Suddenly, when he looked toward a pedestrian who had started making a scene nearby, he finally laid eyes on the gemstone he had been seeking. The pedestrian was saying something to him, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with it.
The silver hair looked as if snowflakes were drifting and sparkling only around her. He had never seen such a hair color before. He couldn't imagine this brilliance being reproduced by artificial coloring. It had such a mystical hue.
She was dressed poorly, but she had a beauty that couldn't be hidden. They say a beautiful person looks good in anything, but from the perspective of evoking a desire to protect her, it felt as though the rags actually enhanced her charm. The eyes looking up at him anxiously had a fragility that made him want to reach out instinctively.
Like an abandoned kitten. And yet, she possessed an atmosphere full of nobility, and he also felt a wildness from her as she struggled to survive. A fragrant, sweet, and melting harmony, like an exquisite blend of milk and the highest-grade black tea.
He smirked inwardly before this gemstone that was even greater than he had imagined. However, perhaps sensing something unsettling in his attitude, the girl fled at top speed. It was a movement faster than the eye could follow, just like a kitten. Pomerni chased after her in a panic, but with his waistline having grown a bit plump recently, he was in no position to catch up.
"Shit, it can't be helped. In that case... Come on! Kitties and Brothersssssss! Listen to the sound of my soul†Hear☆Me†!"
He sang. A guerrilla live performance beginning on the street. People gradually began to gather, and an enthusiasm hot enough to melt the snow descended upon them.
---
What is that man doing?
Having successfully escaped, I vanished my presence again with the unconcern mode. I had intended to move far away just like that, but seeing the bizarre behavior the man started, I stopped in my tracks.
For some reason, just when I thought he had suddenly started singing, people began to swarm toward him. The surroundings had turned into a crucible of excitement. I couldn't understand what was good about his song, but judging from that abnormal level of popularity, he must be quite a famous person.
Between songs, he was shouting things like 'Don't hide, come out Kitty!' or 'I won't do you any harm!' Were those words perhaps directed at me?
In my hand was the man's wallet. I should have just left it there, but I had brought it with me without thinking. Looking at the cards inside the wallet, the man's name seemed to be Pomerni.
I wondered what to do. He didn't seem dangerous in a vague way, but he still wasn't someone I actively wanted to get involved with. However, I had no intention of running off with the wallet either. I wasn't particularly pressed for money at the moment, and more importantly, it would be a hassle if a police report was filed.
But I was also hesitant to go into that crowd. In this short amount of time, an enormous number of people had gathered. It looked like it would be a struggle just to push through those lines of people to get to Pomerni, who was the star of the show.
I felt as though we lived in different worlds. He was likely 'special.' He had the power to move people's hearts. He wasn't a person I should be associated with.
After a while, a man in a suit arrived and led Pomerni out of the crowd. Boos erupted. A luxury car was parked at the roadside to pick him up. Fans rushed to follow Pomerni as he headed toward the car, but the man in the suit desperately held them back.
Now was the only time. I went to the side of the luxury car and tossed the wallet inside. He would notice it now. Keeping the unconcern mode active, I walked away without being noticed by anyone.
"Kitty."
Turning back at the voice called out from behind me, something was thrown toward me. I caught it reflexively.
"It's a bit early, but it's a Christmas present. Keep it."
It was a smartphone. I didn't know why I had been given such a thing. He called it a present, but being given a phone out of the blue was troubling.
But before I could say anything, the car he had boarded started moving. As I stood dazed watching the car go, a call came into the smartphone in my hand. The name Pomerni was displayed on the screen. I decided to answer for now.
'Say! It's been a while, I wanted to see you, my Cutie Kitty! It seems my sound reached you. I knew you would definitely show yourself before meeeeeee!!'
...Can I just throw this away?
'Whoa-whoa! Now, wait. I think it's not too late to decide how much value that smartphone has until after you've heard me out. Oh, and about the way I talk—can I go back to my normal self? It's tiring to maintain this character.'
Do whatever you want. I wanted to know his objective first and foremost.
'First, let me introduce myself. I'm Pomerni. I'm an iTuber.'
An iTuber apparently referred to people who post videos to the major video-sharing site 'iTube' and make a living from the advertising revenue. When a video is played, ads are displayed, and the uploader receives a small advertising fee. However, it seemed that many small things make a mountain; there were even people who didn't just make a living from these fees but became billionaires.
'I'll be blunt. Why don't you try becoming an iTuber?'
I couldn't understand how he had reached that conclusion from what had happened, and it wasn't something I could just say yes to. Naturally, I refused.
'I see. Yeah, well, that's a reasonable judgment. It's wiser than jumping at a story like this so easily.'
I didn't know what he really wanted, bringing up the subject himself only to back down so quickly.
'Filming and posting videos. It's an era where even a child can do it easily. And it's an era where the number of people who simply think they can make money as long as they get views has increased. There truly are "sweet deals" in this world. And people blindly believe they can grab one too.'
I didn't know much about iTubers, but it probably wasn't a system where anyone could easily earn money. Or rather, it might look that way at a glance, but the reality was different.
'Only a handful of people earn enough to live on. Let me tell you what's necessary to climb to the top. It's luck.'
That was a very blunt way of putting it. It might be true, but wasn't it because they had talent and could make interesting videos that they caught people's eyes?
'Well, yeah. If you can only make videos that are neither here nor there, it's out of the question. But it's common for videos that someone worked desperately on day after day to receive no recognition, while on the other hand, there are videos that make you question people's sanity as viewers swarm to such trash. Only those who "have it" from the start can aim for and get results. Popular uploaders see their view counts grow like a snowball. It's the same as the mechanism of the economy—money gathers where there is money.'
The thing needed to become one of those who "have it" was, according to Pomerni, luck.
'I'm idolized now, but at first, I was just a failed musician. You saw that street performance earlier, right? Singing my heart out while creating a stupid character a cappella... If it had been me a few years ago, no one would have looked my way. I might have been jeered at.'
Now he was a superstar in high demand. He said he had no musical talent. He wasn't particularly good-looking either. He had no academic background. He said he possessed nothing he could boast about to others. He said he had simply been lucky.
'There's definitely such a thing as born talent. But conversely, I, who didn't have a single one of those things, have become a major iTuber. In the end, things like popularity or charisma aren't the person's own qualities. It's luck, luck. It's just that for those who don't have anything, the element of relying on that luck is a bit bigger.'
He said that, but he was probably where he was today because he had continued to work hard without giving up. Perhaps that was his true talent. Regardless, it was a story that had nothing to do with me.
In the end, I didn't understand why I was being encouraged to become an iTuber. According to his story, whether one succeeded or not depended on luck. I didn't even know if he was serious about recruiting me.
'Why did I recruit you? There are various reasons, but... the biggest one is that your eyes looked like mine did in the old days.'
By "the old days," he seemed to be referring to his period of struggle before he gained popularity as an iTuber. I felt that was far removed from my current circumstances.
'The band mates I'd hung out with since school days quit. I was the only one who kept chasing the dream and clinging to music. No one looked my way even when I played on the street. No one would listen to my voice. I wondered what I had been doing all this time. I felt like I would die like this, known by no one, leaving no mark on anyone's heart.'
My chest stung slightly. If he said we were alike, it might be so. Walking while erasing my presence every day, there were times when even I didn't know if I existed or not. I started to feel like it didn't matter if I was there or not.
'Still, occasionally, really occasionally, there were people who stopped to listen. There were people who called out to tell me to keep at it. I was so happy I could cry. If those people hadn't been there, I wouldn't be who I am today.'
That was...
'So, when I found you, I felt I couldn't take my eyes off you. Truly, it felt like you might vanish like a phantom blurring beyond the snow. That's why I wanted to tell you. That there's someone watching you. I instinctively felt that I couldn't let you out of my sight here.'
...
'I'll say it again. Won't you consider becoming an iTuber? They're not all good people, there are plenty of pieces of trash too, but someone is bound to be watching you. Fortunately, you're blessed with great luck. Because, in this wide world, you've met me like this! Check it out!'
The voice on the other end of the phone changed to a noisy tone, as if to cover something up.
'That smartphone is a special model. By registering on iTube from that device, you can call yourself an "Official Pomerni Child".'
The influence of his videos on iTube was significant, and among other uploaders, many uploaded content similar to his to ride on that popularity. To put it harshly, they were copycats. Those uploaders were called 'Children' as a somewhat derogatory expression.
However, the 'Official Children' mentioned here were apparently something completely different. As the name 'Official' suggested, it was a title given only to those whose talent Pomerni himself had scrutinized and recognized.
Uploaders who obtained this title would apparently have their videos picked up in the Official Children slot on the iTube top page; that alone meant they were promised view counts several levels higher than general members from the starting stage. This man, who could push through a project that far exceeded the authority of a single user, was clearly no ordinary iTuber.
However, one couldn't just rest on their laurels in that position. Uploaders who couldn't earn the prescribed number of views would immediately be demoted to general members. Furthermore, the system was such that a few percent of the Children's advertising profits went to Pomerni as a cut. It wasn't a charity.
This smartphone was contracted in Pomerni's name, and while he would pay for this month's usage fees, from next month onward, it would be settled with electronic money obtained from advertising revenue. If one couldn't earn enough views to cover that, the contract would automatically be canceled and the phone would become unusable.
At present, there were only about ten Official Children. Every one of them was someone who had already shown success as an uploader, and he said that appointing a completely unknown newcomer like me was a first-time experiment. I didn't know why, but disproportionate expectations were being placed on me.
'Climb up. To the heights of the iTubers.'
I hadn't yet answered that I would become one, but Pomerni hung up the phone after finishing his business as if he were certain.
The black smartphone remained in my hand. The girl held her head in her hands, wondering what to do.