Ch 8 - The First Day Pt. 5

~~Lamy's POV~~

"Thank you for making the cake!" I said as I bowed. Botan also bowed along with me.

"You're welcome, miss! I wish the best for your friend's birthday!" The girl said.

Me and Botan nodded, and went out of the bakeshop, making a bell ring from above as we got out of the bakeshop. Botan was on her phone as we got out.

"Yes! We finally got Nene's cake!"

"I already contacted Polka through LINE. Nene is currently just checking her bank while also going out to eat dinner in advance." She giggled and almost went to the zone of laughing.

"IT'S STILL AFTERNOON!" I said.

"That's what I'm saying! It's too early!" Botan laughed while holding her stomach.

"Sigh...well, let's hurry! We don't want Nene finding out! Even if she suspects, at least it'll be more of a surprise!"

Botan nodded.

Me and her hollered for a taxi, and once it finally arrived, Botan went first, and I went last. I put the cake over my lap, and Botan told the taxi driver to take us to a bakeshop. The bakeshop that Botan was talking about was a bakeshop that was located not too far from the entrance of the bridge of Entertainment Academy.

The taxi finally took off, and I sighed.

"Finally, we can take this back to Polka…"

I frowned slightly, but not too noticeable that Botan might notice.

'Nene has such a nice day tomorrow...not that I'm jealous, but...the positivity she emits, and the aura we have around her...I wish I could have that aura, cause if I'm being honest, I feel a bit...weak, in terms of aura. Like I'm too calm that I can't really have a happy vibing vibe, but more of a relaxing vibe...which, in my opinion, seems a bit...boring.'

~~Botan's POV~~

I looked down at Lamy slightly frowning.

'She thought I couldn't notice it, huh?' I thought to myself and smiled.

I put my arm around her and patted her head, hoping to get the reaction that I wanted from her.

"W-Wha-...!"

She looked at me while her eyes lit up and her face slightly turned red. A giggle escaped out from my mouth, and I slightly covered it with my left hand.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just wanted to do it." I said as I leaned back on the seat and smiled. I hope my smile wasn't noticed by her though. It was, by a centimeter, a bittersweet type of smile.

'I can feel it...everybody's want to be different. I just wish that they can slow down and just see that it doesn't matter. What matters is that they're here with us, and if they were gone, the mood just instantly drops to 0.'

I looked at Lamy.

'Don't worry. I love you guys, from the bottom of my heart. You have your own specialties, and I don't think I'd like any of you to change from your real selves.' I thought.

~~Nene's POV~~

"Alright, miss! Please wait as we give you your order!" The waitress said.

I nodded.

"Thank you!" I said and bowed.

The waitress finally went away to attend to other customers and I sighed.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to wait…" I said as I closed my eyes while putting my hands above my laps.

'Sigh...Tomorrow's my birthday…' I went from my usual happy face to a straight face.

'I gotta keep the happy face up for everybody though. Even if, at times, there might be no reason for me to be happy, that's what Momosuzu Nene should be. A positive airhead who never gives up in whatever she puts her mind to!'

I got my hands out and slapped my cheeks.

"Get it together, Nene! Keep the smile up!" I said as I got my hands out of my face and pointed the corners of my lips up.

'I don't wanna see the others sad anyway if they saw me in this state.' I thought.

~~Polka's POV~~

"Sigh...they're still not here yet, huh...?" I said to myself as I lay on the couch on the 1st floor of the Holohouse.

I turned from my right to facing the ceiling and put my right hand behind my head while my left hand rested on top of my forehead.

"Sigh...I don't really have an idea on what to stream tomorrow…"

'Damn, this is slightly wearing me out...not that I don't like to do Hololive that much anymore nowadays, but I'm just saying that my ideas are kinda running out now…'

I closed my eyes and sighed as I moved my legs left and right.

'Seriously...what should I do tomorrow? Despite the many ideas I can think of, ironically, I can think of nothing...'

I heard the automatic glass door of the Holohouse open, and I opened my eyes.

"Oh?" I said to myself as I looked at the door.

"Omarun! Here! Do it quick!" Lamy said as she held the cake out.

"E-E-E-E-Eh?! O-O-O-On it!" I said as I instantly stood up and ran towards Lamy.

"Hurry it up! Nene isn't here yet, right?" Botan asked and giggled.

"Y-Yeah! She went out a while ago!"

I went into the elevator in the Holohouse, and pressed the 3rd button on the panel, and the elevator doors closed.

"Oh, c'mon, c'mon...! Nene should not see this yet!" I said to myself as I slightly scratched both the top and bottom of the cake box while playing with my feet as the elevator kept going up.

Once the elevator went to the 3rd floor, I went to my room, dashing quicker than ever, since us 5th gen live on the same floor, and when I went inside my room, I quickly put the cake inside my fridge.

"DONE!" I said as I shoved it in, and sighed.

I closed the door and wiped the sweat off of my forehead.

"That was scary...oh!" I said as a light bulb appeared above my head.

"I guess I can play Uma Musume tomorrow!" I said as I pounded my right fist on my left palm.

"Well, although I might not have an idea right now, I guess a bit of gacha never hurt nobody." I said as I went out of my room, planning to go back to the elevator to wait for Lamy and Botan.

~~Ina's POV~~

I was listening to some Japanese songs, looking at my screen as I drew Gura doing a cute pose as I zoomed out and checked the whole image.

"Humu humu. This looks good."

I sighed and stretched.

"Well, time for another break." I said as I took my glasses off and stood up as I went to my kitchen counter in my room to get a glass of water.

I drank the glass of water about halfway and stopped as I gulped for air, and looked at my room's door.

"Well, that was some nice progress on my drawing."

I looked at my computer, and then looked down at the floor as I recalled my progress in Vtubing.

"Hmm...I know I could do more…" I said as I gulped more of my water.

'Wonder what else I can do? I feel like I could do more and try to stand together with the others.'

"But what is it? I feel like I should just do what I want like drawing and gaming…" I said as I put the glass into the sink, and went back to my computer.

"Well, whatever. Let's see where I left off…" I said to myself.

'Well, I can't really think of anything else other than drawing, singing, gaming, and...other stuff. So I guess I'll see where fate takes me…' I thought to myself as I put my glasses back on.

~~Gura's POV~~

"Hmm hmm hmm…" I hummed to myself while going through Twitter on my phone.

I looked back at the trends, and saw another trend appearing for Shiro.

"Huh? Wait, seriously?" I chuckled.

'Man...I can't believe a single Vtuber like him would get this much attention, even after a few hours after his announcement.'

There were two trends a while ago. #V-R.A.P.PDebut and #CancelShiro. Now there's a 3rd saying #DefendShiro.

"Oh god...are people really still fighting over Shiro..?" I giggled.

I looked at the #DefendShiro tweet, and...yep. Just as I expected.

"Why are you guys angry at Shiro? Is it because he's a Holostar? Or is it cause he has more talent than you babbling motherfuckers? I say your reasons are bullshit. #DefendShiro."

"Lol. You guys okay with a reaper being a rapper, but as soon as another rapper comes, and one that's a male, you guys start to flip? C'mon, all Vtubers are welcome, regardless if they're male or female! #DefendShiro."

"You guys are straight up pitiful, for real. Look, even Shiro just laughed at y'all. #DefendShiro." The tweet said as the picture below showed a screenshot of Shiro saying:

"Oh, and you think I just rap about guns, drugs, money, and bvtches? Well, you're damn right.

Colt M4A1, Idarucizumab , Bitcoin, and YO MOMMA, BIATCH!"

I giggled just a bit harder than before when I saw that.

"Ah...well, Shiro, I hope you're doing well, receiving this bowl that's mixed with love and hate." I said as I went back to just scrolling through tweets.

"...Oh, even the Hololivers are defending him actually!" I giggled.

There was one tweet from Ollie saying "Seriously, guys? I'm quite disappointed in you all. He's not even debuting yet, and you're already giving him some hate. C'mon, guys. Show some love for our kouhai! He deserves better! #DefendShiro."

Then here's another tweet from Calli...oh shit, IT'S CALLI!

"Guys...just stop it...what's the big deal about it? #DefendShiro."

"Phew. She was tame there." I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

...Ooh, one of the Holostars.

"Shiro was just having some fun. Why're you guys hating him? Seriously. He's not even hating you guys back. Please stop this and show Shiro some love! Never judge a book by its cover! #DefendShiro" Roberu tweeted.

I giggled and turned my phone off for a bit as I faced to my left.

"Hah...Poor Shiro...I really hope it won't get into his brain. I'm aware of the fact that he's misogynistic, so that could even mean he's susceptible to anger…"

I looked up at the ceiling.

"Still, nonetheless, this is the most attention Hololive has gotten on Twitter, and it's even coming from a Holostar...? Jeez…"

I remembered back to my sub count. It's past 2 million. About to be the most subscribed Vtuber worldwide soon.

"...Well, it's not like I hate it. But damn...too fast…"

And especially considering the fact that everybody's doing their hardest too, yet I happened to be the one with bigger milestones is just…

"Well...I just hope that it won't go too far...not that I'd hate that, but I don't wanna be seen as this 'Atlantic prodigy' or something, and not be as approachable as I would've been…" I said as I moved my legs left and right, and got my phone.

"Well, let's look at some more tweets. Especially the battle between Shiro and a couple other twitter people. This is fun to watch." I chuckled.

~~Amelia's POV~~

I sighed as I turned my phone off and lied to my left side.

"I'll just take a short nap…"

'Man, I wonder what Shiro might be doing in the future? Unlike Calli, he might just rap almost everyday. Not that Calli doesn't do that, but I don't know. He seems like he'll be rapping for the most part...will he even stream games or something, from time to time?' I thought.

"Ah...I wish I had that again…"

I'm running out of ideas....burnout is a bitch.

"Well, there's Minecraft...then there's gaming...then streaming...and collabs...maybe some Mario kart, or general collabs, dead by daylight...yeah, I have no idea at all."

Well, I guess I could just do those...

"...Hmm...actually, maybe movies could work…"

I don't know if I'm just being braindead, or something, but I mean...it's been quite a while since I did a watch-along stream.

"Whatever. I'll just go to Netflix and maybe skim through the movies and see what I can plan later-"

"RING RING" goes my phone. It vibrated underneath my pillow, so I felt the vibration through my head, and I picked it up.

"Hmm...?"

The message was from Kiara in our personal discord server for just the 5 of us. It read: "Hey, guys. Tomorrow, we're gonna go back to streaming regularly. Wanna go out for dinner and celebrate this evening before we go back to streaming tomorrow?"

I smiled and typed "Sure! Where we heading?"

Kiara: You guys okay with Rokkasen?

Gura: Rokkasen?

Amelia: Wait, that's rather familiar, actually…

Kiara: You know...that one BBQ restaurant?

Gura: OH, THAT ONE!

Calli: Ah, I've seen that restaurant once, but I haven't eaten there yet. Yeah, sure, bois!

Ina: I'm in. What time we going?

Kiara: We're going at 6:30. It closes at 9, iirc.

Gura: Count me in, fellas!

Amelia: Let's have a feast tonight, girls!

Ina: Yep. I'm going.

Calli: Me too. Hold up. Lemme get my dress ready and shit.

Kiara: Alright! It's a date for all of us lol.

I giggled from the whole chat and sighed.

"Guess I gotta look good tonight, huh...?" I smiled as I put my phone near my pillow and sat up.

"Welp, I guess...I'll look through my closet and see what's good…"

~~Aqua's POV~~

I breathed a bit heavily through my nostrils while still holding my plastic bag, having to withstand the heat while also having to walk a bit of distance towards the Holohouse, but when I got there, I kept grabbing the plastic bag but I was arching my back as I rested my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.

"Hah...finally, I'm back home…"

I looked around, and saw nobody in sight. Not even the Holostars, who are living in the 1st floor.

"Hmm...where's Shion...?" I asked myself.

Well, it doesn't matter. I'll go take the stairs, since my room is just across the rooms near the steps of the 2nd floor's stairs.

I went there, put my stuff on a table, and arranged it to their respective places while also putting the plastic bag in the trash, and after all of that, I really wondered where Shion was, since I told her that I would go out and buy some snacks for us (and also to train myself in going out alone), and she said she would gladly wait around the living room, but she wasn't there...

"Shion-chan...?" I knocked gently on her room's door and said her name in a soft tone through it, hoping to hear footsteps or her kusogaki voice, but no reply so far.

'...Eh? Where is she...?'

"Hmm...the only other part I could think of is that she's in one of the practicing rooms…" I said to myself.

In this Holohouse, the rooms and everything is located from the 1st floor to the very top floor. The rooms that are under the 1st floor are the practicing rooms. There are 2 big dancing practice rooms, and then there are 4 singing practice rooms. Singing on the left side, and dancing on the right side, if you were looking from the elevator.

There won't be that much of a problem either in terms of interference. The rooms have a good distance apart from each other with thick walls, and the foams on the walls make echoing and reverb almost non-existent.

I went into the elevator, and pressed the -1 button as the doors shut and the elevator descended.

"Hmm hm hmm…" I hummed, just waiting for the elevator to finally reach the underground floor.

I finally arrived, and I heard the Hololivers like AZKi and Calli. I think they were the only ones in the singing rooms. In one of the dancing rooms, I heard some music playing. Matter of fact, it was exactly to the dancing room that's next to the elevator.

I opened the door, and I saw Shion dancing with music playing in the background as she kept dancing.

"U-Um...Shion-chan...?" I said.

"O-Oh? Ah, Aqua! You came back earlier than I expected!" Shion giggled as she went to her phone and stopped the music from playing through the speakers.

"Y-Yeah…"

She got her towel and wiped her face.

"So, did you buy the snacks?"

I nodded.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Were you able to not be that shy anymore?"

"W-Well...no. Not entirely. There was this guy who helped me to get some chips, but I still stuttered…"

Shion laughed.

"Really? Man, that's pitiful…"

She put a hand on my shoulder.

"You did good though. Not only did you go out at your own will, but you were able to not lose yourself and let anxiety fill your mind."

"Yeah...by the way, why were you dancing here? I thought you were gonna wait in the living room?"

"Ah-W-Well...I thought I could practice some dancing before you came back, you know?"

"Really? Eh?~" I smugged.

"W-What's with that look, baka?" Shion sweated a bit and blushed.

"How was your practice? Did you improve at least a bit more?~" I smugged more and zoomed in closer to her face.

"Y-Y-Yeah...!" Shion said as she stepped back and crossed her arms.

"I-I-I-I became a world-class dancer with that practice session!"

"Eh?~~ Show me, then.~" I said, smugging more.

Shion bit her bottom lip and blushed more.

~~Shion's POV~~

"H-H-Hey! I got an idea that I'd like to propose actually! I was thinking of it while I was dancing! Ahahaha!" I said, trying to dodge the question, and also cause I was legitimately thinking of this idea.

"Hmm? What might it be? You're not dodging the question, are you?~" She asked.

"NO!"

I sighed.

"W-Well, I was thinking that...we could have dinner around 6, then go for some karaoke...."

"Oh? Karaoke...?"

"Y-Yeah! I mean, we don't have to go out if you don't want to. I was just...you know...thinking that we could have fun for this whole day before we go back to streaming. You know how our schedules are." I smiled.

"Hmm...." Aqua looked to her left and grabbed her chin.

"W-Well, just be honest. I was just proposing an idea." I giggled nervously.

"Well...I mean, we are best friends, plus by the fact that even when we're so close, our time hanging out is quite short. Sure! I'll gladly go out. I mean...you are gonna be the one leading me, right...?" She deadpanned at me.

"Really?! You'll go out with me and sing 'till we fall asleep?!"

"Okay, not at the point that I'll sing through the whole night." Aqua laughed.

"Baka! Some of us have a stream to do around midnight! Even me!" Aqua said.

Me and her laughed a bit, before going back to our normal expression.

"Well, of course I'll lead you. I mean...you're still the socially awkward onion, right...?~" I teased.

"Eh? You suck at a lot of things too, especially dancing, you kusogaki.~" Aqua teased me back.

"What did you say?!" I said with an angry face.

"You wanna go?!" Aqua said with an angry face.

"OH, IT'S ON!" We both said as we stared at each other with lightning shooting out from our eyes.

~~Shiro's POV~~

"Hoowee...that was a lot of social media scrolling. That's been a really long time since I've scrolled so much and did so much social media engagement. Holy shit...!" I said as I stretched my arms, and stood up.

I looked at the time through my computer.

"...Damn, it's past 3:30 PM now...? That was fast." I said as I stood straight and went to my kitchen counter to get myself some water.

I got a glass, filled it with water, and just when I was about to drink from the glass as the tip of it touched my lips, I heard a knock through my door.

"Oh?" I said as I looked at it.

"Shiro-kun? You mind if we talk for a while?" Kira said through the door.

"Ah, sure! Wait for a bit!" I said as I drank my water quick, and put the glass in the sink.

I instantly went to get my mask near the door, and I unlocked the door while also twisting the knob, opening the door wide open.

"Hmm? What's up, Kira?"

"Oh, come here for a bit. Let's talk with all the Holostars for a while."

"Ah, sure." I said.

Me and Kira walked towards the boys, and they all waved at me and also greeted me.

"Hey, Shiro-kun!" They said.

I waved back and smiled.

I looked at all of them as me and Kira stopped. He sat down and I stood up with my hands in my pocket.

"Alright...what's the occasion about?" I asked.

When I said that, I also heard a ding behind me, which was coming from the elevator. I glanced at my back, and saw the 2nd gen of HoloID.

"Well, we thought that, to celebrate this day before we go back to streaming, all of us would go for some Karaoke right around 8 PM. We're gonna have dinner around 6 PM, since we do know you can't really eat in public…" Roberu said.

"Ah, I see. You guys wanted to ask if it was okay for me to tag along with you all?" I asked.

They nodded.

"You up for it? I mean, maybe you'd like to hang with your senpais for a while and show us your singing abilities! Aside from rapping, surely you practiced your singing. I mean, you said to us back in the cafeteria that you practiced it seriously 3 months ago!" Roberu said.

"Yeah, I mean, we'd like to hear you sing as well!" Kira said.

"C'mon, don't be shy if you're gonna tag along! It's just for fun. We're just gonna have a good time, discussing stuff, drinking, and singing!" Astel said.

They all said the same thing, and I breathed in through my teeth while giggling.

"Um...please forgive me, guys...the idea really is fun. I won't lie. However…"

"...Oh?" They said as they all tilted their heads and looked at me.

"Well...sumimasen. I got some stuff to do tomorrow early morning, so...please don't think of it as me rejecting your proposal. I would love to sing together, but...you know."

"Ah, it's okay. We were just asking, you know? Don't beat yourself." Roberu said.

"Still...that's a bummer. We would've liked to hear you sing." Kira said.

"Well, maybe another time, Shiro-kun. Don't worry. It's not like it's a 'once in a blue moon' thing. We can plan another Karaoke hanging-out session another time." Oga said.

"Yeah…" I said as I scratched my head.

"W-Wait…'Karaoke'..?" Ollie asked as she walked past us.

"Hmm?" We said as we looked at her.

"A-Un. We were gonna go out and do some Karaoke outside. Why? You planning to join us too? That's a bit...you know-" Roberu was cut off by Ollie.

"Ah, no no. I was just...you know...you're gonna go out? So that means the living room is vacant?"

"Oh? You're planning to drink with the other ID members here?" Temma asked.

Ollie nodded.

"Are you guys really gonna go out? What time?" Ollie asked.

"8 PM. Well, it's not like the living room was occupied all the time. Feel free! It's shared property, after all." Temma said.

"YES! Thank you very much, Holostar boys!" Ollie said, bowing a bit, and facing Reine.

She then started talking in Indonesian really fast. It was just too fast that I could barely catch a couple words. I only caught something along the lines of "Let's drink here with the others!"

"Well, um...mind if I go back to my room now?" I asked the Holostars.

"Ah, yeah! Have fun with yourself later! Even though you can't really hang out with us, I hope it won't be too boring for you this evening!" Roberu said.

"Yeah, have fun! Maybe you could practice some more singing to impress your senpais!" Oga giggled.

"Oh yeah, and one advice from us, Shiro-kun. Don't feel pressured about your debut. Just calm down and have fun. I assure you, you will have a nice debut." Aruran giggled.

I chuckled and smirked.

"Aight, see ya guys!" I said as I waved at them, and walked to my room.

"See you later, Shiro-kun!" They all said.

As I closed the door after I went in, I sighed and put the mask on the hook once more.

"Damn, I really wish I could go with them, but…"

I shrugged.

"Well, I do have to exercise early tomorrow...actually…"

I went inside my computer, and checked my text documents. I checked the text document named "Hololivers' B-days" and I looked at whoever had a birthday in March.

"...Oh? It's Nene's birthday tomorrow as well...yeah, I remember now…"

Well, I guess I'm gonna have to go out later and buy a gift for her and Miyabi. Not trying to gain Nene's trust or anything. It's just 'cause I'm a fan of her.

To be honest though, now that I'm their workmate, it feels...different to simp for them now. If I was just still a fan of all of them, simping isn't that weird.

I would donate my whole fucking bank account, and they'd be happy as hell for it while I'd be happy to know they're living life to the fullest with that money. Now that we actually know each other, and I'm now gonna be working along with them, if I did the same thing, not only would they be weirded out and also feel bad because it's money that their workmate earned, but it's also cause of the fact that I'm misogynistic, but Hololive and these other Vtubers are the only girls I give more respect to than these other women. Kinda weird, if you think of it in a certain way.

'Well...there's some music I can work on, and there's also some Hololive clips I could watch that I didn't finish yet, and there's my 3 trends in Twitter...literally filling up most of the trending pages of Twitter....' I thought.

"...Oh, let's have more fun with this." I snickered.

I went into Google and went to Twitter in my computer, and I made a tweet.

"So...recap on the trends. There's #V-R.A.P.PDebut, #CancelShiro#, and #DefendShiro.

What's next after that? "#AcceptShiro"? "#OffendShiro"? Maybe there's gonna be "#ArgueShiro" LMAO.

Make "#TrendingShiro" a trending tag too, everybody...okay, that was just a joke. Please stop-"

I then commented down below that tweet.

"Fr though, 3 trending tags for one person is too much. YAMETE-KUDASTOP-"

I giggled and sighed.

"...Well, I guess I'll just do some freestyle practice, I guess."

After the freestyle practice, I'm also gonna have to go and buy a gift for the 2 birthday kids, I guess. I don't know what Nene would like though...

"Well, whatever. Let's just practice."

Technique to practice right now: Rhyme exercises in English.

Time for practice: 20 minutes.

I went to "randomwordgenerator.com", and the first word I was given was "Singer".

"Alright...what beat shall I use for practicing...?"

Hmm...I guess I can go for an Anabolic Beatz beat...Eh, let's go with his most popular beat ever.

"Alright...! Behind Barz by Anabolic Beatz...!" I said as I played.

The rhyme scheme I was gonna do was the ABAB rhyme scheme. I had to practice that for 10 minutes, then I can do the ABBA rhyme scheme. In case you're wondering, the ABAB is harder to execute than the ABBA. Trust me.

"...Yeah....c'mon...It's Shiro on the beat....let's go."

"I be leaving rappers CHOKED. I'm a heavy HITTER."

"Rapping, but I'm singing NOTES, kinda like a SINGER."

"I'm in the VICINITY and roaring like a RAPTOR."

"If I am your ENEMY, you gon' get CAPTURED."

"All these rappers WHINING. They're not good with RHYMES."

"Y'all know I be SHINING brighter than a LIGHT."

"I be going UP, all these rappers stay down THERE."

"I be in the FRONT. All these rappers lick my damn REAR."

"Ey..spit it RAW. Never spit it RANDOM."

"Coming up with better SONGS. Better buy my ALBUMS."

"Uh. Spitting FLARE, rappers way too OLD."

"I'mma burn their fucking HAIR. All these rappers BALD."

"Uh....err...okay skip that, skip that. Fuck it. Argh! Okay, next bar, next bar...!"

"Spit it from the HEART. Yes, I'm large like an ELEPHANT."

"Rapping for the ART. Man, y'all know I'm rapping ELEGANT."

I kept rapping for about a good 10 minutes, glancing at my computer's clock from time to time while I was practicing, and then I finally went to the ABBA practice session. The beat this time was from "Sedivi." It's called "Self Love". Here's a good 8 bars from I don't know how many bars I spat from the whole session.

"Uh...c'mon, ey....It's Shiro on the mic, Shiro on the beat, Shiro with the heat. Let's go!"

"Uh. Coming with the freestyle INNOVATION."

"Rappers CHICKEN. I be going DIFFERENT. Got the VARIATION."

"Yeah. Eating all these rappers. I'll come take a BITE."

"Bigger than my PENIS. Like ADIDAS, I get hella STRIPES."

"Uh...all these rappers gonna die SOON."

"I'm fucking HYPE. I be shining BRIGHT, just like the MOON."

"Ey, check it. My flow is cold, but lyrics are WARM."

"I'll cause ERUPTIONS. Y'all should proceed with CAUTION. You're WARNED."

And...after that whole 20 minutes, I was done with the practice session! Could've done the other rhyme exercises, but I needed to improve the ABBA and ABAB rhyme schemes so that it'll be easier for me to execute when I finally perform live.

"Hah...I'm done with that…"

I stood up from my chair and stretched.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna have to go out now and buy something for Nene and Miyabi…" I said as I went and got my shoes near my door, and put them on.

I went and got out of the Holohouse, and I took a taxi towards the mall. After I got in, I sighed and looked around.

"Seriously...I mean, I know I used to buy gifts for Mom, Akina-neechan, Sakura-neechan, and Hide-neechan, but Nene is...special...Every woman has their own likes. Despite being similar in terms of fashion and shit, they are sorta picky..."

Let's see...she's quite a happy one, so I bet she'd be happy with anything, but that's not enough. As a fellow Hololive simp, I need to come up with something else! Something with more sentimental value. Something that can make Nene happy, regardless if it's usable or not...

'Recall her likes, recall her likes...!' I thought while crossing my arms and twitching my eyes.

Hmm...she likes Gintama, Bleach....well, it might not contribute to the thinking, but she likes food...well, it is her birthday tomorrow, so she is gonna have food anyway-

"...Oh! I got it!" I snapped my fingers, and giggled.

Gyoza! But not the food. Maybe she'd like something like a gyoza keychain. Maybe for her phone, since she uses her phone a lot.

"It might not be a lot, but...I hope it's good for her."

I guess I'll also look in the women's clothing section. Maybe I can find a gyoza shirt there too.

"Well, I guess I know where to go now…" I said as I started walking, and went up to the 3rd floor where the phone accessories store was located.

I looked at the available keychains there. Looking carefully, and seeing if one of them had a gyoza design.

"Hmm...c'mon. There's gotta be one-oh...? Oh, found it!" I said as I picked up the gyoza keychain.

It was a 3d gyoza. It also had a kawaii face on it, with pink stripes to show that it's blushing. Perfect for everybody's wife, Momosuzu Nene, who is kawaii AS FUCK.

"Un! I hope this'll be good for her." I said as I took the keychain and went to the counter to buy it.

I then went down to the 1st floor, and I went to search for a Gyoza shirt.

"Hmm...okay...can't believe I'm actually going back to the women's section, but...let's see…" I said as I looked for a couple of shirts while walking around…

I looked for some shirts, regardless of the color, and I kept looking around, seeing if there was one gyoza shirt.

"Hmm...nothing here…" I mumbled.

I looked at the white shirts, and thought of a black text gyoza design. I was hoping that would miraculously be here too.

"Oh, please, God. I pray that a shirt like that exists here-HOLY SHI-" I covered my mouth with the side of my left fist as I saw the design.

It read "Big Baby Gyoza". The Gyoza word was at the very bottom, cause the "Big Baby" and "Gyoza" word were separated by a big cute pouting and almost-crying Gyoza.

"Ohoho...Nene, I hope you will enjoy this." I said as I picked the shirt off of the hangar, and brought it to the counter. I also bought myself a present wrap. You know...just to make it fancy, and to do it in the traditional way.

I bought it, put the phone chain inside the paper bag, and I went to the baggage counter so that Nene's stuff will be stored temporarily…

"Alright, what would Miyabi like for his birthday? If I was Miyabi, what present would I like to receive from somebody...?"

'Hmm...oh, one idea I have is to write him a handwritten letter of how he's really done a lot for Holostars, and how he has also inspired me in my journey of wanting to be a content creator. But then again, what would I buy for him...?'

"....Oh, this is perfect." I said.

....

....

....

I took a taxi back to the school, and I walked back to the Holohouse. When I went in, I saw the 5th gen, and I also saw a couple Hololivers watching TV in the living room. I also saw a few Hololivers coming from the elevator.

"Oh? Hi, Shiro-kun!" Nene said, chatting with her genmates, including her ex-genmate, Aloe, at the dining table.

'Oh shit...the birthday-girl-to-be had to be the one to do it first.' I thought and sweated a bit.

"Hey." I said, plainly.

"Oh? What's that in your hand?" She asked.

"Oh, I just bought myself a couple pens, paper, and...stuff. You know, for songwriting." I lied.

"Ah, I see!" She said.

I nodded, and walked towards my room.

'Calm down...she didn't suspect anything…'

I closed the door, got rid of my mask and hung it, and I put the paper bag on my computer desk.

"Sigh...okay...let's organize this…"

I opened the drawer of my computer desk, and got my tape and scissors.

"Alright...let's wrap this up...and I guess I'll just kill time until it's nighttime so that I can eat dinner and finally sleep."

I did so, and wrapped up the T-shirt, along with the phone chain, and after it's wrapped up, I hid it under my bed. Just on top of my gun and knives' crates.

"Phew...now that that's done…"

I guess I'll just...write the letter for Miyabi and kill time. Practice rapping, maybe singing instead...Twitter...having to deal with toxic and wholesome folks alike...and other stuff.

~~6:00 PM~~

"It's Music To Be Murdered By again, why stop?"

"Overkill like a pipe bomb in your pine box."

"You're all hitched to my cock."

"Went from punchin' a time clock to getting my shot."

"Then treated like a cyclops."

"Like it's the only one I (eye) got-" I got cut out as I heard Kira's voice once more through the door.

"Shiro-kun...?" I heard.

"A-Ah, chotto matte!" I said as I got my headphones off of my ears, and I went to get my mask near the door, and opened it.

"Hmm?"

"We'll be going now to have dinner. We decided to shift the Karaoke to 7 PM, since...you know...you're not coming with us…" He said, looking away and scratching his head.

"Oh, really? Nice! You need something from me? Money?"

"A-Ah, no! We were just informing you! We don't need anything, you baka!" He giggled.

I chuckled.

"That's the first time you called me that."

"Well, we'll be going now!" He said as he waved bye to me while running to the others.

I looked at the exit of the Holohouse, and I saw the Holostars there waiting for Kira. I waved at them, and they waved back at me.

"Have a good time!" I shouted.

"Yeah!" They shouted back, and they finally went out, laughing and talking with each other.

I sighed, but in a good way.

"Friends...what a nice feeling…"

I thought back to when I hung out with my squad before. We used to drink beer, talk about real shit, and some funny shit. Even talking about relationships, and also, if they were in the mood, throwing me random stuff/words for me to freestyle rap about. Good times...good times...

'...Well, I got no other shit to do other than to wait for the debut and uh...practice some stuff. 'Cause tomorrow, Subaru will tour me around the school, and...shit. I also gotta give Nene this present too.' I thought.

So I did. I killed time by just doing random stuff. I finished rapping "Alfred's Theme" by Eminem, practiced Robbery by Juice WRLD in advance for the debut, and to top it off...

"...Hehehe.~ Ayame, I want to hug you...~" I said while seeing more clips of her.

'Too bad she hates me though.' I thought to myself as I was smiling on the outside, but I was angry on the inside.

I looked at her giggling and just talking as she collabed with the other Hololive members.

"Man...it would be nice to be that close to the Hololivers right now..."

But mom, you gave me trust issues, so...even if I were to be Subaru's friend officially, I don't think the result would be as expected. If I was supposed to be Subaru's friend 100%, I'm only about 40% complete. A friend indeed, but not as close as it should've been.

"...Oh, it's 6:30 now."

Specifically, 6:34.

I went out to order some food outside, ordered a take-out, then went back to the Holohouse, and back into my room, as I eat...alone...in my room...

"Itadakimasu…" I said as I grabbed my chopsticks and looked at my food.

It was beef meat, some vegetables, and some rice. Simple dinner, really.

I took a piece of the beef meat, and put it in my mouth as I chewed it, tasting the juices of the meat, along with the sauce of it, making my mouth water a lot, slightly hurting my cheeks, and also making the inside of my mouth feel the spiciness of the sauce that the meat was covered in.

'Oh man...., I love good food, especially if it's really cheap.'

That's me. A rich motherfucker that loves to be thrifty. I don't mind spending a lot, kinda like what I did to my PC, but if I can get something good for a reasonable price, I'll do that instead.

I continued eating, brushed my teeth, and sat on my bed and sighed.

"...Well, I'll be sleeping in a while." I said as I went to my clock app and alarmed for 4:20.

"Well...this was one hell of a first day of school." I said as I laid my phone near the drawer of my bed.

Just as I laid it face-down on the drawer, it ringed and vibrated.

"Oh...?"

I checked it...an unknown number.

"Hmm...? Who is this...?" I said to myself as I checked the message, and it read:

"Um...is this Shiro-kun? My name is Akasuki Akina. You know, your teacher? I'm really sorry for contacting you at night (>////<) Really really sorry, but hey! Better late than never! I just wanted to inform you that we will have 1-on-1 singing practice sessions at 1 PM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That means we shall start on March 3. If you can, try to come exactly on time. I'd appreciate it a lot! Sorry for bothering you at this time, but I hope I didn't bother too much.

Love, Akina-sensei~

P.S. Of course, if you had a stream around 1 PM, we'll shift it to a later time where you're vacant. That'll be all! And also, the training rooms are located near the dancing rooms that you practiced in this morning. You should see a building with a plate on top of the entrance saying 'Hololive Training Rooms'."

I blinked twice and grimaced a bit while blushing.

"What the hell, sensei...?"

I know she's not trying to flirt, but what the fuck, seriously? It looks like she's flirting. I don't wanna go straight to assumptions, but...yeah, lowkey, no offense, this is sorta thot-like.

"Well, guess idol practice is on the run now...seeing as I'm a part of Hololive." I said as I sighed and put my phone back to its original place and stood up as I went to the light switch of my room, which was near the door. I then just plopped down my bed as my face dug into the pillow, and I sighed for the last time.

"Well...I guess it's time to sleep." I said as I turned my body so that I could sleep on my back, and looked up at the ceiling.

'I hope the others are doing well....' I thought as I closed my eyes and started taking a few deep breaths in, before that would be the last thing I would remember as I started going into a deep sleep.

'Oyasumi.'