Chapter 47: Hana Homura’s First Karaoke Stream

_________

[Hana’s BGM]

Static, like an old grainy television slowly being tuned in. And then-

“Ohanayo! It’s me, Hana Homura, the first member of Project MirAIs!”

-A bright female voice called out and then a cheery Anime girl with orange hair waved.

“Good morning, Ohana!” She giggled and said, “I hope that you’re awake by now! It’s almost ten in the morning, you know? It’s the weekend, but it’s no good to sleep in late!”

Hana stepped back, revealing the familiar gray warehouse room with steel walls, an old bed, and a small standup wardrobe.

“Oops! Forgot to turn you guys on… One moment!” Hana reached out and tapped the air in front of her. When she did, a green wireframe chatbox popped up.

[Morning Hana!]

[Ohanayo~!]

[Phrasing, Hana!]

[You can turn me on all-]

[This message has been deleted by a moderator.][MOD: Beta – I will bonk you.]

[Best girl Miss Beta is here too!]

[You go girl!]

Hana giggled as she read the chat. “You guys should behave! Miss Beta doesn’t have mercy on those who break the rules, you know?”

[Yeah, follow the rules guys!]

[Stay wholesome for our little sister!]

[But what if I want to get bonk-]

[This message has been deleted by a moderator.]

Hana shook her head. “You guys really are lively, huh?”

[*2AM gang rise up!*]

[*European bros here to represent!*]

[*Greetings from America!*]

“E-Eh? The overseas family members are here too? No, no! Bad!” Hana shook her head and said, “Sleep! Too late for you!“

[*Who needs sleep when there’s Hana?*]

[*I’ll sleep when I’m dead!*]

[EN: Eh? The overseas family is here? Bad! Go to sleep!]

“Mou~!” Hana puffed out her cheeks and said, “You’d better not be sacrificing your health to watch me! This karaoke stream won’t be archived, but Miss Beta said that Mister John will clip and upload the songs later on his channel. There’s no need to stay up!”

[Eh? Mister Titor is doing that?]

[Don’t delete this! YAGOO is real and in the future he’ll contract-!]

[This message has been deleted by a moderator.]

[EN: Mister Titor will clip and upload songs on his channel later. Go to sleep.]

[*Whoa, really? Isn’t he scared of copyright?*]

[*Considering the budget, he’ll be fine.*]

“Anyway…” Hana stepped back and said, “I felt bad only being able to chat with everyone yesterday, so today I thought I’d sing for you! But… um… I forgot to pick songs, heehee…” Hana held her hands together at her waist and shifted in place.

[That’s fine!]

[Fireworks?]

[Ooh! How about a Lovelife song?]

[Sing whatever you want!]

[I was a fool?]

Hana read the chat and then hummed. “That’s a lot of suggestions… Ooh! I know that last one!” She nodded and said, “I think… I think I’ll try singing that.”

[*What song is she singing?*]

[EN: I think I’ll try singing ‘I was a fool’.]

[Eh? Will that work with her soft voice?]

Hana stepped back and then placed her hands on her chest. She took a deep breath and then said, “Alright. This song will be a bit hard… but I really want to sing it. Ah, but the lyrics might be a bit off though. I hope you don’t mind?”

[Go for it!]

[Ooh, custom lyrics?]

[Adlibbing, huh?]

[ O /]

Hana read the chat and smiled at the responses. “Then… I’ll start. Um, Miss Beta? Could you play it for me? Not the normal one, but the other version.”

Silence. And then a guitar and a sorrowful violin intro started to play.

Hearing that, Hana nodded and closed her eyes briefly. In a quiet voice, she said, “I sing for you.”

[Play Bakamitai -Sorrow-]

I was such a fool and oh so childish

Chasing dreams, while being hurt still every day

Lying now to you and to your face

That I’m alright and everything’s okay

“I love you so” words that I’ll never say

Feelings that I have inside, but need to let fade

Even so, even if that’s the case. Could you tell me why, I’m not okay…?

I’m such a mess, I’m a fool that just fell in love

But it’s alright, because I just can’t get enough

No matter what, as long as I can see you smile

Like the fading moon, all these thoughts of you…

I’ll bid adieu

The song cut off with a final guitar strum, making it sound incomplete. But that seemed to be on purpose.

Hana stood there with her eyes closed and a soft expression on her face. Not quite regret, not quite sorrow. But a wistful expression, like letting something go.

[T_T]

[Hana made the song even sadder!]

[My kokoro…]

[*I don’t know what she’s singing, so why does my heart hurt?*]

[EN: PAIN]

Hana let out a sigh and then smiled. “Thanks for that, everyone. Something’s been on a mind recently and singing that helped a lot.”

[Did someone hurt you?]

[A boy?]

[*Loads gun*]

“O-Oh!” Hana quickly waved her hands. “No, no! I just heard that song before and thought it was sad. But the lyrics don’t really suit me, so I changed them a little. That’s all, promise!”

[…]

[Awfully specific denial.]

[Well, if Hana says so…]

“Ahem! Next song!” Hana placed her hand on her chin and said, “Um… Well, since we sang such a sad song, how about something happy and cute? Um, Miss Beta? Can I sing ‘Love Circulation?’”

She waited and then nodded, responding to an inaudible voice.

Hana smiled. “Looks like I can! Then… I hope this goes well. This is a bit hard… but it should be fun!”

[Play Renai Circulation]

Like before, Hana took a deep breath. And then-

“One, two~!”

A light-hearted tone and bright music.

Hana smiled and moved to the beat, dancing along to the lyrics.

[Wooooo!]

[Cute!]

[*Kawai!*]

[*I have no idea what’s going on or why this was recommended, but I love it!*]

[*Waifus are real?!!*]

Hana twirled around, letting her skirt spin, and then came to a stop, striking a cute pose with her hands behind her back, looking at the camera before winking.

[Gaaaah!]

[Why can’t I throw money yet?!]

[Go little sis!]

[*It’s too late to have this much sugar in my system!*]

Hana smiled and then faced forward again as the song wound down, placing her hands on her chest.

~Fuwafuwari fuwafuwaru~

Staring at the camera with a bright smile, she finished up singing the song, lightly swaying side to side as she did.

Hana closed her eyes for a bit after the song finished. But then she opened her eyes and smiled. “That was fun! But it was really hard too!” She furrowed her brows and said, “I didn’t realize that there was almost a rap section in the middle of it… If I didn’t practice tongue twisters, that would have been a mess!”

[You did great!]

[Awesome!]

[Better than the original!]

Hana read that last comment and giggled. “I don’t know about that. I’m still just an idol in training, you know? It’s only been a week since I started practicing…”

[A week?!]

[Wait, what?!]

[Genius! No, angel!]

[EN: I’m still just training. It’s only been a week since I started.]

[*whoooooa! Only a week?!*]

Hana nodded. “Mmhm! So don’t praise me too much yet! I’ll get a big ego, and that’s no good!”

[But you’re so good!]

[If this is you after a week, what are idols even for?!]

[Amazing!]

Hana giggled. “Stop, stop! I’ll get mad, you know?” She leaned forward to look at the chat and said, “Now, what should I sing next? We’ve got a lot of time to fill, and- E-Eh?” Hana blinked and turned to the side. “You got a message from UTube? We can have Superchats now?”

[50K yen]

[100 USD – Kawai! Keep it up!]

[100 yen]

[500 yen]

[100 Euro – For the 3AM European bros]

[1k yen – Allowance for my little sister]

Hana blinked and covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “E-Everyone… No! Bad!” She crossed her arms and said, “Stop! That’s too much!”

[10K yen]

[500 USD – To fulfill your dreams]

[5K yen – Good luck!]

[10 USD – Not much, but have a happy-]

“Stop, stop!” Hana shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. “M-Miss Beta! Turn it off!”

A flood of colors filled the chat, standing out amidst the green wireframe.

Yellow, blue, red, orange, pink.

A wave of colors that completely blocked out the normal comments.

Seeing that, Hana covered her mouth, frozen. Her eyes watered and she said, “Everyone… Stop. Please, think of your own situation!”

[100 CAD – Canadian gang!]

[100 USD – Oi, what are you guys even doing here?]

[50K yen – Since overseas bro are supporting, we will too!]

“M-Miss Beta! Turn it off!” Hana’s eyes started to spin at seeing the numbers and the colors. “T-This is too much! W-What? It’s bugged?!”

The chat froze before suddenly accelerating, turning into a blurred rainbow.

“Mou~!” Hana puffed out her cheeks and then said, “Everyone! I’ll treat all of you as bad guys if you keep doing this!”

Suddenly, the chat froze again. But it seemed that it wasn’t a glitch this time.

[EN: Stop! I’ll treat all of you as bad guys!]

That was the last comment in the chatbox.

Seeing that, Hana sighed. “Honestly… I just wanted to sing for you guys today to have fun. You being here is enough to support me, so please, save your money, okay? And if you want to support me that way, then wait until I have my concert-“

[500 yen – early reservation]

[5 USD – For the ticket]

[5 CAD – I’ll buy one too!]

[500 yen]

[500 yen]

[500 yen]

.

.

.

[5K yen – I’ll take ten.]

“Mou~!” Hana puffed her cheeks out again and said, “You guys!”

[wwwwww]

[lol]

[Bullying with money. That’s a first.]