Anyone Can Tell That's Arrhythmia
A 4D theater.
If a 3D theater takes a movie trapped on the flat plane of a screen and gives it depth with a pair of special glasses, then a 4D theater goes one step further. The seats buck in time with the scene. Wind rushes in. Water spatters. The whole point is to make you feel as if you are living the movie, not merely watching it.
And that was exactly where this stream's concept came from. If I could recreate even a fraction of a 4D theater's effects inside my own house, wouldn't that push a game's secondhand thrill even further? Couldn't a game reproduce at least some of summer's mandatory staple content?!
"And as it happens, I already own a piece of ultra-high-tech gear that lets me treat the special glasses they hand out in 3D theaters like last-generation junk."
Right. A VR headset. I had the final word in overwhelming depth, the kind that made those glasses' little trick of perspective look like a child's toy. So if I layered a decent imitation of the special effects on top of that—
"I might even surpass one!"
A 4D theater!!
From my room!!!
"...A historic moment in which a bedroom might just outdo a 4D theater! Doesn't your heart start pounding at the thought of witnessing history? Because mine is pounding like crazy?!?!!"
I said it while stamping my feet, doing my best to perform the pounding for the camera.
The viewers' reaction was, of course, less than warm. That was fine. Prophets are supposed to be ignored and persecuted.
But remember this: the ones who change the world are, in the end, the prophets who get ignored and persecuted. And the only reason I could become a prophet at all was that I had gone to the movies. Going to the movies was what made me think of 4D theaters, and thinking of 4D theaters was what let me plan this stream. In other words, I owed today's concept to having gone to see Beyond the Magenta Seashore.
A film that even helps you plan content... of course I had to watch it.
"All right, I've more or less explained the concept, so let me get the real setup going."
With that, I dragged in today's prop, prepared before the stream even started: a big plastic basin I'd bought at the mart, hauled carefully into the streaming booth so the water inside wouldn't slosh over the rim. And if I laid out several towels for wiping up afterward?
"Setup complete!"
"From this moment on, this is the beach. A swimming beach."
I said it while swapping the background behind me for a shoreline. Chroma key made that possible. I nodded, satisfied—and then a thought cut across my mind.
"...No, wait. From now on, this is a private beach no one but me is allowed to set foot on!"
Mandatory anime plot: there's a rich girl in the club, so summer break means a trip to the private beach attached to her villa. Honestly, I had been insanely jealous watching those. So from here on, this was no ordinary swimming beach. This was the private beach of Marchen, young and rich. ...And since we'd come this far, should I hunt down a villa image and throw that up too?
I was still turning the idea over when a ten-thousand-won donation came flying in, sharp question included.
Why hadn't I changed into a swimsuit? Well...
...These people knew me far too well.
"You know how people throw clothes on over a swimsuit so they don't tan? Let's just say that's the setting!"
I said it, but even I had to admit I did not currently look like someone who had come to the beach. ...Nothing for it.
To sell the vacation vibe a little harder, I knotted the hem of my T-shirt so the fabric clung as close to my body as it could. My pale, spare stomach came into view—though, since I never exercised, it read less toned than soft. After baring my midriff, I dabbed a little water into my hair.
"...Okay! This is the vibe, right? The iron-walled, prim-and-proper young lady who's too embarrassed by how much a swimsuit shows, so she put clothes on over it—but it's summer, and she's at the sea, and she's feeling just a little liberated, so she allows a modest amount of skin. You can totally tell I came to the beach, right?"
All right. Now that everything was truly ready...
"Shall we sample a VR swimming game first?!"
Some tragedies begin in the smallest of places. This one was no exception.
"...You've got a point."
I judged the donation message sound and shut the air conditioner off without a second thought. It was night, I figured, so it couldn't get that hot. And with my feet in cool water, I was confident I could endure a little warmth. That confidence did its part in killing the AC.
What I did not know, then, was that tonight was a tropical night.
But what was I supposed to do? A person who maintains household comfort with air conditioning year-round is hardly going to keep track of tropical nights!
Stripped of the AC's blessing, the streaming booth failed to escape the tropical night's curse and turned muggy.
...Weird, right? Normally you go to the beach to get away from the heat. I seemed to have done the opposite and fled the heat-safe zone.
A prickle of crisis finally made me open the booth door, too late. The curse had already clung to the room, and cracking a door wasn't going to peel it off. Worse, the game I happened to be playing was a VR title that demanded constant arm movement, so it felt far hotter than the actual temperature.
...I want the AC on. I miss it. Sincerely. From the bottom of my heart.
But if I just switched it back on, I'd be throwing out today's entire point: vivid, on-location immersion. The fun of a broadcast lives in protecting the core you've set for yourself, as much as you can. Pro streamer Marchen knew that very well. And even if I decided to ignore all of that and reach for the AC anyway, the viewers were never going to sit quietly and let me.
So I needed a pretext—one that let me keep the core of vivid immersion and still press the power button. Persuading the chat would be even better.
"...Everyone, now that I think about it, wouldn't there be a breeze at the beach?"
Yes. Use the sea breeze as an excuse and get the AC—!!
Yeah. Not a chance.
Honestly, even as I was saying it, a fan had crossed my mind. I just hadn't been able to come up with any better pretext, so I'd had no choice. Wasn't there some other excuse? Hmm...
...Oh. That one was dangerous.
For a second there I nearly lost control of my face and unloaded a double-barreled curse.
"...Aha, I see. It'd be a waste if I were the only one putting such excellent advice into practice, so how about the rest of you turn your AC off and try a fan with me?"
I kept reading the chat, and then I reached a conclusion.
Cooked. Completely cooked.
In the end I settled for second best and decided to endure on fan wind instead of AC. It was better than nothing. It was, but...
It's already lukewarm.
The thought slid through my head on its own the moment I turned the fan on and put my feet back in the basin. I'd dumped in every piece of ice in the refrigerator, and still I'd hit the limit. This was no longer a cool beach.
Should I go draw fresh water? Even if I changed it, I didn't think it would hold for long. There was no ice left, so it would go lukewarm even faster than before. Had trying to surpass a 4D theater from a cramped little room been too much after all?
Wait. Hold on. I was sure—
"...Hold on, I'll be right back!!!"