Bottom-tier voice actress wants to become a big star on VTuber.

"Exactly!" Rion Takamiya joined in the chorus: "Tohru is practically a superman!"

Gentian covered his mouth and chuckled: "This shows that Tou-kun's charm is irresistible."

Amidst the laughter and chatter, the boarding announcement finally came on; they were boarding a night flight bound for Pudong International Airport.

The first-class seats were relatively spacious. Shimizu Toru was seated by the window, with Yuhi Lily next to him and Rindan Zun diagonally behind him. Midori Sen, Inuhiko, Machida Chima, and Takamiya Rion sat on the other side.

With a tremendous roar, the plane took off and plunged into the deep night sky over Tokyo Bay. The lights on the ground gradually turned into a blurry net of light, which was eventually blocked by the clouds.

After the seatbelt indicator light went out, the cabin returned to calm, with only the hum of the engine.

The excitement after the performance gradually subsided, replaced by a deep sense of weariness.

"Tou-kun, why don't you get some sleep? It'll be quite a while before we get to Shanghai," Lily said softly, handing him a U-shaped pillow.

"Yeah, I need to rest. Tomorrow... no, there's a rehearsal today." Shimizu Toru took the pillow and adjusted her position.

He turned his head to look out the window, where there was endless darkness and the occasional flash of navigation lights, and below were clouds churning like an inky sea.

But at this moment, what he was thinking about was the brightly lit Oriental Pearl City—Shanghai—below the clouds.

Volume 1: Chapter 130 BML Officially Begins

The plane landed at Pudong Airport at 1 a.m., and after nearly two hours of driving, we arrived at the hotel that Bilibili had booked for the performers.

It was too late, and although everyone had taken a nap on the plane, they were all exhausted and had no desire to have a late-night snack or stroll through the night market.

Fortunately, there was no time difference between Tokyo and Shanghai, and everyone woke up naturally around 8 a.m., which was enough time to have breakfast.

Having already prepared a three-day food guide, Shimizu Toru led everyone on a grand expedition to a decades-old establishment.

Crab roe soup dumplings are definitely a must-order for everyone, since it's one of the few Chinese words that Japanese people can speak. In addition, wontons, pan-fried dumplings, fried dough sticks, and scallion pancakes are also ordered.

As for the savory soy milk that's a specialty of Shanghai?

Worried that they wouldn't like it, I added sugar in the end, since Qingshui Tou is also a sweet tooth.

As is customary, let the phone eat first, taking a few nice photos first. After taking the photos, Green Fairy poked the limp, soup-filled crab roe xiaolongbao with her chopsticks, looking curious: "How do you eat this?"

"First, break the skin like this, then slowly sip the soup inside with a straw. However, I suggest you use a spoon to drink it to avoid getting burned."

He had barely finished speaking when the impatient Rion Takamiya was scalded and stuck out her little tongue, fanning herself frantically: "Water! Quick, give me water!"

"...At least let me finish. Apart from the fact that soaking fried dough sticks in soy milk makes them even tastier, there's nothing else I need to pay attention to."

Xu Hai, who had been waiting impatiently, immediately picked up a pan-fried bun and put it in his mouth: "Mmm~ So delicious!"

"This fried dough stick is so delicious! Why didn't you make it for us before, Toru?" Lily, who had just taken a bite of the fried dough stick, asked Toru Shimizu with a puzzled look.

"There are only a few people in our family. We can't possibly use more than ten kilograms of oil just to eat a fried dough stick, can we?"

Tempura, a dish made by coating something in batter and frying it, has become one of the representative dishes of Japanese cuisine precisely because frying is a cooking method that rarely appears in everyday home cooking.

Otherwise, a certain food writer wouldn't receive so many comments saying "Mom will beat me up" every time he adds a lot of oil.

"If you really want to eat that, then next time I'll fry some chicken cutlets and chicken legs, and also get a few fried dough sticks."

Upon hearing Shimizu Toru's name, Midori, who was still attacking the breakfast table, quickly raised her hand: "Me! Me! Me! I want fried chicken legs!"

"I want fried chicken cutlet too!" Chima Machida chimed in.

"I didn't say I wouldn't let you eat, don't worry, I won't secretly eat alone with Lily and the others."

After breakfast, Shimizu Toru led the group on a stroll around Jing'an Joy City. They went in empty-handed but came out with bags full of purchases.

After putting their things back at the hotel, Rion Takamiya, who had burned quite a few calories, touched her stomach and felt hungry again: "Toru, what are we having for lunch?"

"It was all arranged long ago. I booked a restaurant with absolutely authentic Shanghai cuisine for you. I almost couldn't get a reservation even two days in advance."

Thankfully, the VR event wasn't the main stage of BML, otherwise Shimizu Toru wouldn't have had time to accompany them around to eat and shop; at most, he would have just eaten a boxed lunch backstage.

Ten minutes later, the group arrived at a local Shanghainese restaurant called Renheguan, a hidden gem restaurant that still received full marks from Chef Sui despite having the triple whammy of being on the Must-Eat List, Michelin, and a time-honored brand.

Moreover, the prices are quite affordable. In Shanghai, where the currency system is based on the Shanghai dollar, the average cost per person is only around 150 yuan, which is really cheap.

Qingshui Tou ordered one serving each of the dishes that Chef Sui had ordered: Braised Pork Belly, Stir-fried Eel with Water Bamboo, Stewed Taihu White Fish, and Shede.

We ordered several more local specialties: stir-fried pork liver, smoked fish, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, and a chicken soup. Once the dishes were served, everyone ate non-stop.

The only downside might be that the portion size is a bit small, but considering it's a Michelin one-star restaurant, that's to be expected.

Given that it's Shanghai, if the portion sizes were ever as large as those in Northeast China, it would be a bit out of place.

Green Fairy, who used to think that Qing Shui Tou's cooking skills were unparalleled, suddenly turned from a sweetheart to a bitter old lady after eating: "Tou, you still need to practice more. When will you be able to reach 80% of the level here?"

"You're really putting me in a difficult position by comparing me to a professional chef?"

He never attended a culinary school, nor did he formally study under any famous teacher. The fact that he has been able to learn to this level by watching videos online is already quite remarkable, right?

Some elderly people have been cooking for decades, but their dishes still taste terrible, and they blame their children for being picky eaters.

There's no such thing as being picky about food. If you take someone to McDonald's or KFC, and they can eat half a family bucket in one go, it just means their cooking skills are lacking.

There are also those who force their children to eat even when they say they don't like it, and then accuse them of being picky eaters if they don't eat it. That's just ridiculous.

Of course you parents wouldn't be picky eaters, since you wouldn't buy food you don't like.

After lunch, the group went to the Mercedes-Benz Arena for their first and last rehearsal.

Just like the full-length holographic concert at the VR venue, today's performance was mainly Vocaloid, with Chinese Vocaloid in the first half and Japanese Vocaloid in the second half.

Interspersed throughout were performances by a few characters from the show "Battle Songstress," "Cold Kite," "Kizuna AI," "Tanaka Hime," "Suzuki Hina," and "2233."

Incidentally, in the greeting videos at the beginning of the second half, there were also videos of Wumi and Meili's past lives, Qining and Lingguo, who were also a couple who had been inseparable since their past lives.

The performance by Shimizu Toru and others was at the end of the first half. It seems that Uncle was using them as the final guest, and even two of 2233's original programs were cut for this reason.

After the rehearsal, instead of sitting backstage, everyone went to the main stage to watch the performance.

After all, the VR session won't start until 7:30, while the main stage session starts at 5:00.

The performance started with a wota-gei (a type of Japanese folk art), followed by the Bilibili theme song, which is the opening theme of Misaka Mikoto's song, "Only My Railgun".

The performers are Qi Inory, the biological mother of Yue Zhengling; Yo-neko, the biological mother of Chi Yu; Mingyue, the biological mother of Mo Qingxian; and Sanjidao, the Earth Tiger Knight.

The group hid in a corner on the side of the stage, all wearing masks. Shimizu Toru even took a moment to check the live stream on his phone before realizing something was wrong.

"There's a bit of audio-visual desynchronization. It seems the audio pickup is a bit too far away. Sure enough, there's always something going on with BML."

"Huh? It really is, there is indeed a slight delay." Xu Hai leaned closer to him, looking at the phone screen.

"It's not a big problem. The production team should take note of it. After all, it's been held for several years and they've accumulated a lot of experience."

More than that, Shimizu Toru was concerned about how to get autographs from the R group and then take a group photo to show off to Hyuga Daisuke and the others.

Volume 1: Chapter 131 An Invitation from Princess Tanaka

On the first day, most of the guests on the main stage were singers and stage creators from Bilibili, with the only exception being MARiA, also known as Mei Yimei.

She not only danced two skating songs, "Gokuraku Jodo" and "Tougen Renka," with the silver-haired Miume and 217 Nina, but also soloed a single, "Ambiguous." Her star power is extraordinary.

They even brought in a group of foreign YouTubers for an awkward, informal meeting, which was probably just a place for viewers to use the restroom.

It wasn't until after watching the nearly two-hour performance that Shimizu Toru and the others returned to the VR arena.

As soon as I arrived backstage, I saw Tanaka Hime and Suzuki Hina, who are HIMEHINA, a solo duo that debuted at the end of May last year, rehearsing their dance.

Of course, those who like the East are certainly more familiar with their other names, Aya and Matsushita.

Known in the AV community for their superb singing and dancing skills, the choreography for MMD tracks like "Inferior Superior" and "Roki" uses their distribution.

Several of the original songs are also particularly good, such as "Amber Body", "Human Shape" and "Hime Chick", which are songs I remember listening to on repeat.

The subsequent release of "V" to commemorate a million views further demonstrated their extraordinary network of connections, with dozens of people ranging from large groups to well-known individual artists.

Image: "All acquaintances", Location: "Images/1755208685-100444248-113725482.jpg"

Despite it being their first meeting, Tanaka Hime greeted everyone quite naturally and familiarly: "Oh ho~ You guys are from Nijisanji, right? I'm Tanaka Hime~"

"I am Suzuki Hina, nice to meet you."

Seeing this, everyone quickly introduced themselves. When it was Shimizu Toru's turn, Tanaka Hime leaned over and said, "You must be Hanyu Toru, right? After all, you're the only boy here."

"Greetings, senior. I am Toru Hanyu."

Tanaka Hime, who was also wearing a mask, stared intently at his face and said, "You look so familiar. Have we met before?"

"Hime, isn't your way of picking up girls a bit outdated? You wouldn't need that in a light novel from ten years ago."

Faced with her best friend's teasing, Tanaka Hime simply shook her head firmly and said, "It wasn't a flirtation! I really have seen him somewhere before!"

Seeing that he was unlikely to get away with it today, Shimizu Toru simply pulled down his mask and said, "How about this?"

"Huh!? You, you're the voice actress who voices Morishima Hataka! Hina and I both love Weathering With You!"

As expected, as soon as Shimizu Toru revealed his true face, Tanaka Hime immediately recognized him.

"Thank you for your support. I also really like humanoids. Inferior, Superior and Roki both have their own unique styles."

—Referring to Tanaka Hime's strange screams, along with Comaneci, they can be considered unique anti-counterfeiting marks belonging to the two of them.

"Stop being so polite, sit down and have some water. I'm so thirsty after watching the show for almost two hours."

After interrupting their mutual flattery, Green Fairy took out several bottles of mineral water from the supply box prepared by Bilibili in the lounge and gave one to each person.

"You went to see a performance? Hey, how come I didn't think of that? It's all your fault for not reminding me, Hina."

"If you're not smart, don't blame others." Suzuki Hina retorted to her friend before turning to Shimizu Toru and saying:

"By the way, Yuzuru-san, do you accept song requests from others? Could you write a song for us?"

"That's possible, but you should know some musicians, right? Why did you think of asking me to write a song for you?"

Shimizu Toru didn't have much stock on hand, but he had already taken out "The Body of Amber," which originally belonged to the two of them, a few months in advance.

If you're worried about it being a copy, you could use "Hime-chan" instead; the name would be more fitting. Since he won't need it anyway, you might as well use it as a favor.

“We do have musicians we work with, but that guy is so slow at writing songs, often taking half a year to polish a single song.”

As veteran singers who have been active on Nico Nico Douga for eight years, the two already know many kudoku producers.

Unlike Chinese Vocaloid creators, many Japanese Vocaloid producers use the Vocaloid community as a stepping stone to mainstream music, given the success of Hachiman.

Many singers also accumulate popularity through Nico Nico Douga before signing with a formal music company, such as Akahan, a singer who sang the ending theme for Gintama.

"I see. Inspiration can come at any time. Since you've asked me personally, I'll try my best to create a song tailored to you."

After receiving a definite answer from Shimizu, both Tanaka Hime and Suzuki Hina were very happy.

The main reason is that in the past six months since the former debuted, the popularity of the original songs he released has been exceptionally high, with even the worst one exceeding ten million plays.

The earliest released song, "Willing to Serve," was aiming to break 100 million views and had already been predicted to be the hottest single of the year several months in advance, even suppressing several songs from "Weathering With You."

Of course, this is also largely due to the fact that the songs from "Weathering With You" are not as popular as "Zenzenzense".

Not long ago, VR also officially started performing, with the first hour mostly consisting of medium-sized VR segments.

Seeing the character models of Luo Tianyi, Yue Zhengling, Yan He, and others, Shimizu Tou really had a lot to say and couldn't help but complain.

Koenian is a truly lousy company; they're masters at making money but don't do anything worthwhile.

To make money, they've gone so far as to collaborate on brands like beverages and instant noodles, but they've even taken on ads for sanitary napkins?

Not to mention the 3D modeling, it's nowhere near as good as Hatsune Miku or the Kagamine twins, it has a cheap feel of insufficient budget.

Especially those extremely incongruous big eyes, they almost made people feel like they were having a fun time, it's like they were modeling with their feet.

"Tou, it's almost your turn. Get ready to go on stage!"

"Okay, I understand. I'll head to the performance studio now."

Holographic performances are definitely not like yesterday's performance at the Budokan, where you actually go on stage and perform in front of an audience.

Just like in Nijisanji's 3D recording studio, after putting on a black motion capture suit covered with sensory organs, Toru Shimizu began his first program.

It wasn't the earliest released song, "Willing to Serve," which is now the most popular, nor was it "Like a God," which was released before but hasn't been performed live.

Instead, it was a song called "My Sorrow Is Made of Water" that was released specifically for the Dongda students, and it was a duet performance with Luo Tianyi.

This song also has a dance, and I believe many people have seen Leng Yuan's MMD video, so we can just use that.

"Disgusted by the rainy weather, pitiful messy hair, new shoes covered in mud, goldfish playing in my socks~"

"Can I remove my tear ducts? My eye makeup is completely ruined. Lately, things haven't been going well for me, and I hate that Mercury is retrograde again~"