Traveling With a Beautiful Girl - Chapter 26: Amazing

I suggested that we take a leisurely trip to Hamamatsu on a regular train. However, due to Nanase’s insistence on efficiency, saying, “We can save an hour if we take the bullet train,” we boarded the bullet train once again.

Last night, I fell asleep before I could do my daily video editing, so I decided to work on it on my laptop until we arrived. As I opened the “Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi” channel and started downloading the latest video posted yesterday.

“What are you doing?”

Nanase leaned in with interest, looking at the display.

“I’m editing videos and uploading them to YouTube.”

“Takahashi-kun, are you one of those people who make money by making weird faces and wasting food?”

“Your prejudice against YouTubers is harsh.”

Though I feel like it’s not entirely incorrect.

“Well, to be more precise, I’m not a YouTuber, but rather a clipper, I guess?”

“Clipper?”

Nanase tilted her head in confusion.

“Yeah. I cut and edit videos from this YouTuber’s channel and upload them to my own channel.”

I showed her Yoshi-san’s channel videos. On the screen, Yoshi-san was answering negative questions from viewers in his usual cheerful tone. It felt strange to think that Nanase was also watching the content I had been watching alone until now.

“I see, so your strange sophistry is thanks to this channel.”

“Don’t call it sophistry. It’s a wonderful mindset that can turn anything positive.”

“Well, it’s all about how you phrase it. So why are you doing this? Are you a devotee? Doing missionary work?”

“That last part has quite an implication. Well, I do want Yoshi-san to be recognized by more people.”

Back in junior high school, I came across Yoshi-san’s channel during a difficult time, and it helped me a lot.

“Also, simply put, I’m doing it because it makes money.”

“Really? How do you make money?”

She seemed very curious, so I explained briefly. Yoshi-san’s posting style is primarily long, 2-hour+ live streams. The live stream videos are archived on YouTube, but their length makes them quite calorie-consuming to watch. So I cut the videos by question and re-upload them as short, 5-minute videos on YouTube.

These videos matched the audience looking for shorter videos, and their view counts increased. I started posting as “Yoshi’s Clip Channel” a year ago. Now, the channel has over 30,000 subscribers, and I’m making a significant income for a high school student.

“That’s quite an interesting system.”

Nanase nodded in rare admiration.

“5-minute videos are perfect for people who want to watch a quick video during breaks or commutes, and if a 2-hour video is uploaded, it can be divided into more than 20 parts, making it easy to build up a stock. It’s a pretty rational system.”

Nanase’s quick mind seemed to understand the structure right away.

“But is that okay? You know, copyright-wise.”

Nanase raised a valid point.

“It’s okay, I have permission from Yoshi-san himself. Yoshi-san wants more people to create and upload such short videos because they help spread awareness of his channel.”

“I see, so the short videos spread, and ultimately, the recognition of the original channel expands. It’s a win-win relationship.”

“Thanks to that, I can make enough money to go on trips without thinking about it.”

“I had no idea… that’s what you were doing.”

Nanase muttered in understanding. The latter half of her comment seemed to have some kind of implication, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

“You’re amazing.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I blinked, wondering if it was just an auditory hallucination.

“What?”

“No… I just realized that you can praise people too.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea about me.”

Nanase sighed in exasperation.

“I can appreciate a clever system, and I think it’s amazing. Besides, you not only created the system but also managed to keep it going and generate income from it. That’s even more amazing.”

Hearing her say that, I felt a warmth in my chest.

I was happy.

No one had ever praised this activity of mine before. Not my friends, not my teachers… My parents would just yell at me, saying, “If you have time to waste on such nonsense, study instead!”

“…Thank you.”

“I didn’t say anything that requires gratitude.”

Our conversation came to a halt at that point. Nanase took out a book and started reading. She probably did it so that I could work without being disturbed. I took advantage of her consideration and returned to editing. For some reason, my typing felt lighter than usual.