Guest Lecturer Debut (2)
Ah.
I hit the wrong button!
The second I mis-hit Enter and the note went out, a reply came back in fifteen seconds flat, like they'd been waiting for it.
...Are they seriously a pro gamer?
How is anyone this fast?
"...Yeah, good question."
Why did I look?
Because you told me not to, that's why.
You made me curious, A3chu....
A moment later, a new note arrived.
...How did they know that?
When the notes that had been flying back and forth in real time like BananaTalk stopped coming, the silence made me anxious.
Do I look like I'm leaning on them too hard?
...I'd always wondered why brand-new VTubers got so apologetic when they were just starting out.
So this was how it felt.
...It felt like I was dumping my own job on someone else and committing a crime for it....
Why weren't they answering...?
Were they disappointed...?
What if they just don't reply?
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
"Wah—?!"
The replies that had been arriving at lightning speed suddenly hit me in a stack.
"Banned on the spot," they said....
If I had to ban someone myself, it would probably take a few dozen seconds....
And I couldn't freeze the chat every time someone who needed banning showed up....
...Maybe I could use this as an excuse to ask for help one more time?
After I sent that, I wrote down the rules A3chu had laid out.
• No personal info speculation; no capturing or sharing leaked screens
• No uploading real company files; prefix questions with Q and wait until the previous question is finished
• Trolls get banned on the spot
• Everyone play nice and chat like friends.
Maybe one more line.
Everyone play nice and chat like friends.
...I'd only written it because watching people fight in the gallery made it feel necessary.
Somehow I felt weirdly proud, like I'd accomplished something huge.
When I had time later, I should watch other VTubers' streams and see what kind of rules they used.
I kept nodding, satisfied with how decent the notice looked, when another reply came in.
"The next stream...."
I haven't decided that yet.
A week....
That felt way too long....
...What kind of incident were they even telling me to manufacture now...?
Unless I doxxed my real name, how was I supposed to bury a story this big?
...Why would a big streamer collab with a brand-new VTuber like me....
Even A3chu had to think that was a stretch, right?
If they suddenly stopped answering, I might actually start crying.
My eyes were already prickling, for real....
A few minutes passed, and just as the tears were welling up in earnest, a reply finally came.
...They even booked someone?
...?
...Seika?
...Surely not the Seika I knew?
Wait a second.
But why did that Seika have 900,000 subscribers and look like a mega-corp now?
...Excuse me?
The kid who'd only had me as a viewer for her debut and first stream, who kept thanking me over and over while bawling her eyes out that at least she'd debuted?
"Ah."
The second I said it out loud, I realized there was something I still had to handle.
Before Rion could reply, I opened Miscode.
I'll do it even if they say no.
Just hearing my name was enough to make me feel a lecture coming on.
If it really was Link, a few questions should settle it.
Toss a little leading interrogation, and if they take the bait, reel them in on the spot.
And if they were actually jumping into streaming for real, I'd host them and pump their viewer count.
I was going to pay back what I'd been given.
Why was everyone sighing first?
Ah.
Right.
Honestly, I already did, unnie.
The second Kokoling tucked her tail, the chat went quiet for a beat.
So Coco had basically already decided that this Rion person was Link.
That aside—this little brat.
I should stop talking.
That's Mio-unnie for you.
She knew me too well.
...Didn't our company have a 500-gigabyte mail quota?
And that was "about to burst"?
Well.
If unnie said so, then it was so.
For a while after that, Coco spammed a few sobbing emotes.
Permission secured.
Leaving the salt-reeking Coco behind, I sent a note to Rion from Seika's official account.
Better to approach like we've never met.
Better than coming out with, "Link, what have you been doing all this time to show up looking like this?"....
...Ah. Come to think of it....
What if they used a voice changer before, and now they're streaming with their real voice?
That felt more natural.
Link had been embarrassed about their identity getting out, so they pretended to be a guy with a voice changer—and now that they were streaming, they just went with their actual voice.
That was more realistic.
...The problem was I had no way of knowing whether the voice I'd talked to back then was a voice-changed one....
I'd just have to take the hit and find out.
Even CS starts with one mob at a time.
Now then....
Let's see what they say.
"What? Why isn't it coming?"
No reply.
Ten minutes.
Maybe I should've sent Coco instead?
Fifteen minutes.
Did they notice I was approaching on purpose?
Twenty minutes.
Link....
Where did you go this time....
"It's heeeeere!!!!"
Ow, my throat.
Was the verified badge next to the official account not enough?
Ah. When Link was still active as a rigger, Jijijik didn't even exist, so they might not know.
Back then, nobody could even imagine Switch would go under—.
Why, you ask.
Because I have to pay it back.
I can't just keep taking forever.
And....
I can't just leave you alone when I'm this worried.
You looked after me when I was anxious too.
"...They bit."
Heh heh heh.
They bit.
I'm never letting go.