Shiratori Hime was a beauty. She was kind, caring and had good grades. She was an only child that made her parents constantly fawn and spoil her, and her teachers and peers all loved her. Hime was like a living sunray, brighter than anyone else in her school and her surroundings.
The girl spent most of her days at lessons that her parents had put her in- piano, art, yoga- everything you could imagine. Hime was talented in every aspect, and her parents couldn't be more proud of their beautiful daughter.
When her father died in a work accident on her last year of middle school, her mother and herself moved into a small, more comfortable apartment. Because her father had been their main source of income, her mother had been endorsed in her work and was never home. She didn't have to go lessons anymore as it was too expensive and there was no one to pick her up, and she lived a life more free than the one she had lived before.
Hime was intent with her life- she was much more ordinary now. She still made many friends and attracted people because of her beauty, but she didn't feel as spoilt anymore. Even if she was sad at her father's death, she knew it was inevitable, and continued on with life.
On a particular day when she was at the library with her best friend, Kisaragi Tsubasa, she was introduced to a song-sharing site, where ordinary people could upload videos of them singing covers to a song or their own ones. Tsubasa had admitted to stalking a few guys on the site that she had found hot, along with their charming and soothing voices.
When Hime arrived home, she had made her own account on the site. She personalised her own account, took a quick picture of herself in her pyjamas for her display picture, and mad up a random description of herself. She followed Tsubasa and scrolled through the most recent videos, clicking on the one that appealed most to her. It was of a girl, who looked a couple of years younger than her, with blonde haired dyed pink at the tips, and a high-pitched and cute voice.
Hime became hooked on the sight a few weeks after finding out about it. She loved critiquing and listening to the different ranges of voices. She had always had a passion about singing, when she took her singing classes and felt a little spark- but she never gave it any thought. Hime bought a new microphone to replace the broken one she had had when she skyped her friends, and she had a good laptop as well. The only thing that was stopping her from recording a song was her anxiety in opening up to the Internet world.
So she decided to just go with the flow and continue listening to others. Tsubasa had also posted a couple of songs- her voice strong and cool. Although she wasn't very popular, all of the comments were positive and Hime felt happy for her friend. Unlike herself, she was able to sing and open up.
In half a year, she had found herself obsessed with a certain poster. He always posted himself singing with a picture in the background- so she never knew what he looked like. His handle name was 'Subaru', a simple yet elegant name, to match his enthusiastic and charming style of singing. He was one of the mildly popular singers, with a few hundred followers and almost a hundred covers.
Hime had listened to all his videos, from a couple of years back when his voice was much more girlier and cuter, to his voice now. She could only deduce he was quite young- maybe around her age.
"You should record a song, Hime. You have such a lovely and fluttery voice." Tsubasa had told her one day at school, while they talked about the latest songs that had come out. Hime shrugged, but once she was at home, she pulled out her microphone and headphones, and sat in front of them hesitantly.
Her favourite song at that moment was a hit single by a famous girl band, called Episode Solo. She loved the tune and singing style, with the dubstep and melody being put together with distortion. Hime knew the lyrics by heart, and could sing the song even without the original vocals. It was as if the song was made for her- the vocals matching her style of singing and pitch.
She recorded once, but messed up the tune in the middle. Hime stopped halfway, sighing. She was trembling even if no one was there to watch her- she was just so nervous. But her determination didn't stop her- her real goal was to be as good as Subaru, and get his attention.
"Hello. My name is Himesa, and this is my first ever video." She started, introducing herself with her handle name she had thought up on the whim. Hime stopped the recording and took a deep breath, pulling the microphone closer to her lips. She tightened her headphones and turned on the song on her laptop that played through the plugs.
The words slowly came out of her mouth, syncing with the beat perfectly. They were smooth, crisp and soothing. When she finished, she turned off the recording so no other noises could be heard, and smiled to herself. Listening back to the music and finding it okay, she stopped and looked at her laptop.
Tsubasa came over the next day to teach her how to mix the music and her recording together. They both waited a long hour as the video uploaded, eating pocky and gossiping about school like normal high schoolers. They were occupied in their discussions when the laptop made a small ping, signalling that the upload had been completed.
The two girls sat on the bed as they replayed their now uploaded video. Hime had decided to put a background of the girl band that sang Episode Solo, and put the normal audio. Hime wanted to cringe and laugh as she heard her beginning as she introduced herself, but Tsubasa seemed drawn in. The song played out smoothly, Hime hitting every single note.
"Thank you for listening!" When the video ended, Tsubasa couldn't help but squeal and hug her friend.
"You sounded like an angel!" Hime blushed slightly, and hugged her back. "You sound so much better than me. You make my singing go to shame!" The taller girl faked cried, and Hime laughed.
"I hope you're right about that them. We just have to wait and see then. I don't even think I'll get noticed by anyone." She sighed, but Tsubasa just slapped her back. The tanned girl had high hopes for her best friend.
The two girls laughed, and began to scroll through the endless recent new videos. Hime's had already been pushed down a few videos, with the more recent ones just posted a few seconds ago. Hime felt a little disheartened when she realised that in an hour or so, her video would already be lost in the next couple of pages- pages that never get clicked on and scrolled through.
All she really wanted was to get noticed by Subaru, who she had fallen in love with. His voice, to be exact- but she was quite sure she would fall in love with the rest of him as well.