257 – Virtuber
“It was delicious~”
“It’s definitely something Shirasaki-san would recommend as a restaurant.”
“Hee hee, right?”
After lunch, we patted our stomachs and headed back to the office.
To be honest, considering my usual amount of meals, one katsudon was a bit lacking, but I thought something like this would happen, so I ate a hearty breakfast before leaving, so it was okay to eat a small lunch.
Anyway, if I was briefly introduced to the company in the morning, I sat down in front of the computer in the office with a slightly throbbing heart in the afternoon when they said that I would be given the opportunity to experience Virtuber myself.
“Do you have a favorite Vtuber, Kim?”
I answered Mr. Shirasaki’s question honestly.
“No, to be honest, I don’t know much about Minazuki Luna except Ayase’s role. It’s a field I’m not really interested in.”
“Then I’ll arbitrarily set the appearance on the screen.”
Saying that, Mr. Shirasaki lightly operated the computer and displayed my image on the computer screen.
It was probably filmed with a webcam mounted on a monitor.
“This?”
From noble mtl dot com
“I turned on a dedicated computer program for face tracking.”
Saying that, Mr. Shirasaki adjusted the position of the webcam and handed me a hairpin.
“For accurate face recognition, it’s better to cover your forehead. I usually use a headband or hairnet, but there’s no size that fits Kim.”
Following her kind explanation, I swept my bangs back and secured them with her hair pins.
My forehead is usually covered with my shaggy hair, so I felt cool because I was doing this.
“Is that enough? What should I do next?”
But there is something strange about the way they look at me.
“What did you put on my face?”
Let me touch the cheek myself while saying that, huh? Ayase, who came to his senses belatedly, answered.
“No, it’s not really like that, but I think my impression has changed more than I thought.”
Mr. Shirasaki, who was next to Ayase, agreed.
“Honestly, at first I thought it was a scary face, but when I open my forehead, it looks like a different person.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Look at me like I’m dumbfounded, hehehe! Mr. Shirasaki, who cleared his throat and looked away, said that seeing is worth nothing, so let’s try it quickly.
I thought it would be better to do that rather than wasting my time on a strange subject, so I said yes and immediately gave the OK sign.
Then Shirasaki-san gave a sly smile and called something from the computer desktop.
“Oh, by the way, the picture displayed on the screen right now is the modeling of another vertube under our company. So feel free to experiment.”
As she said, what was displayed on the monitor screen was a character with a completely different appearance from ‘Minazuki Luna’ with purple hair.
Should I say that this character has a blue ponytail and has a much smaller chest?
“Then move.”
“Yes.”
I tried shaking my body back and forth, just as Mr. Shirasaki said.
Then, a beautiful girl character that moves her body naturally as I move.
“Hmm. The motion capture is fine. Then can you talk into the microphone?”
“You mean this?”
Perhaps it was because I was nervous, my voice came out a little stiffer than usual.
“How about the microphone side?”
However, the answer to the question was not immediately heard.
Huh?
I looked up to see what was going on, and I saw Shirasaki-san and Ayase standing there with firm expressions on their faces.
“Mr. Shirasaki?”
Let me call your name once again, hot! After coming to her senses, she said, “Wait a minute!” And she hurriedly ran away.
‘What is it?’
Unable to understand how things were going, she questioned Ayase, but was told that she did not know either.
Mr. Shirasaki, who had been away for a while, returned after about five minutes.
What she brought was a middle-aged man in a suit with a sad look, but I didn’t know what he was doing.
‘Are you a computer engineer?’
Anyway, since I’m just a simple customer, it didn’t seem like a problem for me to worry about, so I calmly waited for instructions.
“Do you want to see Kim?”
“Yes.”
I nodded her head and walked over to her side.
Took!
“Oh, sorry. I’m a bit big.”
“It’s okay. It could be.”
In the process, I bumped shoulders with the uncle I just mentioned, but she smiled kindly and told me it was okay.
What is it? Who is like this angel?
Mr. Shirasaki confirmed that I was approaching and pressed the play button on the computer screen.
Then the blue-haired character on the screen rocked her body back and forth and said with a smile on her lips.
“You mean this?”
That’s my voice.
I wasn’t aware of it at all, but now that I look at it, it’s like the Beomi meat I mentioned earlier.
A harmony between a cute face and a deep voice that was not like that at all.
However, Mr. Shirasaki, with an infinitely serious expression, asked the man next to him.
“How do you think the boss is listening?”
“Well, I’m sure you have a very nice voice.”
Yes? Are you the boss?
As I stared at the shocking reversal, the middle-aged man who caught my gaze scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
“It’s embarrassing, but I’m the president of this company. A friend of Ayase-san, right?”
“Oh, yes. That’s right.”
Something automatically turned me into socialite mode, so I exchanged a handshake with the boss and asked about something I was curious about earlier.
“By the way, boss, why are you here?”
It wasn’t the president who answered that, but Ayase.
“Idiot, that’s because I like your voice.”
… My voice?
It was the first time in my life that I had heard it, so I blinked my eyes blankly, and the boss next to me agreed with that opinion.
“Yes. That’s right. Ayase-san’s friend seems to be a perfect fit for the type of person we were looking for.”
‘What kind of talent?’
Just as my head was about to become congested with the unknown story, the boss took out a wallet from his pocket and pulled out a business card inside.
“Are your friends not interested in being a virtuber?”
It was indeed a sudden Scout proposal.
***
The purpose of following Ayase here today is to be curious about what entertainment agencies are like.
I wanted to know what kind of company she works for.
I was trying to be relieved because the company structure was stronger than I thought and there were only good people around me, but I was dumbfounded by the scout proposal that suddenly hit me.
“Me? Vutuber?”
He is a person who has never had a relationship with internet broadcasting in his life.
Not to mention that talking volubly isn’t that good. Can you do something like a one-person broadcast?
When I asked with such a question, the boss with a sad face explained it with a friendly face.
“Originally, everyone has a first time. And most Internet broadcasters didn’t start broadcasting with the thought that they should make it a job from the beginning, but they say that most people just start it as a hobby. If a friend has a heart to broadcast even a little bit, our company is willing to fully support it.”
“Do you know why you are suddenly talking to me like that?”
A company is a place that thoroughly pursues profits.
I can’t imagine that he would make such an offer just because he has a good voice.
However, this ‘obvious’ idea was completely missed.
“That’s because I thought my friend’s voice was a ‘sellable voice’. And securing a voice with commercial potential is the most important thing in a vertube company like ours.”
While saying that, the boss glanced at Ayase’s face who was standing next to him, then looked at me again and asked.
“I’m not asking you to make a decision right now. If you are a student, you’re probably still busy with your studies, and we’re not ready yet. But if you feel like it, please feel free to contact us. We’ll do our best to help.”
“…….”
Hearing that, I looked at the business card in my hand.
「Tanigo Akihiro 谷郷 章博」
Despite meeting him for the first time, he is strangely trustworthy.
Maybe that’s why.
What moved my heart.
“I’ll get back to you if I have any thoughts later.”
I don’t know what life will be like, but it’s okay to have at least a small insurance policy.
***
“Thank you for today.”
As I said that, I bowed my head to Mr. Shirasaki, Ayase’s manager.
“Ah~ What’s wrong with this much? Next time, if you have time, come visit us again. At that time, you’ll probably be able to experience a dance lesson as well.”
“…A dance lesson?”
Aren’t vertubes not only broadcasting these days, but also dancing?
Receiving my gaze, Ayase shrugged and said.
“The boss said that virtual idols will be the trend in the vertube market in the future. So, these days, vertubers from the company are receiving dance lessons and vocal training.”
… Is this guy an idol?
I inadvertently laughed at the unimaginable figure.
“What is it?”
“No, because you said you were going to become an idol.”
“Because I’m not good enough?!”
Ayase blushes and gets angry.
Ayase, who emphasized once again that he was only active as a virtuber to earn money for himself and his younger siblings, nagged at him, saying, “If you have the energy to talk nonsense, go home.”
I hurriedly ran to the nearby subway station to avoid Ayase’s annoyance.