Himemiya Rie Closes Midnight Halloween Karaoke Relay, Joined by Hellme for Duets

PHASE CONNECT — Himemiya Rie of Phase Connect performed the final slot of a midnight Halloween karaoke relay, singing a set list that included duets with her Halloween counterpart Hellme and finishing with an encore that viewers had pleaded for.

Rie said she had been scheduled to go first, but her audio plugins reset to factory settings while she was updating her setup, and she had to reinstall them and retune her microphone levels. She also said she had not done a live karaoke stream in about two months and that her throat was in poor shape. She opened with a joke about why zombies do not eat clowns (“because they taste funny”), and chat answered with a flood of tomato emotes.

“Now, can I go to sleep? I got work in the morning.” — Himemiya Rie, after the encore

About nine minutes in, she said she wanted backup for the performance and called for “a very special guest” who appears once a year. Hellme joined her for the first song, and Rie thanked her afterward for the assist, saying she always knew how to back her up. A second duet followed. Rie said she could not tell how the harmonies had gone because she could not hear Hellme while she sang, joking that a veil of night separated the living from the dead.

The third song was “Galahad and Scientific Witchery” by Mili, which she had previously covered with another singer. She said she was not used to singing the other part and slipped on it; she noted that the original cover was close to one million views and asked a moderator to link it. She then attempted a song she said she had never sung before, and chat filled with “DEAD ALIVE” as it went on. Near the end she slipped into the wrong part again, laughing that she could not remember whether she was the devil or the angel.

When she said the set list was finished, viewers asked for an encore. She told them to beg first, and chat answered with barking and “on my knees” pleas before she relented and sang once more. She then thanked the relay’s host, the other participants and the staff, pointed viewers to another member who was streaming, and said Hellme would be back after the weekend. Hellme returned briefly at the close, and the stream ended with a promise of more to come next week.