Ch 31 - The Memories

"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!" I clapped.

"Thank you guys for coming to this stream! Surprise, surprise, it's a superchat reading stream!"

"I don't wanna waste time too, so let's get right into it!"

And so I started reading some superchats.

Some were just normal superchats, some were reds, and some were superchats that had messages. Both from green up towards red. One red superchat though came out of the blue that I somehow did not catch while I was freestyling. Maybe I did catch it, but my brain forgot it?

"'Shiro! I'm absolutely loving the rapping, and I'm really amazed at how long you can endure this without seeming to stutter even once! Though, it seems that not a single marshmallow asked about your mask. If you ever see this, I hope you don't mind if you can tell us a bit of why your character model has that?' Ah, damn. Yeah, I was also a bit surprised not one marshmallow somehow asked about this, but uh..." I said as I inhaled through my teeth.

"I'll be honest, it's a bit disturbing for me...but I think I can talk about it without letting anxiety take control of me. I also hope you guys won't be too disturbed too when I talk about it."

"So, you see, I actually asked my papa-I mean, mama...if she could draw me with a mask on, and she accepted it gladly! The reason why is because this is actually based on my real-life appearance."

"Everyday, I actually wear a mask on, because...you guys remember what I said about my dislike against women? Yeah, the same woman I trusted throughout my entire life actually caused this...."

"Sigh....yeah...she did something to my face. I won't say what it is. I'll leave it to your imagination, but....yeah, she did something to me which resulted to me wearing this mask to hide my face. It's been a bit of time after it happened, so it healed, but...everytime I think of people seeing what's behind it, I get hit with a lot of anxiety and stress, to be honest."

"I'm trying my best to control it though. This is just an anxiety problem, and not something like PTSD, but it is very intense. I sometimes breakdown a bit too much, but I do restore back to normal with a few psychological techniques I know like 'grounding', so...yeah."

"But you all get it, it's basically based on my real-life self since I actually wear a mask in real-life, and if I ever show it to at least one person that doesn't know me well, I will get a lot of anxiety. I don't really get anxiety attacks though, so no biggie....."

Though, I did expect the chat to react to it in a certain way. Most certainly, sympathy.

"Awww, damn. No wonder there's a mask on his character!"

"So that's why there's a mask!"

"It's okay, Shiro! You can get through it! I believe in you! It might be hard, but time is a healer! We're also here to give you support if you need it!"

"In a good way though, it makes him iconic so people can get his identity quicker, plus he looks cool with that mask on!"

"One day, you might get it off soon, and that'll be the day you'll conquer your anxiety. Until then, take one small step at a time, Shiro!"

"That's very sad to hear…"

"Taishou! With all due respect, sir, you have our full attention, and we'll help you overcome it if you ever need us! o7"

"Shiro, we love you!"

"...Well, I guess that'll be all about the mask. Maybe soon in the future I can get the courage to show it to you all on stream, and maybe even tell more behind this! But uh...anyway…'ShiroOnTheMic' arigatou! '117th Private of the Shiro Base' arigatou! 'KFP's Ceiling Fan' arigatou!"

And so I continued reading superchats. Some of them were wholesome messages, some of them were crackhead superchats, and some were just normal superchats. After reading the good amount of superchats, I ended the stream.

"Phew...that was a lot more than I expected...well, guess I'll prepare for the singing and dancing. Shit, I need to warm up my voice too...ah fuck it, I'll warm it up there at the practice room instead with Akina-sensei. I'm coming big-boob teacher of mine." I said as I stretched.

Time passed, and once it reached 5 PM JST, it was time to hit the stream button and teach the JP bros the same freestyling techniques I taught this morning!

There is, however, one thing I taught the JP bros that I didn't teach the EN bros this morning. It's a trick in bending rhymes in Japanese.

"So, for those of you bilingual or multilingual JP bros, you might realize that English people tend to not pronounce one word the same way. Some pronounce 'thing' as 'thang' or 'theng', but it's still the same word. Same goes for words like 'Round'. People can pronounce it as 'round' or 'reond', but it's still the same word."

"Though, we cannot apply this logic to Japanese. There's a difference between 'Kiiro (yellow)' and 'keiro (hair color)'. If you bend a syllable in Japanese, even just one syllable? The whole meaning changes. 'Yu' and 'Ryu' are different. 'Ke' and 'Ki' are different, and 'Ho' and 'Fu' are different."

"HOWEVER! There is a way to bend words in Japanese."

"So, let's take the words 'hito (person)' and 'hitto (hit)' for example. Obviously, the difference between the two is that 'hitto' has a small 'tsu' in there, making you have to stop at the T part. If you pronounce 'hito', it's almost as if you pronounce it as 'hto'. Since that's how Japanese pronunciation works. It's syllable-based, not stress-based, unlike English or any other language that's not Japanese."

"BUT! There is a way to say 'hito' as 'hitto' without saying it as 'hitto'. You see...phonetically, 'hitto' is pronounced like 'hit-to', and 'hito' is pronounced as 'hi-to'. You can manipulate that."

"This is where we can somehow start applying pseudo-stress on Japanese syllables. We're not actually pronouncing it with stress, but we try to make the ILLUSION that we ARE putting stress on the syllables."

"So, you could rhyme 'hito' with 'hitto' if you pronounce 'hito' as 'hi-to', alright? Does that make sense? I'll give you an example by using it in a sentence."

"'Korosu, kono hi-to. Ore no kyoku wa hontouni hitto. (I'll kill this guy. My music is a real hit.)', right? You don't say 'hiito', but you say 'hi-to'. You pronounce it like 'hiito', but stop after you say 'hi' for a split-second, before ending it with 'to'. Does that make sense?"

"'Hito' rhymed with 'hitto' 'cause I pronounced it like 'hiito', but I pronounced it like 'hi-to' instead. That's how we bend rhymes in Japanese."

"And also, for those of you who are not good at rhyming or are not familiar with how J-rap rhymes endlessly with no difficulty? You don't really actually end every sentence with a verb. Note when I said 'Korosu, kono hito', and not 'Kono hito wo korosu'. I did tell you all before that Japanese rhyming is really easy since all japanese sentences end with an -u sound, but…"

"There's so-called 'multisyllabic rhyming' where you rhyme multiple syllables instead of just one syllable, so instead of saying 'rappu (rap)' and 'hippu (hip), you say 'rappu' and 'cappu (cap)'. Same goes for stuff like…'Shigoto (work)' and 'Imouto (little sister)'."

"So, that's prolly why you guys might sound hella weird when writing 'rap' lyrics, cause multisyllabic rhyming is very prominent in rap nowadays, no matter what song. So, just know that there are two ways you can rhyme in Japanese."

"You either end with verbs that rhyme with multiple syllables, or you start with the verb and end with key words to rhyme with multiple syllables at the end."

"So you either say 'tasukete (save me)' and 'kakushite (Hide it)', or you say 'Otoko (man)' and 'kodomo (child)' for multisyllabic rhyming."

"So! That's all the rhyming exercises, and a small tip for aspiring Japanese rappers to aid them in writing lyrics, and now, we shall get into rapping! Privates! It's time for your Taishou to rap!"

And so the chat did the appropriate response.

"WOOHOOO! SHIRO, LET'S GO!"

"Can't wait to hear him freestyle in Japanese again! That guy literally never runs out of rhymes for some reason!"

"Can't wait to hear the smooth flow of your freestyle!"

"My favorite part!"

"I LOVE YOU, SHIROOOOO!!!"

I proceeded to rap until the whole stream reached 1 hour, and once it was done, I sighed, but unlike the last one, I smiled and sighed in relief.

"Another stream done…"

And it's around 6 PM now.

"...Better cook me some dinner right now."

I think I'll cook the same dish again but with more meat this time. I crave some meat right now. Yum yum. Maybe add a bit more Shion into my dish, and by Shion, I obviously mean garlic, perverts.

I cooked it, ate it while watching some clips, and uh...somehow stumbled upon a new clip from a recent clipper I have never heard before.

The clipper is called "Shiro On The Mic". How original. So original it gave me a good giggle.

The clip was essentially just the same thing I said earlier in the superchat reading stream about my mask.

"Huh...a lot of people put in their comments and thoughts, huh...? Welp, I guess people might do shit in Twitter. That reminds me, I guess I should tweet something language-related."

So I did. I went to Twitter on my phone, and I tweeted this.

"Not a language pun this time, but a fun fact. In Russian, if you say 'Polka', it actually means 'shelf', but if you say 'Polika' (The 'i' is almost pronounced silent), it means 'Polka'.

So you guys are literally saying 'Omaru Shelf' in Russian.

Omaru Tana wwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"

...Hoowee, another hit tweet. The comments are just hella perfect.

"Omaru Tana!"

"Omaru Tana wwwwwwww"

"RUSSKIY BROTHAS! RISE UP!"

"I wonder how his senpais would react if this went trending on Twitter? Wwwww"

"Oh god, if this goes trending, and Polka sees this, we're fucked." I snickered.

But hey, if a fennec fox girl with thicc thighs and especially a cute one fucks you, then it's a win-win. I ain't complaining.

"Hmm…" I said as I thought back to when I went back to the Hololounge.

'Fubuki looked different when Matsuri reacted that way. Not to mention, Matsuri was very eager to know more about Shiina, and not only that...but I do remember seeing comments and whatnot about her almost getting into a real relationship with one of the Holomembers, and also crying because of Hoshikawa…'

...Oh, don't tell me that THAT'S the case…

"...I mean, I thought that's a joke, but if Matsuri is really gonna do it…"

I need to respect their privacy, since their business is their business...but if Fubuki and Matsuri are a thing...but as far as I've been here, they don't seem like a couple...but Matsuri is Matsuri...still, what if Matsuri is bouncing from girl to girl?

I shook my head and groaned while sighing.

"I gotta remember to not get too far ahead of myself. Besides, that's also not my business, so I can't see why I'd need to interfere unless things get too out of hand." I said as I took another bite.

'Still...if that's the case...holy shit, Matsuri, you need desperate help if you committed to Fubuki prior to this.'

But hey, maybe she's actually just curious about Shiina? Maybe she doesn't want Shiina like that?

"Well, I'll just finish my dinner, and just do more music. I also gotta wait for the drawing. I also need to go to the studio to record the lyrics too."

As much as the lyrics are already drilled in my head, it wouldn't hurt to have some reference in case I forget some of the lyrics in advance.

Before I was gonna go to bed after killing time for a few hours though, I was DM'd in Discord.

"Oh? Who could it be? ...Oh, it's Temma!"

Temma: Yo! What's up, Shiro?

Shiro: Nothing much, what's up with you?

Temma: Oh, just checking in on a fellow Holostar member

Temma: Say, uh...mind if we talk a bit about what happened this morning?

Shiro: Ah, that? I guess I don't mind, seeing that some time has passed now

Temma: Cool!

Temma: So uh...you feeling better now?

Shiro: Mhmm. I guess I feel like I'm back to normal

Temma: If you don't mind what might've caused it?

Shiro: It's uh...a random noise that sounded like an incoming missile that came from a phone, which I'm guessing was from the CN

Shiro: You know...the mortars? Those kinds of sounds when they're about to hit the ground

Temma: Ah, I see!

Temma: Must've been frightening for you, huh?

Shiro: Yeah...honestly, it gives me a very bad flashback. I tend not to listen to documentaries that much if it talks about war

Shiro: There's a possibility the same sound might appear again, so...yeah

Shiro: But don't worry much! I'm sure it won't happen again.

And obviously, that's a fucking lie, but hey, it's Japan culture, bitch.

Temma: I see...you busy or something?

Shiro: I was actually about to sleep, but...if you wanna hang out, maybe stream on Discord to watch a video together or play something, I guess I can make some time

Temma: Ah, don't worry! I was just asking, hehe

Temma: Well, if that's the case, good night!

Shiro: Yup, night too. Take care of yourself, Temma

Temma: I will!

"Phew...guess I can go to sleep now without worry."

~~Temma's POV~~

"I see...so it really is what Choco-senpai might've suspected."

...

...

...

"S-Shiro has PTSD?" I asked.

"Just a hypothesis. It's p r o b a b l y PSTD." Choco put emphasis on the 'probably'.

"I mean, Civia did say that it was after Artia's phone played a sound of a bomb that was falling from the sky that Shiro-kun acted really strange." Coco said.

"What if it's something else?" I asked.

"I mean...one of the symptoms of PTSD is negative thoughts, and you saw how he really bowed down, which I didn't expect. Not to mention, he also had sudden outbursts and sounded really aggressive. Again, it's a hypothesis, but I say it's more likely than not."

"Though...why are we talking about this again?" Choco sweat dropped as she faced Coco.

"I don't know, ask Civia."

"Hey! It's a really serious condition! If he ever hears that again, it might get worse! Besides, we're really lucky he didn't do anything to us like anything destructive!" Civia said in English.

"Oh....Civia said that it might be dangerous if Shiro gets 'PTSD' again. She said we're lucky he didn't do anything worse than acting like a kid that's having a tantrum." Coco said.

"Oh...you're right...not to mention, it can be a hindrance to everybody." Choco said.

"Do you girls have no sympathy for Shiro-kun...?" Me and the boys sweat dropped.

"S-So...basically, you all are saying Shiro might have 'PTSD' and therefore we need to avoid some sounds or anything that can remind him of a memory of his?" Kira asked.

"Yeah. Though, there are two problems as of now. One, we don't know if it's really PTSD. Medicine stuff isn't based on speculations, after all. Two, even if it was PTSD, we don't know what triggers it, other than guessing it's something related to war."

"A bomb, to be precise." Coco said.

"Y-Yeah, a bomb, but I could say 'war' since it could be anything related to war, 'cause bombs are a thing in war..."

"Hmm...maybe I could ask him later?" I asked.

"Are you close enough to him?" Choco asked.

"No. None of us are. But hey, us Holostars are the closest to him if we think about the relationships he's made here for the past few days. I don't know anybody who he considers his best friend yet, but he seems to be himself the most when he's with us."

"I see...I hope you'll be able to do it, since you might forget it later or you might do it, but you weren't able to extract any information."

"Heh. I'll do my best, Choco-sensei." I did a quick salute with two fingers.

...

...

...

"Shiro-kun..." I slightly frowned.

What were you in your past life?

~March 09, 2021, 5:20 AM~

~~Shiro's POV~~

"...BZZZ-" I instantly woke up to the alarm and turned it off.

"Ooh, damn, I didn't wake up early this time. Welp, that doesn't matter, bread and outfit are of utmost importance here."

I stretched as I went to the fridge and got two pieces of bread. I mushed it together, and put all of it inside my mouth as I went to the closet to get dressed for exercising, and then I did my usual routine.

Jog to the park, do my exercises there, and jog back to the school.

"Whoo...another good workout done...oh?" I said as I saw a couple hololivers looking at me at the door.

"Yo!" The boys greeted me.

"Yo. What's up? Is it something about Roboco's 3rd anniversary?" I asked everybody, including some girls.

"Oh?! You knew it?!" Roboco got out of her seat.

"I'm a Hololive simp, after all." I chuckled.

"Really? Then pat me as a reward!"

"W-Wait, what?!" I said as I widened my eyes and blushed.

The girls shrieked hella loud while the boys went "Ooohh…"

"Eh?! That's bold, Roboco-chan!" Miko said.

I groaned a bit while looking away.

"Oh?~ You can't even do the request of the 3rd anniversary girl? What kind of Hololive Production member are you?~" She said in a teasing voice.

I gritted my teeth and groaned more.

"Look, one pat is all you'll get. I need to take a shower after exercising hella hard outside." I said as I put my hand on her head without putting in too much force as I stroked it.

'This girl, I swear…' I blushed.

"AAAHHH! THAT'S SORTA CUTE!" AZKi said.

"Jeez, that was bold, oi!" Marine said.

"Hmm?~ You have a crush on Roboco-senpai?~" Risu said.

I got a tick on my head for every sentence the girls made.

"Hey, you were bold, man. You sure you ain't getting a harem full of cute girls?" Astel teased.

"No. I don't plan on falling for a single girl." I groaned.

...maybe except Subaru. Now that I remember, I did tell them that I had a crush on Subaru.

Fuck. Don't snitch on me, please.

"Good luck on your relationship-" Roberu snickered as I cut him off.

"There is none." I said.

I got inside my room and closed it.

"I swear to fucking God, that girl acts exactly like my 4th crush." I pinched my nose bridge.

At least she never fucked her cousin...but damn, is she hella clingy.

"Anyway...I need to take a bath and go to the studio afterwards."

Yes, I finished the whole album. Not just the instrumental, but even the lyrics. All I need left is a cover, and for it to be released.

And so, I took a shower, dressed up, got my phone and USB, and I went to the Hololive building.

I went and searched for the studio, and when I did, I saw Flare, Calli, and also Shion.

"Oh?" I said to myself as they looked at me in the studio.

Flare was still singing, while Calli and Shion were sitting at the couch.

'Huh...so this is what the studio looks like.' I thought.

I sat down a bit far away from Shion, and I looked at Flare.

'Damn...she looks kinda cool, not gonna lie. Singing KING as well? Let's go, Flare!' I thought.

Cut to when Calli and Shion finished their singing, with Calli singing "Ibasho" and Shion singing "Ussee wa", and it was my turn. I gave them the USB, they got the audio file, and I stepped inside the studio.

'Man...I've always recorded inside my room, so to be in this studio is quite a new feeling.' I thought and chuckled.

"Are you ready to record, Shiro-san?"

"Yup."

"Hai. Well...if that's the case, mind if you speak into the mic so that I can get your levels?"

"Sure, but before that…"

I sighed and looked at the door.

'It's only a few staff members and me. Calli, Shion, and Flare are not inside the studio anymore.'

"I'll be taking my mask off. I ask you staff members to please keep it to yourselves, okay? I don't like my real face being spread around the vicinity that much." I said as I took off my mask and put it in my pocket.

The staff members, especially the audio engineer, showed the same reaction as everybody else when they saw the huge scar on my face. Their jaws dropped, and they all also gasped. Though, some of them had varied volumes to their gasps.

'Calm down, Shiro. You're in the studio. The guy is about to check your levels. There are 3 staff members in here, you gotta record 4 songs, it's Tuesday today…' I breathed out afterwards and nodded a bit to myself.

"So uh...1, 2, 3, mic check, mic check. Shiro on the mic, Shiro on the beat...?"

"...Your levels seem good now." He said as he gave a thumbs up.

"Sweet. Play the music file that reads 'I'm the General'."

And so he did.

We would proceed to play it like this:

I'm the General - 1st song

#SOUNDCLOUDRAPPER - 2nd song

TABETAI! - 3rd song

A Soldier's Life - 4th song

And so, that ended my session in the studio. Of course, I didn't just rap until the song finished. I had to re-run again to do adlibs and such. I also asked them if I could let them send the finished product into my USB so I can edit it in FL Studio, and then send it to Shinove or something to get it distributed once it's done.

"Thank you for letting me use the studio. I hope you can keep the secret of my face to yourselves until I feel comfortable sharing it."

"Hai. We respect our talents' privacy, Shiro-san. Though...you don't want us to distribute it yet?"

"Speaking of distribution, how do you guys distribute this?"

"We usually give it to Shinove-san, and he would take care of distributing it, along with other staff members responsible for it."

"I see...so I could just send the actual final product to Shinove-san, and he'll take care of the distribution?"

"Yes."

"Sweet. Well, once again, thank you for your services. See you around next time!" I said as I made my way out.

And so, I made my way to the Holohouse, and when I went in, I saw Calli conversing a bit with her genmates at the lounge in one of the couches.

"Oh? Hey, Shiro!" Calli said as she waved her hand a bit.

"Oh? Hey."

"Done with the studio stuff? What was it? A cover or a song?"

"An album."

"An album?! That quick in 4 days?!" She said as her other genmates instantly looked at me with either wide eyes or a surprised face.

"Yeah. I'm really fast at composing music. Well, mostly."

"Say, if you recorded it, you must've taken out your mask, right? How did you get over it? J-Just asking, I'm sorry if it sounds a bit insensitive." She asked with a bit of sweat forming on her head.

"Well...I just told the staff to keep it a secret. Yes, I did take off my mask while recording. As much as I rapped back in the cafeteria, it is kinda hard to breathe when you rap long lines with little time to breathe in-between."

"I see...I'm looking forward to your album!" She said with a smile.

"A-Ah...t-thanks, I guess?" I said as I scratched my head with my left hand and went to my room.

"Anyway, see ya later. I'll be chilling in my room." I said while putting my right hand up.

"S-See ya!" She said.

'Hmm...I'm bored.' I deadpanned as I opened my door.

'Well, I guess I'll go play some CSGO or shit...don't really feel like in the mood to rap right now. Besides, my stream is, like, this 1 PM, so I got a lot of time before I gotta stream.'

But when I turned my computer on and turned Discord on to keep up with messages and stuff, I got a message on Discord.

"Oh? It seems the album cover is actually done." I said as I clicked on the message from BerryVerrine.

Berry: So, Shiro-san, I made this art, what do you think?

It showed an image that is a mix of my 1st and 3rd idea. Essentially, my normal outfit with my arms crossed and two Five-sevens on each hand while I walked forward, and the background was dark with a big explosion to cover it up. It wasn't complete. You can tell some base colors were very distinct from other colors, and whatnot, but it seemed close to finish.

Shiro: Hmm...seems good to me, but maybe you could make the background a bit more wintery? If it's okay. Like maybe make it very light blue or any sort of blue that can be visible in winter.

Berry: I think I can do it. Anything else I need to do?

Shiro: Don't think so. I think the image is fine. It's nice to see you mixed the 1st and 3rd idea. Looks really neat.

Berry: Thank you! I'll get back to you tomorrow with the final product!

Shiro: Thank you very much!

And so, that ended our Discord conversation.

"Alright, guess I'll go back to playing some games...oh, actually, change of mind, maybe I'll watch some clips."

As much as I'd like to watch streams, I don't really have the time to do it, so I might as well get exposed to as much clips as I can that summarize a video quickly so that I can get updated with what's going on right now.

"Oooh...I forgot, Roberu's 3d outfit is coming out tomorrow. Nice."

I get to see my bro go on stage!

"Too bad I can't really join though 'cause I'm still 4 days in since my debut."

But after seeing the announcement from Hololive, I continued watching clips. I was surprised to see how the Hololivers thought of me. No offense, no weirded out, no nothing. Just pure wholesome. Almost makes me feel bad for being misogynistic. But then again, I have some trust issues with girls, so I guess I semi-blame myself.

After watching a few clips, I thought, "Alright, maybe let's take a peek at one of my senpai's streams...ooh, Matsuri's live. Let's see it-"

As soon as I got on the stream, Matsuri instantly went "SSSSSEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXX".

I kept in my laughter, letting out a small snicker, and instantly typed in the chat,

"....Aight, that's my cue to leave (In Japanese)"

And boi, the chat was going crazy as they told Matsuri.

"WWWWWW MATSURI! SHIRO IS HERE!"

"Matsuri literally screamed 'sex' as Shiro came in."

"Now how are you gonna explain it to your kouhai? Wwwwww"

"MATSURI-"

"Welp, at least you did a good impression of Shiro wwwwww"

"...Chotto, EH?! SHIRO-KUN IS HERE?!" Matsuri screamed.

I still held in my laughter, letting out a small snicker again, and typed, "Yes, I'm here, Matsuri-senpai. (In Japanese) You horny fuck (In English)"

"OI! SHIRO-KUN, WAIT A-" She said as she laughed hella hard.

"Shiro-kun! Look! I was asked to do an impression of you! I remembered that, in your recent streams, you screamed 'SSSEEEXXX', so I tried to imitate it! No! Don't leave the stream!" She shouted.

I typed, "Yeah, yeah. You're just horny. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving. Love you, Matsuri-senpai~

…pervert." I said as I left.

"Alright, clippers. Do your job, please. I'll be viewing that as soon as my recommended shows it to me." I said as I looked at more clips.

Whew, she's got explaining to do when she meets me. Kusa.

So I watched some clips, not just in Hololive but also other agencies and other indies, and also played some Valorant. I cooked rice, and cooked some hotdog with 2 fried eggs and some cooked sliced eggplant, and once it reached 1 PM, I hit the live button, and I started the stream.

"...heh…"

"My dick is inside a groupie."

"Shooting this shit, but this ain't no damn movie."

"Grabbing Coco, Ame and Noel's boobies, yeah."

"You know I'm hot. I go electric just-"

"Like a robot. Fucking Marine, stick it-"

"Inside her butt. She be screaming and-"

"Moaning a lot. Sucking my cock."

"Uh. I got the fire rhymes."

"Uh. I let the liars die."

"Uh. I just go higher in time."

"Uh. Yes, I inspire lives."

"Ishijin Shiro, he is the best."

"Busting with stereo, he up to the test."

"Coming with heat, bro. I slice off their heads."

"I'm dodging like Neo when fighting the rest."

"WHOO!" I did a high-pitched shout as I ended the music and played the sound FX of smoke.

"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!" I clapped.

"Privates! We're now gonna focus on flows! For those of you who don't know what flows are, it's basically the way you say lines. One line, you might not stop saying stuff, but on other lines, you might do some chopping. I'll give an example right now."

"I kill these rappers way quicker than boeings."

"Speeding to them as I hit em with bullets."

"I get the green, but I ain't really mowing."

"Got lots of bitches, and they all be hoeing."

"I got money, bitch."

"Uh, I got hunnid bands."

"Uh, I get loose in here."

"Uh, might get choosy here. Uh."

"Right? Think of it like PVC pipe systems. When water flows in pipes, there are different pipes it will encounter. It can have big ones, small ones, those that turn, those that stay straight, and other stuff. The flows are what makes rapping not only very rhythmical, but also what makes rap unique too."

"Why are flows important? Well, aside from a few exceptions, it's because if you don't change your flow every now and then, your song will sound too repetitive and boring. That's why you might like Calli's songs. If she just rapped in her usual 'Mischief. Bitch, quick. I hit the shit, lick' and what not, or 'Not what you expected? Lemme tell you straightforward.', you would lose interest quickly. Same goes for any other song."

"The reason why I say exceptions is 'cause there are songs like Middle Child by J. Cole or Stan by Eminem that, if you change the flow, it might not fit the song anymore."

"Yeah, flows can stay the same depending on the song. For songs like 'Live Again', you can really just keep the same flow if you want to, but for songs like 'Dead Beats', yeah, you definitely need to change it every once in a while."

"So...honestly, this is very vast, and I can't teach you every flow, but I can teach you how flows works, and what are the most common types of flows you might hear in rap nowadays."

"So…let's get into it! Don't worry, guys. This is actually really intuitive, so you could even just skip this lesson if you want to. I'm just trying to give you guys a runover about the most common flows, but you can literally listen to rap songs, and just copy some of their flows and make it your own."

"First, there's the usual '1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4' flow. It goes like…"

"Uh, I be getting checks wherever I go."

"It's Shiro, and you know I'm the best in making flows."

"Getting dough. Spit the lyrics off the frickin' dome."

"On the low, I be making money as I sit at home."

"You know, it's the most common flow you'll hear in rap, especially in boom bap, which is like old-school rap."

"Another flow you might hear nowadays is the 'uh, yeah' flow, which is usually used in new-school rap. It's just a name I call it, but it can go by several names. What do I mean by the 'uh, yeah' flow? It's like this…"

"Uh. Ore wa ichiban, yeah (I'm the number one, yeah)"

"Uh. Bitch, I'm your onii-chan, yeah."

"Uh. I always get it done, yeah."

"Uh. Bicchi ni ireta, yeah. (I put my thing in the bitch, yeah), uh."

"Right? You must've heard this in rap nowadays. It's very common in modern rap, especially in trap music."

"Another flow you might hear is the 'stop, go' flow. It sounds like…"

"...I went from rags to riches."

"...I fuck the baddest bitches."

"...Rappers, they hella average."

"...I'm gonna slap the snitches."

"That's also a really common flow, both in old-school and new-school rap."

"So, I guess that's all I can show you guys for the most common types of flows. I guess, to end this quick lesson, we'll try to listen to Calli's song called 'Off with their heads'. This is a really nice song, both in message and rhymes, but we're not gonna focus on that. We're gonna break down some of her flows, and hopefully, not only can you guys try using these flows in some of your songs, but even make your own flows, right?"

"Without further ado, let's go!"

And so, I did a watch-along with the viewers with the music since I didn't get Calli's permission to stream her music beforehand.

Here are the most prominent flows I showed the Privates.

First Flow: "Welcome to the mountain top. Waiting till the night calls…"

Second Flow: "I'm not'cha sensei, but I been saying sense."

Third Flow: "Gimme action, sick! Katana slashin' slick, but where's your passion, miss?"

Fourth Flow: "Silent will, strike to kill, Shinobi-like technique."

"WHOO! Alright, so before I REALLY get to actually freestyling until the stream reaches 1 hour, I will say this as a good tip for your flows."

"If you feel like it, try to give a bit of variation to your current flow. What do I mean by that? It's like this...let's say your flow is like-"

"Uh. Pull up on him with an uzi."

"Uh. Tools in the shed, I get choosy."

"Uh. Noel's so bad, grab the boobies."

"Uh. When I'm done, chill in jacuzzis, uh."

"Right? Instead of just continuing on with that flow for 4 straight bars, you could add a bit of 'flavor' in it, and change it up a bit, so like…"

"Uh. Pull up on him with an uzi."

"Uh. Tools in the shed, I get choosy."

"Coco's so sexy, I might grab the boobies."

"When this shit's done, I'll chill in a jacuzzi, uh."

"Right? It's just a little change, but it sounds really nice, doesn't it? Unlike the other one where it sounds a bit repetitive after the 3rd line, this gives it the same flow but it has a slight variation to it, making it a bit more fun to hear, if that makes sense."

"So, without further ado, guys, let's get into freestyling! Don't worry, I did the math in my head, and I shall do 50/50 for the time in freestyling for both English and Japanese. This is a stream in both English and Japanese after all, and I'm teaching every Private here how to rap, so it wouldn't be fair otherwise." I chuckled.

"Let's go, Privates!"