People Repeat the Mistakes of the Past

"Uh, um, I should g-give you one warning first. For the two weeks I was... off stream, I didn't t-talk to anyone else, so if I stutter, or my v-voice comes out small, please b-bear with me..."

"Ah, th-that's not it. I called Mom, too, and today I even had a short talk with a, c-classmate."

Thank goodness. Right — where would you even find someone who went two whole weeks without speaking to a single person? Oh no. Oh no. Had I already climbed the first step out of loner exile?

"...Ah. Right."

It had been so long that I'd forgotten.

"Uh, um, actually I was gonna hang out with f-friends? today? But I c-canceled and came here because of y-you guys! You'd better be g-grateful?!"

"Tch."

Was I an idiot? I had sworn I would become a VTuber who could say, with her head held high, that she belonged to StarsFlow's 2nd Generation — and then I opened my return stream with a mistake like this.

But I couldn't just sit still because I'd slipped. People were beautiful creatures precisely because they overcame their mistakes...!

"T-today I was th-thinking I'd do some s-simple chatting. A lot of questions came in on Mycarong, so I p-picked a few from there."

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"Sh-shut up! First question, then!"

Ignoring the chat that was laughing at me, I put the Mycarong page up on stream.

"Haa. I'm r-really happy Uncle has a n-new fan."

Honestly, even I — a fan — could admit that Uncle was an anime that split people hard. If this viewer had enjoyed it anyway, they were definitely a good person. There were no bad people among Uncle fans.

"To answer the q-question, among anime I've watched lately, Magic Is Science was r-really fun."

Magic Science was the story of Doctor Rachel, a scientist dropped into a fantasy world. She worshipped science, swore she would interpret magic through it, and the situations that spun out of that vow were played for comedy. The sense of humor fit me so well that I'd loved it.

"I-I'm not doing that!"

I still remembered every line of chat from the day I'd talked about Uncle. That it wasn't a concept, it was real. That if you listened to how she didn't even stutter, it was really, really real.

It wasn't that I'd been wounded, exactly. I just wasn't about to walk into a scheme that obvious.

"S-still, if I explain it simply..."

There might really be someone who wanted to know what it was about, right? A short explanation ought to be fine. The person who'd sent the question had asked for a recommendation, so telling them the premise would be better. Yes. Very short. Very simple.

"..."

I glanced at the clock and found it already creeping toward four-thirty. And the chat...

They were making fun of me like it was the natural order of things.

Strange. I had definitely meant to say a tiny bit and stop. Why had more than an hour already gone by? Was this the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?

"A-anyway, I'll leave the Magic Science talk h-here..."

Of course I could still talk about plenty more of what made Magic Science fun. But if I said all of that too, I had the feeling I would be crossing a river I could never come back from.

"Then, on to the s-second question..."

"I p-probably watch Kurokami-senpai's streams the m-most, right?"

Kurokami Hikari. A 1st Generation talent of StarsFlow — in short, my direct senior. Snow-white hair done up in round buns, set against a jet-black dress and jet-black eyes. Look only at her face and she was a beautiful girl who could steal your breath without trying, but the truth of her was an arrogant, haughty young-lady character.

Chat was already reacting as if they'd seen it coming. Well, fair. Just as they'd said, Black Star — the name Nat-chan and Ku-chan put forward whenever they collabed — was fundamental even among the fundamentals.

Nat-chan, bursting with positive energy, and Ku-chan, a villainess lady whose entire concept was talking down to people. Ku-chan would try everything to grind Nat-chan under her heel, and Nat-chan, who affirmed absolutely everything, would smile and take all of it, which only left Ku-chan flustered instead. That plot was already the gold standard. Watching the two of them get all teetee, the curse I kept stored up toward the socially blessed just melted away, so this was a pairing I loved in particular.

"I e-especially like how Kurokami-senpai's cl-clumsy villain acting is cute."

"Th-that's not what I meant!"

Why did they have to twist whatever I said into Calamity fuel? I wished they'd be a little kinder to me....

"A-anyway, after Natsune-senpai, the one I watch the m-most is probably Kurokami-senpai. N-next question!"

"Mmm..."

The truth was, I had wanted to cut this question from the start. Everyone already knew, from the recent collab between Miss Akabane and Miss Utsumi, exactly how I was treated among my gen-mates. But my manager had said that at times like this you had to meet it head-on, and put the question in anyway.

"We m-might not talk, but our hearts always f-feel like one!"

And that was the answer I had landed on after turning it over and over. It wasn't a complete lie, either. Miss Akabane's and Miss Utsumi's cheering really had helped me get my strength back.

"Huh?"

For some reason the reaction was lukewarm. And here I'd thought it was a pretty good thing to say.

"I-it's not like we don't talk at all? M-Miss Koga, and M-Miss Utsumi, Miss Akabane, and Miss ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Aki s-sometimes message me on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Misscode?"

Right. It wasn't as if there was no conversation at all. My gen-mates were all kind, and they even greeted someone like me first to ask how I was. And when a greeting like that came in, I could at least say thank you. Words had gone both ways, so this counted as a conversation, didn't it?

Of course I hadn't. But if someone like me reached out first, they might be put off, right? I would definitely get stuck with the image of some weirdo trying to close the distance out of nowhere. And then my self-esteem would shatter completely.

No — the weird one wasn't me in the first place. Casually talking to other people like it was nothing, that was what was weird. They only pulled something that bold because they already knew how the other person saw them. For me, it was impossible. My spirit would just die.

"...W-well, that's enough for this question."

Say any of that out loud and it would obviously turn into another Calamity, so I had to move on.

"Mmm, I've still got about f-five questions, but the t-timing's awkward."

My manager and I had agreed that today's return stream would run until five. It was already five-thirty. If I answered every one of these, wouldn't it run past seven?

"I'll have to save the rest for n-next time."

Well. Put like that, I didn't have a comeback.

"Th-then I'll read the Mycarong question that was updated most r-recently, and wrap up..."

Fortunately, it wasn't a particularly problematic question. And it was an easy one to answer.

"Mmm. For now, I guess I like small, c-cute girls."

Ah.

"I'll be ending the stream. Bye, everyone! S-see you n-next time!"