Chapter 11: CH 10

Last night, I was watching Schwartz the Glintz’s stream in bed, but I fell asleep without realizing it.

Normally, my alarm would go off the next morning, but my phone died, so when I woke up, I was convinced I was late.

Luckily, I woke up just in time, so I hurriedly got ready for school and ran to the bus stop.

I have a power bank, so I should be able to boot up my phone before I reach school.

Fortunately, the bus had just arrived when I got to the stop. Had I been a few seconds late leaving the house, I would’ve been screwed, and that thought gave me chills.

The bus was packed, so I couldn’t check my phone’s battery, but I figured I would do it when I got to school.

After about 20 minutes, the bus came to a halt at the bus stop in front of the school.

I walked straight to the classroom after getting off the bus.

“Morning, guys,” I greet my classmates.

“Oh, it’s Hime-kun. Morning!”

“Mornin’, Hime-kunnn.”

“Hellow, Hime-kun!”

The girls in my class reply back.

And then…

“I watched your stream!”

“Me toooo. You were super cute!”

“YuruYuka tee-tee…”

It’s nice of them to even give feedback on my stream.

I also appreciate that they haven’t told our other classmates that I’m Yuka Shirahime.

Then one of the girls asks me a question.

“Hime-kun, you’ve never met Mama Yuru in real life, right?”

“Yeah.”

“If you meet her at Comiket, tell me what she’s like, okay?”

“Uh, sure…”

I don’t get why Yuru-sensei interests her so much, but oh well.

“I’m rooting for you! Do your best on your streams! (If I knew what she looks like, I could make a doujin about them… Uhehehe…)”

“Thanks!”

And with that, the girls go their own ways.

“Yo, Yuki. Yesterday was a disaster, huh?”

Today, Yuuto arrived a bit late and said that as soon as he saw me in the classroom.

“A disaster? Are you talking about the game?”

“Huh? No, not the game.”

“Huh? Then what are you talking about?”

“Huh? I thought you already knew because it was obviously about you, Yuki…”

“Well, whatever.

Anyway, before we went to buy the game yesterday, you almost tripped, right?”

“Yeah, I remember that.

But a woman helped me, so I was okay.”

“That woman was Fuwari Ukigumo from Imananji’s 7th wave.”

“What?!”

W-W-W-W-What’s the meaning of this?!

“What do you mean?!”

“Coincidences are a funny thing, eh? Fuwari Ukigumo… The name’s too long to say every time, so I’ll just use Fuwa-chan. Anyway, Fuwa-chan started her stream yesterday in a really good mood.”

“Uh-huh, yeah, that happens often.”

“Anyway, Fuwa-chan said she was happy because she helped someone whom she couldn’t tell whether they were a boy or a girl and got to hug them in the process.”

“O-Okay…”

I don’t like where this is going.

“Then, someone from her chat introduced you, Yuki, as a possible femboy VTuber named Yuka Shirahime.”

“Please tell me that wasn’t you!”

I couldn’t help but interject.

“Of course not!”

“Thought so. Thank goodness…”

“I spat out my drink while I was watching the stream, you know.”

“That’s rare, coming from you, Yuuto.”

“What do you take me for, seriously…”

“Well, let’s put that aside. Fuwa-chan quickly researched and found your channel.”

“And then she watched my videos?”

“Yeah, exactly. But what was amazing was that she immediately figured out it was you, Yuki.”

“Huh???”

“Lastly, she said she’s aiming to collab with Yuka Shirahime.”

“Besides, Fuwa-chan’s a corporate VTuber, can she really collab with me? Normally, they only collaborate with VTubers from the same agency, right?”

“Yeah, that’s normally how it goes.

But, in this situation, her character as Fuwari Ukigumo broke off multiple times, and her stream became pretty viral.”

“So it’s possible that she might use that to promote herself, huh…”

It’s great that there’s a chance that I might meet my fave VTuber, and I’m even happier if it’s the pretty lady from that time, but…

“It seems that I’m on Fuwa-chan’s hitlist because of my physical appearance…”

“Oh…”

Yuuto made a face that looked like he messed up.

I don’t remember the contents of today’s class that happened after.

—Fuwari Ukigumo’s POV—

My name is Hana Utsurogi.

I’m 22 years old and single.

I love lolis and shotas, and I’m the person behind Fuwari Ukigumo.

Early in the morning, I headed to the district office to get some things done at the big VTuber agency, Imananji.

Back in the day, Imananji only had an office in Tokyo, which meant most of the VTubers were from or had to travel to the Tokyo area, which caused a lot of problems with support and handling issues.

To overcome this situation, the agency decided to invest in opening district offices in major cities nationwide.

As a result, VTubers from all over Japan started to gather and entertain with interesting live streams, and Imananji’s name spread throughout the country, sparking a movement.

That’s why VTubers are still popular today.

And I, a rural person, got a chance thanks to that.

Perhaps because of the company’s established reputation, I became a well-known VTuber.

How?

Personally, I think I’m pretty good at games; my character design and 3D modeling are all top-notch, to the point where I feel like I don’t belong in this girl’s body.

However, if there’s one thing, it’s that I created my character for popularity.

Recently, I even surprise myself by being able to act in character without thinking.

I act like a natural, air-headed girl by extending my sentences and the like.

Somehow, people accept me for it, and that’s one of the reasons behind my popularity.

Still, I have one unique characteristic—I love lolis and shotas.

Whenever a cute character appears in a game, my excitement goes through the roof.

Apparently, that’s one of the reasons why people like me, according to my manager and colleagues.

I usually play games I like or host zatsudan streams.

You can say it’s more than just a pastime now.

It pays the bills and allows me to live a more comfortable life than most, which is something I’m grateful for.

Yesterday, I helped an androgynous person from tripping.

Turns out, they had a charming face and voice, even though they leaned more toward the boyish side.

I felt thrilled when I hugged them lightly with my arms.

I want to do it again.

But if I tell this to people, they would probably think it’s weird.

What’s even more surprising is that they happen to be an indie VTuber.

Not to mention, their favorite VTuber is me.

Today, I came early to the agency to make my collab with them official.

When I arrived at the office, I talked to my manager.

“Good morning, manager.”

“Oh, hello, Utsurogi-san. You’re early today.”

“I wanted to talk to you about something…”

“Is it about yesterday’s live stream?”

“Yes, if the person agrees, would it be okay to collaborate with them?”

“I don’t mind.”

Well, that was quick.

“Are you sure?”

“You’ve been working hard for the agency, so the higher-ups told me to give you some freedom,” replies the manager, adding that restricting their talents too much will take away their strengths.

“I see, I can collab with them…Yes!”

Looking at me, who unintentionally made a fist-pumping gesture, the manager smiles.

“You’ve been listening to our requests for so long, so it’s about time we give you some leeway. But if you do an offline collaboration, make sure to do it at our designated karaoke place since we have the rights to it. Okay?”

“Really?! My potential collab partner seems to care about that, so I appreciate it.”

“In return, make sure to tag us properly in your collaboration partner’s live stream, okay? It’s important!”

“Got it!”

“Okay, then let’s go over the plans we discussed earlier…”

I’m going to work hard so I can collab with that person.

There are other pressing matters, but that kid is important to me right now.

Hehehe… I’m looking forward to finding out whether they’re a legal loli or shota…

—Kaoru Yusa (Yuru Kakizaki)’s POV—

“What should I do…”

I’m struggling with something right now.

“Still at it, onee-chan?”

“Yeah, I was trying to come up with a costume for Yuka-chan and ended up with so many ideas…”

“Well, narrowing it down to just one is tough.”

“Ughhh, I can’t decide…”

“Onee-chan, I came up with a design too…what do you think?”

“Ahhhhhhhh! This would also look amazing on her!!!”

“Right?!?!?! I knew you’d get it, onee-chan!!!”

One hour later…

“Onee-chan, we’ve managed to narrow it down to three, but…”

“I can’t handle trying to narrow it down any further…”

I mutter in a voice on the verge of tears.

But then I see a glimmer of hope.

“Ah!”

“What’s up, onee-chan?”

“Yura, you know how Comiket lasts for three days, right?”

“Uh, onee-chan?

You can’t expect him to cosplay for three days in a row, can you?”

She has a point.

I know that, but…

“Our booth is only on the first day.”

“That’s true.”

“So, if we run the booth for three days, it’ll be fine, right?!”

“You’re beyond hope sometimes, seriously!!!”

Just to be safe, I asked him, and he was okay with it.

He himself seems to be pretty interested in cosplay.

Is Yuki-kun some kind of angel or something?