DISCLAIMER: We do not own Finder Series or any of the cannon characters! This is purely a work of fiction! If you enjoy, please leave reviews!
Strawberry Shortcake
Asami's POV:
"And finally, all that's left is to decorate your cake with whatever fruit suits your fancy! I've already prepared my favorite: yummy, delicious strawberries!" The young, sugary voice spoke gleefully.
The faceless boy in the frilly apron covered in colorful pastel patches of all patterns and shapes brought a glass bowl into view of the camera, the bottom filled with sliced strawberries. He reached in with his freshly washed hands and began plucking out the generously sliced pieces one by one and placing them upon the whipped-cream dollops that decorated the top of the little shortcake.
"Now remember, I always advise picking your fruits and veggies up at your local farmers markets! You not only support your community by doing this, but you also get to personally thank those who worked hard to grow and pick the food you're feeding you and your family. It's an important interaction that you just don't get at the grocery mart."
With the final strawberry aesthetically placed, the little chocolate decoration made while the cake had been baking was pulled from the fridge and placed in the very center of the cake. Written in icing across the modeling-chocolate heart was: Thank You for 15 Million Subs! The camera panned around the cake in several different angles while the channel's usual cheery outro song played in the background, little pastel-colored balloons flying up from the bottom corners of the screen.
The screen faded out, and in its place was a quick slideshow of "This week's fanart." All of which portrayed the mystery host in his adorable frilly apron, inside of his tiny kitchen. Some had his face drawn as some generic, cutesy doodle with little characteristic besides big eyes and blushing cheeks, while others had drawn what they imagined the Youtuber's face to look like.
"I hope you guys enjoyed this video, and remember to tweet me pictures of your cake attempts! And again, I really want to thank you guys for 15 million subscribers and for getting me up to the second most subscribed cooking channel on Youtube! Really...you guys just don't know how much this means to me...A little home-cooking channel like me that only started up six months ago is now right under the king chef of gourmet cooking...it's honestly surreal," Though viewers were unable to see his face, the shaking of his voice gave away that he was becoming emotional, "Well, until next week guys; cook, bake and create! I love you all so much, and remember to stay safe! Bye-Bye!"
The crystal whisky tumbler clinked against the rhapsody wood desk, only a sip left in the bottom of the glass. Smoke rose from the ashtray, a forgotten Dunhill cigarette slowly burning out as the sun began peeking over the tops of the tall Tokyo buildings, gradually filling the penthouse office with natural light that told the thirty-five year old occupant that morning had finally come.
Asami Ryuichi, better known as his online alias "The Gourmet Prince," stared at the ever-rising subscriber count of this newcomer cooking-channel who had seemingly overnight become his biggest rival to date. For the past five years on Youtube he had held the crown for most subscribed in the cooking category, and was in the top ten most subscribed channels overall with his own count recently tipping over twenty four million. By this time he had assumed he would hold his crown until the day he retired from producing videos, or until the website inevitably lost it's fame and a new platform took its place. Either of those options would suit him fine, however the idea of being dethroned from his position by a newcomer who hadn't even studied culinary and who's skills didn't exceed flipping a pancake over a tiny burner in a tiny-ass kitchen...that did NOT suit him.
Honestly he didn't even know this channel existed until a few hours prior when his phone began blowing up with tweets from hysterical fans, all of which sending him links to media articles covering Cook, Bake, Create's rise to fame. Normally he wouldn't even bat an eye considering their subscriber count was still separated by millions- But a quick look at the kid's growth chart told him that if he continued to gain popularity at this rate...it would be mere months before he passed The Gourmet Prince. Unacceptable.
Scrolling down to the comment section of the video, Asami scanned the posts for what he assumed would undeniably be there- and yes, indeed. One of the top comments with over three thousand replies was one of his own fans coming to attack the threat to his channel.
What the hell is this? How does this fucker have so many subscribers from just showing people how to bake a damn shortcake? Delete this channel, it does NOT deserve to stand anywhere near our prince. :P
The more he scrolled, the more of these comments jumped out at him, some more nasty than others. Many demanded he delete his channel, some accusing him of trying to copy 'their prince", and then there were the small few who took things way too far with such unoriginal (Yet hurtful) comments such as:
Kill Yourself.
Faggot
Why is this fag so popular?
Literally just kill yourself. #Saveourprince
This suks ass. Stupid gay fag.
Reading these comments and knowing they came from his fans...it left a bad taste in his mouth. First off, he didn't need fangirls to fight his battle for him. Secondly, this kind of behavior was just disgusting. Where he most certainly didn't see why this brat had gained so much popularity considering his recipes all seemed to be home cooking that any japanese mother would know, and the tiny kitchen he performed in was anything but impressive, Asami didn't think this hate was deserved at all. Criticism, absolutely. Hate and death threats? Uncalled for and undignified, not to mention it was going to give his own channel horrible publicity. It wouldn't be the first time a channel gained a huge media backlash from what their fanbase did, and he could already picture the defamatory articles already being furiously typed out by attention starved "journalists." He would need to think fast if he wanted extinguish this lit flame before it grew to an untamable state.
Pouring himself another glass of the fifty year old Karuizawa "Aqua of Life" whisky gifted to him at the opening of his third restaurant in Tokyo, he continued skimming over comments as he pondered his move. Where many of the newest comments coming through was hate from his own fanbase, he finally made it down to the less popular posts that were a nice mix of support, love, advise, and actual decent criticism.
Another amazing video! Congratulations on 15 Mil!
Honestly I don't understand all the hate. Sure, he's no Gourmet Prince...but I actually made one of his recipes for my kids tonight and they loved it! Even took them to my local farmers market and let them pick out the veggies I used!
OMS I've been here since the beginning! I love you so much!
With how popular you've gotten, why don't you try cooking things from other countries? Just to mix them up a bit? I bet some of your foreign fans would love it!
Hey, your video style is a lot like The Gourmet Prince...can you two please do a collab?!
Luv this video. Congrats my dude.
His attention lingered on the comment mentioning a collab between the two of them. Asami had a no collab policy, not wanting his actual identity to be revealed to anyone. It would be inconvenient considering he had a professional reputation in the culinary industry with the three five star gourmet restaurants he owned, and the upcoming television show he would be hosting in a year. Coming out as the overtly sexualized "Gourmet Prince" who cooks shirtless on camera had the risk of tarnishing his public appearance and resulting in losing such opportunities. Especially if the media backlash his online persona received could actually be tied back to him and his actual career.
With that in mind...it did spark an idea that brought a smirk to his lips and a devious glint in his piering golden eyes as he clicked on the official Cook, Bake, Create page and began searching…Until he found what he was looking for.
Taking another swig of his drink, he pulled his phone out of his silk robe pocket and dialed up his best friend who not only filmed and edited his videos, but also kept the books for all of his businesses. He picked up after only the second ring.
"I was just about to call you. Have you been on twitter this morning?"
"I was woken up to the tweets and messages, so I'm already aware and I checked out his channel."
"So have I. Did you read the comment section?"
"Just did. Have any articles come out yet about it?"
"None that I've seen, but I've already been contacted by Rin that Hype Media has a journalist researching the matter right now. I suspect it will be out by mid afternoon."
Asami nodded, making a mental note to send Rin a little something for his diligent work. He always seemed to be on top of everything. "I figured as much. I have an idea to turn this around in our favor, and I need you to get here as soon as possible."
"What's the idea?"
"I'll tell you when you get here. Just bring all your filming equipment, oh and drop by our guy and grab some eggs. We have a video to make."