A Precarious First Broadcast
From the morning on, I woke up without an alarm and burst out laughing. The Goddess of Luck grants her blessing to those who carve out their own destiny. And just as the saying went, I had forged my own fate as a VTuber—and a miracle had happened.
Your final acceptance is hereby congratulated...
It was a text message from a few days ago, but I’d saved it and kept looking at it every single day. Every time I did, I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Shahahahaha.”
Who do you think I am? I’m a second-generation VTuber trainee at Shining Parade. I’d heard online that there were more than seven hundred applicants. And I’d been chosen out of all of them—yeah, that’s life for you. The lucky always get lucky. Fortune does three-tenths of the work.
Honestly, when they gave me such a generous interview stipend, I thought they were telling me to take the money and get lost. I figured the Goddess of Luck had blown up because they’d thrown so much at the interview fee.
But no. I’d really been accepted.
At last, the road leading to the peak of Unknown Universe had finally snapped into place under my feet. All I had to do now was do well.
I replenished my energy with cereal bought using the hefty interview fee and headed straight for Shining Parade.
Today was the long-awaited day when my virtual avatar would be unveiled and my first broadcast would be planned. But were they really going to boot out someone they’d already accepted? I could relax. No pressure~
With my already light body and an even lighter step, I set off. The pigeons were flapping around the street again, but for some reason it felt like they were blessing me, so they didn’t scare me anymore.
Inside the Shining Parade building, the person who had mistaken me for a man last time came out to greet me. Her name was Choi Mirae, and she turned out to be a manager with an important position.
“Nice to meet you, Manager.”
“Please follow me. They’re waiting.”
“Just a moment! I’m coming too!”
At the familiar voice, I turned toward it. Manaka Mizuki—the girl who’d gone through the interview with me—was hurrying over, sweating as if she’d run the whole way.
“Yes. Welcome, Mizuki.”
“...Mizuki?”
“Huh?”
I’d never run into her while I’d been coming and going from the company after receiving the acceptance text, so I hadn’t known—but Mizuki had made it too. She must have been accepted too.
“Ms. Mizuki and Ms. Haru, the two of you have passed the final round.”
“Phew.”
Yeah. If it wasn’t Mizuki, then who else would it be? She seemed just as happy to see me too, crouching down so her eyes met mine, then smiling brightly.
“Kyyaa! Ru-chan. Thank goodness!”
Ru-chan? And had her speech gotten shorter somehow? She ran over and hugged me tight. Were we really this close already? She was so strong I couldn’t struggle free, so I only managed a strangled squeak.
“W-wait. Calm down.”
Her scent mixed with sweat... this is painful...
“Oh! Sorry. I just got so excited.”
One more round of being that excited and every bone in my body would turn to powder.
“Still, I want to speak casually now. We’re both twenty-two, after all.”
Well, I’m... not. If I said that, I’d just be the weird one. Let’s enjoy life at twenty-two. And Mizuki—this girl—had real talent, so even if she looked like a total doormat on the surface, it would be profitable to stay on good terms with her.
“Sure. Please take care of me too, Mizuki. Is that okay?”
It was my first time addressing a Japanese person like this, so it felt awkward.
“Yep. Yorosiku-ne, Ru-chan. Can I pat your head like last time?”
“That’s a no.”
Mizuki looked disappointed and withdrew her hand. Sorry, but getting my head patted felt weird, so I’d rather not. I hurriedly changed the subject and looked at the manager.
“Then, since everyone seems to be here, could you show us around?”
Following her, I entered a studio. Inside were the boss I’d be loyal to for the rest of my life and the other staff members.
The person who would become my boss, the NewTube star with 1.9 million subscribers, Chae Eun. We’d had several conversations even after my acceptance, and honestly, she was a G.O.A.T. in both character and ability.
“Yes, everyone’s here? Nothing happened over the past few days?”
“Thanks to the generous interview stipend you gave me, I’ve been living in luxury, boss.”
I bowed, full of gratitude.
“Mizuki, anything happen with you?”
“I was so happy to hear Ru-chan got accepted too.”
“Ru-chan? Ah, you mean Haru. Were the two of you already acquainted?”
“No. We met for the first time at the interview.”
“And you’re already this close? Amazing.”
“That’s because Ru-chan reached out to me first.”
Our Mizuki had apparently already deleted from memory the fact that she’d suddenly wiped my mouth for me, probably because she’d gotten embarrassed.
“Is that so? The more I look at you, the more genuine you seem.”
“Then the genuine one here is you, boss. Thank you for giving me this chance. If you told me to lick your feet, I would.”
“Don’t do that kind of thing.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She straightened her knees, which had been bent like she was about to actually lick them. Getting to the point, I first checked the virtual avatar and settings Mizuki would be using.
“Your concept is exactly what you told me: a VTuber who dreams of becoming an idol. But with an elf setting attached. Think of her as an elf idol trainee.”
“W-whoa...”
Her appearance was a golden-haired, blue-eyed girl with a mysterious vibe in spades. Her outfit was a white crop top and hot pants that looked like something an idol would wear. Even to someone like me, who didn’t know much, it was obvious they’d put serious effort into making her.
“But the atmosphere of the character, I guess? That sort of thing feels a lot like you, Mizuki.”
She had that especially mysterious yet timid air about her.
“Yeah. If you wear a mask that doesn’t suit you, it’ll be torn away eventually. I think it’s important to have a character that doesn’t stray too far from yourself—something you can naturally act as.”
“As expected, your insight is profound, boss.”
“Could you just call me normally, please?”
Mizuki sat down and looked at the camera. The avatar’s face moved in time with her expression. It felt like I was seeing the peak of modern technology.
“How is it? Is it okay?”
“Yes. I love it.”
“Good... Then, do you already have a nickname picked out? We made some options, but if you already have one, I’ll respect your choice.”
She thought for a moment before speaking.
“...Tama.”
“Tama? Isn’t that a pretty common name for cats in Japan?”
“Yeah. It’s a nickname I use a lot.”
“Alright, then let’s go with that.”
Next came my turn. Unlike Mizuki, who had glided through everything smoothly without a hitch, I got snagged just trying to sit in the chair.
“The chair’s kind of big.”
Nothing in this body was really big, to be fair. The boss made a briefly flustered face like me and said, “Sorry. I didn’t account for that. I’ll handle the keyboard and mouse.”
She came over and used the mouse for me instead. She looked exactly like a mom taking care of a clueless child.
“This is your virtual avatar. Haru, I tried to reflect your requirements as much as possible.”
The settings I’d ordered were: shut-in girl, dried-fish girl, loner, loser... the more I listed them, the more it hurt. Anyway, I’d asked her to make it so I was just a homebody who did nothing but game.
How had she made it, I wondered? But when I looked at the avatar, I was slightly stunned.
Black hair, black eyes. A shameless, irreverent look. She wore a black hoodie, and it was almost exactly the same as my second life—Kim Haru’s—appearance.
“I thought you yourself had really strong character appeal, so I modeled it after you.”
I had strong character appeal myself. I’ll admit it. That’s how I looked. And there was more hidden under it. When she pressed a key, black fox ears and a black fox tail appeared.
“The concept is a black fox who became human and turned into a shut-in NEET. Like you said, aiming for the top of Unknown Universe.”
“Damn.”
The quality of the ears and tail fur was no joke. It was obvious they’d put care into giving each of us contrasting charms so I wouldn’t be overshadowed by Mizuki.
“As expected of the G.O.A.T. of livestreaming.”
“Please, just call me boss normally. More importantly, have you settled on a nickname?”
“Let’s just go with Haru.”
“I’m against using your real name. If anything, it’ll hit harder when you get nasty comments. By the way, that’s from experience.”
Probably true, but Haru wasn’t actually my real name to begin with, so it didn’t matter. Still, for the sake of the boss who was trying so hard to help, I thought it over.
“Then how about Haruru?”
“...Alright. Let’s go with Haruru.”
She nodded as though she’d half given up on life. Was that just my imagination?
“Then Haruru, Tama. Is a first broadcast one week from now okay?”
The schedule wasn’t a problem, but the issue was that my broadcasting setup wasn’t ready. I’d already told her that on the phone the day I got accepted, too. When I asked, she nodded.
“Don’t worry. The two of you can stream from the company. We’ll have a few studios left open.”
“Thank you. I won’t let your expectations down.”
“No need. Don’t put too much pressure on yourselves—just take it easy.”
My life, really, where was it going to end up? When I watched closely, I’d gone from a man to a woman and was now debuting as a VTuber.
And not just any VTuber. I had to go solo in Unknown Universe, that pay-to-win, luck-driven piece of trash.
And yet, why was it that even though the situation was the worst, I still felt like laughing? Was it resignation? Confidence? I had no idea.
After talking with the boss a little more about the broadcast, I stood up with her when she had to leave for another matter. On the way home, Mizuki came up beside me.
“Ru-chan, Ru-chan! I was really nervous about streaming, but now that I’m doing it with you, I feel so much better. Want to exchange phone numbers?”
She offered me her phone with a bashful, hesitant look. For someone who was always so nervous, the fact that she was the one handing over her phone first made it hard to imagine how much courage it had taken.
“Last time too... I don’t know why, but when I’m with Ru-chan, I feel a lot calmer.”
Come to think of it. She didn’t seem like the sort of person who’d be this naturally close to anyone, so maybe that was why she kept coming toward me.
“If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have passed.”
As if. If you couldn’t make it, then who in this world could become a VTuber? I gladly took the phone she’d handed over and entered my number.
“Now that I’m holding your phone, it somehow looks bigger.”
“Are you insulting me?”
“No, no.”
She flapped her hands in panic, looking terribly flustered.
“I know. I was joking.”
“Ah. A joke. I should be able to do that well on stream too.”
“You don’t need to force it. If you just stream normally, you’ll probably explode in popularity. Being Japanese plays really well on internet broadcasts.”
“Why?”
“Well, just rarity and all that.”
There were actually plenty of other reasons, but I didn’t bother explaining.
“Then let’s do our best.”
“Yeah!”
On the day of my first broadcast, on the road to the company, I would have usually been thinking about how to handle the stream. But I simply couldn’t take my eyes off my phone.
That notice had gone up, and the internet communities had burst into flames.
The reason was short, but unmistakable.
It was because of me.