Chapter 12

A loud booming percussive section is being played in the living room of Shishijima’s apartment. 

Rin is utterly shocked and mortified at the sounds she is hearing from his home’s audio system. Since the late 2030’s many houses have gone out their way to retrofit a speaker system into their home in every room. Making it easier for people to talk or listen to anything from anywhere in their house. A mother can cook dinner peacefully knowing her baby is fast asleep and many parents could communicate with children without having to get out of bed. 

However, these home audio systems have fallen out of grace for reasons such as this. (Inaudible noise coming from every room ensues.)

Shishijima nods his head listening to the loud racket cluttering every orifice of the apartment. 

“So what do you think?” said Shishijima. 

“Uhmm—it’s somewhat loud and bit offputting.” said Rin. 

“That’s the point. This sound isn’t very common in today’s music. It’ll catch the attention of the audience without having to sound super amazing and without the EV Specs or Optical Dazzle stage.” said Shishijima reassuringly. 

“Well maybe the reason why people don’t listen to this music — is because it’s gives people headaches.” thinks Rin. 

“I have to get him to turn this crap off.” she thought. 

“So Shishijima you mentioned this optical dazzle stage thing; what’s all that about?” murmured Rin. 

“Huh?” said Shishijima. 

Rin points to the ceiling in attempt to get Shishijima to turn down the audio system. 

He obliges and proceeds to turn down the audio system. 

“What did you say?” asked Shishijima.

“Can you turn that racket—I mean music down for one second? I wanted you to tell me more about this Optical Dazzle feature.” yelled Rin in frustration. 

“Oh. I guess i should; as it is rather important if you are going to become a big idol.” Shishijima responded. 

“Whew! I thought he was never going to that noise off. One thing he likes better than being a creep is explaining the business of EV-Idols.” thought Rin. 

“So; let’s start from the basics and work it way our way there. Shall we?” poses Shishjima. 

Rin nods her head in agreeance. 

“So let’s start with the EV-Specs within the last decade and a half they have become a staple in every household. As they compose a an immense amount of features consolidated in the form of ordinary glasses.” Shishijima says as he gestures to Rin to look at his coffee table where a hologram pops up with a video of an old pair of EV-Specs. 

“The EV-Specs took the place of the television, MP3 Player, Game System, and even sometimes a car as you can use the VR to visit E-Stores and try on clothes. “ says Shishijima pressing the button. 

“However, this all came to a screeching halt as the FDA published that article saying that the EV-Specs about 9 years ago. Stating that excessive use of the EV-Specs can cause neurological issues as the constant heat and lights experience from the EV-Specs can cause the brain to overstimulate itself. Also, the equipment causing people to have eye problems from overuse.” said Shishijima. 

“Oh, yeah! I remember that it became a huge thing. The president was even talking about it in one of his televised congress meetings.” Rin recounted. 

“Yep! It was plastered everywhere and sales for the EV-Specs were decreasing rapidly. Until a couple of months later the QMA’s aired with mention of a huge announcement. See EV-Idols were even huge then as companies had slowly been phasing out human artists because of profitability.

See EV-Idols never age and they are programmed to adapt to fit whatever situation or social climate they are in. It’s much harder to do that with humans.

So there was an ultra popular EV-Idol by the name Sof-E XP. *sidetrack* Oh How I thought she was the coolest. I mean look at her she was so beautiful not to mention she had the cutest lil smile.” Shishijima reminisced. 

“UHM—Shishijima!!” lamented Rin. 

“Oh right! Got a little sidetracked. Sorry about that! Uhmm—where was I?” Shishijima wondered.

“THE QMAS!?!” sighed Rin. 

“Oh, yeah that! So Sof-E announced she would be doing a very special performance and made note that in order to get the full experience you would need EV-Specs. 

So the night of the QMA’s Sof-E starts her performance just like any other. However, unbeknownst to the crowd the EV-Specs so much of a difference. See Sof-E’s entire gimmick was RPG video games as she herself was based off many heroines from older RPG titles. So there was a platform where she stood on whilst doing a dance break. Those who were sitting in the audience could see the flames and sparks flying out when she did her signature spinning kicking and pointing choreography. 

Man people were amazed with the ingenuity and uniqueness that it gave to the performance. One of 13 people in the audience actually had enough sense to record it with his phone looking through the viewpoint of the EV-Specs. The clip ended going viral and that performance brought about the establishment of Optical Dazzle technology on EV-Stages.” Shishijima explains. 

“So how does the Optical Dazzle work?”  Rin asked inquisitively. 

Well no one actually knows but it’s been theorized a bunch of times by leading engineers and inventors. 

Supposedly the stage has an AI that digitally composites images that are projected via holograms. As well as other production elements like wind or lights. 

The three categories that the AI uses to generate these images and other elements. 

Vocal Tone: Tonal production can affect the type of images displayed. Light and airy tones bring bright and tranquil productions. While dark and gravely can generate more edgy and mysterious production.

Vocal Stability: The more stable one’s voice is the better the AI can configure the images and arrange the production. If unstable or imbalanced the Optical Dazzle can appear unfinished or erratic. 

Last but not least; Musicality: Now this one is a very interesting one as most EV-Idol are just an AI themselves but they still need to mesh with the music that is being played. Musicality can sometimes make or break a stage performance as it determines how the performance functions as a whole. If one doesn’t hit the right notes or is off key for. too long the Optical Dazzle can become wonky and not display the images at all. Which is another reason EV-Idols are chosen for these things. For a human it may be harder trying to keep up with the music but for an EV-Idol programming does the heavy lifting. 

Well there you have it! Any question on what I just said?” says Mr. Shishijima as he turns to Rin. 

Rin is looking at her phone and Mr. Shishijima gets annoyed. 

“Hey are you even listening?” shouts Shishijima manically. 

“Uhmm—year sure I am.” said Rin in a nonchalant voice. 

“Well if that’s the case I guess we should get started with some vocal warm up’s as I want to see you sing something.” said Shishijima. 

“What! You didn’t say anything about singing. I thought this was about the business aspect of things.” says Rin. 

“Well, the crux of your entire career hinges on how well you sing as that impacts how you perform and what audience you will attract.” says Shishijima. 

“Well, so guess that makes sense. What do you have in mind.” asked Rin. 

Shishijima picks up a remote and turns on the music he was playing earlier. He immediately starts to dance and shimmy. 

“UHM. I’d rather just do it without the music !”  screams Rin. 

Shishijima then turns off the music. 

“Oh! So you’d rather do it acapella?” said Shishijima. 

“What’s that? Don’t tell me you’re speaking Italian?” asks Rin. 

“No,No,No,No. I was saying that you would rather sing bare without any music.” said Shishijima. 

“Oh. That’s what that means. I guess so; as I definitely feel more comfortable doing it that way.” says Rin. 

“Ok. Then the floor is all yours.” says Shishijima. 

The room becomes quiet as Rin begins to close her eyes and start to hum. 

“Hmhmmmm Hmmmmmm” she hums softly. 

“Solely a name isssss all I ammmm. I don’t matter to you like they dooooo. 

I try to get you attentionnnnnn. But nothings ever enough for you to realizeeee that I’m here soooo. 

Maybe, I should trying and learn to let it beeeee. Don’t I get to lead this happilyyy. 

But I am I really happy if you’re not sitting right by meeeeeeee?”

Just a soon as she is about to sing her next verse. The dark hair woman walks in and says “Wow, such a pretty voice!”

Rin gasps and turns embarrassed that she heard her singing.