I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work

Maybe it was because it was our first time organizing it ourselves, but the prep time for the Manae Festival flew by in a blur.
Before I knew it, I was running around nonstop, calling contacts, checking on members—then suddenly, it was festival day.
This was our second time at Manae Festival, but the vibe this year was completely different.
For one, my role had shifted a bit.
“You know the drill, right? Don’t go hovering around our booth today without a reason.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Managing a large corporate booth and prepping for a stage performance later—it was chaos. We were already short-staffed, and technically I should’ve been helping.
But I’d been banned from loitering around the booth after opening because exposing my red pill in public would be risky.
I mean, I am a bit too famous now.
Personally, I didn’t care that much if my own red pill slipped out—but someone might try to use me to dig up another VTuber’s identity. And that would be a huge problem.
So, while I was allowed to help carry inventory and set up the display racks before opening...
From crowd control to booth operations, everything would be run under the boss’s direct command once the doors opened.
More importantly, Darami—who would appear at the end of the event via voice only, to build hype around the "new second-gen member reveal"—had everything ready to go. All to ease my worries.
She just struggles with people being kind to her, that’s all.
But when it comes to performing, she’s built for the stage.
It took her a bit to get used to the mic and audio equipment, but apparently her prep was going perfectly.
“Phew.”
Which meant I could finally focus on my mission—
Promoting our company’s booth… and spying on the Mimax booth. (Sort of.)
The boss had given me a special directive:
Roam the festival floor in cosplay all day, gather intel at the Mimax booth, and advertise ours while I was at it.
And just in case wandering around solo would lead to annoying situations, she even assigned me a special agent for backup.
“Hello!”
That agent? None other than the one I’d joked about as my “shadow warrior”—
Pino.
“Nice to see you again, Miss Pino.”
“Ehehehe.”
“Please don’t giggle like a creep.”
“I didn’t mean to. Teehee.”
Watching this short girl flash a mischievous grin right after we met was definitely... something.
But hey—she was reliable.
Back in Blitzlight City, her unexpectedly sharp gaming skills had been a huge help.
“Anyway, I brought everything I need to help out today. Are you headed to change outfits now?”
“Yeah. Let’s use the staff exit in the back. The cosplayer helping us should be waiting there.”
“Great, let’s go!”
We ducked out the back and crossed the parking lot.
A large van was waiting for us.
The side door slid open, revealing a familiar face—
The same cosplayer who had helped me and the boss with our last shoot. She was back to support us again today.
“Gia-nim, where do you find people the same height as you? You two are basically clones!”
“Right?”
“We look alike? Really? Me and Gia-nim?!”
I tugged excitedly bouncing Pino back and turned to the cosplayer.
“How’s the costume? Were you able to copy it properly?”
“Of course. I made this one myself, remember?”
“Ah, so it all connects now.”
No wonder Mimax so readily agreed when we asked to duplicate the outfit.
They must’ve known we were close.
“Tada~ Looks flawless, right?”
The reason we had two copies of the outfit was so that Pino and I could cosplay as the same character together.
Because cute is always better in twos.
And if two girls in matching outfits were walking around—especially girls as cute as us—people would definitely notice.
Especially since the character we were cosplaying as, Kurokumo Loro, was the final boss of Coral Blue, the hottest subculture game out right now.
Half the doujin booths here at Manae Festival were selling Coral Blue merch. So yeah, we were going to stand out.
And if two tiny girls like us were carrying huge shopping bags on our shoulders?
The promotional impact would be insane. That was our—and the boss’s—plan.
So where’d we get the big bags?
Where else?
“These are the ones we’ll use.”
“Whoa! Can I keep mine after this?”
Measuring 80cm wide and 35cm tall, these massive paper shopping bags could hold anything. And they were made by our very own company—Parallel.
When we scoped out the last Manae Festival, we didn’t just look at merch and booths.
We brainstormed ways to stand out amid the flood of fans and products—and we both landed on the same idea: big bags.
Some people come prepared with backpacks, sure. But plenty of fans make impulse buys and end up stuck with no way to carry things.

And while some people might shy away from a bag with our members’ faces plastered all over it...
This is Manae Festival. It’s peak otaku territory. No one cares what you’re carrying here.
The plan was simple: people see our bags, come to our booth to get one, then others see them and want one too—and maybe even buy some merch while they’re at it.
It was a chain reaction strategy.
That’s why the bags were totally free. If someone needed one, they got one.
Of course, the only issue was when people left the venue.
For those who wanted to stay low-key in public, we had a separate version available:
A bag with just the Parallel logo.
Same size, same quality—just a sleek design featuring our minimalist logo and punch-hole pattern. Perfect for “stealth mode” out in the wild.
“Thank you again for helping today.”
“If you need anything during the event, just come find me. I’ll be here all day.”
“Thanks. I’ll reach out if needed.”
With prep complete, Pino and I hopped out of the van.
Standing in the parking lot, the early April breeze swept across our legs.
Kurokumo Loro’s outfit—a halter-neck one-piece dress with loose, open sleeves hanging like a modernized hanbok jacket—wasn’t exactly warm for April.
Shivering, Pino looked at me and asked in a timid voice,
“I might be overstepping here… but could I… maybe link arms with you?”
I trusted her enough now.
There was no way she’d try anything weird.
So I nodded.
She instantly latched onto my arm, pressing her skin against mine.
“Sniffle… So warm. This is Gia-nim’s body heat…”
“Want me to shake you off?”
“Nooo! I’m staying attached forever!”
“Didn’t you say something totally different a second ago?”
But hey, warm is warm.
Without another word, I led clingy little Pino by the arm back toward the event hall.
We re-entered through the staff-only entrance we’d exited earlier.
After picking up two promo bags at the Parallel booth, we slung them over our shoulders and headed for the main entrance.
There were still about 30 minutes until general admission.
Plenty of time to start drawing attention and luring people toward our booth.
Just like the Pied Piper.
Luring the curious and the fans alike with one giant paper bag at a time.
So, was it effective?
“Oh, Partner! I just spotted our first post!”
Of course it was.
… ─ — Coral Blue Gallery ─ ─ — …
[LOLOLOL Loro x2 🤣🤣🤣]
(photo_faceblur.jpg)
OMG right by the entrance queue, two insanely cute Loros just standing there 😂
I can’t take it, grrrrrr
[Comments]
— # Nоvеlight # Coral190: I saw them too lol they’re so cute
— Coral061: I seriously wanted to just pick one up
ㄴ Coral061: Take a pic and gently put her back down
— Coral846: I’ve seen over ten Loro cosplayers already but this pair’s accuracy is next-level lol
ㄴ Coral115: Fr though 😂
… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …
Normally, Magia would be checking these posts herself too.
But since she had to keep moving through high-traffic zones, the two had split responsibilities.
Magia handled directions.
And Pino—being lightly dragged around—kept checking community reactions.
Clearly, walking around arm-in-arm had way more impact than going solo.
Before long, Coral Blue Gallery was lighting up with posts about them.
They hadn’t exactly taken over the place, but new sightings kept popping up as people saw them walking by.
… ─ — Coral Blue Gallery ─ ─ — …
[Hehe two Loros]
[LOLOL Loro gang]
[What happens now? We all die obviously 😂]
[But what if they're actually elementary schoolers??]
… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …
In my heart, I sent them a silent message:
Don’t worry. You’re looking at two fully grown women.
Some posts gave off uncomfortable vibes with their niche interests—but that wasn’t important right now.
I’d been watching for about an hour, and the gallery’s influence was way stronger than expected.
Eventually, posts started appearing in other Coral Blue communities too.
We’d already noticed a ton of other Loro cosplayers scattered around the venue.
Clearly, the game’s finale had been a huge hit.
I hadn’t had time to catch up—between helping Darami and prepping our booth.
But apparently, the part I voiced—Loro—had become a massive success.
People were scrambling at the Mimax booth just to get their hands on Loro merch.
Pre-orders were already gone, and even the leftover stock had people swarming. Some gave up after seeing the line.
Those who missed out just wanted a photo—badly.
And their new targets?
Me and Pino.
Yep.
That sudden burst of popularity got us so completely surrounded that we couldn’t reenter the venue after just one hour of walking around with our Parallel shopping bags.
Today’s most popular character.
Shockingly high cosplay quality.
And with merch sold out, those who gave up on buying were lining up just to take pictures with us.
Things got so hectic that event staff assigned us our own photo zone.
The line wasn’t quite as long as the entrance queue—
But it stretched across at least five of the convention hall’s large columns.
I couldn’t help but think—if I hadn’t run away during that last festival thanks to Pino’s help, this is exactly what would’ve happened.
“Please make a big heart with your arms!”
“Okay.”
“O-Okay…”
After the forty-second photo session, Pino let out a big yawn.
“Fuaaaaah…”
“Tired? You can take a break if you want.”
“Nope, no way. I’m sticking with you all day.”
“I know the boss asked you to, but you should still take care of yourself. You’re not used to standing this long—you’re always at a desk.”
“Ugh… yawning in front of my oshi… I wanna die from the shame…”
Pino pulled out an energy drink from her paper bag and downed the whole thing.
Apparently, she always carried one around since she kept dozing off whenever she had to go outside.
Anyway, now that she’d refueled—
She became even more energetic than me.
“Okay! How would you like your photo?”
“Ah… could you two… um, pose like you’re about to pounce on me?”
“Got it! You heard that, Partner?”
She even kept calling me “Partner” so she wouldn’t accidentally expose my identity. A small but meaningful gesture.
We continued taking photos for another two hours before slipping away for a quick meal.
Still in costume, we couldn’t wander far. So we returned to the waiting van, asked the cosplayer for permission, and ate sandwiches inside.
The photo ops had been exhausting.
Pino scarfed down her sandwich like she was starving.
After finishing, she scrolled through her phone and muttered in a startled tone.
“Um… I think people are mistaking us for the official cosplay team?”
“Huh?”
“Look.”
Apparently, people thought our cosplay was too high quality to be done by amateurs.
So, obviously, we had to be hired by Mimax.
Some were even speculating that Loro’s voice actress herself was cosplaying.
They said the voice sounded exactly like Loro’s.
And since I was the voice of Loro…
Does that mean they realized Magia was walking around the con?
Nope.
Just like when I released a group song under the name “Fan_C” with the girls—
This time, I’d created a new alias for my voice acting work:
Dan_B. As in Background Character B.
Anyway, the speculation got so loud that it reached the ears of Mimax’s event coordinator.
And not long after—
My phone rang.
[Gia-nim! Where are you right now?!]
A voice full of urgency.
It sounded like something had gone wrong at the booth.
“I’m eating and taking a short break. Why, what happened?”
[Could you come to our booth immediately? I know it’s sudden, but it’s an emergency on our end. We’ll compensate you generously, of course!]
I couldn’t say no.
They were the ones who gave our girls their first voice acting chance—and they paid us more than fairly.
So I grabbed Pino’s hand.
Pino squeaked in shock.
“H-H-H-HAND?!”
“Emergency. Let’s go.”
“Uuuu, UGH, kyat—hiiiieeek!”