66. VR
The next day.
"Today we're going to try the FPS game I couldn't get to yesterday."
After ending yesterday's stream, I'd fought a long, arduous battle with my settings, but I'd finally conquered every last one of them.
And while I was at it, I'd pre-downloaded the games I planned to play, too.
"Ah, right — turns out I can't delete chat messages."
Sadly, it was impossible.
Which brought me to a small concern I had going into today.
The moment I saw insults popping up in chat, my fingers were going to itch to retaliate — and what was I supposed to do about that?
"But if things get out of hand, I'll just rip off the headset and suppress you all immediately, so keep your chat nice and pretty, okay?"
"Honestly, eighty percent is a stretch. I'll concede maybe thirty percent of the blame."
"Hmm… then what percentage do you all think it is?"
"Fifty percent seems to be the consensus…."
Me, responsible for that much of it while I'm the one streaming—
Uh… I couldn't exactly say there was nothing stinging about that.
"Well, it's fifty-fifty, so how about we all just move on without assigning blame to anyone?"
"C'mon, me alone taking half is only natural — I'm the room master of this stream, after all."
Figuring I'd done more than enough catching up with the audience, I decided it was time to get started for real.
The game on today's agenda was called Ultra Hot, a title that wielded bullet-time action with real flair.
Even on PC the game had felt great to play, so I was already itching to find out what it would be like in VR!
"Ah, when you think about it, I figured this one would be more fun than the zombie game. And I said 'the FPS game I couldn't get to yesterday' — I named the genre, but I never specifically said it was the one I gave up on downloading yesterday, did I? So technically, nothing I said was a lie."
"Everyone, please lower your blood pressure. It's bad for your health."
Anyway. I launched the game.
"Ta-da — these are my hands. And since they're still technically my hands, you're all happy about that, right? This is a cam stream, isn't it?"
When the game booted up, a pair of polygonal hands appeared where mine should be.
…Did I need to rip off the headset and restore order already?
The reaction was more intense than I'd expected, and I briefly considered intervening — but it was still within tolerable limits, so I let it slide.
"Let's begin."
I started with the tutorial.
"Oh, it says I need to throw a right hook at this orange fellow."
Hadn't I just said this game wielded bullet-time action with real flair?
For those wondering what bullet-time is: in this game, if I stand perfectly still, time slows waaay down.
The moment I start moving, time flows normally again.
To put it simply, it's action built around exploiting slow motion.
For a cinematic reference, just picture the slow-motion scenes from The Matrix.
"Which is why I can do THIS!"
Partway through the tutorial, the orange fellow fired a gun at me, and I could see the bullet crawling toward me through the air — so I leaned my torso back.
The bullet's speed surged, and it whizzed past over my head.
"Hngh…!"
That's the stuff!
As if to reward my faith, my trusty TS body compensated with supernatural flexibility.
"Heheh!"
Ugh… though apparently not even the legendary TS physique could defy the laws of physics….
The muscles around my lower back gave a faint throb — looked like I'd taken some damage.
But I'd gotten to do the cool thing, so it was worth it!
"Tutorial's done, huh?"
With the tutorial complete, I dove into the game proper.
"Die!"
I hurled the black bottle sitting beside an armed enemy to knock him down, snatched his gun, lined up shots on the heads of the remaining two, and squeezed off one round each.
"Hm… my aim's worse than I thought…."
The first bullet landed; the second, fired in haste, sailed wide.
Well, it'd get better once I adapted.
"Since this is played with VR controllers, bare hands are honestly more fun than guns."
Though personally, I'd found guns more fun in the PC version.
"Zap, zap!"
Still, VR really was more fun.
Instead of sitting motionless and staring at a monitor, standing up and moving my whole body through the game felt refreshingly novel.
As I kept playing, throwing myself into every movement, sweat started to bead on my skin.
"Whew…!"
…Hadn't I still not installed an air conditioner in the soundproof booth?
With the weather outside so chilly, running the computer inside the booth kept it at exactly the right temperature on its own, so I hadn't felt the need yet and hadn't bought one….
Hm…!
"That's it for today!"
"I've been boiled down to the bone broth of hard work, so I can't play anymore."
"Due to circumstances beyond my control, there is currently no air conditioner."
If the circumstance was that I hadn't felt the need, didn't that technically count as beyond my control?
"And if I sweat any more here, I'm ending the stream to go shower — are you all fine with that?"
"What the hell is a 'shower cam stream'? Enjoy your thirty-minute timeout."
…What is wrong with these people.
Honestly, my viewers were getting stranger by the day….
I hastily steered the conversation somewhere else.
"So now… what should I do…?"
"Oh, that thing?"
The viewers' suggestion seemed like a good way to wind down, so I downloaded VRChat.
"But I've never actually played this game — I've only heard a lot of weird rumors about it. Things like 'ninety-nine percent of people using female avatars are men, so just assume male by default and move on.' Or 'the abyss runs deep.'"
"No, come on, explain it to me. Female avatars are pretty, so I get why people use them in-game — but this 'deep abyss' thing, I've literally only heard the phrase and have no idea what it means. Censor yourself appropriately and give me an example, at least."
You have to know the danger to avoid it, right?
It had been a long while since my viewers had all rallied together in one heart to stop me….
It was such a rare occurrence that my curiosity evaporated on the spot.
"Wait, then why did you recommend it to me?"
If it was bad enough for that reaction, shouldn't it be off-limits on stream?
While I was busy asking all my questions, the download finished.
"Let's head in."
After launching the game, the first thing I decided to do was change my avatar.
"Anyone know a map with pretty avatars?"
Following the viewers' recommendations, I jumped to a map said to have avatars available.
"Ah, hold on. Wrong button."
Back when I'd been asking about the game, the viewers had warned me that instead of opening a private room nobody else could enter, if I joined an existing one there might be some… unsavory characters, and to be careful.
…Was that a death flag?
Still, surely there wouldn't be anyone strange hanging around a mere avatar-switching map— wait, no, that's a death flag too.
As this vague sense of dread crept over me, the loading screen finished.
What appeared when loading completed was—
"SHIT!"
I tore off the VR headset, scrambled to my desk, and — deliberately avoiding looking at the monitor — hammered Alt + F4 on the keyboard, force-closing the game.
…Apparently everyone had taken psychological damage from what they'd just seen.
But! I! Damn it! I saw that thing in VR!
"…VRChat is officially off the menu."
After that, I took some time to restore my emotional equilibrium, and then ended the stream.