ODL – Chapter 28 – Offline Collaboration Begins

Since I am now involved in the off-collaboration between Ette-sama and Zeria-chan, I decided to search for “off-collab cooking” on MeTube to get a sense of how the off-collab might go.

At the top of the search results was an off-collab video between “Mamimume Memo” from [Virtual Real] and an independent VTuber named “Hyuuga Koori”. If I remember correctly, Koori-san is well-known for being good at the recently popular battle royale games.

“(What are you putting on it, Koori-chan!?)” (Memo)

“(What do you mean… It’s sauce. I only approve of sauce on my fried eggs.)” (Koori)

“(That’s not how it works! Normally it’s suppose to be ketchup lol)” (Memo)

“(Ketchup…? This is the first time I’ve seen someone put ketchup on fried eggs.)” (Koori)

Amidst the lively atmosphere of their daily life, the back-and-forth banter of the two can be heard.

…Usually, in VTuber streams, there is hardly any background noise. At most, you might hear some sounds of eating or drinking during casual chat streams.

However, in the off-collab video, all sorts of sounds from cooking were present. Sounds of opening and closing the fridge, sizzling of something being cooked, stirring noises, even footsteps—everything was being recorded to the point where it felt like you were right there with them.

“It’s a lot more lively than I thought… But is this really gonna be okay?” (Souma)

I held my head in my hands.

Until I watched the video, I thought that the streaming would be done at Shizuka’s house, and I would just bring the final product over at a suitable time. However, it seems that things won’t be that easy.

If you were to cook during an off-collab, it would be necessary to provide commentary on the process. Naturally, background noises during cooking would also need to be included.

“Does this mean I have to cook at Shizuka’s house while she is streaming…?” (Souma)

Impossible. There is no way I can cook at Shizuka’s house. She doesn’t have any cooking utensils, and besides, the air there was contaminated and not suitable for cooking.

That means that we have no choice but to do it at my place.

Realistically, it seemed like the only way to recreate this atmosphere was for me to silently cook while Shizuka and Miyabi-chan commentated next to me.

“Well, for now, let’s discuss this with them.” (Souma)

I’m not familiar with the streaming process so let’s leave it to them to decide whether it’s feasible or not.

◆

“────Tendou-san, you absolutely must not speak. Since Ette has publicly announced that she moved, you can’t use excuses like it was my ‘father’ or ‘brother’.” (Miyabi)

“Got it. Shizuka, you too, absolutely do not call me. Remember that you’re the one making the food.” (Souma)

“Y-Yeah. I’ll be fine…” (Shizuka)

It was the day of the off-collab.

Miyabi-chan had brought in and started setting up various streaming equipment inside my living room. I can feel the tension steadily rising as we got closer to the start of the stream.

…Thousands of people, no — tens of thousands of people are going to be watching. Even if I tried to pretend that they were not there, it would be extremely difficult. If I were to mess up something… I don’t even want to think about what kind of disaster will happen. It would be Shizuka and Miyabi-chan who would suffer the consequences.

“The camera should be okay in this angle, and the microphone seems to be working fine too.” (Miyabi)

Miyabi-chan managed to finish setting up the equipment relatively quickly. It seems that she had done off-collabs many times before. Shizuka, on the other hand, seemed a bit lost and fidgety, walking around the living room.

“Anyways, I’m really looking forward to this! After seeing the ‘EtteMeals’, I always wanted to try the Acqua Pazza.” (Miyabi)

As requested by Miyabi-chan, tonight’s menu includes Acqua Pazza with red snapper. But just having that alone would be a bit boring, so to make it more visually appealing, red snapper carpaccio was also part of the menu. It’s basically a red snapper fest today.

“I hope it suits Miyabi-chan’s taste. For now, the cooking side is going well, so if you need me, just call me.” (Souma)

“Got it!” (Miyabi)

Having finished the preparations in the kitchen, I retreated to my own room and waited for them to finish their stream intro.

Surrounded by the familiar air of my room, I could finally relax.

After a while, the voices of the two could be heard from the living room. Not their usual voices, but their VTuber voices. It had begun.

“Hey everyone, it’s Zeria! Can you hear me!?” (Zeria)

From just beyond the door, I could hear Zeria-chan’s voice, completely different from before.

…

Unable to sit still, I turned on silent mode on my phone and began to check the stream of comments. Since I could directly hear the audio, being on silent mode wouldn’t be an issue. What a luxury that was.

Looking at Zeria’s stream, since it was Ette-sama’s first offline collaboration, the number of viewers had crossed 30,000. The chat is being overwhelmed with a lot of comments.

Comment: 『Hii!』

Comment: 『Hello!』

Comment: 『IT’S HERE!』

“It seems like you can hear me! It’s everyone’s favorite mischievous little devil VTuber Zeria here, and today, guess what—! …I am currently streaming live from Ette’s house!” (Zeria)

Comment: 『LET’S GOOO!』

Comment: 『Ette-samaaaaaa』

Comment: 『I have been waiting for this!』

“Well, you know, this was only possible because Ette moved to Tokyo, so I’m really, really happy! Anyways, without further ado, I’ll hand it over to Ette-san!” (Zeria)

“Hey there, Henrietta desu. To be honest, Zeria-chan just went ahead and decided on this off-collab on her own, and I only just found out about it. So, I’ll be sure to take part in the Zeria Torture later~” (Henrietta)

“I already apologized! Stop it~~~!” (Zeria)

Comment: 『She only knew after the announcement lol』

Comment: 『As expected, Zeria’s head is crazy sometimes』

Comment: 『Even so, Ette-sama is too kind to go along with it.』

…Miyabi-chan is really something else. Normally, you would work out the details beforehand and then make the announcement. If Shizuka had been told beforehand, she definitely would have suggested going somewhere else for the off-collab.

However, if it had been done at Miyabi-chan’s house, I wouldn’t have been able to cook the ‘EtteMeal’. When I think about it like that, my house is probably the most suitable place.

“Well, I’ll do my best to survive later, but as I mentioned on Twitter, I came here today to have a taste of the ‘EtteMeal’, you know? So, Ette, I hope you’re ready cause I’m quite hungry.” (Zeria)

“Wow, this person’s acting all big when she’s a guest in someone else’s house. Well, it can’t help, I’ll play along with you.” (Henrietta)

“Yay~! Thank you~!” (Zeria)

Comment: 『EtteMeal!』

Comment: 『I can imagine Zeria-chan getting scolded behind the scenes.』

Comment: 『ZeriEtta… Doesn’t sound that bad.』

Is it almost time…?

As I prepared myself, the door to my room slowly opened, and a nervous-looking Shizuka gestured for me to come out.

…Alright, let’s do this.

◆

“Wait, what’s that!? Are you going to fillet it!?” (Zeria)

“This is red snapper. Since we are making Acqua Pazza and Carpaccio today, I thought I would give filleting a try.” (Henrietta)

“Oh wow, this is the first time I have seen someone who can fillet fish, LOL” (Zeria)

“Nonono, there are plenty of people who can do it normally.” (Henrietta)

With me in the middle, Shizuka and Miyabi-chan started their back-and-forth banter.

I have set up my laptop in the kitchen so I can keep an eye on the comments. This way, I should be able to handle suspicions or unforeseen situations to some extent.

Comment: 『It’s amazing that she can fillet fish.』

Comment: 『Ette-sama would definitely make a great wife. Just like a princess.』

Comment: 『Right now, we have the combination of the person who fans least want to marry and the person who fans most want to marry in the same stream.』

…Alright, things seem to be going well for now.

Taking a breath of relief, I used a knife over the sink and worked on removing the scales from the red snapper. The larger scales were coming off in satisfying chunks.

“Wow, there are so many scales falling off. But is it really necessary to remove the scales?” (Zeria)

“Of course. If you don’t remove them… well, it becomes quite a hassle, you know.” (Henrietta)

Shizu probably didn’t know the specific reasons for removing the scales, so she gave a vague response.

Scales are covered in bacteria, smell unpleasant, the texture is unpleasant, they are hard to cut with a knife, and removing them is just generally better.

After finishing the scales, I cut off the fins and then proceeded to cut off the head starting from the pectoral fins. Following that, I opened up the belly to remove the internal organs and gave the whole fish a thorough rinse under water.

“Wha— oh my god, the organs just came out, that’s gross, eww!” (Zeria)

“You know, if you keep saying things like that, you won’t be able to cook, right? It’s no big deal once you get used to it.” (Henrietta)

Impressive, Shizuka managed to put herself up on the pedestal while showing off her imaginary skills. Is this the power of a popular VTuber’s acting skills?

Comment: 『Zeria, is basically the entertainment lmao. Can’t you help with something lol』

Comment: 『Apparently, Ette-sama doesn’t just have high feminine power, but also high motherly power.』

Comment: 『It’s like a child bothering a mom while she is cooking in the kitchen.』

With the rinsing done, all that was left was to fillet the fish into three parts and then remove the skin. I inserted the knife along the dorsal fin, successfully extracting the clean flesh. The skin was peeled away quickly as well.

“Alright, we finished preparing the fish.” (Henrietta)

“Woww, it looks like the ones you buy at the supermarket!” (Zeria)

“One portion will be used for Acqua Pazza and the other for Carpaccio.” (Henrietta)

The recipe for Acqua Pazza was the same as when I made it back then, so there was no need to worry about that.

I silently worked, turning the white wine into soup.

“Uwah, using white wine for cooking… Should I start calling Ette the Chef from now on?” (Zeria)

“That’s embarrassing, so please don’t.” (Henrietta)

Comment: 『Chef』

Comment: 『Chef sounds good』

“Chef” sounds nice. It’s probably the worst kind of insult for Shizu.

I should call her that next time.

With these natural interactions between the two of them, we were reaching the end of the cooking part without any major suspicions.

“It’s ready. Shall we eat in the living room?” (Henrietta)

“Wow, the presentation of the Carpaccio looks like it came right out of a restaurant! It even looks like a flower! Such high femininity!” (Zeria)

The two of them moved to the living room with the dishes while chatting excitedly.

Surrounded by a pleasant sense of fatigue, I watched their backs as they left.

…Ah, thank goodness everything went smoothly.

There was not a single comment that thought anything was suspicious. Everyone believes that Ette-sama made the dishes.

With the weight off my shoulders I…

…At that moment.

“Ojamashimasu” (Hiyori)

“!?” “!?” “……?”

The voice that reached us from the entrance almost made both Shizuka and me jump.

Was that voice… Hiyorin!?

As Hiyorin entered the living room, she looked at Miyabi-chan and tilted her head.

“Wa~ it smells good… Wait, who might you be?” (Hiyori)

…Oh no! I completely forgot to let Hiyorin know that today’s Souma-kai was canceled!

Comment: 『Who’s that?』

Comment: 『A special guest!?』

Comment: 『I feel like I’ve heard that voice somewhere.』

“……!!” (Shizuka)

Shizuka looked at me for help with an expression that seemed to say “What are we supposed to do?!”

…I’m sorry, but I have no idea.

TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

“The air there was contaminated”, lmao what a savage.

Them forgetting to tell the others about this is such a big slap in the face… I mean, I expected this to happen but I thought it would be Mafuyu instead. Imagine Mafuyu coming in and saying “onii-chan” out loud, lol what a disaster that would be.

I’m sorry but the cooking part is just cancerous to translate without any cooking knowledge. I wish I could vet and give more explanations but I have no idea what it means.

Okay, so I’m about to throw you a curveball. Remember Mafuyu’s university friend Arisa from all the way back in chapter 4? She is actually “Mamimume Memo” LOL. She is from a different series created by the same author, along with “Hyuuga Koori”. This collab did actually happen in one of those chapters.