Lulu's Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day isn't nearly as important a day for VTubers as you might think.
Some VTubers take it seriously and run full events for it; others just let it slide by without much fuss.
Lulu and Sweet Mare had exploded in popularity over the past year of streaming, growing at a frankly ridiculous pace. That made this particular Valentine's Day the one that would set the tone for every Valentine's Day to come—a genuinely important day for them.
And Sweet Mare's choice was…
"Eeh~ Did you guys not get any? Well, if you did, you shouldn't even be here today! This room is only for the singles who didn't get Valentine's chocolate from anyone else!"
Complete laissez-faire. Everyone was free to handle it however they liked.
For the record, Lulu, Aris, and Elia fell into the "couldn't care less" camp. Mei, Inori, and Raphae were the ones who actually paid attention.
It almost felt like a first-gen versus second-gen split, though even within that there was a kind of philosophy at work.
Lulu, Aris, and Elia's main content was games. Lulu's brand was catastrophic skill paired with killer banter; Aris and Elia's was pure mechanical excellence. Mei's main content was ASMR, Inori's was chatting, Raphae's was singing—the kinds of streams where the listener mattered more.
They had each chosen in a way that suited their own flavor, and that felt right in its own way.
Side note: Mei, Inori, and Raphae didn't game all that often, but they still hopped on about twice a week. Mei and Raphae were both better at games than Lulu. Inori was probably around Lulu's level.
How did I know that?
I found out while editing one of Elia's VODs. She had queued up a second-gen three-stack, and while Raphae managed something like sub-carry support for Elia, Inori was just… trolling with real commitment. Inori was basically filling the Lulu role.
Anyway, the important part was this:
"Did Lulu get any? Lulu got some! Your love~"
"Hey! You're supposed to play along in moments like that, you jerks!"
Lulu was steering the stream beautifully.
More than beautifully—beautifully enough to deserve a standing ovation. And the chat, of course, immediately started roasting her with ruthless precision.
The chat told Lulu to cut the nonsense and play a game. In an instant her model’s expression flipped.
"You guys aren't giving me any love? Give me love right now."
"How can you do this to me?! You're demons! I hate you! Lulu's sulking! She's gonna sulk forever! Hmph!!"
Absolutely perfect back-and-forth.
When she reacted that deliciously, how were the viewers supposed to hold back from tormenting her?
Sometimes it really seemed like Lulu understood her own strengths better than anyone. That was what made Lulu amazing—and what made Rua even more amazing.
"Fine! If Lulu loses today, Lulu will send chocolate gift cards!"
On top of everything she even put up a reverse safe asset she was guaranteed to lose. And if she was talking like that…
"The game Lulu's playing today is this!!"
What Lulu pulled out was none other than a game called Tactical Chess.
Simply put, it was chess against an AI. The catch was that the pieces weren't ordinary chess pieces.
Really.
It was chess in name only. In practice it was a shooter.
What did that mean?
Every piece in Tactical Chess could pick up guns and firearms and snipe the other side. The only thing chess about it was the name.
The chat knew that too. Because the game demanded physical aim completely opposite to what "chess" suggested, they were all swaggering with confidence—full of certainty that they could bleed Lulu dry of money.
"Hehe~ Looks like Lulu might not have to give chocolate to anyone today?"
Whether they believed her or not, Lulu was putting on a thoroughly confident front. What kind of strategy did she even have? Some brilliant move? Or had she practiced?
She couldn't have had time to practice. Rua had spent the entire day playing with me, after all.
Thinking about "playing" suddenly reminded me of the chocolate I'd given Rua. Had she eaten it?
I hadn't known what she liked, so I'd gone for something that looked as expensive and delicious as possible. I hoped she liked it. Not knowing how she would react still made me a little nervous.
I'd ask her later. Or maybe Rua would answer on her own.
While I was thinking that, Rua started the game, and—
"Aaaaaaah!"
—died immediately.
"Shii… why is this so hard…!"
Even though the AI had been shooting relatively slowly, Lulu lost, and a chocolate gift card was immediately loaded into the chamber.
Chat was going to get all the chocolate?
Assuming three thousand won per chocolate for one person…
…today Lulu was going to lightly lose the equivalent of four regular office workers' monthly salaries.
Current viewer count was around three thousand and still climbing. Call it four thousand for a generous estimate and she was looking at about twelve million won.
Yeah. Lulu was getting cleaned out today. Right?
Lulu, for her part, was puffing out her cheeks and making her sulking extremely obvious.
"Why aren't you cheering for me? Cheer already! Lulu's gonna sulk even harder!"
"Lulu's really sulking now, cheer for me right this second!"
The tug-of-war between chat and Lulu intensified. I just sat there smiling and watching.
Honestly, the whole situation was hilarious.
Lulu begging for cheers while chat told her to die faster.
In what universe was this a VTuber stream?
Normal VTuber streams had a certain amount of doting and babying; even when they roasted the streamer they usually held back a little. Lulu's stream was pure punching bag. Chat was beating her like she was some cam streamer they hated, and it was impossible not to find it funny.
"Shiiii… Lulu's not gonna play anymore!?"
When Lulu finally deployed her ultimate—"Lulu's not playing!"—chat finally started reacting a bit.
I was pretty sure that was absolutely not the praise or support Lulu wanted.
"Aaaaaaargh!!"
Lulu's rage-filled scream tore out of the speakers, and I just kept smiling while I listened to it.
Meanwhile, Elia was gaming with Aris.
I needed clips from Elia's side too, so I had her stream open as well. Elia was streaming perfectly normally—just grab the full VOD afterward, skim it fast, and cut it into mad-movie style highlights. Throw in the parts she'd specifically asked for while I was at it.
While I was thinking that, Elia asked Aris a question.
"Aris unnie, this is kinda boring."
"Yeah. Winning everything is secretly boring, huh."
The second I realized those two maniacs were massacring the lobby—
"Should we call Lulu unnie?"
"You wanna lift right now?"
"Yeah. Badly."
The two of them were about to extend a "helping" hand to Lulu.
The game they were playing was Endless Return. Slotting Lulu into it would create a perfect "carry Lulu" experience. An outstanding weight-lifting session, if you will.
The weight, of course, being Lulu.
Sure enough, barely three minutes later Lulu accepted the Discord call.
"Hello~ Elia~ What's up~?"
"Lulu unnie, I'm playing Endless Return with Aris unnie right now…"
"And?"
"If you join it's a squad."
"Going right now."
Lulu ditched Tactical Chess without a second thought and ran off to play Endless Return with Elia and Aris.
Man, her escape speed was genuinely impressive.
Chat immediately started chanting "Give us more chocolate!" and Lulu, trying to soothe their rage, came up with a clever little scheme.
"Chocolate~ I'll give one every time Lulu gets three kills!"
One chocolate per three kills. In practice that meant almost no chocolate today.
Chat revolted, and Lulu eventually had to compromise somewhere in the middle.
"…One chocolate per three deaths. Hing."
One chocolate per three deaths. Considering Endless Return had respawns, that was a reasonable amount.
After that dramatic compromise, Lulu headed into Endless Return.
Without the slightest idea what kind of demons were waiting for her there.