Chapter 10: About the fact that my childhood friend is a singer

[Hurry and upload already.] 

When half of the summer break has passed already, a LIME message from my childhood friend Umine Konoha came. 

By the way, she already sent over 99 messages. 

I was surprised. 

When I woke up in the morning my phone was blowing up with 99+ message notifications. 

I don't really chat that much, so I thought it was broken at first. 

And the message was all the same as what was mentioned before. 

There were 99+ of the same message. 

Rather than the app, it was Konoha that was broken. 

I immediately called her. 

It was because writing a message would be more bothersome. 

"Um… At the very least I'm slowly working on it."

"Slow." 

"No, isn't it impossible?" 

The song [Blue Elfin] that I posted under the name [Hartman] has thankfully reached 1.5 million views. 

I also have 1000 subscribers now. 

But it was only that.

I thought I'd get more subscribers, but it wouldn't increase at all. 

"I have other things going on as well." 

Like the novelisation of [Mission]. 

To be honest, there's so many parts I want to correct that I feel like crying. 

On top of that I also have to discuss the character designs with Lumi-chan, I don't really have the leisure to work on a vocaloid song right now. 

But, Konoha who doesn't know that keeps pushing me to do so. 

[You probably just have some unfinished homework right? That kind of thing can be done later.] 

"That's not something an honor student should be saying." 

It seems like Konoha is one of the top students at her school. 

She was bragging about it with a smug face. 

[If you want to increase your subscribers, you have no choice but to upload a lot. Also the people subscribed to you are looking forward to your next song.] 

"I didn't make a vocaloid song in order to increase my subscribers." 

It's just one of my hobbies. 

It's not like I don't care about my number of subscribers, but I never thought about increasing it. 

"Muu, if it increases then I'll be happy." 

"I'm also quite busy after all. And I haven't decided on how my next work is gonna be." 

In the first place my work [Blue Elfin] is my first one. 

I can't just dish out songs so easily like that. 

"It took me 2 years to finish [Blue Elfin], you know? although I had to stop for a while due to my highschool entrance exams." 

[... If it's like that, then it can't be helped.] 

"It helps that you understand." 

It's a relief that I have an understanding childhood friend. 

[Oh, by the way, does Haruto know Amatsu Atsume-sensei?] 

"Of course I do." 

She's [Mission]'s illustrator. 

She probably doesn't know, but why is she asking? 

[It's been decided that we're gonna have a collab.]

"Ha?"

What are you saying, Konoha? 

You really like jokes, don't you. 

[Does Haruto know about "Konoha"?] 

"[Konoha] ? My childhood friend Konoha?" 

[Look it up on Youtubo.] 

I looked it up like she told me to, as she said there's a channel called [Konoha] in english letters. 

"Is it this channel with 200k subscribers?" 

[That's me.] 

"Yes??" 

[I'm a singer.] 

"that's a joke, right?" 

"it's true" 

From what she explained, she got really into singer's last year, and she also wanted to be one as well, so she uploaded a song and got really popular. 

[Am I amazing?] 

"Why are you saying it like a slit-mouth woman? It's really amazing! But, I listened to the song just now and isn't the voice kind of different?" 

[It's been processed a little bit, I think they call it a mix?] 

Wow, so there's something like that.

[I'm going back on topic, I'll be collabing with Amatsu Atsume-sensei.] 

"That's amazing, but why?" 

[When I thought about doing a cover of Haruto's "Blue Elfin" they contacted me.] 

In detail, Konoha was publicly recruiting an illustrator to do the thumbnail, and this time she did so on twitter saying she's gonna cover [Blue Elfin] and Amatsu Atsume-sensei sent her a message. 

[This time Amatsu Atsume-sensei is gonna do the illustration.] 

That's amazing. 

I know from her illustration of [Mission], but her drawings are really moving. 

"Isn't that great, Konoha?" 

[Yeah, that's fine, but there's one problem.]

Problem?

[We have a plan to meet up to get familiar with each other.] 

"Isn't that good? She might draw some illustrations for you again next time." 

[Haruto knows my personality right?] 

"..." 

That's right. 

I forgot how shy Konoha was.

Although she can speak normally to me because we're childhood friends, I've never seen her talk to anybody else. 

Wait a minute… isn't Lumi-chan also very shy? 

What's gonna happen if the two of them meet? 

"Won't it be hell?" 

Since I know the personalities of the two, I can easily imagine the scene.

[Now do you know how I feel?] 

… Am I gonna be asked to be the middle man? 

[I've never met Amatsu Atsume-sensei before, so I don't even know their gender, if they're gonna be a man it would be scary.] 

If I told her that she's actually younger than Konoha, I wonder if she would actually believe me. 

This is where I should do my best. 

"I got it, so when do you plan to meet up?" 

[... Today at 1pm.]

"It's almost 12 right now though!?" 

Um, Konoha-san? 

Can you stop telling me these things so suddenly? 

"By the way, where are you meeting up?" 

[It's at a Karaoke place 2 stations away from you.] 

"Are you doing a mixer or something!?" 

For now, I hurriedly prepared and headed towards the meeting place. 

But thinking of the walk to the station and the time the train comes, I don't feel like I'll make it in time. 

Since it can't be helped, I messaged Konoha [I'll be a little late.] and hurried to the station.