Karin Shotsuki’s popularity paid off immediately and immensely. Everyone from weekly magazines to sports newspapers ran headlines about how she’d been reborn as a voice actress, like a lost heroine come back to life. Miama said the agency had been getting nonstop calls and inquiries. There were also far more interview requests than one would normally expect for an anime that had yet to start airing. On top of that, most of these were from media outlets that had little to do with the world of anime and manga. Since they were clearly more interested in Karin herself, it was hard work coming up with conditions and guidelines for these interviews. The agency finally proposed the following ground rules for interviews: The main goal must still be to promote the Cosmic Tales of the Paradise Whale anime. Thus, there would be no interviews that were only with Karin Shotsuki. The only way to speak to her was in a pair with Suzune Sengu. No questions about her personal life…and so on. That was enough to narrow down the number of requests considerably. Some media outlets declared that there was no point unless it was one-on-one with Karin, while others simply stopped contacting the agency altogether. These places promptly went onto the agency’s blacklist. In the end, this mainly left anime, comic, and idol news sources, plus a few outliers like a science fiction news site. These were all places that seemed like they would promote Paradise Whale properly, even if they might still use Karin’s name recognition to do it. And since they hadn’t even started recording yet, Suzune wound up attending plenty of interviews with Karin. She didn’t actually say much, though. In the end, they still ended up talking about why Karin decided on voice acting as the next stage of her career. “The truth is, it’s all because of my admiration for Suzune-san.” That was always Karin’s answer. Naturally, she couldn’t come out and say, “I wanted to be a voice actress, but they made me be an idol,” so the story was tweaked a little when she talked about it to interviewers. It went something like this: She had always loved anime, and when she was having a hard time as an idol, an anime starring Suzune was what got her through it. “Does that mean you applied to the same agency as Sengu-san so you could work with her?” “That’s right. And look at us now!” This response sparked a bit of controversy online, prompting people to say she’d used connections to get into the industry. Luckily, a voice actress from a different agency was kind enough to step in and say: “Try listening to Karin’s demo reel on the agency’s homepage before you throw around accusations like that.” With help from her and others, the matter blew over without turning into a full-on flame war. Even then, a few stubborn jerks insisted that Earpo had forced the voice actress to say that, but Suzune suspected that most people accepted the truth once they heard Karin’s demo reel. When Suzune would get questions about how she saw Karin as a new colleague and such, she would keep her answers simple and safe. She never stated that Karin was actually her oshi. While she had no doubt the press would have a field day if they knew that Karin and Suzune were both fans of each other before working together, Suzune still didn’t want to cheapen her fandom by incorporating it into her job. If that part of her life became work as well, she felt like she would lose the one precious and private thing that gave her energy to keep doing her best. During their radio show that had now started airing, they talked quite a bit about their personal lives. This sort of chatting was the cornerstone of a radio program. Fans always enjoyed the rare chance to see a voice actor’s personality that was normally hidden behind the scenes. Although Suzune never made any particularly strong request about it, Karin also refrained from giving any hints that Suzune was a fan of hers. She kept this up even at the office, not just in front of the media. One day after a radio recording session, when they went out for a meal together, Karin remarked that it was a secret just between the two of them. Suzune felt obligated to admit that Yuika alone out of all their colleagues was also in on the secret. “Huh? What’s that all about?” For some reason, Karin seemed annoyed. “Why would you tell her that? If it’s a secret from everyone else at the agency, why does Ayabuki-san get to know? I don’t get it. What’s your relationship with her? Really? Tell me!” Karin got strangely insistent about wanting to know why. “She’s looked out for me since I first started voice acting.” Suzune did her best to smooth it over. She couldn’t bring herself to confess that she and Yuika didn’t really keep secrets from each other because they were both “yuri for real.” There was no secret more personal than that. No matter how much “yuri business” they did together, even if Suzune was Karin’s number one fan, she couldn’t reveal that to her so easily. This project was especially heavy on the yuri goggles. Given the contents of the anime and everything, the photos they took for interviews and articles involved far more yuri vibes than anything she’d ever worked on. Holding hands. Putting their arms around each other. Pressing their cheeks together. These yuri fanservice photos made the fans happy and brought more attention to the anime to boot. She and Karin were acting way too close even for two girls, but as far as Suzune was concerned, it was nothing but a win-win situation (even if she felt guilty about that at times). Even in the radio show, which didn’t have video, every script involved getting jealous over anecdotes involving other voice actresses, declaring their love for each other, and so on. And every time, Suzune and Karin complied, acting out a close “gal pal” relationship. And since Dr. Miyuki and Haruka Amami weren’t canonically in a relationship in the story, either, it was easy to play the roles naturally. Frankly, they would probably have had similar conversations even without the script. Karin had something of a jealous streak in real life, too, and Suzune found that just as adorable as everything else about her. Though obviously, they didn’t actually declare their love for each other in real life. Then one day, something she would never have expected happened in the most unlikely of places. That day, Suzune was participating in a recording session for a special unaired episode of a certain anime to be released in a Blu-ray box set. She played one of the main characters in the show, so she was naturally asked to come back for it. Mami Gamikawa was also joining as a guest character, along with three other Earpo talents who would be doing background chatter. Karin happened to be one of the three additional talents. The agency wanted her to get some in-studio experience before recording for Paradise Whale and had already sent her to observe recording sessions for several other shows. It just so happened that this was the first time Suzune would be at a recording session with Karin present. Oh wow… I’m kind of nervous. Suzune hadn’t expected acting in front of her beloved oshi would make her heart race so much. Fans never got to watch voice actors record in person. Idols, on the other hand, specialized in performing in front of fans. Some voice actors might perform character songs in front of a crowd, but that was only for special events. It was here in the recording studio that Suzune did her most serious work. She felt confident and embarrassed all at once. Karin was most likely watching this from the monitor in the waiting room outside the booth. Now that Suzune knew that Karin was a fan of hers, too, she could feel the woman watching, even if she couldn’t see her. It might have been just her imagination, but she couldn’t help feeling antsy, squirming uncomfortably in her seat. The struggle was real. Focus, focus… Suzune took a deep breath. She had to concentrate on the work and nothing else. While it had been a long while since she’d worked on this series, Suzune had still come prepared. She’d rewatched the anime, had examined the materials to remind herself of her character’s personality and physique, and had fine-tuned her voice. She could do this. “Scenes fourteen to twenty, starting now.” …Here we go. At the sound director’s voice over the speakers, all of the actors stood up. There wasn’t even a single rustle of clothes. Moving without making noise was one of a voice actor’s many skills. They all chose their outfits based on maintaining that silence and removed any accessories. By the time Suzune was standing in front of the row of microphones, all thoughts of Karin had completely vanished from her mind. To be precise, it was no longer Suzune Sengu who was standing there at all. It was Abigail Ouse, her character in this anime. She held the script in one hand, looking at both it and the monitor at the same time. She hadn’t memorized the script. Aside from the nuances that might change based on the directions given in the studio, it wasn’t unusual for the entire line to be changed as well. “Go ahead, please.” The cue light blinked on. “…Heeey! Wait a minute, Q!” Suzune spoke not in her normal voice but in that of Abigail Ouse, the anime character, as she started off the scene. The recording itself took a little longer than usual due to some minor issues, although this was perfectly normal. When Suzune and the rest of the main cast finished their parts, they left the recording booth and were replaced by a dozen or so voice actors to record the crowd chatter. Apart from Karin, the other talents from Earpo were all in their trial period, and the rest were trainees from other agencies or students from specialty schools. “You were amazing, Suzune-san!” As they passed each other, Karin called out to her excitedly. “That was incredible to see! I knew watching a recording session live would be different from hearing you in the anime, but it was even better than I thought!” This earnest praise made Suzune feel sheepish, especially since it was coming from none other than her favorite idol in the world. “Th-thank you… I’m sure you’ll be great, too, Karin-chan.” “Thanks!” “Oh, just don’t be too great, okay?” “I know!” The “walla”—background chatter that set the scene behind the main voice acting—wasn’t supposed to stand out too much. Instead of reading specific lines, it generally involved ad-libbing. That being said, even if you were just playing part of a crowd of onlookers or the like, it still required knowledge of the series and setting. As part of a walla group, you had to think about what kind of role you might have in this world, what you were doing there in this particular scene, what sort of feelings you would have while speaking, and what you were going to say. You couldn’t just spout off whatever was at the top of your head. Since Karin had asked her to wait there until she was done, Suzune watched Karin’s group recording session on the monitor in the waiting room. As always, Karin Shotsuki was in a league of her own. Her very existence stood out, even if she took care to ensure that her performance didn’t. She was bold and confident, paying no attention to the way the rest of the group seemed to be keeping their distance a little. Besides, once the recording started, no one paid any mind to Karin at all. Her voice was clear even in the background chatter. Somehow, you could tell it was her if you were listening for her, yet her voice didn’t stand out otherwise. She’s so talented… Suzune was so busy being impressed, she didn’t notice someone approaching her. “Sengu.” Hearing her name, she looked up to find a woman in a black blouse and black high-waisted pants—Mami Gamikawa, in her typical monochrome getup. Suzune hurried to her feet. She couldn’t stay seated when her senior colleague was standing up. Especially in the case of Gamikawa, who was much stricter about these sorts of things than Yuika. “Good work today.” Suzune was careful to make sure her tone didn’t sound sarcastic. It was because of Gamikawa that the recording session had run long. Then again, Gamikawa didn’t seem even remotely apologetic about it, so maybe she shouldn’t have bothered worrying. “You too.” She seemed oddly cheerful. It was rare to see Gamikawa happy about anything. Maybe she was satisfied with her performance? On the monitor, the walla recording session was wrapping up. Though it was only one scene this time, it was still an important learning opportunity and a chance for the rookies to show their stuff to the production team. Of course they wouldn’t want to miss it. As the recording booth door opened, and the group began filing out, Gamikawa pressed on. “Listen, are you free after this? Would you join me for a little tea?” Suzune was too surprised by the sudden invitation to answer right away. Gamikawa had never invited her out to tea before—far from it. Quite frankly, Suzune had always gotten the impression that Gamikawa didn’t think very highly of her. “I just want to talk to you about one quick thing. You don’t mind, do you?” It definitely didn’t seem like “no” was an option here. If only she had work to use as an excuse, but alas, this recording session was the last item on Suzune’s schedule for today. “All right. Then let’s find someplace nearby and…” “Oh, I’ve got a place picked out already. I’ll call a taxi for us.” “Um, okay. Thank you…?” Gamikawa pulled out her phone and started tapping on the screen. What could she possibly want to talk about, though? Hopefully she wasn’t going to ask Suzune to introduce her to someone she’d worked with on another job. Suzune had decided not to do that kind of thing—it almost always led to trouble. If someone on the production side asked her to recommend a voice actor who might be good at a certain kind of role, then obviously, she would suggest a colleague she trusted, but she would never try to bring it up of her own accord. “…Not so fast, Suzune-san.” Gamikawa’s hand froze when a new voice cut in decisively. “What do you want, Shotsuki?” Karin had emerged from the booth and approached them immediately, openly glaring at Gamikawa. She was wearing a gray knit sweater-dress with an asymmetrical neckline today. It was a lovely sight to behold, accentuating her curves in all the right places. “Pardon my intrusion, but Suzune-san and I already have plans after this.” Do we? Suzune searched her memory but came up empty. “So what? I’m her senior, so an invitation from me takes priority, thank you very much.” “Maybe if it was just a casual hangout, but this is work-related.” “Is that true, Sengu?” “Um…” As much as Suzune wanted to go along with Karin’s story and get out of this, she’d never been good at lying on the spot. “You don’t really have plans, do you? I made sure your schedule was open before I invited you out.” “It’s a meeting,” Karin declared before Suzune could respond. “To plan our next radio show.” “I wasn’t asking you. Could you please pipe down for a minute? Mind your own business, hmm?” The shade of anger in Gamikawa’s voice chilled the room around them. As other people looked over to see what was going on, Karin sighed and stepped closer, lowering her voice. “…Look, I’m the one you have a problem with, right? Could you please not try to drag Sengu-san into it just because your little plan failed already?” Plan? What plan? “Excuse me? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Gamikawa raised her voice shrilly, ignoring Karin’s attempts to keep things between them. “What exactly are you implying here?!” “Seriously, let’s not do this here. We’re in the studio, you know?” “And so what if we are!” A voice actor’s full volume was as powerful as a clap of thunder. Gamikawa’s angry shriek reverberated through the decidedly small waiting room. “What’s going on out here?!” Finally, Kuruma the manager came rushing over. “Is there a problem?!” “No, it’s noth—” Karin tried to settle things down. “She just started picking a fight with me!” Gamikawa interrupted. “Fine. We’re going to the office right now, all of you. I can’t have you making a scene at the studio.” Kuruma furiously ordered a taxi on her phone, then hurried over to the director who was peering in to see what the fuss was about and apologized profusely for the commotion. Suzune’s stomach twisted with nerves as she watched all this unfold. Meanwhile, Karin looked perfectly unruffled, and Gamikawa carried on behaving as if none of this was her fault, making no effort to hide her displeasure. When the entire Earpo group arrived at the office in two taxis, the other newbies from the walla group took their leave right away, while Suzune, Karin, and Gamikawa were dragged to the meeting room and made to sit down with Suzune square in the middle. Kuruma had the part-timer, Irie, call their manager Miama into the office. She showed up immediately, looking at Suzune and the others as if trying to piece together the situation from their expressions.
Chapter 12
15 min read