Chapter Text
Ena Shinonome’s rising career, built from aesthetic, effort, and emotional honesty, was quick to be overtaken by flashy overlays and loud screaming. Ena’s pocket-sized vlog channel started off with small rants as she put makeup on, or Storytimes with some art being crafted carefully in the background. As time progressed, she started expanding her brand to vlogs, hundreds of ‘Day-In-The-Life’ style videos, documenting the experiences with her friends, capturing art progression, and establishing an annual viral clip of something unexpected happening in her videos. Years of work and communication led her to achieve her big goal of 1 million subscribers.
But Akiyama Mizuki appeared overnight.
Her funny moments, her vulnerable conversations, her brand, all appeared in the span of a few weeks. Ena’s burnout only seemed like white noise once Mizuki’s name had started trending the third time that week. Nothing controversial, just pure love radiating from her fresh fanbase.
Ena could only watch as Mizuki’s subscriber count rose more by the day, scraping the one million mark within the first month of videos and streams uploaded under her title. She could only admire as her own friends began joining in on the fun and doing collaborative content with the brand-new hotshot while spiderwebs formed in her DMs.
The laptop sitting on her bed shuts after Ena schedules her next upload, she sighs a deep breath as she lazily grabs her phone from her pant pocket, her finger hovering over the channel analytics, but instead pressing the icon of her communication app, Discord.
She swirls a strand of hair around her finger as she waits for the app to load, the finished product showing a DM from her friend, Kanade.
‘What was that issue your PC was having? I could maybe do a small stream dedicated to those who may be having the same issue and need it fixed.’
Her eyes widened carefully as she began quickly typing out a response.
‘Ah no! I think it was just a small bug! It seems to be all gone now, but thanks anyway :)’
Kanade specialized in computers and internet stuff, even running her own small channel dedicated to the matter. A little outlet with roughly 500k subscribers with the name ‘Yoisounds’, run by Kanade Yoisaki, who often did livestreams with the goal of making music and helping others with technical issues.
Ena didn’t know how the other didn’t care about the channel’s growth, Kanade had never complained about the numbers, she only focused on getting better at her craft and responses. Although she was basically unknown in a sense, people loved her. She uploaded frequently, she was helpful, she made decent music, and she wasn’t full of it. It was almost scary to Ena how easy it seemed to her.
‘That’s good. I might stream tonight anyways, I think a few people wanted me to finish off the song I started the other day, you can come on stream if you’d like.’
A small response from a small girl. Ena tapped off the app and scrolled to her calendar, often used for her daily scheduling. A small reassurance that she wouldn’t be busy that night or the next day, considering how late Kanade typically streams.
There was nothing of importance that she needed to productively finish off her day, small notes such as ‘finish art piece’ or ‘read new book’ were the only reminders left on her to-do list.
She scrolled back to the previous app, typing out a few responses, but only sending one, at first.
‘I’ll think about it!’
Her fingers kept typing, she had more to say, but there was no way to phrase her complaint in a calm matter without sounding overly jealous.
‘Oh! One other thing, have you heard about that Mizuki person? I think her username is PinkNoise’
Her fingers paused for a second, pressing buttons on the screen that typed out: ‘how long do you think she’s gonna last for?’ The comment seemed backhanded, so she held her finger over the delete button and instead typed another sentence.
‘she’s blown up a lot recently huh? She’s trended a few times just in the last week’
She bit her lip, resisting her urge to type a backhanded comment, specifically about Mizuki having an audience of desperate creeps who needed new bait. She let her fingers rest as Kanade began typing out a response.
‘she’s okay, I guess. I feel like having such a big audience in such a small timeframe would be a bit overwhelming, especially for a new content creator.’
Kanade being the most caring of the two isn’t necessarily surprising, Ena stared at her phone, letting herself hover over the letter keys before realizing Kanade was still typing.
‘I’m more interested in this girl she collabs with. She doesn’t have her name online, but she goes by SeenOffline, she makes music, I wanna ask her for tips but she uploads inconsistently. I don’t know how I’d get a hold of her.’
Ena lets out a hum of amusement at the idea of Kanade admiring another creator. She types out a reply, something small about checking out the girl she mentioned before swiping off the app once again and going to her YouTube search bar.
The results were nearly empty at first, definitely backed Kanade’s opinion of ‘inconsistent’. The last upload being a song she posted 2 months before, with other uploads typically being posted within the last year.
She clicked onto a song, setting the phone near her ear and letting it play out as she checked out other content posted from the username. It was easy to see why Kanade enjoyed the music. It was catchy and emotional, an amazing song to cry to, it had perfect consistency, passionate and intense vocals, and poignant lyrics.
The only thing that caught her eye was in the credits of the video. Most production being credited to SeenOffline, but the MV’s visual aspects were credited to PinkNoise, AKA Mizuki.
Ena rolled her eyes at the thought and clicked onto another song. Same emotional vibe, similar feelings that were evoked while listening to the tune. Once again, she scrolled to the credits, showing analogous results to the one before.
Scrolling through the music, clicking on engaging thumbnails and comparing credits, she refreshes the page on accident and notices a new upload from SeenOffline.
‘Villain – (COVER BY SEENOFFLINE) – [ft. PinkNoise]’
She looks at the post before scrolling back to Discord to give commentary to Kanade.
‘Wow, her music is great, I noticed she often collabs with PinkNoise.’
She let herself continue typing.
‘Actually, she just uploaded with her, I think it’s a cover, I’ll listen to it and update you’
She pressed the video and listened to the melody, different from others she’s listened to, slightly more upbeat, same fervent-type lyrics. Out of habit, she clicks the credits and reads through them, though there weren’t many differences. PinkNoise featured in the vocals and the MV, a slight contrast to her usual role on the channel.
The lyrics seemed unusual to the customary type of stuff posted. Most songs were depressing, relatable. These ones were still centered around identity, but in a different tone.
‘I’m not a mutant; it’s just me’
‘I wear different clothes and pretend to be a boy in front of you’
‘My hated life’
‘Don’t be scared; there’s a wide variety of genders’
‘No one knows, I don’t want anyone to know’
‘To someone I don't even know, I'm already a villain’
Ena felt herself bite her tongue at the last line; it was certainly relatable in an aspect. She didn’t know anything about Mizuki, and she had only ever heard or seen small clips of PinkNoise. Who’s to say she’s annoying just because her content is more engaging.
Ena keeps biting until her tongue starts feeling numb, who’s to say PinkNoise is full of it because she wasn’t trapped in the creator race for three years. Who’s to say PinkNoise is a hotshot when her fame was handed to her on a golden platter.
She smothers the thoughts racing in her head as she sits up from her bed, walking steadily to her desk as she approaches an unfinished piece of art. Pushing it to the side, she sits at the desk and opens her sketchbook.
She thinks back to the MVs made by PinkNoise while staring at the blank piece of paper.
It’s not common for her to focus on artwork plastered on a piece of paper, she’s more digital, but something about her urge to draw today was pulling her towards the paper on the desk.
“Whose to say she’s arrogant when she has talent” Ena mumbles under her breath as she picks up the pencil in her hands, tapping it on the table repeatedly as she awaits a game-changing idea of a drawing.
She starts small, mapping out the face and shoulders of a girl resting her head on a table as her face melts onto it, slowly dripping onto the floor. It was messy, a bit uneasy to stare at for a long period of time. She thought back to the lyrics of the cover, all the secrets of identity. She grabs a few pencils but pauses at the idea of colouring. Her lines were a bit too messy to steadily colour, her colours seemed too polite to convey the emotions she felt while drawing.
She instead grabbed her phone out, snapping a photo and clicking on the Instagram icon sitting on her phone. Like other posts on her account, she selected the drawing and wrote a caption to explain it.
‘Not a lot of thought behind this one, couldn’t even decide how to colour it, hope it’s bearable to look at though.’
She posted the photo and put her phone down for a second. Wandering back towards her bed as if it were a foreign area. Letting her head smack against the pillow, she laid in a starfish position, watching her ceiling as if it were the highest rated new TV show.
She let out a sigh and started thinking about her schedule for the next week in distraction. Tomorrow was free, maybe a day she can dedicate to coming up with ideas or maybe just impromptu recording.
Day after was a collab with Airi Momoi, one of her best friends since middle school, who has been earning fame through the title of an idol apart of the group ‘MORE MORE JUMP!’
Airi had been busier lately, practicing idol activities, doing idol livestreams with her gemmates, and doing idol performances in front of growing crowds. She seemed to have easy success as well, but she could appreciate the hard work she put into her dreams.
A buzz echoed from her desk, a familiar notification sound from Discord. Ena sits up again, covering her face with her hands for a few seconds before shifting them throughout her hair. In an acquainted action, she feels herself standing up again, strolling back to her desk and snatching the phone from the workspace.
The screen lit up from another message from Kanade, who was giving her opinion on SeenOffline’s newest upload. In an instance, Ena muted her notifications and slammed the phone back onto her bed. From the few words she saw appear on her screen, Kanade was giving all praise to the cover. Ena didn’t know why, but it felt like a stab to hear her say that. As if Mizuki working with SeenOffline was hurting her personally because she got to work with someone that Kanade admired.
Her eyes darted between the ceiling and the clock on her desk, the time reading ’23:00PM’, meaning that Yoisounds would go live in approximately two hours. She laid back down and thought about herself for a few minutes.
Truth being told, her fanbase loved her. They loved her energy, her creative editing, the comedy elements shown in her videos, there weren’t many flaws to an Enashino vlog. Her eyes shut gently while thinking about her fanbase, some people had been there for years, by her side supporting each and every video she posted to the internet.
She felt a smile tug at her face, if there’s something PinkNoise didn’t have, it’s fans who have been there for years on end, waiting for the moment to boast about being an OG.
She let her mind run free again. Why was she so obsessed with PinkNoise? with Mizuki? She reminded herself of the clips, so unwatchable and annoying. The editing, so unfunny and brain-rotting. The humour was classless, nothing of importance radiated around her channel, yet she was everything to everyone.
--
Her eyes opened groggily, her room wasn’t any brighter, it certainly wasn’t morning yet. The time on her clock read a new time ‘1:34AM’
She turned her phone on to reveal a new message from Kanade, asking if she would join her on stream, to which she quickly typed out a new response.
‘Sorry for not replying! I accidentally fell asleep. I’ll join you in a second!’
Within a few seconds, Kanade replied to the message with a thumbs up. Ena scrambled around their shared discord server and joined VC 2, dedicated to Yoisounds’s livestreams.
“Sorry I’m late! I fell asleep!” Ena started, reopening her laptop and searching for the stream on the separate device.
“No problem…I’m surprised you’re not used to the late streams though, considering how often you appear on them.” Kanade stated in reply, her voice flat and a little breathy.
“Yeah…I don’t understand why you stream at 1:00am though. It’s a bit inconvenient, don’t ya think?” Ena uttered while rubbing her eye, still allowing herself to wake up from the nap.
Kanade hums in reply, replaying the beat to the in-progress song she was composing.
“Oh, you wouldn’t be able to hear it…Let me share the screen, I tried to base it a little on SeenOffline, but I’m not sure if it’s good.” Kanade announced as Ena got a notification for Kanade broadcasting her screen to the discord.
Ena felt a pinch in her heart, she didn’t want to imagine Kanade changing her style of song-making due to anyone who actively associates with Mizuki.
“No worries! I was watching through the stream!” Ena started while her eyes darted to the chat, which was seemingly more lively tonight. a particular comment catching her eye, causing her to raise her eyebrows.
‘Who else is here from PinkNoise?’
Ena’s eyes widened as other people in chat began agreeing with the comment, enforcing that they too, were sent from PinkNoise. She peered at the viewer count, revealing it was over 7K, which was unusual to Kanade’s usual 2K-3K. The alarm rang in Ena’s head as she verbalized her realization.
“Woah, your viewer count is significantly higher then usual!” Ena said softly, grabbing a handful of her shirt. She heard Kanade make a noise of confusion as she started checking her stream details.
“Oh…I didn’t realize, I had my viewer-count hidden.” Kanade sputtered quietly. Pausing her song-making to search for answers in her comment section. “I guess Mizuki mentioned me on stream. Or in a video?” Kanade says in her usual softness, her tone more friendly sounding. She doesn’t smile exactly, but her voice is more silvery, that type of voice she uses when she’s distinctly happy about something.
Ena could only watch the chat, observing as the words blurred. She wasn’t upset at Kanade’s sudden growth, but she was indignant at her own worries. Ena says a small congratulations as the subscriber count rises. Kanade doesn’t even realize that Ena feels second-best.
Some fans notice the change in tone and start spamming stuff, things that make Ena feel even more insignificant.
‘Mizuki x Kanade collab when???’
‘Omg I need to see the two together!! That would be so fun!’
Suddenly another comment catches Ena’s eye, something that makes her heart sink at the realization.
‘Ena’s jealous lol’
Ena was quick to respond with a nervous giggle and a gentle voice.
“Chat I’m not jealous”
Ena quieted down as Kanade interacted with the comments, inviting ideas and making slow progression on the song. Ena could see it already, another friend who stopped talking to her because they’re getting a boost and need to nurture the attention for their channel.
She thought back to a few years back when the two of them only had a few hundred, maybe thousand subscribers each. Ena appearing in all of Kanade’s streams, the 2 talking for hours while the viewer-count slowly went up. Kanade’s arrival to Ena’s channel where they did small activities like studying for tests and exams or going to the zoo. The duo was always there to help the other grow, way before this PinkNoise person came into perspective.
The duration of the stream was almost predictable. Ena sat quietly making small conversations with the chat and Kanade while experiencing her friend’s creator burst.
Once the stream ended, the call was quiet. Kanade did her usual thank-you to Ena for joining her at such a late hour, Ena’s replies were small and thin. Kanade dared to ask if she was okay, but decided to let it go, it was nearing 4AM, they were both tired.
The ending of the call was just as abrupt as the beginning, which wasn’t abnormal, but it felt different today. Ena scrolled onto Twitter, seeing a new tweet from Yoisounds, in response to the shoutout from PinkNoise.
‘Thank you for the shoutout, I really appreciate it :)’
It felt like the end of the world reading that. She knows it’s just politeness, she knows it shouldn’t affect their friendship, but deep down she’s thinking about the beginning of her career, before she had anyone else to collab with, before she had consistent fans, before she had any of this.
There were people at the other end of the screen, in the room, in her messages, but Ena still felt like background noise.