Silylily - The Story

A banner from the second season.

**silylily - The Story** is an ongoing series on the silylilyanimove Twitter account. The comic style was initially conceived to create memes and humorous dialogue between Vocaloid characters. Over time, the comics developed their own continuity and became a series with an overarching plot.

## Characters

*See List of Characters in silylily - The Story*.

## Summary

### Season 1

Growing up alongside Kamui Gakupo and Gumi, Lily dreams of becoming a "rockstar." After failing to maintain the band anim.o.v.e, she decides to become a vocaloid singer, joining the AHS house with Hiyama Kiyoteru, SF-A2 miki, and Kaai Yuki. However, Gumi convinces her to join the Internet house with her and Gakupo instead. Ryuto, CUL, kokone, Chika, and Otomachi Una are next to join. Gumi, Gakupo, and Una become mega famous and receive all the attention from fans and their company's management, but Lily becomes obscure and unpopular. As a result, she is approached by the sister fairies Aoki Lapis and Merli, who offer to grant her a wish to make her more popular. When she lets the "evil" fairy Merli grant the wish, she is scammed and Lapis turns against her. She later meets a third fairy, Violet, who is terribly afraid of her.

For a fun get-together, Lily invites ten of her friends on a camping trip in the haunted Execrated Forest. There, they are hunted by demons called Indefinable Shadow Beasts, a possessed cat-girl named Nekomura Iroha, and a lost spirit named Suzune Ring. They come across Cocorobo, a girl who has been trapped in a roomba by the spirits of the forest, but they are able to heal her by bringing her to the magic Fountain of Diolacov. Owing her life to Lily, Cocorobo agrees to be her maid and personal assistant. The campers are then able to cure Iroha of her possession and escape the forest when Una flies in with a helicopter. Life returns to normal, but Lily's popularity continues to decline and she misses her old bandmates Mosh and Luna. She starts to obsess over the hate she receives, but kokone and Cocorobo do everything in their power to comfort her. The three grow close and start to do everything together. Lily also befriends Gumi's lookalike Sonika, CUL's sister ROSA, and popular singer flower. She also develops a crush on Gumi, but their statuses keep them apart.

Much to her surprise, Lily wins a mansion in a contest she was motivated to enter. It turns out to be haunted, but she refuses to accept that fact, so she invites thirteen guests to spend a night in it and see if it truly is. Overnight, the guests are hunted by a masked monster that turns out to be Lily's ex and former bandmate Luna. Luna attempts to blow up the mansion with Lily's friends in it, but the two are able to make amends and flee the mansion with everyone before it explodes. Lily goes back to living in the Internet house and retains contact with Luna, attempting to fix the broken bond between them. Back in the Internet house, Lily starts to see visions of a girl named Prima, but she is unsure who Prima is.

Around Christmastime, Lily is turned over for the chance to perform in a big Christmas concert. Her lifelong bully Namine Ritsu uses this as leverage to torment her. Obsessing over her declining fame, Lily neglects her friends as they attempt to cheer her up. The night before Christmas, she is visited by three ghosts that show her the error of her ways. When she wakes up, she makes up with Cocorobo, kokone, and Luna, allowing all of them to have a pleasant holiday season.

### Season 2

After being denied access to an Internet concert, Lily convinces kokone to help her sneak in. They receive a stolen car and a magic lamp from Iroha, who has been living a secret life of crime. While driving, police officer Yuzuki Yukari recognizes the stolen car and pursues it. Believing the police have figured out her darkest secret, Lily attempts to run, but ends up wrecking the car. Using the magic lamp, she releases Merli from inside, who claims to have been trapped there by Lapis. As a reward for releasing her, Merli offers Lily a wish, but Lily and kokone are arrested before she can make it.

Lily and kokone are soon broken out of jail by Una, but they are forced into hiding when Yukari enlists the help of Ritsu to hunt them down. They decide to seek out Merli, who still owes Lily a wish. After a few days on the run, kokone argues with Lily, accusing her of always dragging her into conflict. The next morning, Lily wakes up to find kokone has left her. She is then caught by Ritsu, but kokone returns with a weapon and knocks Ritsu out. Changing her demeanor, kokone declares herself the leader of the duo. Under her leadership, the pair is able to locate Merli just in time for lookalikes to be arrested in their place. Regardless, kokone is quickly arrested for attacking Ritsu. This time, she brings Merli to jail with her. Merli grants kokone a wish in Lily's stead, as kokone had declared herself the leader of their duo, so she wishes the police were after Ritsu instead of her and Lily. kokone is then released and reunited with her friend.

When life returns to normal at the Internet house, Cocorobo has to leave town for a weekend, so Lily hires Acme Iku to be her maid for a few days. It turns out disastrously, but Cocorobo shows up to fight Iku and save the day. This solidifies the friendship between Lily and her assistant. Later, Iroha also has to leave town for a major heist, so she hires Gumi and Lily to watch her many cats. The job is made difficult when Scourge, an evil cat, attempts to rally the felines against their babysitters. When he gets out, he is found by supervillains Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. When Lily meets them, she and Ivy develop a bond, so the villains agree to watch Scourge for her. This only makes Scourge more villainous and he later returns to attack Gumi and Lily, but he calms down when his owner comes home. However, Iroha is quickly caught by superhero Batman after her crimes are brought to light.

When a major dance celebration comes to town, Lily tries to ask Gumi out, but Gumi is unable to go with her because she is invited to the dance as a "guest of honor." kokone attempts to ask Lily out, but her requests go unnoticed. Lily tries to go with Luna, but Luna turns out to be going with Ritsu, which horrifies Lily. At the dance, kokone interrogates Luna to find out why she is dating Lily's ex. Luna admits that Ritsu threatened to leak Lily's dark secret to the world, so Luna agreed to go to the dance with her to ensure Lily's safety.

Meanwhile, Lily cannot find a dance partner and attempts to dance with Gumi. This causes her to be thrown in a "time-out zone" by Gakupo, but she is able to pickpocket his katana. kokone visits Lily in her confinement and the two spend some time alone together. Still able to hear the music, kokone asks Lily to dance, then the two share a tender moment. Afterwards, kokone cannot find it in herself to keep Luna's secret from Lily. She tells her friend the truth, prompting Lily to pursue Ritsu with Gakupo's katana. She finds her with Luna on the balcony outside, where she challenges her to a fight. Ritsu unveils her own sword, the blessed blade VY2, then they battle. Lily is able to knock Ritsu over the side, where the latter hits her head and develops amnesia. Lily then reunites with Gumi, who is not enjoying being a guest of honor, so she decides to go against the rules and dance with Lily anyway. Lily later thanks kokone for helping her, but kokone somberly reflects on her feelings for Lily, believing Lily could never feel the same about her. At the same time, a hooded figure chastises Ritsu for her failure, but has confidence that Lily's secret will bring her down.

Lily returns to her constant struggle for fame, but she is encouraged by her idol Megurine Luka to start a band. She recruits kokone and Cocorobo to form a "vocagrunge" band with her called Enlightenment. They are trained by Luna with Sonika as their roadie. They quickly become the most famous vocaloids, outselling all of the more popular ones. This does not last forever, as the more popular vocaloids cash in on the vocagrunge genre and outsell Enlightenment. This devastates Lily, who is then encouraged to take the stimulating honeydew with Luna. This improves her mood, but makes her act without regard for safety. Seeing this, Gumi convinces her to keep doing what she loves regardless of popularity. Lily agrees to do so, but the vocagrunge fad dies the very next day. This does not stop Lily's band from persisting.

Seeing Lily's band, the hooded figure decides to target Lily's friends to hurt her. Now working with Ritsu, Scourge, Ring, SpongeBob SquarePants, and another hooded figure, the mysterious individual sends the second hooded figure to infiltrate Gumi's birthday party. At the party, Gakupo announces that he is taking Gumi on the "Great Vocaloid Tour," the biggest vocaloid concert in the world. Gumi is then knocked out by the hooded figure's minion and Lily is framed for it. She is thrown out of the party, but kokone runs after her. When they find themselves outside and alone, the bond between them increases, then they decide to do honeydew together. After deciding to stand up for herself, Lily throws the honeydew away, which then hits the fleeing attacker and knocks them over. It turns out to be Kagamine Len and Kagamine Rin in a disguise. With the real perpetrators caught, Lily is forgiven, and she comes to the decision to confess her love to Gumi before the latter goes away on tour. Just before she is able to, she stops herself, unable to bring herself to do it.

At the end of Gumi's party, the hooded figure's minions capture who they believe is Gumi, but it turns out to be Sonika instead. Having lost Rin and Len, they enact a new plan with Ritsu at the forefront. Ritsu books Enlightenment to perform in the Execrated Forest, so Luna drives them there. She then mysteriously disappears. When the band finds out that Ritsu tricked them, Lily argues with her bully, but kokone and Cocorobo are taken by Ring in the meantime. This leaves Lily and Ritsu alone together. The two are soon forced to take shelter in a cave when it starts to rain, but they are then chased out by Indefinable Shadow Beasts, thus becoming hopelessly lost. Stressed out, Lily attempts to take honeydew, but Ritsu smacks it away from her. Ritsu shows sympathy for Lily for the first time, advising Lily not to go down the path of honeydew.

Later on their journey, Ring startles Lily into falling over a cliff, but Ritsu pulls her back up, establishing trust between them. When they set up camp for the night, Ritsu finally elaborates on why she hates Lily so much. She explains that she is jealous of Lily's life and friends, believing her fame is not worth the distance it creates. She also admits to hating how frequently she and Lily are compared, stating that she went along with the Lily hatred as a means of coping with it. The two somberly sing a song together before falling asleep. Through a flashback, it is shown that they were childhood friends who agreed to become famous together, but when they became singers and Ritsu covered Lily's songs, Ritsu's friends encouraged her to act spiteful and arrogant toward Lily to ascertain superiority.

In the present, Ritsu and Lily continue through the forest, making conversation. Ritsu encourages Lily to confess to Gumi and also suggests kokone might have feelings of her own. They come across Sukone Tei, who is trying to hide the body of Len, and she agrees to show them to civilization. She brings them to "Lilytown," a village made up of Lily super-fans. Lily is hailed as a queen and Ritsu is neglected, causing the UTAU singer to leave in anger. Lilytown is then invaded by Rin, who is looking for Len, so Ritsu returns to knock her out and save the day. Ritsu apologizes to Lily for everything she ever did, finally understanding how it feels to be neglected in place of someone else. Tei then gives the two a map that leads out of the forest before sending them on their way.

As they go, Ritsu refuses to let Lily look at the map. She makes the regrettable decision to take Lily to the hooded figure's castle, where the vocaloid is confronted by the one who seeks to ruin her. Surrounded by her enemies, Lily watches the figure remove its hood and reveal itself to be Aoki Lapis. Lapis tells Lily that by siding with Merli, she aligned herself with evil. She demands that Lily confess to her dark secret, but Merli shows up in time to teleport Lily away. The two go to Merli's lair, where Violet is being held and regularly interrogated for information on Lapis. Merli explains that Lapis' goodness is what makes her so bad, so she attempts to make Lily turn evil so she can save the friends Lapis captured. Lily cannot find herself to become evil and runs away.

When Lily returns home, she finds that Gakupo, Gumi, and the other Internet members apart from Chika left to go on the tour. This leaves Lily on her own, even on her birthday. At a honey bar, she asks her villain friend Poison Ivy what it means to be evil. Ivy explains that morality is decided by people in power and true strength comes from those who fight against it. This motivates Lily to return to Merli and join the fight against her sister. While Chika is left alone, Lapis confronts her to discuss Lily's secret.

### Season 3

Merli teaches Lily how to be evil, mostly training her on how to rob rich people. When they are ready to build an army against Lapis, they decide to break Iroha out of jail. They try to enlist the help of her former housemate, Hiyama Kiyoteru, who has demonic powers after being possessed by an Indefinable Shadow Beast. His glasses were blessed by the goddess LUMi, who also created the artifacts VY1 and VY2, and the demon is only unleashed when they are removed. Kiyoteru refuses to use his powers, so Lily and Merli seek help from Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy instead.

After breaking into jail, Merli's fighters are overwhelmed when Batman joins the opposing side, but Kiyoteru is convinced by Yuki to join the fight. Unleashing his demonic powers, he brutally wipes out the opposition. Lily, Merli, and the supervillains are able to escape with Iroha in the meantime. After hearing about this, Lapis heads to the AHS household and kills Kiyoteru to vanquish the demon inside him. She also strikes at Lily by magically limiting her reach over the internet, isolating her from the outside world. Seeing this as a call to war, Merli, Lily, and Iroha use Violet to break down the magic barrier to Lapis' kingdom so they can infiltrate it.

A fight breaks out between Lapis and Merli's armies. Lily manages to find her friends and free them, so Merli's side is able to win the fight. Lapis loses her sword, VY2, in the process, so she and her minions flee to seek out LUMi's other artifact, VY1. Prima then arrives to greet Lily, revealing herself to have watched the vocaloid over the years. She explains that VY1 is capable of trapping any magic-wielder inside it, so Lily must find it before Lapis can. With a carefully selected group of individuals, Prima sends Lily on her most dangerous mission yet.

Merli later wakes Lily up in a metal vessel at the bottom of the ocean. They are joined by Iku, Cocorobo, kokone, miki, a vengeful Yuki, Macne Coco Black, Oliver and his bird James, MAYU, Yukari, Meiko, Tako Luka, flower, Uni, and Iroha. They are also joined by Gumi and Ryuto, who have been taken from their tour. Prima arrives and explains the mission before giving Lily VY2. She also explains that Lapis, who has taken control of the fish, is residing in a castle in the abyssal plain, along with Ring, Ritsu, and Violet. With Lily's team receiving the ability to function underwater as if it were land, they set out to find VY1. They are immediately attacked by an oversized anglerfish that eats Iku and forces them to split into smaller groups.

Inside her castle, Lapis senses Merli's presence in the ocean. She sends Ring to find her and the others, but Ritsu shows reluctance to help Lapis after hearing Lily might be with Merli. Meanwhile, the group members struggle as they search the ocean and fight through fish. Yuki swears to kill Lapis to avenge Kiyoteru, but she is soon attacked by Ring. She is only saved after Solaria, the goddess of the sun, shows up and vaporizes Ring. Solaria explains that she can grant three favors to the team and that she has granted the first. Elsewhere, Lily and Iroha repeatedly argue in their group, often upsetting kokone, while MAYU contemplates betraying hers.

Eventually, Lily, Merli, Cocorobo, kokone, and Iroha find ancient ruins where VY1 is hidden. They are then attacked by Lapis and Violet, but Cocorobo escapes with the artifact. Lapis and Violet pursue and capture her, but find she no longer has it. It passes through different team members until it falls adrift. Meanwhile, Ritsu meets up with MAYU in a submarine and convinces her to betray the group. MAYU gets Meiko captured and battles flower before making a getaway. The other team members are captured one at a time until only Gumi, Iroha, Lily, flower, and an absent MAYU remain. Gumi finds VY1 and is subsequently captured, but Solaria uses her second favor to teleport it to flower. The light from her aura draws Lily and Iroha to her, then the three set off to find Lapis' castle together.

Iroha is captured along the way while flower and Lily scramble to escape. They are stalked and later confronted by MAYU, who battles the two of them before being knocked into an abyss and devoured by hungry fish. flower is captured soon after, but keeps VY1 hidden in her pocket. Lily escapes to a cave where she meets LUMi, who gives her a blessing that can only work when she overcomes disparity in a time of need. She also explains that VY1 can only work when a truly determined person gives their life for it. The cave is then invaded by Lapis and Violet, who kill LUMi while Lily hides. Hopeless, Lily is confronted by Prima, who finally explains who she is. She tells Lily that she was sent by the gods to watch her when Lapis first pursued her. She also explains that her power is limited because the gods first created fairies to control good and evil, forbidding direct action against any fairy. Doing only what she is able to do, Prima brings Lily to Lapis' castle.

In the castle, Ritsu reflects on her decision to betray Lily and regrets it. She then overhears Lapis torturing kokone, using magic to convince her to hate Lily. This appalls Ritsu, who finally decides to go against Lapis. kokone is turned "dark" and attacks Lily shortly after Prima grants her entry into the castle. Lily refuses to fight kokone back, so she is nearly killed, but her powerful words of love are able to remind kokone who she is. kokone returns to normal and embraces Lily before the two set out to find their friends. They are met by Ritsu, who gives them the key to the proper passageway. She then leaves to trap Violet in the dungeon before distracting Lapis with conversation. This gives Lily and kokone enough time to save everyone.

When Violet breaks free and tells Lapis what Ritsu did, Lapis kills a remorseless Ritsu, who tells her off with her final words. Lily, Merli, and the others tear the castle down from inside before fleeing. Just as they prepare to leave, they notice both Yuki and VY2 are missing. Lily hurries back inside to find them, but Lapis confronts her and prepares to kill her. The two argue until Yuki stabs Lapis in the back with VY2, killing her. Having taken the life of a fairy, VY2 disintegrates shortly afterwards. Lily and Yuki are then able to escape the castle before it collapses into rubble. The reunited team then meets up with Prima back at their vessel, but the demigoddess explains how Violet has taken control of the fish. She tells them VY1 must be used and someone must make the sacrifice.

Violet shows up with an army of fish, so Lily's team fights its way to a cave. There, Gumi attempts to sacrifice herself, but Merli confesses that she is the chosen one. She claims that she made the decision with Prima before the start of the mission, determined to save Lily from the good fairies. She gives a tearful farewell before giving her life, making the ultimate sacrifice to open the vortex to the magic-sealing sanctum. Prima then tells the group to close the vortex by stabbing VY1 into the sand. They try to form a plan, but when Iroha attempts to argue with Lily, Lily remembers how she needs to "overcome disparity" for her blessing to work. Due to this, she brings Iroha with her and runs to confront Violet. Everyone who formerly argued works together to defeat the fish army while Lily and Iroha fight the fairy. Just before they are about to be killed, LUMi's blessing activates, morphing them together into "Rio." Rio is able to weaken Violet before Lily and Iroha return to normal. Violet uses her last bit of strength to attack Lily, so they wrestle over to the rift. Per Lily's demand, kokone closes the rift behind them as Lily sacrifices herself. As everyone mourns, Solaria uses her final favor to bring Lily back, having teleported her away before the rift closed. With their mission complete, Lily and the team return to the surface.

Life slowly returns to normal. The Kagamines are returned from Lilytown and the Internet singers return from their tour, but Chika begins to treat Lily differently. When Vocaloid 6, a new movement of Vocaloid is announced, Gumi is declared the first member. Later, at a Christmas party, Lily meets a girl named Fuiro under a mistletoe. She develops a crush on her and they form a friendship. When Fuiro invites Lily to a New Years party, a jealous kokone shows up in punk attire in an attempt to impress Lily. kokone steals Fuiro's attention from Lily, aggravating her and causing her to leave, but kokone chases her down. kokone confesses to trying to impress Lily, but is unable to confess her true feelings. Regardless, the two decide to kiss after the New Years countdown, as a friendly gesture. After returning to the party, Lily is recruited into a punk supergroup with Fuiro, flower, and Luna.

## Writing

During a difficult time in 2020, the admin of the silylilyanimove Twitter account took a break from social media. They later returned to celebrate Lily from anim.o.v.e's ten year anniversary and their return was met with appreciation, encouraging them to continue using the account. After a few months of inconsistent posting, the admin decided to host an ARG-inspired event to motivate themselves to post more. They asked their Twitter followers to volunteer vocal-synth characters for an adventure series titled Camp Lily, which played into the characterizations established through silylilyanimove memes. silylilyanimove lost many followers during the event, but it introduced characters and a storyline that would be continually referenced throughout their Twitter posts.

silylilyanimove's admin began working on a sequel to Camp Lily that would be made in RPG Maker. It was intended to conclude the story they had established. After over a month of development, silylilyanimove's admin released an official demo for the game, but the posting received minimal likes and was eventually deleted. Many posts on the account continued to feature Lily, Cocorobo, and kokone as its primary trio, sometimes including Gumi. In April of 2021, silylilyanimove decided to create an official successor to Camp Lily, announcing a similar ARG event called Lily's Mansion. It borrowed elements from the RPG Maker game and featured a cast decided by Twitter users. It failed to receive the same amount of attention as Camp Lily before it, giving silylilyanimove reluctance to continue the event. After they took a break from the story, several Twitter users discovered it and expressed interest in seeing how it ended. Reinvigorated, silylilyanimove continued and finished Lily's Mansion.

Over time, silylilyanimove adopted a comic style for making memes and showing character interactions. On August 27th of 2021, they posted "Not Gumi," a well-received comic that would later become canon in the same universe as Camp Lily. Many other comics such as "A Bee and a Violet," "On and On," and "Maki-ng Me Feel Bad" were also posted randomly without titles. After reading a hateful thread about Vocaloid, silylilyanimove was inspired to write "Lily Gets Hate" on November 8th, their first comic with multiple pages telling a full-fledged story. This established the personalities and relationships of the main characters in the silylily universe. Throughout November, silylilyanimove developed an ongoing storyline detailing Lily's struggles as a failed musician trying to make it as a "vocaloid" and regularly facing adversity. The comics were well-received and became a staple of the Twitter account.

At the end of 2021, silylilyanimove made a 20-page Christmas special that became one of their most popular comics. It connected the universe of the comics with the universe of Camp Lily and Lily's Mansion. This solidified the continuity that would continue throughout the series. Many of silylilyanimove's comics were organized together in an order that comprised the first "season" of silylily - The Story. With a New Years special marking the start of the second season, silylilyanimove began the "Jail arc" of the series that introduced the core conflict and primary narrative. The arc was poorly received in comparison to the comics before it, but silylilyanimove disregarded the lack of general interest, having grown committed to the series. Characters from other franchises slowly became more prevalent and the overall storyline became more serious.

Eventually, the comic "Merli Teaches Lily to be Evil" marked the beginning of the third season and introduced a new main cast of characters, setting aside notable ones such as Cocorobo and kokone. The comic itself received a record low number of likes and other Twitter posts involving the new main cast were largely ignored by silylilyanimove followers. The admin of silylilyanimove could not help but notice the declining interest in the series, as well as the disinterest in the new core grouping. They struggled to write the rest of the story, having difficulty writing a sequel to such a dark comic and incorporating humor into it. As a result, the series went on a long hiatus with an uncertain continuation. Several ideas came along, but the admin dismissed most of them.

With Halloween coming up, a Halloween special was planned to directly continue the events of "Merli Teaches Lily to be Evil," but all drafts for the story were far too dark and humorless. As a result, silylilyanimove's admin decided to set a different Halloween special during the events of season one and incorporated new elements into the series from it, such as the mysterious character Prima. Once again, the admin struggled to follow the story and set it aside for almost a year. After a few ideas were thrown around for its continuation, "Lily's Twitter Problem" was written to wrap up the story arc with Merli and introduce a new Camp Lily type of event called "Deep Sea Lily."

Deep Sea Lily faced many delays and rewrites, mostly due to real world events and an unexpected cast after silylilyanimove called for volunteers. The script was heavily modified shortly before the initial posting, which came nearly five months after the volunteer recruitment. While the initial post received over eleven thousand views, the ARG received little to no reception, causing it to drag on for almost three months due to lack of interest from both the admin and the audience. In the meantime, silylilyanimove released several other comics to be added to the continuity once Deep Sea Lily ended. Many of them reflected the drastically changing vocal-synth scene, adding new characters and aspects that were recently introduced to it. silylilyanimove considered Deep Sea Lily to be a "soft reboot" of the lore, but kept the continuity intact.

## Trivia

* Many of the comics were posted out of sequence. This was due to the continuity developing halfway through season one.
* This series rebooted the original silylilyanimove lore, which was less continuity-driven.