“Got a minute, Sengu?” Suzune was dropping by the office to pick up a script when someone called her name. She looked up from the new script she had just started reading in the lounge and turned toward the source of the voice. A tall, beautiful woman with auburn hair cut to medium length strode toward Suzune, her heels clacking briskly, and peered at the script in her hands. Faintly, a sweet scent with a slight bitter edge tickled Suzune’s noise. It was her manager’s, Akane Miama. This perfume was a favorite of hers. Suzune preferred her perfume with a lighter, less sweet scent; she was still using one she’d found in Taiwan when she’d gone there for an event. Akane Miama had been managing her ever since Suzune joined Earpo. While she could be a little intense, Suzune had never once wished for any other manager. “Took long enough to get that script.” Miama sighed and looked at Suzune. “They pull this every time, but come on—you’re recording the day after tomorrow… You got this?” “It’s fine. I got a copy ahead of time, and I’m used to it by now anyway.” “That scriptwriter is always rewriting things on the spot and getting the recording pushed back, too. It’s a real problem…although all we can really do is what we’re told.” “Well, it’s the eighth episode already. This one’s an anime-only story, but I’ve got the character down by now, so I can handle it.” “I didn’t doubt you for a second. Glad to hear it, though. Also, I wanted to ask you a little favor.” “What is it?” “You remember the new girl who just joined up?” Suzune’s heart skipped a beat. For a second, she thought it might leap right out of her throat. Did she remember that her oshi was now her colleague? How could she possibly forget? But Yuika was the only one who knew that Suzune was a huge fan of Karin Shotsuki. It wasn’t that she needed to hide it, but if that information got out, it would inevitably affect her work. These days, going on radio shows was a big part of a voice actress’s job, and that meant talking about your personal life. Fandom was always a popular topic, be it idols, anime, or anything else. But Suzune didn’t want to put her private hobby on display like that. She hated the thought of having her oshi, her oasis, become something that hosts joked around and teased her about. Of course, there were also times when she wanted to talk about it. That was when she’d confide in Yuika. While Yuika didn’t know much about idols, she would always patiently hear Suzune out, which made Suzune want to babble to her even more. When she went overboard on the one-sided rambling, she generally made it up to Yuika by paying for dessert. “Yes, I sort of remember,” Suzune responded. She suspected that she couldn’t have sounded any less casual if she tried. Luckily, Miama didn’t seem to notice. “Well, I’m going to be managing her. So we’re going to record her demo reel today, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sitting in and observing her.” “WHAT?!” Suzune shot out of her seat before she could stop herself. “Geez, what’s gotten into you?” “Oh, sorry, it’s nothing…” Suzune plastered a smile onto her face and sat back down rather stiffly. Her body had reacted instinctively at the thought of getting to see Karin act. Demo reels were basically a voice sample, although they usually involved several different situations, so they didn’t just consist of one’s natural speaking voice. Suzune was eager to hear what kind of voices Karin would create. “But why me?” “Hm? Because you just happened to be there? Thing is, I have a meeting with the chief manager after this. I’m sure she’d be fine on her own, but maybe you can give her some pointers if you notice anything.” “All right.” “Great, I appreciate it. She’s already downstairs. Just go down and say hi, will you?” Suzune nodded. Her manager patted her lightly on the shoulder, left the lounge, and disappeared into the meeting room. What an incredible stroke of luck! To be honest, Suzune had been a bit stressed about the delayed script, but now that was all water under the bridge. And the fact that her schedule happened to be open felt like nothing short of fate. Suzune stashed the script into her tote, slipped the bag over her shoulder, and rose unsteadily to leave the room. She was about to have a close encounter with her oshi—just the thought made her instantly nervous. Inside the elevator, she pressed the button for the basement floor. With a low groan, the elevator lurched into motion and descended until it reached the bottom. The door opened with a ding, and Suzune stepped out of the elevator. The door to the basement studio led directly into a cramped waiting room, beyond which lay the recording booth. This consisted of a recording room and a control room. Generally, a mixer operated the equipment while up to two actors used the booth. There was a monitor in the waiting room that showed what was happening inside the booth. As of now, only the mixer was present, with Karin nowhere to be seen. Confused, Suzune put her tote bag down on a table and sat down where she could see the monitor. Ah…! Less than a minute later, the door opened, and her beloved oshi appeared! Suzune’s heart leapt painfully, accelerating to an alarmingly fast drumbeat. Her heart wouldn’t be pounding this fast even if she had just run a hundred-meter dash at full speed. In the tiny room, Karin quickly noticed Suzune as well. “Good morning!” She straightened up, then smoothly bowed at a perfect right angle. Suzune leapt to her feet as well… “Ah, g-good morn—OUCH!” …and promptly banged her knee on the leg of the table. “A-are you all right?!” Her oshi rushed toward her in alarm. That show of kindness alone was enough to heal the pain. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Suzune smiled despite the tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh, sorry about this. I’ll move it right now.” She quickly transferred her tote bag from the table to the floor. However, Karin didn’t move to put her drink down. “I’m sorry, you must be here for the booth, right?” she said, still standing. “Please, you go ahead.” Suzune stared blankly for a moment, then realized Karin had misunderstood. “No, no. I’m not here to use a booth, not at all. Akane asked me to come observe your demo reel recording.” “Observe? You, Sengu-san?” A shadow of confusion passed over her flawless face. “Erm, y-yes. Akane—I mean, Miama-san is my manager as well, and…huh?! Wait, you know who I am?!” She said “Sengu-san,” didn’t she?! Did Karin remember Suzune from her meet-and-greet? That would be a blessing as a fan, but as a professional, it would be somewhat embarrassing. Karin nodded. “Yes, I tried to learn the names and faces of my future colleagues when I joined the agency.” Ooh, so that’s why… Suzune was a little disappointed to learn that she was not, in fact, special. Still, she remembered doing the same thing when she first got started. Depending on the agency, there were certain rules and etiquette one had to follow. Learning your senior colleagues’ names and faces was a fundamental part of this. She cleared her throat, recovering. When Suzune really thought about it, Karin would probably find it difficult to navigate a workplace dynamic in which one of her senior colleagues was also a diehard fan of hers. It was probably for the best for Karin that she didn’t remember. “Miama-san has a meeting with the chief, so she asked me to come in her stead.” “Really? I’m sorry, I’m sure you must be busy…” “Please don’t worry about it. I just came by the office to pick up a script, and I don’t have any work after this.” “Thank you… I’m so sorry for the trouble.” Karin bowed. Her short bob-cut hair shifted, sending a slight fragrance dancing through the air. All this apologizing just made Suzune herself feel bad. “It’s no trouble at all, Shotsuki-san. If anything, watching other actresses at work is educational for me, too.” At this, Karin looked up at Suzune. Her long, fluttering eyelashes and big, round eyes made Suzune’s heart stutter. “…Um, could I ask you to speak more casually with me? Since I’m the newbie and all, it makes me a little anxious when you address me so formally…” “I could never!” Suzune cried. She didn’t mean to say it out loud. The idea of speaking casually with her oshi was just so presumptuous…but if Karin Shotsuki herself said she would prefer it, Suzune would simply have to oblige. “Err, yes, if you insis—I mean, yeah, sure.” “Much better!” HNNNGH! Karin’s smile was so dazzling, Suzune thought she might go blind. Just as the desire to somehow keep talking to Karin roared to life in her chest, the door to the booth opened, and the mixer peeked out. “Ready whenever you are.” “Ah, thank you!” Karin sprang up, then beamed at Suzune. “Okay, here I go.” A smile that could light up a whole city block! As warm waves of happiness enveloped her body, Suzune managed to give a little wave to see Karin off. As the former idol walked into the booth with a polite greeting to the mixer, Suzune thought Karin cast a brief glimpse back at her. It wasn’t unlike feeling as though your oshi had locked eyes with you during a concert—and maybe, it was equally delusional. Either way, Suzune was delighted. Aaah… She was sooo cute…! Suzune slumped down into a chair. The flat-screen monitor on the wall showed a live feed from the interior of the booth. There was a table and two small chairs inside, with barely enough room for two people. On the table sat a microphone with a pop filter, a talkback switch with a cue light, and a pair of headphones. Karin pulled out a notebook from the bag she’d left on the floor, tucked her hair behind her ears, and put on the headphones. She skimmed over the words on the page, sat up straight, and took a deep breath. Then she put her hand on the switch and spoke. “I’m ready.” The moment Suzune heard that voice through the monitor, a switch flipped inside her as well. She was now seeing Karin as an actor at work, not as her beloved oshi. This was the voice of a professional voice actress. Suzune had always thought that Karin Shotsuki had the right kind of voice for this industry—at least, for an amateur. Becoming a pro would require a lot of work, even from that starting point. But Karin’s voice showed that she had clearly trained a great deal for this. It was loud and clear but not overpowering, projected well and yet lingered somehow—a natural talent, to be sure, but natural talent alone wouldn’t be enough to pull this off. When Karin sat in front of the mic, it was clear from her first syllable that she’d thoroughly studied the fundamentals of voice acting. Earpo didn’t have any kind of training program. Its voice actors and actresses were either already pros who had transferred from other agencies or newcomers who had passed an audition to join, like Yuika and Suzune. Those who passed the auditions mostly had pro acting experience already, and many of them were graduates of specialty schools. And while Earpo did have the trial period system, they generally sought people who could immediately work in the field. It was clear from her single spoken sentence that Karin hadn’t been accepted on the basis of her popularity and high profile—the “advantages” Yuika mentioned—alone. “My name is Karin Shotsuki.” Suzune gazed at the monitor, entranced by the sound of Karin’s voice. The format of demo reels varied from agency to agency. In Earpo’s case, it usually started with an introduction, then a few different samples, then some narration. “Since I had this recording session today, I thought I’d ‘get in the zone!’ by watching my horoscope on TV…but of course, I was dead last in the luck rankings! I swear, my sign always seems to be at the bottom, you know?” While this might sound like pointless chatter, a voice actress’s natural speaking voice was becoming more important these days, so Earpo also used samples of their talents just talking normally. Usually, each sample was thirty seconds or less. “We got it, thanks.” The audio from the control booth was also relayed through the monitor, which was useful when there were further instructions. “Sample one, please.” Karin nodded and straightened up again. “Oh my god, did you hear about the section manager? Rumor has it…” Sample one was a realistic adult woman’s voice. The setting in this case was probably an office. In just a few short lines, Karin’s voice shifted from a light tone to one that was forceful and tense. Whoa… Suzune shivered. Her body had frozen in place. She sometimes listened to rakugo and ghost stories as part of her research. There were moments when she got goosebumps, not from any plot points so much as the way a single line was delivered. This listening experience was much the same. They finished recording the first sample quickly, then moved on to the second and third. Sample two was probably a teenager. The pitch of Karin’s voice was no higher, yet somehow the way she was talking conveyed a young student. Such incredible acting chops! Maybe she was really a former actress, and they just hadn’t included that information in her profile during her time as an idol? Sample three surprised Suzune even more. In samples one and two, there were enough traces of Karin Shotsuki’s own voice that she was still identifiable. In sample three, however, her voice changed completely—while still managing to not sound forced at all. This one seemed to be a character from a fantasy game-type scenario, likely drawing on recent trends. She invoked some kind of spell, speaking incredibly fast. But somehow, every word was still perfectly clear. What’s more, it was practically a tongue-twister, the kind of sequence that most people would stumble over. Incredible… Suzune had to admit, she wouldn’t have been able to do it. She wasn’t bad at fast-talking lines; she could still recite the kabuki speech “Uiro-uri,” a common practice exercise, without slipping up. But this level was beyond her. There was a brief pause, and then… “Who the heck are you?” This time, it was a young boy’s voice. Karin was most likely aiming for middle school or so, right before puberty. Suzune was actually moved. It gave her goosebumps in a different way from just a few moments before. When a voice actress played a young boy, she did sound boyish, but you could usually still tell somehow that it was a woman. Not so with Karin’s portrayal. If you heard the voice without seeing her, you would probably think it really was a young boy speaking. Oh my god, she’s amazing! Suzune had to resist the urge to applaud. She wanted to act with Karin. Any role was fine, no matter the age or gender. It would definitely be fun no matter what. “On to the narration now, please.” At the mixer’s prompting, Karin said “okay” and launched into two different narrations.
Chapter 3
14 min read