Chapter 21: Echoes Across the World
A cold breeze drifted through Cal's window.
It was late evening, and the city beyond his dim apartment pulsed with its usual dull rhythm—flashing neon signs on distant buildings, a few cars passing on the street below, and the hum of life that Cal had long stopped being a part of. He wasn't lonely, not anymore. Not since the streams began to catch fire. Not since the system had given him a purpose.
He sipped his lukewarm canned coffee and stared at the terminal window.
Today's stats were almost surreal.
[Live Stream Summary – "Stray"]
Total Viewers (Live): 5,301
Total Replays (24hr): 61,720
Average Watch Time: 47 minutes
Top Regions: Japan, USA, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia
New Subscribers: +1,143
Timeline Echoes Created: 3
His influence wasn't local anymore. It was international. And it was growing at a speed that both thrilled and terrified him.
Even now, a new notification flickered into existence on his HUD.
[You Have Been Clipped – "GhostFrame" Featured in 12 International Forums]
[Discussion Thread: "Who is this guy?!" (Global Trend Rank: #93)]
He grinned despite himself, pushing his chair back to stretch.
"Guess it's time to prep the next stream," he mumbled.
But not just any stream.
The viewers had tasted the future. They were hungry for more—and he planned to serve it in full-course style.
He browsed his catalog again. The system had curated and compressed high-fidelity versions of all notable media from his original timeline—games, movies, concerts, anime, music videos. All ready to stream.
He skipped past the usual mega-hits like Elden Ring or Cyberpunk 2077. Those would come in time. What he needed now was something different. Something that would make people stop, stare, and feel.
And then he saw it.
[Playlist: "Modern Music Revolution – 2020–2025"]
It included pre-curated highlights, selected by the system itself. Among them: Ado's "Usseewa", Creepy Nuts' "Baka Majime", YOASOBI's early singles, and several emerging indie voices that would define a generation.
Cal's heart skipped.
"…Let's blow their ears open."
He clicked into the setup menu.
Two Hours Later – Livestream Begins
Title: "Unreal Voices | Future Sound Showcase | Ado x Creepy Nuts + more [4K Music Stream]"
Tags: #Music, #LiveConcert, #GhostFrame, #FutureHits, #Japan
The screen faded in from black.
A massive digital arena appeared, assembled from various high-definition performance captures. Cal, now confident in stream editing, had constructed a hybrid event space—part concert stage, part holographic theater. Deep shadows contrasted with bursting neon, and the audio quality rivaled modern Blu-ray releases.
When Ado's voice cut through the silence, the chat exploded.
"Who the hell is this?!"
"Is this real?! What lungs??"
"I feel like I've just been slapped."
He let the full song run. "Usseewa" hit like a tidal wave. The vocals—wild, unrestrained, and fiercely emotional—paired with a high-speed video collage Cal had synced himself using footage from the official MV and stylistic anime cuts.
"Who produced this?!"
"This looks better than any current MV we've ever seen."
"It's like Vocaloid and J-pop had a god-tier baby."
By the time Creepy Nuts took over with "Baka Majime", complete with their trademark gritty flow and jazz-infused rhythm, the viewers had more than doubled. 12,900 now. Comments from Thailand, Germany, Mexico, the UK, and even Saudi Arabia flooded in—though most typed in romaji or broken English.
"This GhostFrame... is he some kind of underground label?"
"If this is the future of music, I'm ready."
"How do I download this?!"
He didn't respond. He never did during music streams. It was part of the mystique—an unspoken rule that his viewers had come to respect.
But then came a system prompt.
[New Viewer Type Detected: "Industry Monitor"]
[Source: Japan – Broadcasting Talent Development Agency, Tokyo]
Cal blinked.
"...They're watching now?"
Tokyo, 2010 – Broadcasting Talent Development HQ
In a boardroom dimly lit by projector light, three executives sat frozen.
A young assistant had burst in shouting that a "bizarre anomaly" was trending on Japanese underground sites. They'd dismissed him at first, until the footage began rolling.
A virtual concert space, impossible vocal mixing, dynamic holographic transitions, 4K visual quality that surpassed even their highest-tier production cameras.
"This cannot be CG," one man said.
"Even if it were, we'd need a render farm and a crew of forty," said another.
"What's the source?"
The assistant gulped. "A livestream. Anonymous. Origin unknown."
They stared in silence as Ado's face flickered across the screen—animated, masked, and dripping charisma.
And then a comment popped up in real time.
"Who is she? How do we hire her?"
Back in Cal's Apartment
[Influence Update: Broadcast Agencies Now Tracking Streamer Activity]
[Warning: Surveillance Tier 1 – Passive Monitoring Enabled]
He read the update carefully. His face remained calm.
"So," he murmured, "the grown-ups are here."
He didn't panic. The system had warned him that this would eventually happen. As his influence grew, the timeline would bend and respond in subtle ways. Some echoes would evolve. Others would resist. But Cal had a secret weapon they didn't.
He had time itself.
He ended the stream with a curated encore—an unreleased YOASOBI song and a quiet, grainy cut of an indie artist who wouldn't debut until 2025. Her voice, brittle but haunting, sang of falling stars and forgotten futures. The screen faded to black slowly.
[New Peak Achieved – Concurrent Viewers: 19,883]
[Total Points Gained: +7,200]
[You Have Inspired 3 Future Artists]
[Echo Tier Upgraded: Global Cultural Influence – Tier 2]
[System Feature Unlocked: "Echo Vision" – Track Media Ripples in Real Time]
Midnight – Cal's Room
He leaned back, exhausted but satisfied. His apartment was dark except for the glow of the screen and the faint neon outside. Empty cup noodles lay scattered on his desk, and a lone cicada chirped beyond the balcony.
He clicked open "Echo Vision".
A map appeared.
Tiny lights blinked across the world. Red ones for anime, green for games, blue for music. And there—three new blue pings. A teenage girl in Nagoya had started writing lyrics again. A Spanish DJ had mixed Creepy Nuts over flamenco. A high school band in Kyoto had replayed Usseewa and decided to try writing their own rebellious anthem.
All within 2 hours of his stream.
It was working.
Cal sat quietly, hand resting near the mouse, eyes fixed on the world map pulsing with life. For the first time since the system appeared, he felt the weight of it.
He wasn't just streaming anymore.
He was changing history.
Meanwhile, in a Quiet Room in Los Angeles – 2010
An American college student majoring in digital production clicked on a clip titled:
"The Future Voice of Japan? GhostFrame's Latest Concert Stream"
He expected cheap audio.
Instead, he sat frozen for nearly six minutes.
When the clip ended, he clicked "replay."
His roommate walked in. "You good?"
He just whispered, "I think I found the sound I've been looking for."
End of Chapter 21