…We Won in the End, So It Doesn't Matter at All, Right?
When I opened my eyes, it was already past three in the afternoon.
"…How many hours did I even sleep?"
I was sure I'd gotten home before eleven last night, and that I'd washed up and crawled into bed around eleven-thirty. Nearly fifteen hours. I'd felt tired on the way back, but I must have been far more worn out than I'd thought. Well, they say beauties sleep a lot, so it couldn't be helped.
"Mmm…."
I gave a light stretch and turned my phone on. The first thing that caught my eye was a stack of Misscode DMs from the Stars Flow members, all telling me I'd worked hard. After that came Line messages from my sister and Aunt Sia.
"…Huh?"
"Heh, heheh…."
The text from Mom had arrived at 10:03 last night. In other words, she'd watched the stream as it happened and sent it to me. She might not have watched the whole thing, of course. I already knew it was more likely she'd dropped in at the very end, snapped a photo, and fired the message off. Even so, she was away on a business trip and busy enough as it was. That she'd taken a picture and sent it at all was enough to move me.
"Hehe…."
I sent a thank-you to everyone in order, then headed for the kitchen to get a late lunch. At six this evening I had to read Hyperchats while doing a review stream of yesterday's 3D debut. It would probably run about two hours, so I needed to eat something filling if I didn't want to get hungry halfway through. Cup ramen, then, with the pork neck I'd bought last time tossed in.
"Haaah…."
I'd checked the Hyperchats piled up from yesterday just in case, and of course there were an absurd number of them. It felt like far more than the monetization stream and the 150k celebration put together. They were even packed with red, the highest tier.
Reading Hyperchats after the 150k celebration had taken about an hour and a half, so at this volume I'd have to budget at least two hours….
Iztomo, you guys. You're nothing but the abuse faction, tormenting me endlessly every single day, and yet when an anniversary like this comes around you look after me so diligently. Don't you like me a little too much?!
"Ahem."
It was about time to start, so I quietly cleared my throat and did one last check of the 3D gear I'd gotten from the company yesterday. I'd already looked through the reactions on various communities, and quite a few people were saying my 3D model was genuinely one for the ages and that they wanted to see it on my regular streams too. So I meant to try it once today, and if the response was good, keep using the 3D model for ordinary broadcasts as well.
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
And the instant the clock struck six—
"K-Konzumi. Atmosphere maker, Kaino Izumi…."
I started the stream and greeted the Iztomo.
Maybe it was because this was the 3D debut review. The live viewer count sat at six thousand, far higher than usual. Well, the aftershock had been considerable — partway through yesterday's 3D debut, the subscriber count had blown well past two hundred thousand.
And as if it were only natural, most of the chat was about exactly that.
"Th-thanks, everyone. I'm glad you all h-had fun watching yesterday…. Oh, a-and look at this."
I thanked them first, then got ready to show the Iztomo the special bit I'd prepared for today. I took a light hold of the desk's edge, drew a deep breath, swallowed, and swung my arms so the chair spun in circles.
"Hehehe…!"
When the spin stopped, my head was a little dizzy, but not enough to get in the way of the stream. I checked the chat at once.
Plenty of reactions, just as I'd expected. Of course they'd assumed I was using a Live2D illustration. See an avatar suddenly whirling around and anyone would jump. No matter how violently I moved, a Live2D illustration could only shift the upper body from side to side.
"Heh heh heh…."
I'd tinkered with the 3D model by myself a little earlier, and I could feel for certain that the community wasn't calling it all-time great for nothing. The gap between 3D models and Live2D had narrowed a lot compared to the past, but put the two side by side on a stream and some difference was still bound to show. My 3D model, though, was at a level where a casual glance could never pick that gap out.
How incredible was that? If I said that VTubers with this little deviation between the two, even since the history of VTubing began, could be counted on one hand — would that make it clear? Anyway, to put it simply, I had gotten my hands on an incredible 3D model.
"A-amazing, right?"
With this 3D model beside me, I can definitely conquer Ontube….
Midway through reading Hyperchats, a comment like that caught my eye.
"The 200k celebration stream…? I-I'm already doing it…?"
When I asked why they'd question me about something I was already doing, the Iztomo, for some reason, looked doubtful.
"N-no. Look, right here…."
Kind soul that I am, I had no choice but to teach them myself, drawing a circle with the mouse in the corner of the broadcast screen.
3D Debut Review Stream!
200k Celebration Stream, Too!
There, beside the thumbnail from yesterday's 3D debut, it said 3D Debut Review Stream! And beneath that, small but unmistakable: 200k Celebration Stream, Too!
"It m-might be a little small, but I wrote it d-down clearly, didn't I…?"
It wasn't as if I'd written it too small to see. I'd written it so that a little focus would make it perfectly clear.
And yet the Iztomo's reaction was anything but calm.
Why, of all things…? I couldn't understand it. I hadn't done anything wrong.
You're Iztomo, and you didn't even look properly at my stream screen. That's your fault, isn't it? If I said that, it would definitely be a Calamity.
But I was Kayano Mina. Someone who never apologizes for something that isn't wrong.
"I-I'm not in the wrong…."
"…Wait?"
"W-w-wait, everyone…?!"
These guys are serious?! The subscriber count is dropping in real time?!
A moment ago it had been 210,428. In a flash it fell to 209,000.
"I-I'm sorry…! E-everyone, please stop…!"
In the end I spent more than thirty minutes apologizing, and the subscribers still didn't come back….
Fortunately, the count hadn't fallen below two hundred thousand.
"Mmm. I-it's about time I got going…."
Before I knew it, the clock had slipped past eight. I'd wandered into side chatter more than I'd meant to today, and more than half the Hyperchats were still left.
"I was th-thinking I'd pick up the rest of the Hyperchats next time…. That's okay, right?"
"…Ah, yeah. I s-saw those."
I had a pretty good idea what the Iztomo were getting at.
"…This is about Koga-san, right?"
Watching another member's celebration stream live and posting your impressions on your own Nater is usually called a relay. And of course the other members had relayed my 3D stream yesterday. Among them, Koga-san's relay had been the most talked about.
On Koga-san's relay… there were no words at all. Nothing but screenshots of yesterday's stream. But the way those screenshots were framed… they were full of things a little hard to say out loud.
Right. Just as chat had said a moment ago, nothing but sleazy screenshots.
In particular, partway through, while I was sitting in the classroom, there had been a brief moment when my panties showed from the front. I'd never imagined she would capture that, zoom in, and upload it.
The DM that arrived yesterday had been nothing but a flat you worked hard, and all the while, on Nater, she'd been flaunting a nature like that.
"Honestly, I c-couldn't help laughing when I saw it…."
"Ha, haha…. W-well, a-anyway! Tomorrow is Akabane-san's 3D debut, so look forward to it, everyone! Then, s-see you next time…!"
Class ended, and at last it was homeroom. For some reason Miyauchi stood at the podium beside Kaname-sensei, and while I tilted my head, wondering what was going on, she called out loud enough for the whole room.
"The sports festival is finally only two weeks away!"
"Ah…."
I'd figured the subject would come up sooner or later. I just hadn't expected it to be today. Today was Akabane-san's 3D debut, and I wanted to get home and get ready to watch…. Of course it didn't start until nine in the evening, so there wasn't any real need to rush.
"Last year the red team took the victory, but our own Class A didn't come first in a single event! So this year, let's all work hard together and take our revenge!"
"YEAHHHHH!"
…We won in the end, so it doesn't matter at all, right?
The question surfaced, but I didn't bother saying it out loud. A chilled mood was a chilled mood, but I also knew that daring to understand the thoughts of people at the very top of the school caste was a presumptuous thing to do.
A sports festival was an event that had nothing to do with an outcast like me in the first place, wasn't it? I could just watch quietly.
"Oh, and Kayano-san, an invitation came in from the red team's cheer squad. What would you like to do?"
"…Eh?"