Strange Family Ties
Even our agency's peculiar family dynamic meant every Friday was a holiday for the Playground server. Officially, it was for server maintenance, but whether it was that or something else, a day off was a day off.
"Menol Concert?"
"Yeah. Big servers like this always end the week with a concert. I figured if you're interested, you could apply, so I brought the info."
And that's how I ended up meeting Tsupi on one of those days off. Nothing major about it—my workload was light, and with my stream scheduled for evening, I had the whole afternoon free. Sure, I could've knocked out tomorrow's work early, but honestly, that's not me. Filling my daily quota satisfies me just fine.
Anyway, that's why Tsupi called me to the Maerchen Live headquarters. With time to kill, she figured I'd come in and take on a quick job.
"Eh, I'm not really into concerts."
"Hmm, that's a shame..."
From what she said, the Maerchen Playground Concert—Menolcon for short—wasn't just for Maerchen talents. Other streamers could join too, so it had a lot of freedom, and even as a Maerchen VTuber, participation wasn't mandatory. No need for me to step up and perform.
"I was gonna lighten your workload if you joined, Uwar."
"As if."
"Tch, no dice."
As Uwar, I could openly say I was with Maerchen, but as Muil, I was just a client on commission. So that was a total lie. She'd told me before that no other costume illustrator satisfied her like I did. If anything, she'd pile on more work, not less.
"I'll grant you one wish. Just apply~."
Tsupi was even making a flower bud with her hands to coax me. Scary.
"Why are you begging like this?"
"'Cause I wanna see you?"
"...Three wishes, and I'll think about it."
"That's too many. But fine, deal."
I eyed her suspiciously, but her beaming smile shut me up. Whatever. A concert? How hard could it be? I should think up some wishes to ask of her in advance.
"By the way, about the 10th gen costume concepts—"
And that was my cue to get to the real reason I'd come to the office.
*
"Oh, Uwar. I forgot to mention—the email from EN last time."
"Huh? Oh, right. The one that went to Jiu. Yeah, what about it?"
"They're sending someone over after the Playground server ends. Can you swing by the office again then?"
"Guess we'll see when the time comes."
We were deep in costume talk when I suddenly remembered something I'd blanked on. That costume inquiry email from EN Maerchen Live. I'd missed it in time, so it got forwarded to Park Jiu. Totally slipped my mind until now.
Hmm. Might need to reshuffle my schedule.
As I leaned back in the cafe chair, lost in thought at Tsupi's words, the door chimed open.
"Oh? It's the first-gen girls."
"...Huh?"
I turned at her comment, and sure enough, six women were filing in through the cafe door.
...Come to think of it, first-gen are ten generations ahead of me.
My distant seniors—six of them—had swarmed into the cafe.
"Hey! It's Tsupi!"
The one at the back spotted us and yelled when she saw Tsupi.
"No way, it's the team leader."
"Whoa, top three rarest people to run into at HQ, right here."
"You see Anna unnie pretty often, though?"
They headed our way. What now?
"Can I bail first...?"
"Nope, no way."
Tsupi grinned, knowing exactly how I felt. Hate her.
But fine. What was there to fear? They were my papas—er, mamas. Even if I'd only worked with them on costumes...
Anyway, as my brain spun, the woman who'd shouted first rushed over to Tsupi.
"Tsupiii~! Missed you!"
"You're not exactly the baby anymore."
"I wanna be the eternal maknae!"
She seemed to manage first-gen's youngest. So...
Rumi. Six years older than me. First-gen's maknae.
That matched the girl clinging to Tsupi.
"You guys have a mocap collab today, right? All set?"
"Psh, we're pros now. Obviously perfect!"
"Good for you~. First-gen's got nothing to worry about anymore."
"You've been saying that for three years straight."
I hung back awkwardly from their warm banter, like a warrior gasping for air. Teachers, can I just go now...?
I'd given up thinking and was staring blankly at the ceiling when—
"So, who's this cute little creature? Never seen her around Maerchen... Huh?"
One of the first-gens leaned on my chair, face right in mine. Her question trailed into surprise, eyes widening.
"Wait, are you...?"
"...Yeah, that's me. Uwar."
Whatever at this point. My real face matched the avatar perfectly—no point denying it.
"Kyaaaa! You're Uwar!"
"Oh my god."
"Whoa... she looks exactly like the avatar."
"There was an 11th gen? For real?"
The attention that had been on Tsupi shifted entirely to me. I reeled from their reactions until Tsupi intervened, snapping me back to reality. Dizzy...
"Public space, girls."
"There's a private room, right? Let's go there!"
"Someone's already using it."
They all nodded at Tsupi's response to Rumi's question.
"Oh well, nothing we can do. Too bad~."
"Wait, didn't you meet Uwar in the server, Anna unnie?"
"Yeah, we did."
"Tell us about it! We went in and never ran into her."
I'm right here, you know. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming.
*
We moved spots. The HQ had private rooms, so it was bigger and quieter than the cafe.
"Whoa... 20 years old. I used to be that young."
"Shut up, you kid."
"You too."
Four two-seater sofas. Tsupi and I shared one; the first-gens split across the other three. A square table sat in the middle, loaded with drinks from the cafe.
Going left to right from me: Anna, Rumi, Angela, Sara, Mio, Mita.
I knew them all, but approaching was tough. I only knew their virtual selves, not their real faces.
But seriously, does Maerchen scout without seeing faces?
They could debut as a real idol group tomorrow. Why VTuber with looks like that? Not my business, though.
Hmm.
"Uh, can we just call you Uwar casually...?"
"You've been doing it. No need to ask now."
"Shut your mouth."
"An idol swearing!"
As I mulled that over, I nodded quickly at Anna's tentative question.
"Yeah, no problem. And speak casually too—it's fine."
Truth be told, even as Maerchen's illustrator, this was my first chat with any gens. Not as VTuber Uwar, but illustrator Muil. They only knew the name and email. No way they'd peg me as Muil.
"But hey, Uwar backward is Muil, right?"
"Mita, that's too much."
"Kinda makes sense, though?"
Maybe, maybe not. Honestly, getting outed as Muil wouldn't faze me. I'd just kept it quiet 'cause I wanted to. No scandals or drama under Muil—just drawings.
"Tsupi! Is Uwar's stuff by Muil too?"
"It's a weird way to put it... but yeah, basically?"
Tsupi glanced at me slyly as she answered Rumi's puzzled question. Just say it.
Back in the day, maybe not—but now, the attention felt okay. Good, even. I planned to reveal illustrator Muil as content someday anyway. Might as well now.
"You can just say it."
The room went quiet at my casual remark. Whatever—I sipped my blue grape ade, savoring it.
"...Aren't you the type who hates going public?"
I tilted my head at Tsupi's baffled question.
"Never said that."
I'd always planned to eventually, from debut onward.
"Whoa... full family reveal."
"Rumi."
Seemed like a bigger shock than I'd expected. Was it that big a deal?
"Sigh... Guess I misread you."
"Just ask next time. I'd have answered."
"Didn't wanna make you uncomfortable."
"...Thanks."
The old me might've been burdened. Not anymore.
"Honestly, I'm more shocked seeing you chat so casually with Tsupi."
"Same."
"Ditto."
The first-gens didn't seem too fussed about me being Muil, though.