Chapter 11: Amazing!

Orange Quiet Forest was here again.

Though her heart was filled with refusal, her body was honestly lured by her aunt to the final audition site.

The scale this time was completely different from the crowded, chaotic market-like atmosphere of the initial selection.

The entire corridor was so quiet you could only hear the hum of the central air conditioning, making it all feel very mysterious.

She didn’t know exactly how many people there were.

This time it wasn’t a group-based selection either; it seemed to be one-on-one.

It was all very mysterious.

She’d heard even the participation times were staggered.

A staff member led her to a rest room and asked her to temporarily lock her phone in a storage locker.

‘Oh no! It really is for harvesting kidneys, isn’t it?’

Confiscating communication tools, a single-person room… isn’t this the standard procedure before a victim meets their doom?

But this is the city center.

It wouldn’t be easy to transport goods.

Orange Quiet Forest cautiously surveyed the interior of the rest room.

A spacious leather sofa, a massive 4K TV, shelves filled with gaming consoles from every generation, from the latest next-gen systems to retro Famicons.

The snack rack next to it was piled high with imported snacks.

‘They’re probably recording now, I need to be careful.’

But after the staff member closed the door, they only said one thing.

“Please wait here for the message. We will notify you when it’s your turn for the final audition.”

‘Are they recording?’

But she just planned to play games.

What could they possibly capture?

Orange Quiet Forest avoided playing anything too intense, in case they caught some unflattering footage.

Playing online games was also out, in case her account got exposed.

She just played a certain single-player, casual alchemy RPG.

Putting together the puzzles during alchemy was quite interesting—flipping them vertically, mirroring them horizontally, and so on.

It was okay.

Playing online games every day, taking a break to play a single-player game and revisit her roots, eating when hungry, then continuing to play… wasn’t this pretty much the same as being at home?

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was finally her turn.

“Please come with me.”

Orange Quiet Forest entered a large room filled with many strange-looking devices.

‘This… what is all this?’

A bunch of high-tech gadgets she had never seen before.

‘So it’s not for kidney harvesting… did aliens arrive?’

Several gentle young women approached her.

“Please come with us to the changing room to get suited up.”

“Get suited up?”

Not change clothes?

The staff patiently explained.

“Next, the audience will vote for the final selection. The winner is decided by the number of votes. Each final audition participant gets one hour of live stream time to see who can attract more audience votes.”

‘Oh~’

Now she understood.

The staggered participation times and the waiting… probably meant others were currently streaming.

But…

Orange Quiet Forest was fairly confident in her appearance.

It wasn’t that she was vain, but she had been complimented since she was a child.

Denying it would just seem disingenuous.

“However, considering everyone’s current special circumstances, directly exposing your real appearance might bring unnecessary trouble. So—”

The staff member pointed to the large screen beside them.

“We are using the ‘person inside’ format this time. All participants will use the same virtual avatar for their streams. What’s being judged is not appearance, but the interestingness of your ‘soul’.”

“Okay.”

Hearing she didn’t need to show her face, Orange Quiet Forest breathed a sigh of relief.

She hadn’t decided if she wanted to be an idol yet, and it would be awkward if she ended up on a team with her nominal foster daughter.

Guided by the staff, Orange Quiet Forest put on the streaming equipment.

A black, skin-tight motion capture suit covered in sensors.

That tight feeling was like a layer of rubber skin clinging to her body, slightly embarrassing.

“This is the most advanced optical motion capture equipment currently available. You can try moving a bit to see the character’s reaction on the screen.”

Orange Quiet Forest looked at the character on the screen.

It was a very cute white-haired girl, wearing a short, single-button white sailor-style top, paired with a three-layered black and blue high-waisted short skirt.

She had white, sheer tights and black, thin-heeled Mary Janes.

She had slightly narrowed eyes that gave a fox-like impression, hair that fell past her shoulders, covering half her forehead, with sparse bangs, blue-gray pupils, and a smile at the corner of her mouth that always seemed cheerful, like the girl next door.

It was that youthful, pure, little fox type, though the fox part was just a feeling, as the character had no animal ears or tail.

Orange Quiet Forest walked, and she walked.

Orange Quiet Forest waved, and she waved.

‘Feels pretty interesting, huh.’

Seeing Orange Quiet Forest had adapted, the staff patiently explained various operations to her.

“Facial expressions can also be motion captured, but human facial muscles are complex, and we can’t guarantee perfect accuracy forever. Also, using a ‘skin’ and having to perform for your own stream is tiring. You can set fixed expressions here and adjust them anytime.”

“Ohhh~”

“And, this child’s name is Fujiriria.”

Orange Quiet Forest always played games.

She only watched one or two virtual streamers who were good at gaming and hadn’t watched any with 3D models.

‘Didn’t expect it to be this high-end.’

After the staff finished the tutorial, they all filed out.

“Alright, please keep an eye on the time. The stream starts in five minutes. Please get ready.”

“No problem.”

“Hmm… what should I stream?”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t play games with the motion capture suit on, but wouldn’t it be weird to just sit and play games for an hour when she had motion capture?

Besides, Orange Quiet Forest didn’t really want to be an idol that much.

‘Maybe I should stir up some trouble again.’

She just watched as the stream start time approached.

The stream went live.

‘There seem to be more people than I imagined?’

The originally pitch-black stream room was instantly flooded with dense bullet comments.

Back when she first streamed herself playing a game, no one paid attention, so she stopped streaming afterward.

But she hadn’t even spoken yet, and people were already posting comments.

–Is this the fifth one?

–Why aren’t you talking?

–This ‘skin’ is really pretty, huh?

Who made it?

The precision on this avatar is really high.

I want to kowtow to the modeler.

“Hello?”

Orange Quiet Forest cleared her throat and tentatively waved at the air.

The white-haired beauty on the screen synchronously made a timid waving motion.

–Ah, hello, hello.

–Hello, what are you planning to do?

‘Hmm… I really don’t know what to do. Feels like I’m stuck in an awkward silence.’

Better introduce herself first.

“My name is Fujiriria, meow meow.”

–The streamer’s info is really outdated, we already knew that.

–A cat girl?

Why does every virtual streamer these days have to meow?

If she really was participating later, the audience had probably already gotten used to this avatar, so there was no sense of novelty.

The audience even knew the name.

‘I feel like besides gaming, I don’t have any other tricks.’

“My hobbies are playing games, I play both FPS and MOBAs.”

–Mom!

–Mom, I’ll carry you to rank up!

–What games?

‘Lacking love? Calling a 2D paper doll ‘mom’ at first sight?’

‘Ah, whatever. Let’s just perform.’

Orange Quiet Forest knew what these viewers liked.

She deliberately waved her hands in a flustered manner.

The girl on the screen cooperatively showed a shy, panicked expression, with two blushes appropriately floating on her cheeks (all manually operated with button presses for expressions).

“Stop, stop, stop! I… I can’t do that! I’m only fifteen, I can’t be a mom… it’s too early for that!”

Even though the real person was already eighteen.

Orange Quiet Forest was here again.

Though her heart was filled with refusal, her body was honestly lured by her aunt to the final audition site.

The scale this time was completely different from the crowded, chaotic market-like atmosphere of the initial selection.

The entire corridor was so quiet you could only hear the hum of the central air conditioning, making it all feel very mysterious.

She didn’t know exactly how many people there were.

This time it wasn’t a group-based selection either; it seemed to be one-on-one.

It was all very mysterious.

She’d heard even the participation times were staggered.

A staff member led her to a rest room and asked her to temporarily lock her phone in a storage locker.

‘Oh no! It really is for harvesting kidneys, isn’t it?’

Confiscating communication tools, a single-person room… isn’t this the standard procedure before a victim meets their doom?

But this is the city center.

It wouldn’t be easy to transport goods.

Orange Quiet Forest cautiously surveyed the interior of the rest room.

A spacious leather sofa, a massive 4K TV, shelves filled with gaming consoles from every generation, from the latest next-gen systems to retro Famicons.

The snack rack next to it was piled high with imported snacks.

‘They’re probably recording now, I need to be careful.’

But after the staff member closed the door, they only said one thing.

“Please wait here for the message. We will notify you when it’s your turn for the final audition.”

‘Are they recording?’

But she just planned to play games.

What could they possibly capture?

Orange Quiet Forest avoided playing anything too intense, in case they caught some unflattering footage.

Playing online games was also out, in case her account got exposed.

She just played a certain single-player, casual alchemy RPG.

Putting together the puzzles during alchemy was quite interesting—flipping them vertically, mirroring them horizontally, and so on.

It was okay.

Playing online games every day, taking a break to play a single-player game and revisit her roots, eating when hungry, then continuing to play… wasn’t this pretty much the same as being at home?

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was finally her turn.

“Please come with me.”

Orange Quiet Forest entered a large room filled with many strange-looking devices.

‘This… what is all this?’

A bunch of high-tech gadgets she had never seen before.

‘So it’s not for kidney harvesting… did aliens arrive?’

Several gentle young women approached her.

“Please come with us to the changing room to get suited up.”

“Get suited up?”

Not change clothes?

The staff patiently explained.

“Next, the audience will vote for the final selection. The winner is decided by the number of votes. Each final audition participant gets one hour of live stream time to see who can attract more audience votes.”

‘Oh~’

Now she understood.

The staggered participation times and the waiting… probably meant others were currently streaming.

But…

Orange Quiet Forest was fairly confident in her appearance.

It wasn’t that she was vain, but she had been complimented since she was a child.

Denying it would just seem disingenuous.

“However, considering everyone’s current special circumstances, directly exposing your real appearance might bring unnecessary trouble. So—”

The staff member pointed to the large screen beside them.

“We are using the ‘person inside’ format this time. All participants will use the same virtual avatar for their streams. What’s being judged is not appearance, but the interestingness of your ‘soul’.”

“Okay.”

Hearing she didn’t need to show her face, Orange Quiet Forest breathed a sigh of relief.

She hadn’t decided if she wanted to be an idol yet, and it would be awkward if she ended up on a team with her nominal foster daughter.

Guided by the staff, Orange Quiet Forest put on the streaming equipment.

A black, skin-tight motion capture suit covered in sensors.

That tight feeling was like a layer of rubber skin clinging to her body, slightly embarrassing.

“This is the most advanced optical motion capture equipment currently available. You can try moving a bit to see the character’s reaction on the screen.”

Orange Quiet Forest looked at the character on the screen.

It was a very cute white-haired girl, wearing a short, single-button white sailor-style top, paired with a three-layered black and blue high-waisted short skirt.

She had white, sheer tights and black, thin-heeled Mary Janes.

She had slightly narrowed eyes that gave a fox-like impression, hair that fell past her shoulders, covering half her forehead, with sparse bangs, blue-gray pupils, and a smile at the corner of her mouth that always seemed cheerful, like the girl next door.

It was that youthful, pure, little fox type, though the fox part was just a feeling, as the character had no animal ears or tail.

Orange Quiet Forest walked, and she walked.

Orange Quiet Forest waved, and she waved.

‘Feels pretty interesting, huh.’

Seeing Orange Quiet Forest had adapted, the staff patiently explained various operations to her.

“Facial expressions can also be motion captured, but human facial muscles are complex, and we can’t guarantee perfect accuracy forever. Also, using a ‘skin’ and having to perform for your own stream is tiring. You can set fixed expressions here and adjust them anytime.”

“Ohhh~”

“And, this child’s name is Fujiriria.”

Orange Quiet Forest always played games.

She only watched one or two virtual streamers who were good at gaming and hadn’t watched any with 3D models.

‘Didn’t expect it to be this high-end.’

After the staff finished the tutorial, they all filed out.

“Alright, please keep an eye on the time. The stream starts in five minutes. Please get ready.”

“No problem.”

“Hmm… what should I stream?”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t play games with the motion capture suit on, but wouldn’t it be weird to just sit and play games for an hour when she had motion capture?

Besides, Orange Quiet Forest didn’t really want to be an idol that much.

‘Maybe I should stir up some trouble again.’

She just watched as the stream start time approached.

The stream went live.

‘There seem to be more people than I imagined?’

The originally pitch-black stream room was instantly flooded with dense bullet comments.

Back when she first streamed herself playing a game, no one paid attention, so she stopped streaming afterward.

But she hadn’t even spoken yet, and people were already posting comments.

–Is this the fifth one?

–Why aren’t you talking?

–This ‘skin’ is really pretty, huh?

Who made it?

The precision on this avatar is really high.

I want to kowtow to the modeler.

“Hello?”

Orange Quiet Forest cleared her throat and tentatively waved at the air.

The white-haired beauty on the screen synchronously made a timid waving motion.

–Ah, hello, hello.

–Hello, what are you planning to do?

‘Hmm… I really don’t know what to do. Feels like I’m stuck in an awkward silence.’

Better introduce herself first.

“My name is Fujiriria, meow meow.”

–The streamer’s info is really outdated, we already knew that.

–A cat girl?

Why does every virtual streamer these days have to meow?

If she really was participating later, the audience had probably already gotten used to this avatar, so there was no sense of novelty.

The audience even knew the name.

‘I feel like besides gaming, I don’t have any other tricks.’

“My hobbies are playing games, I play both FPS and MOBAs.”

–Mom!

–Mom, I’ll carry you to rank up!

–What games?

‘Lacking love? Calling a 2D paper doll ‘mom’ at first sight?’

‘Ah, whatever. Let’s just perform.’

Orange Quiet Forest knew what these viewers liked.

She deliberately waved her hands in a flustered manner.

The girl on the screen cooperatively showed a shy, panicked expression, with two blushes appropriately floating on her cheeks (all manually operated with button presses for expressions).

“Stop, stop, stop! I… I can’t do that! I’m only fifteen, I can’t be a mom… it’s too early for that!”

Even though the real person was already eighteen.