| —Flashback |
 |
| Itaru | Is my voice on stream? |
| Let’s see, today I’ll be playing “KniRoun.” |
| (0 viewers… well, alright. I’ll do a dry run for today.) |
| ——. |
| (The views increased to 1… this means someone is watching, right?) |
| (A-anyway, let’s get started.) |
| Nomin | “GJ on streaming~” |
| Itaru | “GJ… what’s that?” |
| Nomin | “You must be a noob. It means ‘Good job on broadcasting.’” |
| Itaru | Ah, got it. Thanks… |
| (Seems like some scary guy’s here.) |
| —Flashback over |
| |
 |
| Izumi | Akashi-kun, Rento-san, thank you as always! |
| Thanks to both of you, our sound and lighting drastically improved and were well received by the audience. |
| Banri | It really broadened the scope of our production, it’s been an eye-opener for me in a lotta ways. |
| Akashi | I should be the thankful one… This troupe is full of colorful people… s’been a lot of fun. |
| Taichi | Our music were bangers too! |
| Omi | It feels good that everything’s in place as it should be. |
| Kumon | Yeah yeah. The timing and all’s perfect! |
| Rento | The actors in this troupe already know what they want to do. I just match up the energy with how they feel and put the magic right in. |
| Masumi | I liked the BGM for the space police. |
| Rento | Yeah, ya musta loved that part! |
| Masumi | Mhm. |
| Matsukawa | The BGM guitar for ANIMS was also cool~ |
| Rento | Hhh, a word from the lord… I’m seriously shaking right now. |
| Kumon | Rento-san’s dynamic with the manager sure is amusing. |
| Kazunari | He really respects you, Sukechi~ |
| Juza | The lighting changed for each group, it was great. |
| Akashi | Hhh, I, ah, I’m sorry! |
| Rento | Apologizing and for what. You’re too scared! |
| Izumi | He’s still not used to Juza-kun. |
| Juza | Something wrong…? |
| Akashi | I-I’m sorry… |
| Tsumugi | Akashi-kun’s lighting sure is impressive. |
| Tasuku | It’s effective for the more sober scenes. |
| Homare | I feel your great attention to detail from deep within. |
| Akashi | T-thank you so much… |
| Tsumugi | You’ll continue working with us, right? |
| Rento | Yup, that’s the plan. |
| Akashi | I-I look forward to working with you. |
| Rento | You’ve got the Special Fleur Award and gained public traction now, what’s your next move? |
| Izumi | Now that we’re in the spotlight, we plan to put out performances by each troupe to show the unique charm of MANKAI Company. |
| Tsuzuru | It’s hard to keep performing with a full cast all the time. |
| Sakyo | The most distinctive feature MANKAI Company holds is the spring, summer, autumn and winter performances of each troupe. It’d be best for us to go back to our roots. |
| Izumi | So, we’ll do the usual thing and put out the 8th Spring performance. |
| Sakyo | Also steadily set on paying off the theater repair debt. |
| Matsukawa | Aah~ We’re living in the laps of debt again~… |
| Rento | Spring troupe. Have you guys decided on a lead yet? |
| Sakuya | In terms of order, we were wondering if it should be Itaru-san or Tsuzuru-kun… |
| Itaru | I decided to give it a go. |
| Yuki | Aren’t you usually the unmotivated one? |
| Itaru | Actually, the long-awaited KniRoun X is gonna be released soon. |
| I’m gonna use a lot of my paid leave for play streams, so I won’t be able to attend rehearsals for a while, so I thought it’d be better to play the lead while I still can. |
| Yuki | So you weren’t even motivated in the first place. |
| Tsuzuru | The motive screams Itaru-san alright. |
| Chikage | Come to think of it, did you tell the others about it? |
| Itaru | Ahh, right. |
| Izumi | ? |
| Itaru | I’m gonna do some long-endurance streaming soon, Room 103’s gonna be off-limits by then. |
| I’m about to celebrate the 7th anniversary, every year I do a long-endurance streaming sesh to commemorate it. |
| Tsuzuru | How long will it take? |
| Itaru | I’m planning on skipping a bunch of sub-events and stuff, but it’s gonna be pretty hard this time. I’m planning to speedrun it, so it might take up 20 hours more or less normally. |
| Taichi | 20 hours!? You’re gonna play it for 20 hours straight!? |
| Izumi | What are you gonna do in the meantime, Chikage-san? |
| Itaru | I’m planning to adjust it to senpai’s business trip schedule. |
| Tenma | Who goes through all that trouble… |
| Itaru | I’m also celebrating the soon-to-be release of KniRoun X, I’m really hyped about it. |
| Sakuya | Which version of KniRoun will you play? |
| Itaru | I haven’t decided yet, it’s the 7th anniversary, so it’s either KniRoun VII or the most recent one, KniRoun IX… |
| Izumi | A lot of fans are gonna look forward to the stream of «taruchi» |
| Akashi | Eh!? |
| "t-taruchi"… You mean the game streamer taruchi…? |
| I-Itaru-san is taruchi…? Well, now that you mention it, his voice is… |
| Izumi | You know him? |
| Akashi | Oh, um, I enjoy watching vids from the internet, I often watch video game live streams… |
| I’ve been following V-tubers[1] recently, and taruchi is famous for his KniRoun speedruns… |
| No way… I never thought I’d see the real thing in the flesh in such a place… |
| Tsuzuru | Sounds like worship. |
| Sakuya | By the way, what’s a V-tuber? |
| Citron | A V-tuber is a streamer who uses a virtual avatar to perform a variety of activities on streaming sites! |
| There are many popular V-tubers who play games, sing, and even appear on TV nowadays! |
| Sakuya | Heh, really? |
| Tsuzuru | Citron-san sure knows his stuff. |
| Akashi | The latest technology is so amazing and advanced that it can track musical instrument performances in real-time and link it to images in virtual space… |
| With the avatar projected on the actual live venue, they can also do augmented reality lives… |
| Rento | Heh! Sounds interesting. I wanna watch it. |
| Akashi | I’ll dm you the URL of the video on LIME later. |
| Rento | As you should. |
| Izumi | (At first, I was worried if Akashi-kun and Rento-san would clash personality-wise…… but I’m glad to see they’re getting along just fine.) |
| Citron | My favorite V-tuber these days is Mochi Otoko! |
| Akashi | Oh, I like them too. I also like YO-KAN. |
| Itaru | Oh, they’re good. Their game commentary is interesting. |
| Citron | I also want to make my debut as a V-tuber! I can sing and dance just fine! |
| Itaru | Citron you’re already funny talking normally, so you’ll be popular in no time. |
| Izumi | (V-tubers, huh. There’re so many different worlds now.) |
| —Bell rings |
| Guy | Welcome. |
| Yukio | Sorry I’m late. |
| Izumi | D-dad! |
| Itaru | Did you just arrive? |
| Yukio | Yup, I came straight from the airport. |
| Masumi | Would you like a drink? |
| Yukio | Hmm, I think I’ll have a beer, then. |
| Sakuya | How long are you going to stay this time around? |
| Yukio | My work over there’s already taken care of, so I’ll be here for a while. |
| Masumi | Here’s a hand towel. |
| Tsuzuru | He’s been moving briskly for a while now. |
| Citron | Masumi, you are crying too hard! |
| Chikage | Trying? |
| Yukio | Ahaha, thanks. |
| Masumi | No, can I call you father-in-law? |
| Sakyo | Too soon! |
| Rento | Yukio-san, from the first gen MANKAI Company? |
| Akashi | Oh, um… I’m grateful to you for having grandpa under your care. |
| Yukio | I’ve been indebted to Serizawa-san for a long time. I loved his delicate work. |
| How is Serizawa-san? |
| Akashi | He retired from actively working… he still likes the stage and often goes to see performances. |
| Yukio | I see. I’ll go say hi to him next time. |
| Sakyo | That’s right, Serizawa-san’s lighting was a sight to see. |
| Yukio | Oh, Sakyo-kun, what’re you drinking? |
| Sakyo | It’s sake. |
| Yukio | You sure are an adult now. |
| Sakyo | You’re calling someone over 30 an adult… I’m already a legit old man here. |
| Yukio | Eh, Sakyo-kun so you’re an old man now? |
| But not long ago you were so small, and now we can drink together like this, it’s kind of emotional. |
| Sakyo | Well, I’m also glad that Yukio-san was able to come over like this. |
| Izumi | He’ll be going back and forth between America for a while. |
| Yukio | That’s right. I’ll definitely go see the performances of the newborn MANKAI Company in the future. Have you made a decision on what to do next? |
| Sakuya | We’ll be doing a performance for Spring troupe! |
| Yukio | Is that so? I’m looking forward to it. |
| Izumi | (I’ve been through a lot up to this point, but I’m glad I can see dad casually like this now.) |
| |
 |
| Itaru | Hmm… it’s the 7th anniversary, I wanna do something different than usual for this one. |
| —Phone rings |
| Itaru | Hm? |
 |
| (Incoming call: Great Demon King) |
| Itaru | …Ugh. |
