Isabelle’s very sudden proposal.

To me, it had come out of the blue, but Isabelle had been thinking about it for a long time, she said. She went to take a shower, and while she did I took a second to appreciate the swap of positions. I was the one coming back from an eventful Valentine’s Day, while she was the one who spent it locked in her room watching videos.

Isabelle got dressed properly and went into my room to continue her pitch.

“Listen to me, okay?” she said, sitting across from me on my desk chair. “I’ve thought this through and even done my research. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d say no, but I also recorded your performance at the talent show.”

“You did what!?”

“See? I was right! Mom told me to do it anyway, okay?”

Of course.

“Anyway, I spent yesterday editing the footage a bit. You know, cleaning it up and such, and the more I did, the more I thought it was a waste that you keep yourself to playing for no one in your room. Let’s get a channel up and you can upload whatever songs you want!”

“But…!”

“And I know what you’ll say because, even with five girlfriends, I still know you better than anyone. Even if you were to make a channel, you don’t want to deal with comments, social media and all that, right?”

Ugh. Hit the nail on the head.

Isabelle smirked and put a hand on her chest. “What if I take care of all that stuff? You’ll be the talent and play your music while I edit and manage the account. We split whatever ad revenue we get 50/50, if we get any. On top of that, you don’t have to show your face if you don’t want to. There are plenty, and I mean PLENTY of music channels where the performers don’t show their faces. ”

“Yeah, but all the big ones are women with nice bodies, and they’re either cosplaying or wearing tight-fitting clothes,” I argued.

“Hmm. True,” Isabelle admitted. “I got recommended one with a girl who only wore bikinis.”

“See?”

“But there are still big channels with guys! And that’s not even the point.” Isabelle grimaced. “Okay, I do admit that I’m hoping we’ll make it big and can earn some decent pocket money out of it, but… You want your music to reach people, right? To make them happy, excited and all that. Like this, you have the potential to reach the whole world!”

…

I had taken up the guitar because I wanted to play the songs I liked from games. To learn, I watched plenty of free instructional videos that helped me out a lot when I was starting. And on top of that, some of the guitarists I most admired I discovered through their personal video channels. I still watch them to this day. What I’m saying is, I had no issues with the platform itself. It was just that…

…

…

More excuses. Was I really going to give more excuses? Fake it until you make it, that was what I told myself just an hour ago, and here I was again ready to give up before I even began.

I shut my eyes tight for a moment, took a deep breath and opened them again. “I’ve… been thinking about it for a long time, too. I would, at times, stop by music stores and think of buying an audio interface. When Noelle told me she was a V-Tuber, I wondered why I couldn’t muster the courage to do something similar, like she had done. Now I have all I need, more even, and you’re offering to help…” There was a knot in my throat. I swallowed hard and held my hands together. “I… I want to do it. I don’t think I’m good enough, I don’t know if anybody will watch and I fear I’ll get laughed at if they do, but… I want to do it anyway.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear!” Isabelle cheered. “Remember, it’s okay to do this for yourself, too. If anything, it’ll serve as an archive of all the songs you know and the ones you’ll learn. You could maybe even start working on your originals. I heard you playing something I didn’t know the other day.”

“That was just… I don’t know what it was, to be honest. Just some random improv…”

“We can upload that, too, if you end up liking the result. What’s important is that we do SOMETHING. I want to get more experience with editing and managing a channel, which is why I’m offering to help. This’ll help us both!”

I nodded. “Fine… FINE! Ugh, fuck it, let’s do it. I don’t care if people don’t watch. I just want to play my guitar.” Or so I told myself. In truth, I wanted people to watch, to listen and hopefully enjoy.

An impish smirk suddenly crossed Isabelle’s lips. “Oh, they’ll watch. Why? Because we have a cheat code.”

I blinked, puzzled. “Elaborate, please?”

“One of the members of this household already has a bit of an internet following. And it just so happens that she loves sitting next to you when you play guitar.”

Realization struck, and my gaze slowly moved to the cat on the floor, casually licking her paws. “You wouldn’t,” I told Isabelle.

“I would. The internet loves cats, Oliver. Cake will be our channel’s hook. They come for the cute cat and stay for the music. Or maybe they come for the cute boy and stay for the cat. All I know is that there are a few music channels who have animals in frame and are successful.”

“I don’t know. It feels… wrong.”

“Does it? Watch this.” Isabelle picked up her phone, pointed the camera at Cake and took a picture with a loud snap.

Cake’s ears perked up and she sat straight, lightly tilting her head and looking directly at the camera. Isabelle took another picture, and for that one, Cake didn’t look startled in the slightest.

“Our cat is surprisingly vain, Oliver. She loves having pictures and videos taken. I wouldn’t have suggested it if she didn’t. Have you seen Mila’s feed?” I hadn’t, actually, but she did send me all the pictures and videos directly. “Besides, I’m not willing to try and fight for Cake to stay in frame for whatever length of time a song lasts, but she does so naturally. And if it feels like we’re starting to **** it, we stop.” She leaned down, picked Cake up and hugged her close. “I’m exaggerating for fun, okay? I do want to have her in the videos, but I don’t want to exploit her!”

I chuckled. “I know. How about it, Cake? Want to make videos with us?”

The damn cat meowed with such timing and in such a tone that both Isabelle and I could’ve sworn she was answering yes.

We would figure out the details later, but that was the day Isabelle and I made up our minds. We started with little to no expectations, but…

Well, you’ll see eventually.

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