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“Alright, good night everyone! I love you all!”
Kaguya waved vigorously, using her full body. She kept doing that until Iroha tapped her on the shoulder. “The stream is over.” She returned to the laptop to do some post-stream administrative tasks.
“That went really well, didn’t it? I had a lot of fun!”
“Yeah, yeah, it was fun…” Iroha wasn’t really paying attention to what Kaguya was saying. That was because she wasn’t happy with what she was seeing. Once she was done reading, she hung her head and sighed. “Our metrics are down. Viewers were down by 12%, and active chatters were down by 18%. We’re trying to increase our viewership, but this may mean that people are growing bored with our current content… We may need to diversify in order to retain key demographics…”
Kaguya cocked her head to one side, quizzically. “Whazzat? I don’t know what you mean?”
Iroha sighed. “Less people are watching us. We should try new things. If we can offer viewers a variety of things, they have more reason to watch us.”
“Right… Well, why don’t we add some new songs to our set lists? I’ve been checking out some popular songs online, which I think I could do good versions of.”
“Mayve, maybe…” Iroha murmured. “Let’s try that, but at the same time, we should try to think of other things to try. Are there any games you’ve been interested in?”
“A few… This is exciting, though! We’re planning! I like that.”
Iroha’s shoulders fell. She didn’t feel the same way.
Iroha’s fears of viewership decline proved to be true. While it wasn’t always large numbers, it proved to be consistent. Before long, it was enough that even Kaguya, who didn’t check their viewership statistics, was noticing it.
New songs didn’t help. Even when they tried searching for deeper cuts, songs that audiences might find new and exciting, it didn’t help much. At best, it felt like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.
Games were a little bit more successful. They even tried some collabs with other, more popular channels. But once again, it wasn’t anything better than slowing the decline. Nothing was reversing their fortunes.
“I know you’ll be able to turn this around! Trust me, you have the potential to be a top streamer,” Yachiyo said, when Iroha tried to confider in her. But that felt like empty platitudes. There was no way Yachiyo could know the future. Even as incredible as she was, that much was beyond her.
Yachiyo tapped a finger against her chin. “Here’s something to think about. What could only the two of you do together? Your strength is as a pair, so you should figure out what best suits the two of you together.”
Iroha’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. I’m already making new songs for Kaguya as fast as I can. Any faster and I’ll start compromising the quality of the music. Obviously, we don’t want that.”
“I wasn’t just talking about music.”
“Eh?”
Yachiyo giggled. “I’m sure you two can figure it out together.” She leaned over and hugged Iroha. “You’re a clever girl, after all. Kaguya, too.”
“And she wasn’t any help.”
Kaguya pouted for the slightest moment, before shrugging. “Well, I don’t know how much help she would be, anyway. It’s her contest, so she shouldn’t be helping any of the contestants.”
“Right…” Iroha sighed. “So I suppose it was a long shot to ask her, to begin with.”
“Maybe!” Then Kaguya tapped a finger against her chin. “Something only we could do together…” She started thinking. “Hmm… Maybe.”
“Oh? What are you thinking?”
Kaguya just giggled. “Don’t worry about it. We can try it during the next stream.”
“Okay…”
“Hey guys! How’s it going, how is everyone?” Kaguya paused to read all the comments pouring in. Dozens of names she was familiar with passed by. That’s most of who was tuning into their streams nowadays. It was a good number of people, and most streamers would be glad to have such regular numbers. But for Kaguya, it wasn’t good enough, not with the contest on the mind. And when she compared it to the numbers she had been getting a month prior, it just didn’t feel good enough.
But she had a plan.
The plan for the evening was a singing stream. Iroha had finished a new song, and with all the covers Kaguya had been practicing, the setlist would be fresh and new. Even if the stream itself didn’t do any better than normal, the clips of individual songs should attract new viewers.
That was Iroha’s contribution.
But after several songs, it was time for Kaguya’s contribution.
With a giggle and mischievous smirk, she gestured for Iroha to join her on stream.
Iroha rarely made appearances on stream. She was Kaguya’s producer, not a streamer herself. So naturally, she was reticent. But Kaguya was proving insistent, and if she didn’t, all that gesturing offscreen would mean nothing to the viewers.
Chat was already getting excited. They didn’t know what, but something was going to be happening. And once Iroha was on screen, they started blowing up.
Kaguya knew how these things worked. She wanted to draw this out a little. Let viewers filter in before going any further.
“Um… Kaguya…” Iroha was feeling meek now that she was on camera.
They filled the empty air with small talk. But after a few minutes, the viewer count had doubled, which meant that it was time for Kaguya to enact her plan.
She grabbed Iroha by the wrists. Before the other girl could realize what was happening, Kaguya was kissing her on the lips. Iroha was surprised, but as soon as she realized what was happening, she went limp. But after a few moments more, she broke herself away from Kaguya’s grip. Then she scrambled over to the computer and turned the stream off.
Free from the viewers’ gaze, she started blushing. But she didn’t rebuke Kaguya. Instead, she just turned away. “You… could have asked me to do that.”
“But you’re so much cuter when you’re surprised!” Back in the real world, Kaguya leaped into hugging Iroha. “Like, just look at yourself!”
“I guess…” Iroha began removing her contacts. “I hope that works… I don’t want to do it again…”
Kaguya giggled. “I’m sure it will.”