"Calypso…"
"Where… Where am I?"
Standing in front of the young gamer was a ghost like humanoid figure.
"Did you forget all about the K-Pop storylines?"
"What… No! Of course not! I…"
"Video Game husbandos are more important these days?"
"No No! I mean… they are cool but…"
"So, it's me again…" the figure whispered, "Why you gotta be like this?"
"Ahhhhhhh…"
The young gamer shot up from her bed in a cold sweat.
"It was… just a…"
"Tensai Tekina Idol-sama!"
"Huh?"
Before she could even begin remembering her K-Pop Visions, Calypso's attention was interrupted by what appeared to be an animated music video playing from her computer screen and a Pixie doing a critical viewing while jotting down notes in his notebook.
"Ughh…" Calypso groaned walking up to her computer screen, "Nanashi Mumei, really? You could have at least went with Hakos Ba…"
"Shhh shhh quiet," I said as the part of the song was about to hit.
"Right… here!"
"Daremo ga shinji agamateteru…"
"THERE you hear that?!?! Shiiinji. It's a Neon Genesis reference!"
Calypso looked at me, right eye twitching, with an expression as if she was dead inside.
"What?"
"THAT'S NOT A NEON GENESIS REFERENCE… IT'S JUST A WORD IN JAPANESE… IT SAYS RIGHT THERE IN THE TRANSLATION…"
"I don't know… it is Mumei… she is the biggest NGE fan in Hololive!"
"Great…" Calypso said crossing her arms and pouting, "clearly you need to evaluate more than just one member of Hololive to have a more holistic anime opinion… and I thought this was supposed to be about making me a star! Why are you watching Mumei?"
"Oh?" I chuckled pausing the video for a moment. "What? I thought you didn't have interest in such matters?"
"I… I don't!" Calypso said looking away, "It's just…"
"What?" I asked, smirking as I continued to play the video.
"What is so good about Mumei! I thought guys were into Naruto… Hakos Baelz is the one that self-inserts as Naruto you know! I thought you all hated Sasuke… Oh… so when it's a girl who does it, now it's suddenly okay! Pure hypocrisy I tell you! It's like… okay… it's sad she graduated but…"
"It's artistic…" I said sighing, "one can't just release a cover of "idol" whenever like Hakos Baelz and Irys ya know! The fact that she dropped hers right before graduation only adds to the mystery I would say. It's just like… yeah, there's someone in her life and something going on behind the scenes you know? I mean… I don't want to speculate but… maybe…"
"OMG… IS THAT OSHI NO KO?!?!"
Before I could continue my Mumei rants any longer, popping into the room was Ms. Alto, still dressed in her Tardis pajama pants.
"That show is like… TOTALLY AMAZING, OMG… ARE YOU WATCHING?!?!"
"Uhh… I mean…I saw some episodes…" Calypso said, "But none of the characters really played any video games in the story so it wasn't very relatable. Like… their lives just seemed kind of miserable to me. Is it really that great being on a stage?"
"It is…"
Rachel's face suddenly turned into a much more serious expression as she looked irritated at Calypso.
"Anyways… I gotta go… my dance lessons are in half an hour."
She slammed the door behind her before heading off.
"What the heck?" Calypso said, "what's her problem?"
"Sigh… you just don't get it yet." I said pausing the video. "But that's why I'm here, so one day you do understand."
"Urghhh…" she went back to her bed lying down on her back.
"WHY DOES THE WORLD HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS…" she said sighing, "can't the world be more like… I don't know? Naruto?"
"Because I'm against violence…" I replied squinting my eyes as I flew above her. "All Naruto girls in the real actual world just become Taiga Aisaka in the end… don't you know?"
"What! No, they don't!"
"…"
I flew over to her desk grabbing her smart phone, searched up a video of Hakos Baelz performing a cover of the Christmas Toradora song singing Taiga Aisaka's part, and showed it to Calypso.
"Okay! I mean…"
She turned to her side whimpering a bit.
"It's too real…"
"Yes well… again, that's why I'm here," I said doing a rectangle directing pose with my fingers with Calypso centered in it.
"Since I can appreciate the side characters like Deidara…which is why you are performing the Bob dance first before we do any more advanced stuff! Now come on get up, shake those arms!"
"But I have to go to work…"
"Oh, about that… actually I talked to your current boss, and our academy bought you out!"
"Re… really?"
"No… I actually scammed him with promises of ecommerce service avenues…"
"What?!?!"
"Don't worry about it… true stars don't concern themselves with these CORPORATIONS ya know?"
"What? Yeah they do… I'm pretty sure most independent artists join groups like Hololive which is under a corporation I'm sure you know… known as "Cover".
"Yeah but! Some of them returned to being independent artists!"
"Only the graduates…"
"Well, the graduates know where it's at!" I said as I searched up more clips of Nanashi Mumei to show Calypso, "the thing about Mumei that made her such a good Idol is…"
"YOU ARE NOT STARTING WITH THAT AGAIN…" Calypso said grabbing the phone from me. She suddenly sat up and searched up "Bob dance" on her phone.
"Anyways whatever! I guess I'm unemployed now! Plenty of time to do the Bob dance!"
She began waving her arms back and forth, imitating the .gif on the screen.
"Am I doing it right yet?!?!?!"
"Hmmm…" I said observing her. Despite it only being a day, it did feel like she was improving her movements. A little bit at least.
"It does look better but let me get the metronome app. Okay… 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. You're rushing the last part a little bit. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3…"
*2 Hours later…*
"HOLY… My arms…"
Despite the simplicity of the dance. The pure duration of how long she practiced led the young gamer to complete exhaustion as she laid down on her bed again.
"Mmm... alright… I think you're ready to record. Let me grab your phone again and…"
"NO…" Calypso said, grabbing me and dragging me down onto the bed. "I… need… rest…"
"Alright alright…" I said sitting down next to her, "we'll take a break before continuing then. Maybe let's listen to some music."
"Oh, good idea!" Calypso said searching her phone for music, "Fire Emblem Ost" she began typing, "let's go with…"
"Noo…" I said grabbing her phone… "REAL ARTISTS CALYPSO… not video game theme songs… don't you listen to music from real people?"
"Says the pixie who only listens to Hololive?!"
"Hololive girls are way more real than video game characters… their streams are live and their performances and still a real actual person dancing. The Anime avatar is just a way to protect their personal identities. Anyways… if you can't decide, I'm putting on Mumei Karaoke and…
"NOOOO that's okay…" Calypso said grabbing her phone again. "Okay. I'll choose the song myself just…"
She groaned as she tried remembering actual 3D human music that she had listened to recently.
"Uhhh… KPOP! That's okay for music, right?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Uhh… yeah that's fine. Why would that be a problem?"
"Well, it's just… I don't know. Do guys even like guy group K-Pop?"
"I mean it's not my favorite but… those guys are actual artists at least, who perform on a stage all the time. And at least some of their music I'm pretty sure is original art. They have a sense of rhythm which will help your own movements in being a star if you practice enough."
"Re… really?" Calypso said eyes brightening. "Okay! I have the perfect song to help my performances or whatever then!"
Got7… she began typing on her screen. Wait, is there copyright for this stuff?
4 minutes 20 seconds later
"Hard Carry Hey!" Calypso said waving her arms in a motion that to be honest, did match the original Idols well.
"Yeah! How was that!? Can I perform this one?"
"… Calypso…"
"What?"
"THAT'S LITERALLY A K-POP SONG ABOUT GAMING…"
"Yeah, what's wrong with that? Gaming is a part of modern culture whether you want to admit it or not Sol! Jackson said so in this video!"
"Now things are starting to make sense…" I muttered under my breath. Despite my slight annoyance at the repetitive subject matter, it was nice seeing Calypso do the motions almost perfectly to the dancers though… slightly off rhythm.
"What was that?"
"Nothing just… it's important to have fun in anything you do." I said, "one step at a time though… I thought you were tired… you're ready to record the Bob dance now then?"
"NO NO I…" she laid back down on the bed, "just… give me a moment okay… I…"
"Audience anxiety?" I asked flying above her.
"I mean a little but… I don't know, just… it's so different trying to imitate dances in front of a camera, rather than just following along to a video!"
"Well, no shit…" I smiled grabbing the phone, "one requires the ability to conquer one's fears… but it's worth it you know."
"Wait… no, are you going to play…"
"This is the only song I actually like…" I said searching up Got7. They taught us the dance at the Pixie academy.
"Uh-huh…" Calypso said with a dumb grin like the one of SpongeBob SquarePants when he discovered Squidward was into Krabby Patties as the track began to play.
"Baby… you are… just… just right!"
"You're a Got7 stan aren't ya?!"
"No… just… this song is pretty good okay! I like the movements in the dance!"
"Uh-huh…" Calypso said, grin getting wider and dumber, "did they really teach you this at the academy?"
"Well, I mean… OKAY… I learned it on my own, okay?! It's a good song that has an actual narrative behind it and promotes narratives in general as well!"
"Right…" Calypso said as she began wagging her fingers up and down. "All about… youuu uwu uwu uwu uwu."
She did an "UwU" cat face at me.
"Just give in Sol…"
"No I… I just saw covers of Twice girls doing this song okay! It's not like I actually like it or anything."
"Uh-huh…" Calypso said, "Press X for doubt."
"…"
"Also Sol, do you even begin to understand the relation Got7 has with Twice?! Half of the girls started off as just girls in Got7 music videos! Some of them knew each other before their debut! I mean… celebrities get married all the time you know! But like… none of the Twice girls are good enough for Jackson to be honest! Or Mark, or Bambam, or…"
*20 minutes of Got7 Ranting later*
"But yeah, I mean… Chaeyoung is in a relationship now with this guy Zion T according to Wikipedia right? Yeah, I mean… she's still down bad for Jackson though tbh! I can't blame her since…"
"Okay, your arms are definitely rested now…" I interrupted, "let's get this Bob dance recorded then? It's just a short video anyway, I just need it to be posted on TikTok and Youtube Shorts to get your feet wet. Everyone must start somewhere."
"Mmm… okay, if you say so," Calypso said sitting up, "wait, am I just supposed to do it in my room?"
"Yeah, I mean… it is that sort of vibe, no?" I said smiling as I did the directing finger rectangle again framing Calypso in the middle, "it's just your first video anyway, not like you'll go viral from the first one!"
"That doesn't sound very confident… but who am I to doubt a magical Pixie," she replied, sitting up and beginning to wave her arms again like Bob.
"That's the spirit!" I said scrolling to the video recording app, "alright, on the count of 4, ready?"
"I guess…"
"Ichi, ni, Se, no!"