In the center of the classroom sits a silver-haired beauty, her hair flowing slightly in the wind that's coming from an open window. Despite the stoic expression on her face, she exudes an aura of elegance.

"Hey, did you listen to Yamato's new song already?"

"Yes, I did! It's so good, like he's a professional!" 

While her classmates are sitting together and are happily chatting with each other, the silver-haired beauty sits there alone and in silence, her attention on the book on philosophy she is reading. It is as if there is nothing that could distract the girl from this book. Not even the boys, and girls, sneaking glances at her every so often, before their faces get tinted red and they turn away. Surely, the girl is pondering about some profound topics that her classmates would merely find confusing. 

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Fuyuko POV

God this book is a boring mess. What does this even mean, 'Boredom is the root of all evil'? Am I currently becoming evil? Maybe I already am evil? Can you even truly define evil? Is evil not subjective? From the perspective of those we call "evil", are we not the evil ones for stopping them from doing what they want? Should everyone conform to the generally accepted opinion on what is good and what is evil, or should we form our own opinions? 

I fail to understand why father even wanted me to read this in the first place. Does he want me to never be bored, so I don't become evil? If that is the case, he should make an attempt to help me relieve this boredom. Let me take lessons on subjects I actually find interesting, allow me to drop subjects I do not care about in the slightest.. 

..oh, who am I kidding, that stuck-up old man would never allow me to do that. "A Reichmann has a reputation to uphold", he'll say. That reputation is all he ever cares about. I can't do what I want, can't go where I want. I can't even act how I want. "A Reichmann should never show their emotions on their face, or betray their emotions in their speech, for those who want to drag us down will take any opportunity that presents itself to do so", he'll say. 

My entire life has been ruled by his stupid rules. From the moment I was born, he had already planned my entire life for me. From the people I interact with, to the things I need to do in my free time. I don't even have any time for myself, unless I first finish everything that father wants me to do. And even then, I always have to be sure to "Do not dare to bring shame to our family during the moments your father is not there to watch over you." 

Every single moment of my life, I have to pay attention to how I act, it's awfully stressful. People say my silver hair is from my German descent, but I would not be surprised if my hair is simply greying from stress. 

"Uhm, Fuyuko-san.." 

Hm? Oh, it seems I was lost in thought. The girl in the seat next to me is staring at me, seemingly wanting to ask me something. She seems somewhat nervous about it, too? 

"Yes, what is it?" 

"C-Could I perhaps see your notes from the previous lesson? I didn't understand the subject we covered.." 

"Of course. Math, was it?" 

I hand the girl my notes, and go back to reading my book. Or rather, back to pretending I am reading this book. I should probably flip another page, or else people might notice I'm not even reading it. 

As you can see, all those expectations my father has put on me are even ruining my social life. People are nervous when talking to me, even if it's simply for something as minor as asking to see my notes for a bit. As a result, in addition to a thing like free will, friends are another thing I lack. After all, I'm a Reichmann, I'm a rich person, more important than all these mere peasants around me. At least, that's what people tend to think I'm like on a first meeting. Safe to say, making good first impressions has never been a specialty of mine. 

Fortunately my father hasn't banned me from being a decent human being, so I can at least help the people around me whenever I get the chance. Even so, the nervousness these people have when talking to me doesn't fade. Being the daughter of someone who has donated a lot to this university does have some benefits, though. If I want to, I can probably force teachers to act against things like bullying. Well, they're usually willing to do that without me having to force them, if I just ask them kindly.

"Oh, look at this!"

"What is it? ...oh! Yamato's doing karaoke on friday!"

My classmates are talking about this Yamato again. Who even is he? I tend to keep up with the news and current events quite well, since that's another thing my father expects of me, and I like to think I'm quite knowledgeable about famous people as a result of it. Even so, I don't know any Yamato. Well, I do know a few Yamatos, but they're politicians, business owners or writers, and from what I gather from the conversations in the classroom right now, this Yamato is a singer. Strange.

I close my book, stand up and walk to where this conversation is happening. If my classmates are talking about this Yamato so excitedly, then it should be safe to assume that he's somewhat of a trending figure among people my age. It would do me well to get to know more about this person. I don't want to be punished again for being "ignorant of the outside world", as my father put it.

"Excuse me." I interrupt their conversation, "Could I ask you something? Who is this Yamato you talk about?"

The girls stop their conversation immediately, and turn towards me in sync. "You don't know him?!" one of them asks me loudly, seemingly surprised I don’t know this person, "His name is Yamato Moriuchi, he's like the most popular VTuber at the moment! He sings so well, it's like he's a pro."

I hold back a frown. A VTuber..? I do recall reading something about that a while ago. An organization called Digital Live got some popularity at the time. This Digital Live was a group of so-called VTubers, or Virtual MyTubers. People who do livestreams on MyTube, using some sort of animated avatar instead of a webcam. The VTuber could enjoy streaming, while keeping their anonymity, while the viewers could enjoy watching what was basically an anime character they could interact with.

But that was more than a year ago. I haven't heard much about VTubers since.

"A VTuber, as in that Digital Live group? I do know about their existence, but I wasn't aware they had grown in popularity to this extent.." I say, almost muttering to myself.

Another of the girls looks surprised, probably not expecting the 'ice queen', Fuyuko Reichmann, to know about something like VTubers. She would be right, since I don't know much about the topic. The look of surprise disappears from her face and gets replaced with excitement. "No, no, not Digital Live. Yamato is from ViLS, a different group." the girl says, "He's from their second generation."

ViLS? Generation? I'm getting lost here. I’ve never heard of ViLS before. What does ViLS even stand for? And should I be aware of what a ‘generation’ means in this context? Because I don't. I shouldn't show that though. I should just act like I understood. "I see. Thank you for the information."

As I walk back to my seat, I hear the girls start whispering to each other excitedly. Since they didn't bother to whisper earlier, they're probably talking about me right now... Showing interest in VTubers wasn't a bad thing, right? I would hate for my father to somehow find out about this and scold me for "showing interest in activities not befitting someone of your status".

Either way, I should probably do some research on this ViLS group when I get home, just in case it grows further in popularity. And even if it doesn’t, I’ll at least know what my classmates are talking about next time.

Senpapi

Hello there, thanks for reading my first ever story. I'd been planning to write something for a long time, and I finally went through with it.

Now, because this is my first ever story, I cannot guarantee perfect quality. As such, I would appreciate any comments with constructive criticism. In addition, if you spot any mistake, please do tell me. I want to grow as a writer, and the best way to do that is to have an outside perspective that can tell me where I could improve.

Finally, I cannot guarantee anything like a consistent update schedule. One time I might post twice a week, another time it might take twice a month. I will do my best to work on being able to get somewhat of an update schedule, but it might take some time before I get there. Until then, please bear with the inconsistency.

For now, I hope you enjoyed.