Walpurgisnacht? The Magical Girls' Gathering!

So, should we call today's gathering Walpurgisnacht? It had been a few days since the failed nickname change execution. Things had been pretty intense for a while, so I'd been worried something else might pop off. Fortunately, nothing did. For some reason, I could almost hear Lee Jeong-ah in my head going, "I'm the one suffering in your place though!" But that was probably just my imagination. From what I'd heard here and there, she was cooperating while the National Intelligence Service threw in some compensation (source: Malreong Kongtteok, who emailed me that the NIS had approached her too).

Hey, if you're grabbing all the perks and still whining, that's not cool.

The guy seemed swamped and cut the call short before I could even set my phone down. Virtual production side was going smoothly. Compared to expectations of hiccups from an old contact of that flaky friend, this was smooth sailing. Why risk it on someone sketchy? He was the only guy I knew in the industry...

Back when I decided to debut as a VTuber, I was basically a clueless newbie full of enthusiasm. Sure, I'd lurked streams a bit, but only surface-level. That friend hooked me up with everything—from virtual avatar creators to basic broadcast setups. He'd mentioned prepping for his little sister's VTuber ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠debut. I scarfed down his infrastructure, debuted, tanked my channel into irrelevance, and bailed on virtual investments. No new connections in that scene.

Hmm. Wonder what that guy's up to these days. Last I heard—right after our messy fallout—was that he'd basically given up on his sister's debut too.

"Senpai? Call done? Chicken's almost ready."

"Oh, yeah, all good. Coming right now."

I shook off the resurfaced memories at Park Seong-yoon's soft approach and replied. Today, I'd invited her as a guest for a cooking stream.

Not exactly centered on cooking—it was more of a lead-in for the real guest later. After sticking to regular streams sans main content to normalize, viewership spiked over 10x, kicking off another rollercoaster. Huge buzz, obviously.

What buzz? Sharp viewers probably noticed I switched up how I call my junior. Yep, spot on. You can only call "the junior" singular if there's just one. Changing that means multiples now. In short: a new junior was joining.

And this one was drawing major attention... from overseas.

Our star: the junior I met on that quick Mt. Fuji trip. Magical girl Susanoo Tempest, today's protagonist.

"Should I toss these green onions and onions that flavored the broth?"

"Uh... isn't that wasteful? No need to remove 'em even if we add more."

"Got it. Leave 'em in then."

What were the chat folks on about? Rice with garnish and national dignity plummeting? I knew broth veggies often get tossed post-flavoring, but they taste great. Texture's a bit off, sure.

"? That's the solids. Second only to zucchini in tastiness."

"Ehh."

I reacted to chat while slicing potatoes, but the vibe felt weirdly off. Sigh. More hate train? Why was Seong-yoon playing along too? Broadcast chemistry too good maybe.

"Ate 'em like that even before the otherworld trip. Loaded up extra anchovies cuz I craved 'em."

"That good? Maybe I'll try."

"Psh. Such a fuss." I tsked at chat, finishing today's star: a whole chicken. Why this? Looked it up—best way to treat Japanese guests.

"No whole chicken joints around here."

Not super rural, but yeah. Whole chicken spots are rare anyway. With extras like more green onions and rice cake noodles prepped for quick boil, I headed to the door once the new junior was due.

Slam—

"Welcome! Junior!"

"Hweee?!"

I flung the door open for the greeting, startling the transformed magical girl mid-knock. Not on purpose... but that squeak was cute.

"You okay?"

"Y-yes, nyet."

Like last time, she was plump and curvy, costume a bit offbeat from standard magical girl fare. Long black hair, exposed shoulders, sides, legs... straight-up miko cosplay vibes. Tall for a girl too. Whoa, that outfit shouldn't hug like that. And her face? Pure puppy-dog innocence. This the trendy male-gaze MZ magical girl? Pre-TS me would've been all uhuhu~. Chat would handle it soon enough.

Orthodox me and conservative Divine Blaze aside, super fresh look. Susanoo Tempest recovered, eyes sparkling as she bowed vigorously.

"Ah, h-hello! I'm magical girl Susanoo Tempest! Call me Aris too! Came right after meeting Senpai!"

"Oh?"

Korean, but rough accent—not native. Super polite. Plus escorts from Japan bowed too, as pre-notified.

"Pleased to meet you, Alice Calamity. As discussed, everyone but me—the interpreter—will wait outside."

"Call me Geukbing indoors. Hmm. Interpreter, huh."

Not really needed. I didn't speak Japanese naturally, but could use magic for it. Common in the otherworld; magical girls pick it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up instantly. Post-TS, I could toggle it passively untransformed. No way I'd learn languages the hard way—I'm not that smart. So no need for this guy, but...

"Any issue?"

"Nah. House ain't that small."

Japan probably wanted one inside. Didn't look like a plain interpreter—handy restraint for surprises. Recalling Seong-yoon's debut-day forced stream end, I let them in.

"Whoa! Nice to meet you! You're... Susanoo Tempest, right? Saw you on the news tons!"

"? Ah, h-hello."

"I'm magical girl Divine Blaze! Nice to meet ya!"

"Susanoo Tempest here. Me too, eh. Nice to meet you?"

Seong-yoon dashed over from table-setting. Clearly flustered. I'd taught her interpretation magic for smooth comms, so her fluent Japanese probably shocked her. Same for me first time? Nah, I'm extra special here. My feats get a pass as "she's just built different." They'd figure it out eventually.

"......"

The interpreter seemed to notice something, vibe shifting. Whatever. I seated Aris and started intros.

"Alright, today's guest as teased! From Japan, our new junior Susanoo Tempest! Applause, applause."

"Pleased to meet you. Korean viewers."

"Ahem. Not defection. Official event. I explained already."

I clarified for Aris, who blankly scrolled chat—yet to learn interpretation magic. This collab was officially from Japan. Escorts explained that.

"Ah, time for some chat? Here."

I stuck an ice crystal on Aris to enable comms.

"Eh, ehh? I see chat. How?!"

Hmm. Her confusion was kinda fun. I savored Aris and viewers freaking over sudden mutual understanding, then cleared it up.

"Basic interpretation magic. Temp cast for now since you need it. I'll teach you later."

"Hweee?!"

"Not tough magic. Seong-yoon here's already using it."

"Ahh!"

Aris whipped to Seong-yoon, then back with a "tricked!" face.

"Way handier than interpreters."

"Y-yeah... it is."

"Chat, skip the minor lore crumbs and back to main topic. Managers, got it?"

Post minor chaos, chat normalized.

"Ahem. We have this meetup cuz I begged to see Senpai."

Official reason checks out, but real motive? Mt. Fuji incident—still classified then. Japan wrapped crisis cleanup; secrecy tough now, so official reveal time. They wanted the solver, Alice Calamity—me—involved. Offered exclusive stream rights as payoff. Not thrilled, but no reason to nix a visiting junior.

"Overprotective af."

"Mung, told ya mung."

Quiet, you two. After casual okay, Seong-yoon wanted in too. Overseas magical girl peer—makes sense she'd wanna meet.

Hmm. Other side, same-gen often clashed... but Earth's different, maybe.

"Senpai~ Table's set!"

Thus, three magical girls gathered for a magical girl by magical girls, for magical girls meetup.

"Hmm. So, Walpurgisnacht for today's?"

"No!"

Just couldn't think of a better name. Grumbling at chat's barrage, I headed to the table with Aris.