V2C5...

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“Nanako, it looks like you got permission to sing. Congratulations.”\nAfter confirming her progress from Sugimoto, Nanako will be taught a new method of practice.

“I don’t feel like I can sing with actual lyrics anymore…..My body is now fine tuned to only sing in [Aa---]…..”\nBeing trained to the bone, The Nanako who cheerfully said [Karaoke!] had disappeared to somewhere else.

“Don’t worry, thing’s will get better because of my Secret Training Plan”

“Secret plan…….?”\nA small light twinkled in Nanako’s eyes. It held just a little bit of expectation for something special.

But with a single stroke, I made it lose its glimmer.

“Let’s put up a video of you singing!”\n“……………………………”\nNanako’s face froze. She then gently turned around to try and make a run for it.\nI grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and made her immediately sit down. 

“Why are you running away!? Didn’t you promise to properly hear me out!?”\n“B-but you see! I didn’t think that you……I didn’t think that you would say something so outrageoooous!!”\nNanako flailed her feet to see if she could escape.

“No way, No way no way! If it’s shown to the whole world I’ll die~! It would be humiliating! Do you want to kill me, Kyouya!?”\n“Yep, I’m going to kill Nanako.”

“Eee-Eeeeek! Officer! This man has finally revealed his true colors! Save me! I’m going to get killed and eaten! I don’t taste any good! So forgive meeeeee!”\n“I’m going to kill the old Nanako”\nI made Nanako sit again and looked at her straight in the eyes.\n“I’m going to kill her. The cowardly, insincere, Nanako who has hidden away a long-awaited treasure all this time. And from her corpse I’ll pull out a brand-new earnest Nanako”

I patted her on the shoulders then gave her a reassuring smile.\n “And to do that, we need to take a different path.”\nNanako was still on the fence. But I could tell from her reactions that it was definitely effective.

“Will uploading a video…..really make me better?”\n“Yeah, you have my word.”\n“S-say…if someone makes a terrible comment….will you comfort me then?”

“Yeah, I’ll praise you equal to 50,000 times as much as that comment”\nNanako chuckles at that, then nods.

“Ok, I’ll give it a shot….”\n\n 

Nanako then started uploading videos of her singing. Of course, this was before the “Sang It!” *

section came out yet. And of course negative comments came with the package. However, there were also a lot of positive comments, far outweighing them.

(TN- Utattemita is the category in Nico nico douga where cover singers or “Utaite” upload their songs)

Without stopping we keep making 2…3…and even more videos.

“Nanako, can you reinforce this part by pouring a little more emotion?”

I handpicked constructive comments from the feedback and we reflected on it.\n“I can. I’ll give it a try.”

“And also here, a lot of people are hung up on the vibrato.”\n“Then let’s give it a quick run-over. Let’s try changing the dynamics”

“Can you keep at it?”\n“Yeah!”

And with the comments as a mirror for the uploads. A new reaction is formed.

“Wow, following this comment by putting a breather here, I can sing the chorus much easier…….”

In time, the technical references in the comments have also increased. Being seen by more people, comes with such benefits.\n“Then why don’t we incorporate it immediately and upload it? I think that person would be pleased with it too;”

“Let’s do it! I want them for them to hear it the most!”\nIt’s the relationship between those who upload and those who watch it. It’s a system that mutually promotes growth.\nIt was a time when the term “UGC” was not yet effectively common.

In that sense, Nanako is ahead of the times, using it as a way to break out of her shell. That was the secret strategy that I brought with me from 10 year future self.

(TN- User generated content)

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And this was what happened today.

I was in front of her with my laptop unfolded, showing her the site “Youtube”.

“I think that now is the time for you to see this”

 Not knowing how Nanako would react to it, I didn’t give her the URL to the site and, until now, I just copied and pasted the comments to show her. 

“The new video, has gotten over 10,000 views. What’s more, I only uploaded it yesterday.”\nThe amount of negative comments were too low to even be counted.\n[“That was wonderful”] [“I was completely drawn in.”] [“When’s the next one coming up?”]

Undoubtedly, those were people that became her fans

 "It’s stranger to me that the Nanako who has sang for tens of thousands of people would, now of all times, be scared of singing in front of a hundred. "

Reading the comments, Nanako’s expression became calmer. She read the comments, both positive and negative with keen interest.

“It really is strange. My singing has garnered reactions from all over.”

“Let’s go. I’m sure that everyone there would become your fans”

I called out to her, holding out my hands.

“…..Let’s”

Nanako’s hands were no longer trembling as she gripped back.

Without anyone prompting for it, voices asking for an encore naturally sprung up.

“Now for the last one……it’s a somewhat less popular song, but it’s a pretty good one. So please 

listen to it!”

I was plenty surprised by the piece she chose.

 Between the name and the educational background, it’s not like it didn’t cross my mind.  But even so, a mental blockade had formed in me over the unlikely possibility of there being yet another coincidental meeting in the same vein as Shinoaki in my immediate vicinity.  

But it happened again just as I thought…..a miracle.\n\n 

Clouds of dust rose to the sky, glistening in the light, star bright.\nWithin it, Nanako jumped up and down singing happily akin to idols.\nWith my flood of thoughts encased within, I murmured it towards the stage-\n\n“Nice to meet you, [email protected]”\n\nIt was the moment of birth, for the singer I never stopped admiring 10 years later.

<><><><><><>\n(TN- I siesta for a bit, I'm in a coffee-based delirium next chapter is in a few~)