I rushed through my homework, and before I knew it, I’d finished it already. I normally already finish my homework quite quickly, but I’d surprised myself by somehow doing it even quicker than usual. Though that might be in part because it wasn’t too difficult this time. The homework I had to finish before tomorrow was only for math, economics and English, none of which I find particularly difficult. My father has long made sure that I am able to ace any subjects someone would need in managing a business, so I’m actually a bit ahead of what I’m supposed to be currently studying in most of my classes.
The fact I’m ahead of the topics currently being discussed in class has actually resulted in classmates coming to ask me for help on multiple occasions. It’s of the few times where my father’s meddling in my life has actually given me the opportunity to interact more with the people around me, instead of simply scaring them off.
Now that I've finished my homework, I should go and skim through the headlines of today’s newspaper, and after that comes my research. After a quick glance around me, I notice the newspaper on the corner of my desk. I assume my personal maid put it there sometime today, when I was at school. While it is another thing my classmates raise their eyebrows at when I mention it, having a personal maid is a godsend. I’d almost argue it is worth the demerit of scaring my classmates off even further. Speaking of her..
“Helga, could you bring me some tea?” I ask my personal maid, who had been standing in my office, next to the door, waiting to be given a task.
“Of course, young mistress.” she replies, giving a quick bow before leaving the room.
For as long as I can remember, I have had Helga as my personal maid. She had been working for my father for a few years when he moved to Japan, but from what I’ve heard, she was just another one of many maids until she was appointed as my personal maid the moment I was born. Ever since then, she’s been around me every day. By now she does so many things for me without me even having to ask her anymore, I’m somewhat convinced she knows me better than my father does. Honestly, she might know me better than I even know myself.
I focus my attention back on the newspaper and start flipping through the pages, only glancing over the headlines to see if there’s anything worth reading. An article mentioning MyTube has been declared the most visited website of the decade, a small column talking about the improvement of the average exam scores compared to last year, a story about a big success project by Gijutsu Inc., an interview with-
Oh. Well now, isn’t this a nice coincidence? A story about Gijutsu Inc.’s biggest success project, referred to as “Project ViLS”. I would almost think someone put this in the newspaper today of all days just to mess with me, however unlikely that would be. Either way, whether it’s coincidence, fate, or an elaborate scheme to mess with me, I do have to admit it’s amusing to see this in the newspaper on the exact same day I learned about this ViLS myself.
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The story behind Gijutsu’s biggest success project Close to a year ago, Gijutsu Inc. revealed in a press conference that they would be starting a new project. ‘Project ViLS’, they called it. The project consisted of the establishment of a new group of Virtual MyTubers, or VTubers, people who do livestreams on MyTube using a motion-controlled anime avatar instead of their real face. At the time, VTubers were still a relatively new phenomenon, and many questioned the decision of Toshio Sakusei, CEO of Gijutsu Inc., to start a new project in a direction so far from anything they’d done before. “By chance, I had come across a VTuber group called Digital Live. After seeing what exactly this VTuber thing was all about, and watching how these livestreamers did their job, I saw the massive potential such a group had.” said Sakusei in an interview, “However, I also saw missed opportunities. ‘Someone should do something similar, and take those missed opportunities’, I thought. And why not us? It was ambitious, sure, but I had faith that it would work out in the end.” Not even a month later, any lingering doubts were cleared when Ichiro Arima, a member of ViLS’s first generation of VTubers, blew up in popularity. Before long, he had amassed hundreds of thousands of subscribers on MyTube, at a pace unheard of at the time. The two other members of the first generation, while not at the same level, were very successful as well. Only half a year after the original launch of Project ViLS, a second generation of VTubers debuted, and gained similar success. Now coming close to their first anniversary, the group is doing better than ever. “I was aware there was a market for this kind of thing, and I knew the potential for success was there. Even so, the massive scale of this success has baffled even me.” Sakusei comments, “If I have anything to say about it - and I do - then ViLS is here to stay. I have lots of plans for the future of the group, and the talents themselves are similarly not ready to call it quits yet. You can expect this anniversary to be the first of many.” |
Hundreds of thousands? I’ll have to admit I’m not too well-versed on things related to MyTube, but I am at least aware that hundreds of thousands of people following him within such a short time is impressive. If this article is anything to go by, and Yamato Moriuchi has had success of a similar scale to Ichiro Arima’s, then I guess my classmates weren’t exaggerating when they spoke so highly of him. Gijutsu Inc. being the company behind ViLS would explain some things too, in particular when it comes to the group’s apparent rapid growth. Gijutsu is quite a big name in the tech industry, so being able to use the company name in the advertising must’ve surely helped a lot, especially since the company’s marketing team is known to be extremely capable.
I’m not surprised Gijutsu took a step in such a direction, either. Toshio Sakusei, Gijutsu’s CEO, is known as a rational eccentric, who will do surprising things one after another as long as he knows there’s no major risk to doing so. I’ve met the man once, before he became Gijutsu’s CEO, when my father invited him with the intention of creating ties with “the rising star of the tech industry”. He sure does live up to that ‘rational eccentric’ reputation. My father despised the man, hating how he was so irregular and unpredictable all the time despite being on a straight road to a position of power. I, on the other hand, took quite a liking to him. It was refreshing to talk to someone so free-spirited after always only meeting people like my father. Though, part of my reasons for taking a liking to the man might be because it was nice to see my father being in a bad mood for the few days following their meeting.
Shortly after I finished the article, Helga returned, carrying a tray with tea. With practiced motions, she poured the tea into a cup and added a single sugar cube. As she finished going through the motions she’d gone through for years, I saw her take a glance at the page of the newspaper I had open in front of me. She paused her actions for a split second, as if to take a moment to realize what it was I’m reading. After all, she knows just as well as anyone working within this estate that my father hates the kinds of modern trends like VTubers, and she knows that my father will not be happy if he finds me reading about this. After that small pause in her actions, she simply carried on, as if nothing was wrong. I’m glad there’s some people in this household I can let my guard down with, even if just a little.
“Thank you, Helga. Now, I wish to do some research, so I would like to not be disturbed until dinner.” I dismissed her. Even if I trust Helga more than I trust my own family, I do know she is obligated to report my actions to my father. I am aware she paints these actions in a positive light if she can, but there are limits to that. My father would certainly find it strange if Helga would be unable to tell him what exactly I researched. And so, with a small bow, she left my office.
Now then, I don’t think there’s much more worth reading in today’s newspaper, so it’s about time I start my research. ...well, I guess I already started it with that article, huh? I put aside the newspaper and start up the computer. Within moments, it’s ready for use. Opening up the internet, I decide the simplest way to start is to just look up ViLS on Googol. A few moments later, I have a list of search results in front of me, with at the top of the list a link to ViLS's website. That seems like a good place to start.
As I click the link, I am greeted with a web page that can be described in a single word; Colorful. Despite the abundance of different colors, though, it doesn’t feel messy or mismatched. There is some buttons at the top of the screen that lead to a list of ViLS’s members, an ‘about’ page, and a place to contact the company. At the top of the homepage is a big image showing off some of the members of the group. Looking at them, I can see why people would be interested in watching them. The characters have interesting designs, and while it’s not like nothing like their designs exists yet, you can see bits of their personality in the details. A girl wearing a typical shrine maiden outfit, a boy who looks like your stereotypical fantasy prince, a girl in a maid outfit... At least, I assume that’s a maid outfit. Helga wouldn’t ever wear something like that.
I press the button for the ‘about’ page, and a short description about the group and its goals appears, followed by history about how the group came to be.
[ViLS is a VTuber group whose goal is to spearhead the next generation of online entertainment. The group consists of multiple talented individuals, who use their talent to present entertaining streams to millions of viewers every day.]
The part that follows it, about how the group came to be, seems to mostly be the same as the news article I read earlier, just with different wording. In the end, the ‘about’ page didn’t provide me with much new information.
The page for contacting the company doesn't seem all too useful for me right now, so I instead press the button to head to the page that lists all the members of ViLS. I’m greeted with a list that’s somewhat shorter than I had expected. With how the news article had worded it, I expected quite a big group already, but it turns out there’s currently only 8 members. Of those, three of them are listed under ‘Generation 1’, and the other five are listed under ‘Generation 2’. There are two different dates written in smaller letters below ‘Generation 1’ and ‘Generation 2’ respectively, so I think I can safely assume those generations came into existence on those dates. The date written under ‘Generation 1’ is about 11 months ago, so that would match with the info that said they were nearing their first anniversary. That would mean ‘generations’ in the context of VTubers is just a number of VTubers within a group who debuted at around the same time? That’s simple enough to understand.
Among the VTubers listed on this page, I recognise the three I saw on the homepage, and see Yamato Moriuchi and Ichiro Arima as well. From names like Yamato or Ichiro, I expected the names for ViLS's members to be Japanese, but there’s also names like Ava Le Son, which is clearly a foreign name. French, if I had to guess? I wonder if the people behind those characters are similarly foreign, or if it’s just the characters' names.. Now that I think about it, can foreigners even apply for this group? I don’t think I’ve seen that mentioned anywhere. Knowing Sakusei, he’d probably accept foreigners just to make it more exciting, but I can’t say for sure. I didn't see anything mentioning it on the 'about' page.. Did I miss anything on the homepage?
With a few clicks, I am back at the homepage, but something has changed. The image of the three ViLS members is still there, but it's been moved down a little bit. In the place where the image was before, is now a short message posted on the official ViLS Flicker account. Seems like it was posted mere minutes ago. Let's see..
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[❗News!❗] #Project_ViLS opens auditions for its third generation. Become a part of the future of streaming! 🔻Audition here: forms.dfg/4FVtab4P01ngoVT... ▪︎Deadline: November 14 23:59 JST #ViLS #ViLS_Audition |
Yeah, it sounds neat for her to find a passion she can pursue, but how on earth would she keep it hidden from her father? Especially since streamers would have to have fairly lengths times active and often
Thank you for this chapter! Nya. It’s as if father is trying to turn her
daughter into a president or something!?
It is a nice read, if a bit dry - though since the narrator is also very dry, it works.
But going off of what's known, how is she going to find the time to fit streaming into the schedule... Without getting busted by her dad?