The Viral Clip and the Princess Apology

"Briefing sounds good, that cute voice really amps up my tension."

"Need a mic by any chance? I'll buy you one if you want."

"Eh? 4Pick sis, are you pro? That play just now was unbelievable."

"The opponent's putting up a pretty solid fight too—if it weren't for me, you might've lost."

..What was flowing out from the headset was none other than my own voice. Words I'd casually tossed out yesterday during solo queue, completely unfiltered, had been edited together and were now playing back raw and unedited.

It had been uploaded to the usual gallery... but the problem was, it wasn't just there.

I first noticed when Reiko sent me a LINE message. No extra words—just a link to an SNS post. Clicking it launched a short, about-one-minute edited video.

Valkyries' game screen, an illustration covering the minimap, and a panel chat on one side of the screen—it was obviously footage from some VTuber's stream. And the voice that came out? Mine. My lines from when I'd been excitedly chattering away at that streamer, all clipped together. The VTuber herself laughing with her mic muted, and the chat reactions, all highlighted.

Up to here, maybe I could call it a lucky break. But the real issue? Every time I spoke, they'd slapped a tiny version of my panel face right next to the subtitles.

I stared blankly, replaying the video over and over. First thing, I apologized to Reiko. I'd really gone and done it, I thought.

But Reiko responded in a way that almost sounded like praise. She called it an effective marketing strategy for getting my image out there—positive feedback all around.

..Not that I'd planned it at all.

A quick check of SNS and YouTube showed plenty of similar clips popping up. Even the group chat was roasting me over it. Offers to set up a collab later if I wanted, stuff like that.

If it was blowing up this big here, it had to be the same back home... Sure enough, the domestic galleries were buzzing about me, with a few clips uploaded.

Honestly, it was embarrassingly cringeworthy.. But like Reiko said, if I framed it as some aggro marketing play, maybe it wasn't so bad? Attention is money in this line of work, after all.

That said, calling my voice cute—and turns out the streamer was in the VTuber industry too. Industry folks, even. I'd been studying up on the scene, but I still couldn't place someone just by voice alone. Starting from a blank slate and filling in the blanks, you know?

"Princess," huh. Kinda novel to get called that. Back home, people just slap on whatever weird nickname they feel like—something this clean-cut feels fresh.

I hopped over to the Japanese wiki and pulled up her page. Full name: Charlotte Abelphric Lergr Fez Raise Elzeer Azerite.. Yeah, I sighed. Just as you'd expect.

Affiliated with Nijiseka, 980k subscribers, sixth-year veteran.. She'd debuted around the same time as our agency's top senior, Sera-senpai.

Silver hair and blue eyes—the classic Russian noble character combo—plus a voluminous dress. Guess she really is a princess.

Felt like there might be more to it, but whatever. I skimmed down and closed the tab. No need to dive deep right now—not like we'd be collabing immediately.

What I did need to think about was how to handle this topic on the stream I had to fire up in a few hours.

I started jotting notes for the broadcast.

..

"Aa, can you hear me? It's Tensai here. Yes yes, konsai konsai.. As I've said before, doesn't konsai have a bit of an off vibe, ne? You all came up with it, so I'll use it, but.."

True to form, the moment the stream went live, chat flooded with questions about that incident. Viewer count was a tad higher than usual too—whether good or bad attention, more people tuning in for me.

I deliberately sidestepped it and launched into my planned topics.

"A rather out-of-left-field question, but how often do you folks take baths? And I mean soaking in a full tub—not just showering."

"Usually every 2-3 days, eh.. Daily? That's gotta be tough. Anyway, why bring this up? Like some of you guinea pigs mentioned, this body doesn't soak either. Showers keep one clean enough, ne."

My one-room had a disproportionately large bathroom for some reason, complete with a tiny tub. But as I'd said, I never used it—just stored spare shampoo and such there.

Reason the pile-up of shampoo and whatnot despite living alone? Reiko freaked out at what I was using and stocked me up big time. Convenience store sale items, so was it really that shocking..

"Sorry, but this body isn't even Japanese—Earthling at that. So no baths? Zero issue. There, your opinions thoroughly debunked, ze."

The second I wrapped up and switched my voice filter to doya-gao mode via the program, chat exploded. Cute reactions, annoyed ones. Some demanding answers about the video regardless of topic.

"That has zero bearing. Personal preferences deserve respect, ne. She uses the tub her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way, I shower mine. Though.. can't argue baths are more resource-efficient."

"Sadly, no dating experience. Just hypotheticals. In reality, might hop in out of pity for the water already used."

It was a casual toss, but for real—man or woman, if they loved baths.. Would I really skip a full tub? I don't feel the need to fill one just to soak, but if it's already there, yeah, it'd feel wasteful not to.

Positive reactions to me defaulting to "her" for partner or admitting no dating XP, but negatives too—of course. Most got deleted from chat, but viewers might miss 'em while I caught 'em pre-delete.

Stuff like "Granny acting virgin," "Pro gamer carry? You'd spread legs," or "Same old yuri bait." Not entirely off-base, but did they have to spam stream chat.. Didn't really bother me.

From baths, talk flowed to hot springs opinions, ryokan visits, ryokan prices too steep for tourist spots, tiny pricey portions not my taste.. Stream-of-consciousness rambling ate up time. Plus detours searching tourist spots or dishes to show pics.

Time, huh. I took a breath and broached the unavoidable.

"Many of you already know, but.. y'know, on With or YouTube.. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there's that super viral video making rounds."

The second I gingerly raised it, chat speed spiked. Mostly.. my quotes from the clip. Stuff I'd said to the Princess—er, Charlotte.

I sighed deeply at the dizzying scroll and spoke slowly.

"..No excuses. That's this body in the video. Was solo queuing hard for ranks, teammate had a cute voice so I got a bit hyped.. That's it."

"If it offended Charlotte-sama herself or her viewers, I apologize. Wasn't targeting her specifically.. uh.. yeah."

"..If I answer that directly? Yeah, pretty much."

Teasing chat ramped up fast. Kimoi ujisama¹ and such.. Plenty I wanted to clap back, but with the mess I'd made, no ground to stand on.

I eyed chat a moment, cleared my throat, and said,

"..Anyway, if paths cross later, I'll apologize to her personally. That's that on this topic."

..

Thought that was the end..

..Why is this happening?