“So, are you suggesting that Chel and I do a two-person improv performance?”
When I asked this, Rion nodded vigorously.
“Yup. To be honest, the recording went much faster than expected. We still have quite a bit of ti left.”
Rion explained.
Originally, Chel and I were scheduled to record last. Since it was our first ti participating, the staff had assud we would make a lot of mistakes. They had allotted extra ti for retakes, but Chel and I completed the recording in one take without any errors.
As a result, we now had plenty of ti left.
“You both did great with your ad-libs, so I thought maybe it’d be fun to try an impromptu two-person drama.”
“This wasn’t part of the plan. You never ntioned we’d be doing a duet.”
“I know, but... you two were so good.”
Rion glanced nervously at the other staff mbers and VTubers around us.
“It’s more like... ‘It’d be nice if it works out, and if not, no big deal.’ We just have so extra ti, so why not give it a try... do you understand?”
“Will this be included in the winter voice pack?”
“No, not really. But if it turns out well, we might sell it separately later.”
“I see...”
It sounded like this voice drama wasn’t originally planned.
It was just a spontaneous idea due to Chel and I performing well and having extra ti. The circumstances and location were all convenient for it, so it seed like a random suggestion that we could try out.
“So, that ans it’s okay to turn it down.”
It didn’t seem like sothing that had been approved by higher-ups.
It was probably just the on-site staff thinking it would be interesting to have Chel and perform a voice drama together. If I refused, it might be a bit disappointing for them, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Now, what’s the benefit of accepting this?
“If we manage to record a successful voice drama, we might earn a bit more money.”
On the other hand, if the result isn’t good, it would just be a little embarrassing and a waste of ti.
Though money was a tempting reason, I wasn’t exactly desperate for it anymore.
“I want to do it.”
While I was still thinking, Chel suddenly spoke up.
“Chel, do you really want to?”
“Yes. Sora won’t like it, though.”
I wasn’t sure why she ntioned Sora, but Chel stared directly at .
Her expression was still blank as always, but her ssage was clear—she wanted to accept this.
“Alright. Let’s give it a try.”
We entered the booth.
This ti, it wasn’t just but Chel as well.
“...”
Chel stood in front of the microphone, her expression vacant.
I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was she lost in thought, or was there simply nothing on her mind?
[Why don’t the two of you just start by having any kind of conversation?]
Rion’s voice ca from outside the booth.
A conversation...
‘We do need to talk.’
After all, nothing had been decided yet—not the the or the direction.
We had to complete a short drama purely through ad-libs. Just thinking about it made the whole thing seem absurd.
Rion seed to have so expectations of , and Chel was oddly fired up about it, which made this all possible.
The other staff mbers and VTubers probably weren’t expecting much. They were likely just watching out of curiosity.
“Chel, is there anything you want to say?”
I decided to start by opening a conversation since we needed to figure out a the for the drama.
“You can decide, Laura.”
Chel didn’t seem interested in taking the lead, as she passed the responsibility to . Not surprising.
“You did well earlier. Did you learn that sowhere?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I was a voice actor.”
A voice actor.
It was both surprising and not at the sa ti.
Chel wasn’t particularly social, nor was she great at gaming, but her voice had always been her strength.
So, learning that Chel had been a voice actor didn’t seem all that unusual.
“Then why did you beco a VTuber?”
“To survive.”
...What?
“Did soone threaten you with a knife and force you to beco a VTuber?”
“No. Being a voice actor didn’t pay the bills.”
“What kind of work did you do?”
“I only had one minor role.”
Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t make any money.
“There must have been other jobs. Why VTuber?”
“I thought it was the best way to be loved.”
“Loved?”
“Yes. I need to be loved, and the things I love need to be loved too.”
Chel said this without any emotion.
Chel loved subcultures.
If the works she loved beca popular with the public, they could lead to dia adaptations.
That might give Chel, who had only ever landed small roles, new opportunities for voice acting.
And Chel Suragi as a person needed to be loved.
If more people liked Chel, if more people loved her voice, then more opportunities might open up in the future.
“So, that’s why you beca a VTuber.”
“Yes.”
Chel nodded.
To her, being a VTuber was both survival and a way of life.
“So, ‘Please love .’”
Chel’s tone shifted.
In the middle of this undefined conversation, her words felt like the opening move in a ga.
‘So that’s how you want to play.’
I understood what Chel was getting at.
Ti wasn’t unlimited. Instead of fussing over thes, it was better to start acting and see where it led.
It was a display of confidence, a clear desire to complete this ad-libbed voice drama no matter what.
She was challenging .
Could I respond to her line?
“‘That’s impossible, Lady Chel.’”
I spoke.
Chel’s eyes widened at my line.
I smiled softly in return.
A reversal of roles.
Normally, I played the role of a duchess, but now, I took on the opposite role.
For the audience, this would be an unexpected twist.
‘You underestimated .’
The “duchess” was my chosen persona, but just because I had chosen that life didn’t an it controlled .
The duchess was just one of many roles I could play.
I could set it aside whenever necessary. And returning to it wouldn’t be difficult.
Of course, the cost wouldn’t be cheap.
I wiped every trace of the “duchess” from my face, reflected faintly in the glass.
I replaced my grace with coldness, my poise with precision.
I stood there, hands and legs neatly together, in a stiff, unmoving posture.
Luckily, I’d seen plenty of maids in my ti.
So playing the role of a maid wasn’t hard for a duchess like .
“‘How could soone like possibly love you, Lady Chel?’”
“‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.’”
“‘Please, Lady Chel, forget everything that happened today.’”
If I was going to do this, I would do it thoroughly.
And perfectly.
The voice drama recording ended.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it could even be called a voice drama.
It felt more like Chel and I had been dueling with words, not swords.
“‘If I had known this, I wouldn’t have wanted to be born as the duchess of this house.’”
“‘What’s the point of the family’s glory and power if I can’t even achieve my smallest dream?’”
Chel didn’t back down either.
She deliberately threw lines that provoked , targeting my role as the duchess.
Was this acting, or was she picking a fight?
“‘Lady Chel, you are the jewel of the great duchy.’”
“‘It is my honor to serve you, and your very existence brings glory to the family.’”
“‘You will surely lead the empire into a bright future.’”
“‘I hear your marriage to the crown prince is imminent.’”
“‘I know you care deeply for both the people of the duchy and the citizens of the empire.’”
So I threw in so extra details, countering her. Could she handle that?
Sohow, the story continued to unfold, but it felt like sothing out of a dayti soap opera—aning, it was quite the lodrama.
In the end, we created sothing filled with tension and drama.
And the result?
“We’ll have to show this to the president first. Whether it can be sold... we’ll see.”
That was Rion’s conclusion.
Of course, for a company to sell a product, it has to go through various procedures, but this was just a spur-of-the-mont thing because we had extra ti.
Rion would take the recording to the company, and the president would review it.
Then there’d be an internal eting, and if they decided it was good enough to sell, they’d process the voice drama.
They’d also need to hire an illustrator for the key visuals.
The winter voice pack we recorded earlier would be sold in November, so the voice drama would likely be released soti next year, to avoid overlap in sales.
“It’s kind of deflating, hearing that the final result won’t be out until later. Don’t you think so, Chel?”
“I agree.”
“...Just so you know, if it doesn’t have comrcial value, the voice recording might be scrapped.”
Rion added.
At that mont, none of us knew that in about three months, the voice drama would be successfully released.
[Aurora X Chel Suragi] Voice Drama: A Secret eting Between the Lady and the Maid
Neither Chel nor I could have predicted that our voice drama would sell well, and even spark a bit of buzz in so communities.
“What... what is this?”
And we certainly didn’t know that when the voice drama was released, it would leave Sora speechless.
That was sothing yet to co.
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