Chapter 110

Ŕҽаɗ ​ｏｎ Кαт​Ȓεαｄıη​ģ​Сａϝҽ

**Cyber Girl Natsu. (1)**

“Kon-Natsu~ Hello, this is Ichinose Natsu from V-Spe Gamers~”

— Kon-Natsu!
— She’s alone today, huh, Nacchan lol
— Not streaming with Toya today?
— Is Toya getting some rest? I heard she was taking a day off.
— She’s probably sitting next to Nacchan watching, right? lol

Just like they said, Toya was right next to me, watching me stream.

I told her she could rest in her room, but she insisted on coming along and now sat there with a bright smile on her face.

And there was even one more person with us today.

Because Ragu-sensei had been away from home a lot lately, Koyuki had come over to our place again to hang out.

“So today’s stream is… hmm, if it’s boring, I’ll just stop right away.”

— What kind of stream are you doing, keeping us in suspense like that?
— Even if it’s a kusoge (bad game), it’d still be fun if Nacchan’s playing it, so don’t worry too much lol
— True, Nacchan plays a lot of kusoge lol
— Just look at the archive of Summer’s YouTube streams—full of kusoge lololol
— 草
— 草

“It’s not like I _only_ played kusoge— Wait, no. Ahem, ahem.”

I couldn’t stop myself from instinctively countering the insult to B-tier games being called kusoge.

Calm down, calm down. Even if my true identity was now public knowledge, there was no need to act in a way that made it obvious—it wouldn’t benefit me.

Anyway, as I said earlier, today’s main content wasn’t a game.

Even though I was a part of _Gamers_, I figured it’d be fine not to play a game today, since I’d already gotten the CEO’s permission.

“So today’s stream is… I’m going to try making an AI sing using my voice!”

The fate of someone who couldn’t suppress their desire to sing.

Calling it “fate” is a bit dramatic, but I honestly couldn’t think of a better word for it, which made it kind of sad.

To explain it properly, I was going to use audio from my previous streams to train an AI to sing using my voice. I’d heard recently that some good AI singing software had come out, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

“I got permission in advance from the AI developer, just so you know.”

— Sounds like it’ll be fun.
— You even got permission from the dev? Respect, Nacchan.
— Is Nacchan just using AI because she can’t sing herself…?
— Actually, AI tech in this field is getting really good.
— I just wonder how natural it’ll sound. High expectations mean high risk of disappointment.
— Honestly, if it sounds awkward, that’s part of the charm lol

And they were right—if it turned out awkward, that’d be its own kind of fun.

It’s not like I’m an amazing singer or anything, and hearing my voice sing at all would be enough to make me happy.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping it’d come out well.

With my heart pounding in anticipation, I launched the program, and a complicated UI filled the screen.

— That already looks super complicated lol
— You sure you can do this, Nacchan?
— I heard some AI are simple to use, but those are only good for basic stuff.
— This one apparently has crazy high potential though.
— But it’s Nacchan’s first time using it, so there’s a good chance it won’t work that well lol

“Well… there’s a manual, so I’ll just follow it step by step and it should be fine?”

I wasn’t expecting perfection from the start.

As long as it could sing a song decently, I’d be satisfied.

Alright, let’s start with something simple…

Thanks to some light prep beforehand, I didn’t fumble too much.

[“The acorn rolls round and round~♪”]

“Pffft…?!”

“H-Hey, stop laughing, okay? That was just a test with something easy!”

— lololol
— Knew it, Toya’s right there watching lol
— Totally called it lolol
— A children’s song? That fits way too well, I’m dying lol
— Honestly, doesn’t she sing pretty well?
— Maybe it just sounds that way because her voice is so young lol
— The slight awkwardness makes it feel like a real kid’s singing, and that’s kind of impressive lol
— 草
— 草

Toya and even Koyuki looked like they were about to die from laughter. Thankfully they weren’t laughing out loud, at least.

Still, was it really _that_ funny?

When I first learned this children’s song from Koyuki, I was just so moved that I could sing again that I didn’t even think it was weird…

But now that I listen to it again—it _is_ kind of weird.

Maybe it’s just because it was the AI singing, though.

“Natsu, don’t you sing better than you think?”

“It’s the AI singing with my voice, okay? _I_ didn’t sing that.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“It is so.”

Come to think of it—have I never sung in front of Toya?

Still, I didn’t want her to find out I’d actually sung a children’s song, so I stuck to the “AI sang it” story.

Koyuki was right there next to me, but she couldn’t speak right now anyway, so I was safe…

I sent her a silent telepathic plea to _please_ not say anything to Toya.

…Not that I had any idea whether she understood.

“Anyway, now that we know it works… Toya, is there a song you’d like to hear?”

“If I say a song, Natsu’s going to sing it for me? I’m honored~”

“…No, again, the AI’s singing it. Not me.”

Just because the voice was mine didn’t mean the singing was me.

Honestly, an AI might sing way better than a normal person anyway.

With that in mind, I looked at Toya, who thought for a moment, then gave a song title.

“How about _The Monster’s Flower Song_?”

“Oh, I’ve heard that! I got hooked on it once and listened to it all day.”

— That’s a good song.
— Nacchan’s gonna sing _The Monster’s Flower Song_?
— Sounds like it might come out as a lullaby version lol
— Wouldn’t it be better to do a medley of kids’ songs instead? lol
— Now I really want to hear Nacchan do a kids’ song medley lol

Most of the chat was asking for more children’s songs—but I’m too old for that!

I mean, okay, _I_ sang one once… but only in front of Koyuki. No way I’d ever do that in front of Toya.

So I ignored the chat’s suggestions.

Since I was going through the trouble of making my voice sing, I wanted it to be for a proper song, so I went with Toya’s suggestion.

“Okay then, so if I do this—”

[“What I remember… is your song.”]

“Sounds better than I expected?”

— Not quite what I imagined lol
— Wait, this tone came from Nacchan’s voice?!
— It still sounds a bit awkward though.
— Feels like the AI pauses to read from a textbook in between lines lol
— Well, Nacchan doesn’t really sing high notes normally, so maybe that’s why?

Things like this don’t just happen by magic—you need voice samples to build from. And I didn’t have any high notes in my recordings, so the AI couldn’t reproduce them properly.

…Should I try recording some high notes now? No, no. There’s no need to go that far.

Even if my health was better now, I wasn’t in any condition to take risks like that.

And more than anything, I still had lingering trauma from before.

Just remembering the pain from back then was…

“Ugh…”

“Natsu, are you okay?! Are you hurting somewhere?!”

“No, it’s just… brought back some bad memories. Let’s skip the high note songs for now and try those later.”

I wanted to try letting the AI sing some of Toya’s usual high-pitched songs, but the lack of voice samples meant that’d have to wait.

Maybe someday, if I’m ready… I’ll be able to sing a proper song again—not just with AI.

Anyway, after making the AI sing a bunch of songs, suddenly two hours had gone by.

“Still, isn’t this amazing? The AI can sing using my voice…!”

— Honestly, might be better than Nacchan herself lol
— For a first try, that was really good!
— I’m just happy I got to hear Nacchan’s voice singing lol
— If we train it more, we might get a perfect song soon.
— Gonna start collecting Nacchan voice clips for training lol
— The birth of the _real_ Cyber Girl Ichinose Natsu lol

Since I hadn’t sung at all since debuting as Ichinose Natsu, the listeners seemed pretty impressed.

And Toya and Koyuki’s reactions weren’t bad either.

Although they were both giving me these strange, unreadable smiles…

Fables