Unaware that the stream was still live… I had returned to using my natural voice.
“Ugh… it’s over.” (Rui)
Released from the pressure, I let out a big yawn… Now then. What should I do next? Maybe I should check the response online…? Actually, no, it’s scary, so I’ll pass. I don’t think I can handle the criticism. But even if I do, I should do it when I’m more mentally stable.
Should I call Ayaka…? She did cheer me up, but if I call her before and after the stream, wouldn’t it seem a bit weird? You know… like I’m reporting to her or something. So, well… I’ll thank her when we meet next time. I’m sure Ayaka will forgive me.
But sleeping… feels a bit early though. It’s not even 9 PM yet, and I think my part-time shift is in the afternoon tomorrow. Well, even so, I don’t have the energy left to play ranked Apecx anyway… So, for now…
“Maybe I’ll grab something to eat…” (Rui)
Remembering that I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, I headed to the kitchen. Of course, I didn’t have the energy to cook for myself, and there were no bento boxes either… So, as always, it would be this. I grabbed one of the cup noodles stacked in the cardboard box.
“I guess I’ll go with this again~ Tonkotsu ramen.” (Rui)
While muttering to myself, I opened the lid of the cup noodles and started boiling water in the electric kettle… While waiting for the water to boil, I went back to the living room and decided to watch some videos on my computer.
Humming a tune, I clicked away and opened YooTube. For the past few days, I’ve been watching videos related to VTubers to gain knowledge about them, so my recommendation feed was filled with VTuber streams and highlights. Well, since I’m already here, might as well…
“Let’s study for a bit.” (Rui)
But when it comes to studying, all my senpai VTubers are such interesting people, and I actually quite enjoy their content in general. Well, I still don’t really feel like I’m a part of this world…
Oh, [Genius Sniper Hasumi Raimu demonstrates overwhelming skill with 20 kills]… now this is intriguing.
I remember this Hasumi Raimu girl is supposed to be one of the VTubers affiliated with [SkySun]. I knew of her existence from my research, but I didn’t realize she was also good at games. I have to check this out… I clicked on the video.
After an ad, the video started playing… It seems like the game is similar to Apecx, and on the screen, there’s a VTuber girl with purple hair and red eyes wearing headphones around her neck, moving left and right…
“…Eh?” (Rui)
I couldn’t help but raise my voice. In Apecx, the weapon you’re holding is displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen… but both weapons she’s holding are sniper rifles, which are said to be long-range weapons. No way, she just couldn’t find a good weapon, right…?
“(Ohh~ Look at what we have here.)” (Raimu)
The girl on the screen said in a laid-back voice as she pinged to her teammates a certain submachine gun, known as a powerful weapon… Wait, why?
“Aren’t you gonna pick it up?” (Rui)
I couldn’t help but comment on the screen… And it seemed like she had landed in a highly contested area where many players were landing, with battles unfolding between multiple squads.
“(Hehe, with such good equipment like this, there’s no way I’m gonna lose, right?)” (Raimu)
Good equipment… but isn’t starting with a sniper rifle kind of a miss…? Well, there was a submachine gun lying there… Despite my doubts, she moved. Taking cover in a house, she shot down enemies from another squad… without a scope.
“Wow, she’s good!” (Rui)
Once again, I couldn’t help but exclaim… and Raimu-san laughed as if it were only natural.
“(Hehe. Can’t afford to lose focus, you know.)” (Raimu)
Saying that, Raimu-san reloaded. The enemy noticed her because of the gunfire, but… she calmly aimed at them, hit them with one shot, then another, knocking down the opponent.
“Wow… she’s strong…” (Rui)
I was left speechless by her display of skill… and she seemed proud.
“(Well, standing in front of someone with a sniper rifle is practically asking to be taken down, you know…)” (Raimu)
Meanwhile, it seemed that while she was distracted, another enemy had used their movement skills to flank her… Suddenly, we could hear gunshots from behind and the sound of armor being depleted.
“(Fugya!? Wait, help me…!)” (Raimu)
At that moment, her teammates noticed she was being shot at and rushed to her aid, focusing on the enemy and swiftly taking them down.
“(…Fuu. Thank god I have good teammates. Thanks.)” (Raimu)
And as if nothing had happened, Raimu-san calmly returned to her composed voice, healing herself… and once again, she shot down enemies who had come to scavenge for supplies. Ah, seeing her human-like cuteness made me feel relieved… Well, her skill is still monstrous, though.
So… I got completely engrossed in watching the rest of the video… and finally, by the time it ended, I remembered that I had been boiling water in the kettle.
“…Oh. Oops, I forgot.” (Rui)
Realizing this, I got up and walked over to the kettle…
👻👻👻
After pouring hot water into the ramen, I held it in one hand and continued to search for more clipped videos. Hmmm… maybe I should go check out Raimu-san’s other clips… oh, there’s one with Ibuki-san playing [Tetroid]. This is gonna be tough.
“Nehehe~ which one should I watch…” (Rui)
With a creepy chuckle, I browsed through various thumbnails… Hmmm. I think I’ll go with Ibuki-san’s [Tetroid] game while slurping on my ramen.
“Susuru~!” (Rui)
I mimicked the slurp of a ramen-themed YooTuber that was popular a while ago… Maybe it’s because of all the practice, but I’m finding it easier to talk to myself without feeling awkward. Is this what they call *growth*…?
Clicking on Ibuki-san’s video, I settled comfortably into my chair and watched… Oh, it’s about time the ramen should be ready. I opened all the lids of the ramen cups… Hmm, it has a rich and delicious aroma.
“(Good evening, Kiyama Ibuki desu. Today, I’ll be playing this game called [Tedroid].)” (Ibuki)
As expected of Ibuki-san, such a simple and polite greeting. I’d like to mimic this kind of greeting too, but I wonder if people would tease me for it… I pondered while splitting apart my chopsticks.
“(Ah, is the volume too low? Let me adjust it.)” (Ibuki)
Ibuki-san on the screen politely adjusted the volume. I should learn to show this kind of consideration too… I thought as I slurped my ramen. Then… I noticed a video in the related videos sidebar titled [Rei-chan’s Sensitive Voice Compilation].
“…Sensitive Voice?” (Rui)
I paused with my chopsticks… What does “sensitive” mean again? It’s a word I hear often, but what does it actually mean? I’m not sure with my English skills… Well, Ibuki-san did mention something about Rei’s streams. Maybe I should check out some clips of hers just to be sure.
With that in mind, I added Ibuki-san’s [Tedroid] video to my “Watch Later” playlist, and I clicked on the clip compilation of Rei.
Then, what appeared on the screen was a stretching screen from Nyantendo’s fitness game [Fit × Fit], along with Rei, a VTuber, in summer clothes…?
“(…Ah, it’s tough… Ah, haa…! Mmm…! Fuuuh…!)” (Rei)
“GOBAHA!!!!???” (Rui)
Upon hearing Ayaka’s seductive voice, I reflexively spewed ramen from my mouth and nose. Wait, what is this!?
“Why are you making those sounds!?” (Rui)
I exclaimed at the screen… Regardless of whether my reaction was appropriate or not, the broth from the ramen I spewed out ended up splattering all over the monitor, keyboard, and my phone next to it.
“Ahh… so this is what ‘sensitive’ means. Anyway, tissues, tissues…” (Rui)
I grabbed a box of tissues and hurriedly started wiping down the equipment…
“Wow… my phone is soaked… no, it’s drenched. I wonder if it’ll even turn on…” (Rui)
But modern smartphones usually have waterproof features, so it should be okay… I thought as I picked up the dripping phone with my shiny hands and turned it on. Then, the lock screen appeared with the sleep icon… Oh right, I had turned off all notifications and calls during the stream to avoid interruptions.
When I turned off sleep mode, notifications started pouring in endlessly. The messages were from Ayaka, of course, as well as my manager and other VTuber senpais I hadn’t interacted with before. I also received numerous tweets from viewers.
The messages all uniformly said, “You forgot to end the stream!”… Huh? Wha-what? Wait, no, really, wait, wait, no way, no way!
“…Eh, wait, no no no, that can’t be, did I really…?” (Rui)
My fingers, drenched in broth, grabbed the mouse, and I navigated to the streaming page… There it was…
Comments:『Finally noticed!!』
Comments:『Yahoo~! Rui-kun, you there?』
Comments:『You messed up right from the start lol』
Comments:『It’s okay! I haven’t seen anything! I didn’t know you were watching Rei-chan’s *ahem* video!』
Comments:『I’m disappointed. *Liked and subscribed*』
Comments:『Say ‘Susuru~’ one more time!』
The comment section was buzzing like crazy… isn’t this quite bad?!
“…Um, everyone. Was I streaming the whole time?” (Rui)
Comments:『Yeah』
Comments:『Yep』
Comments:『Well…』
Comments:『Nah, you weren’t streaming!』
Comments:『LOL』
Comments:『I don’t know if I should be laughing or not』
…Oh. It’s over. My VTuber career… it was incredibly short-lived, wasn’t it…
“…I’ll temporarily archive the video. I’ll edit it and re-upload it later…” (Rui)
Comments:『Sure thing』
Comments:『Understood』
Comments:『I won’t clip this for Rui’s sake』
Comments:『But it’s already all over Twitter…』
Comments:『#RuiRuiLive is already trending at number one lol』
“…Um. So. I apologize sincerely for inconveniencing and worrying so many people with my forgetfulness… I’m really, really sorry!!” (Rui)
Comments:『It’s all good』
Comments:『Don’t worry about it』
Comments:『I forgive you』
Comments:『But will she (Rei) forgive you?』
Comments:『It was funny, so it’s all good.』
“Sorry for worrying all of you!! See you for real this time!!” (Rui)
Comments:『Good job』
Comments:『Well done, Rui』
Comments:『Well done, Rei』
Comments:『Well done, Rei~』
Comments:『The man who went succeeded in his first stream appearance twice.』
Comments:『Seriously, is this guy a legend or what?』
Comments:『Did Rui just went viral again?』
Comments:『What are the chances LOL』
Comments:『I’ll support Rui forever』
…And I cut off the stream as if running away.
“…Ugh. Uwaaaahhhhh!!!!” (Rui)
—I hardly remember anything after that. When I woke up, there were several empty cans of chu-hai (low alcohol drink) by my pillow, which I don’t usually drink.
👻👻👻
So, the next day…
“…Ugh. Auu… Aaahhh… My head hurts…” (Rui)
I groaned as I struggled to sit up… My body felt incredibly heavy. What… What did I do…? I grabbed my phone from where it was lying on the ground while grumbling about how unfair the world was… And there…
“…Ugh.” (Rui)
There was a list of missed calls and messages, enough to sober me up. They were mainly from Ayaka, the manager, and… surprisingly, Lily too. But for now, the priority was… probably the manager. I opened the messages from her.
“(You didn’t end your stream!)” (Manager)
“(Oi!)” (Manager)
“*Missed call*” (Manager)
“(Why are you casually watching clips!)” (Manager)
“(You slurped!?)” (Manager)
“(That’s not good!!)” (Manager)
“(I’m glad you noticed!)” (Manager)
“*Missed call*” (Manager)
…Why were they surprised at the slurping? I scrolled down further…
“(Please answer your phone!)” (Manager)
“(Did you fall asleep?)” (Manager)
“*Missed Call*” (Manager)
“(When you wake up, call me back right away!)” (Manager)
“(Right away means right away)” (Manager)
“(Got it!?)” (Manager)
Why did the tone suddenly change to something like a Stand user2 towards the end…? Well, anyway… since it said to call back, I dialed my manager’s number. A few calls later, there was a response.
“(Hello, is this Rui-kun!? Did you finally wake up!?)” (Manager)
I heard a somewhat stern but still oddly cute voice that almost made me laugh. By the way, in case it’s not clear, the manager who’s assigned to me is a woman named Nemoto-san. We haven’t met in person, so I don’t have any more information about her, like her face or age.
“Ah, yes, I’m awake… Good morning.” (Rui)
“(Now’s not the time for good morning desu yo! Mattaku…)” (Nemoto)
Upon hearing that voice, in my mind, I pictured a little girl crossing her arms and pouting… The extent of an otaku’s imagination can be quite amusing, huh?
“Um, what time is it now?” (Rui)
“(It’s 11:30 in the morning! It’s the time when everyone is working hard despite feeling sleepy desu yo!)” (Nemoto)
But aren’t there people who work hard in the afternoon too? Well, I’ll refrain from making such arguments… “Good morning” should still be acceptable, right? Well, talking back might get me scolded again, so I’ll just keep quiet…
“(And also, Rui-kun! You caused quite a terrible streaming incident yesterday!!)” (Nemoto)
“U-Uwaaaahhhh…! I don’t even want to think about it…!” (Rui)
The word “streaming incident” made my headache worsen. I knew I had done something bad yesterday, but… Oh, no. No matter how much I try to romanticize the past, the bad memories come back…!
“(That won’t do! First of all, Rui-kun, you need to make the video you set to private yesterday public again! Of course, you need to edit out the incident part desu yo!)” (Nemoto)
“Ah, yes… Right now?” (Rui)
“(Of course! There are many people who were planning to watch the archive desu yo!)” (Nemoto)
“Y-Yeah, that’s true…” (Rui)
Not everyone can watch it live, after all… Keeping the call connected, I turned on my computer. Uh, how do I edit again…?
“(Also, Rui-kun! After that, please update your Twitter! Everyone is worried because there’s been no updates since then desu yo!)” (Nemoto)
“Huh? Ah, I see…” (Rui)
“(That’s right! The pigeons are even flying to Rei-chan and Lily-chan. It’s troubling everyone desu yo!)” (Nemoto)
The pigeons are flying…? Is that some sort of expression?
“…So, I just need to update my Twitter?” (Rui)
“(Yes! Apologize in your own words!)” (Nemoto)
“Understood…” (Rui)
With clumsy hands, I somehow managed to edit out the accident and make the archive of my debut stream public… Well, I’m sure the clips of the incident are already circulating so much that it’s pointless to hide…
“(…Did you make it public? Next is Twitter!)” (Nemoto)
The manager kept checking in to ensure I didn’t stop working… But after drinking last night, my brain wasn’t functioning, and I felt like I was reaching my limit.
“…I can’t do it. No matter how I phrase it, I can only see a future where all my fans mock me!” (Rui)
“(…Rui-kun, I don’t like deciding your direction or character for you, but… Rui Astica can’t continue as the cool character anymore! It’s impossible!)” (Nemoto)
“Yeah, you’re right…” (Rui)
If it were just the content of my debut stream, I might have been able to keep it together… but after everyone saw my behavior outside of stream, there’s no way I can call myself the elite sorcerer anymore. Watching those nuaghty clips of Rei and slurping ramen like some pervert…
…Haa. Am I doomed to be a comedic character for the rest of my life? I was given such a cool character…! I could have been popular with women…! Urghhh…!!
Not wanting to think about it anymore, I made a suggestion to my manager.
“Um, Nemo-san?” (Rui)
“(Why are you suddenly calling me that… Please call me Manager properly.)” (Nemoto)
“Manager Nemoto. Can I start streaming right now?” (Rui)
“(Wait… Huh!? Why would you want to do that!? You can just apologize on Twitter! Why go and reopen old wounds like that…!?)” (Nemoto)
“I understand that. But… with just a hundred-something characters, with just my hands, I can’t fully convey my words properly!” (Rui)
I delivered what sounded like a passionate line I’d heard somewhere before… but Manager Nemoto’s reaction was less than enthusiastic.
“(Um… You’re saying something cool, but you do realize you’ll be doing an apology stream desu yo? And that means Rui will just end up becoming a joke again, or getting turned into a MAD3 video. Is that really okay with you?)” (Nemoto)
Don’t say scary things so casually… but my character’s already fallen apart, so worrying about that now won’t change anything…!
“……It’s fine. I have nothing left to lose anyway…!” (Rui)
“(Well, when you put it like that, it’s actually kind of scary… But… Haa, alright, I understand. Then do as you please. If anything happens, I’ll lower my head with you…)” (Nemoto)
“Really…!? Thank you so much, Nemo-san! I’ll follow you forever!” (Rui)
I was so happy that she trusted me that I unintentionally raised my voice… Hearing that, Nemo-san seemed slightly bewildered.
“(Maybe those words should be coming from my side, you know… And I’ve told you several times not to give me weird nicknames.)” (Nemoto)
“Oh, sorry… But isn’t it easier to call you Nemo-san?” (Rui)
“(Those two letters (ネモ) are already taken by Gyundam and Hogemon4 desu yo.)” (Nemoto)
“……Heh~ Is that so?” (Rui)
“(It’s definitely not getting through to you… Haa. Well then, Rui-kun, please don’t forget to stop the stream this time, okay?)” (Nemoto)
“Haha, don’t worry, I got it!” (Rui)
“(I’m still worried about this kid…)” (Nemoto)
TL Notes:
Thanks for reading!
That Rei part was a big oof, right there. Can’t wait to see what kind of things Lily and Ayaka have to say about the stream.
These references are killing me. Idk if I even got the right references.
Idk if I should have left it in, but Nemoto uses desu yo a lot, so I added it inside her lines.
Btw, Raimu’s VTuber model can also be seen in the same illustration as the one Lily was in. She’s the violet-colored hair girl with cat ears as headphones.
Footnote:
- This is also in the raw. I think this is referencing Detroit?
- Idk what’s a stand user, when I did a search, got some results from Jojo but I never watched it so I’m not sure what it’s referencing.
- MAD refers to video and/or audio created by editing and rearranging existing video or audio, to give it new meaning. Copy-pasted definition btw.
- Idk about Gundam, but in Pokemon, I think she’s referring to Nemona from Scarlet/Violet.
Nemo is a grunt mobile suit from zeta Gundam