Kai stepped off the treadmill, breathing heavily, and wiped sweat off his brow with a towel. He had been looking for a place to work out during the winter, and since he wasn't walking Bella anymore, he felt the need to find someone else to exercise with.
"Here," Lance offered him a bottle, and Kai drank, gulping the cold water thirstily, then let out a refreshed and satisfied sigh.
"So… the guy you are working for now, what does he do again?" Lance asked as they both headed to the gym's locker room.
"He is a manager for this girl…" Kai stopped, considering whether he wanted to get into the subject or not. "Do you know what a VTuber is?"
The life-coach shrugged, as they entered the room.
"It's like an online streamer, only instead of showing themselves, they use motion capture with an avatar—usually portraying an anime character of some kind—so when they talk and move around, you don't see them; you see the character moving instead."
"Huh," Lance thought it over for a moment as he took off his sweaty shirt and stuffed it in his locker. "What's the point?"
"What do you mean?" Kai stuffed his shirt away, too.
"Why do it? Why hide your face like that?"
"I don't know, all sorts of reasons." He furrowed his brows, feeling personally attacked by the question. "It allows them to remain anonymous. Besides, playing with motion capture can be fun, and… well, female streamers tend to get criticized a lot for how they look, so using an avatar allows them to avoid all of that."
"Hm…" Lance considered it all as they took off the rest of their clothes and went into the showers.
When they came out, he asked: "How do the avatars work?"
"What do you mean?"
"Somebody has to make them, right?"
"Yeah, there are artists who make the VTuber models and other artists who rig the models to the motion capture program, though some people are skilled enough to do both."
"Does it pay well?" Lance asked as they put on clean clothes from their bags.
"Yeah, really well, actually."
"Have you ever considered doing it?"
Kai slid on his shirt, his lips parting at the question. It was so obvious, staring him right in the face; how did he not think of that?
"No… But I am now."
"And?" The life-coach smiled.
"It's not a bad idea," the Oathless smiled back.
"I need to be off," Lance held his hand out for a low-five, and Kai hit it. "I'll see you Friday?"
"Sure, cya then."
***
"And remember that wherever you go, I will always be there to Purrr-tect and serve you, dear customers," Nekoko saluted and winked, the cat-girl avatar projected on the big screen in front of her mimicking the movements thanks to her full-body motion-capture suit. "Now go, and enjoy the rest of the convention," she opened her arms wide. "It is important to me that you all have a good time, so you have to Purrr-omise!" She bent her knees while she purred, then leaped high as she finished the word. She stumbled on the way down, falling on her face.
"Nekoko!" A tall woman with dark hair, tanned skin, and a tight, athletic build stepped past the screen to help.
"I'm fine," Nekoko lifted a thumbs-up, then slowly rose to her knees. "I'm sorry, Rin."
The dance instructor sighed and gave the girl a hand. "We can cut the jump at the end, it's not that important."
"No, I can do it. I want to do it."
They held each other's gaze, and seeing her resolve, the dance instructor gave in. "Fine… how about we take a break, then try again?"
Nekoko nodded and shuffled her way out of the studio, along with a couple of other staff members.
"Stubborn girl," Rin muttered, shaking her head.
Tell me about it, Kai thought as he came to stand beside her. "So, ah…" He glanced about the room, noting the equipment, the cameras, screens, and microphones. "Mind if I ask how it all works?"
The woman shrugged. "The cameras, the computer, and the motion-capture suit all help us create a 3D image of her movements. We record it, then use it to project a hologram of her VTuber model on stage during the performance."
"Right, I think I have seen that done before…" he considered. "But isn't this supposed to be a live show?"
"Some of it will be. Nekoko will be here during the start of the show, and her movements will be broadcast live, but the songs are pre-recorded, and either way… it doesn't hurt to record the rehearsals… just in case."
"Sure, I guess."
"Did you need something, Kai?"
"Ah… yeah, Tom wanted to know how long you think it will be today."
She scoffed. "Yeah, I would like to know that too…" She thought for a long moment. "When Nekoko is back from her break, we will give it a few more tries, then I'll send her home… if she doesn't protest too much."
"Okay, thanks." He nodded and left the room, heading back to Tom.
***
On his way back, Kai spotted Nekoko hiding backstage, behind a curtain.
"Hey," he smirked. "What are you—"
"Shh!" she shushed him, and as he went quiet, he heard a couple of unintelligible voices.
Is she eavesdropping? He snuck behind the curtain, close beside her.
"Did you see her fall on her face?" he heard a man say, his voice deep.
"Saw it?" chuckled another, his speech slightly nasal. "I felt it; it was like a four on the Richter scale."
They both laughed, and Nekoko flinched. Kai grimaced and leaned over, peeking through the curtains to see the two men. They both wore staff uniforms consisting of a light blue shirt and black pants.
"Why did they even pick her for that role?" asked the deep-voiced one, who was taller of the two. "I mean, I know she is popular, but she's not that popular."
"Yeah," chortled the shorter one with the nasally voice. "They definitely could have found someone more athletic… Did you hear they changed the choreography because of her, like, five times? Fatso just couldn't do the moves."
They both let out another burst of laughter, and Nekoko stiffened, holding her face as straight and stony as she could.
Kai balled his hands into fists and opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say or what to do. He wanted to be angry at the two men for insulting her, but what right did he have? I made fun of her weight behind her back, too.
"Honestly," said the tall one, "I don't know why she has viewers in the first place. All she does is play video games and talk to her audience in that infantilizing voice."
The short one giggled. "Yeah, I bet most of them are creepy forty-year-olds, too. VTubing really is just daycare for adults."
They laughed, and she pursed her quivering lips. Kai's gut twisted into knots.
"Seriously…" said the tall one. "And she doesn't even sing that well."
The Oathless couldn't take it anymore. He strode past her, reaching to draw back the curtain. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, yell at them, insult them, maybe even start a fight if he had to—whatever it took to shut them up.
"Don't," her arms coiled around his, her plea stopping him in his tracks. He glanced back at her, his face set in a scowl. "Please," she said meekly and shook her head.
"What time is it?" asked the short one as he checked his phone. "Come on, let's head back. I don't want to miss her falling flat on her face again."
They both chuckled as they made their way back to the studio, passing by the entrance backstage without noticing the two.
Nekoko let go of Kai's arm and took off her glasses, sniffling and rubbing her misty eyes.
"They shouldn't talk about you that way," he said. "I'll tell Tom, make sure the two of them get fired, or at least reprimanded."
"For what? For telling the truth?" She frowned. "I know—" she sniffled. "I know I'm not right for this job."
His mouth opened, but once again, he didn't know what to say.
"They shouldn't have picked me for this event. I was—" she wiped her eyes. "I was nothing but a burden to them ever since I got here."
"Nekoko…"
"When I heard I was chosen for the show, I tried to get in shape, went running, went to the gym, but it never stuck, and I always quit after a week or two… It was just too hard." She sighed. "The Expo would have been better off with someone else."
He lowered his head. This was partly his fault. Vira brought her to the city for his sake, and if it weren't for that, they probably would have gone with someone else. "Look, for what it's worth, I am glad you're here."
She looked up at him.
"I know it's gonna sound weird, but… you probably saved my life," he let out a soft laugh. "And more than once."
"I did?"
He nodded. "After my mom died, I was… depressed. Watching your streams gave me something to hold on to."
"I'm sorry about your mom, Kai, and I'm glad my streams helped you, but… I didn't do anything special… I was just goofing around, playing video games."
"I don't think you needed to do anything special… just you being you was… enough."
She lowered her head and dried her eyes with her sleeve.
Kai let out a deep sigh. "I know it's probably too late for the Expo, and I don't know how long you plan to stay in the city after, but… I find that working out is easier if you do it with a partner. So, if you still want to get in shape…" He gave her a winning smile. "I'd be happy to teach you everything I know about fitness."
"Really?" Her face lit up. She remembered what he looked like when she first met him three months ago, and the change in his appearance was so striking. If she could follow in his footsteps… "When can we start?"
"Ah…" he stammered, taken aback by her enthusiasm. "I'm going with a friend on Friday, but…" The thought of introducing Nekoko to Lance suddenly made him jealous for reasons he didn't want to think about. "We might wanna start things off with just the two of us."
"Aww… you shouldn't cancel with your friend for my sake."
"Nah, don't worry about it," he laughed it off, sweat beading down his brow. "I can catch up with him later."
"Then, it's a deal," she said, then her phone suddenly rang. "I have to get back," she said after glancing at it. "Thank you, Kai, I will see you around," she added, and made her way off.