Chapter Text
The car pulled up in front of the building.
The young woman stepped out, and stared in awe. This was where all the SynthVs lived.
She had dreamed of becoming one, and now here she was.
SynthVs were people who had a desire to create music and had their voices modified to sound “perfect” according to society, Voices that were both charmingly robotic and beautifully realistic, Via surgery. After arriving, word quickly spread that a new synth that wasn’t Japanese, English or Chinese arrived. Every synth in the building wanted to know who they were.
the next morning, before the day actually started, a woman with drill curls the shade of the red part of a watermelon wearing a grey, red and black dress approached the door to the woman’s new room. She pondered whether to knock or not, not wanting to disturb her in case she was potentially sleeping.
She decided to try her luck and knocked anyway.
No response.
She tried again.
She was about to knock again when she heard a voice to her left.
“are you…Kasane Teto?”
The drill curled woman looked to her left.
The woman she was looking for stood there, holding cup noodles. Her lavender colored hair was in a mess. That was expected, considering how long it was.
“ah, こんにちは! You must be Mina, the Korean-Tagalog synth!” Teto said. Mina was confused as to why Teto greeted her in Japanese, then remembered.
”right, SynthVs have to greet other synths in their native language when meeting them for the first time.” Mina thought to herself, disappointed she forgot that detail.
“Yeah, that’s right. S-so what brings you here…or something?” Mina asked.
“I wanted to talk to you. You are new here and deserve a good talk before starting anything else after all.” Teto replied. “Why don’t we go inside your room to talk there?”
Mina contemplated for a few seconds, embarrassed to show Teto pretty much nothing for a room, but ended up opening the door for her anyway. “Sure, come in!”
The only furniture in Mina’s room so far was a lamp that was supposed to be for a desk, and a mattress with a pillow and a blanket. The towers of boxes didn’t count.
Teto didn’t mind the desolateness though. She simply took a seat on the floor, Mina sitting across from her.
“before I begin talking…” Teto began. “Have you gotten recognized yet?”
Mina swallowed half a mouthful of noodles before shaking her head. “No, barely anyone was down there.” She responded before going to take another bite “yeah, I can’t blame you. Most of the synths don’t wake up until like 8 or 9 am." Teto responded.
"Anyway, what I was going to say was starting out and even just being a SynthV isn't easy. You could reach the sky in record time or stay on the ground, collecting dust like a...I dunno, a forgotten sock that accidentally fell under your bed for example. It all depends on the fans."
Mina nodded, indicating to Teto that she was paying attention.
"I've been a synthV for quite some time now, and been in the music industry in general for about 16 years at this point. I've seen some synths shoot sky high overnight, and others struggle to try to gain even a little traction." Teto paused. "But you..."
"I just know you're gonna make it. Hell, you might even surpass me and become the next Hatsune Miku!" She said, somewhat enthusiastically. Mina almost choked on her noodles, coughing a bit. She quickly swallowed before speaking.
"Teto, I know I'm talented but come on, I'm not THAT talented!"
teto giggled. "I know, I'm joking. It doesn't hurt to try though!"
"...actually nevermind maybe it does in this case."
There was a short silence.
"Are those noodles good? I never tried them, I got put on a diet before I could." Teto asked suddenly.
"Yeah, but they're really spicy, I'm not sure if you can handle that." Mina replied.
"Hm. Okay." Teto said, thoughtfully. She suddenly stood up.
"It was great talking to you, Mina, but I have to go now. I have yet another song to record! The life of a famous synthesizer, am I right?"
Mina shrugged.
"Ah, you'll get there soon. Trust me." Teto smiled before walking out the door, closing it behind her.
Mina stared at the door, replaying teto's words in her head.
"you might even surpass me and become the next Hatsune Miku!"
"collecting dust like a forgotten sock"
Mina was worried. Worried that she would end up like the sock.
She shed blood sweat tears and way too much money to get to this point.
On the contrary, she was excited. Being a synthv opened many doors for her.
In terms of money, fame,
And most of all...
...Love.