody else or just go solo on that song."

"...Haha, 'Music making is expensive.' Well, we aren't cheap after all, and we don't have retirement money. Besides, these artists as well work their ass off for many hours, learning more about making music. Hell, even a simple 8-bar verse made by professional artists would cost like 400,000 yen. That's how big the standard is when it comes to the music industry."

And so, I finished the Tetris 99 stream after about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and I had to go out and buy some groceries. I had some meat already, but I needed more veggies. Can't afford to change my diet since I need to keep myself healthy.

"Alright, let's do a quick check...cabbage, squash, eggplant, string beans, eggs, soy sauce, garlic, and onion. That's all I need to buy." I said, counting on my fingers inside the taxi.

And so, I bought the stuff from the convenience store, and walked at the side, waiting at a stop for a taxi, but when I did that, my left ear picked up something.

"H-Hey! If you won't stop, I'll scream loud! Really loud!"

They perked my left ear up, so I slowed down and stopped to hear what it's all about.

"Not if I dO THIS!" A voice that sounded like an old man said as I heard the girl attempting to scream but being muffled greatly that I had to go closer in the alleyway to actually hear her.

'Hmm...molestation? If so, it's really handy I got my phone here. Please bear with me, woman! I'll save you!' I thought.

I went into the camera app, and I went into video mode as I pressed record and peeked the camera to the alleyway. How convenient for this little space to exist.

'...Oh, going for the breasts, ey? Welp, that's the classic pervert move. At least he ain't going for the panties yet-okay, once he touches her vajayjay, it's over...aaand done.' I thought as the woman screamed even more, but to no avail in hopes of reaching somebody's ears.

"Hehe...after being a virgin for over 60 years, I can finally...!-"

"Oi, you saggy ass limp dick pervert of an old man."

"Oh?"

"Two things will happen. One, if you don't get your hands off of her, I'll beat your ass, making your arthritis worse. Two, regardless if I beat your ass or not, I will report you to the police, along with this video right here."

"P...P-P-P-Please no!" He said as he got his hands up in the air and started shivering with his eyes wide open.

"T-T-Thank you!" The girl said as she panted while leaning against the wall.

"...Get out while you still can." I said.

"P-Please! In exchange for leaving her alone, d-don't report me! C-Can't you youngsters do a little favor for a s-silly old man?"

"I will report you to the police, you fuck. Should've learned to keep your hands to your dick instead of a woman."

"N-No way...P-Please! I'll do anything!" He said as he fell to his knees and grabbed his head.

"Then please go home and just wait for the police to catch your ass." I giggled a bit with a forced smile.

"...S-Say, this guy is an asshole, but...maybe we should spare him or...?" She frowned.

"Well...he's already breaking down. He's learned his lesson, and that's what matters. Maybe I will? Maybe I won't? Anyway...let's get you out of here." I said as I grabbed her wrist and led her out.

"O-Oh...y-you're quite the assertive type, aren't you?"

"Nah, I'm just your average guy that just wants to have a purpose in life." I chuckled.

Me and her finally went to the street as I got my plastic bag, and I sighed.

"How did he even get you there?"

"Well, you're supposed to help elders, aren't you? He said he needed help in throwing garbage as you can see there, and he pulled me in! If it wasn't for you, I would've been molested!" She pointed at some actual garbage bags that looked puffy near a big bin.

"Well, it's no biggie. Don't worry about it."

"Say...your voice is familiar...hey, come here for a bit." She said as she waved her hand towards her direction.

"Hmm?" I lent her my ear.

"Are you Ishjin Shiro by any chance? The Vtuber?"

'...Yeah, the cons of being a famous person.' I deadpanned in my mind.

"Ah, you're mistaken. I just sound similar. I know the guy though, 'cause I watch Hololive." I giggled.

Gotta tweak a bit of my mannerisms too to hide it.

"I see...well, you're very kind to help me! Say, what's your name?"

"My name's Harukaze Keifer. I'm an American-Japanese."

"I see...Well, if that's all, then I shall get going! Once again, thank you!"

"Mhmm. See ya." I said as I finally went to the stop where I was gonna sit down and wait for a taxi and giggled a bit to myself.

"Ahaha...I'm so gonna report this to the police." I deadpanned.