My Childhood Friend, a Vtuber, Treated Me Like Trash—I’m Never Producing For Her Again
A few days later, the physical fitness test was held.
As expected, my score had dropped compared to before.
Meanwhile, Mizuta-san was beaming from ear to ear and even flashing a double peace sign.
“I broke my personal best…!”
Yet when I caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye during the test, she sounded like she was about to die.
Well, still, I’m glad her hard work over the past few days paid off.
“As expected of Mizuta—you really can do it when you put your mind to it.”
“Y-Yeah, I guess so…? I’m the kind of person who can do it when I try…!”
“Well then, let’s just keep working out steadily like this.”
“Huh…? So this wasn’t just a last-minute cram session for this fitness test…?”
“Of course not. After all, this exercise is meant to help you keep active for the long term.”
Even though she grumbled a bit, she stuck with it.
It seems Mizuta-san is the type who can push through even tough challenges as long as she has a clear goal.
This is definitely one of her strengths.
Mizuta-san handed me her lunchbox and said,
“Here’s today’s lunch…!”
“Okay, thank you as always. I’ll dig in.”
I wondered what kind of side dishes she’d made today.
Filled with anticipation, I opened the lid and immediately dug in with my chopsticks.
“Mmm, it’s delicious again today, as always. Did you change the recipe for the rolled omelet a little?”
“Ah, y-yes…! I added a little secret ingredient, so to speak…”
“A secret ingredient? What is it?”
“Uh, well…”
Mizuta suddenly blushed.
“I-it’s a secret…”
“Oh…”
What on earth did she mix in?
It’s actually safe to eat, right?
I suddenly started to feel uneasy.
As if to cover it up, Mizuta-san changed the subject.
“Oh, um, I did some research on my own and tried making a short video too…!”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes…! Please take a look…!!”
When I nodded, she immediately held out her smartphone.
The screen showed a vertical video lasting about several dozen seconds.
“Well, for starters, the editing itself is actually pretty good.”
It wasn’t packed with flashy effects or fancy production techniques.
But I could see the effort to hook viewers within the first three seconds.
Above all, the pacing of the cuts was exquisite.
It didn’t drag on, yet it wasn’t overly crammed either.
It didn’t try to be too flashy; it stuck firmly to the basics.
Mizuta’s expression softened.
“Hehe, ehehe… I really studied this hard…”
“However, there’s a fundamental problem.”
“Huh…? A… fundamental problem…?”
This applies to long-form videos as well, but short videos are even more susceptible to YouTube’s algorithm.
And algorithms are highly sensitive to viewers’ interests and preferences.
In other words—
“The concept itself is too ordinary.”
It’s not that it isn’t funny.
In fact, from what I can see, it was a short video that fully brought out Sakyumi’s charm and hit all the right comedic notes.
But I suppose I only feel that way because I know Sakumi—and, by extension, Mizuta-san.
“Hmm… Is that so…?”
“Yes. This is a clip from a game stream, right? But the game itself has already passed its peak in popularity. And it doesn’t exactly have a large dedicated fan base either.”
“Ugh…”
“It would be fine if it were a scene that even first-time viewers could intuitively enjoy, but this has turned into an inside joke that only people familiar with the game will get.”
“Ugh…”
The game Mizuta-san chose was an indie title on Steam.
It’s the kind that’s popular these days—one where a barrage of excitement comes one after another in a short period of time.
Of course, it’s a better choice than a long-running AAA title.
However, games like this rarely have staying power; they tend to become popular for a brief moment and then fade away.
“Unless it’s the kind of game with a dedicated fanbase that people play thoroughly, timing is ultimately what matters.”
Clips from games like this have to be posted right when they’re at the peak of their popularity, while they’re still getting a lot of attention.
Otherwise, viewers will have already gotten tired of seeing them.
The moment they recognize the game screen, they’ll swipe past it—and that’s the end of it.
Mizuta slumped his shoulders in disappointment.
“And to think I worked so hard researching and making this…”
“Well, there’s no harm in posting it. It’s just that it’s unlikely to become a hot topic right now.”
The key is to keep posting consistently while maintaining a certain level of quality.
In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that only God knows which videos will go viral.
As she keeps uploading, Mizuta-san herself will surely grow steadily.
“By the way, Mizuta-san, are you planning to focus mainly on game stream clips for the time being?”
“Huh? Um… I haven’t really decided yet…”
“Well, it’s good to try different things, but you should think a little more carefully about what you upload to YouTube.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that…? Are you saying I shouldn’t upload videos other than gaming ones to YouTube…?”
I nodded as I replied.
“It might put you at a disadvantage with YouTube’s algorithm. For example, let’s say a channel that’s been posting nothing but cooking videos suddenly starts live-streaming an FPS game one day.”
“That’s a bit out of the blue…”
“Yeah. The target audiences don’t overlap at all, right? In that case, it becomes harder to reach both cooking enthusiasts and FPS fans.”
Of course, there’s no problem with gradually branching out into related genres.
For example, reviewing cooking utensils or interviewing experts on specific dishes.
“B-but when you look at VTubers, they do all kinds of things on a single channel, don’t they?”
“That’s because those VTubers are already well-established.”
“Huh? R-really…?”
“Yes. Even with cooking videos, the difference lies in whether viewers are watching the cooking itself or the streamer.”
People who watch a specific VTuber’s cooking videos often enjoy watching how that VTuber behaves more than the cooking itself.
To begin with, as a channel grows, the influence of the algorithm becomes relatively smaller.
“In other words, the streamer themselves become the star of the video. Once you reach that point, it doesn’t matter what you do—whether you’re cooking or playing games.”
“Whoa… In that case, since I’m not at that stage yet, I need to be careful, huh…”
“Exactly. That’s why it’s best to specialize in something at first, then gradually broaden your scope later on.”
You naturally shift the focus of what attracts people from the content itself to the streamer as a person.
First, you grab their interest with a specialized topic.
From there, you gradually reveal your own charm, eventually turning viewers into fans of the streamer themselves.
“I get it in theory, but it’s hard…”
“Well, it’s not easy. If it were easy, everyone would have a Gold Play Button by now.”
In reality, it’s hard to even get a Silver Play Button, let alone a Gold one.
Even in Japan, only a handful of channels reach the Silver Play Button.
“For now, let’s make our first goal meeting YouTube’s monetization requirements.”
“M-monetization requirements…?”
“Yes. 500 subscribers. Well, there are two other requirements too, but let’s focus on this one for now.”
“Eek…!?”
Mizuta slumped face-first onto the desk.
“For me, even that number is more than enough…”
“……”
This is essentially where we’re starting from…